Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
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18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

aschenhrodcl, ashcfis (cinderel: the hero-youth lives inactive and despised by the kitchen-hearth or in the cattle-stall, out of whose squalor he emerges when the right time comes. i do riot recollect any instance in greek mythology of this exceedingly favourite feature of our folk-lore. unborn children, namely those that have been cut out of the womb, usually grow up heroes. such was the famous persian liustem in ferdusi, as well as tristan according to the old story in eilhart, or the russian hero dobrunii nikititch, and the scotch macduff. but volsungr concerns us more, who spoke and made vows while yet unborn, who, after being cut out, had time to kiss his mother before she died (volsungas. cap. 2. 5. an obscure^ these remarkable vitae offae primi et secundi are printed after watts's

forns. 2, 257. danske vis. 1, 323. in the poems on artus the horses are less attractively painted; but how naively in the servian, when mila shoes the steed (vuk 1, 5, or marko before his death talks with his faithful sharats (2, 243 seq. danitza 1, 109. in mod. greek songs there is a dialogue of liakos with his horse (fauriel 1, 138, and similar ones in the lithuanian dainos (lihesa p. 224. the persian eustem's fairy steed is well-known (see suppl^ if many heroes are carried off in the bloom of life, like achilles or siegfried, others attain a great age, beyond the limit of the human. our native legend allows hildebrand the years of nestor 1 a mongolian warrior's dying song lias: my poor cream-coloured trotter, you will get home alive. then tell my iikjther, pray' full fiiteen wounds had

ABRAMELIN1

he holy guardian angels at the end of the six moons or months58 will manifest unto thee that which is sufficient for the possession of this sacred magic. wherefore all the signs and symbols given in the third book, are written with letters of the fourth hierarchy;59 but the mysterious words wherein consisteth the secret60 have their origin in and are drawn from the hebrew, latin, greek, chaldean, persian, and arabian languages by a singular mystery and according unto the will of the most wise architect and fabricator of the universe, who alone dominateth and governeth it by his all-power; all the monarchies and kingdoms of the world are submitted unto his infinite power, and unto this sacred magic and divine wisdom. of abramelin the mage 25 the tenth chapter. t being understood that in thi

ABRAMELIN2

n; this expression is often used in fairy-tales to denote a spiteful dwarf or elf. this spirit has also been credited with presiding over hidden treasure. larousse derives the name either from ancient french or german. of abramelin the mage 85 asmodee: usually written asmodeus, and sometimes chashmodai. derived by some from the hebrew word asamod, to destroy or exterminate; and by others from the persian verb azmonden= to tempt, to try or prove. some rabbins say that asmodeus was the child of the incest of tubal-cain and his sister naafrfah. others say that he was the demon of impurity. others again relate that he was employed by solomon in the building of the temple at jerusalem; that he then attempted to dethrone solomon, to put himself in his place; but that the king vanquished him and

ALEISTER CROWLEY EIGHT LECTURES ON YOGA

had got rid of bad ways, bad wives, and bad weather. we are comfortably installed in the sunshine, with no one to bother us. we have nothing to do but our work. such being our fortunate state, we may usefully put in an hour considering our next step. let us recall, in the first place, what we decided to be the quintessence of our task. it was to annihilate dividuality 'make room for me' cries the persian poet whose name i have forgotten, the fellow fitzgerald translated, not omar khayyam 'make room for me on that divan which has no room for twain- a remarkable prophetic anticipation of the luxury flatlet. we are to unite the subject and object of consciousness in the ecstasy which soon turns, as we shall find later on, into the more sublime state of indifference, and then annihilate both t

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

ross the world, and in the seven league boots of the mind they did meet, and on common soil. sumeria. sumeria is the name given to a once flourishing civilisation that existed in what is now known as iraq, in the area called by the greeks "mesopotamia" and by the arabs as, simply "the island" for it existed between two rivers, the tigris and the euphrates, which run down from the mountains to the persian gulf. this is the site of the fabled city of babylon, as well as of ur of the chaldees and kish, with nineveh far to the north. each of the seven principal cities of sumeria was ruled by a different deity, who was worshipped in the strange, non-semitic language of the sumerians; and language which has been closely allied to that of the aryan race, having in fact many words identical to tha

ALEISTER CROWLEY LIBER 777

unveiled, para 61. only a hideous fudge (to wit (a) mis-spelling the name as ahija (b) writing each letter out in full and (c) counting h in full as ah rather than the more usual hh) can get this name to add to 666. line 7. asmodai. appears in the apocryphal book of tobit. sometimes also known by the latinised form asmodeus. the name is possibly a modification of aeshma deva, an evil spirit from persian mythology. line 8. belial. said to be the chief of the evil spirits in some late jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g. the testament of the 12 patriarchs, but in the old testament the name was a mere term of abuse meaning masterless or worthless. line 9. lilith. she gets everywhere. line 10. naamah. the sister of tubal-cain (see masonic symbolism; but in the zohar she gets turned into anothe

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

ns38. again, they may send an ordinary living man, whether one of themselves or no i cannot feel sure, to instruct me in some task, or to set me right when i have erred. then there have been messages conveyed by natural objects, animate or inanimate39. needless to say, the outstanding example in my life is the whole plan of campaign concerning the book of the law. but is aiwaz a man (presumably a persian or assyrian) and a "secret chief" or is he an "angel" in the sense that gabriel is an angel? is ab-ul-diz an adept who can project himself into the aura of some woman with whom i happen to be living, although she has no previous experience of the kind, or any interest in such matters at all? or is he a being whose existence is altogether beyond this plane, only adopting human appearance an

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 2

n the street. i once had the pleasure of meeting mr. coote, well-groomed in ultra- respectable broadcloth, and flaunting three virtues in his button-hole. i looked for some others in his heart, but drew blank. if he had any others, too, i suppose he would have worn the appropriate ribbons. the truth about coote-comstock crapulence is this. manx cats subscribe to the society for the suppression of persian cats. these funds go to support 338 a lot of holy souteneurs in idleness- and they find it pays to foam at the mouth from time to time against the other souteneurs who live on poor prostitutes instead of wealthy virgins. i should like, too, to ask mr. coote a rather curious question. we were talking about paternity. his then secretary, mr. hewston, had given me to understand that the vigil

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6

ion that lieth down with the lamb. nor, by the way, is iacchos a phallic god except as 'omicron nu-iota-kappa-omega-nu himself is phallic, and has his mystic 167 name written upon that organ, according to mr pryse! iacchus= iao= jehovah, and concentrates i.n.r.i. we recommend the book for its suggestion and insight; it is one of the best of the kind. nick lamb. salaman et absal, poeme allegorique persian de djami. traduit par auguste bricteux, ph.d, litt.d, etc. etc, avec une introduction sur le mysticisme persan, etc. bruxelles, 10 rue de la tribune (librairie ch. carrington. 10 "francs" a magnificent volume without and within. this, with the single exception of the "bagh-i-muattar (probsthain& co, 1910, 3 "gs, and therefore difficult of access, is the greatest of persian mystic treatises

ALICE A BAILEY07 FROM INTELLECT TO INTUITION

realization of unity. this tends to steady illumination. the method of sufism the writings of the sufis are much veiled in imagery and symbolism and have a stronger sense of duality than perhaps any other religious esoteric system, except the christian mystical writings. but there emerges even from them the same expression of truth and the same basic method. the following excerpts from the oldest persian treatise on sufism will show. it is interesting to note that those writings persist the longest and show the most wide usefulness which come from those who are knowers, and who can relate their experience of divinity in such a way that they can teach and outline, as well as declare and affirm "the first step in unification is the annihilation of separation because separation is the pronoun

ALICE A BAILEY10 FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

t 1998 lucis trust india, the god indra in nepal and tibet spilt their blood for the salvation of men; buddha said, according to max m ller `let all the sins that were in the world fall on me, that the world may be delivered' the chinese tien the holy one `one with god and existing with him from all eternity' died to save the world; the egyptian osiris was called saviour, so was horus; so was the persian mithra; so was the greek hercules who overcame death though his body was consumed in the burning garment of mortality, out of which he rose into heaven. so also was the phrygian attis called saviour, and the syrian tammuz or adonis likewise both of whom, as we have seen, were nailed or tied to a tree, and afterwards rose again from their biers or coffins. prometheus, the greatest and earli

ALICE BAILEY THE LABOURS OF HERCULES

st of tears i hid from him, and under running laughter. up vistaed hopes i sped; and shot, precipitated, adown titanic glooms of chasmed fears, from those strong feet that followed, followed after [69] in the zodiac of denderah, this star is called apes, the head. we are told (in the appendix, p. 1518, of the companion bible) that the brightest star in canis major is sirius, the prince, called in persian, the chieftain. there are three other stars in the same constellation: one is called "the announcer, another the "shining one" and the third "the glorious, all of them phrases emphasizing the magnificence of canis major and, esoterically, the wonder and the glory of the higher self. in canis minor, the "underdog, the same writing tells us that the name of the brightest star signifies "rede

eepfold has been closely associated in the minds of people with christ. connected with the sign cancer are three constellations: ursa major, ursa minor and argo. the common occidental names for the two former are the great bear and the little bear, but it is one of the mysteries of astronomy as to how the name "bear" came to be associated with either of these groups of stars, for in the chaldean, persian, indian and egyptian zodiacs, no bear is found. the names most commonly use are those of "the sheepfold, or "the flock of sheep" and an analysis of the hebrew and arabic names [91] for the stars found in these constellations will be found to prove the fact that the ancient names signify "the lesser flock "the sheepfold "the sheep, and "the ship. in the thirty-fourth chapter of ezekiel and

ARADIA GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES

ale who is the primitive principle. wheneverin history there is a period of radical intellectual rebellion against long-established conservatism,hierarchy, and the like, there is always an effort to regard woman as the fully equal, which meansthe superior sex. thus in the extraordinary war of conflicting elements, strange schools of sorcery,neo-platonism, cabala, heretic christianity, gnosticism, persian magism and dualism, with theremains of old greek and egyptian theologies in the third and fourth centuries at alexandria, and inthe house of light of cairo in the ninth, the equality of woman was a prominent doctrine. it wassophia or helena, the enfranchised, who was then the true christ who was to save mankind. page 64 the supper of the witches, the cakes of meal, salt, and honey, in the

compelthe devil or his imps to obey they work entirely by hisgood-will as slaves. but in the old italian lore the sorcerer or witch is all or nothing, and aims at limit-less will or power.of the ancient belief in the virtues of a perforated stone i need not speak. but it is to be remarkedthat in the invocation the witch goes forth in the earliest morning to seekfor verbena or verbain. theancient persian magi, or rather their daughters, worshipped the sun as it rose by waving freshlyplucked verbena, 32 which was one of the seven most powerful plants in magic. these persianpriestesses were naked while they thus worshipped, nudity being a symbol of truth and sincerity.the extinguishing the lights, nakedness, and the orgie, were regarded as symbolical of the bodybeing laid in the ground, the

BALANCE J

s as i could. i soon began to realise that this man was an extraordinary and prolific artist and that with each new image a new facet was revealed, and the essential mystery of the man deepened. even the sound of his name evoked something rarer and more exotic than the normal. i wondered whether there was an irish connection as he sometimes signed himself austin o spare. friends asked was there a persian connection with that curious middle name. early photographs and pen and ink drawings of himself compounded the mystery as i came across beautiful images of the artist as a tousled haired bare-footed aesthetic, as a savage and exotic mongol shaman with skulls and altars, and as a princely magickian in the fashionable japanese style of the era, bound up in the rich apparel of his sorceries

BEHOLDERS OF NIGHT

whom tasted from the shadow garden and the pleasures of both the spirit and flesh. that the watchers and fallen ones, led by azazel[1] lucifer, called later iblis, understood the immortality of the psyche is between the path of the not-seen, the shadow and darkness which cultivates the black flame itself. the witchcraft tradition was explored in essence by the practitioners of yatuk dinoih[2, or persian witchcraft of which emerged from the sorcerous shadow-god ahriman, the darkness which would create flesh. ahriman is a pitch-black representative of the hidden and the secret, from which the profane should not see. ahriman and its female counterpart, az[3, are the early fountainheads of the gnosis of the sabbat or al-zabbat, the freedom from the trappings of flesh and the awakening of the

hor foul of evil, how with shades from his dire mansion, he deformed the works of oromazes, turned to noxious heat the solar beam, that foodful earth might parch (yasht xix.11,12) the black dragon is symbolized as ahriman, the averse force of darkness and shadow. ahriman in zoroastrian terms is the great force of evil and darkness, whom was created divine but chose the shadow path. in the ancient persian religion of zoroastrianism, ahriman (called also arimanius or angra mainya) is one of the earliest forms of the devil itself, the father of those of the shadow, the demonium of the earth. in the ancient witchcraft religion (yatuk, persian sorcerers used blood of wolves[10 (who are sacred to ahriman) to call upon darkness. ahriman was probably in this sense, one of the first vampyre forms o

ave offered friendship, assistance and their own ideas in whatever way that it manifests: douglas grant, armiluss faust, charles gonzales, aaron besson, frater scorpius nokmet, stephen cass, nathan harris (red priory) and the independent initiates of the luciferian path. vox barathrum, michael ford [1] iblis, the black light by peter lamborn wilson. gnosis magazine [2] yatuk dinoih, a grimoire of persian and left hand path witchcraft by michael w. ford [3] lilith, awlraun-lilith, see azothoz by michael w. ford [4] azothoz, a book of the adversary by michael w. ford [5] yatuk dinoih, the ritual of infernal union [6] the black flame is the essence of the isolated divinity of self, the unity of the sethian god form of the individual. see azothoz, lords of the left hand path by stephen flowers

BLACK WITCHCRAFT

himself. some create dolls and others use little or no exterior tools or implements. what holds tradition among such adepts is the commitment of the luciferic spirit within. this is the mind of the practitioner which has been liberated through antinomian practices and thought, by this determined focus that the will of the black adept has transformed he or she into a daemonic being. within ancient persian practice, the ahriman (satan) created daemon akoman (meaning evil mind) is the luciferian mind which seeks liberation and independence from the mass or herd mentality, to become something other by the forbidden or evil path of magick or witchcraft. certain tools within the craft sinister are often considered haunted objects, empowered by ongoing ritual practice by the witch or sorcerer whi

e initiatic stream of the watchers survive. those of the yatu or sorcerous path of ahriman within the circle of ritual evocation, known as azothoz, does the therion atavistic shadows emerge from the darkness of flesh. azothoz in the lore of the circle represents the alpha and omega, being the beginnning and end which is also the primal current of the serpent, or az azhi dahaka, the dragon king of persian sorcerous lore. the great work as within the model of the witches sabbat proves a challenging and darksome journey wherein the initiate drinks deep from 10 the skull cup filled with the venom d blood of seth-an, who then eats of the flesh of abel and whose blood is offered to his own angel-demon, the very essence and representation of the great work itself. the sabbat as being a dual parti

ion of ahriman and his bride, thus the circle of lucifer is complete and the casting has brought forth cain, thus the initiate is the first of witch blood and the skir-hand gnosis of shadow and light. the very foundations of the luciferian witchcraft gnosis is found in the circle, they very place of summoning which has the scribed names of infernal deific forces, from azazel to ahriman in ancient persian cruciform, to medieval luciferic sigils which announce the embodiment of satanic power; our very heritage and spiritual lineage. this article is aimed at enlightening those who would condemn it first hand without the consideration for it s deeper meaning; but it must be known that those who walk this path are considered cursed and condemned by society, once you walk the path of initiation

tcha: a book of cunning by nathaniel j. harris (mandrake of oxford 2004) ecstasies: deciphering the witches sabbath by carlo ginzburg the sufis by idries shah secret societies by idries shah the book of shadows by gerald gardner michael w. ford is the magister of the order of phosphorus, a closed order of solitary initiates and the black order of the dragon, the inner guild based around yatukivah persian and chaos sorcery. he is the author of luciferian witchcraft: which contains 12 different grimoires including the left hand path tantric grimoire, adamu, a forbidden book of sexual magick, goetic sorcery, a luciferian approach to the 72 spirits of the shemhamforasche, yatuk dinoih and other works focused on the darksome rites of the path of shadow sorcery and so-called skir-hand witchcraft

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

lood" and the moon for the "mother" from whom proceed all the life-germs* but the terrestrial deluge and[[footnote(s* we must remember that at the head of all the babylonian gods were ea, anu, and the primeval bel; and that ea, the first, was the god of wisdom, the great "god of light" and of the deep, and that he was identified with oannes, or the biblical dagon- the man-fish who rose out of the persian gulf* see part. ii "the holy of holies* it is far later on that the moon became a male god; with the hindus it was soma, with the chaldeans nannak or nannar, and sin, the son of mulil, the older bel. the "akkadians" called him the "lord of ghosts; and he was the god of nipoor (niffer) in northern babylonia. it is mulil who caused the waters of the flood to fall from heaven on earth, for wh

ders, referred at length to ea, the god of wisdom, now identified with the oannes, of berosus, the half-man, half-fish, who taught the babylonians culture and the art of writing. this oannes, to whom, thanks only to the biblical deluge, an antiquity of hardly 1,500 b.c. had been hitherto allowed, is now spoken of in these terms "his city was eridu, which stood 6,000 years ago on the shores of the persian gulf. the name means 'the good city' a particularly holy spot, since it was the centre from which the earliest chaldean civilization made its way to the north. as the culture-god was represented as coming from the sea, it was possible that the culture of which eridu was the seat was of foreign importation. we now know that there was intercourse at a very early period between chaldea and th

tions, whose motion, or rocking, was a code perfectly clear to the initiated priests, who alone had the key to this ancient reading. vormius and olaius magnus show that it was according to the orders of the oracle "whose voice spoke through the immense rocks raised by the colossal powers of ancient giants" that the kings of scandinavia were elected "in india and persia" says pliny "it is she (the persian oitzoe) whom the magi had to consult for the election of their sovereigns (nat. hist, lxxxvii, chap. liv; and he describes (in chap. xxxviii, 1. ii) a rock overshadowing harpasa, in asia, and placed in such a manner that "a single finger[[footnote(s* messrs. richardson and barth are said to have been amazed at finding in the desert of sahara the same trilithic and raised stones they had se

d psychic aspects[[vol. 2, page] 360 the secret doctrine. than the kabalists have: the two figures in white and black stone have existed in the temples of egypt from time immemorial- agreeably to tradition; and historically- ever since the day of king cambyses, who personally saw them. therefore the symbol must have been in existence since nearly 2,500 years ago. this, at the very least, for that persian sovereign, who was a son of cyrus the great, succeeded his father in the year 529 b.c. these figures were the two kabiri personifying the opposite poles. herodotus (thalia, no. 77) tells posterity that when cambyses entered the temple of the kabirim, he went into an inextinguishable fit of laughter, on perceiving what he thought a man erect and a woman standing on the top of her head befor

ose sight, at the same time, of the fact that the title of kabiri was a generic one; that the kabiri (the mighty gods as well as mortals, were of both sexes, as also terrestrial, celestial and kosmic. that, while in their later capacity of the rulers of sidereal and terrestrial powers, a purely geological phenomenon (as it is now[[footnote(s* the word "guebra" comes from kabiri, gabiri, and means persian ancient fire-worshippers, or parsis. kabiri became gabiri and then remained as an appellation of the zoroastrians in persia (see hyde's "de religio persarum" cap. 29[[vol. 2, page] 364 the secret doctrine. regarded) was symbolized in the persons of those rulers, they were also, in the beginning of times, the rulers of mankind. when incarnated as kings of the "divine dynasties" they gave th

the ecliptic had formerly coincided; and (b) that even since their first zodiacal records were commenced, the poles have been three times within the plane of the ecliptic, as the initiates taught. bailly had not sufficient words at his command to express his surprise at the sameness of all such traditions about the divine races "what are finally" he exclaims "all those reigns of indian devas and persian peris. or, those reigns and dynasties of the chinese legends; those tien-hoang or the kings of heaven, quite distinct from the ti-hoang, the kings on earth, and the gin-hoang the king's men, a distinction which is in perfect accord with that other one made by the greeks and the egyptians, in enumerating their dynasties of gods, of demi-gods, and of mortals "now" says panadoras "it is befor

ther sydyk is consequently the scriptural shem (append. de cabiris, ap. orig. gent. p. 364, 376, and the latter statement on p. 357) the kabirim "the mighty ones" are identical with our primeval dhyan-chohans, with the corporeal and the incorporeal pitris, and with all the rulers and instructors of the primeval races, which are referred to as the gods and kings of the divine dynasties- the oldest persian traditions about the polar, and the submerged continents. legendary lore could not distort facts so effectually as to reduce them to unrecognisable shape. between the traditions of egypt and greece on the one hand, and persia on the other- a country ever at war with the former- there is too great a similarity of figures and numbers to allow such coincidence to be due to simple chance. this

ardly fail to identify them with the chaldean, egyptian, greek, and even hebrew traditions. the latter, disdaining in its exclusiveness to speak of pre-adamite nations, yet allows these to be clearly inferred, by sending out cain- one of the two only living men on earth- into the land of nod, where he gets married and builds a city (gen. iv, etc. now if we compare the 9,000 years mentioned by the persian tales with the 9,000 years, which plato declared had passed since the submersion of the last atlantis, a very strange fact is made apparent. bailly remarked, but distorted it by his interpretation. the secret doctrine may restore the figures to their true meaning "first of all" we read in "critias" that "one must remember that 9,000 years have elapsed since the war of the nations, which li

s of hercules, and those which peopled the lands on this side[[footnote(s* some derive the word from paras which produced pars, persia, pars; but it may be equally derived from pitar or pitris, the hindu progenitors of the fifth race- the fathers of wisdom or the sons of "will and yoga- who were called pitar, as were the divine pitars of the first race* see for these traditions the "collection of persian legends" in russian, georgian, armenian, and persian; herbelot's narrative legendes persanes "bibliotheque orientale" p. 298, 387, etc, and danville's memoires. we give in a condensed narrative that which is scattered in hundreds of volumes in european and asiatic languages, as well as in oral traditions[[vol. 2, page] 395 esoteric chronology. in "timaeus" plato says the same. the secret d

e interval between 850,000 and 700,000 years ago, and that the aryans were 200,000 years old when the first great "island" or continent was submerged, there hardly seems any reconciliation possible between the figures. but there is, in truth. plato, being an initiate, had to use the veiled language of the sanctuary, and so had the magi of chaldea and persia, through whose exoteric revelations the persian legends were preserved and passed to posterity. thus, one finds the hebrews calling a week "seven days" and "a week of years" when each of its days represents 360 solar years, and the whole "week" is 2,520 years, in fact. they had a sabbatical week, a sabbatical year, etc, etc, and their sabbath lasted indifferently 24 hours or 24,000 years- in their secret calculations of the sods. we of

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

polis, or of that other which was in the minds and conceptions of the theban sacerdotal class? for, between the first tomb of memphis, which bears the cartouche of a king of the third dynasty, and the last stones at esneh under caesar-philippus, the arabian, there is an interval of at least five thousand years. leaving aside the invasion of the shepherds, the ethiopian and assyrian dominions, the persian conquest, greek colonization, and the thousand revolutions of its political life, egypt has passed during those five thousand years through many vicissitudes of life, moral and intellectual. chapter xvii. of the book of the dead which seems to contain the exposition of the system of the world as it was understood at heliopolis during the time of the first dynasties, is known to us only by

cosmical generation[[footnote(s* plato "timaeus "suidas" v. tyrrhenia* the reader will understand that by "years" is meant "ages" not mere periods of thirteen lunar months each* see the greek translation by philo byblus* cory "ancient fragment* mithras was regarded among the persians as the theos ekpetros- god of the rock[[vol. 1, page] 341 one tree of knowledge. mithras is the son of bordj, the persian mundane mountain* from which he flashed out as a radiant ray of light. brahma, the fire-god, and his prolific consort; and the hindu agni, the refulgent deity from whose body issue a thousand streams of glory and seven tongues of flame, and in whose honour certain brahmans preserve to this day a perpetual fire; siva, personated by the mundane mountain of the hindus, the meru: these terrifi

istent. it never was a name, nor any word at all, but an idea that could not be expressed. a substitute was created for it in the century preceding our era[[vol. 1, page] 347 the mystic elements. sincere, open-spoken lingham of india. the attempt to derive god from the anglo-saxon synonym "good" is an abandoned idea, for in no other language, in all of which the term varies more or less, from the persian khoda down to the latin deus, has an instance been found of a name of god being derived from the attribute of goodness. to the latin races it comes from the aryan dyaus (the day; to the slavonian, from the greek bacchus (bagh-bog; and to the saxon races directly from the hebrew yodh or jod. the latter is[[diagram, the number-letter 10, male and female, and jod the phallic hook- hence the s

, he will hardly like to connect the sacred name of his saviour with the "brazen serpent" incident. the seraphim[[hebrew (fiery winged serpents) are no doubt connected with, and inseparable from, the idea "of the serpent of eternity- god" as explained in kenealy's apocalypse. but the word cherub also meant serpent, in one sense, though its direct meaning is different; because the cherubim and the persian winged[[gruphes "griffins- the guardians of the golden mountain- are the same, and their compound name shows their character, as it is formed of[[hebrew (kr) circle, and[[hebrew "aub" or ob- serpent- therefore, a "serpent in a circle" and this settles the phallic character of the brazen serpent, and justifies hezekiah for breaking it (see ii. kings, 18, 4. verbum sat. sapienti[[vol. 1, pag

eveals his system at the same time. this was evidently septenary. but his theogony, the genesis of the stars or planets, that of sound and colour, all found as an answer satire, and no better. celsus, you see "desiring to exhibit his learning" speaks of a ladder of creation with seven gates, and on the top[[vol. 1, page] 446 the secret doctrine. of it the eighth- ever closed. the mysteries of the persian mithras are explained and "musical reasons, moreover, are added. and to these again he strives "to add a second explanation connected also with musical considerations- i.e, with the seven notes of the scale, the seven spirits of the stars &c &c. valentinus expatiates upon the power of the great seven, who were called to bring forth this universe after ar(r)hetos, or the ineffable, whose na

e lord god of abraham and jacob. we find in i. samuel, that "the lord thundered from heaven, and the most high uttered his voice, and he sent out arrows (thunder bolts) and scattered them (saul's armies) with lightning, and discomforted them (chap. xxii. 14, 15) the athenians are accused of having sacrificed to boreas; and this "demon" is charged with having submerged and wrecked 400 ships of the persian fleet on the rocks of mount pelion, and of having become so furious "that all the magi of xerxes could hardly counteract it by offering contra-sacrifices to tethys [herodotus "polym" cxc. very fortunately, no authenticated instance is on the records of christian wars showing a like catastrophe on the same scale happening to one christian fleet owing to the "prayers" of its enemy- another c

oxically, the second, as clearly expressed by the author of the "qabbalah, from the philosophical writings of ibn gabirol "in the treatment of the primal cause, two things must be considered, the primal cause per se, and the relation and connection of the primal cause with the visible and unseen universe" thus he shows the early hebrews following in the steps of the oriental philosophy- chaldean, persian, hindu, arabic, etc. their primal cause was designated at first "by the triadic shaddai, the (triune) almighty, subsequently by the tetragrammaton, yhvh, symbol of the past, present, and future" and, let us add, of the eternal is, or the i am. moreover, in the kabala the name yhvh (or jehovah) expresses a he and a she, male and female, two in one, or hokhmah and binah, and his, or rather t

BLUE EQUINOX

rately, therefore, idid he take refuge in vagueness. not to veil the truth to the neophyte, but to warn him against valuing non-essentials. should therefore the candidate hear the name of any god, let him not rashly assume that it refers to any known god, save only the god known to himself. or should the ritual speak in terms (however vague) which seem to imply egyptian, taoist, buddhist, indian, persian, greek, judaic, christian or moslem philosophy, let him reflect that this is a defect of language, the literary limitation and not the spiritual prejudice of the man p. 24. especially let him guard against the finding of definite sectarian symbols in the teaching of his master, and the reasoning from the known to the unknown which assuredly will tempt him. the equinox 60 we labour earnestl

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

ust be constructed with more care than might otherwise be the case. dimensions may be as given in the earlier lesson, but the circle must be very carefully cast and consecrated at the erecting the temple. make sure lesson eleven: magick/ 157 done for good purposes is labeled "white magick; that done for evil purposes "black magick. these terms have no racial connotations. they come from the early persian concepts of good and evil. zoroaster (zarathustra) decided that of all the many, until then, good spirits or devi, there was actually only one who was fl/-good. this was ahura-mazda the sun; the light. now if you have an all-good deity then you need an all-evil opposite (you can't have white unless you have black as a contrast, so the role was given to ahriman the darkness. the other minor

CASE PAUL F THE BOOK OF TOKENS

r h. 11 "who turn their faces to the east, and what follows, refers to the attribution of the direction east to the letter daleth, which precedes heh in the alphabet [60] c o m m e n t on h e h 12 "eternal fugitive" is from the proper name agee, a g a "fugitive, probably derived from the arabic. its numeral value is 5, the same as the letter h "food, in hebrew is bag, b g, a word derived from the persian. its numeral value also is 5 [61] the meditation on vav* 1 as that which uniteth all things in the world of the manifest, i am rightly made known by vav, the nail. because i am all, and in all, therefore am i the link or bond which joineth together the parts of the fabric of existence. in all the universe there is no break. by bonds indissoluble each point is fastened to every other. 2 beh

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

nicea, can. of christian bible (to 13th cent) puranas. iamblichus: on nicomachus's introduction to arithmetic- first mention of casting out nines. ca.340-420 jerome studied hebrew with jewish instructors in bethlehem. 346 st. pachomius dies. 350-407 john chrysostom 350? abbaye jewish babylonian teacher expounds on the decans. 363 last pagan emperor julian stopped at harran at the beginning of his persian campaign. he consulted the oracles at the temple of the moon. 380 hephaestio of thebes. compendium, delineations of the decans and contains a very long excerpt from nechepso/petosiris on detailed eclipse delineation. preserves an ancient egyptian method of prediction using the dog-star alone. c.380 sepher ha-razim (the book of the mysteries) a jewish mystical and magical grimoire from egyp

nown through the works of the alexandrian historians pandorus and annianus (around c. e. 400. 840. manichaeism probably survived in eastern turkistan till the mongol invasion in the 13th century, maintaining itself most strongly in and around qocho (near modern turfan. 762 caliph al-mansur in baghdad founded house of wisdom for the purpose of promoting the arab's assimilation of indian, greek and persian science. 787-886 abu ma'shar. persian astrologer. al-kindi's student wrote a "great introduction (ysagoga maiore) to astrology around 850 ce; a major source for medieval astrologers. a fusion of sabian hermeticism, persian chronology, islamic religious doctrine, greek science and mesopotamian astrology. identified idris with enoch and hermes. 796-861 dhu l-nun al-misri hermetic sufi from a

scholar from harran. 1052-1127 ibn al-sid al batalyawsi kitab al- hada'iq or "the book of imaginary circles" ladder by which the soul ascends and descends(influenced by the "epistles of the brethren of purity) popular in medieval spain and provence -translations made by kabbalists moses ibn tibbon and samuel ibn motot 1054 rome splits from orthodox church, forms catholic church 1058-1111 ghazali (persian muslim scholar and mystic) 1060 r. solomon ibn gabirol said to have created a woman 1062-1110 petrus alfonsi proof of the trinity based on the tetragrammaton. 1071-1126 guilhelm ix duca d'aquitania, vii conte di poitiers troubadour c. 1075 yehuda ha-levi born. friend of abraham ibn ezra. helped amalgamate ismailite thought and muslim mysticism to jewish thought. 1075-1129 rupert of deutz

underwent in jerusalem initiation into mystical and angelogical traditions one of the handfull of jews from provence who were alledged daily access to the revelations of the prophet elia and who had initiated maimonides to the kabbalah< for the link between asideism and sufism via basra, cf. s.d. goitein, ebrei e arabi, pp. 175-8> 1154-1191 shihab al-din yahya ibn habash ibn amirak al-suhrawardi. persian sufi whose theosophy of light= ishraqi thought- believed wisdom passed directly from the divine to hermes and from him to egypt and persia eventually extending to greece and thus on to the early sufis of persia illuminating islamic civilization. the soul is exiled into matter but through ishraq(illumination)the soul returns to its home beyond the stars by way of a theurgic angelology. wrot

achim's 'de semine scriturarum' assigns centuries to the letters of the alphabet. 1205 alexander neckham "de naturis rerum" exegesis of the coherence between the beginning of genesis in hebrew and the 1st verse of john's gospel. 1206- 1227 genghis khan 1207-1273 jalal al-din rumi (muslim mystic poet from turkey) d. 1209 pierre roger de mirepoix. cathar troubadour. d. 1209 ruzbihan baqli of shiraz persian sufi. kitab-e 'abhar al-'ashiqin( le jasmin des fideles d'amour)dialectic of poetic love which precedes the sufi poet hafiz and resonates with the fedele d'amore. 1209: francis of assisi (1182-1226, along with twelve companions, gets permission from pope innocent iii to follow a new rule of life based on an extremely strict interpretation of christ's and the apostle's poverty. francis's gr

des description of the land "where dwelleth the pope of the idolators" tibet? 1331 commentary on "sefer yezirah" by meir b. solomon ibn sahula (rome, angelica library, ms. or. 45. 1332-78 ibn khaldun the muqaddimah "we saw with our eyes one of these magicians fashion the image of the person he desired to bewitch" 1335 petrus bonus of ferrara pretiosa margarita novella c. 1336 alaoddawleh semnani, persian sufi linking the seven prophets of the koran with the mystical physiology of seven latifa and referred to seven grades of being which constitute the ascent of the soul to the godhead. 1338-1400 geoffery chaucer 1329-1419 nicolas flamel (supposed) 1339 pope benedict xii orders an investigation into the alchemical activities of some clerics and monks c. 1350-1370: outbreaks of the "black dea

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

, was one of the first to see the military significance of oil and later, as first sea lord, he led the debate on how to secure supplies for the british navy in a country which, at that time, had no oil of its own. as usual, the answer was: if we don't have any, we'll take someone else's. an australian engineer, geologist, and devout christian called william knox d'arcy had found oil north of the persian gulf, in what is now iran. he had bought the rights to exploit it from the shah for $20,000 and agreed to pay a 16% royalty on sales. the contract granted him and all his "heirs, assigns, and friends" exclusive rights to persian oil until 1961. the british secret service, on behalf of the government, dispatched the 'ace of spies, sidney reilly, to dupe d'arcy into handing over his rights t

d him and all his "heirs, assigns, and friends" exclusive rights to persian oil until 1961. the british secret service, on behalf of the government, dispatched the 'ace of spies, sidney reilly, to dupe d'arcy into handing over his rights to the british. reilly (real name, sigmund georgjevich rosenblum from odessa, russia) posed as a priest and persuaded d'arcy to sign over his exclusive rights to persian oil to a 'christian' organisation, the anglo-persian oil company. in early 1913, at the urging of winston churchill, fisher's successor as first sea lord, the asquith government secretly bought a controlling interest in anglo-persian oil. we know this company better today as british petroleum- bp. the wealth of this company is founded on the work of an agent of the british secret service

rld oil supplies, led to conflict throughout europe and the middle east. britain was responsible for stimulating wars in the balkans, turkey, and bulgaria before 1914 to disrupt and sabotage the building of germany's 'berlin to baghdad' railway, which threatened britain's grip on the middle east. the british used their control of kuwait to prevent the completion of the railway from baghdad to the persian gulf. using force and corrupt sheikhs, the british government ruthlessly seized control of arab countries and their oil supplies. it was to set the scene for the conflict we have witnessed in the middle east ever since, and the creation of the state of israel was part of the divide and rule policy based on the control of oil. can you understand why the arabs today get so angry at what they

oswald dutch claims that in 1931, deterding and his backers (the samuel family) gave hitler 30,000,000. eventually the 'oil wars' between the rival companies ended in the late 1920s with an agreement finalised at achnacarry, sir henry deterding's scottish castle. this created the anglo-american oil cartel which became known as the seven sisters. the meeting between deterding, john cadman of anglo-persian oil (bp, and franklin d. roosevelt's close friend, walter teagle, of the rockefellers' standard oil (exxon, was held secretly under the cover story of a grouse shoot. the seven sisters cartel has worked as one unit since then to control price and supplies to suit its sordid ambitions. the ultimate control is with the elite. the seven sisters is comprised today of shell, bp, esso/exxon (sta

to support the americans. they presented themselves as a united nations force. in effect, a world army. bush said in a speech to congress on september 11th "clearly no longer can a dictator count on east-west confrontation to stymie concerted united nations action against aggression. a new partnership of nations has begun, and we stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. the crisis in the persian gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. out of these troubled times, our fifth objective- a new world order- can emerge."26 for 'fifth' read 'first. on november 8th, bush announced that the forces in saudi arabia would be substantially increased. the 'defensive' force was now to switch to offensive mode. a week later bush le

e united states and the elite use the create-a-monster technique all the time to divert attention from the fact that they are installing and pulling the strings of far more extreme regimes throughout the world. there was no talk of monsters and terrorism in 1988 when the uss vincennes fired a missile 'by accident' to shoot down an iranian passenger jet with 290 on board.5 the vincennes was in the persian gulf to support saddam hussein, then america's friend and ally in the iraqi war with iran. the commander of the ship was 'severely punished: he was awarded the legion of merit award by george bush for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service" and for the "calm and professional atmosphere" under his command during the period the jet was destroyed.6 the st

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

ian tablets also relate how the anunnaki "gods" returned to rebuild and restore their devastated heartlands, and the civilisation that emerged from this is known to history as sumer. i think, however, that many parts of the sumerian tablets are actually referring to events on lemuria and atlantis. some researchers suggest that remains of the anunnaki's preflood cities can be found today under the persian gulf, which became much wider and deeper after the upheavals.63 depending on the location and the effects of the devastation, some of the great structures of the golden age survived and can be seen to this day. these could be anything from tens to hundreds of thousands of years old. other famous sites and structures were built or rebuilt by the sumerians from around 6,000 years ago. my fee

r relationship was often one of conflict and distrust, the two interbred, the epics report, to produce a reptilian-mammal hybrid that became .the aryan kings!7 these are the "divine" royal bloodlines or "demigods" and they are the same bloodlines that ruled the sumer empire and to whom those in power today are related. in media, now turkey, the iranians knew the kings as mar, which means snake in persian (mars= snakes. they were called the "dragon dynasty of media" or "descendants of the dragon. in the late 19th century, colonel james churchward, an ardent researcher into the existence of mu or lemuria, was shown some ancient tablets in the secret vault of a monastery in northern india. they told the story of how the naacals or naga mayas("serpents) from the continent of lemuria-mu had tra

ey worshipped was once again artemis, a later name for "el" of the edda texts, and hecate, the dark moon goddess and "goddess of the infernal arts. it appears that amazon means "moon woman" and this again fits with the edda texts about the serpent cult. a very important location for the amazons was sauromatia, or "lizard mother. this is in the region of the black and caspian seas and bordered the persian empire, the land of the magi initiates. sauromatia has been connected to european nobility and we can now see why. one theory is that the coats of arms of polish nobility, for instance, developed from magical signs of the sauromatians or sarmatians called "tamgas. in fact, poland was often called sarmatia or sauromatia.27 historical accounts say that the amazons in sauromatia bred with scy

that indicate they were destroyed by some kind of high-tech, even nuclear, weaponry. the edda tells how thor won the victory against the serpent cult and this is known as the "harrying of hell [el" in welsh traditions. a key moment was when prince cain, miok or michael, the son of thor, killed balder or abel, the son of el, and this is depicted in many sumerian, babylonian, assyrian, hittite, and persian seals and sculptures. cain, as horus, is seen spearing abel-set, symbolised as a demon crocodile, in an egyptian bas-relief of around 1000bc (see picture section).41 this is a version of st michael defeating the dragon. st michael, the sumerian-cappadocian deity, is portrayed as a dragon fighter. in india, balder is the "great deva (tiva, or "devil) felled by lord gan (cain).42 the stories

reptilian gargoyles are symbols of the reptilian bloodlines and their control. you find them on the castles and stately homes of the bloodline families and on churches and cathedrals built by the llluminati 186 children of the matrix a bust in the vatican of thor/lndara, the king of sumer who battled with the serpent cult according to the british edda texts thor (st george) slays the dragon in a persian sculpture of around 600bc horus, the egyptian son of god, slaying set or seth, the "demon crocodile. from an egyptian bas-relief of about 1,000bc and now in the louvre museum in paris picture section 187 the goddess artemis (dana. diana) with her symbolic eggs in a statue at the ephesus museum. artemis/diana was the main deity of the merovingian bloodline and both are symbolised by bees. h

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

s was because the nazis knew thehistory and the connection with the reptilians. andrew collins in his book, from theashes of angels, presents compelling evidence that the biblical garden of eden washigh up in this region of iran-kurdistan and, of course, the theme of the serpent is at theheart of the eden story. in neighbour-mg media, the kings were known by the iraniansas mr which means snake in persian.53 mars= snake? they were called the dragondynasty of media or the descendants of the dragon54. i have no doubt that the43reptilian draco interbred with humans to produce crossbreeds within the white race and,indeed, there are many people around the world today who claim to have bred withreptilians. by 2,200 bc the royal court of the dragon had been founded in egypt bythe priests of mendes

hebrew scholar, robert eisenman,there is a description of a watcher called belial (bel, who is described as the prince ofdarkness and the king of evil. he is said to be terrifying in his appearance- like aserpent with a visage like a viper. one of the main angelic groups in hebrew lore is theseraphim or fiery serpents and the watchers are very much connected to thedescription of serpents. in the persian teachings they also talk of a being they describeas the old serpent having two feet, just as the book of enoch features walkingserpents. when you consider that the draco royal leadership is said to be up to 12 feettall and white skinned, indeed albino white, whiter than snow, it again relates to the45very white skin of the giant watcher-human hybrid babies described in the book ofenoch and

valdamar valerian (arcturus book service, usa, 1990),p 96.44ibid.45matrix ii, p looc-lood.46andrew collins, from the ashes of angels, the forbidden legacy of a fallen race (signetbooks, london, 1997, p 35.47a genesis apocryphon, the translation of part of the dead sea scrolls by naham avigad andyigael yadin, published in 1956 by the hebrew university in jerusalem.48firdowsi, the shah nameh of the persian poet firdausi, translated by james atkinson(frederick warne, london, 1886).49christian obrien, with joy obrien, the genius of the few- the story of those whofounded the garden of eden (turnstone press, wellingborough, england, 1985).50from the ashes of angels, pp 268, 269.51ibid.52l. a. waddell, the phoenician origin of britons, scots and anglo saxons (the christian bookclub of america, ha

igin of all the major, andmost minor, religions and their heroes. the scythian/sakka and the cimmerians/cimbri were in fact all the same people and this is confirmed by inscriptions scored intothe behistun rock in the zargos mountains on an old caravan trail from babylon. theinscriptions were ordered by darius the great about 515 bc and they were written inthree languages, babylonian, elamite and persian. whenever the elamite and persianversions say sakka, the persians/babylonians use the term cimiri.so these white aryan peoples under different names with their same religion andreligious heroes under different names, expanded from their origins in the caucasus andthe middle and near east and went overland into europe, india and as far as china.and within them were the reptile-human bloodli

quirinus of rome; prometheus of the caucasus; and mohammed ormahomet, of arabia.22all but a few of those sons of god or prophets, and the mind-prison religions foundedin their names, come from the very lands occupied or influenced by peoples emerging fromthe near east and the caucasus. the lands of the aryans and reptile-aryans. other sons ofgod included mithra or mithras, the pre-christian roman-persian god, and in greece andasia minor they had dionysus and bacchus. these were sons of god who died so our sinscould be forgiven, born of a virgin mother, and their birthdays were on. december 25th!mithra was crucified, but raised from the dead on march 25th- easter! mithran initiationstook place in caves adorned with the signs of capricorn and cancer, symbolic of the winter90and summer solsti

man empire andat one point this doctrine could be found in almost every part of europe. the presentsite of the v atican in rome was a sacred place for the followers of mithra, and hisimage and symbols have been found cut into rocks and stone tablets throughout thewestern provinces of the former roman domain, including germany, france andbritain. christianity and the roman church were based on the persian-roman sun godcalled mithra (nimrod, who has an earlier equivalent in india called mitra. tammuz oradonis (lord, who was revered in babylonia and syria, was said to have been born atmidnight on december 24th. these were also sons of god.horus was the the son of god in egypt. he was derived from the babyloniantammuz and, in turn, provided another blueprint for the later jesus. theconnections

and asana (to lay snares. they waged an international terrorist war from theirmountain headquarters at alamut or eagles nest in persia (asia minor/turkey. potterydecorated with pentagrams and the symbol of the female vulva have been found at thissite and the assassins wore white tunics with a red sash. the assassins, who stillcontinue today under different fronts, emerged from a sect founded by a persian calledhassan sabah (another very possible origin of the name) in 1090, the same period thetemplars, knights hospitaller, and the teutonic knights were being formed.the templars and the assassins worked together although they appeared to be ondifferent sides. this is the way the public are still duped today into believing thatbecause two groups war or oppose each other in public they must b

ng water to make money from a by-product of the386aluminium industry which at the time they were struggling to dispose of. it has nothingto do with saving teeth. fluoride was actually used as a rat poison for 40 years and it isan intellect suppressant. see the robots rebellion for that story. andrew mellonfinanced the creation of gulf oil which worked closely with british petroleum(formerly anglo-persian. one of their operations was the coup against the iranianprime minister, dr mohammed mossadegh, in 1953. mossedagh wanted to stop theexploitation of his country, but the anglo-american elite conspired against him andimposed on the iranian people the vicious, murderous regime of the shah of iran. oneof the people involved in the coup was norman schwarzkopf senior, the father of thegulf war

DEMONIC BIBLE

and went into seclusion. if deitus is the word of the aeon, he said, it would have its effect with or without his direct involvement. since his arrest in october 1999, mr. miller has put his criminal past behind him. he now works as a network technician and a consultant in computer and network security. in 2002 he became involved in the 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 influe

DIABOLUS

l1 d i a b o l u s the dragon within the triangle of darkness an exploration of the adversary within magick michael w. ford 2004 michael w. ford for the order of phosphorus members only. succubus publishing website http//algol.chaosmagic.com psychonaut 75 website http//www.psychonaut75.com e-mail: keteb75@psychonaut75.com 2 contents introduction i. set the egyptian god of darkness ii. ahriman the persian devil and the whore of darkness iii. the adversary and the bride of the devil, cain the son iv. the gnostic yaltabaoth, child of chaos v. the path of the crooked serpent leviathan and beelzebub end introduction the very intent and purpose of this essay is to bring to light the roots of the adversary in magick from a historical and mythological standpoint. as a practitioner of magick from a

ed for a crystallization of the form and function of the praxis of sorcery that i began, to present a concise view of the practice of left hand path magical practice from a luciferian viewpoint. the dragon within the triangle of darkness is a reference made to the evocation circle as the meeting place of the daemon and man, but also the luciferian rite of azi dahaka, the sorcerer-dragon king from persian mythology called zohak, an original son of satan. the black triangle by more common knowledge is related to the concentration of will to evoke the daemon of man and woman, to uplift and envenom their spirit with the adversarial gnosis (an illustration is found in the paitisha. it must be considered appropriate that we explore the traits and descriptions of the adversary or opposer from a h

understand that his force, while averse is indeed a necessary and 3 significantly important to the balance of nature in both a natural and supernatural sense. the shadow holds substance which bears the fruit of knowledge from the practitioner who is daring enough to taste it. set is the original opposer or adversary, whose form captivated and later frightened those who dare stand against him. the persian foundation of averse practice is found in some satanic lore written by zoroastrian priests. ahriman, the prince of darkness in that regions lore is the initiator of the shadow practice of sorcery, thus cannot be judged within a spectrum of the zoroastrian religion this gnosis is other and stands outside within practice. to make proper reference; and by their devotion to witchcraft (yatuk-d

he egyptian book of the dead presents set as the lord of the northern sky, who is over storms, cold weather and darkness. set was perhaps the most significant egyptian god in that he alone was the god of mystery and the unknown, both the shadow and fire. as being a patron of the deserts, seth was also revered as a deity over the scorching heat of the desert sands. this concept continued on in the persian ahriman and the islamic shaitan, which shall be discussed in further detail later on in this treatise. verily, the soul of set, which is greater than all the gods, hath departed- from the papyrus of ani set was known as a god of unrest who continually fought with horus, his brother and was the antagonist and murderer of osiris, a god of stasis. set also protected ra on his journeys through

closely connected with a former death-god called seker, who was later merged with osiris and became something rather different in nature. in the tuat, seker resided within a kingdom called ra-stau, from which he sat upon a throne in majesty, having numerous legions of winged serpents, devils called seba and other monsters 2 budge, e.a. wallis, the gods of the egyptians volume 1 3 compare with the persian arezura, the mountain in the north from which hell is commonly located. 6 which devoured various shades of the dead who were sent there. it is written in the book of the dead that seker s throne is pyramidal in form, filled with darkness. he appears commonly in the tuat as a mummified man but has a hawk s head and a pair of wings, which come forth from the back of a two headed serpent. the

ocated. 6 which devoured various shades of the dead who were sent there. it is written in the book of the dead that seker s throne is pyramidal in form, filled with darkness. he appears commonly in the tuat as a mummified man but has a hawk s head and a pair of wings, which come forth from the back of a two headed serpent. the symbolism of the hawk and the twin serpents are later presented in the persian descriptions of the adversary, firstly a symbol of ahriman was a hawk attacking a sparrow and the twin serpents appearing from an ahrimanic kiss on the shoulders of the king zohak, who later became azi dahaka, the storm demon. while these similarities cannot be assumed to be directly related, they are by all instances interesting. the constellation of the bull or bull s thigh is related to

f saturn being the witches sabbat10. here we find the manifestation of the adversary in a universal and initiatory role. the modern magician and sorcerer must be willing to focus on the beneficial and useful aspects of sethian magick within a now type of context, in other words utilize the will to invigorate and empower the rituals of sethan, which by you set is made great within. ii. ahriman the persian devil and the whore of darkness pondering on the end, zurvan delivered to ahriman an implement (fashioned) from the very substance of darkness, mingled with the power of zurvan, as it were a treaty, resembling coal, black and ashen. and as he handed to him he said: by means of these weapons, az (concupiscence) will devour that which is thine, and she herself shall starve, if at the end of

ack and ashen. and as he handed to him he said: by means of these weapons, az (concupiscence) will devour that which is thine, and she herself shall starve, if at the end of nine thousand years thou hast not accomplished that which thou didst threaten to demolish the pact, to demolish time -from the zatsparam, from the dawn and twilight of zoroastrianism r.c. zaehner ahriman is within the ancient persian lands and lore the devil incarnate. known also as arimanius and angra mainyu, this sorcerous daemon was suggested by texts associated with zurvan to be the first born of the god zurvan, who is infinite time and space. his brother, ahura mazda is the christ like figure or opposite god who fought against ahriman for control of the world; it is this very balance which is kept in continual mot

eyes (i.e. greedy) of thousands of evil designs, possessed of the great evil powers of the dev and the druj. denkard another figure in zoroastrian infamy is the sorcerer ahktya or akht. the word akht itself means filth, and the word akha which means evil and bad. the other name which was connected with akhtya was kabed-us-spae and akht-jadu. this obscure 15 the book of the serpent, draconian and persian sorcery by michael w. ford, succubus publishing. 14 figure was said to be a powerful sorcerer who was a manifestation of the power of the daevas, he could astrally project into hell and communicate with ahriman, and was considered a nomadic demon. it is owing to the passions of wolves and khrafastras that men are like devs; and hesham, the invisible power of the perverted path, prevailing

satan with the traits of desire, cupidity and those concepts which religions always have difficulty with. satan gave unto adam the elements of light which he was said to have stolen, so that he may embody that art in 17 translated by e.w. west, from haug and west, the book of arda viraf, bombay, london 1972, made into a digital edition courtesy of joseph peterson. 18 a reader in manichaean middle persian and parthian tehran 1975 17 mankind. it was indeed satan who fathered cain with eve, in luciferian lore as with az or lilith possessing eve while in sexual congress. the most important figure which not only inspired ahriman, but empowered him was the whore jeh or az. in manichaean religious lore, az is considered the great whore who played a very important role to her mate, ahriman. in man

DION FORTUNE PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE

lations they take violent likes and dislikes; they show a facile and demonstrative affection towards those they like, but quickly forget them. gratitude and pity are unknown to their nature. towards those they dislike they are pettily malicious, and in all relations of life they are utterly irresponsible. one cannot describe them better than to say that they resemble nothing so much as a blend of persian kitten and pet monkey. they have the beauty and aloofness and charm of the cat, and the amusing, mischievous destructiveness of the monkey. many human beings hate them at sight; others are fascinated by them because they bring with them a sense of unearthly beauty and a quickening of the life-forces. i have been able to investigate the history of two such beings, and it is interesting to n

DONALDTYSON NOMICON

1923, but two years earlier he had included the name of the imaginary author of the necronomicon, the "mad arab" abdul alhazred, in his story the nameless city, in connection with a couplet from the dread text "that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die" when lovecraft was five years old, he read an edition of the arabian nights and developed a passion for persian things. he made his mother decorate a corner of his bedroom with oriental hangings and an incense burner. one of his adult relatives suggested as a joke that he should start calling himself abdul alhazred. the name stuck in lovecraft's nearly photographic memory, and later found use in his fiction. in the nameless city lovecraft wrote "remote in the desert of araby lies the nameless city

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

easure in injuring the inhabitants. xenocritus thought that penance and self-mortification, though not agreeable to the gods, pacified the malice of the cacodaemons. ahrimanes and his followers finally took up their abode in all the space between the earth and the fixed stars, and there established their domain, which is called ahriman-abad. as ahrimanes was the spirit of evil, his counterpart in persian dualism was ormuzd, the creative and benevolent being. aic see american institutes for research ailuromancy divination through superstitions concerning cats. for example, a black cat crossing your path is a bad omen in the united states and germany, although usually regarded as lucky in britain. owning a black cat is also believed to be lucky. a cat washing its face or ears, or climbing up

in pursuit and all the courtiers running after him. they reached the sea shore, and alruy turned and showed himself to all the people. spreading a scarf on the surface of the water, he walked over it lightly, before the boats which were to pursue him were ready. this tale confirmed his reputation as the greatest magician within the memory of man. it is said that a turkish prince, a subject of the persian king, bribed the father-in-law of the sorcerer to kill him, and one night, when alruy was sleeping peacefully in his bed, a dagger thrust put an end to his existence. alruy was the subject of a novel by the politician-author benjamin disraeli (1804.1881: alroy: a romance (1846. alternate perceptions alternate perceptions, formerly ufo perceptions, was founded in 1986 by white buffalo-eagle

ho had qualified for higher spiritual development. such mysteries were kept apart from popular worship, and initiates had to take a binding oath of secrecy, so that even today our knowledge of the mysteries is partly conjectural. typical mystery cults were those of eleusis in greece from about 1500 b.c.e, in turn deriving from the mystery religions of ancient egypt and the mysteries of mithras, a persian deity. traces of mithraism existed in britain. many secret societies in modern times have claimed that their rituals are a descent of an ancient tradition. sources: ulansey, david. the origins of the mithraic mysteries: cosmology and salvation in the ancient world. new york: oxford university press, 1989. ancitif a little-known demon, who, during the possession of the nuns of louviers in 1

account of the circumstances is given in the book of enoch, which makes the angels.uriel, gabriel, and michael.the chief instruments in the subjugation of the adulterers and their formidable offspring. the classic writers have perpetuated similar beliefs of the hero race, all of them born either from the love of the gods for women, or of the preference shown for a goddess by some mortal man. the persian, jewish, and muslim accounts of angels all evince a common origin, and they alike admit a difference of sex. in the latter, the name of azazil is given to the hierarchy nearest the throne of god, to which the mohammedan satan (eblis or haris) is supposed to have belonged; also azreal, the angel of death, and asrafil (probably the same as israfil, the angel of the resurrection. the examiner

the first. they mention the works written by him, or rather by them, as they suppose, like other authors, that there were three of the name. to one the imposing appellation of trismegistus has been given, and the arabians, presumably from some ancient records, minutely described his character and person. illustrating their astrological discipline, they also published some writings ascribed to the persian zoroaster. sources: hutin, serge. a history of alchemy. new york: walker, 1963. reprint, new york: tower books, n.d. jabir ibn hayyan. the works of geber. london: printed for william cooper, 1686. muhammad ibn umail al-tamini. three arabic treatises on alchemy. calcutta: asiatic society of bengal, 1933. aradia the book aradia: gospel of the witches by charles g. leland (1899 and often repr

1986. the burton goldberg group. alternative medicine: a definitive guide. tiburon, calif: future medicine publishing, inc, 1997. thompson, c. j. s. the mystery and lure of perfume. london, 1927. tisserand, robert. aromatherapy. 1977. reprint, london: mayflower, 1979. worwood, valerie ann. the complete book of essential oils and aromatherapy. san rafael, calif: new world library, 1991. arphaxat a persian sorcerer who was killed by a thunderbolt (according to abdias of babylon) as st. simon and st. jude were martyred. in the account of the possession of the nuns of loudun, there is also a demon known as arphaxat, who took possession of the body of louise de pinterville. arriola, pepito (1896.1954) a spanish musical prodigy who, in 1900, at the age of three years and three months, was introd

sh, reference was often to the mountain ash or rowan tree. sources: porteous, alexander. forest folklore, mythology, and romance. london: george allen& unwin, 1928. asiah according to the kabala, asiah is the first of the three classes or natural ranks around the spirits of men, who must advance from the lower to the higher. asipu priests of ancient mesopotamia (see also semites) asmodeus ancient persian demon of lust and rage who also appeared in ancient jewish folklore, where he was believed to cause strife between husband and wife. he is mentioned in the book of tobit ca. 250 b.c.e, where he attempts to cause trouble between the ashtabula poltergeist encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 94 tobias and his wife, sarah. jewish legends claim that asmodeus was the result of a u

as in fear of their pronouncements. they prophesied the year, the hour, and the manner of his death, and agreed with his father in foretelling that he astrological society encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 108 should perish not by poison, but by the dagger. the early christians gave some sanction to astrology in the gospel of matthew, which opens with the visit of the three magi (persian astrologers) who, having seen the star in the east, have come to worship christ. after the age of the antonines and the work of the thirdcentury c.e. roman scholar censorinus, we hear little of astrology for some generations. in the eighth century the venerable bede and his distinguished scholar, alcuin, are said to have pursued this mystic study. immediately following, the arabians revive

er. sources: ra un nefer amen [r. a. straughn. black man s guide to a spiritual union. bronx, n.y: oracle of thoth, 1981. meditation techniques of the kabalists, vedantins, and taoists. bronx, n.y: maat publishing, 1976. the oracle of thoth: the kabalistical tarot. bronx, n.y: oracle of thoth, 1977. the realization of neter nu. brooklyn, n.y: maat publishing, 1975. austatikco-pauligaur a class of persian evil spirits. eight in number, they keep the eight sides of the world. their names are as follows (1) indiren, the king of these genii (2) augne-baugauven, the god of fire (3) eemen, king of death and hell (4) nerudee, earth in the figure of a giant (5) vaivoo, god of the air and winds (6) varoonon, god of clouds and rain (7) gooberen, god of riches; and (8) essaunien or shivven. austin se

he retired to jurjan, where he began his great work on medicine, which is still considered one of the earliest systems of that art with any pretensions to philosophical completeness. it is arranged with singular clearness and presents a very admirable resume of the doctrines of the ancient greek physicians. avicenna subsequently lived at rai, karzwin, and ispahan, where he became physician to the persian sovereign. he is said to have been dismissed from this post on account of his debauched living. he then retired to hamadan, where, worn out with years of sensual indulgence, he died, at the age of 58. avicenna wrote nearly 100 works on philosophy, mathematics, and medicine and at least seven treatises on the philosophers stone of alchemy. his book of the canon of medicine acquired european

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

986.87: 74.79. l ecuyer, michele. mafu. life times 1, no. 2 (winter 1986.87: 80.82. torres, penny [mafu. and what be god? vacaville, calif: mafu seminars, 1989. reflections on yeshua ben joseph. vacaville, calif: mafu seminars, 1989. magi priests of ancient persia and cultivators of the wisdom of zoroaster (or zarathustra (possibly 1500 b.c.e. they were instituted by cyrus when he founded the new persian empire and are supposed to have been of the median race. the german scholar k. w. f. von schlegel stated in his lectures on the philosophy of history (2 vols, 1829: they were not so much a hereditary sacerdotal caste as an order or association, divided into various and successive ranks and grades, such as existed in the mysteries.the grade of apprenticeship.that of mastership.that of perfe

ice of the gods, as did plato. according to joseph ennemoser in his book the history of magic (1847, magiusiah, madschusie signified the office and knowledge of the priest, who was called mag, magius, magiusi, and afterward magi and magician. the philosopher j. j. brucker maintained that the primitive meaning of the word was fire worshiper and worship of the light, an erroneous opinion. in modern persian, the word is mog; mogbed signifies high priest. the high priest of the parsees at surat was called mobed. others derive the word from megh, meh-ab signifying something that is great and noble; zoroaster s disciples were called meghestom. eusebe salverte, author of des sciences occulte (1829, stated that these mobeds were named in the pehivi dialect magoi. they were divided into three class

ed the heavenly bodies and the elements. this was probably before the time of zoroaster, when the religion of persia seems to have resembled that of ancient india. their hymns in praise of the most high exceeded (according to dio chrysostom) the sublimity of anything in homer or hesiod. they exposed their dead bodies to wild beasts. schlegel maintained that it was an open question whether the old persian doctrine and wisdom or tradition of light did not undergo material alterations in the hand of its median restorer, zoroaster, or whether this doctrine was preserved in all its purity by the order of the magi. he then remarked that on them devolved the important trust of the monarch s education, which must necessarily have given them great weight and influence in the state. they were in hig

and wisdom or tradition of light did not undergo material alterations in the hand of its median restorer, zoroaster, or whether this doctrine was preserved in all its purity by the order of the magi. he then remarked that on them devolved the important trust of the monarch s education, which must necessarily have given them great weight and influence in the state. they were in high credit at the persian gates (the oriental name given to the capital of the empire, and the abode of the prince) and they took the most active part in all the factions that encompassed the throne, or that were formed in the vicinity of the court. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. magi 955 in greece, and even in egypt, the sacerdotal fraternities and associations of the initiated, formed by the m

took the most active part in all the factions that encompassed the throne, or that were formed in the vicinity of the court. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. magi 955 in greece, and even in egypt, the sacerdotal fraternities and associations of the initiated, formed by the mysteries, had in general an indirect, although not unimportant, influence on affairs of state, but in the persian monarchy they acquired a complete political ascendency. religion, philosophy, and the sciences were all in their hands. they were the universal physicians who healed the sick in body and in spirit, and, in strict consistency with that character, ministered to the state, which is only the individual in a larger sense. the three grades of the magi alluded to were called the disciples, the pr

ans who healed the sick in body and in spirit, and, in strict consistency with that character, ministered to the state, which is only the individual in a larger sense. the three grades of the magi alluded to were called the disciples, the professed, and the masters. they were originally from bactria, where they governed a little state by laws of their own choice, and by their incorporation in the persian empire, they greatly promoted the consolidation of the conquests of cyrus. their decline dates from the reign of darius hystaspes, about 500 b.c.e, by whom they were fiercely persecuted. this produced an emigration that extended from cappadocia to india, but they were still of so much consideration at a later period as to provoke the jealousy of alexander the great. magia posthuma (of c. f

m& parapsychology. 5th ed. 966 and went to pray with the sick. subsequently a 46-year-old mother, paralyzed for several months with a cancerous tumor, claimed that she regained the use of her left arm and was able to walk again after being virtually immobile (see also healing by touch) magus a master magician or adept. the magi, or magicians (plural form of magus, were the wise men of the ancient persian priesthood. it is noted in the christian new testament that three magi brought gifts to the infant jesus. in the later tradition they were given names.kaspar, melchior, and balthasar. and their bones are said to rest in cologne cathedral, germany. the term magus is also used in magical societies like the golden dawn to indicate one of its highest grades, between the master of the temple an

antoms of carlos mirabelli, the south american medium, similarly raised themselves and floated in the air before full dissolution, which began with the feet. when matter apparently passes through matter or when apports are brought into the seance room, the process of dematerialization may be identical. this was suggested by d esperance (shadow land, 1897: a lady once brought a brilliantly colored persian silk scarf, which yolande regarded with great delight, and immediately draped about her shoulders and waist. this scarf she could not be induced to part with. when she had disappeared and the seance closed a careful search was made, but it was not to be found. the next time she came, the lady asked her what she had done with it. yolande seemed a little nonplussed at the question, but in an

i mission, 1979. techniques of meditation. new york: ma yoga shakti mission, 1994. yoga para la salud fisica mental. new york: yogashakti publications, 1997. yoga syzygy. gherand samhita hatha yoga, new york: ma yoga shakti international mission, 1984. mazdaznan temple association a zoroastrian group founded in 1890 by ottoman zar- adhusht hanish (1854.1936. the name mazdaznan is derived from the persian mazda and znan which hanish translated as master thought, although this interpretation might be questioned by persian scholars. as a zoroastrian group, members affirm the monotheistic faith in the lord god mazda, the creator of humanity. god finds expression in the holy family of father (the male creative principle, mother (the procreative female principle, and child (destiny/salvation. ha

on might be questioned by persian scholars. as a zoroastrian group, members affirm the monotheistic faith in the lord god mazda, the creator of humanity. god finds expression in the holy family of father (the male creative principle, mother (the procreative female principle, and child (destiny/salvation. hanish was born in leipzig, germany. when only a boy, he was supposed to have been taken to a persian monastery at math-el-kharman and taught every major art and science, including occultism. early in this century, hanish settled in chicago, where he founded mazdaznan. in 1916 he moved to los angeles. a european headquarters was established as a colony called aryana (admitting only white-skinned aryans) at herliberg, lake zurich. the mazdaznans believe that their task is to reclaim the ear

EXTRAORDINARY ENCOUNTERS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND OTHERWORLDY BEINGS

ir spaceships. they now reside on the moon and in flo a t i n g s t ru c t u res in a gravity neutral zone betwe e n e a rth and its satellite. see also: atlantis; lemuria further reading jessup, m. k, 1955. the case for the ufo. new york: citadel press, 1956. ufo and the bible. new york: citadel press, 1957. the expanding case for the ufo. new york: citadel press. jinns in traditional arabic and persian belief, jinns are demonic, shape-shifting entities. over the centuries, the idea evolved that a few jinns are good. there are five kinds of jinns, and only one has occasional benevolent qualities. typically, jinns take the shapes of insects, toads, scorpions, and other animals deemed unap- jinns 135 pealing or obnoxious. the tradition bears some resemblance to traditions of fairy folk in o

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

different locales. the naqshbandi take the name of their order from khaja bahaudin naqshband of central asia (1318- 1389, the qadiri from abdul qadir of gilan (1077-1166, the chishtiya from abu ishak chishti of syria, etc.25 all genuine 8- f e 3 orders have a record of their chain of spiritual transmission (silsilah) passed down from one spiritual preceptor, called a shaykh in arabic and a pir in persian, to another. all of the silsilah trace back to the original silsilah of the prophet mohammed through abu bakr or the fourth kalif ali. some of the chains of initiation are still anchored in living masters who transmit the genuine b rakha (blessing of spiritual potency) of mystical gnosis to their aspirants (mureed. others have become a name without a reality. congregations of sufis convene

to the original silsilah of the prophet mohammed through abu bakr or the fourth kalif ali. some of the chains of initiation are still anchored in living masters who transmit the genuine b rakha (blessing of spiritual potency) of mystical gnosis to their aspirants (mureed. others have become a name without a reality. congregations of sufis convene with their shaykhs in specially designated halls (persian, khanqah; arabic, zawiya; turkish, tekke. sufis are, with a few notable exceptions, devout muslims. yet, sufism is generally eschewed and viewed with suspicion by the sunnite and shiite islamic orthodox authorities. like the vast majority of mainstream muslims, sufis generally do not participate in or endorse the extreme agenda of radical ultra-orthodox fundamentalists. in addition to the

% the mystical worldview of sufism, as delineated in the qur an, is basically identical to the qabalistic worldview rooted in the torah. as with the qabalah, someone new to the study of sufism will find a plethora of specialized and abstract terminology used to describe its mystical worldview. the challenge is further exacerbated by the fact that there are equivalent words for sufi terminology in persian, arabic, and turkish. the sufis have their own version of the tree of life, names for the four worlds, terms for the various bodies or shells, and terms for states (hal) and stations of consciousness (maqam) that correspond closely to those in the mystical qabalah. the name for the divine presence dwelling among embodied souls in the worlds of matter, for instance, is called shekhinah in t

dren by his concubines east to the east country. 36 one interpretation of this passage holds that east country refers to an area in syria or jordan. another theory postulates that these children of abraham emigrated east to india over long established sea or overland trade routes, where they established the monotheistic religion of shiva/shakti long before the invasion of the aryans down from the persian steppes. the sea route could have gone through the gulf of aqaba, down the red sea, through the gulf of aden along the coast of yemen and oman, across the arabian sea to the mouth of the indus river, and up into the indus valley. in india, this religion is called tantra, and is often referred to in the west as the tantras. when the aryans invaded northern india in the fourteenth 8- f e 3 c

urahs (chapters) of varying length. master mohammed lived at a time when a substantial number of jews, christian, and sabaeans lived on the arabian peninsula among a general population of' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% idol worshipping arabs. master mohammed is thought to have had significant interaction with religious teachers from all of these groups, as well as, from the hanifites, and the highly educated persian zoroastrians who ruled many parts of the peninsula. a large amount of critical evidence, beyond the scope of this book, concludes that this interaction substantially impacted the content of the qur an. the jews had immigrated to the arabian peninsula via the well-traveled trade routes across the red sea long before master mohammed was born. they were largely centered in mecca and medina, a

urces. the hanifites were an arabian faith community largely concentrated in mecca, medina, and a few other cities, who had rejected idolatry previous to the birth of the prophet. they professed to be in search of the original religion of abraham. in the qur an, master mohammed repeatedly applies the term hanif to the disciples of the religion of abraham. before and during master mohammed s life, persian kings ruled many parts of the peninsula. the persian inhabitants were generally well educated, and their tales and songs became widespread among the arabian tribes. the poetic and narrative style of the qur an is strikingly different from the tanakh. the tanakh is a diverse anthology whose component pieces were written at different times for religious instruction by a number of different c

ter the diaspora. the pharisees maintained that, in addition to the written torah, god had handed down an oral tradition at mount sinai. they believed that the soul was immortal and that all actions in this world affected the person's future in the world to come. pingala (sanskrit: one of the two side channels on the chakric tree. corresponds to the column of the left on the qabalistic tree. pir (persian: title for the spiritual preceptor in sufism. pralaya (sanskrit: night: a solar night in which brahma sleeps. corresponds to the great flood in the torah. prana (sanskrit: vital energy: subtle energy responsible for all life. corresponds to ruach in hebrew and qi in chinese. prasadam (sanskrit: food that has been made holy by the touch of the divine; the ritual of offering food to the divi

FLY THE LIGHT

ousness and divinity, to then mutate and transform into something godlike. this model is loosely attributed to the averse or black tree of life known as black eden or the qlippoth. songs such as chaos unveiled and fleshstretcher with their violent patterns and machine like rhythms are attributed to the qlippothic sphere of geburah averse, the demon of the sphere is asmoday who origins are ancient persian as aeshma (demon of the wounding spear. the song angel of prostitution ii is connected with yesod- the moon and the averse sphere of lilith, the bride of satan who is represented of the instinctual, dark side of humanity. she was originally called az and had taught the fallen angels how to take form and copulate to produce dragon children in some gnostic and manichaean text. her divinity i

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

on this question of the egyptian elements in hermeticism (see 2 hermes trismegistus however, they were certainly not written in remotest antiquity by an all-wise egyptian priest, as the renaissance believed, but by various unknown authors, all probably greeks,1 and they contain popular greek philosophy of the period, a mixture of platonism and stoicism, combined with some jewish and probably some persian influences. they are very diverse, but they all breathe an atmosphere of intense piety. the asclepius purports to describe the religion of the egyptians, and by what magic rites and processes the egyptians drew down the powers of the cosmos into the statues of their gods. this treatise has come down to us through the latin translation formerly attributed to apuleius of madaura.2 the pimand

p. iff. m. w. bloomfield, the seven deadly sins, michigan, 1952, p. 342, and the references there given. festugiere allows hardly anything to it and concentrates almost entirely on the greek influences in the hermetica. a cautious summary by bloomfield (op. cit, p. 46) is as follows "these writings are chiefly the product of egyptian neoplatonists who were greatiy influenced by stoicism, judaism, persian theology and possibly by native egyptian beliefs, as well as, of course, by plato, especially the timaeus. they were perhaps the bible of an egyptian mystery religion, which possibly in kernel went back to the second century b.c" the mystery cult theory is opposed by festugiere, i, pp. 81 ff. 3 hermes trismegistus was highly organised and at peace. the pax romano, was at the height of its

ued with the idea (which the renaissance imbibed from them) that what is old is pure and holy, that the earliest thinkers walked more closely with the gods than the busy rationalists, their successors. hence the strong revival of pythagoreanism in this age. they also had the impression that what is remote and far distant is more holy1; hence their cult of the "barbarians, of indian gymnosophists, persian magi, chaldean astrologers, whose approach to knowledge was felt to be more religious than that of the greeks.2 in the melting-pot of the empire, in which all religions were tolerated, there was ample opportunity for making acquaintance with oriental cults. above all, it was the egyptians who were revered in this age. egyptian temples were still functioning, and devout seekers after religi

, ficino did not avoid getting into trouble for the libri de vita, as we learn from his apologia1 for that work. people had evidently been asking questions such as "is not marsilius a priest? what has a priest to do with medicine and astrology? what has a christian to do with magic and images" ficino counters by pointing out that in ancient times, priests always did medicine, mentioning chaldean, persian, and egyptian priests; that medicine is impossible without astrology; that christ himself was a healer. but above all he emphasises that there are two kinds of magic, one demonic magic which is illicit and wicked, the other natural magic, which is useful and necessary. the only kind of magic which he has practised or advised is the good and useful kind magia naturalis.2 how elegant, how ar

metic philosophy expounded by bruno in a speech at wittenberg to show the sequence of prisca magia, or occultism, within which he placed copernicus. it is highly significant that lucretius also comes into that genealogy, though i omitted him in the earlier quotation which i now give more fully. the temple of wisdom, says bruno, was built first among the egyptians and chaldeans; secondly among the persian magi, with zoroaster; thirdly by the indian gymnosophists; fourthly in thracia with orpheus; fifthly among the greeks with thales and others of the wise; sixthly amongst the italians by, amongst others, lucretius; seventhly among the germans by albertus magnus, cusanus, copernicus, palingenius.1 to my mind, this genealogy shows that just as he interpreted copernicanism as heralding the ret

FREEMASONS SATANISM AND SYMBOLISM

ches of the spirit that are symbolized by hidden treasure. the serpent is the life-force which determines birth and rebirth and hence it is connected with the wheel of life" cirlot, a dictionary of symbols, p. 286-288] albert pike gives us the explanation for these two masonic columns, both of which depict a serpent "serpents encircling rings and globes, and issuing from globes, are common in the persian, egyptian, chinese, and indian monuments. vishnu is represented reposing on a coiled serpent, whose folds form a canopy over him [pike, morals and dogma, teachings of the 25th degree, knight of the brazen serpent, p. 500] notice that the column on the left not only has a serpent encircling a globe, but notice also that the globe itself has wings. another source quotes h.g. wells as saying

the orient because it, too, embodies so many possible meanings [gary jennings, black magic, white magic, the dial press, 1964, p. 50; emphasis in original] does freemasonry adopt and use the symbolism of yin/yang? indeed, they do, but in a way as to hide the meaning form the "profane" listen to albert pike. the black and white pavement symbolizes "the good and evil, principles of the egyptian and persian creed. it is the warfare of michael and satan. light and shadow, which is darkness; day and night, freedom and despotism [morals and dogma, p. 14 "masons also use the two triangles to represent this idea of opposites. in short talk bulletin, a pamphlet which is to be read in the lodges, we are told that the triangles are symbolic of good and evil, day and night, the chinese yang and yin [d

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

he desired communion with god, he climbed to the summit of the mountain. 11 we will next turn to a modern example, that of baha u llah, the follower of the bab. in 1844 the bab, a young man of twenty-five and the son of a wool merchant, first proclaimed his message in shiraz. seven years later he was put to death at tabriz and his followers were persecuted for heresy. baha u llah, a wealthy young persian of teheran, became a follower of his, and in the neighbourhood of baghdad spent eleven years during two of which he hid himself so completely in solitude in the mountains that ghis own followers did not know his retreat h. on his return his fame soon spread and no attempt to stamp out babism 12 succeeded. in persia itself the persecution that raged intermittently up to the beginning of the

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

henever a goddess is observed with horns--emblems which by the way always indicate masculine power--it is to denote the fact that she is androgynous, or that within her is embodied the complete deity--the dual reproductive energy throughout nature. the "figure becomes the emblem of divinity and power"[28 [28] ancient faiths embodied in ancient names, vol. i, p. 311. mithras--the savior, the great persian deity which was worshipped as the "preserver" was both female and male. among the representations of this divinity which appear in the townley collection in the british museum, is one in which it is figured in its female character, in the act of killing the bull. the divinity baal was both female and male. the god of the jews in an early stage of their career was called baal. the oriental

reign of the elements, the primary progeny of time, the most exalted of the deities, the first of the heavenly gods and goddesses, whose single deity the whole world venerates in many forms, with various rites and various names. the egyptians worship me with proper ceremonies and call me by my true name, queen isis" isis, we are told, is called myrionymus, or goddess with 10,000 names. she is the persian mithra, which is the same as buddha, minerva, venus, and all the rest. faber admits that the female principle was formerly regarded as the soul of the world. he says "isis was the same as neith or minerva; hence the inscription at sais was likewise applied to that goddess. athenagoras informs us that neith or the athene of the greeks was supposed to be wisdom passing and diffusing itself t

ory of mankind the tower of babel was erected has not been ascertained, but the great antiquity of chaldea is no longer questioned. sir henry rawlinson, in the royal geographical journal says "when chaldea was first colonized, or at any rate when the seat of empire was first established there, the emporium of trade seems to have been at ur of the chaldees, which is now 150 miles from the sea, the persian gulf having retired nearly that distance before the sediment brought down by the euphrates and tigris" to which baldwin adds "a little reflection on the vast period of time required to effect geological changes so great as this will enable us to see to what a remote age in the deeps of antiquity we must go to find the beginning of civilization in the mesopotamian valley"[53 [53] prehistori

ocess of time became the agency which is ever warring with good and which is constantly destroying that which the latter brings forth. we are informed by forlong that "some derive our term devil from niphl or nevil, the wind that blasts or obstructs the growth of corn; and it used sometimes to be written th' evil, which is d'evil or devil" it was "this dualistic heresy which separated the zend or persian branch of the aryans from their vedic brethren, and compelled them to emigrate to the westward"[91 [91] see rawlinson, notes on the early history of babylon. the ancient philosophical truth that matter is eternal, and that the destruction of vegetable life through the agency of cold was one of the necessary processes of re-generation, or the renewal of life, had evidently been lost sight o

ch all things were created. they taught also the doctrine of a resurrection and that of the immortality of the soul. it was at this time that they originated, or at least propounded, the doctrine of hell and the devil, a belief exactly suited to the then weakened mental condition of mankind, and from which humanity has not yet gained sufficient intellectual and moral strength to free itself. this persian devil, which had become identified with winter or with the absence of the sun's rays, was now aryhman, or the "powers of darkness" and was doubtless the source whence sprang the personal devil elaborated at a later age by laotse in china. as the jews had no writings prior to the time of ezra or jeremiah, it is now believed that many of the doctrines incorporated in their sacred books were

which had become identified with winter or with the absence of the sun's rays, was now aryhman, or the "powers of darkness" and was doubtless the source whence sprang the personal devil elaborated at a later age by laotse in china. as the jews had no writings prior to the time of ezra or jeremiah, it is now believed that many of the doctrines incorporated in their sacred books were borrowed from persian, indian, and egyptian sources. resurrection from the dead, or the resurrection of the body, was for hundreds of years prior to the birth of christ an established article of egyptian and persian faith, while spiritual regeneration, symbolized by the outward typification of "being born again" was the beginning of a new life and an admission to the heavenly state. in the khordah avesta we hav

t--a belief which takes away man's responsibility for his own misdeeds. chapter xiii. christianity a continuation of paganism. by comparing the sacred writings of the persians with the history of the events connected with the conception and birth of the mythical christ as recorded in the new testament, the fact is observed that the latter appears to be closely connected with the central figure of persian mythology. it has been found that the visit of the magi, who, following a star, were guided to the spot where the young child lay, was the fulfilment of a persian prophecy, which is to be found in the life of zarathustra as recorded in the zendavesta, while the subsequent history of the same personage is seen to be almost identical with that of the hindoo sun-god chrishna. according to the

of a crucified savior found in ireland and scotland in connection with the figure of a lamb, a bull, or an elephant, the latter of which is not a native of those countries, shows that they do not represent christ, but a crucified sun-god worshipped by the inhabitants of the british islands ages before the birth of the great judean philosopher and teacher. it is plain that crishna of india and the persian mithra furnished the copy for the jesus of the romish church, all of whom mean one and the same thing--the second person in the solar trinity. by the jews, who attempted to ignore the female principle, this god is called the "lord of hosts" and "god of sabaoth" which astronomically means god of the stars and constellations, and astrologically the creator or producer of the multitudes. of t

f december, saying that "they could better perform their rites when the heathen were busy with theirs" we are assured that the early christians no less than the maji acknowledged mithras as the first emanation from ormuzd, or the god of light. he was the savior which in an earlier age had represented returning life--that which follows the cold of winter. it was doubtless while they worshipped the persian mithras that many of the so-called christians gathered their first ideas concerning the immortality of the soul and of future rewards and punishments. the analogy existing between the festivals, seasons, mythoses, etc, of the various incarnations of the sun which were worshipped by the early historic nations and those belonging to christianity is too striking to be the result of chance. bu

and round him were finally ranged all the myths of solo-phallic worship which had prevailed under the adoration of crishna at a time when the higher truths underlying pure nature-worship had been forgotten. chapter xv. christianity in ireland. according to the accounts in the new testament, the wise men of the east, meaning persia, had foretold the coming of christ. the fulfilment of the ancient persian prophecy as applied to jesus, together with the reference to the "star" which the maji saw, and which went before them till it came and stood over where the young child lay, furnishes a striking illustration of the manner in which eastern legends and ancient sacred writings are interwoven with the doctrines relating to christianity. in the sacred books of the east it is prophesied that "af

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

n the king or pawn was moved. shatranji of persia and araby appearstohave become well known in persia about 1500a.d.we then find that the game became a contest between two players and two of the four kings have become ministers or queens.theearly title was mantri or farzin or firz, hence, it is supposed, comes vierge for queen. the castle and bishop exchanged places. this game is described by the persian post firdausi in1imanuscript dated 1486.thepersians introduced the change of rank in a pawnuponreaching its8thsquare. in the third, or european, epoch the modern game of chess was developed, two only joining in the game.itwas laid down that the queen should stand on her own colour and that each player should have a white square at his right hand. this brings the two queens opposite to each

es of the mosaic law, hadbutlittle to fear from their attacks, for over such the angel guards prompted by jehovah kept a strict guard.theoldest canonical books of the old testament do not seem to realize any personal great enemy of mankind in active opposition to god, but in the later volumes that idea takes form.thecaptivity of the jews seems to have tainted their faith, and the influence of the persian dualism became then apparent. in the book of job there is a definite attribution to an evil spirit of132themagical masona power to contest with god for influence over man.thenotion is further extended in the prophecies of zechariah.fromthat time satan became not only an adversary of divine powerbutwas acknowledged as the 'tempter. ahrimanes was the name of the persians for the great evil s

d calledsibulliakochresmoiorsibyllina oracula,by johannes opsopeeus: the oracles are given in greek and latin. the famous sibyls mentioned in greek and latin literature were: the delphic sibyl: the erythrrean; the cimmerian; the samian, who was named phyto; the cumana at cumre in italy who was named amalthea, she is mentioned by ovid and by virgil in the jeneid; the hellespontine; the lybian; the persian; the phrygian; and the tiburtine. some old greek authors attributed the origin of the sibyls to egypt and in the times of the ancient pharaohs, there were certainly famous divinatory shrines at heliopolis, buto, thebes and ammon in libya. several of the great christian authors such as jerome, chrysostom and augustine, believed in these egyptian oracles.theaugurs in ancient rome the augurs

severe rules of prayer and procedure. as to mackenzie's 'hermetic brethren of egypt' or of 'luxor, there is not a scrap of reliable evidence that the society ever existed, and the name itself was never heard of, so far as i can find, until the nineteenth century. that there were sodalities among the priests of ancient pharaonic egypt may no doubt be true,butafter these priest-kings there followed persian, greek, and mohammedan governance, and it is not at all probable that hermetic societies survived through these periods. blavatsky mentions this brotherhood, but states that its origin was from looksur, in beluchistan: she adds that it has many ramifications in the u.s.a. i have heard of a group of persons who adopted this title about 1880 in yorkshire, and that their chief was exposed and

britain and nor255 mandy has.been inferred. i have upon a former occasion expressed my dissent from the assertion that modern freemasonry has relation to the essene fraternity, which practised a form of ultra-strict judaism, and whose members were celibates who lived in almost monkish seclusion about the time of the establishment of the christian religion. in these notes upon the cult of mithra (persian, mithras (greek) or mitra (sanscrit, the genius of the heavenly light, i shall show that this ancient persian religion spread in the course of time to europe, and has left its traces in ruined temples and sculptures, which have been found in italy, germany, france, and even in england.ingreece its remains are few, because the greeks hated the persians, with whom they had many wars, and so

itra (sanscrit, the genius of the heavenly light, i shall show that this ancient persian religion spread in the course of time to europe, and has left its traces in ruined temples and sculptures, which have been found in italy, germany, france, and even in england.ingreece its remains are few, because the greeks hated the persians, with whom they had many wars, and so they did not tend to adopt a persian cult. it was not only a form of faith and rule of conduct openly professed, but it also gave secret initiation to its priests and more learned worshippers.resemblances of freemasonry to mithra 245this institution made use of secret temples and mysterious ceremonial of a religious and moral nature, was of pre-christian origin, and had as part of its system a mode of progress by grade or sta

o be found in the works offrankcumont,textesetmonumentsfiguresrelatifsauxmysteresdemithra,1896-99, andlesmysteresde mithra1913. cumont was a professor at the university of ghent. a summary of recent discoveries and opinions has been written by f. legge, and also a valuable essay by h. stuart jones.itwas generally stated that the worship of mithra originated246themagical masonfrom zend, iranian or persian mazdeism, a religion founded by zoroaster, also called zarathrustra, who was an inspired sage about whom nothing definite is known,butit is considered that he flourished about 700b.c.theavesta or zendavesta is the sacred volume associated with this religion. modern researches have led to the opinion that the cult of mithras as a sun god must have preceded the foundation of the zoroastrian

, in his work upon the gnostics, looks upon these as the active thoughts of god. the evil being ahriman also prod255 uced a numerous progeny of wicked spirits, but he was cast down by ormuzd from his high estate. he is comparable to the christian ideal of satan as the devil. ormuzd, the creator, formed the world and set life upon it; the same zend word meant both 'life' and a 'bull, which was the persian symbol of this world. ahriman destroyed the first world-being,butfrom its elements ormuzd formed the first human pair; these were tempted by ahriman (or arimanes) and fell, and so their descendants were ever after exposed to the malice of ahriman, the evil being, as the great tempter. this scheme of thought obviously led to the idea that a saving grace must be put into action, and the sun

e wordmitramalso meant 'friend. many students have associated mithra with apollo, the sun248themagical masongod, phcebus, hyperion, phanes and dionysos of the greeks, as well as with fire and light as sources of benevolent force and energy; he is distinctly related to the indian vedic varuna, god of the heavens- the greek ouranos and the chaldee shamas. as the cult of mithra arising anew from the persian faith spread into europe, the great first powers appeartohave been gradually lost sight of, while the saviour mithras became exalted into the position of godhead; in this manner mithraism rose to be a separate religion, gave rise to a form of mystery worship, developed a priesthood and formulated a system of secret initiation of which only a few titles and sketchy outlines have come down t

pper part of the scene.resemblances of freemasonry to mithra 251thetauroctonic sculpture at osterburken is considered the best example extant. in some sculptures these scenes are supplemented by zodiacal figures, by kronos or time, by atlas, oceanus, the fates and zeus with his thunderbolt. at one period the goddess anaitis (astarte, aphrodite) was associated with mithras in sculptures.theancient persian work namedbundahish,which gives a theory of cosmogony after the zoroastrian ideals throws some light upon these mythical scenes. it narrates that the first creation of ormuzd was of goshurun, the heavenly bull, that this bull was killed by the evil ahriman, and that from its side came gayomort, the first man; from its tail all vegetable life was produced, from its blood wine was created, a

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

ad their soothsayers and diviners. in spite of the imprecations against sorcery contained in the law of moses, the jews, disregarding these warnings, caught the contagion and mingled the sacred tradition they had inherited with magical ideas partly borrowed from other races partly of their own devising. at the same time the speculative side of the jewish cabala borrowed from the philosophy of the persian magi, of the neo-platonists, and of the neo-pythagoreans. there is, then, some justification for the anti-cabalists' contention that what we know to-day as the cabala is not of purely jewish origin.25 there is a verse in the qur'an that refers to this topic. god says that the israelites learned satanic sorcery rituals from sources outside their own religion: they follow what the satans rec

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

lamity on the society when krishnamurti rejected the role of world messiah. it is interesting however, to see how occultists and christians can both misinterpret the equinox of the gods and look for physical rather than spiritual manifestations. gurdjieff gurdjieff, like blavaskty and crowley, is another character than is either loved or loathed. he was born in 1872 in alexandropol on the russian-persian border and was initiated as a child into the yezidi cult. this was followed by a twelve year exploration of asia, europe and africa. his first teaching took place in the institute for the harmonious development of mankind which he founded in russia, this institute was later moved to france due to the intervention of world war i. the significance of gurdjieff was that he sensed that the tim

GRAHAM HANCOCK FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

and religion, p. 175. graham hancock fingerprints of the gods 147 take the case of oannes, for example. oannes is the greek rendering of the sumerian uan, the name of the amphibious being, described in part ii, believed to have brought the arts and skills of civilization to mesopotamia.25 legends dating back at least 5000 years relate that uan lived under the sea, emerging from the waters of the persian gulf every morning to civilize and tutor mankind.26 is it a coincidence that uaana, in the mayan language, means he who has his residence in water ?27 let us also consider tiamat, the sumerian goddess of the oceans and of the forces of primitive chaos, always shown as a ravening monster. in mesopotamian tradition, tiamat turned against the other deities and unleashed a holocaust of destruc

marks without demur, turning a blind eye to their orthographic and other peculiarities. why the double standard? could it have been because the information contained in the quarry marks conformed strictly to orthodox opinion that the great pyramid had been built as a tomb for khufu? whereas the 25 james henry breasted, ancient records of egypt: historical documents from the earliest times to the persian conquest, reprinted by histories and mysteries of man ltd, london, 1988, pp. 83-5. 26 ibid, p. 85. 27 ibid, p. 84. 28 ibid, and travellers key to ancient egypt, p. 139. graham hancock fingerprints of the gods 295 information in the inventory stela contradicted that opinion? overview by seven in the morning santha and i had walked far out into the desert to the south-west of the giza pyrami

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

d here a gaelic rite described by armstrong seems to furnish a valuable clue: a man is wrapt in the warm skin of an animal just killed, he is then laid down beside a waterfall in the forest, and left alone; by the roar of the waves, it is thought, the future is revealed to him, and this kind of divination is called tagliairn. the' forse' too was a sacred spot, as well as the forking of roads: 1 a persian superstition' sitting down at the junction of four cross-roads on a wedu. nif,'lit, and applj-iuf' to yourself every sentence spoken by the passers and considering it as a good or bad omen' atkinson, p. 11. 12- if after supper on christm. eve a girl shakes out the tablecloth at a crossway, a man will meet her, and give her good even. of the same height and figure will her future husband be

GRIMM TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 2 1883 COMPLETE

both tree and wood, askr the ash-tree (fraxinus; the relation of askr to the isco of heroic legend has already been discussed, p. 350. if by the side of askr, the man, there stood 1 e femoribus natus= uravya, uruja, bopp s gloss. 54a. 2 majer s mythol. taschenbuch. 2, 4. 572 creation. an estcja, the woman, the balance would be held more evenly; they would be related as meshia and meshiane in the persian myth, man and woman, who likewise grew out of plants. but the edda calls them askr and embla: embla, emla, signifies a busy woman, ohg. emila, as in fiur-emila (focaria, a cinderella (graff 1, 252, from amr, ambr, ami, ambl (labor assiduus, whence also the hero s name amala (p. 370. as regards askr however, it seems worthy of notice, that legend makes the first king of the saxons, aschanes

istian too. also: f stigen ze himel uf der scelden berc, climb tlie mount of bliss, wackern. basle mss. p. 5. the christian faith tells of two places of bliss, a past and a future. one is where the departed dwell with god; the other, forfeited by our first parents sin, is represented as a garden, eden. both are translated trapasetcro? in the lxx, whence paradisus in the vulg; this is said to be a persian word, originally denoting garden or park, which is confirmed by the armenian bardez (hortus. the only passage we have the advantage of consulting in ulph, 2 cor. 12, 4, has vaggs, the ohg. wane (campus amoenus, hortus. our ohg. translators either retain paradisi, fragm. theot. 41, 21, or use wunnigarto, gl. jun. 189. 217. hymn 21, 6. wunnogarto, n. ps. 37, 5; conf. thaz wunnisama feld/ 0

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

neith at sais became one of the most important temples in egypt. according to a later tradition, the secret of how the soul can unite with god was inscribed in hieroglyphs in the sanctuary at sais.75 at this time a script known as demotic was introduced to write texts in the contemporary form of the egyptian language. it soon replaced hieratic for most purposes. persians and greeks in 525 bce the persian king, cambyses, conquered egypt and executed most of the egyptian royal family. it is probably only a legend that cambyses showed his contempt for egyptian gods by stabbing the sacred apis bull (see deities, themes, and concepts. the persians did not try to impose their own religion on egypt, and they were willing to honor egyptian deities. the innovative reliefs in the temple of hibis in

egyptian royal family. it is probably only a legend that cambyses showed his contempt for egyptian gods by stabbing the sacred apis bull (see deities, themes, and concepts. the persians did not try to impose their own religion on egypt, and they were willing to honor egyptian deities. the innovative reliefs in the temple of hibis in the western desert were mainly carved under darius i, one of the persian kings who made up the twenty-seventh dynasty (see figure 33. the reliefs include some very unusual forms of deities. these forms and the epithets used in the captions, such as atum scarab who appeared at the first time, help to define the deities mythological roles.76 it was during the first period of persian rule that the greek historian herodotus of helicarnassus (c. 484 420 bce) seems t

was begun at behbeit el-hagar for the goddess isis, whose cult was becoming increasingly important. later legend claimed that it was the failure of king nectanebo ii (360 343 bce) to complete a temple for the god onuris-shu that led to his defeat when the persians invaded again.80 this time the persians seem to have punished the egyptians by destroying some important temples. the second period of persian rule was brief because the persian empire was soon under attack from the greeks, led by the young king of macedonia, alexander the great. alexander liberated egypt in 332 bce and was crowned king in the temple of ptah at memphis. during his stay in egypt, he declared himself a living god and founded the city of alexandria on the mediterranean coast. after alexander s death, one of his gene

is soul had passed into the first apis bull and was then preserved in each new bull. according to plutarch, each apis bull was believed to be miraculously generated by the light of the moon. herodotus, on the other hand, recorded that each apis was conceived when a lightning bolt hit his mother. herodotus also related that an apis bull of the sixth century bce was stabbed to death by the invading persian king, cambyses. the king is said to have been driven mad as a punishment for this sacrilegious act. plutarch also referred to a legend about the slaughter of the apis bull by cambyses. he says that after the bull was killed, its corpse was thrown out of the temple. no carrion eaters would come near the holy animal, except dogs. by devouring the body of the apis bull, dogs lost their place

wned for their virility, and one of banebdjedet s epithets was lord of sexual pleasure. a stela from a chapel in the ramesseum complex records that the god ptah took the form of banebdjedet to sleep with a mortal woman. the son that resulted was the future pharaoh, rameses ii. greek writers reported that a male goat was honored as a fertility god at mendes and identified with the greek god pan. a persian king of the fourth century bce is alleged to have gone mad after sacking the temple and eating the sacred goat. the sexual aspect of the cult at mendes made it particularly disliked by early christians. banebdjedet s form as a ram or goat-headed man was reinterpreted as a devil figure who entered western tradition as the horned king of the witches. see also heryshef; imhotep; khnum; osiris

t, and her image sometimes surmounts the scales. if, like ra, the dead person had maat in his or her heart, the scales would balance and the deceased would be declared true of voice or justified (see figure 7. a hymn from the time when egypt was occupied by the persians evokes the beautiful face of maat shining from the heart of ra. the goddess is urged to reside in the tongue and the head of the persian king, so that he will do maat. during the greco-roman period, maat seems to have lost her central place in egyptian religion, and some of her functions were taken over by isis. see also birds; isis; kings and princes; shu and tefnut; thoth 160 handbook of egyptian mythology references and further reading: e. hornung. the concept of maat. in idea into image: essays on ancient egyptian thoug

HEKAS

middle-eastern tribal group, preserve a rite called the sabz which means 'the making green of things; they also sacrifice a cockerel at dawn to mark the liminal edge of night: a custom which has become a glyph of a certain arcanum in sabbatic lore. esbat- the witches' lesser rite of meeting where each initiate gives account of their recent work to the master and mistress of the circle; there is a persian word identical esbat, meaning 'to prove' or 'to give account. baphomet- the 'idol' said to have been worshipped by the templars. it's form was that of a goat's head with a torch between the horns and thus is identical to the sabbatic goat: an icon used in sabbatic cult to denote certain arcana. in arabic the word is analogous to aby-fi-hamat-'the black head of wisdom' or 'seat of knowledge

ll in time unfold, revealing here but a fragment of it's effect in disseminating knowledge- techniques of specific form and function- through the identification between correspondent symbols that transcends cultural division and permits the timely vessel of environment to serve as the silent host of power. further evidence may be seen in the practices of the sect known as the revellers and in the persian magical sect known as the maskarae (from whence the word 'mask, both of whom are descended from sufic lineages and whose connections to practices classed as belonging to the craft will grant the enquirer a bridge between present-day recensions of the cultus and it's counterparts in the middle-east. it should not however be concluded that this line of enquiry is sufficient to explain our ow

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

no sooner do we arrive-either by study, or by being taught by someone who knows-at their inner meaning, than we find, almost in every case, that it expresses some great truth in nature. q. we have heard of a golden age that was, and what you describe would be a golden age to be realized at some future day. when shall it be? a. not before humanity, as a whole, feels the need of it. a maxim in the persian javidan khirad says: truth is of two kinds-one manifest and self-evident; the other demanding incessantly new demonstrations and proofs. it is only when this latter kind of truth becomes as universally obvious as it is now dim, and therefore liable to be distorted by sophistry and casuistry; it is only when the two kinds will have become once more one, that all people will be brought to se

resent principle, this can hardly be otherwise; nature being thus simply the physical aspect of deity, or its body. parabrahm (sans) a vedantin term meaning "beyond brahm" the supreme and the absolute principle, impersonal and nameless. in the vedas it is referred to as that. paranirvana (sans) in the vedantic philosophy the highest form of nirvana-beyond the latter. parsis or parsees the present persian followers of zoroaster, now settled in india, especially in bombay and guzerat; sun and fire worshipers. one of the most intelligent and esteemed communities in the country, generally occupied with commercial pursuits. there are between 50,000 and 60,000 now left in india where they settled some 1,000 years ago. personality the teachings of occultism divide man into three aspects-the divin

ISIS UNVEILED

india. digitizecoy google the thdoties op vabiois reugions 4 in the temple of ghoripuri; thousands of dogmatic br&hmanas worship these attributes of the vedic deity, while the severe monks and nuns of buddhistic tibet recognise but the sacred trinity of the three cardinal virtues: poverty, chastiiy, and obedience, professed by the christians, practised by the buddhists and some hind&s alone. the persian triplicate deity also consists of three persons, onnazd, mithra, and ahriman" it is that principle, of which the author of the chatdaie summary saith "they concewe there u one principle of all thinge, and dedare it to be one and good" the chinese idol sanpao consists of three equal in all respects' and the peruvians "sui^kmed their tanga-tanga to be one in three, and three in one" says fab

lance and shxnow of something that is in ike sphere, while that resplendent thing [the prototype of the boul-^irit] remaineth in unchangeable condition, it is weu also with its shadow. but when the resplendent one removeth far from its shadow life removeth from the latter to a distance. and yet that very hght is the shadow of something still more resplendent than itself" thus speaks desdslir, the persian book of shet the prophet zirtusht' thereby showing its identity of esoteric doctrines with those of the greek philosophers. the second statement of plato confirms our belief that tiie mysteries digitizecoy google 114 isis unveiled of the ancients were identical vitb the initiations, as practised now among the buddhists and the hindi! adepts. the highest visions, the most trvihful, are prod

ts it entirely; for the first two chapters have sufficiently been proved to be later forgeries. b^tism is one of the oldest rites and was practised by all the nations in their mysteries, as sacred ablutions. dunlap seems to derive the name of the ntaari from nazah, sprinkling" bahak-zivo is the genins who called the world into existence* out of the 'dark water' say the nazarenes; and bicbardson's persian, arabic, and english lexicon asserts that the word bahdk means 'raining" but the bahak-zieo of the nazarenes cannot be traced so easily to bacchus, who "was the rain-god" for the nazara were the greatest opponents of bacchus- worship" bacchus is brought up by the hyodes, the rain-nymphs" saya preller* and dunlap ahows furthermore* that at the conclusion of the religious mysteries the pries

233. 277. sod. myh. adoni. p. 79. 278. l. prdkr: oneaitae uyutalogu. i. p. 415. 270. sdd, mytl adoni. p. 46, if. digitizecoy google variods modes of bafush 135 tbe same worship of the i%allic gods bacchus, baa] or adon, lacchos lac or jehovah; but even among them there had always been a clasa of initiated adepts. later the character of this pleba was modified by a^yrian conquests; and finally the persian colonizations superim- posed the pharisean and eastern ideas and usages, from which the old teatament and the mosaic institutes were derived. the asmonean priest-kings promulgated the canon of the old tchament in contradis- tinction to vtx apocrypha or secret books of the alexandrian jews kabalists" till john hyrcanus they were asideans (chasidim) and pharisees (p&rsts, but then thegr beca

uently adopted his mode of worship. he seems utterly ignorant of the nei^bors of western iran, the medes, the assyri- ans, the persians, and others. if we had no other evidences of the great antiquity of the zoroastriau religion than the discovery of the blunder committed by some scholars in our own century, who regarded king vtataspa (gushtasp) as identical with the father of darius, whereas the persian tradition points directly to vistaspa as the last of the line of kuaiuan princes who ruled in bactriana, it ought to be enough, for the assyrian conquest of bactriana took place 1200 years b. c* therefore it is but natural that we should see in the appellation of zoroaster not a name but a generic term, whose significance must be left to philologists to agree upon. guru, in sanskrit, is a

tuum, as he spells it, and assured his readers that claudius banished him for the disturbance he made among the jews* finally, and to return agaio to the nasart, zaratus^ is mentioned by niny in the fouowing words "he was zoroaster and ntaaret" as ztwoaster is called prituseps of the magi, and nazar signifies separated or consecrated, is nosor not a hebrew rendering of magf volney beheves so. the persian word na-zaruan means millions of years, and refers to the chaldaean 'ancient of days' hence the name of the ntesara or naza- renes, who were consecrated to the service of the supreme one god, the kabalistic ain-s(^h, or the ancient of days, the 'aged of the aged' but the word ntasar may also be found in india. in hindustani maar is sight, internal or mpematutol vision; nasar handrl means f

ged of the aged' but the word ntasar may also be found in india. in hindustani maar is sight, internal or mpematutol vision; nasar handrl means fas- cination, a mesmeric or magical spell; and naxaran is the word for si^t- keing or vision. pnrfessot wuder thinks that as the word zemana is nowhere to be found in the avetta but only in the later parst books, it came from the mayans, who composed the persian sacred caste in the sassan period, but were originally assjnians "turan, of the poets" be says "i con- sider to be aturia, or assyria; and that zohak (az-dahoka, dei-okes, or astyages, the serpent-king, was aiisjrrian, median, and bai^lonian when those countries were united" this opinion does not, however, in the least affect our statement that the secret doctrines of the magi, of the pre

it was from ephesus that spread nearly all the gnoiia which antagonized so fiercely the ireoaean dogmas; and still it was ephesus, with her numerous collateral branches of the great college of the essenes, which proved to be the hot- bed of all the kabalistic speculations brought by the tanaim from the captivity "in ephesus" says j. matter "the notions of the jewish- egyptian school, and the semi-persian speculations of the kabaliats bad then recently come to swell the vast conflux of grecian and asiatic doctrines; so there is no wonder that teaches should have sprung up there who strove to combine the religion newly preadied by the apostle with the ideas there so long established* had not the christians burdened themselves with the ravdalunu at a little nation, and accepted the jehovah of

een badly-htpomd ittuart, in the chcui "seven figum" which she bore "witlesb" codex ntaaraetu, i, p. 179. juitia martyr (boruuor/ addrai to tht otmiu, xziii) evidently adtqria thii idea, for be tell* lu of "toe owred propheti, who tay that one and the kuoe tptril it divided ^to* n qiiriti [ptiemitaki. in the apocal^se the holy spirit ii subdivided into "ttrtn ipiriti be- fore the thioqc" from the persian mithraic mode of classifying. 417a. tlu ghoifia, p. 102. 418. this certainly looks like the "jetuoiu god" of the jewa. 41q, it is the elmnt (plural who create adam, and do not wish man to beoome digitizecoy google 188 isis unveiled heaveuty mother, nunikos, wishing to deprive dda-baoth of the power with which she had unwittingly endowed him, infused into man a celestial spark the spirit. i

latter, full of jealousy, cast down his eyes upon the lowest stratum of matter, and begot a potency in the form of a serpent, whom they [ophites] call his son. eve, obeying him as the son of god, was persuaded to eat of the tree of knowledge" it is a self-evident fact that the serpent of the genesis, who appears suddenly and without any preliminary introduction, must have been the antitype of the persian arch-devs, whose head is askmog, the "two- footed serpent of lies" if the bii -serpent had been deprived of his limbs before he had tempted woman unto sin, why should god specify as a punishment that he ^ould go "upon bis belly? nobody supposes that he walked upon the extremity of his tail. this controversy about the supremacy of jehovah, between the pres- byters and fathers on the one han

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

wreaths, the spires, the stars, the spots, the cascades, and the mighty falls of it; where the roar, when it grows high in imperial masterdom, is as that of niagara. think what it can do, what it is. watch the trail of sparks, struck, as in that spouting arch, from the metal shoes of the trampling horse. it is as a letter of the great alphabet. the familiar london streets, even, can give thee the persian s god: though in thy pleasures, and in thy commerce-operations, thou so oft forgettest thine own god. whence liberated are those sparks? as stars, afar off, of a whole sky of flame; sparks, deep down in possibility, though close to us; great in their meaning, though, small in their show; as distant single ships of whole fiery fleets; animate children of, in thy human conception, a dreadful

illumination) denied. the death and descent of balder into the hell of the scandinavians may be supposed to be the purgatory of the human unit (or the god-illuminate, from the light (through the god-dark phases of being, back into its native light. balder was the scandinavian sun-god, and the same as the egyptian osiris, the greek hercules, bacchus, and phoebus, or apollo, the indian crishna, the persian mithras, the aten of the empires of insular asia; or, even of the sidonians, the athyr or ashtaroth. the presences of all these divinities indeed, of all gods were of the semblance of fire; and we recognise, as it were, the mark of the foot of them, or of the impersonated fire, in the countless uprights, left, as memorials, in the great ebb of the ages (as waves) to nations in the latter d

y of the highest and most sacred kind. we find it in all countries, east, west, north, and south; in the old equally as in the new world. from whence should this strange and unexplainable rite come, lights on christian altars. 109 and what should it mean? as, indeed, what should mean the display of bright fire at all in the mysteries, egyptian, cabiric, scandinavian, eleusinian, etrurian, indian, persian, primal american, tartarian, phoenician, or celtic, from the earliest of time until this very modem, instant, english day of candles on altars, and of the other kindred religious high-church lightings? respecting which there rankleth such scandal, and intensified! such purposeless babble, such daily dispute! what should all this inveterate ritualistic (as it is absurdly called) controversy

hings spiritual, the nature of religious rites. 119 between body and spirit, between this world and the next world, between the spiritualising thither and the substantiating hither, trans being the transit. the whole word, if not the whole meaning, may be accepted in this roman- catholic sense of transubstantiation, or the making of miracle. never idolatry but idea, recognising and acknowledging. persian talisman. chapter the fourteenth. can evidence be depended upon? examination of hume s reasoning. ur evidence for the truth of the christian religion is less than the evidence for the truth of our senses; because, even in the first authors of our religion, it was no greater. it is evident it must diminish in passing from them to their disciples; nor can any one rest such confidence in thei

s represented by the planet jupiter (zeus, as lord of theworlds* these are the two chiefmetals of the alchemists, and the two chief mystic symbols of the rosicrucians red is blazoned by the old priestly heralds, or augurs, by the name of the planet mars vert (or verd, and argent, silver (hermes, or thoth, ortaut, orluna, orastarte, indifferently, are represented by the planetvenus and by themoon. persian fire-tower. chapter the twentieth. the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman and medi val monuments. hough fire is an element in which everything inheres, and of which it is the life, still, according to the abstruse and unexplained ideas of the rosicrucians, it is itself another element, in a second non-terrestrial element, or inner, non-physical, ethereal fire, in which the first

of the legion of honour. the saffron robe of hymen is of the colour of the flame of fire. the bride, in ancient days, was covered with a veil called the flammeum; unless made under this, no vow was considered sacred. the ancients swore, not by the altar, but by the flame of fire which was upon the altar. yellow, or flame-colour, was the colour of the ghebers, or guebres, or fire-worshippers. the persian lilies are yellow; and here will be remarked a connection between this fact of the yellow of the persian lilies and the mystic symbols in various parts of our book. mystic rites, and the symbolical lights, which mean the divinity of fire, abound at candlemas-day (february 2d, or the feast of the purification; in the torches borne at weddings, and in the typical flame-brandishing at marriag

ry into the hermetic mystery; with a dissertation on the more celebrated of the alchemical philosophers. this book was published in london; but it is now extinct, having been bought up for suppression, as we believe by the author s friends after his decease, who probably did not wish him to be supposed to be mixed up in such out-of-theway inquiries. the dragon of china. 203 the vedas describe the persian religion (fire-worship) as having come from upper egypt. the mysteries celebrated within the recesses of the hypogea (caverns or labyrinths) were precisely of that character which is called freemasonic, or cabiric. the signification of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a desideratum. selden has missed it; so have origen and sophocles. strabo, too, and montfaucon, have been equ

ecesses of the hypogea (caverns or labyrinths) were precisely of that character which is called freemasonic, or cabiric. the signification of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a desideratum. selden has missed it; so have origen and sophocles. strabo, too, and montfaucon, have been equally astray. hyde was the only one who had any idea of its composition when he declared that it was a persian word, somewhat altered from gabri or guebri, and signifying fire-worshippers (see o brien s round towers of ireland, 1834, p. 354) pococke, in his india in greece, is very sagacious and true in his arguments; but he tells only half the story of the myths in his supposed successful divestment of them of all unexplainable character, and of exterior supernatural origin. he supposes that all t

s. all the minarets and towers in the east display in the peculiar curves of their summits the influence of the same phallic idea, as an attentive examination will prove. there seems to be little or no reason to doubt that the pillars-stones. 217 much-disputed origin of the pointed gothic arch, or lancetshaped arch, and the saracenic or moorish horseshoe arch, fig. 79. round tower, peru, fig. 80. persian round tower (from hanway) fig. 81. round tower, central america. is the union and blending of the two generative figures, namely, the discus or round, and the upright and ver- fig. 82. mudros of phoenicia (dr. hyde) fig. 83. mahody of elephanta (capt. pyke) fig. 84. muidhr of inismurry. fig. 85. pillar-stone, hill of tara. tical, or "phallic' shape, as indicated in the diagrams on pp. 222

t tivoli; rams horns for volutes fig. 197. temple of ellora and bheems-chlori (mokundra pass. fig. 198. india and greece (similar capitals. fig. 199. greek corinthian: choragic monument, athens. corinthian, ionic, and composite capitals, a close affinity will be remarked with examples of capitals with horns or 252 the rosicrucians. volutes from the temple of ellora, in india, and other indian and persian temples: placed under, for comparison, in the illustration. fig. 200. norman capital: foliated ornament, resembling the honeysuckle and lotus. various mouldings, both gothic and classic, present shapes drawn from the astronomical sign aquarius. these signs, or ciphers, are significant of the sea and of fig. 201. canterbury cathedral: volutes of the corinthian form. fig. 202. canterbury cat

KARR DON NOTES ON EDITIONS OF SEFER YETZIRAH IN ENGLISH

longer merit serious scholarly discussion (origins of the kabbalah, p. 6) 20073 18 tishby: franck s book, particularly in the way it expounds kabbalistic ideas, contains a great deal of material that is still of value, although there are a considerable number of mistakes in it (wisdom of the zohar, p. 48) idel: the sources of important concepts of kabbalah, according to franck, were chaldean and persian, that is zoroastrian. notwithstanding this basic assumption on franck s part which was rejected by subsequent research he regarded kabbalah as a uniquely important jewish phenomenon. this diagnosis of the role of kabbalah is strikingly similar to scholem s famous perception of the role of kabbalah as a vital component of judaism (kabbalah: new perspectives, p. 8) waite, arthur edward. the

KASAK VEEDE UNDERSTANDING PLANETS IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

sufficient. sumerian period 3500.2300 bc akkadian period (sargon i, 2275.2219) 2275.2094 neo-sumerian period (sumerian renaissance, 2094.1939) 2094.1750 old babylonian (hammurabi 1728.1686/ old assyrian period 1850.1531 middle babylonian/ middle assyrian period 1531.1000 neo-babylonian/ neo-assyrian period (assurbanipal 668.631) 1000.626 late babylonian period (nebuchadnezzar ii 604.562) 626.539 persian period (achaemenides) 539.331 macedonian period (alexander the great 331.323) 331.150 parthian period 150 bc. 226 ad less if we did not have astronomic data about observing venus preserved on cuneiform tablets to compare to other sources to determine dates. unfortunately, there is not enough material to determine everything: up to ca 1500 bc, observation data allow at least three different

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

an emblem of the old operative builders, and that upon an early metal square found near limerick, in ireland, the following words and the date 1517 are inscribed: 236. i strive to live with love and care 237. upon the level, by the square. 238. this seems to show that our speculative inter-pretations were already known at the early date mentioned. 239. there is also a translation from an ancient persian inscription, which runs: square thyself for use; a stone that may 240. fit in the wall is not left in the way. 241. the r. w. m. has as his jewel the square, which indicates the third outpouring of divine force, from the first logos, the first person of the trinity, and has therefore the same significance as the gavel, his instrument of government. the symbolism of the gavel is very profou

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

ophy may be of both profit and interest to the mason. 300. the briefest summary is all that we can attempt here(*see the secret tradition in israel, the secret tradition in freemasonry, a new encyclopaedia, all by bro. a. e. waite) the literature of the kabbala represents a growth of many centuries under the influence of many types of thought- jewish, gnostic, neo-platonic, greek, arabic and even persian- and it has never been fully translated into any european language. it consists of certain great texts written in hebrew and aramaic, and a mass of commentaries upon them compiled by jews of many lands and many ages. the most important texts are the sepher yetzirah, which explains the mystic meanings underlying the hebrew alphabet, and erects a vast system of mystical and occult speculatio

e.a. must confine himself to what is taught in the v.s.l) cryphius, the occult, a degree in the taking of which the mystic was perhaps hidden from others in the sanctuary by a veil, the removal of which was a solemn ceremonial; miles, the soldier, signifying the holy warfare against evil in the service of the god; leo, the lion, symbolic of the element of fire, which played so great a part in the persian faith; perses, the persian, clad in asiatic costume, a reminiscence of the ancient origin of the religion; heliodromus, the courier of the sun, with whom mithra was identified; and pater, the father, a degree bringing the mystic among those who had the general direction of the cult for the rest of their lives. 420. it is not easy to trace exact correspondences between these seven stages an

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

th religions in internet-related media. jashan a al is of the opinion that organizational satanism is a contradiction in terms. this is one reason that she does not expand ascendancy into a community despite receiving queries from individuals about joining ascendancy. for further reading: ascendancy: http//www.jashan.net asmodeus asmodeus means creature (or being) of judgment. he was originally a persian demon, but was later adopted into jewish lore where he was known as a raging fiend, per the book of tobit. it is in this same book that the story is told about how asmodeus had killed the seven previous bridegrooms of sarah, and then planned to strike once more against the eighth a young man name tobias. but this time asmodeus was not successful as the archangel raphael was protecting tobi

pocryphal the martyrdom of isaiah and satan in the gospel of bartholomew. milton refers to beliar as a falsetitled son of god, whereas the medieval schoolmen asserted that he was once partly of the order of angels and partly of the order of virtues. in glasson s greek influence in jewish eschatology, however, beliar is not regarded as an angel. he is, rather, compared with ahriman, chief devil in persian mythology. see also demons; satan for further reading: davidson, gustav. a dictionary of angels including the fallen angels. new york: free press, 1967. glasson, t. francis. greek influence in jewish eschatoloy. london: society for promoting christian knowledge, 1961. beliel beliel was a demon who presented himself to king solomon and danced before him in das buch beliel, by jacobus de ter

rces, and thus entered early christian writings with the negative connotation of impure spirits. the judeo-christian tradition elaborated the concept of the devil as the fallen angel who tempted adam and eve and was forever banished from paradise. christian literature also drew upon the belief systems of their neighbors in the depiction of the apocalypse, wherein appear demons that recall jewish, persian, and mesopotamian myths. in the transmission of the texts of the scriptures the devil (in hellenistic greek, diabolos) came to be identified with satan (the name used in the hebrew bible to indicate an adversary. the belief in evil powers as the source of sicknesses and problems for humans is found in early christian literature, and christian theology acknowledges evil as necessary for the

s a dream, alleged to have occurred in the first year of belshazzar, king of babylon, in which daniel sees the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea. out of the sea emerge, one after the other, a series of beasts, four in number, all of fabulous form. the fourth beast, in particular, is especially terrible and has ten horns. the four beasts represent in succession the babylonian, median, persian, and hellenistic empires. in classical legend, the dragon guarded the golden apples in the garden of hesperides.among the most famous encounters between a christian warrior and a dragon is that of st. george, who slays the dragon or tames the animal and frees the maiden. it has been argued that the story of st. george and the dragon owe much to the greek myth of perseus and andromeda. see

nization, the many city-states in the area of today s egypt were gradually unified into one dynasty. the period referred to as the old kingdom was well established by the middle of the third millennium b.c.e. the middle kingdom is dated from about 2100 b.c.e. to c. 1786 b.c.e, and the new kingdom lasted from about 1580 b.c.e. to c. 1080 b.c.e. then began a series of incursions by the assyrian and persian empires, though ancient egypt was not really brought to an end until after alexander the great conquered it in 332 b.c.e. from about 3000 b.c.e, egyptian official religion recognized the pharaoh as the offspring of the sun god, re, and thus as a god himself. there were many other gods and goddesses in the egyptian pantheon, whose domains covered everything from natural phenomena like air (

l complexes. it has, for example, been established that the indo-europeans divided their society into three groups of people, and that ingram ritual abuse case 125 this tripartite division was reflected in their myth system.according to one line of thought, in at least some branches of the indo-european family two distinct groups of divinities were worshiped by two different social groups. in the persian/indian wing of the indo-europeans, these two groups were termed ahuras (persian)/asuras (indian) and daevas (persian)/devas (indian. for ultimately unknowable reasons, but perhaps arising out of some kind of ongoing conflict between the two social divisions, the ahuras became the angels and the daevas the demons in zoroastrianism, and the devas became demigods and the asuras became demons

umably under much the same conditions. although this is the general old testament view, reflection on the inequalities of this life and on the apparent failure of yahweh to make good on his covenant promises led serious religious thinkers to consider the option of resurrection. the resurrection of ordinary human beings seems to have originated in zoroastrianism.as a result of several centuries of persian control of the middle east, jews were brought into contact with zoroastrian religious ideas and the notion of resurrection. zoroaster combined resurrection with the idea of a final judgment, in which the entire human race was resurrected, and individuals rewarded or punished. this clearly appealed to jewish religious thinkers of the time as an adequate way of coming to grips with the injus

s a dream, alleged to have occurred in the first year of belshazzar, king of babylon, in which daniel sees the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea. out of the sea emerge, one after the other, a series of beasts, four in number, all of fabulous form. the fourth beast, in particular, is especially terrible and has ten horns. the four beasts represent in succession the babylonian, median, persian, and hellenistic empires. the endtime significance of this creature is that yahweh will release leviathan to wreak havoc upon the earth shortly before the end of the world. then god will finally destroy the beast. there is a foreshadowing of this scenario in jonah, where the prophet is swallowed by and eventually regurgitated from a whale. jonah then travels to ninevah to preach an apocaly

e angel almanac with biographies of 100 prominent angels in legend and folklore, and much more. murfreesboro, tn:mamre, 1993. manichaeism manichaeism refers primarily to a religious movement that arose in the third century and spread across the mediterranean world. like zoroastrianism, it postulated an ongoing, more or less evenly matched war between a good god and an evil god. founded by mani, a persian born into a christian and jewish community in assyria in a.d. 215, manichaeism was a mixture of gnosticism, zoroastrianism, and christianity that spread across the western world and lasted for the better part of a thousand years. it may even have lasted until the twentieth century in china. 160 manson, charles its central teaching was a severe dualism between spirit and matter, soul and bo

e devil s power was acknowledged, satan was conceived as part of the creation that could not overwhelm god, and was under god s power. in fact, if the devil s power could directly confront god s authority, the underlying principle of monotheism could not hold. in judaism and christianity there is no space for the dualistic opposition of good and evil. dualism in antiquity was developed within the persian religion of zoroastrianism, and in manichaeism and gnosticism. in christianity, satan is pictured as the tempter, accuser, punisher, and the leader of the fallen angels. with the advent of the kingdom of god, he will be ultimately defeated. in fact, satan was already defeated by christ with his descent to hell and ultimately with his death on the cross. the dualistic view of the opposing f

LIBER LXI

rately, therefore, did he take refuge in vagueness. not to veil the truth to the neophyte, but to warn him against valuing non- essentials. should therefore the candidate hear the name of any god, let him not rashly assume that it refers to any known god, save only the god known to himself. or should the ritual speak in terms (however vague) which seem to imply egyptian, taoist, buddhist, indian, persian, greek, judaic, christian, or moslem philosophy, let him reflect that this is a defect of language; the literary limitation and not the spiritual prejudice of the man p. 24. especially let him guard against the finding of definite sectarian symbols in the teaching of his master, and the reasoning from the known to the unknown which assuredly will tempt him. we labour earnestly, dear brothe

LIBER 777

unveiled, para 61. only a hideous fudge (to wit (a) mis-spelling the name as ahija (b) writing each letter out in full and (c) counting h in full as ah rather than the more usual hh) can get this name to add to 666. line 7. asmodai. appears in the apocryphal book of tobit. sometimes also known by the latinised form asmodeus. the name is possibly a modification of aeshma deva, an evil spirit from persian mythology. line 8. belial. said to be the chief of the evil spirits in some late jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g. the testament of the 12 patriarchs, but in the old testament the name was a mere term of abuse meaning masterless or worthless. line 9. lilith. she gets everywhere. line 10. naamah. the sister of tubal-cain (see masonic symbolism; but in the zohar she gets turned into anothe

LIBER ASTARTE

appeared to him, and that they converse as may be fitting. 23. concerning the mysterious triangle. now then as three cords separately may be broken by a child, while those same cords duly twisted may bind a giant, let the philosophus learn to entwine these three methods of magic into a spell. to this end let him understand that as they are one, because 1 [one of crowley.s pseudonyms, a fictitious persian islamic mystic to whom was attributed a curious work known as the scented garden of abdullah the satirist, or the bagh-i-muattar. t.s] astarte vel liber berylli 8 the end is one, so are they one because the method is one, even the method of turning the mind toward the particular deity by love in every act. and lest thy twine slip, here is a little cord that wrappeth tightly round and round

LIBER LXI VEL CAUSAE

rately, therefore, idid he take refuge in vagueness. not to veil the truth to the neophyte, but to warn him against valuing non-essentials. should therefore the candidate hear the name of any god, let him not rashly assume that it refers to any known god, save only the god known to himself. or should the ritual speak in terms (however vague) which seem to imply egyptian, taoist, buddhist, indian, persian, greek, judaic, christian or moslem philosophy, let him reflect that this is a defect of language, the literary limitation and not the spiritual prejudice of the man p. 24. especially let him guard against the finding of definite sectarian symbols in the teaching of his master, and the reasoning from the known to the unknown which assuredly will tempt him. we labour earnestly, dear brother

LINDOW JOHN NORSE MYTHOLOGY A GUIDE TO THE GODS HEROES RITUALS AND BELIEFS

he various indo-european peoples. the first function was that of sovereignty, which, according to dumezil, is ordinarily represented by two deities, each of whom is associated with one or the other side of sovereignty: either with the awe inspired by a leader or with the legal, contractual nature that a sovereign was obligated to uphold. the classic split was found in the vedic god varuna and the persian god mithra; in norse mythology, dumezil argued, odin represented the awesome side and ty lr the legal or contractual side of sovereignty. the second function was might or force, and in norse mythology thor fulfilled that function. the third function was fertility, and here the deities are often doubled, as are frey and freyja. at one time dumezil thought these functions represented actual

LUCIFERIAN SORCERY AND SET TYPHON

evealed. to better explain the luciferian path in the terms of which is offered in luciferian witchcraft, liber hvhi and book of the witch moon, an assessment of the basic tools, god forms and models of belief are given here: apep the serpent-demon of chaos and the abyssic waters of the tuat. apep is the early embodiment of the sumerian tiamat or the sevenheaded dragon of the apocalypse. in early persian manifestation, ahriman and the archdaevas. in egyptian lore, apep is by cipher and study nothing more than set revealed, his primal draconian aspect of self. apep embodies the very essence of set and may even be considered associated with his shadow or demonic form. in the tenth and eleventh sections of the tuat set-heh is shown as being to the left of the gods in a fiery place, horus stan

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

n augustinianism, which may best be defined as christian platonism. opposing the pelasgian doctrine that man is the author of his own salvation, augustinianism elevated the church and its dogmas to a position of absolute infallibility--a position which it successfully maintained until the reformation. gnosticism, a system of emanationism, interpreting christianity in terms of greek, egyptian, and persian metaphysics, appeared in the latter part of the first century of the christian era. practically all the information extant regarding the gnostics and their doctrines, stigmatized as heresy by the ante-nicene church fathers, is derived from the accusations made against them, particularly from the writings of st. iren us. in the third century appeared manich ism, a dualistic system of persia

degree were said to have been "born again" and were instructed in the secret and hidden truths which the druid priests had preserved from antiquity. from these initiates were chosen many of the dignitaries of the british religious and political world (for further details, see faber's pagan idolatry, albert pike's morals and dogma, and godfrey higgins' celtic druids) the rites of mithras when the persian mysteries immigrated into southern europe, they were quickly assimilated by the latin mind. the cult grew rapidly, especially among the roman soldiery, and during the roman wars of conquest the teachings were carried by the legionaries to nearly all parts of europe. so powerful did the cult of mithras become that at least one roman emperor was initiated into the order, which met in caverns

radiant, and most magnificent of the yazatas (izads, or genii, of the sun. as mithra, this deity represents the feminine principle; the mundane universe is recognized as her symbol. she represents nature as receptive and terrestrial, and as fruitful only when bathed in the glory of the solar orb. the mithraic cult is a simplification of the more elaborate teachings of zarathustra (zoroaster, the persian fire magician. click to enlarge the ground plan of stonehenge. from maurice's indian antiquities. the druid temples of places of religious worship were not patterned after those of other nations. most of their ceremonies were performed at night, either in thick groves of oak trees or around open-air altars built of great uncut stones. how these masses of rock were moved ahs not been satisf

ature, mithras, god of intelligence, stands as mediator between the two. many authors have noted the similarity between mercury and mithras. as the chemical mercury acts as a solvent (according to alchemists, so mithras seeks to harmonize the two celestial opposites. there are many points of resemblance between christianity and the cult of mithras. one of the reasons for this probably is that the persian mystics invaded italy during the first century after christ and the early history of both cults was closely interwoven. the encyclop dia britannica makes the following statement concerning the mithraic and christian mysteries "the fraternal and democratic spirit of the first communities, and their humble origin; the identification of the object of adoration with light and the sun; the lege

ven the armor of intelligence and purity and sent into the darkness of subterranean pits to fight the beasts of lust, passion, and degeneracy. in the third degree he was given a cape, upon which were drawn or woven the signs of the zodiac and other astronomical symbols. after his initiations were over, he was hailed as one who had risen from the dead, was instructed in the secret teachings of the persian mystics, and became a full-fledged member of the order. candidates who successfully passed the mithraic initiations were called lions and were marked upon their foreheads with the egyptian cross. mithras himself is often pictured with the head of a lion and two pairs of wings. throughout the entire ritual were repeated references to the birth of mithras as the sun god, his sacrifice for ma

mazda also has one eye, or else it is said that 'with his eyes, the sun, moon and stars, he sees everything' the theory that mithra was originally a title of the supreme heavens-god--putting the sun out of court--is the only one that answers all requirements. it will be evident that here we have origins in abundance for the freemason's eye and 'its nunquam dormio" the reader must nor confuse the persian mithra with the vedic mitra. according to alexander wilder "the mithraic rites superseded the mysteries of bacchus, and became the foundation of the gnostic system, which for many centuries prevailed in asia, egypt, and even the remote west" click to enlarge mithras slaying the bull. from lundy's monumental christianity. the most famous sculpturings and reliefs of this prototokos show mith

posites absolute spirit and absolute substance, which the gnostics believed to have been coexistent in eternity. some assert that basilides was the true founder of gnosticism, but there is much evidence to the effect that simon magus laid down its fundamental principles in the preceding century. the alexandrian basilides inculcated egyptian hermeticism, oriental occultism, chaldean astrology, and persian philosophy in his followers, and in his doctrines sought to unite the schools of early christianity with the ancient pagan mysteries. to him is attributed the formulation of that peculiar concept of the deity which carries the name of abraxas. in discussing the original meaning of this word, godfrey higgins, in his celtic druids, has demonstrated that the numerological powers of the letter

er as being the mother of the sun, and they realized that although the moon could not occupy that position, the sign of virgo could, and did, give birth to the sun out of her side on the 25th day of december. albertus magnus states "we know that the sign of the celestial virgin rose over the horizon at the moment at which we fix the birth of our lord jesus christ. among certain of the arabian and persian astronomers the three stars forming the sword belt of orion were called the magi who came to pay homage to the young sun god. the author of mankind--their origin and destiny contributes the following additional information "in cancer, which had risen to the meridian at midnight, is the constellation of the stable and of the ass. the ancients called it pr sepe jovis. in the north the stars

y to respond to the subtler rates of vibration of which that universe is composed. among both civilized and savage peoples color has been accepted as a natural language in which to couch their religious and philosophical doctrines. the ancient city of ecbatana as described by herodotus, its seven walls colored according to the seven planets, revealed the knowledge of this subject possessed by the persian magi. the famous zikkurat or astronomical tower of the god nebo at borsippa ascended in seven great steps or stages, each step being painted in the key color of one of the planetary bodies (see lenormant's chaldean magic) it is thus evident that the babylonians were familiar with the concept of the spectrum in its relation to the seven creative gods or powers. in india, one of the mogul em

ened converts to fishes, who at the time of baptism "returned again into the sea of christ" primitive peoples believed the sea and land were inhabited by strange creatures, and early books on zoology contain curious illustrations of composite beasts, reptiles, and fishes, which did not exist at the time the medi val authors compiled these voluminous books. in the ancient initiatory rituals of the persian, greek, and egyptian mysteries the priests disguised themselves as composite creatures, thereby symbolizing different aspects of human consciousness. they used birds and reptiles as emblems of their various deities, often creating forms of grotesque appearance and assigning to them imaginary traits, habits, and places of domicile, all of which were symbolic of certain spiritual and transce

MARS COCIDIUS AND THE REDCAPS IN LANCASHIRE

ia inferior into two parts and created the province later named valentia (modern lancashire, cumberland, westmorland and galloway. it was a military province with its main garrisons at lugovalium (carlisle) and, bremetenacum veteranorum (ribchester) in lancashire. marcus aurelius (around the year 175) had settled a permanent garrison of eleven cohorts (11 x 500 men) of sarmatian cataphracts (i.e. persian style heavy cavalry) at ribchester, these were the numerus equitum sarmatorum under the command of a consularis singularis or officer of the consul (the provincial governor. these according to the notitia dignitatum had remained in place even after 450. ribchester was also one of the towns where veteran legionaries were regularly settled on demobilisation, and became a centre for the breed

MICHAEL FORD A RITE OF THE WEREWOLF

ce the sorcerer has undertaken the self-initiation ritual entitled, a ritual of lycanthropy 1 in both parts, and he has visualized perfectly his werewolf shadow, or that similar beast of sorcerer, he has entered into the pact of the devil, the black man of the sabbat. it is the passing of that rite of initiation that will prepare the witch to travel forth to the infernal sabbat, symbolized as the persian arezura, the place in the north, the gates of hell. let the practitioner be perfectly still in focus and will, that nothing shall break his or her concentration of that task which draws the ka (the astral or body of light) further into darkness. as with the legend of pierre bourgot and michel verdung2 the initiate shall have one who shall be as the lord of the forest. in the legend aforeme

ner thigh contained belladonna, this was said to create flying sensations. a document from the sloane ms. british museum and published in an older book6 presents a werewolf chant7 from which the sorcerer sheds the human form for that of a wolf. such a chant may be used in dreaming chants before sleep if the witch so desires lending to the dreaming flesh gathered by shadows. in the ancient lore of persian sorcery, with specifics to zoroastrianism, wolves were hated creatures which were said to be created by ahriman. the term khrafstra is a general word for noxious beasts, attributed to the druj or demons of the dragon ahriman. such imagery is used in the work of the black order of the dragon, a secret guild of witches and sorcerers who develop a left hand path initiatory guild based on (amo

cery, with specifics to zoroastrianism, wolves were hated creatures which were said to be created by ahriman. the term khrafstra is a general word for noxious beasts, attributed to the druj or demons of the dragon ahriman. such imagery is used in the work of the black order of the dragon, a secret guild of witches and sorcerers who develop a left hand path initiatory guild based on (among others) persian sorcery and so-called black magick centered around the dragons ahriman and tiamat, who is of sumerian origin. the botd which is headed by a triad of witches called coven maleficia of the order of phosphorus have worked in vampyric areas of dreaming sorcery for some years. in the botd the initiate works through the symbolism of the transformation of the vampyre to the werewolf to the dragon

in ra-stau where he sits in the kingdom of death, as death itself. it makes reference to seker sitting in majesty, with serpents and demonic spirits surround him. in the book of the dead seker is made reference to as being great god who carrieth away the soul, who eateth hearts, and who feedeth upon offal, the guardian of darkness, the god who is in the seker boat. this draws a comparison to the persian-iranian ahriman, who was also an opposing sorcerous daemon of darkness, who by averse practices, became stronger and immortal. set had legions of devils called seba who served the prince of darkness, and were known to hack and devour certain souls. in a modern initiatory context, the magician understands the these god forms represent isolate intellect, and self-deification through antinomi

nd enables the mind to grow strong through understanding and experiencing on dreaming levels other significant god forms, demons and angelick spirits. 23 the egyptian book of the dead, the abode of the blessed, edited by e.a. wallis budge. 24 tubal-cain or cain, the son of samael and lilith, was the master of the forge i.e. initiation. 12 when one approaches the ancient masks of set, seker or the persian druj of the yatuk-dinoih understand that by diving in the black sun, becoming as a god in the darkness is but the first part of crossing the abyss. the rite of adversarial shadow -the ensorcelment of ahriman and the infernal sabbat- the focus and intent of this ritual is the application of an ancient form of sorcery known as yatuk dinoih25. the functional practice is defined as the body of

word, the embodiment of a god or goddess in flesh. the rite of the adversarial shadow the chant of the infernal sabbat as i face the star of al ghul the two horns become one. i cast the circle as kabed-us-spae, that within is the circumference of my divinity. by the star of algol i bask in the brilliance of the sun at midnight, the eye of blackened flame and smoke, of arimanius, 25 witchcraft or persian sorcery which involves developing a solitary of spirit or druj practice. 13 dire initiator of my night and infernal dreaming path. may the eye open within i call unto the shadows of the circle cast against the dawn- azi-dahaka, aeshma, zartosht, nasu druj, andar, savar, taprev, astwihad fly now unto me! kundak my steed of infernal flight come forth nightmare, guide me to the sabbat! spirit

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

tsarion. 429atlantis, alien visitation, and genetic manipulation1 chapter 1from the end of heaventhere are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamed of in thy philosophy (william shakespeare, hamlet)atlantis and strange god-men are mentioned in scriptures such as the bible, thebook of enoch, the ramayana, the mahabharata, the v edas, the shastras, the norseedda, the zend avesta (persian, the codex chimalpopoca (toltec, the popul vuh(mayan, the welsh triads, the visuddhi magga (buddhist, the annals of the fourmasters (irish, the ipuwer and ermitage papyri (egyptian, the annals of cuauhtitlan(mayan, and others. atlantis was not a center ofadvanced human civiliza-tion, but was, rather, the cre-ation of and home to alienbeings that colonized theearth. there are over 30,000tex

tribes there is the custom of being bonded by blood. in such cer-emonies, a person who has come to love and respect another, lets physical blood and literallypresses this to that of his fellow who has likewise let free their blood. is this just anothermeaningless heathen ritual? does this not mean that kindredness has to do with the sameblood, not dis-similar blood? and what are we to make of the persian tale of the genie inthe bottle. could these tales not also conceal facts about laboratories, evil wizards, hybrid-ization, and genetic manipulation?not all the returning natives freed from atlantis found it easy to gain access to theirkingdoms or lands or to take control in their enslaved provinces. during the reign ofthe alien tyrants, the morale of the enslaved was reduced, while superst

was responsible for atlantis's sinking, he said, in what sounds like a cautionary fableon the dangers of nuclear power. remaining active beneath the ocean waves, damaged fire-crystalsemit energy fields that disrupt ships and aircraftwhich is how cayce accounted for the bermudatriangle.3.1704-1662 b.c. the babylonian empire was based in babylon, near the 33rd parallel. the empirestretched from the persian gulf to the middle euphrates river and upper tigris river regions. ham-murabi, the last great king of the first dynasty, developed his legal code and ordered it to be incisedon a basalt column and placed in the temple of shamash, the god of justice, for all to see.4.1500 b.c. tel megiddo: one of the most important archaeological mounds in israel, tel megiddohas the remains of historic megi

s.and international laws forbidding medical experimentation on unwilling subjects. this regulation per-mits the fda to inject american military with unapproved experimental drugs or vaccines withoutinformed consent. the fda merely needs to deem it not feasible to obtain the soldiers permission.see health letter, washington, dc. public citizens health research group 400,000 human guineapigs in the persian gulf, feb. 12, 1991. see 1991 gulf war entry. 1990 approximate time period where dr. michael aquino, a colonel in u.s. army intelligence, isleader of a church of satan spinoff named the temple of set. aquino is an expert in military mind con-trol, and has expounded on what he terms lbm (lesser black magic) used in the control of popula-tions, including psychological operations and conventi

MICHAEL W FORD THE VAMPIRE GATE

xperience is the pathway to initiation. look for wisdom from experience, always test yourself in this way long trips, extensive exercise to your capacity, college or specific areas of learning in short, challenge yourself. building the mind builds the immortal spirit. 3. qi or life energy is around all of us. drain it and grow strong from it. you absorb energy from focus itself using aighash, the persian demon of the evil eye the eye represents the soul, use this to mentally connect with everything around you. one of our 18 symbols, aapep or apophis, is the devil serpent of ancient egypt. we seek to feast and drain on life force, on the astral plane and in the flesh. to join us is to be hidden mostly in society, to be the wolf among sheep. humanity seeks eternally a safety net; a god to be

cus the mind on) this is focused on akoman the evil mind. 4. dreaming or nightmare practice. perhaps the most powerful but also the most difficult. this belongs to astwihad the evil flyer of night devouring daeva. mal occhio is the evil eye. the evil eye has long been a symbol of envy but also power. the eye represents the soul and the stronger the glare, the stronger the spirit. 33 in yatukan or persian ahrimanic or primal sorcery, there are several daevas of the evil eye: sur chashmih/chishmak, arashk and aighash. akoman s symbol is often an eye representing the evil mind. hakim bey wrote that the yezidi tribes would be cautious not to wear blue, as it is the color of shaitan, their lord. it was agreed that wearing this color to ward off evil would be offensive. in many rituals in the bo

odied with druj, the spirit of darkness. druj is refered as both feminine and masculine, thus is an initiatory term relating to the foremost union of ahriman and az, the blackened matter and fiery darkness of his bride. a dregvant is a yatu or initiate of the daeva-yasna. druj [avestan/pahlavi] lie referring to demons, feminine and masculine. the later derived term is interestingly enough the old persian draug, meaning also lie and is held connected to serpent, snake or dragon (i.e. worm. druj is a title representing antinomian power in a personage, a daeva in flesh. evil eye in the old gathic writings, the evil eye is considered a power of the daeva and druj, meaning the power to cause death, oppression and sickness. in a modern sense, the evil eye represents the window to the soul or spi

energy either symbolically or literally based on theistic or nontheistic belief, once encircling the spirit or deific mask, symbolically devouring and consuming the association of the spirit into the self. may be attributed to the inner practices of the black order of the dragon. a ritual published in luciferian witchcraft, the ritual of druj nasu is a vampiric or predatory rite utilizing ancient persian sorcery inversions and techniques of sorcery for strengthening consciousness. qlippoth- as the zohar attributes the qlippoth as being a result of the separation from creation it seems by mere definition that the qlippoth is indeed inherent of the concept of the black flame, or gift of samael. between two separate things, there is a concept of separation which essentially is the concept of

ipulate the shadow by dream and ritual, growing stronger. the eye is both a symbol of vampirism and luciferian practice, predatory 88 spirituality. vampirism is based in the foundations of early egyptian texts and charles darwin theories of natural selection. not referring to the religion of vampirism. see predatory spiritualism. yatukih [avestan/pahlavi] term denoting relevance of sorcery within persian mythology. directly relating to the title of the practice of ahrimanic/satanic sorcery and the practitioner in a modern sense. see yatuk dinoih. yatuk dinoih [avestan/pahlavi] witchcraft and sorcery. the development and practice of adversarial and opposing sorcery to encircle the witch or wizard in self-developed energy. the principle of darkness and the deva/druj (demon) worship of this s

the devil's harlot. herein is the path as walked by one who seeks to reveal the true path of ahriman and lilith-az, to manifest in flesh the spirit of azi dahaka and cain. herein is magick from the foundation to higher pathworkings of sorcery and black magick. here the works which burn away the modern white-washing of so-called magick and or witchcraft. herein are the rituals of lucifer, ancient persian sorcery, goetic magick and forbidden sex magick" for more than a decade left hand path and dark withcraft expert michael w. ford has laboured in the forbidden fields of the dark side of the occult, lit by the pale moon of luciferian ambition and satanic drive. luciferian witchcraft represents perhaps the major part of his published accomplishments to date. the first editions of most of his

together in one huge compendium many of the shocking rituals and bizarre initiation rites of black magick that have established ford as the most cutting-edge exponent of the left hand path tradition in america today. the book begins with a lengthy and highly scholarly exposition of the place of the draconic adversary within historical magick. set typhon, the egyptian god of darkness, ahriman, the persian devil and his whore of darkness, the adversary and the bride of the devil, cain the son, the gnostic yaldabaoth "child of chaos, the path of the crooked serpent- leviathan and beelzebub and tiamat, pazuzu, and moloch are only some of the topics and figures covered. the second part of the book,the grimoires of luciferian witchcraft, includes several of his most infamous graveyard workings

pazuzu, and moloch are only some of the topics and figures covered. the second part of the book,the grimoires of luciferian witchcraft, includes several of his most infamous graveyard workings, together with the complete version of the luciferian goetia- a completely revised and updated version of the goetia grimoire from the lesser key of solomon the king. part three covers yatukan and ahrimanic persian sorcery. as i have mentioned before, it is the willingness and creativity of ford to look beyond worn-out christian- and hebrew-based demonology in search of black magick inspiration that marks his work as unique. here, forbidden heresies of millenia-old zoroastrian thought reveal their diabolic secrets to the sorceror. 91 liber hvhi magick of the adversary by michael w. ford succubus publ

n path of predatory spiritualism. liber hvhi contains the 22 spheres of the infernal qlippoth, the methods of filling and draining those shells and the luciferian rites of the supper of cain, symbolic of the first satanist from the ancient hebrew texts relating to the devouring process from a symbolic and ritualistic approach. no matter what name the adversary has been called by, from the ancient persian cult of yatukih sorcerers ahriman or angra mainyu, his bride jahi or az, to the hebrew samael and lilith, the luciferian current has remained strong beneath those ancient cultures. liber hvhi is a grimoire written from ancient religious texts such as the avesta and various cabbalistic writings. the result is a powerful luciferian ideology and methodology of ritual and daily-life practice w

-life practice which transforms the mind into the spirit of the adversary. liber hvhi: magick of the adversary liber hvhi explores the qlippothic spheres, ritual sorcery based on the ancient cults mentioned in the avesta of yatuvidah, daeva-yasna (demonworshippers) persecuted by the zoroastrians. the roots of the adversary as the masculine and demonic feminine are explored from hebrew and ancient persian sources, to a living and potent left-hand-path initiatory system. beginning with an inversion of the catholic rite to instead practice exorcism, the inverted and created rite is aimed at possession or liberating the shadow self into a viable, productive focus. the 22 cells of the qlippoth along with the infernal spheres are presented as valuable aspects of strengthening consciousness and c

MICHAEL WYNN THE SOUL TRAVELERS

water god, wanted to expand his sphere of influence and so contrived to flood the world. gong nearly succeeded but was stopped by the righteous god zurong. in greek mythology, zeus is enraged by the evil mankind was partaking in and so therefore plotted to destroy everything on earth in a great flood. but wily prometheus warned a man named deucalion, who builds a chest and survives the flood. in persian mythology, the benevolent god ahura mazda tells a man named yima that a terrible winter of frost and snow is upon him. ahura mazda commands yima to build an underground enclosure to protect 2 of every creature and a small group of choice people. in--michael wynn's "the soul travelers" 6 serbian legends, a rooster who acts as the messenger of god becomes increasingly ignored by a decadent h

r reoccurring theme through out the mythologies is man s loss of paradise. this story, whose most popular variation occurs in the bible, details man s plight from a worry-free life to an existence of suffering and hardship. but as usual, the bible is not alone in describing humanity s fall from grace. just as the christians have the garden of eden, the persians have heden. heden was, according to persian tradition, the first habitation of humans. it was a paradise, where suffering and toil were unknown. it wasn t until the primal couple was seduced by an evil spirit in the form of a serpent were they expelled from heden. in greek mythology, the garden of hesperides was a land to the far west of the globe, where golden apples of immortality grew. in the mayan popol vu, the first men lived i

samael. samael, whose name meant venom of god, was considered a dark angel of death, and also the true father cain (the first child of adam and eve. satanists repeatedly reinforce this association, frequently suggesting that it was the serpent who was true father of cain, rather than adam (the first human. occultists will also freely refer to satan as ahriman (angra mainyu. ahriman is an ancient persian god who, according to legend, is wholly wicked and at war with his righteous brother ahura mazda. this ahriman resides in a gloomy underworld, and leads many demons. and then you have hades, from greek mythology. hades is the ruler of the underworld, and the brother of zeus. after a conflict where hades, poseidon, and zeus team up to defeat the titans (the older gods, these younger gods di

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 constitutes the universe of space and time. the goddess kali, along with her husband shiva, roam the cremation grounds; this is a likely reference to the qliphoth or underworld. in the persian narration, az is the mother of demons and the consort of ahriman (satan. semiramis, yet another name for this goddess, an assyrian queen of legend, was reportedly the inspiration behind the hanging gardens of babylon. the hanging gardens of babylon, also called the hanging gardens of semiramis, are considered to be one of the 7 great wonders of the ancient world. the hanging gardens, which

MICHAEL W FORD NOX UMBRA

atukdinoih@yahoo.com nox umbra was written by michael w. ford in october 2002-january 2003 artwork created by elda isela ford andnathan harris- lovernicus@yahoo.com succubus publishing nox umbra is a grimoire. presented here in the pages of this tome are the hints from which one may come into the "knowledge of the circle. the culture specifications are undoubtedly varied, from egyptian to ancient persian to european, however this is wherein one discovers the points or as in voudon 'points chorals' or hot spaces from which certain areas of textual transmissions develop and occur. cain as the initiator stands in the cold areas of which many would not visit, wrapping in the cloak of night- it is here you may spark a fire, sit and listen carefully to his tale. this path is dangerous, it may pr

a sinistral (left way or lhp) collection of various aspects of folklore and initiatory currents in black magic and sorcery. what enables sorcery to occur in a productive or destructive aspect is the combination of will-desire-belief. vampyrism within the current of modern witchcraft is a development from the sabbat- the infernal awakening of the sorcerer as a shadow-manifestation of ahriman, the persian- zoroastrian sorcerous being who was evil, or adversarial chaos embodied. black magic has long been viewed as a self-centered and selfish area of study, which often causes obsession and destruction. this, if looked through a rhp (right hand path) or path of disillusion (i.e. christianity) this is accurate according to the belief structure. keep in mind that religious pathways such as chris

er traveled from munich to a isolate area from which he comes into contact with a vampyre female named countess dolingen for the sorcerer interested in developing the vampyric path, literary and folklore is highly suggested. it is through inspired magickal lore that one may develop their own form of becoming, something which may add to their own arcana of belief. in the yatuk dinoih, the lines of persian sorcery and vampyrism are close, as connected with the adversary form of ahriman. an early ritual described in "sacrifices in greek and roman religion and early judaism" by royden keith yeikes describes a persian blood ritual known as 'taurobolium, which holds a connection to mithris and the lore of the bull. in this ritual, the practitioner slays a bull on a platform, which has many holes

MORALS AND DOGMA

nticulated border" is called "tesselated" because it has four "tassels" said to represent temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice. it was termed the indented trassel; but this is a misuse of words. it is a _tesserated_ pavement, with an indented border round it. the pavement, alternately black and white, symbolizes, whether so intended or not, the good and evil principles of the egyptian and persian creed. it is the warfare of michael and satan, of the gods and titans, of balder and lok; between light and shadow, which is darkness; day and night; freedom and despotism; religious liberty and the arbitrary dogmas of a church that thinks for its votaries, and whose pontiff claims to be infallible, and the decretals of its councils to constitute a gospel. the edges of this pavement, if in

ystem of angels and their astronomy, were all foreign. sadduceeism arose merely from an opposition essentially jewish, to these foreign teachings, and that mixture of doctrines, adopted by the pharisees, and which constituted the popular creed. we come at last to the _essenes_ and _therapeuts, with whom this degree is particularly concerned. that intermingling of oriental and occidental rites, of persian and pythagorean opinions, which we have pointed out in the doctrines of philo, is unmistakable in the creeds of these two sects. they were less distinguished by metaphysical speculations than by simple meditations and moral practices. but the latter always partook of the zoroastrian principle, that it was necessary to free the soul from the trammels and influences of matter; which led to a

so expressed is connected the pantheism of india. the king of light, the ancient, is all that is. he is not only the real cause of all existences; he is infinite [ainsoph. he is himself: there is nothing in him that we can call _thou. in the indian doctrine, not only is the supreme being the real cause of all, but he is the only real existence: all the rest is illusion. in the kabalah, as in the persian and gnostic doctrines, he is the supreme being unknown to all, the "unknown father" the world is his revelation, and subsists only in him. his attributes are reproduced there, with different modifications, and in different degrees, so that the universe is his holy splendor: it is but his mantle; but it must be revered in silence. all beings have emanated from the supreme being: the nearer

s its purity. a ray of light, shot from the deity, is the cause and principle of all that exists. it is at once father and mother of all, in the sublimest sense. it penetrates everything; and without it nothing can exist an instant. from this double force, designated by the two parts of the word i. h. u. h. emanated the first-born of god, the universal form, in which are contained all beings; the persian and platonic archetype of things, united with the infinite by the primitive ray of light. this first-born is the creative agent, conservator, and animating principle of the universe. it is the light of light. it possesses the three primitive forces of the divinity, light, spirit, and life f??e, and. as it has received what it gives, light and life, it is equally considered as the generativ

oduce the twenty-four good spirits created by ormuzd and inclosed in an egg. the christ of the apocalypse, first-born of creation and of the resurrection, is invested with the characteristics of the ormuzd and sosiosch of the zend-avesta, the ainsoph of the kabalah and the carpistes [greek ?a?p?st] of the gnostics. the idea that the true initiates and faithful become kings and priests, is at once persian, jewish, christian, and gnostic. and the definition of the supreme being, that he is at once alpha and omega, the beginning and the end--he that was, and is, and is to come _i.e, time illimitable, is zoroaster's definition of zerouane-akherene. the depths of satan which no man can measure; his triumph for a time by fraud and violence; his being chained by an angel; his reprobation and his

sure; his triumph for a time by fraud and violence; his being chained by an angel; his reprobation and his precipitation into a sea of metal; his names of the serpent and the dragon; the whole conflict of the good spirits or celestial armies against the bad; are so many ideas and designations found alike in the zend-avesta, the kabalah, and the gnosis. we even find in the apocalypse that singular persian idea, which regards some of the lower animals as so many devs or vehicles of devs. the guardianship of the earth by a good angel, the renewing of the earth and heavens, and the final triumph of pure and holy men, are the same victory of good over evil, for which the whole orient looked. the gold, and white raiments of the twenty-four elders are, as in the persian faith, the signs of a loft

of a silent veneration. the commencement of creation was by emanation from him. the first emanation was the primitive light, and from this light emerged _ormuzd, the _king of light, who, by the word, created the world in its purity, is its preserver and judge, a holy and sacred being, intelligence and knowledge, himself time without limit, and wielding all the powers of the supreme being. in this persian faith, as taught many centuries before our era, and embodied in the zend-avesta, there was in man a pure principle, proceeding from the supreme being, produced by the will and word of ormuzd. to that was united an impure principle, proceeding from a foreign influence, that of ahriman, the dragon, or principle of evil. tempted by ahriman, the first man and woman had fallen; and for twelve t

e religion of the wild arabian enthusiast converting the fiery tribes of the great desert, spread over asia, built up the saracenic dynasties, conquered persia and india, the greek empire, northern africa, and spain, and dashed the surges of its fierce soldiery against the battlements of northern christendom. the law of mahomet still governs a fourth of the human race; and turk and arab, moor and persian and hindu, still obey the prophet, and pray with their faces turned toward mecca; and he, and not the living, rules and reigns in the fairest portions of the orient. confucius still enacts the law for china; and the thoughts and ideas of peter the great govern russia. plato and the other great sages of antiquity still reign as the kings of philosophy, and have dominion over the human intel

re than two thousand three hundred years ago confucius repeated, also quoting the language of those who had lived before himself"_love thy neighbor as thyself: do not to others what thou wouldst not wish should be done to thyself: forgive injuries. forgive your enemy, be reconciled to him, give him assistance, invoke god in his behalf" let not the morality of your lodge be inferior to that of the persian or the chinese philosopher. urge upon your brethren the teaching and the unostentatious practice of the morality of the lodge, without regard to times, places, religions, or peoples. urge them to love one another, to be devoted to one another, to be faithful to the country, the government, and the laws: for to serve the country is to pay a dear and sacred debt: to respect all forms of wors

ols. he arranged his assemblies due east and west, because he held that motion began in the east and proceeded to the west. our lodges are said to be due east and west, because the master represents the rising sun, and of course must be in the east. the pyramids, too, were built precisely by the four cardinal points. and our expression, that our lodges extend upward to the heavens, comes from the persian and druidic custom of having to their temples no roofs but the sky. plato developed and spiritualized the philosophy of pythagoras. even eusebius the christian admits, that he reached to the vestibule of truth, and stood upon its threshold. the druidical ceremonies undoubtedly came from india; and the druids were originally buddhists. the word _druidh, like the word _magi, signifies wise o

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

actaeon, who happening one day to see artemis and her attendants bathing, imprudently ventured to approach the spot. the goddess, incensed at his audacity, sprinkled him with water, and transformed him into a stag, whereupon he was torn in pieces and devoured by his own dogs [92] ephesian artemis. the ephesian artemis, known to us as "diana of the ephesians" was a very ancient asiatic divinity of persian origin called metra,[33] whose worship the greek colonists found already established, when they first settled in asia minor, and whom they identified with their own greek artemis, though she really possessed but one single attribute in common with their home deity. metra was a twofold divinity, and represented, in one phase of her character, all-pervading love; in the other she was the lig

over the river ilissus, he beheld on the banks oreithyia, the charming daughter of erechtheus, king of athens, whom he carried off to his native thrace, and there made her his bride. boreas and oreithyia were the parents of zetes and calais, afterwards famous in the expedition of the argonauts. there was an altar erected at athens in honour of boreas, in commemoration of his having destroyed the persian fleet sent to attack the greeks. on the acropolis at athens there was a celebrated octagonal temple, built by pericles, which was dedicated to the winds, and on its sides were their various representations. the ruins of this temple are still to be seen. pan (faunus. page 199 pan was the god of fertility, and the special patron of shepherds and huntsmen; he presided over all rural occupatio

nstance of the ambiguity of oracular predictions:.croesus, the rich king of lydia, before going to war with cyrus, king of persia, consulted an oracle as to the probable success of the expedition. the reply he received was, that if he crossed a certain river he would destroy a great empire. interpreting the response as being favourable to his design, croesus crossed the river, and encountered the persian king, by whom he page 226 was entirely defeated; and his own empire being destroyed, the prediction of the oracle was said to have been fulfilled. soothsayers (augurs. in addition to the manifestation of the will of the gods by means of oracles, the greeks also believed that certain men, called soothsayers, were gifted with the power of foretelling future events from dreams, from observing

feigned to receive him with the utmost friendship; but being, as it is supposed, in league with menesthius, he led the old king to the summit of a high rock, under pretence of showing him his estates, and treacherously killed him by pushing him over the cliff. page 302 many centuries after his death, by the command of the oracle of delphi, cimon, the father of miltiades, at the conclusion of the persian war, brought the remains of theseus, the great benefactor of athens, to that city [269]and in his honour a temple was erected, which exists to the present day, and serves as a museum of art. oedipus. laius, king of thebes, the son of labdacus, and a direct descendant of cadmus, was married to jocaste, the daughter of a noble theban. an oracle having foretold that he would perish by the han

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

ater, the crusaders had trouble recognizing their own religion among the various christian sects of asia minor. architecture also transformed at this time. the curved shapes of circular churches replaced the straight lines of the roman basilica, and eventually the domes, each more audacious than the one built before, took on an appearance that indicated their architects had found models among the persian seleucca and ctesiphon. this period marked the birth of byzantine art, a synthesis of greco-latin art and the teachings of asia minor, egypt, and syria, which themselves were descended from persia. the same synthesis that took place in art and architecture also affected philosophy. under the influence of the collegia, byzantine art spread throughout the empire. there was an asia minor scho

e mystic mountain, which explains the title held by the grand master, the sheik el djebel" interpreted by the europeans to mean the old man of the mountain (sheik means "master "teacher" or "head of a brotherhood" and "old man" as in a person worthy of respect.)28 the higher adepts within the assassins devoted their time to the study of philosophy in the fortress of alamut, which was located in a persian domain. when the mongols of kubla khan defeated the assassins in the twelfth century, the victors found an immense library and an astronomical observatory there. outside of the holy land, there was another region where christians had contact with arab civilization and ismailian sects in particular: spain. in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, an ismaili group similar to the assassins, the

n, brought with him his own pertinent opinion. the resulting understanding generally agreed upon was that freemasonry was the "original religion" handed down from such diverse sources as king arthur, richard i, ramon lulle, the gnostics and the school of alexandria, the templars (as instructed by judas of galilee, disciple of the hermit banon, pythagoras, plato, jesus christ and the apostles, the persian philosopher each-ben-mohammed- eleansi, ormus, the egyptians, the benedictines, the rosicrucians, zoroaster, abbaris, channondas, eudoxus, hermippis, hermes trismegistus, porphyrus, plotinus, proclus, jamblique, the priesthood schools of india, the gauls, the hebrews, the essenes, and the persian magi.22 the temple of solomon had been transformed into the tower of babel. only a single brot

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

wide for the faithful, but narrow as a needle for the sinner. the birth of ahura mazda and ahriman this silver plaque from luristan, from the eighth century bce, shows the twins, ahura mazda and ahriman, emerging from the body of zurvan, the supreme god and personification of time. on either side stand figures representing the three stages of man youth, maturity, and old age. mithra mithra was a persian god who became widely venerated in the west, especially in the roman empire, as mithras. he was said to be the son of ahura mazda one of the seven divinities created by ahura mazda to oppose the demons created by ahriman. he was a god of order; but in the need to maintain order, became a god of war and warriors. he was seen as a more approachable god one who in a sense mediated between the

PHOSPHORUS

n, meaning secret or hidden place. pairikas soror azhdeha iii director and overseer -the fiery dragon, an office of scarlet women. pairikas soror teth ii- director and overseer praecantrix dana dark -the ghost serpent, a witch of solitary and dreaming sorcery 3 each are bound to the circle to further expand, refine and direct the initiatory process under the practice of the luciferian witchcraft, persian and ahrimanean sorcery within a left hand path perspective. the grade structure of phosphorus is designed as a falling and ascending process, this involves a focus of the self and the essence of work itself. upon entry in the order of phosphorus, which is by invitation, a period of one year will be the time of which the initiate enters grade 0) void and the abyss (this may be sooner, this

is will pass through quickly, while some will require a more detailed and refined purpose in this grade. the circles of initiation as grades are a magickal transformation of self. they are dynamic as they are essentially the individual becoming as lucifer and lilith the adversary. some will find the plethora and multi-cultural symbolism something they resonate with, from ancient egyptian, hebrew, persian, european and english focuses of symbolism from set as the luciferian initiator, hecate, ahriman or lilith. the path is long; the road thorn covered yet the emerald grail filled with the elixir of gold and silver. initiates are able to join the black order of the dragon after they have become unto the grade i the blackened forge of cain. the initiate may indicate their interest in the pers

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

the kerubic squares over the calvary cross in each lesser angle. this leaves only the s e e nstq uares in each of the four lesser angles- sixteen in number, which gives us sixty-four squares per board- the number of squares in the ordinary chess-board. one of the papers written by greatly honoured fratre n.o.m <348> gives a short history of chess as it was derived from the indian chaturanga, the persian shatranju, and the arabic chess. but since it contains very little that is of any practical import, i have thought better not to include it. a few words now as to the nature of the boards. the boards consist of the purely elemental part of each tablet. there is nothing in the symbolic structure of the board to suggest the operation of the spirit in any of its aspects through the elements

RELIGIOUS TENANTS OF THE YEZIDI

ezeedees than that of sheikh adi. i have frequently inquired the cause of this, and the answer has been, that the latter is so good that he needs not to be invoked, whereas the former is so bad, that he requires to be constantly propitiated. as these two principles seem to form the substance of their religious creed, there can be no doubt as to its origin "the great and fundamental article of the persian theology" writes gibbon "was the celebrated doctrine of the two principles; a bold and injudicious attempt of eastern philosophy to reconcile the existence of moral and physical evil, with the attributes of a beneficent creator and governor of the world" such was pure zoroastrianism, which in after ages was corrupted by the persian magians by a various mixture of foreign idolatry. this was

RITUALS OF THE SOCIETAS ROSICRUCIANIS IN ANGLIA

presenting the divine lux.4th ancient:to me is awarded the impressive duty of explaining the divine essence of fire: the holy andperpetual fire which was under the constant care of the virgin priestesses, whose services of puritywere preserved in the doctrines taught in persia, egypt, greece and italy, and were termed 'perpetualwatches' or 'watch lights, this observance is still maintained in the persian, roman and hebrewfaiths. it is their 'ignis aeternus, the holy ceremony of fire pervades all religious systems, being auniversal symbol in worship, a visible representation of the spirit of the invisible. for as fire iseverywhere, so god is everywhere, about us and in us, and thus we are god-lighted men. this wasthe teaching of the fire-worshippers, who claimed the discovery of the eternal

RUBY TABLET OF SET

the right to criticize the latter. the hebraic kingship is notable as being primarily secular in responsibility; interaction with and representation of yahweh was the responsibility of a separate priesthood. ancient hebrew religion progressed through four stages (1) pre-mosaic animism and magic (2) national monolatry (one god but toleration of others (3) monotheism, and (4) dualism [adapted from persian zoroastrianism (after zaratustra, ca. 600 bce. dualism involves a conflict between two opposing forces of the cosmos in persia ahura mazda vs. ahriman, and later in israel yahweh vs. satan. the hebraic ten commandments are now dated by most "old testament" scholars to ca. 600 bce, some 700 years later than the exodus. in the hebraic system, yahweh is not intelligible through reason or logi

and material components] pythagoras (569-470 bce) was born and lived his early years on samos, which was exposed to the "barbaric" east as well as to the greek west. initiated into the egyptian priesthood of hathor, he remained in egypt over ten years, learned hieroglyphics, and was exposed to astronomy, geometry, and the egyptian concepts of panpsychism. sent to babylon, he was there exposed to persian dualism. he saw the psyche as "good" and the matter into which it entered as "evil, but accepted their merger as something at least temporarily fulfilling to both. goal for the psyche was its escape from reincarnation into an eternal existence of pure spirit. the "music of the spheres. from his academy at crotona, magna graciacia, pythagoras advised students (both male and female) and poli

ng of the sciences occurred in astronomy, mathematics, geography, medicine, and physics. the seleucid empire embraced elam, sumeria, persia, babylonia, assyria, syria, phoenicia, and at times asia minor and palestine. the function of the empire was to give to the near east the economic protection provided earlier by persia and later by the roman empire. commerce was the key to its prosperity. old persian trade routes were expanded. money produced in egypt, rhodes, seleucia, and pergamon replaced the barter of the previous four centuries. greek civilization was the cultural ideal, but it was a thin veneer beyond the eastern mediterranean coast. the abstract, metaphorical, and scientific aspects of greek culture were difficult for the common man to grasp. in the more remote areas religion re

find the names run together. similarly we have "zorokothora-meljisedek" run together; melchisedec whose genealogy is not given in the bible, is identified, not with shem as the jews sometimes do, but with the heathen zoroaster, and the names are fantastically coupled. we may add that the functions assigned to zorokothora-meljisedek have nothing to so with those of the biblical melchisedec or the persian zoroaster! only the mere names were borrowed by the gnostic. 2. the mystery of the first mystery "but he who shall have received the complete mystery of the first mystery of the ineffable, that is to say, the twelve mysteries of the first mystery, one after another. shall have the power of exploring all the orders of the inheritance of light, of exploring from without within, from within w

h intellectual achievement. they had produced a number of noteworthy philosophers, artists, statesmen, architects, and military leaders. what they had not produced was a stable cultural environment in which such talent could be nurtured. in his politically oriented dialogues, therefore, plato sought a system of government that could achieve this stability without being as dictatorial as, say, the persian or assyrian monarchies. in egypt, if in fact he realized it, he had a near-exact functioning model of his republic. and one which was working quite well. the chimaera. if he realized it! so the problem is now to discover what connections, if any, plato had with egypt. are the dialogues of any help? the sphinx: no, they aren't. there are a very few passing references to egypt, but nothing o

s, it was the seat of the egyptian government from 378 to 360 bce under nekht-hor-heb i, first pharaoh of the xxx dynasty. hence it would have been both relatively secure from a political standpoint and a logical place for plato to seek egyptian initiation.26 the sphinx: talk about last minute timing! in 340 bce, after more than four thousand years of native national rule, egypt finally fell to a persian army [which in turn fell to alexander the great in 332. how sophisticated the egyptian initiatory systems remained under purely occupational governments is open to question. as would be the willingness of egyptian priests to initiate foreigners under such circumstances. even pythagoras' initiation many years earlier seems to have occurred only after some arm-twisting by amasis, himself a n

how sophisticated the egyptian initiatory systems remained under purely occupational governments is open to question. as would be the willingness of egyptian priests to initiate foreigners under such circumstances. even pythagoras' initiation many years earlier seems to have occurred only after some arm-twisting by amasis, himself a native egyptian pharaoh and thus an initiate in his own right. a persian or a ptolemaic ruler would not have had such leverage over the native priesthoods, nor the knowledge to judge whether forced instruction was in fact genuine. after pythagoras and plato the link with the egyptian priesthoods was broken [this may very well account for the sharp distinctions between the pythagorean/platonic doctrines. with their apparent sophistication and seeming uniqueness

often be traced to any number of the major world religions, they have developed beliefs, systems, or structures which are considerably different from those traditions. several of the groups discussed in this section fall within this general framework: the baha'i faith, the native american church, and the universal life church. baha'i is a major new faith built on the revelations given to several persian mystics of the l9th century. while growing on an islamic base, it has moved to a more universal outlook. the native american church is one of many that uses psychedelic substances as a visionary aid and sacramental element. they are distinctive in being both the oldest and the only one with government sanction to use the designated drugs. the universal life church represents a response to

s bay 7 drops of pettigrain class 2 and 3 fragrances: here musk is the fixative but is only subtly apparent. 1 "citryn- this fragrance is usable almost immediately. it is light, and though not lively is not so sedating as the above ones. 20 drops citronella 40 drops sweet orange 12 drops ylang-ylang 20 drops musk 2 "citrus delight- add 10 drops cinnamon to the above recipe. class 4 fragrances: 1 "persian- a fragrance suitable for men or women. 1 dropper of sandalwood (20 drops) 1 dropper of musk (20 drops) 4 drops patchouli 3 drops ambergris be sure to rinse the dropper in alcohol after each oil, or use separate straws. after blending, let it sit for a few days. use 1 dropper for a fragrant, sensual bath. use one half, to one dropper, to 4 oz. of oil for massage, or to 1/2 cup of the lubri

ant, sensual bath. use one half, to one dropper, to 4 oz. of oil for massage, or to 1/2 cup of the lubricant recipe. if the oil will be used to supply fragrance for the lubricant, and if it may come into contact with someone's mouth, substitute another dropper of sandalwood for the musk, and use cinnamon instead of ambergris. it is not the same, but the difference is pleasing. it will compliment "persian" if the latter is worn as perfume. this makes a nice base to which one can add other oils for very different effects. rose, ylang- ylang, or lavender can be added (5 to 10 drops for the rose or ylang-ylang, and 3 to 5 for the lavender. 2 "sexem- a sweeter, mellower fragrance than "persian, can be used preliminary to it over a long evening. suitable for both men and women. a nice way to use

SALMANRUSHDIE THESATANICVERSES

quently, his face itself, had begun to let him down. it started- chamcha, allowing fingers and thumbs to relax and hoping, in some embarrassment, that his last remaining superstition had gone unobserved by his fellow-passengers, closed his eyes and remembered with a delicate shudder of horror- on his flight east some weeks ago. he had fallen into a torpid sleep, high above the desert sands of the persian gulf, and been visited in a dream by a bizarre stranger, a man with a glass skin, who rapped his knuckles mournfully against the thin, brittle membrane covering his entire body and begged saladin to help him, to release him from the prison of his skin. chamcha picked up a stone and began to batter at the glass. at once a latticework of blood oozed up through the cracked surface of the stra

create a many-headed, many-brushed overartist who, literally _was_ indian painting. one hand would draw the mosaic floors, a second the figures, a third would paint the chinese-looking cloudy skies. on the backs of the cloths were the stories that accompanied the scenes. the pictures would be shown like a movie: held up while someone read out the hero's tale. in the _hamza-nama_ you could see the persian miniature fusing with kannada and keralan painting styles, you could see hindu and muslim philosophy forming their characteristically late--mughal synthesis. a giant was trapped in a pit and his human tormentors were spearing him in the forehead. a man sliced vertically from the top of his head to his groin still held his sword as he fell. everywhere, bubbling spillages of blood. saladin c

trike at any time. in those days before meteorology such matters were impossible to predict. for this reason the cara- vanserais prospered. the produce of the world came up from zafar to sheba, and thence tojahilia and the oasis of yathrib and on to midian where moses lived; thence to aqabah and egypt. from jahilia other trails began: to the east and north--east, towards mesopotamia and the great persian empire. to petra and to palmyra, where once solomon loved the queen of sheba. those were fatted days. but now the fleets plying the waters around the peninsula have grown hardier, their crews more skilful, their navigational instruments more accurate. the camel trains are losing business to the boats. desert-ship and sea-ship, the old rivalry, sees a tilt in the balance of power. jahilia's

whatwhy. hamza stands back "nephew, this is no damn good" he snaps in his soldier's bark "when you come down from coney there's a brightness on you. today it's something dark" mahound sits on the edge of the well and grins "i've been offered a deal _by abu simbel_ khalid shouts _unthinkable. refuse. faithful bilal admonishes him: do not lecture the messenger. of course, he has refused. salman the persian asks: what sort of deal. mahound smiles again "at least one of you wants to know "it's a small matter" he begins again "a grain of sand. abu simbel asks allah to grant him one little favour" hamza sees the exhaustion in him. as if he had been wrestling with a demon. the water--carrier is shouting "nothing! not a jot" hamza shuts him up "if our great god could find it in his heart to conced

od" bilal shouts. and his fellows join in "ya allah" mahound looks angry "will the faithful hear the messenger" they fall silent, scuffing their feet in the dust "he asks for allah's approval of lat, uzza and manat. in return, he gives his guarantee that we will be tolerated, even officially recognized; as a mark of which, i am to be elected to the council of jahilia. that's the offer" salman the persian says "it's a trap. if you go up coney and come down with such a message, he'll ask, how could you make gibreel provide just the right revelation? he'll be able to call you a charlatan, a fake" mahound shakes his head "you know, salman, that i have learned how to listen. this _listening_ is not of the ordinary kind; it's also a kind of asking. often, when gibreel comes, it's as if he knows

man, i was really calling him a weakling? now what? is it my turn to challenge you to a fight" mahound begs for peace "if we quarrel, there's no hope" he tries to raise the discussion to the theological level "it is not suggested that allah accept the three as his equals. not even lat. only that they be given some sort of intermediary, lesser status "like devils" bilal bursts out "no" salman the persian gets the point "like archangels. the grandee's a clever man "angels and devils" mahound says "shaitan and gibreel. we all, already, accept their existence, halfway between god and man. abu simbel asks that we admit just three more to this great company. just three, and, he indicates, all jahilia's souls will be ours "and the house will be cleansed of statues" salman asks. mahound replies t

e you from, are you sent by him "his memory is as long as his face" the intruder said, pushing back his hood "no, i am not his messenger. you and i have something in common. we are both afraid of him "i know you" baal said "yes "the way you speak. you're a foreigner"'a revolution of water--carriers, immigrants and slaves" the stranger quoted "your words "you're the immigrant" baal remembered "the persian. sulaiman" the persian smiled his crooked smile "salman" he corrected "not wise, but peaceful "you were one of the closest to him" baal said, perplexed "the closer you are to a conjurer" salman bitterly replied "the easier to spot the trick" and gibreel dreamed this: at the oasis of yathrib the followers of the new faith of submission found themselves landless, and therefore poor. for many

slowly, by bleeding, so that by experiencing their deaths to the full they might arrive at an understanding of the meaning of their lives, for it is only at the moment of death that living creatures understand that life has been real, and not a sort of dream. and gibreel the archangel specified the manner in which a man should be buried, and how his property should be divided, so that salman the persian got to wondering what manner of god this was that sounded so much like a businessman. this was when he had the idea that destroyed his faith, because he recalled that of course mahound himself had been a businessman, and a damned successful one at that, a person to whom organization and rules came naturally, so how excessively convenient it was that he should have come up with such a very

famous jahilian cavalry to leap across. a ditch: with sharpened stakes at the bottom. when the jahilians saw this foul piece of unsportsmanlike hole-digging their sense of chivalry and honour obliged them to behave as if the ditch had not been dug, and to ride their horses at it, full--tilt. the flower of jahilia's army, human as well as equine, ended up impaled on the pointed sticks of salman's persian deviousness, trust an immigrant not to play the game- and after the defeat of jahilia? salman lamented to baal: you'd have thought i'd have been a hero, i'm not a vain man but where were the public honours, where was the gratitude of mahound, why didn't the archangel mention _me_ in despatches? nothing, not a syllable, it was as if the faithful thought of my ditch as a cheap trick, too, an

al, walking three steps behind or sitting at home being wise and waxing their chins. how the women of yathrib laughed at the faithful, i swear, but that man is a magician, nobody could resist his charm; the faithful women did as he ordered them. they submitted: he was offering them paradise, after all "anyway" salman said near the bottom of the bottle "finally i decided to test him" one night the persian scribe had a dream in which he was hovering above the figure of mahound at the prophet's cave on mount cone. at first salman took this to be no more than a nostalgic reverie of the old days in jahilia, but then it struck him that his point of view, in the dream, had been that of the archangel, and at that moment the memory of the incident of the satanic verses came back to him as vividly a

SATANGEL

have us believe. compare almost any description of spirits from the lesser key to the description of the angelic manifestation in ezekiel 1:6-13. as we shall observe, the angels, saints, devils and demons may be traced back largely to the spirits of the previous aeon of pagan magick. the hebrew term for angel is mal akh, meaning messenger. the word angel itself comes through the sanskrit angeres, persian angeres, to the greek angelos. such pre-christian roots are apparent even in their names, which commonly end with the singular el, meaning shining one. the word is of sumerian origin, and is related to the akkadian ilu, babylonian ellu, old welsh ellu, old irish aillil, anglo- saxon aelf, and english elf. even our classical image of the angel, a beautiful human with bird wings, has its ori

ion faces and mouths and as many tongues which, in a million dialects, implore the pardon of allah. he is the angel of the last judgement and weigher of souls. in the middle ages he was considered the psychopomp, conducting souls to the other world. such a pedigree dates from when the tribes of israel were in captivity in egypt. thus he may be equated here with anubis, the dog star, whose name in persian is tistar, chief, and in akkadian kasista, prince. the equation of micha-el and the god of the underworld also continues after the arrival of roman catholicism. the church, anxious to attract and convert the pagans of roman gaul, endowed micha-el with many of the attributes of the god mercury, and thus also of the greek hermes. chapels dedicated to micha-el thus sprang up throughout europe

scribe describes his first meeting with the lord (en xl:6) where he also witnesses uriel arguing against the satans and refusing them permission to come before the lord to accuse those from the earth. the myth of the fall originates in the book of enoch, and is outside of the canon. yet by the time the new testament was compiled the influence of enoch had been absorbed, along with elements of the persian zoroastrian religion, judea being under persian rule from the 6th to 4th centuries b.c. in their cosmology there are two principles of ahura mazda, being creative, and ahriman, being destructive. so evenly matched are they that the slightest flux can topple the balance, and mortal-kind are constantly being drawn to one side or the other. originally the devil was the shadow side of god, his

brings back runaways, makes those who run stand still. agrath bath mahalath, aggerath, igrath, igerath, agrat (hebrew, daughter of mahalath. one of samael s three wives, queen of demons. angel of prostitution. equated with lilith. the bible mentions two women named mahalth, one is the daughter of ishmael and wife of esau, the other is wife to rehoboam and grand-daughter of david. ahriman (middle persian, modern farsi, from angru mainyu. whose name was given by zarathustra, and to whom the mithraics offered sacrifice. who counters every act of creation with an act of anticreation. the embodiment of all evil, who inhabits the cthonian darkeness, from where he delivers us the gifts of sickness, death, blackness and smoke. whose symbol is the serpent. invoked as arimanius. ahrimanes (middle p

nds out all underhand dealings, and locates hidden treasure. aniquiel one of the nine great dukes of hell, specifically named as being the serpent in the garden. ariton (goetia. demon king of water, and the west. ashmedai, asmodaios, asmodeus, asmoday (goetia, 32nd spirit, latin asmodeus, talmudic asmeddai, meaning being of judgement. ex- cherubim, more of a philosopher than a fiend. originally a persian deity, it is supposedly he who killed the seven bridegrooms of sarah and fought rapha-el, before being banished to upper egypt. classically, the patron demon of passion, lechery, luxury, sensuality, who wreaks havoc seducing nuns and monks. may appear with three heads, a bull, a ram and a man, and the feet of a rooster or goose, and a serpent s tail. shoots flames from his mouth, and rides

owley. 32nd spirit of the goetia, a king commanding 72 legions. gives the ring of virtues, teaches arithmatic, astronomy, geometry, handicrafts. answers demands fully and truthfully, makes one invincible, finds and guards hidden treasures. originally an old iranian spirit inherited by the post exile jews (tobias 3: 8, 17. in some ways reminiscent of the assyrian demon pazuzu. astaroth, ashtaroth (persian ashtoreth, the biblical place name ashtoreth-karnaim means ashtoreth of the twin horns. goetia, 29th spirit) in the goetia, a duke commanding 40 legions. who manifests as a beautiful or foul angel carrying a viper in his hand whilst riding backwards on a dragon. tells fortunes, teaches liberal sciences. inspires sloth and idleness. the grimorium verum and grand grimoire make him the great

SATANIC RITUALS

he skoptsi or "castrators (circa 1500. their ritual, though russian, also contained some foreign adaptation. they celebrated in name and deed such ancient gods and pre-christian divinities as the rusalki, and iarilo, who were the personifications of passion and lust, and the domovoy, or house genii. the khlystys invoked biblical gods of pleasure, as well as dark, forboding demons like balaam, and persian deities like kors. in the ritual of these "seekers after joy" their whirlings and circumambulations, followed by frenzied sexual release, were virtually indistinguishable from the ecstatic flailing about of the dervishes. undoubtedly the strongest testimony to the influence of foreign sects upon the khlysty was their dogma of "repentance through sin"-the proposition that physical intercour

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

y crucifixion by roman authorities in jerusalem. 70 ce roman troops crush the great revolt by occupying jerusalem, massacring jews, and destroying the second temple. 142 revelations given to the holy man zhang daoling (also spelled chang tao-ling, who becomes the first of the great celestial masters in daoism. 224 651 during the sassanid dynasty, zoroastrianism spreads aggressively throughout the persian empire. 313 the roman emperor constantine converts to christianity. 380 the emperor theodosius i declares christianity the official religion of the roman empire. 610 according to islamic belief, the prophet muhammad begins receiving revelations and prophecies from the archangel jabra il (gabriel. 632 the death of muhammad marks the beginning of a long period of islamic civil war and separa

ed to as circles, groves, kindreds, garths, hearths, and other terms. covenant: in religion, a covenant refers to an agreement between god or a messenger of god and his followers. creed: a statement of belief or basic principles. crucifixion: the suffering and death by nailing or binding a person to a cross. cuneiform: sumerian writing, so-called because of its wedge-shaped marks. daevas: ancient persian deities. dao: the path or way; the rhythmic balance and natural, flowing patterns of the universe. de: political power that is the result of a ruler s virtue and honesty. deity: a god or goddess. dharma: righteousness in one s religious and personal life. diaspora: the scattering of the jews throughout the world. digambara: literally sky-clad; one of the two major sects of jainism. discipl

g or by a priest class. ziggurat: a stepped foundation or structure that held a shrine or temple in the mesopotamian religion. 38 world religions: almanac ancient religions of egypt and mesopotamia history and development mesopotamia, a word made up from two greek words meaning between the rivers, is an ancient name for an area encompassed by the tigris and euphrates rivers. it stretches from the persian gulf in the south to the mountains of armenia in the north and covers most of modern-day iraq. mesopotamia had a much different climate when it was first settled about eight to ten thousand years ago. at that time it was a land of marshes and grassland rather than desert as it is now. humans began intensive farming in the area as early as 3,000 bce. from the earliest times farming depended

athered eighteen disciples, or followers, making nineteen believers in all. this became a sacred number to the babi and, later, for the baha faith. the bab s message of love and compassion soon gained many other followers. a popular belief spread that the bab was the qa im, a messiah-like figure important in the tradition of the shiite islam practiced in persia (a messiah is a messenger from god) persian leaders began to worry that the bab was gaining too much power and might lead a rebellion. because of such suspicion the bab spent much of the last years of his life either under house arrest or in prison. in 1848 revolts led by the babi broke out and over the next three years they were brutally suppressed. the bab was executed by firing squad in 1850. according to legend, the first round

of its proposed nineteen chapters written. in completing the bab s work, baha u lla h was also claiming leadership of the babis. world religions: almanac 71 baha in an attempt to strengthen his position as leader, subh-i azal also claimed to have completed the bab s work. relations between the two brothers worsened as support of baha u lla h increased in baghdad and in his native country, persia. persian leaders once again grew concerned about baha u lla h s growing influence. they persuaded the ottoman government, which controlled baghdad and much of what is now turkey, to banish the holy man from baghdad, where he had attracted so many followers. in 1863, before his exile from baghdad, baha u lla h told a small group of followers about his visitation eleven years earlier, announcing for

ore were imprisoned. although baha s respect all religions and their holy books, they have faced repression, imprisonment, and even death for professing their own faith. about baha belief. baha s believe in the oneness of all things: one world, one human race, one religion. followers. baha is the thirteenthlargest world religion, with 7.5 million followers in 247 countries. name of god. baha, the persian word meaning glory or splendor, is sometimes used to refer to god. more common usage is simply god. for baha s, all gods are merely various perceptions, or views, of the one god. symbols. the nine-pointed star is the primary symbol of the baha faith. worship. there is no clergy in the baha faith. services are held at the first of the month in homes or simple buildings and in houses of wors

ls with ethical questions and prophecies, or predictions of the future. in this book baha u lla h describes the process of continual growth and evolution in religion. each age needs a new message; even baha u lla h himself was to be followed by another of god s messengers in one thousand years. earlier works from baha u lla h include the kitab-i-iqan (book of certitude, written in both arabic and persian in 1862, and, according to tradition, in only two days and nights. in this book baha u lla h continues the work of the bab, explaining the continual unfolding of the religion and stating that all religions are related to one another. under the leadership of abdu l-baha, baha gained many new followers, particularly in the west. after his death he was buried in the shrine of the bab. mary ev

igions: almanac 79 baha baha u lla h wrote three more mystical works that are composed in short verses and provide spiritual truth. these include kalimat-i-maknunih, or the hidden words; haft-vadi, or seven valleys; and chihar-vadi, or four valleys. in the hidden words baha u lla h compresses the basics of spiritual knowledge into short passages or prayers, seventy-one in arabic and eighty-two in persian. baha u lla h wrote many more books and letters, and also spoke publicly on the faith s principles and ideas. sacred symbols three symbols are typically associated with the baha faith. the primary symbol is the nine-pointed star. the importance of that number to the religion is partly due to the tradition in arabic of attaching numerical values to words. the number value for baha (glory) i

aha ul abha, meaning o glory of the most glorious. this symbol is referred to as the greatest name and was created by a baha calligrapher, or letter designer. the nine-pointed star often has this inscription in its center. the third major baha symbol is the ringstone symbol, etched on rings worn by baha s. designed by abdu l- baha, it features two stars, between which is a stylized version of the persian word baha. worship baha has no permanent clergy or priesthood. monasticism, or separation from the world, is forbidden. there are seven houses of worship, or mashriqu l-adhkar, around the globe. baha s also gather in private homes or modest facilities for their services, which include the study of texts, prayer, and the recitation of passages from sacred works. baha s see no distinction be

cted by the bab. this is the holiest and most significant of all baha holidays. on these days, baha s gather at community centers or at homes to read from baha religious texts, eat together, and enjoy the companionship of one another. during ridvan they also elect new leaders. if possible, baha s do not work on these holy days. another important festival is naw-ruz, or the baha new year (also the persian new year, which takes place on march 21, the the shrine of the bab in haifa, israel, houses the remains of the bab, founder of the babi faith. baha emerged from the babi, as baha u lla h identfied himself as the second messenger of god foretold by the bab. ap images. world religions: almanac 81 baha first day of spring. before this holy day, baha s fast, going without food or drink from su

SORCERIES OF ZOS

nted by the hand and the eye, the instruments of sentiency and vision. they form the foundation of the new sexuality, which spare evolved by combining them to form a magical art- the art of visualizing sensation, of 'becoming one with all sensation, and of transcending the dual polarities of existence by the annihilation of separate identity through the mechanics of the death posture. long ago, a persian poet described in a few words the object of spare's new sexuality. the kingdom of i and we forsake, and your home in annihilation make. the new sexuality, in the sense that spare conceived it, is the sexuality not of positive dualities but of the great void, the negative, the ain: the eye of infinite potential. the new sexuality is, simply, the manifestation of non- manifestation, or of un

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ccumulating and absorbing wisdom and knowledge. according 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 35 dionysus, the god of vegetation, whose cycle of birth, death, and rebirth reflects the cycle of growth, decay, and rebirth seen in nature. to the legends surrounding his life, he was taught by zoroaster (c. 628 c. 551 b.c.e, the persian prophet, and by the brahmans of india. although his teachings on past lives formed the essence of so many of the mystery religions, he was initiated into the orphic, egyptian, judaic, chaldean, and many other mystery schools. at last pythagoras formed his own school at crotona in southern italy. an unyielding taskmaster, he accepted only those students whom he assessed as already having es

e library) the deceased through her spirit guide, eileen garrett often expressed doubts about uvani s spiritual independence and frequently voiced her suspicions that he might only be a segment of her own subconscious mind. eventually, she had four trance communicators. uvani, a fourteenth- century arab soldier, remained always as the control, but there was also abdul latif, a seventeenth-century persian physician, who dealt primarily with healing, and tahotah and ramah, who claimed no prior earthly incarnations and who spoke only seldom and then on philosophical and spiritual matters. such indecisiveness about the source of her abilities dismayed the spiritualists, who in her developmental years in london, had tutored her with the utmost seriousness. eileen garrett became a persistent and

o to be worth the conquering of a thousand cities. during world war i in 1918, the british general allenby broke the power of the turkish army at megiddo. most scholars agree that the word armageddon is a greek corruption of the hebrew har-megiddo, the mound of megiddo, but they debate exactly when the designation of armageddon was first used. the city of megiddo was abandoned sometime during the persian period (539 b.c.e. 332 b.c.e, and the small villages established to the south were known by other names. it could well have been that john the revelator, writing in the jewish apocalyptic tradition of a final conflict between the forces of light and darkness, was well aware of the bloody tradition of the hill of megiddo and was inspired by the ruins of the city on its edge; but by the midd

of a matching shroud face that was found behind the false ceiling of an outbuilding in templecombe, southern england, on grounds that had once served as a templar recruitment and training center. from its earliest years, in legends and in art, there have been claims of miracles and healings through the shroud. four credible witnesses reported that in 544 when edessa was threatened with siege by a persian army, the image was rushed to the top of the city wall and prominently displayed; the army turned and abandoned the attack. eusebius and others state that king agabar v of edessa was mortally ill and was instantly healed when shown the face on the cloth. while the shroud was being carried to constantinople in 944, it was said that a man possessed of demons was cleansed when he touched it

lidays. 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 mystery religions and cults 271 although mithraism, the most popular religion among the soldiers in the roman legions, became christianity s greatest rival in the early centuries of the church, it was not, as is often incorrectly cited, a christian heresy. while it is true that the worshippers of the persian god mithras spoke of the adoration of their deity by a group of shepherds at his miraculous birth, observed a baptismal ritual that must be observed by those who wished to follow him, participated in a communal meal of bread and water which resembled the eucharist, and celebrated his birthday on december 25, mithraism had been established throughout the persian empire at least 500 years be

tianity in the fourth century had a great influence on vast numbers of the roman legions, and thousands of soldiers followed his example and converted to the teachings of jesus of nazareth (c. 6 b.c.e. c. 30 c.e) and the christian church. mithraism gradually faded into obscurity by the end of the fourth century, retaining only small pockets of followers scattered throughout what had once been the persian empire. sources: clifton, chas s. encyclopedia of heresies and heretics. new york: barnes& noble, 1998. fox, robin lane. pagans and christians. new york: alfred a. knopf, 1989. spence, lewis. encyclopedia of occultism. new hyde park: n.y: university books, 1960. mithras in the roman legions of the orgnization s members become dissatisfied with the religious routine and yearn for a more pas

ames, ed. the nag hammadi library. san francisco: harper& row, 1981. manichaeism mani (c. 216 277, a self-proclaimed apostle of christ who spoke in syrian, a version of the aramaic language in which jesus (c. 6 b.c.e. c. 30 c.e) taught, proclaimed that his church would preach a universal religion that would be for all people, regardless of nationality or tongue. the well-educated child, born to a persian family that lived near babylon and who worshipped with the elkesaites, fell under the influence of gnostic teaching and began to devise a philosophy that saw life on earth as a constant struggle between good and evil. when he was only 12, mani experienced his first religious vision and perceived an angelic being who declared itself his heavenly twin and who promised always to be mani s hel

d to clone humans, the guardian. july 19, 2001 [online] http//www.guardian.co.uk/print/ 0,3858, 4224163,00.html. 28 january 2002. raelian revolution website [online] http//www.rael. org. 28 january 2002. story, ron, ed. the encyclopedia of extraterrestrial encounters. new york: new american library, 2001. twentieth-century spiritual expression although millennial thought dates back to the ancient persian philosophers and was sustained through the centuries by christian, jewish, and muslim teachers, americans especially seem always to have been fascinated by the horror of a certain apocalyptic vision that includes plagues, earthquakes, and cataclysmic volcanic eruptions. christopher columbus was a devout student of biblical prophecies who believed that the world would end in 1650. he percei

of the fifteenth century word wisard, meaning wise. someone professing to have magical powers as a magician, sorcerer, or a male witch. in general, someone who is extremely knowledgeable and clever. zoology the scientific branch of biology that studies animals in all their characteristics and aspects. from the greek zoologia, literally the study of life and from zolion, or life form. zoroaster a persian prophet (c. 628 b.c.e. c. 551 b.c.e) and the founder of an ancient religion called zoroastrianism whose principal belief is in a supreme deity and of the existence of a dualism between good and evil. derived from the greek word zarat or zarathustra, meaning camel handler. 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 334 glossary cumulative index

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of sexuality and fertility. it seems quite likely that long before cleopatra worked her magic on caesar and antony, the sirens of the nile used makeup that mimicked the hypnotic eyes and facial markings of the cat. bubastis, a city in lower egypt, dedicated itself to the worship of the cat. each may some 700,000 pilgrims journeyed to the city to participate in the festival of the cat. during the persian invasion of 529 b.c.e, the egyptians deification of the cat proved their undoing. knowing of the obsession of the egyptian people with the divinity of felines, cambyses ii, king of the persians, made a cat part of the standard issue to each of his soldiers. the nile-dwellers led by king psamtik iii laid down their spears and bows for fear of harming the cat that each enemy soldier carried

he slain. valkyrie one of the 12 handmaids of odin in norse mythology who ride their horses over the battlefield as they escort the souls of slain heroes to valhalla. from the old 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 238 superstitions, strange customs, taboos, and urban legends norse valkyrja, meaning literally chooser of the slain. zoroaster a persian prophet (c. 628 b.c.e. c. 551 b.c.e) and the founder of an ancient religion called zoroastrianism whose principal belief is in a supreme deity and of the existence of a dualism between good and evil. derived from the greek word zarat or zarathustra, meaning camel handler. 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 superstitions, strange custom

. michanowsky saw the deathblaze of vela x to have been such a dramatic sky show that it became a profound cultural organizing principle that forced human knowledge to take a giant leap forward. but was there something more that took place at that time? the babylonian priest-historian berossus chronicled the coming of oannes, an entity described as being half-man, half-fish, who surfaced from the persian gulf to instruct the early inhabitants of mesopotamia in the arts of civilization. before the advent of oannes, berossus stated, the sumerians lived like beasts in the field, with no order or rule. the sumerians lived exactly as their primitive forefathers had existed until oannes, the bizarre beast with reason appeared in their midst. the gifted alien entity was endowed with superior inte

of the fifteenth century word wisard, meaning wise. someone professing to have magical powers as a magician, sorcerer, or a male witch. in general, someone who is extremely knowledgeable and clever. zoology the scientific branch of biology that studies animals in all their characteristics and aspects. from the greek zoologia, literally the study of life and from zolion, or life form. zoroaster a persian prophet (c. 628 b.c.e. c. 551 b.c.e) and the founder of an ancient religion called zoroastrianism whose principal belief is in a supreme deity and of the existence of a dualism between good and evil. derived from the greek word zarat or zarathustra, meaning camel handler. 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 314 glossary cumulative index

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

encyclopedia of occultism. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1960. pythagoras (c. 580.c. 500 b.c.e) pythagoras, one of the greatest philosophers and mathematicians of the sixth century b.c.e, is said to have traveled the known world of his time, accumulating and absorbing wisdom and knowledge. according to the legends surrounding his life, he was taught by zoroaster (c. 628.c. 551 b.c.e, the persian 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 70 magic and sorcery prophet, and the brahmans of india; and he initiated into the orphic, egyptian, judaic, chaldean, and many other mystery schools. pythagoras is among those individuals given the status of becoming a myth in his own lifetime. the philosopher was said to have been born of the virgin

valleys of the hermus and cayster rivers (now the gediz and buyukmenderes rivers. known earlier by the name maeonia, it had fertile soil, rich deposits of gold and silver, and a magnificent capital, sardis. lydia prospered as a powerful dynasty beginning about 685 b.c.e. during the sixth century b.c.e, lydia attained its greatest splendor under the rule of king croessus. the empire ended when the persian ruler cyrus the great (c. 585.c. 529 b.c.e) captured sardis about 546 b.c.e. after the defeat of persia by alexander iii (c. 356.323 b.c.e, king of macedonia, lydia was brought under greco-macedonian control, and then in 133 b.c.e. it became part of the roman province of asia. lydia was across the agean sea from greece. a legendary king of lydia was named tantalis: his name sounds similar

converted the dome of the rock to a christian shrine, replacing the crescent on the top of the dome with a cross and constructing an altar on the rock. the shrine returned to muslim possession in 1187 when the great muslim military genius salah al-din, known to the crusaders as saladin, captured jerusalem. in 1537, the ottoman turks replaced the gold mosaics on the outside of the dome with 45,000 persian tiles. today fs visitor to the shrine will see the sunlight reflecting from sheets of gold-plated aluminum, imprinted with selected verses from the koran, which were placed there during a complete restoration of the dome of the rock in 1956-1962. in 1967, the old city of jerusalem, including the temple mount, was seized by israeli soldiers, but the dome of the rock remains available for wo

the fifteenth century word wisard, meaning gwise. h someone professing to have magical powers as a magician, sorcerer, or a male witch. in general, someone who is extremely knowledgeable and clever. zoology the scientific branch of biology that studies animals in all their characteristics and aspects. from the greek zoologia, literally the study of life and from zolion, or life form. zoroaster a persian prophet (c. 628 b.c.e. c. 551 b.c.e) and the founder of an ancient religion called zoroastrianism whose principal belief is in a supreme dei a the god of the witchesmargaret alice murraythe god of the witchesmargaret alice murraythis page copyright 251 2001 blackmask online.http//www.blackmask.comforeword to the first edition267 introduction267 chapter i. the horned god267 chapter ii. the

THE LUCIFERIAN PATH THE WITCHES SABBAT MICHAEL W FORD

sis. the process of working with necromantic shadow energies is indeed a powerful tool aimed at those working in the initiatory aspect of self-deification, yet it is as equally as dangerous. this grimoire is a personal record of its author, akhyta seker arimanius, and a manual of how one may in a balanced manner, work with the shades of the dead. featured in nox umbra is the cultus of akhtya, the persian path of sorcery in relation to ahriman, the beast dragon of darkness. this entails vampyric dream shape-shifting, vampyric self-transformation (without the use of blood or predatory workings, servitor creation and egyptian god forms. explored equally is the goddess archetype in relation to vampyrism, including the methods and process of evoking and summoning forth lilith, the lilitu (succu

olitary black mass, with chants given to charge the toadbone after the ritual. for the road through the rite is through the darkness, it leads towards the light of the sun. illustrated with old grimoire sigils and toadwitch sigils by elda isela ford, the toad rite presents an independent record of 12 the toad rite on the antinomian way of the left hand path and luciferian witchcraft. yatuk dinoih persian sorcery of the adversary- second edition- new version, contents and illustrations by michael w. ford illustrated by elda isela ford the path of persian sorcery has long been overlooked and unknown since middle eastern and arabic grimoires emerged in western culture. the path of yatus (demons who wander the earth as nomads) as revealed through the yatuk dinoih (witchcraft and sorcery) is a

cery) is a lesser known and even lesser understood religion. the original first edition of yatuk dinoih by michael ford presented only a glimpse at this system of averse shadow sorcery. in the terms of sabbatic or luciferian sorcery, the yatuk dinoih provides a powerful model for initiatory practice of the adversary, the perpetual opposition of the universal order. the yatuk dinoih is a system of persian sorcery, developed by practice of a sabbatic/luciferian guild in houston, texas, who were working through zoroastrian symbolism and brought the western left hand path focus to its fold. ultimately, the yatuk dinoih is a dangerous grimoire which can build or destroy the self, depending on the will and the control of the sorcerer. the left hand path is a lonely road of non-union with the nat

rough zoroastrian symbolism and brought the western left hand path focus to its fold. ultimately, the yatuk dinoih is a dangerous grimoire which can build or destroy the self, depending on the will and the control of the sorcerer. the left hand path is a lonely road of non-union with the natural order, that is by the antinomian path of individual strength. rewritten, reworked and encompassing the persian system of sorcery the yatuk dinoih presents the background and idea of ahriman, the prince of darkness, a sorcerous spirit who is made of darkness (the adversary, who takes the shape and shadow form of a toad, serpent, wolf and dragon. ahriman represents the sabbatic and luciferian adversary formula, the 13 initiatory state of transforming and becoming something other than being dissolved

in ra-stau where he sits in the kingdom of death, as death itself. it makes reference to seker sitting in majesty, with serpents and demonic spirits surround him. in the book of the dead seker is made reference to as being great god who carrieth away the soul, who eateth hearts, and who feedeth upon offal, the guardian of darkness, the god who is in the seker boat. this draws a comparison to the persian-iranian ahriman, who was also an opposing sorcerous daemon of darkness, who by averse practices, became stronger and immortal. set had legions of devils called seba who served the prince of darkness, and were known to hack and devour certain souls. in a modern initiatory context, the magician understands the these god forms represent isolate intellect, and self-deification through antinomi

nd enables the mind to grow strong through understanding and experiencing on dreaming levels other significant god forms, demons and angelick spirits. 15 the egyptian book of the dead, the abode of the blessed, edited by e.a. wallis budge. 16 tubal-cain or cain, the son of samael and lilith, was the master of the forge i.e. initiation. 19 when one approaches the ancient masks of set, seker or the persian druj of the yatuk-dinoih understand that by diving in the black sun, becoming as a god in the darkness is but the first part of crossing the abyss. the rite of adversarial shadow -the ensorcelment of ahriman and the infernal sabbat- the focus and intent of this ritual is the application of an ancient form of sorcery known as yatuk dinoih17. the functional practice is defined as the body of

word, the embodiment of a god or goddess in flesh. the rite of the adversarial shadow the chant of the infernal sabbat as i face the star of al ghul the two horns become one. i cast the circle as kabed-us-spae, that within is the circumference of my divinity. by the star of algol i bask in the brilliance of the sun at midnight, the eye of blackened flame and smoke, of arimanius, 17 witchcraft or persian sorcery which involves developing a solitary of spirit or druj practice. 20 dire initiator of my night and infernal dreaming path. may the eye open within i call unto the shadows of the circle cast against the dawn- azi-dahaka, aeshma, zartosht, nasu druj, andar, savar, taprev, astwihad fly now unto me! kundak my steed of infernal flight come forth nightmare, guide me to the sabbat! spirit

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

ross the world, and in the seven league boots of the mind they did meet, and on common soil. sumeria. sumeria is the name given to a once flourishing civilisation that existed in what is now known as iraq, in the area called by the greeks "mesopotamia" and by the arabs as, simply "the island" for it existed between two rivers, the tigris and the euphrates, which run down from the mountains to the persian gulf. this is the site of the fabled city of babylon, as well as of ur of the chaldees and kish, with nineveh far to the north. each of the seven principal cities of sumeria was ruled by a different deity, who was worshipped in the strange, non-semitic language of the sumerians; and language which has been closely allied to that of the aryan race, having in fact many words identical to tha

THE ABYSS AND TABAET

associative traits and that the adversary has existed long before christianity. the avestan texts as well as the denkard provide a wealth of knowledge of ahriman from a right hand path point of view, consider as such a veil which can only be passed through by the great work of initiation. the names and cultural expressions of the adversary are briefly explored as an introduction, from the ancient persian, hebraic and even norse, the adversary appears in each. as tempter, war maker, wisdom bringer and devouring predatory spirit. look to the common aspects which make the opposer as a force of initiation. lucifer/ahriman/samael is a spirit which is made viable through the adept his/herself, this force is expressive of the individual, thus each manifestation unique as the initiate in question

ound may be used to open the mind to subjective experiences which include spiritual meetings, encircling and empowering the self through daevas and their often dangerous currents of energy and much more. the practice of using staotas inverse or backwards from avestan gathas proves beneficial to the yatus or sorcerer working in the ahrimanic gnosis. the denkard or dinkart is a collection of middle persian writings which hold an earlier significance to the zoroastrian religion. the denkard is an ancient religious doctrine which holds a significant amount of history of the religion and its concepts including that of the enemy ahriman. in early zoroastrian times it was considered that demons or daevas held sway over man, even making their abode in the body. the word for this is katag nafsh mea

the devil's harlot. herein is the path as walked by one who seeks to reveal the true path of ahriman and lilith-az, to manifest in flesh the spirit of azi dahaka and cain. herein is magick from the foundation to higher pathworkings of sorcery and black magick. here the works which burn away the modern white-washing of so-called magick and or witchcraft. herein are the rituals of lucifer, ancient persian sorcery, goetic magick and forbidden sex magick" for more than a decade left hand path and dark witchcraft expert michael w. ford has labored in the forbidden fields of the dark side of the occult, lit by the pale moon of luciferian ambition and satanic drive. luciferian witchcraft represents perhaps the major part of his published accomplishments to date. the first editions of most of his

together in one huge compendium many of the shocking rituals and bizarre initiation rites of black magick that have established ford as the most cutting-edge exponent of the left hand path tradition in america today. the book begins with a lengthy and highly scholarly exposition of the place of the draconic adversary within historical magick. set typhon, the egyptian god of darkness, ahriman, the persian devil and his whore of darkness, the adversary and the bride of the devil, cain the son, the gnostic yaldabaoth "child of chaos, the path of the crooked serpent- leviathan and beelzebub and tiamat, pazuzu, and moloch are only some of the topics and figures covered. the second part of the book, the grimoires of luciferian witchcraft, includes several of his most infamous graveyard workings

azuzu, and moloch are only some of the topics and figures covered. the second part of the book, the grimoires of luciferian witchcraft, includes several of his most infamous graveyard workings, together with the complete version of the luciferian goetia- a completely revised and updated version of the goetia grimoire from the lesser key of solomon the king. part three covers yatukan and ahrimanic persian sorcery. as i have mentioned before, it is the willingness and creativity of ford to look beyond worn-out christian- and hebrew-based demonology in search of black magick inspiration that marks his work as unique. here, forbidden heresies of millenia-old zoroastrian thought reveal their diabolic secrets to the sorceror. finally, the last part of the tome has chapters on sethanic and angeli

n path of predatory spiritualism. liber hvhi contains the 22 spheres of the infernal qlippoth, the methods of filling and draining those shells and the luciferian rites of the supper of cain, symbolic of the first satanist from the ancient hebrew texts relating to the devouring process from a symbolic and ritualistic approach. no matter what name the adversary has been called by, from the ancient persian cult of yatukih sorcerers ahriman or angra mainyu, his bride jahi or az, to the hebrew samael and lilith, the luciferian current has remained strong beneath those ancient cultures. liber hvhi is a grimoire written from ancient religious texts such as the avesta and various cabbalistic writings. the result is a powerful luciferian ideology and methodology of ritual and daily-life practice w

life practice which transforms the mind into the spirit of the adversary. liber hvhi: magick of the adversary liber hvhi explores the qlippothic spheres, ritual sorcery based on the ancient cults mentioned in the avesta of yatuvidah, daeva-yasna (demon-worshippers) persecuted by the zoroastrians. the roots of the adversary as the masculine and demonic feminine are explored from hebrew and ancient persian sources, to a living and potent left-hand-path initiatory system. beginning with an inversion of the catholic rite to instead practice exorcism, the inverted and created rite is aimed at possession or liberating the shadow self into a viable, productive focus. the 22 cells of the qlippoth along with the infernal spheres are presented as valuable aspects of strengthening consciousness and c

THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE OTO

ul of mars and by a soul of jupiter in turn, so that this quasi-human shape, not being a poet, did yet write verses goodly and great in praise of isis; and not being a prophet, did yet foretell most accurately the wars which even now devastate the earth; and not being generous or wealthy did yet for a season support many dependants on his bounty. and this we did with no elaboration of thought, no persian apparatus, no weariness or trouble at all. now then do we mark down the means devised by us baphomet for the making of the homunculus. i take a suitable woman willing to aid thee in this work. explain to her fully the precautions to be taken and the manner of life necessary. let her horoscope be, if possible, suited to the nature of the homunculus proposed; as, to have an incarnate spirit

THE HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION

abijah, zichri; of miniamin, of moadiah, piltai; 12:18 of bilgah, shammua; of shemaiah, jehonathan; 12:19 and of joiarib, mattenai; of jedaiah, uzzi; 12:20 of sallai, kallai; of amok, eber; 12:21 of hilkiah, hashabiah; of jedaiah, nethaneel. 12:22 the levites in the days of eliashib, joiada, and johanan, and jaddua [were] recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of darius the persian. 12:23 the sons of levi, the chief of the fathers [were] written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of johanan the son of eliashib. 12:24 and the chief of the levites: hashabiah, sherebiah, and jeshua the son of kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise [and] to give thanks, according to the commandment of david the man of god, ward over against ward. 12:25

re the god of daniel: for he is the living god, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion [shall be even] unto the end. 6:27 he delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered daniel from the power of the lions. 6:28 so this daniel prospered in the reign of darius, and in the reign of cyrus the persian. 7:1 in the first year of belshazzar king of babylon daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream [and] told the sum of the matters. 7:2 daniel spake and said, i saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 7:3 and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 7:4 the first [was] like

TURNER ROBERT ARBETEL OF MAGICK

eld that kingdom by him, found the art after long study and labour altogether ridiculous. now witchcraft and sorcery, are works done merely by the devil, which with respect unto some covenant made with man, he acteth by men his instruments, to accomplish his evil ends: of these, the histories of all ages, people and countries, as also the holy scriptures, afford us sundry examples. but magus is a persian word primitively, whereby is expressed such a one as is altogether conversant in things divine; as plato affirmeth, the art of magick is the art of worshipping god: and the persians call their gods, hence apollonius saith, that magus is either [illegible greek]2 or [illegible greek]3, that is, that magus is a name sometime of him that is a god by nature& sometimes of him that is in the ser

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

priapus 89 symbols, particularly over the heads of isis and osiris.1 it is also placed over the entrances of most of the egyptian temples described by pococke and norden as well as on that represented on the isiac table,2 though with several variations, and without the asterisc. we find it equally without the asterisc, but with little or no variation, on the ruins at chilmenar, and other supposed persian antiquities in that neighbourhood:3 but upon some of the greek medals the asterisc alone is placed over the bull with the human face,4 who is then the same as the apis or mnevis of the egyptians; that is, the image of the generative power of the sun, which is signified by the asterisc on the greek medals, and by the kneph, or winged disc, on the oriental monuments. the greeks however somet

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

the anima and animus. with- in the unconscious of each woman there is a hidden masculine persona, and within each man a concealed feminine persona. these may be more or less active, depending on the nature of the individual. the tendency toward a balanced androgyny, where male and female qualities approach equal strength, is more evi- dent in people naturally suited to magic. magus is an ancient persian word meaning priest. the magi, or priest cast of persia, were skilled in the arts of magic, astrology and healing. in ancient times the word magus became synonymous with "wise man" the irish historians applied the term to the druids who opposed the preaching of st. patrick. it may rightly be given to anyone, male or female, who seeks to work magic by accessing the spirit. there is no separ

e said to be the symbol of modern times. perhaps the most useful numerical division for understanding what the hen- decagram means is 9+ 2= 11. this can also be written 3+ 4+ 4= 11, which gives a different emphasis. both equations show the trinity manifesting on the physical circle as duality. creation is seen as a hostile balance of good and evil. this is the world viewed through the eyes of the persian mystic zoroaster, who saw it as the divided kingdom of ahura mazda (ormazd) and angra mainyu (ahriman, two equally powerful and independent gods. zoroaster has ahura mazda say: table of hendecagram w ci 0 demon function substance disorder i baphomet behemoth lucifuge leviathan zephas belphegor ashtaroth beelzebub asmodeus lilith abbadon idolatry blasphemy pride envy anger sloth creed glutt

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

and smoky quartz are both common, but the most highly prized for scrying purposes are transparent and free from both coloring and inclusions. in ancient times, it was believed to be a form of petrified ice, created by intense and sustained cold. 188. soul flight the roman naturalist pliny the elder repeated the popular view when he wrote "that it is a kind of ice is certain."1ss referring to the persian magician osthanes, pliny observed "as osthanes said, there are several forms of magic; he professes to divine from water, globes, air, stars, lamps, basins, and axes, and by many other methods, and besides to converse with ghosts and those in the underworld."189 divination by "globes" is very likely a form of crystal gazing. the conversation with "ghosts and those in the underworld" may ha

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

e greatest magician after moses was solomon, yet none of his magic actually appears in the bible. it has come down to us through such diverse sources as the talmud and jewish folk tales, the koran and the book of a thousand nights and a night of the arabs, and the magical manuscripts of the ethiopians. this widespread fame of solomon as a magician may result from a confusion of names. arabian and persian legends speak of a prehistoric race ruled by seventy-two kings named suleiman. these kings were great masters of magic and commanded all the spirits and demons of the world. the last monarch ruled for a thousand years. some scholars believe that these mythical persian kings are unconnected with the biblical solomon but became merged with him due to the similarity of names. however it may h

VOX SABBATUM

transmuted consciousness. in a left hand path perspective, the witch or sorcerer by calling baphomet or cain within, becomes like this symbol they perceive thus allowing a permission to channel the anthropomorphic and deific power within themselves, thus becoming a source or axis pole of this idea. lilith az the mother of witches the queen of the witches sabbat is none other than lilith, known in persian mythology as az or jeh, the harlot who is the embodiment of sexual power. she is known through many cultures, hebrew, persian and european as hecate, triple goddess of the crossroads, who is mother of death, shades, witchcraft and necromancy. in the manichaean religious tradition, az came first to the blackness of hell, before the fallen angels came to earth. she was scorned and angry at t

WALLIS BUDGE E A LEGENDS OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS

and throwing it into the nile. no bullock is sacrificed which has not on it the seal of the priests who were called "sealers" the impression from this seal represents a man upon his knees, with his hands tied behind him, and a sword pointed at his throat. the ass is identified with typhon not only because of his colour, but also because of his stupidity and the sensuality of his disposition. the persian king ochus was nicknamed the "ass" which made him to say "this ass shall dine upon your ox" and accordingly he slew apis. typhon is said to have escaped from horus by a flight of seven days on an ass [third explanation of the story] xxxii. such then are the arguments of those who endeavour to account for the above-mentioned history of isis and osiris upon a supposition that they were of th

WEOR SAMAEL AUN ESOTERIC COURSE OF KABBLAH

hat neptune influences the pineal gland; the potency of the pineal gland depends on the sexual potency. great schools of regeneration have existed through the course of history (it is enough for us to remember the rosicrucian alchemical school that became secret in the year 1620. likewise, it comes into our memory the schools of aryavarta ashrama of tibet, as well as the sect of the manicheans of persian origin, and the famous sufis with their sacred dances, the templars, etc. all of these were schools of regeneration; the coitus reservatus is practiced in all of them. the schools of regeneration constitute the golden chain of the white lodge. escuelas de regeneraci n regenerarse, significa generarse nuevamente, es decir recrearse, volver a crearse. esto de nacer nuevamente, es un problema

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

rew association between the name tetragrammaton, ihvh, the god name, and man formed in his image for if yod, heh, vav, heh be drawn one over the other, the yod will look numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott like the head above, the heh will look like the two arms, the vav will be upright body, and the final heh will show two legs. it is stated in some ancient persian works that 4 bright stars were placed as guardians at the 4 cardinal points. at the beginning of the kali yuga, at krishna s death at 3102 b.c, the astronomers say that aldebaran, the eye of taurus, and antares, the heart of scorpio, were as the equinoctial points, and regulus, the heart of leo, and fomalhaut, the eye of the southern fish, were near the solstitial points. this was 5003 yea

e hebrew word seven, also sh b o h, is derived from, or is similar to sh b, o, to swear. 75. clean beasts were admitted into the ark by sevens, whilst the unclean only in pairs. the goths had 7 deities from whom come our names of weekdays; sun, moon, tuisco, wotan, thor, friga, seatur, corresponding, of course, to the seven planets. apollo, the sun god, had a greek title ebdomaios, sevenfold. the persian mithras, a sun god, had the number 7 sacred to him. note the mysterious kadosh ladder of 7 steps ascent and 7 steps descent, the one side oheb eloah, love of god; the other oheb kerobo, love of the neighbor. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott plato, in his timaeus, teaches that from the number seven, was generated the soul of the world, anima mundana

theodosius ii, they convinced him of the truth of the life beyond the grave. this done, they returned to the cave to sleep until the last judgment. the 7 dolours of the virgin mary is the name of a roman catholic fast day held on the friday before palm sunday. the 7 wise masters were officers of king kurush who tell stories to save the life of the king s son. they exist in greek, syriac, hebrew, persian and in english are called the book of sindibad, edited by clouston. the coptic gnostics represented the jehovah of the hebrews by a curious arrangement of the 7 vowels, numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott without a consonant. thus iehooua (the h is the greek eta, long e; and the first o is the greek long o, omega. in the zoroastrian theology, we read

arment which had 600 fringes, eight (8) threads and five (5) knots. 620. the number of kether, ktr, the crown, or 1st sephirah. 622. 622 years from the christian era is the date of the hegira, or flight of mahomet from mecca, from which year the mahometans reckon their calendar. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott 632. 632 years a.d. is the foundation of the persian mode of reckoning years, from their king yezdegird. 640. 640 is shemesh, the sun, shmsh; mem is water; place the three letters one above the other, and we get sh, fire, sun, rising above and sinking below the waters. 646. the total numeration of elohim, or aleim alhim, being 1+30+5+10+600(=646; or avoiding the use of final mem, we get 1+30+5+10+40(=86; neglecting the tens 1+3+5+1+4, and pl

WILLIAM WESCOTT THE CHALDEAN ORACLES OF ZOROASTER TRANSLATION

tice, self-taught, physical, perfect, and wise he who inspires the sacred philosophy. eusebius. pr paratio evangelica, liber. i, chap. x, this oracle does not appear in either of the ancient collections, nor in the group of oracles given by any of the mediaeval occultists. cory seems to have been the first to discover it in the voluminous writings of eusebius, who attributes the authorship to the persian zoroaster_ 2. theurgists assert that he is a god and celebrate him as both older and younger, as a circulating and eternal god, as understanding the whole number of all things moving in the world, and moreover infinite through his power and energizing a spiral force. proclus on the tim us of plato, 244. z. or t. the egyptian pantheon had an elder and a younger horus a god son of osiris and

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

. when the moment opposes someone, the moment for him is loathing.252 102 chapter two let me state emphatically that there are important and irreducible differences between the kabbalistic and sufi views on the nature of the moment and its visionary propensities. nonetheless, both discern an implicit danger in encountering the truly real that is always in and of the moment. as the twelfth-century persian visionary suhrawardi, the shaykh al-ishraq, master of illumination, put it, flashes of light come forth from the divine presence like a sudden lightningbolt that comes unexpectedly and swiftly departs. these flashes are called times, for time in its elemental form displays the quality of incisiveness, erupting like a knife that cuts the fabric of its sheath. it is for this reason, continue

called times, for time in its elemental form displays the quality of incisiveness, erupting like a knife that cuts the fabric of its sheath. it is for this reason, continues suhrawardi, that one says time is sharper than a sword. it is also said, time is a cutting sword. 253 commenting on the same dictum several centuries before suhrawardi, al-hujwiri, the author of what is considered the oldest persian treatise on sufism, kashf al-mahjub, wrote, the shaykhs have said, time is a cutting sword, because it is characteristic of a sword to cut, and time cuts the root of the future and the past, and obliterates care of yesterday and to-morrow from the heart. 254 the aspect of time that merits being compared to a sword is the moment (waqt, for the one who lives fully in the present is cut off f

utic circle. atlantic highlands: humanities press international, 1996. bouretz, pierre. t moins du futur: philosophie et messianisme. paris: gallimard, 2003. b wering, gerhard. ibn arabi s concept of time. in gott ist sch n und er liebt die sch nheit: festschrift f r annemarie schimmel zum 7. april 1992, edited by alma giese and j. christoph b rgel, 71 91. bern: peter lang, 1994. ideas of time in persian sufism. in classical persian sufism from its origins to rumi (700 1300, edited by leonard lewisohn, 199 233. vol. 1 of the heritage of sufism. oxford: one world, 1999. bowie, andrew. from romanticism to critical theory: the philosophy of german literary theory. london: routledge, 1997. schelling and modern european philosophy: an introduction. london: routledge, 1993. braidotti, rosi. tetr

uis. moslem views of time and history: an essay in cultural typology. in cultures and time, 197 214. paris: unesco press, 1976. gavarin, martel. the conception of time in the works of rabbi azriel. jerusalem studies in jewish thought 6, 3 4 (1987: 309 336 (hebrew. gazur-i-ilahi, ibrahim. the secret of ana l-haqq: being 300 odd irshadat (or sayings) of shaykh ibrahim gazur-i-ilahi. translated from persian with notes and introduction by khan sahib khaja khan. foreword by maulana m. badiul alam. 2nd ed. lahore: ashraf press, 1935. gerhart, mary. the word image opposition: the apophatic-cataphatic and the iconic-aniconic tensions in spirituality. in divine representations: postmodernism and spirituality, edited by ann w. astell, 63 79. new york: paulist press, 1994. gersh, stephen. kinhsis aki

on and the essential possibility of phenomenology: edmund husserl, psychological and transcendental phenomenology and the confrontation with heidegger. husserl studies 17 (2001: 125 148. hughes, glenn. transcendence and history: the search for ultimacy from ancient societies to postmodernity. columbia: university of missouri press, 2003. al-hujwiri, ali ibn uthman. the kashf al-mahjub: the oldest persian treatise on sufism. translated by reynold a. nicholson. new edition. london: e. j. w. gibb memorial, 1976. hurtado, larry w. one god, one lord: early christian devotion and ancient jewish monotheism. 2nd. ed. edinburgh: t& t clark, 1998. husserl: expositions and appraisals. edited with introduction by frederick a. elliston and peter mccormick. notre dame: university of notre dame press, 19

WORKBOOK FOR GRADE 0 VOID AND THE ABYSS

ate the quill- blood and sigils the kangling- to summon the dead 3 the drum- to call earth bound spirits baciph ashara- earth (night- wand fetish made of human bones. the grand sabbatic circle fetish vessels below are two rituals for grade 0) void and the abyss these are two which specifically are building areas for the initiate. the goetia should be studied (the luciferian version) yatuk dinoih (persian sorcery) second edition 'ritual of infernal union' included here. luciferian sorcery 'casting the shadow of cain' page 22 for the short version and below is the longer version which i prefer to do. the book of cain contains a complete reference to cainnite workings in an antinomianian and left hand path perspective. one suggestion when learning to put 'casting the shadow of cain' to memory

18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

stival i believe that of all the victims named the horses alone were sacrificed; men, hounds and cocks the legend has added on^ how dietmar's story looks by the side of adam of bremen's on the upsal sacrifice, shall be considered on p. 53. among all animal sacrifices, that of the liorse was preeminent and most solemn. our ancestors have this in common with several slavic and finnish nations, with persians and indians: with all of them the horse passed for a specially sacred animal^ sacrifice of oxen (see suppl. the passage from agathias (itttrof? re kox ^oaq) proves the alamannic custom, and that from the olafssaga (nmct ok hross) the norse. a letter to saint boniface (epist. 82, wiirdtw) speaks of ungodly priests' qui tauros et liircos diis paganorum immolabant' and one from gregory the g

ls and plants, and all beings were required to weep. the creatures belonging to a man, his domestic animals, have to suffer with him in case of cremation, sacrifice or punishment. next to the kind, stress was undoubtedly laid on the colour of the animal, tvjiite being considered the most favourable. white horses are often spoken of (tac. germ. 10. weisth. 3, 301. 311. 831, even so far back as the persians (herod. 1, 189. the friscing of sacrifice was probably of a spotless white; and in later lawrecords snoiv-whitc pigs are pronounced inviolable* the votiaks sacrificed a red stallion, the tcheremisses a tohite. when under the old german law dun or pied cattle were often required in payment of fines and tithes, this might have some connexion with sacrifices; for witchcraft also, animals of

ABRAMELIN1

ct grace; because, although he forced himself to manifest unto me certain deep mysteries of the holy qabalah, he by no means arrived at the goal; and in his magic he did not in any way make use of the wisdom of the lord, but instead availed himself of certain arts and superstitions of infidel and idolatrous nations, in part derived from the egyptians,6 together with images of the medes and of the persians, with herbs of the arabians, together with the power of the stars and constellations; and, finally, he had drawn from every people and nation, and even from the christians, some diabolical art. and in everything the spirits blinded him to such an extent, even while obeying him in some ridiculous and inconsequent matter, that he actually believed that his blindness and error were the verit

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

antic vocabulary and index, by a. e. waite. 2 cols. 4to "cloth" 1894 (published "2 12"s" 6"d" jennings (hargrave. the rosicrucians, their rites and mysteries. thick 8vo, 4"th and last edition, revised. half-morocco, t.e.g, n.d" 7"s" 6"d" portion of contents- ever-burning lamps- the hermetic philosophers- the hermetic brethren- mystic history of the fleur-de-lis- sacred fire- fire-theosophy of the persians- ideas of the rosicrucians as to the character of fire- monuments raised to fire-worship in all countries- druidical stones and their worship- the round towers of ireland- cabalistic interpretations by the gnostics- mystic christian figures and talismans- the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman, and mediaeval monuments- the great pyramid- myths of the scorpion, or the snake in it

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 1 2

ter condition is much stronger than that of the tropical plant. the hemp plant grown in india differs, however, in certain 240 particulars from that grown in europe; and the plant was formerly considered a distinct species and named cannabis indica, but this opinion is now abandoned. the cultivation of hemp for its seed and fibre dates from very remote periods. it was used as an intoxicant by the persians and arabians in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and probably much earlier, but was not introduced into european medicine until the year 1838. for medicinal use it is grown in the districts of bogra and rajshaki to the north of calcutta and westward, thence through central india to gujerat. very good qualities of the drug are purchased in madras, but the european market is chiefly suppl

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 3

has l vi and christian mention the "key of solomon" as a work of high authority, and the former especially refers to it repeatedly. jennings (hargrave. the rosicrucians, their rites and mysteries, fourth edition, revised, demy 8vo "with hundreds of illustrations. half morocco" 7"s" 6"d" some of the contents: critics of the rosicrucians criticized- the hermetic philosophers- fire- theosophy of the persians- drudical stones- the round towers of ireland- mystic christian figures and talismans- the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman, and mediaeval monuments- the great pyramid- connexion between the templars and gnosticism- astro-theosophical system of the rosicrucians- robt. fludd- the holy greale- the round table- alchemy- the outline of the kabbalah, etc, etc. the kabbalah unveiled

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

wledge is approached in a frame of mind worthy of it- frank hollings, 7 great turnstile, holborn, w.c. jennings (hargrave. the rosicrucians: their rites and mysteries, thick 8vo, fourth an last edition, revised "half-morocco, t.e.g" n.d. portion of contents- ever-burning lamps; the hermetic philosophers; the hermetic brethren; mystic history of the fleur-de-lis; sacred fire; fire-theosophy of the persians; ideas of the rosicrucians as to the character of fire; monuments raised to fire- worship in all countries; druidical stones and their worship; the round towers of ireland; cabalistic interpretations by the gnostics; mystic christian figures and talismans; the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman and mediaeval monuments; the great pyramid; myths of the scorpion, or the snake in it

ALICE A BAILEY10 FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

"at the time of the life or recorded appearance of jesus of nazareth and for some centuries before, the mediterranean and neighbouring world had been the scene of a vast number of pagan- 109- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust creeds and rituals. there were temples without end dedicated to gods like apollo or dionysus among the greeks, hercules among the romans, mithra among the persians, adonis and arris in syria and phrygia, osiris and isis and horus in egypt, baal and astarte among the babylonians and carthaginians, and so forth. societies, large or small, united believers and the devout in the service or ceremonials connected with their respective deities, and in the creeds which they confessed concerning these deities. and an extraordinarily interesting fact, for us

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

of the vedas. aeswar and eswara are analogous terms, as dr. kenealy thought. in the bhagavad gita we read "iswara resides in every mortal being and puts in motion, by his supernatural power, all things which mount on the wheel of time" it is the creator and the destroyer, truly "the primitive fire was supposed to have an insatiable appetite for devouring. maximus of tyre relates that the ancient persians threw into the fire combustible matter crying 'devour, oh lord' in the irish language easam, or asam, means 'to create' and aesar was the name of an ancient irish god, meaning 'to light a fire (kenealy. the christian kabalists and symbologists who disfigured pymander- prominent among them the bishop of ayre, francois de tours, in the 16th century- divide the elements in this way- the four

e manner of their running[[footnote(s* see extracts from that essay in "the theosophist" of february, 1883[[vol. 2, page] 134 the secret doctrine. circular* they were terrible in force and strength and had prodigious ambition. hence zeus divided each of them into two, making them weaker; apollo, under his direction, closed up the skin" meshia and meshiane were but a single individual with the old persians "they also taught that man was the product of the tree of life, growing in androgynous pairs, till they were separated at a subsequent modification of the human form" in the toleduth (generation) of adam, the verse "god created (bara, brought forth) man in his image, in the image of god created he him, male and female created he them" if read esoterically will yield the true sense, viz "t

eric buddhism" p. 65. but they belong to the last remnants of the seventh sub-race of the third. prof. haeckel must also have dreamt a dream and seen for once a true vision! it is to this period that we have to look for the first appearance of the ancestors of those, who are termed by us the most ancient peoples of the world- now called respectively the aryan hindus, the egyptians, and the oldest persians, on the one hand, and the chaldees and phoenicians on the other. these were governed by the divine dynasties, i.e, kings and rulers who had of mortal man only his physical appearance as it was then, but who were beings from spheres higher and more celestial than our own sphere will be, long manvantaras hence. it is useless of course to attempt to force their existence on sceptics. their g

he tetragrammaton is one with nature or isis, and is the exoteric series of androgyne gods such as osiris-isis, jove-juno, brahma-vach, or the kabalistic jahhovah; all male-females. every anthropomorphic god, in old nations, as marcelinus vicinus well observed[[vol. 2, page] 602 the secret doctrine. has his name written with four letters. thus with the egyptians, he was teut; the arabs, alla; the persians, sire; the magi, orsi; the mohammedans, abdi; the greeks, theos; the ancient turks, esar; the latins, deus; to which j. lorenzo anania adds the german gott; the sarmatian, bouh, etc, etc. the monad being one, and an odd number, the ancients therefore called the odd, the only perfect numbers; and- selfishly, perhaps, yet as a fact- considered them all as masculine and perfect, being applic

of atma (vide ar. theism, 17; and liddell's definitions* c. w. king's gnostics, p. 38* prof. roth (in peter's lexicon) defines the angirases as an intermediate race of higher beings between gods and men; while prof. weber, according to his invariable custom of modernising and anthropomorphising the divine, sees in them the original priests of the religion which was common to the aryan hindus and persians. roth is right "angirases" was one of the names of the dhyanis, or devas instructors("guru-deva, of the late third, the fourth, and even of the fifth race initiates[[vol. 2, page] 606 the secret doctrine. in these hymns the "heavenly man" is called purusha "the man (x. 90, 1) from whom viraj was born (x. 90, 5; and from viraj, the (mortal) man. it is varuna (now drawn from his sublime pos

is found, there this tenet was surely present. their dracontia are a proof of it. this belief was so universal that, if we seek for it in the esotericism of various religions, we shall discover it in all. we shall find it among the aryan hindus and mazdeans, the greeks, the latins, and even among the old jews and early christians, whose modern stocks[[footnote(s* but the magi of persia were never persians- not even chaldeans. they came from a far-off land, the orientalists being of opinion that the said land was media. this may be so, but from what part of media? to this we receive no answer[[vol. 2, page] 757 paganism and christianity agree. hardly comprehend now that which they read in their scriptures. see what seneca says in epistle 9, and quaest. nat. iii, c, ult "the world being melt

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

n of the universe, and of our earth, was its form. it was a circle and a sphere; and the ovi-form shape of our globe must have been known from the beginning of symbology, since it was so universally adopted. the first manifestation of the kosmos in the form of an egg was the most widely diffused belief of antiquity. as bryant shows (iii, 165, it was a symbol adopted among the greeks, the syrians, persians, and egyptians. in chap. liv. of the egyptian ritual, seb, the god of time and of the earth, is spoken of as having laid an egg, or the universe "an egg conceived at the hour of the great one of the dual force (sec. v, 2, 3, etc. ra is shown like brahma gestating in the egg of the universe. the deceased is "resplendent in the egg of the land of mysteries (xxii, 1. for, this is "the egg to

n included- was more complex in its manifold meanings than the lunar symbol. the sex was, of course, dual. with some it was male, e.g, the hindu "king soma" and the chaldean sin; with other nations it was female, the beauteous goddesses diana-luna, i'lythia, lucina. in tauris, human victims were sacrificed to artemis, a form of the lunar goddess; the cretans called her dictynna, and the medes and persians anaitis, as shown by an inscription of koloe[[artemidi 'anaeiti. but, we are now concerned chiefly with the most chaste and pure of the virgin goddesses, luna-artemis, to whom pamphos was the first to give the surname of[[kalliste, and of whom hippolitus wrote[[kallista polu parthenon (see pausanias viii, 35, 8) this artemis-lochia, the goddess that presided at conception and child-birth

he egyptians, greeks, romans, and even the jews derived their knowledge. in support of these views he says "the astronomers who preceded the epoch 1,491 are, first, the alexandrian greeks; hipparchus, who flourished 125 years before our era, and ptolemy, 260 years after hipparchus. following these were the arabs, who revived the study of astronomy in the ninth century. these were succeeded by the persians and the tartars, to whom we owe the tables of massireddin in 1269, and those of ulug-beg in 1437. such is the succession of events in asia as known prior to the indian epoch 1491. what, then, is an epoch? it is the observation of the longitude of a star at a given moment, the place in the sky where it was seen, and which serves as a point of reference, a starting-point from which to calcu

these, the knowledge of the inequalities of the motions of the heavenly bodies, the motions of the apogee, of the nodes, and of the inclination of the ecliptic; in short, all those elements the determination of which requires the art of observing, some instrumental appliances, and great industry. all these astronomical elements, differing more or less with the greeks of alexandria, the arabs, the persians and the tartars, exhibit no resemblance whatever with those of the hindus. the latter, therefore, borrowed nothing from their neighbours. condensing bailly's remarks, he comes to the following conclusions- if the hindus did not borrow their epoch, they must have possessed a real one of their own, based on their own observations; and this must be either the epoch of the year 1491 after, or

were right in placing it in the sixth degree of that sign, the more so since this small difference may be due to the proper motion of the stars which is unknown. thus it was yet another observation which guided the hindus in this fairly accurate determination of the first point of their movable zodiac. it does not seem possible to doubt the existence in antiquity of observations of this date. the persians say that four beautiful stars were placed as guardians at the four corners of the world. now it so happens that at the commencement of kali yug, 3000 or 3100 years before our era, the "eye of the bull" and the "heart of the scorpion" were exactly at the equinoctial points, while the "heart of the lion" and the "southern fish" were pretty near the solstitial points. an observation of the r

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

ancient world and, indeed, can be found in the beliefs of the native peoples of north, south, and central america. the bible story of the garden of eden is mirrored in the much earlier sumerian story of the garden of edinnu, and even the idea of the sabbath can be found in the sumerian day of rest, the sabattu. the jewish peoples were held in captivity in babylon and, when they were freed by the persians, they took many of the babylonian stories and beliefs back to palestine. these found their way into the old testament of the bible and through that into the new testament. today's religions are the recycling of ancient beliefs and symbolic stories which have been added to and twisted under the guidance of the prison warder consciousness, until the original meaning has been lost under an a

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

ical garden of eden is the best-known serpent symbolism of all. this was an edited rewrite of the far more ancient sumerian story of edin, the "land of the gods or the righteous ones. there is again a common theme of the serpent gods in a garden, and james churchward suggests in the children of mu that these "gardens" all refer to lemuria-mu, the "motherland. i think he could well be correct. the persians spoke of a region of bliss and delight called heden, which was more beautiful than the entire world. it was the abode of the first men before an evil spirit in the form of a serpent tempted them to take the fruit of a forbidden tree. there is also the banyan tree under which 116 children of the matrix the hindu "jesus, known as krishna, sat upon a coiled serpent and bestowed spiritual kno

old testament gods, the elohim, were the reptilians of the serpent cult. the edda also refers to the serpent cult as the valkyrs of ur and the levites made their invented character of abraham hail from "ur of the chaldees. the chaldeans were serpent worshippers, the valkyrs. el also came from ur according to the edda, and she was known as hrimni in the edda and ahriman, or "great serpent" by the persians. this is fascinatingly close to the biblical "abraham. they associated ahriman with aeshma. he was the origin of asmodeus, the christian demon accused of possessing nuns and young women to make them lustful.38 asmodeus is also the "devil" character mysteriously placed at the entrance to the church at rennes-le-chateau in provence, southern france, which is a mass of illuminati symbolism a

f bala-rama, the forerunner of krishna, the hindu son of god. 212 children of the matrix jesus and the 12 disciples is there a universal law that all deities must have 12 disciples or followers? jesus had them, so did horus, buddha, king arthur, mithra, dionysus, and so many other symbols of the sun. we also have the 12 sons of jacob, 12 tribes of israel, the 12 gods of the greeks, egyptians, and persians. this fixation with 12 derives once again from sun symbolism with their disciples and followers representing the months of the year and the signs of the zodiac. the romans openly symbolised the sun as a living man and the signs of the zodiac as his disciples. and the christian religion was created in rome. mark, luke, matthew, and john, the names carried by the gospels, represent the four

hebrews still have a month they call tammuz. thomas the "twin" is also symbolism. thomas means "twin" in the aramaic and syriac languages and the name didymus, also associated with thomas, comes from the greek "didymos, which was their name for the roman "gemini, the twins of the zodiac. acharya writes in her superb work, the christ conspiracy "it is said that thomas preached to the parthians and persians, but what is being conveyed is that these groups were followers of tammuz or dumuzi, as was his sumerian name. although it was alleged that thomas's tomb was in edessa, tradition also claims that he died near madras, india, where two of his tombs are still shown. this tale comes from the fact that when portuguese christian missionaries arrived in southern india they found a sect who worsh

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

ople of ancient texts,including the bible, where the serpent is a regular theme. of course, the serpent hasbeen used to symbolise many things and not every reference will be literally a reptile,certainly not. but many of them are. there is also a common theme of a sacred placebeing guarded by a serpent or dragon. we have the serpent in the garden of eden andthe serpent/dragon theme is global. the persians spoke of a region of bliss and delightcalled heden which was more beautiful than all the rest of the world. it was the originalabode of the first men, they said, before they were tempted by the evil spirit, in the formof a serpent, to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree. there is also the banyon treeunder which the hindu jesus, known as khrishna, sat upon a coiled serpent andbestow

e of aquarius, according to the laws of the earthwobble precession. when the bible talks of the end of the world, this is anothermistranslation. they translate world from the greek, aeon, but aeon does not meanworld, it means age.31 we are not facing the end of the world, but the end of the age,the 2,160 years of pisces. christianity did not replace the pagan religions, it is a paganreligion. the persians, who inherited their beliefs from sumer, egypt and babylon, hadbaptism, confirmation, paradise and hell, angels of light and darkness, and a fallenangel. all of these were absorbed by christianity and claimed for their own.during the alleged life time of jesus, the essene brotherhood, was based atqumran at the northern end of the dead sea, or at least that is what we are told.brian desbor

y of the cilicians. this just happens to be a majorcentre for the mithra sun religion and it was the cilicians who had taken this cult torome, from where it spread throughout the empire. asia minor was also a region whichfollowed the cult of dionysus. both were symbolic sun gods, born on december 25th,who died so our sins could be forgiven. everything christians believe about jesus, theromans and persians believed about mithra. sunday was the sacred day for mithraistsbecause he was a sun god and they called this the lords day. dionysus was born to avirgin mother, and he was known as: the vine, our lord, the saviour, the judge of thedead, the deliverer, the born again and the only begotten son of god. above the headof dionysus were the words: i am life, death, and resurrection, i hold the w

far north where the sun never setsand the ancestors of the aryans have their home. when hyperborea started to sink, thelegend goes, the aryan extraterrestrials used their highly advanced technology toburrow gigantic tunnels into the earths crust and they settled under the himalayanmountains. this realm became known as agharta with a capital city called shamballah,the thule advocates believe. the persians called this area aryana, the land of thearyans. the nazi belief system claimed that the people of agharta were good and thoseof shamballah were evil. the two had been in conflict for thousands of years and thenazis believed they were backing the good guys of agharta against the freemasonsand zionists of shamballah. could this division be aryan martians v anunnakireptilians, as an age old

DEMONIC BIBLE

these. lucifer became the latin name for the devil of hebrew origin, satan. in hebrew mythology, satan was an angel who accused men before god in order to bring about their punishment. he was never the enemy of god but at times the enemy of man. the name satan in hebrew means adversary. it is recounted in the bible that the jews were carried away as captives into babylon. when later freed by the persians, the jews were exposed to the religion of zoroaster. the jews adopted zoroastrian belief of a war in heaven between ahura-mazda and ahriman, the serpent, with yahweh taking the role of ahura-mazda and satan assuming the part of the serpent ahriman. satan, a minor angel in hebrew mythology, became equal in power with god. the belief of a war in heaven between god and satan was carried into

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

ts with the space beings and remained the leader of his small group through subsequent years. by the 1980s he had faded into obscurity. sources: aho, wayne s. mojave desert experience. eatonville, wash: the new age foundation, 1972. sachs, margaret. the ufo encyclopedia. new york: g. p. putnam s sons, 1980. ahrimanes the name given to the chief of the cacodaemons, or fallen angels, by the ancient persians and chaldeans. these cacodaemons were believed to have been expelled from heaven for their sins; they endeavored to settle down in various parts of the earth, but were always rejected, and out of revenge they found their pleasure in injuring the inhabitants. xenocritus thought that penance and self-mortification, though not agreeable to the gods, pacified the malice of the cacodaemons. ah

rations, julian the apostate caused a large number of children to be killed so that he might consult their entrails. during his last expedition at carra, in mesopotamia, he shut himself in the temple of the moon. after completing his anthropomancy, he sealed the doors and posted a guard, whose duty it was to see that they were not opened until his return. however, he was killed in battle with the persians, and those who entered the temple of carra, in the reign of julian s successor, found there a woman hanging by her hair, with her liver torn out. the infamous gilles de laval may also have practiced this dreadful type of divination. sources: waite, arthur edward. the occult sciences. 1891. reprint, secaucus, n.j: university books, 1974. anthroposophia pacifica (newsletter) bimonthly publi

the scapegoat.return home with clean consciences. according to milton, azazel is the principal standard bearer of the infernal armies. it was also the name of the demon used by mark the heretic for his magic spells. azer an angel of the elemental fire. according to some accounts, azer is also the name of the father of zoroaster, legendary author of the zend-avesta, the sacred work of the ancient persians. azoth (or azoch) name given by ancient alchemists to mercury, also known as astral quintessence, flying salve, animated spirit, ethelia, and auraric. the term also implied the essential element of the transmutation process. sources: waite, a. e. azoth; or, the star in the east. london, 1893. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1973. azael encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychol

f the reports of the spread of black magic were simply polemics against idealogical and personal enemies. thus, members of the hermetic order of the golden dawn accused aleister crowley of practicing black magic while crowley complained that black magicians had perverted his system. the existence of the black art and its attendant practices can be traced from the time of the ancient egyptians and persians, from the greeks and hebrews, to the period when reports of black magic were most numerous, during the middle ages, thus forming an unbroken chain. in medieval magic may be found a degraded form of popular pagan rites.the ancient gods had become devils, their mysteries orgies, their worship sorcery. some historians have tried to trace the areas in europe most affected by these devilish pr

llious angels who were expelled from heaven for their crimes. they tried in vain to obtain settlement in various parts of the universe, with their final abode believed to be all the space between earth and the stars. there they abide, hated by all the elements and finding their pleasure in revenge and injury. their king was called hades by the greeks, typhon by the egyptians, and ahrimanes by the persians and chaldeans. sources: kendrick, tertius t. c. the kako-daemon or the cavern of anti-paros. london, 1825. cactomite a marvelous stone believed by ancient peoples to possess occult properties. anyone wearing it was supposed to be assured of victory in battle. caddy, eileen (1917) and peter caddy (1917.1994) peter and eileen caddy, cofounders of the findhorn community in scotland, one of t

age of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of a ghastly aspect. another catoptric method was to place the mirror at the back of the head of a boy or girl whose eyes were bandaged. in thessaly, the response reportedly appeared in characters of blood on the face of the moon, probably represented in the mirror. the thessalian sorceresses derived their art from the persians, who always endeavored to plant their religion and mystic rites in the countries they invaded (see also crystal gazing) cats, elfin these cats were said to be found in the scottish highlands and to be of a wild breed as large as dogs, black in color, and with a white spot on the breast. they had arched backs and erect bristles. according to superstition, elfin cats were witches in disguis

crotona in the sixth century b.c.e. originally a native of india, the cock arrived in europe in early times via persia, where it is alluded to in the zoroastrian books as the beadle (messenger) of the sun and terror of demons. among the arabs, it was said that it crowed when it became aware of the presence of jinns. the jews received their concept of the cock as a scarer of evil spirits from the persians, as did the armenians, who said that it greets the guardian angels with its clarion call, who descend to earth with the day, and that it gives the keynote to the angelic choirs of heaven to commence their daily round of song. in india, too, and among the pagan slavs, it was supposed to scare away demons from dwelling places and was the first living creature introduced into a newly built h

dixon died on january 26, 1997 in washington d.c. djemscheed, the cup of a divination cup that has been the subject of many of the poems and myths of ancient persia. it was believed to have been found while digging the foundations of persepolis and was filled with the elixir of immortality. in this magical cup was mirrored the whole world, and everything, good and evil, was revealed therein. the persians had great faith in these revela- divs encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 434 tions and attributed the prosperity of their empire to the possession of this famous cup. djual khul, master one of the masters originally contacted by helena petrovna blavatsky, cofounder of the theosophical society. according to theosophical teachings there exists a spiritual hierarchy composed

eral of his anthropological writings had occult implications. in origine de tous les cultus (3 vols, 1795) he attempts to explain not only all the mysteries of antiquity, but also the origin of all religious beliefs. in his memoire explicatif du zodiaque chronologique et mythologique (1806) he maintains a common origin for the astronomical and religious opinions of the greeks, egyptians, chinese, persians, and arabians. depuis died on september 29, 1809. du potet de sennevoy, baron (jules denis) encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 462 durandal a magical sword belonging to roland, hero of medieval legends relating to charlemagne and the twelve peers of france. durville, gaston son of hector durville, brother of henri durville, jointly involved in publications concerned with a

most systematic treatises of the period on the subject. sources: berger, arthur s, and joyce berger. the encyclopedia of parapsychology and psychical research. new york: paragon house, 1991. ermacora, giovanni b. i fatti spiritici e le ipotesi affrettate (spiritistic facts and hasty hypotheses. padua, italy, 1892. eromancy one of six kinds of divination by means of air and water practiced by the persians. they enveloped their heads in a napkin and exposed to the air a vase filled with water, over which they muttered in a low voice the objects of their desire. if the surface of the air showed bubbles, it was regarded as a positive prognostication. erto, pasquale (1895) also known as the human rainbow, erto was an italian chemist who claimed to be a medium for unique colored-light phenomena

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

er or association, divided into various and successive ranks and grades, such as existed in the mysteries.the grade of apprenticeship.that of mastership.that of perfect mastership. in short, they were a theosophical college; and either its professors were indifferently magi, or magicians, and wise men or they were distinguished into two classes by those names. their name, pronounced mogh by later persians, and magh by the ancients, signified wise, which was the interpretation of it given by the greek and roman writers. stobaeus expressly called the science of the magi, the service of the gods, as did plato. according to joseph ennemoser in his book the history of magic (1847, magiusiah, madschusie signified the office and knowledge of the priest, who was called mag, magius, magiusi, and af

that only real country. the world of unseen truth. to follow philosophy, the senator rogatianus, one of the noblest of my disciples, gave up the other day all but the whole of his patrimony, set free his slaves, and surrendered all the honours of his station. tidings have reached us that valerian has been defeated and is now in the hands of sapor. the threats of franks and allemanni, of goths and persians, are alike terrible by turns to our degenerate rome. in days like these, crowded with incessant calamities, the inducements to a life of contemplation are more than ever strong. even my quiet existence seems now to grow somewhat sensible of the advance of years. age alone i am unable to debar from my retirement. i am weary already of this prisonhouse, the body, and calmly await the day wh

, mesopotamia, syria, persia, arabia, palestine, ethiopia, and near the mountains of libanus and anti-libanus. some place it in judea, what is now the sea of galilee; others in armenia or syria, near mount ararat, toward the sources of the orontes, the chrysorrhoas, and the barrady. in the early nineteenth century the island of ceylon (now known as sri lanka, which was the serendib of the ancient persians and the taprobane of the greek geographers, was cited as a possibility. robert percival, in his book an account of the island of ceylon (1803, suggested: it is from the summit of hamalleel or adam s peak that adam took his last view of paradise before he quitted it never to return. the spot on which his feet stood at the moment is still supposed to be found in an impression on the summit

ly gave way before the momentary impulses of the people. thus, as a rock shows its geological history by its differing strata, so the theogony of the roman gods tells its tale of the race that conceived it. there are prehistoric nature deities, borrowed from indigenous tribes; gods of the sabines, from whom the young colony stole its wives; gods of the etruscans, and of the egyptians, greeks, and persians. the temple of jupiter on the capitol contained the altar of an ancient deity, a stone-god, terminus, the spirit of boundaries. in the temple of diana of the grove, a fountain nymph was worshiped. additional instances of this kind abound. belief in spirits in addition to the gods, the spirits needed to be propitiated. indeed the objects offered to the roman for veneration were seemingly n

rits. some of the old rabbis also described solomon as an accomplished magician. it is possible that the belief in the power of spells and incantations became general among the hebrews during the captivity, and that the invention of them was attributed to the wise solomon, as a more creditable personage than the deities of the assyrians. those fictions acquired currency, not only among the arabs, persians, and other islamic nations, but, in the process of time, also in many christian communities. they were first adopted by the gnostics and the dualistic sects in whose beliefs pagan rituals mixed with jewish and christian notions. in the middle ages they found their way among catholics too, principally by means of the apocryphal gospels and the hagiography of the saints. an incident in the

EVERBURNING LAMPS

have been found in this application; but we know that the sacred flame was allowed to go out, and was renewed from heaven on several occasions.-lev. ix, 24; 2 chron. vii, 1; 1 kings xviii, 38. other writers have taken the other side of the argument, viz, that the gift of a flame that would need no attention would have tended to idolatry, to which the israelites were ever prone. the chaldeans and persians used to maintain a perpetual fire in the temples. certain scholars have considered that the "window" mentioned as placed in the ark of noah was not such, as during a period of prolonged cloud and storm a window should not light such a chamber. in the hebrew version of genesis, cap. 6, v. 16, the word is tzer, which means "something transparent" and is to be compared with the similar word

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

lished by the pharisees subsequent to the diaspora.4 these attitudes also serve to 8- f e 0 solidify the position of orthodox rabbis as intermediaries and authorities in the dispensation of the jewish religion. the authority of the pharisees evolved from the growing prominence of the academies of jewish learning that started to appear in the late fifth century bce under the tolerant regime of the persians, after hundreds of years of assyrian and babylonian repression. the word pharisee comes from the word parush, meaning one separated i.e. one who withdraws himself out of motives for piety. among the jews thus separated, there arose not only differences in social customs, but also in doctrinal views xand specifically, an oral tradition. this oral tradition not only outlined a rigorous rout

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

he early religion and the birth of a new faith, and the coming of christ. augustine doubts whether he did 1 in the theohgia platonica, ficino gives the genealogy as (1) zoroaster (2) mercurius trismegistus (3) orpheus (4) aglaophemus (5) pythagoras (6) plato (ficino, p. 386. in the preface to the plotinus commentaries, ficino says that divine theology began simultaneously with zoroaster among the persians and with mercurius among the egyptians; then goes on to orpheus, aglaophemus, pythagoras, plato ibid, p. 1537. this equating of zoroaster with hermes brings ficino's genealogy into some conformity with that of gemistus pletho, for whom the most ancient source of wisdom is zoroaster, after whom he puts a different string of intermediaries to those given by ficino, but arrives eventually, l

uman, pp. 137-46. 4 agrippa, de occult, phil, i l l, 4; ed. cit, pp. 258-60. 138 cornelius agrippa's survey of renaissance magic first, provided that the credulity of the second kind is sufficiently strong. for works, both of divine and credulous magic, demand above all things, faith. he is next careful to point out that the religions of the old magi, such as the chaldeans, egyptians, assyrians, persians, were false as compared with the catholic religion and warns that all that he says about them is taken from books and must not be taken too seriously. nevertheless, there was much that was good in those religions, and those who know how to sift truth from falsehood can learn much from them. the three guides in religion are love, hope, faith, though four is a cabalist sacred number. throug

g protestants, without persecution and force of arms. patrizi's "new philosophy" as expounded in the nova de universis philosophia is much more in the tradition of italian hermetism, going back to ficino and pico, than in the french tradition with its careful avoidance of magic. patrizi quotes plato as having said that magic is the cult of the gods,2 and "john picus" who said that magus among the persians means the same thing as philosopher among the greeks.5 elsewhere he repeats that the true meaning of the word magus is one who cultivates god, and that the most ancient part of magic, or prisca magia, is true religion.4 in the first book,5 he sets out a light series, running from the supercelestial light, through the stars, to the light of the sun in this world, referring in this connecti

ew language, of the sephiroth, and of the hebrew and pseudo-dionysian orders of angels.1 it is true that the cabalists occur in the list of prisci magi with which the de magia opens, where it is stated that the magus is the wise man, as were hermes trismegistus among the egyptians, the druids among the gauls, the gymnosophists among the indians, the cabalists among the hebrews, the magi among the persians, the sophi among the greeks, the sapientes among the latins.2 still, to a magician familiar with the correct tradition, it would be rather noticeable that bruno nowhere mentions the superior power in magic of the hebrew language. on the contrary, he devotes a significant passage to praise of the egyptian language and its sacred characters. the sacred letters used among the egyptians were

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

quality which was regarded as the life-giving, or creative, energy supposed to reside in heat, and which was closely connected with passion or procreative energy. this quality was their bacchus, dionysos, or god-idea--the creator not alone of physical existence, but of good and evil as well. it was the destroyer, yet the regenerator, of life. of the zoroastrian home, or sacred tree, which by the persians was worshipped for thousands of years, layard remarks "the plant or its product was called the mystical body of god, the living water or food of eternal life, when duly consecrated and administered according to zoroastrian rites" it has been suggested, and not without reason, that to this idea of the ancients, respecting the sacred character of the properties of the home juice, may be tra

le and sun-worship is unknown. among various peoples the sun and the moon are regarded as husband and wife, and among others as brother and sister. in some countries, both are female. i can find no instance in which both are male. hindoos and aztecs alike, at one time, said that luna was male and often that the sun was female [37] tylor, primitive culture, vol. ii, p. 272. the fact that among the persians the moon as well as the sun was at a certain period regarded as a source of procreative energy and as influencing the generative processes, is shown by various passages in the avestas. in the khordah avesta, praise is offered to "the moon which contains the seed of cattle, to the only begotten bull, to the bull of many kinds" perhaps the most widely diffused and universally adored represe

, at the head of which appears astarte--a woman who represents pure reason or intelligence; then follows zeus, demarius, and adorus. without doubt this triad represents a monad deity similar in character to the one observed in egypt and other countries. in the minds of all well-informed persons, there is no longer any doubt that in abraham's time the canaanites worshipped the same gods as did the persians and all the other nations about them- namely, elohim, the dual or triune creative force in nature. as the sun was the source whence proceeded all light and life as well as reproductive or generative power, it had become the object of adoration, and as the emblem of the deity, it was worshipped by all the nations of the earth in its three capacities as creator, preserver, and destroyer or

her yet remained but one in essence, the peruvians supposed their tanga-tanga to be one in three, and three in one: and in consequence of the union of hero worship with the astronomical and material systems of idolatry they venerated the sun and the air, each under three images and three names. the same opinions equally prevailed throughout the nations which lie to the west of hindostan. thus the persians had their ormuzd, mithras, and ahriman: or, as the matter was sometimes represented, their self-triplicating mithras. the syrians had their monimus, aziz, and ares. the egyptians had their emeph, eicton, and phtha. the greeks and romans had their jupiter, neptune, and pluto; three in number, though one in essence, and all springing from cronus, a fourth, yet older god. the canaanites had

inverted; and, instead of the egg being produced by night or venus, venus herself was fabled to have been produced from the egg. there is a remarkable legend of this sort which ascribes venus and her egg to the age of typhon and osiris, in other words, to the age in which noah was compelled by the deluge to enter into the ark"[46 [46] origin of pagan idolatry, book i, ch. iv. the preserver of the persians, who is seated on a rainbow in front of their rock temples, is mithras, who is identical with noah. sometimes this ancient mariner is represented as riding on the back of a fish, and again as floating in a boat. the god of hindostan, like the classical dionysos, was enclosed in an ark and driven into the sea. according to the gothic traditions as recorded in the eddas, there once existed

ting of the later-developed sensuous faiths upon their earlier god-idea, marks the change from female to male supremacy. we have observed that whenever a remnant of the civilization of the ancient cushites appears, exactly as might be expected, women hold an exalted position in human affairs, at the same time that the female principle constitutes the essential element in the deity. of the ancient persians who received their religion and their civilization from this older race malcolm observes "the great respect in which the female sex was held was, no doubt, the principal cause of the progress they made in civilization. it would appear that in former days the women of persia had an assigned and honorable place in society; and we must conclude that an equal rank with the male creation, whic

sit in the presence of sisygambis, till told to do so by that matron, because it is not the custom in persia for sons to sit in the presence of their mothers. there can be no stronger proof than this anecdote affords, of the great respect in which the female sex were held in that country, at the time of this invasion"[69 [69] see history of persia. no one i think can study the sacred books of the persians without observing the emphasis which is there placed on purity of character and right living. indeed, within no extant writings is the antithesis between good and evil more strongly marked, at the same time that their hatred of idolatry is clearly apparent. the same is observed in the early writings of the hindoos. within the vedas, although they have been corrupted by later writers, may

the higher forces. the deity represented by a woman and a serpent involved the idea not alone of good, but of good and evil combined. together they prefigured not only wisdom and generative power, but evil as well. mythologically they represented the cold of winter and the heat of the sun's rays, both of which were necessary reproduction. from this conception sprang the ormuzd and ahryman of the persians, the story of adam, eve, and the serpent in genesis, and the legend of kihua-kohuatl and tonakatl-koatl in mexico "the serpent remained in the memory and affections of most early people as wisdom, life, goodness, and the source of knowledge and science, under various names such as toth, hermes, themis, the kneph or sophia of egyptians and gnostics, and set, shet, or shem of the jews"[75 [

or chest, and which was symbolized by an upright stone, was none other than a "life-giver" in the most practical sense. it was the emblem of virility, and from the facts at hand, at the present time, there is little doubt but that all the spirituality with which we find this "lord" invested was an after-thought and comprehended no part of the belief of the jews until after their contact with the persians during the babylonian captivity. doubtless the story in which their journeyings toward canaan are set forth contains an esoteric as well as an exoteric significance for ages known only to the priests, and that within it is embodied not alone something of the true history of this people, but an account also of their struggle against an older religion. at this time the israelites had practi

stival of lamps, which was once universal throughout egypt, still prevails in china. on the evening of the fifteenth day of the first month in the year, every person is compelled to place before his door a lantern or light, such lights differing in size and expense according to the degree of wealth or poverty of those to whom they belong. light was the symbol of muth (perceptive wisdom. among the persians, the egyptians, the mexicans, the jews, the etruscans, the greeks, and the romans, fire was venerated as the essence of the deity; and, at the present time, in thibet, in china, in japan, and in portions of africa, it still forms an important part of worship. the hebrew writings show conclusively that not only the jews but all the surrounding nations were fire-worshippers, and that their

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

foundin this application; but we know that the sacred flame was60themagical masonallowed to go out, and was renewed from heaven on severaloccasions-lev.ix.,24; 2 chron. vii, 1; 1 kings xviii, 38. other writers have taken the other side of the argument, viz, that the gift of a flame that would need no attention would have tended to idolatry, to which the israelites were ever prone.thechaldeans and persians used to maintain a perpetual fire in the temples. certain scholars have considered that the 'window' mentioned as placed in the ark of noah was not such, as during a period of prolonged cloud and storm a window would not light such a chamber. in the hebrew version of genesis, chap. 6, v. 16, the word istzer,which means 'something transparent, and is to be compared with the similar wordzer

. w. a. ayton.]8.chess shatranjiandchaturangabyn[on] o[mnis] m[oriar]thepresent european game of chess has been gradually developed from the more primitive form in which it reached western civilisation.itcame to us from the arabs, or saracenic races who overran spain in the 8th century.thearab races had a knowledge of the game for many centuries, and they are believed to have received it from the persians and from ancient egypt.thegame, however, in its essentials is found to exist in the descriptions of the oldest poets of india. in its oldest form traceable in literature its name is found in sanskrit works as chaturanga from chatur=four, ranga=member. among the persians and arabs the name became shatranji. introduced in europe, we find in france, echecs; italy, scacci; england, chess; per

have combated this dogma.themohammedans taught that two guardian angels watched each man's actions, one registering his good and the other his bad actions, and that they were so regardful of man's fate that they deferred a decision on his conduct after a wicked action until they had allowed him to sleep, and if on awaking he repented him of the evil the bad record was not made. among the ancient persians there was an idea that each man had five angel guards; the first at his right hand to write his good actions, a second at his left hand to record his sins, a third before him to show the correct path, a fourth behind him to ward off the attacks of evil powers, and the fifth before his face to sustain his aspirations.thesiamese recognize seven orders of angels, they are related to the plan

essings and those are called the seventy nations, under seventy princes, and they are all alike unclean, and samael is also one of these princes. edom, amalek arid rome, are some of those seventy nations. in emek ha malekh, it is said that these seventy inferior spirits arebutklippoth or shells; there are fourteen above the others, princes of seir; fourteen toward the east, are over the medes and persians; fourteen over the south are the ishmaelites and the turks; fourteen of the north are the princes of babylon; and fourteen of the west who rule over thirteen nations. these seventy nations have sprung fromjaphet-fourteen;from ham, thirty; and from shem, twenty-six. each had its own language originating at the confusion of tongues. so that all beside the jews have a taintofthedevil and his

rms of the warning in 1640. we possess a record of a celebrated astrologer, giamasp, surnamed al hakim the wise, a physician who flourished in the reign of king darius hystaspes of persia, about 500 s.c. he is said to have foretold the coming of jesus, the future founding of a great religion by mahommet, and that the magian faith should be abandoned; see the classic work of dr hyde on the ancient persians.theold testament has several references to astrology, andthehistory of astrology175to soothsayers who judged of human events divining them by the stars. these refer to the chaldean philosophers, who were called magi. consult these references: isaiah xlvii. 13:'letnow the astrologers stand up, and save thee from these things' danieli.20:theking found daniel better than all the astrologers

of mithras as a sun god must have preceded the foundation of the zoroastrian religion by many hundred years, even before the aryan race separated into western and indian branches; at any rate, his name is found both in the zend avesta and the vedas of the hindoos. mithra worship may have sprung from the cult of the magi of media, a nationality which was dominant before that of persia.themedes and persians were famous nations of western asia for many centuries, and the boundaries of their empire varied greatly from agetoage: media became subject to persia about 560a.c.,while persia remaind a notable empire until it was conquered by the mohammedan arabs about 640a.d.thepresent-day parseesofindiaare now the only representatives of the zoroastrian faith. they hold a festival in honour of mithr

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

reat antiquity in comparison with those heroes; to me eeinhart and isengrim seem to reach up far higher than the -ninth century, and siegfried even beyond arminius, therefore a long way before the time when the term devil first came into our language. several designations of the giants are unmistakably connected with the names of surrounding nations; mone's view applies them to indians, frisians, persians, according as the words ent and wrise suit his purpose; let no one be startled to find that caucasus comes from our gouchsberg (cuckoo's hill! a later work, whose merits i acknowledge on p ]070n, comes in not unseasonably here. soldan agrees in my opinion on the atrocity and folly of the witch-persecutions, but he would dispute the connection of witches with german mythology, and derive a

script on diseases and remedies quoted by wanley pp. 176 180 (conf. supra p. 140) has at p. 180 celf-ddh lascedom, cure for elf-burn, celfcynne-sealf, elf-salve, nlhfgengean seal, night-wives' salve^ elsewhere i find an ailment celf-siden)ie. by the red and the ivhife dog in ettner's unw. doctor 436 we prob. are to understand measles or rose-rash; red dog again in the leipz. avanturier 1, 86. the persians call scarlet-fever al, and picture it as a rosy maid with locks of flame, atkinson p. 49. 50 (see suppl. by gout (gicht f) we understand a pain in the limbs, arthritis; in older germ, it was neuter' daz gegihte brichet (breaks) sie' a. heinr. 886. ulr. trist. 1461 'daz gegihte brack ir hend und fiieze^ rab. 1060; hence our' gicht-hriichig/ palsied. maz wiietende gijtte' renner 9904. as we

GRIMM TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 2 1883 COMPLETE

ppears in caedm. 76. 77; in beow. 213 grendel s descent is derived from caines cynne, on whom god avenged the murder of abel: thence sprang all the nntydras (neg. of tudor proles, therefore misbirths, evil brood, catenas, ylfe, orcneas and gigantas that war against god. this partly fits in with some heathen notions of cosmogony. 3 mone in anz. 8, 133, takes wrise for frise, and makes frisians and persians out of it [what of writhe, wris-t, wrest, wrestle (as wit, wis-t becomes wise? or slav, vred-iti, to hurt, as. wrefte? a russ. word for giant is verzilo, supposed to be from verg-ati, to throw] 526 giants. unwieldy giant, lubben-stones are shown on the corneliusberg near helmstadt, and lubbe ace. to the brem. wb. 3, 92 means a slow clumsy fellow; it is the engl. lubber, lobber, and michel

23; grim endi gradag 133, 11; eld unfuodi (insatiabilis) 78, 23; it licks with its tongue, eats all round it, pastures, i/e/^era, ii. 23, 177; the land gets eaten clean by it, irvpl %6a)v ve^erai, 2, 780; f leztu eld eta iofra bygdir, sgem. i42a; it is restless, dtcd/matov irvp, ii. 23, 52. to be spoken to is a mark of living things: heitr ertu hripusr (hot art thou, fire, sa3m. 40a. the ancient persians made a god of it, and the indian agni (ignis) is looked upon as a god. the edda makes fire a brotlier of the wind and sea, therefore himself alive and a god, sn. 126. our people compare the element to a cock flying from house to house: i ll set the red cock on your roof is a threat of the incen diary; ein roten han aufs stadel setzen/ h. sachs iv. 3, 86d; voter sclnn, gudr. 786, 2. an ant

ts a new clean fire, which is distributed among all the dwellings; not till then do the women carry home the new corn and fruits from the harvest field.1 the arabs have for firefriction two pieces of wood called march and aphar, the one male, the other female. the chinese say the emperor sui was the first who rubbed wood against wood; the inconvenient method is retained as a holy one. indians and persians turn a piece of cane round in dry wood, kanne s urk. 454-5 (see suppl. i fr. major s mythol. taschenb. 1811, p. 110. need-fire. 611 it is still more interesting to observe how nearly the old roman and greek customs correspond. excerpts from festus (0. miiller 106, 2) say: ignis vestae si quando interstinctus esset, virgines verberibus afficiebantur a pontifice, quibus mos erat, tabulam fe

y. the solemn ganga undir larffar men (ra. 118-9) acquires its true meaning by this. in other nations too, as hungarians (ra. 120, and slavs (bohme s beitr. 5, 141, the administration of oaths took place by the per son who swore placing earth or turf on his head (see suppl. the custom of conquered nations presenting earth and water in token of submission reaches back to remote antiquity: when the persians declared war, they sent heralds to demand the two elements of those whose country they meant to invade, 3 which again reminds us of the roman f pura. our landsknechts as late as the 16th century, on going into battle, threw a clod of earth (like him that threw chrenechruda) in token of utter re nunciation of life. 3 among the greeks too, grasping the sod 1 zeitschr. f. d. alterth. 2, 163

n ride on a black foal makes them cut their teeth easily, superst. i, 428. from eracl. 1320. 1485 fiil-zene appear to be the milk-teeth shed by a foal (see suppl. 3 what the breath of a swine has polluted, is set right again by that of the horse (sup. i, 820. k, 92; the horse is a clean animal. it helps a woman in labour, for a horse to feed out of her apron (sup. i, 337. hoeses. 659 know how the persians chose a king by the neighing of his horse, herod. 3, 84. in the norwegian tale griinsborken (asb. and moe, no. 38) a foal is suckled by twelve mares, and gets to talk sensibly (see suppl. and as mimr s head retained its wisdom after it was cut off (379, heathendom seems to have practised all sorts of magic by cutting off horse s heads and sticking them up. in a nursery-tale (no. 89) the t

ds a remark of his own: wanda selbiu diu sunna, einemo sffilte gelih ist/ in german law and german poetry ve catch the glimmer of these red shields/ even opitz 2, 286 calls the sun( the beauteous shield of heaven. the very oldest and most universal image connecied with the sun and other luminaries seems after all to be thab of the eye. ancient cosmogonies represent them as created out of eyes. to persians the sun was the eye of ahummazdao (orniuzd, to egyptians the right eye of the demiurge, to the greeks the eye of zeus, to our forefathers that of wuotan; and a fable in the edda says 0$inn had to leave one of his eyes in pledge with mimir, or hide it in his fountain, and therefore he is pic tured as one-eyed. in the one-eyed cyclopes mouth ovid puts the words (met. 13, 851: unum est in me

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

stesses acted the mythological role of the hand of atum, the partner of the creator.70 egypt s divisions were eventually brought to an end by invaders from the south. late period and ptolemaic period (dynasties 25 30 and the ptolemies: 747 30 bce the first millennium bce saw the rise and fall of a series of great empires. egypt suffered invasions and occupations by the nubians, the assyrians, the persians, and the greeks; so for most of this period the country was either ruled by a foreign power or fighting for its independence. egypt s culture was under pressure from new ruling elites, yet many of the best sources for egyptian myth date to introduction 31 this era. indeed, some scholars do not recognize that egypt had a developed mythology before the late period. it is a common cultural p

the monuments today. the bizarre legends herodotus relates about some egyptian kings, such as a tale of king mycerinus (menkara) raping his own daughter and burying her inside a cow, may have reflected contemporary folktales. the egyptians had a long tradition of telling unflattering stories about past kings. between 404 and 343 bce, several dynasties of egyptian-born kings were able to keep the persians out of egypt. the three kings of the thirtieth dynasty instituted a style of art and architecture that was to continue under their foreign successors. a thirtieth dynasty mythological text about the reigns of shu and geb defines a ruler s duties as defending egypt from foreign enemies, maintaining the country s defensive walls and irrigation systems, and rebuilding the temples of the gods

ptians clung to the old beliefs as late as the sixth century ce. a few magical texts of this period still mention the myths of isis and the horus introduction 45 child, but most replace them with anecdotes about the virgin mary and baby jesus. the last stories about the gods of egypt are those that tell of their defeat by coptic saints.109 in the seventh century ce, egypt was invaded first by the persians and then by the arabs. the arabs brought with them the muslim religion, but many of the native egyptians (the copts) remained christian. the coptic language fell out of general use around 1000 ce, but it has continued to be used in the liturgies of the coptic church right up to the present day. for centuries egypt was part of an arab empire ruled by caliphs in damascus or baghdad. the mos

ill because he cannot control the power of the headdress of ra, and his head swells painfully. ra cures him by letting out the pus and blood, and this is said to be the origin of the famous sacred lake at herakleopolis. a fragmentary new kingdom tale has heryshef appear to the hero meryra to ask for his help in a fight against a divine falcon. in a later text, an egyptian priest living among the persians claims to have been summoned back to egypt by a dream-vision of heryshef. the priest credits heryshef with helping alexander the great to conquer the persians. when the greeks settled in egypt, they identified heryshef with their deified hero herakles (hercules. see also banebdjedet; osiris references and further reading: h. kees. heracleopolis and the fayum. in ancient egypt: a cultural

ISIS UNVEILED

and picturesque translation of the holy father, that we perfectly remember some curious paragraphs, which run, as far as we can recall them, as follows "when the queen of the sun (cleo- 41. an after-tliaiight has made ui fancy that we can understand whay is meant by the tijooinug aentences of mont of chorene "the ancient asiatics" mfs he "five centuriei befote our en and eepeciau' the hind&i, the persians, and the chaldaeans, had in their possesaion a quantity at historical and bcientific books. these vorka irare partially borrowed, partially translated in the gredc language, mostly since the phdemki had estauished the akaandrian libniy and encoura^ the writen by thtilr kbcnliticfl, m that the greek language becsone tlie deposit ot all the sciences (mttorg <4 armawi. thwefore the greater p

lmm, and which the christian bme named the beginning" thus adopting the exo- teric meaning of the word abandoned to the multitudes "hie kabala the oriental as well as the jewish shows that a number of emanatione (the jewish sephiroth) issued from the firat principle, the chi^ c^ which was wiedom. this wisdom is the logos of philo, and michael, the chi^ of the gnostic eons; it is the ormazd of the persians; minerva, goddess of wisdom, of the greeks, who emanated from the head of jupiter; and the second person of the christian trinity. the eariy fathers of the church had not much call to exert their imagination; they found a ready-made doctrine that had existed in every theogoay for thousands of years before the christian era. their trinity is but the trio of sephiroth, the first three kabal

hey were the itarim or initiates, the descendants of the egyptian hierophants, in whose country they had been settled for several centuries before they were converted to buddhistic monas- ticism by the missionaries of king asoka, and amalgamated later with the earliest christians; and they existed, probably, before the old egyptian temples were desecrated and ruined in the incessant in- va^ons of persians, greeks, and other conquering hordes. the hiero- phants had their atotwment enacted in the mystery of initiation ages before the gnostics, or even the essenes, had appeared. it was known among hierophants as the baptism of bixx>d, and was considered not as an atonement for the 'fall of man' in eden, but simply as an ex- piation for the past, present, and future sins of ignorant but nevert

llie bull nandi, the vdaotia of siva, and the most sacred f. corj: aiteimt frafmenu. p. 15; d. 1832. digitizecoy google 236 isis unveiled emblem of this god, is reproduced in the egyptian apis, and in the bull created by ormazd and killed by ahriman. the religion of zoroaster, entirely based upon the 'secret doctrine* is found held by the people of eritene [in bactria; it was the religion of the persians when they con- quered the assyrians. from thence it is easy to trace the introduction of this emblem of lite represented by the bull, in every religious system. the college of the magians had accepted it with the change of dynasty? daniel is described as a rabbi, the chief of the babylonian astrologers and magi" therefore we see the assyrian uttle bulls and the attributes of siva reappear

by their teachings in the science of the motiotu of ae world and oi the heavenly bodies, and in pure rdigioub ritet. he infused a portion into the minds of the magi. the latter, coupling these doctrines with their own peculiar icienee of foreuuing the future, have handed down the whole through their descend- ants to succeeding ages^ it is from these descendants that the sufis, chiefly composed of persians and syrians, acquired their profound know- ledge of astrology, medicine, and the esoteric doctrine of the ages "the sufi doctrine" says c. w. king "involved the grand idea of one uni- versal creed which could be secretly held under any profession of an oul> ward faith; and in fact took virtually the same view of religious systems as that in which the ancient philosophers had regarded such

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

ed. 1 chapter the second. singular adventure in staffordshire. 5 chapter the third. insufficientcy of worldy objects. 13 chapter the fourth. the hermetic philosophers. 19 chapter the fifth. an historical adventure. 27 chapter the sixth. the hermetic brethren. 32 chapter the seventh. mythic history of the fleur-de-lis. 58 chapter the eighth. sacred fire. 54 chapter the ninth. fire-theosophy of the persians. 65 chapter the tenth. ideas of the rosicrucians as to the character of fire. 74 xiv contents chapter the eleventh. page. monuments raised to fire-worship in all countries. 85 chapter the twelfth. druidical stones and their worship. 100 chapter the thirteenth. inquiry as to the possibility of miracle. 114 chapter the fourteenth. can evidence be depended upon? examination of hume s reasoin

to pass that when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, that passed between these pieces (genesis xv. 17. the first appearances of god, then, being in glory or, which is the same thing, in light or fire and he showing his acceptance of sacrifices in so many instances by consuming them with fire, hence it was that the eastern people, and particularly the persians, fell into the worship of fire itself, or rather they conceived fire to be the symbol of god s presence, and they worshipped god in, or by, fire. from the assyrians, or chaldeans, or persians, this worship was propagated southward among the egyptians, and westward among the greeks; and by them it was brought into italy. the greeks were wont to meet together to worship in their prytamia, a

of the egyptian priests were never (indeed, they dared not so have been) hazarded in sigma, or writing, or hieroglyphic of any kind being forbidden to be spoken, still more written. consequently all supposed readings of hieroglyphics are guesswork only implying earnest and plausible but mistaken effort alone. from the breast of a mummy (museum, lond. univ) chapter the ninth. fire-theosophy of the persians. he fire-philosophers, or philosophi per ignem, were a fanatical sect of philosophers, who appeared towards the close of the sixteenth century. they made a figure in almost all the countries of europe. they delcared that the intimate essences of natural things were only to be known by the trying efforts of fire, directed in a chemical process. the theosophists also insisted that human rea

nd chilly as the outside is, is a heart of fire, to strike at which is to bid gush forth the waters, as it were, of very fire, like waters of the rock! truly, out of sparks can be displayed a whole acreage of fireworks. forests can be conceived of flame-palaces of the fire; grandest things soul-things last things all things! wonder no longer, then, if, rejected so long as an idolatry, the ancient persians, and their masters the magi, concluding that they saw all in this supernaturally magnificent element, fell down and worshipped it; making of it the visible representation of the very truest; but yet, in man s speculation, and in his philosophies, nay, in his commonest reason, impossible god: god being everywhere, and in us, and, indeed, us, in the god-lighted man; and 70 the rosicrucians

scription, and, generally speaking, all erections conspicuous for height and slimness, were representatives of the sworded, or of the pyramidal, fire. they bespoke, wherever found, and in whatever age, the idea of the first principle, or the male generative emblem. having given, as we hope, some new views of the doctrine of universal fire, and shown that there has been error in imagining that the persians and the ancient fire-worshippers were idolaters simply of fire, inasmuch as, in bowing down before it, they only regarded fire as a symbol, or visible sign, or thing placed as standing for the deity, having, in our preceding chapters, disposed the mind of th reader to consider as a matter of solemnity, and of much greater general significance, this strange fact of fire-worship, and endeav

l the visible world; the forges of the cyclops, and the monuments of sicily; the mysteries of the etrurians; the rites of the carthaginians; the torches borne, in all priestly demonstrative processions, at all times, in all countries; the vestal fires of the romans; the very word flamen, as indicative of the office of the officiating sacerdote; the 96 the rosicrucians. hidden fires of the ancient persians, and of the grimmer (at least in name) guebres; the whole mystic meaning of flames on altars, of the ever-burning tomb-lights of the earlier peoples, whether in the classic or in the barbarian lands; everything of this kind was intended to signify the deified fire. fires are lighted in the funeral ceremonies of the hindoos and of the mohammedans, even to this day, though the body be commi

a type, is similar to the material trinity of plato; as a type, it is used to conceal the secret trinity. see anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 627. holy fires, which were never suffered to die, were maintained in all the temples: of these were the fires in the temple of the gaditanean hercules at tyre, in the temple of vesta at rome, among the brachmans of india, among the jews, and principally among the persians. now to prove that all appearances are born of fire, so to speak, according to the ideas of the rosicrucians. light is not radiated from any intensely heated gas or fluid. if nitre is melted, it will not be visible; but throw into it any solid body, and as soon as that becomes heated it will radiate light; hence the phenomenon, nasmyth s willow-leaves, in the sun, must be solid, not gaseo

as that becomes heated it will radiate light; hence the phenomenon, nasmyth s willow-leaves, in the sun, must be solid, not gaseous; and through their medium the whole of our light from the sun is doubtless derived. see the records of the british assoideas of the bhuddists. 149 elation for the advancement of science (cambridge meeting, october 1862. these physical facts were known to the ancient persians. the ancient ideas upon these subjects have not come down to us. at all definitely. the destruction of ancient manuscripts was effected upon a large scale. diocletian has the credit of having burned the books of the egyptians on the chemistry of gold and silver (alchemy. c sar is said to have burned as many as 700,000 rolls at alexandria; and leo isaurus 300,000 at constantinople in the e

cenic or gothic fig. 56. arch presents the form of the upper portion of the human fall j. the saracenic arch denotes the union of the linga and yoni. in fig. 56 we have the sun rising from between the the horns of eblis. 211 horns of eblis (here taken for the pyramids. this is a poetical superstition of the arabians, who therefore turn to the north to pray; in contradiction to the practice of the persians, who adore the rising sun. the arabians avert in prayer from this malific sign of the horns, because the sun is seen rising from between them; and when disclosing from between these mythic pillars, the sun becomes a portent. fig. 57 is an egyptian seal, copied by layard (nineveh and babylon, p. 156. subject: the egyptian god harpocrates, seated on the mythic lotus, in adoration of the yon

. it, in this instance, changes to black, because it is devoted to the illustration of the fire-workers (grenadiers, who, among i 254 the rosicrucians. modern military, succeed the vulcanists, cyclopes, classic smiths, or servants of vulcan, or mulciber, the artful worker among the metals in the fire, or amidst the forces of nature. this idea will be found by a reference to the high cap among the persians, or fire-worshippers; and to the black cap among the bohemians and in the east. all travellers in eastern lands will remember that the tops of the minarets reminded themof the high-pointed black caps of the persians. the phrygian cap is a most recondite antiquarian form; the symbol comes from the highest antiquity. it is displayed on the head of the figure sacrificing in the celebrated sc

KETAB E SIYAH

ting, or to cleanse ourselves in the privy as do the mohammedans, or to perform our ablutions in their baths. neither is it permitted to us to pronounce the name of shaitan (because it is the name of our god, nor any name resembling this, such as kitan, sharr, shatt; nor any vocable resembling mal'un, na'l, or the like. before our religion was called idolatry and the jews, christians, muslims and persians held aloof from our religion. king ahab and amran were of us, so that they used to call the god of ahab beelzebub, whom they call amongst us pirbub. we had a king in babel whose name was bukhti-nossor (nebuchadnezzer, and ahasuerus in persia, and in constantinople aghriqalus. before heaven and earth existed, god was over the waters in a vessel in the midst of the waters. 404 then he was w

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

which under certain circumstances becomes khris. this would suggest some possible connection with krishna and christ. there are certain passages in the book of job where he speaks of the orb of the sun, and the word he uses is khris. it is on record that hiram, king of tyre, was the first man who offered the sacrifice of fire to the khur, who afterwards became herakles. plutarch tells us that the persians of his day called the sun kuros, and he connects it with the greek word kurios, which means lord, which we find in the church service as gkyrie eleison h. khur is also connected with the egyptian name horus, who was also her-ra and haroeris, names of the sun-god. the hebrew word aoor also means light or fire or the sun, and from that we get khurom, which is equal to the greek hermes. bro

LEMEGETON

ld yet that must not be evil or subject to contempt or scorn; and doth distinguish the natural magic from that which is diabolical. tyaneus only exercised the natural magic by which he perforned wonderful things. philo hebreus saith that true magic by which we come to the secret works of nature is so far from being contemptible that the greatest monarchs and kings have studied it. nay amongst the persians none might reign unless he was skillfull in this great art. this noble science often degenerates, and from natural becomes diabolical, from true philosophy turns to nigromancy, which is wholly to be charged uppon its followers who, abusing or not being capable of that high and mystical knowledge do immediately hearken to the temptations of sathan, and are misled by him into the study of t

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

ory or adversarial role assigned by god. specifically, the earliest satans were angels, sent by god for the purpose of obstructing or blocking the acts of human beings. this is clearly represented in the book of job, where satan is portrayed as a member of god s heavenly court a kind of celestial prosecuting attorney. satan s transformation into a true bad guy did not really begin until after the persians defeated the babylonians and returned the jews to palestine from babylonia. seeking to make them allies, the persians even gave the repatriated jews money to rebuild the temple. the persians were zoroastrians, a religion built around the notion of an ongoing, more or less evenly matched struggle between ahura mazda (in later zoroastrianism, uhrmazd, the god of light and the upper world, a

ersians even gave the repatriated jews money to rebuild the temple. the persians were zoroastrians, a religion built around the notion of an ongoing, more or less evenly matched struggle between ahura mazda (in later zoroastrianism, uhrmazd, the god of light and the upper world, and angra mainyu (later ahriman, the god of darkness and the lower world. partially because of a friendly link with the persians, judaism took in influences from zoroastrianism. thus satan, the closest thing the jews had to an evil spirit, was reconceived in the mold of angra mainyu as god s enemy. this portrait of an evil divinity locked in a cosmic war against god was later bequeathed to christianity. early christianity arose as a jewish sect during the apocalyptic period. the first christians strongly believed i

tanding before the angel of the lord, and satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. and the lord said to satan, the lord rebuke you, o satan! the lord who has chosen jerusalem rebuke you! is not this a brand plucked from the fire (zech. 3:1 2) here satan is still performing his older role as accuser, but now god is moved to anger by satan s activity. zechariah lived during the time when the persians had defeated the babylonians and returned the jews to palestine from babylonia. seeking to make them allies, the persians even gave the repatriated jews money to rebuild the temple. the persians were zoroastrians, whose religious system was built around the notion of an ongoing conflict between ahura mazda, the god of light and the upper world, and ahriman, the god of darkness and the low

to palestine from babylonia. seeking to make them allies, the persians even gave the repatriated jews money to rebuild the temple. the persians were zoroastrians, whose religious system was built around the notion of an ongoing conflict between ahura mazda, the god of light and the upper world, and ahriman, the god of darkness and the lower world. partially because of their friendly link with the persians, the judaism was influenced by zoroastrianism. thus satan, the closest thing the jews had to an evil spirit, was reconceived as god s enemy, though he was never became as powerful as ahriman. the tendency to amplify satan s role as the master of evil continues in later, noncanonical books. by the time of the emergence of the qumran community of essenes (a generation before jesus, satan fi

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

performed at night, either in thick groves of oak trees or around open-air altars built of great uncut stones. how these masses of rock were moved ahs not been satisfactorily explained. the most famous of their altars, a great stone ring of rocks, is stonehenge, in southwestern england. this structure, laid out on an astronomical basis, still stands, a wonder of antiquity. p. 24 according to the persians, there coexisted in eternity two principles. the first of these, ahura-mazda, or ormuzd, was the spirit of good. from ormuzd came forth a number of hierarchies of good and beautiful spirits (angels and archangels. the second of these eternally existing principles was called ahriman. he was also a pure and beautiful spirit, but he later rebelled against ormuzd, being jealous of his power

s antiquities. this gnostic gem represents by its serpentine body the pathway of the sun and by its lion head the exaltation of the solar in the constellation of leo. click to enlarge a symbolic labyrinth. from montfaucon's antiquities. labyrinths and mazes were favored places of initiation among many ancient cults. remains of these mystic mazes have been found among the american indians, hindus, persians, egyptians, and greeks. some of these mazes are merely involved pathways lined with stones; others are literally miles of gloomy caverns under temples or hollowed from the sides of mountains. the famous labyrinth of crete, in which roamed the bullheaded minotaur, was unquestionably a place of initiation into the cretan mysteries. p. 27 there is considerable evidence that the famous statue

the thunderer, the supreme deity of the ancient scandinavian pantheon. the mound where, according to legend, king odin was buried is still to be seen near the site of his great temple at upsala. the twelve drottars who presided over the odinic mysteries evidently personified the twelve holy and ineffable names of odin. the rituals of the odinic mysteries were very similar to those of the greeks, persians, and brahmins, after which they were patterned. the drottars, who symbolized the signs of the zodiac, were the custodians of the arts and sciences, which they revealed to those who passed successfully the ordeals of initiation. like many other pagan cults, the odinic mysteries, as an institution, were destroyed by christianity, but the underlying cause of their fall was the corruption of

without him there was no movement, no existence, no form. he was to them immense, indivisible, imperishable, and everywhere present. it was their need of light, and of his creative energy, that was felt by all men; and nothing was more fearful to them than his absence. his beneficent influences caused his identification with the principle of good; and the brahma of the hindus, and mithras of the persians, and athom, amun, phtha, and osiris, of the egyptians, the bel of the chaldeans, the adonai of the phoenicians, the adonis and apollo of the greeks, became but personifications of the sun, the regenerating principle, image of that fecundity which perpetuates and rejuvenates the world's existence" among all the nations of antiquity, altars, mounds, and temples were dedicated to the worship

e symbolic of the supreme authority of the creator himself. from a deep philosophic consideration of the powers and principles of the sun has come the concept of the trinity as it is understood in the world today. the tenet of a triune divinity is not peculiar to christian or mosaic theology, but forms a conspicuous part of the dogma of the greatest religions of both ancient and modern times. the persians, hindus, babylonians, and egyptians had their trinities. in every instance these represented the threefold form of one supreme intelligence. in modern masonry, the deity is symbolized by an equilateral triangle, its three sides representing the primary manifestations of the eternal one who is himself represented as a tiny flame, called by the hebrews yod. jakob b hme, the teutonic mystic

l (of christmas) venerable was less the birth of jesus christ than the return, and, as they expressed it, the new birth of the sun' it was on the same day that the birth of the invincible sun (natalis solis invicti, was celebrated at rome, as can be seen in the roman calendars, published in the reign of constantine and of julian (hymn to the sun, p. 155. this epithet 'invictus' is the same as the persians gave to this same god, whom they worshipped by the name of mithra, and whom they caused to be born in a grotto (justin. dial. cum trips. p. 305, just as he is represented as being born in a stable, under the name of christ, by the christians" concerning the catholic feast of the assumption and its parallel in astronomy, the same author adds "at the end of eight months, when the sun-god, h

living things, capable of influencing the destinies of individuals, nations, and races. that the early jewish patriarchs believed that the celestial bodies participated in the affairs of men is evident to any student of biblical literature, as, for example, in the book of judges "they fought from heaven, even the stars in their courses fought against sisera" the chaldeans, phoenicians, egyptians, persians, hindus, and chinese all had zodiacs that were much alike in general character, and different authorities have credited each of these nations with being the cradle of astrology and astronomy. the central and north american indians also had an understanding of the zodiac, but the patterns and numbers of the signs differed in many details from those of the eastern hemisphere. the word zodia

days sacred to the gods. the lunar year consisted of thirteen months of twenty-eight days each, with one day left over. the solar zodiac at that time consisted often houses of thirty-six degrees each. the first six signs of the zodiac of twelve signs were regarded as benevolent, because the sun occupied them while traversing the northern hemisphere. the 6,000 years during which, according to the persians, ahura-mazda ruled his universe in harmony and peace, were symbolic of these six signs. the second six were considered malevolent, because while the sun was traveling the southern hemisphere it was winter with the greeks, egyptians, and persians. therefore these six months symbolic of the 6,000 years of misery and suffering caused by the evil genius of the persians, ahriman, who sought to

equinox was in the sign of taurus (the bull. it is probable that the form of the bull and the bull's proclivities were assigned to this constellation because the bull was used by the ancients to plow the fields, and the season set aside for plowing and furrowing corresponded to the time at which the sun reached the segment of the heavens named taurus. albert pike describes the reverence which the persians felt for this sign and the method of astrological symbolism in vogue among them, thus "in zoroaster's cave of initiation, the sun and planets were represented, overhead, in gems and gold, as was also the zodiac. the sun appeared, emerging from the back of taurus" in the constellation of the bull are also to be found the "seven sisters--the sacred pleiades--famous to freemasonry as the sev

n probably be traced back to the time when it was customary to reckon on the fingers, these being among the most primitive of calculating devices and still in use among many aboriginal peoples. next: the human body in symbolism sacred texts esoteric index previous next p. 73 the human body in symbolism the oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body. the greeks, persians, egyptians, and hindus considered a philosophical analysis of man's triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious training. the mysteries of every nation taught that the laws, elements, and powers of the universe were epitomized in the human constitution; that everything which existed outside of man had its analogue within man. the universe, being immeasurable in its

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE LESSER KEY OF SOLOMON LEMEGETON VOL 1

mpt or scorn; and doth distinguish the natural magic from that which is diabolical. apollonius tyannaeus only exercised the natural magic, by the which he did perform wonderful things. philo hebraeus saith that true magic, by which we do arrive at the understanding of the secret works of nature, is so far from being contemptible that the greatest monarchs and kings have studied it. nay! among the persians none might reign unless he was skilful in this great art. this noble science often degenerateth, from natural becometh diabolical, and from true philosophy turneth unto nigromancy.11 the which is wholly to be charged upon its followers, who, abusing or not being capable of that high and mystical knowledge do immediately hearken unto the temptations of sathan, and are misled by him into th

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

s headlong rush men rend the paths of hell and heaven is rent in twainsiberian accounts relate:in the beginning was the earth, but then a great fire arose and raged for seven years and theearth was burned up. everything became sea. all the tungus were consumed except a boyand a girl who rose up with an eagle in the sky the world falls dead40atlantis, alien visitation, and genetic manipulation the persians bundahis relate in their legends:and ninety days and nights the heavenly angels were contending in the world with the con-federate demons of the evil spirit and there are the commentaries of more modern sources also, from those illustriousones who have contributed to our present civilization. here are just a few examples.from ovids metamorphosis: giants attacked the very throne of heavenj

versus vritra and the battles between the asas and the asuras or gods and demons)russianscelts (in the deluge of ogyges and the journey of bran, of the coming of the tuatha de dannan, the creation of the isle of man, etc.scriptures and texts that mention earth devastationbooks of genesis, job, and revelationthe ramayana and the mahabharatathe shastrasthe v edasthe norse eddathe zed avesta (of the persians)the codex chimalpopoca (of the toltecs)welsh triads, visuddhi magga (of the buddhists)discourse on the seven suns (buddhist)annals of cuauhtitlan (mayan)the ipuwer papyrus (egyptian)the ermitage papyrus (egyptian)there are over 40,000 texts that mention atlantis, the gods, and the cataclysms they created.people from the east claim descent from the west and vice versa.peculiarities of yahw

escribed as a descendant of esau and thereis no talk of whatever about slabs of stone, only the book of the covenant (p. 218)conclusionthe sacred culture of the ancients was retainedin the messianic line of king david of judah (1008b.c, whose significance was in the pharaonic lineage, not in his descent from abraham and theshemite strain (p. 224)the ptolemiesin 525 b.c, egypt was conquered by the persians, whose kings were subsequently ousted by alexanderthe greats macedonian army in 332 b.c. this led to the greek dynasty of the ptolemies and queencleopatra vii. her liaison with the roman general mark anthony led to the final withdrawal of thepharaohs, and egypt was subjugated by imperial rome shortly before the time of jesus. at length, theroman empire collapsed, egypt fell to byzantine g

MICHAEL WYNN THE SOUL TRAVELERS

ause of spiritual merging that i just spoke about, may be connected with multiple gods in the same tradition. satan is spoke of as he who was instrumental in the war against the titans, and once sat beside the throne of god, but desired it so much that he was cast out of heaven. satan is called shaitan and iblis by muslims, set and seker by the egyptians, samael by the hebrews, and ahriman by the persians. satan is the god who carries away the soul. a well-known symbol, that of the all-seeing eye, is related to satan and has been called the eye of set. satan is a god of the setting sun and is therefore often symbolized by a black sun, or a sun that is in total eclipse. perhaps it was a time before the merger of satan and hades, but once these two beings competed for the souls of the nephil

MORALS AND DOGMA

re jargon and babble to a potawatomie indian. the popular explanations of the symbols of masonry are fitting for the multitude that have swarmed into the temples--being fully up to the level of their capacity. catholicism was a vital truth in its earliest ages, but it became obsolete, and protestantism arose, flourished, and deteriorated. the doctrines of zoroaster were the best which the ancient persians were fitted to receive; those of confucius were fitted for the chinese; those of mohammed for the idolatrous arabs of his age. each was truth for the time. each was a gospel, preached by a reformer; and if any men are so little fortunate as to remain content therewith, when others have attained a higher truth, it is their misfortune and not their fault. they are to be pitied for it, and n

e. it also means the opening of a window, the socket of the eye _khri_ also means _white, or an _opening; and _khris, the orb of the sun, in _job_ viii. 13 and x. 7 _krishna_ is the hindu sun-god _khur, the parsi word, is the literal name of the sun. from _kur_ or _khur, the sun, comes khora, a name of lower egypt. the sun, bryant says in his mythology, was called _kur; and plutarch says that the persians called the sun _kuros. kurios, lord, in greek, like _adona, lord, in ph nician and hebrew, was applied to the sun. many places were sacred to the sun, and called _kura, kuria, kuropolis, kurene, kureschata, kuresta, and _corusia_ in scythia. the egyptian deity called by the greeks"_horus" was _her-ra. or _har-oeris, hor_ or _har, the sun _hari_ is a hindu name of the sun _ari-al, ar-es, a

a century later, the hebrew law said "if any man hate his neighbor. then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother. better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother afar off. thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" in the same fifth century before christ, socrates the grecian said "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" three generations earlier, zoroaster had said to the persians "offer up thy grateful prayers to the lord, the most just and pure ormuzd, the supreme and adorable god, who thus declared to his prophet zerdusht 'hold it not meet to do unto others what thou wouldst not desire done unto thyself; do that unto the people, which, when done to thyself, is not disagreeable unto thee" the same doctrine had been long taught in the schools of babylon, alexandri

against personal danger, sickness, and evil spirits. we know that all this was a vain superstition, natural to a rude people, necessarily disappearing as the intellect of man became enlightened; and wholly unworthy of a mason. it is noticeable that this notion of the sanctity of the divine name or creative word was common to all the ancient nations. the sacred word hom was supposed by the ancient persians (who were among the earliest emigrants from northern india) to be pregnant with a mysterious power; and they taught that by its utterance the world was created. in india it was forbidden to pronounce the word aum or om, the sacred name of the one deity, manifested as brahma, vishna, and seeva. these superstitious notions in regard to the efficacy of the word, and the prohibition against p

in a golden cup; seven titans, children of the older titan, kronos or saturn; seven corybantes; and seven cabiri, sons of sydyk; seven primeval celestial spirits of the japanese, and seven karfesters who escaped from the deluge and began to be the parents of a new race, on the summit of mount albordi. seven cyclopes, also, built the walls of tiryus. celsus, as quoted by origen, tells us that the persians represented by symbols the two-fold motion of the stars, fixed and planetary, and the passage of the soul through their successive spheres. they erected in their holy caves, in which the mystic rites of the mithriac initiations were practised, what he denominates a high _ladder, on the seven steps of which were seven gates or portals, according to the number of the seven principal heavenl

he opposite side of the pyramid; the ascent and descent of the soul being thus represented. each mithriac cave and all the most ancient temples were intended to symbolize the universe, which itself was habitually called the temple and habitation of deity. every temple was the world in miniature; and so the whole world was one grand temple. the most ancient temples were roofless; and therefore the persians, celts, and scythians strongly disliked artificial covered edifices. cicero says that xerxes burned the grecian temples, on the express ground that the whole world was the magnificent temple and habitation of the supreme deity. macrobius says that the entire universe was judiciously deemed by many the temple of god. plato pronounced the real temple of the deity to be the world; and heracl

; an idea again symbolized in the seven seals. the jews of syria and judea were the direct precursors of gnosticism; and in their doctrines were ample oriental elements. these jews had had with the orient, at two different periods, intimate relations, familiarizing them with the doctrines of asia, and especially of chaldea and persia--their forced residence in central asia under the assyrians and persians; and their voluntary dispersion over the whole east, when subjects of the seleucid and the romans. living near two-thirds of a century, and many of them long afterward, in mesopotamia, the cradle of their race; speaking the same language, and their children reared with those of the chaldeans, assyrians, medes, and persians, and receiving from them their names (as the case of danayal, who

the _ferouers, the _ideas, the _aions--the reason or intelligence??a, silence s, word, and wisdom s?f?a of the gnostics. the dominant system among the jews after their captivity was that of the pharoschim or pharisees. whether their name was derived from that of the parsees, or followers of zoroaster, or from some other source, it is certain that they had borrowed much of their doctrine from the persians. like them they claimed to have the exclusive and mysterious knowledge, unknown to the mass. like them they taught that a constant war was waged between the empire of good and that of evil. like them they attributed the sin and fall of man to the demons and their chief; and like them they admitted a special protection of the righteous by inferior beings, agents of jehovah. all their doctr

r, or jehovah, son or christ, and holy spirit, were only so many different _modes_ of existence, or _forces[[greek: d??a e] of the same god. to others they were, as were the multitude of subordinate intelligences, real and distinct beings. the oriental imagination revelled in the creation of these inferior intelligences, powers of good and evil, and angels. we have spoken of those imagined by the persians and the kabalists. in the talmud, every star, every country, every town, and almost every tongue has a prince of heaven as its protector. jehuel is the guardian of fire, and michael, of water. seven spirits assist each; those of fire being _seraphiel _gabriel _nitriel _tammael _tchimschiel _hadarniel, and _sarniel. these seven are represented by the square columns of this degree, while th

from god, aspired to god, and re-entered into god, believed that, among those emanations were two adverse principles, of light and darkness, good and evil. this prevailed in central asia and in syria; while in egypt it assumed the form of greek speculation. in the former, a second intellectual principle was admitted, active in its empire of darkness, audacious against the empire of light. so the persians and sabeans understood it. in egypt, this second principle was matter, as the word was used by the platonic school, with its sad attributes, vacuity, darkness, and death. in their theory, matter could be animated only by the low communication of a principle of divine life. it resists the influences that would spiritualize it. that resisting power is satan, the rebellious matter, matter th

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

resented her standing erect, bearing her spear and shield; in her hand she held an image of nike, and at her feet there lay a serpent. the tree sacred to her was the olive, which she herself produced in a contest with poseidon. the olive-tree thus called into existence was preserved in the temple of erectheus, on the acropolis, and is said to have possessed such marvellous vitality, that when the persians burned it after sacking the town it immediately burst forth into new shoots. the principal festival held in honour of this divinity was the panathenaa. the owl, cock, and serpent were the animals sacred to her, and her sacrifices were rams, bulls, and cows. page 48 page 49 minerva. the minerva of the romans was identified with the pallas-athene of the greeks. like her she presides over le

ed to apollo, where he was worshipped with great solemnity; the greatest care was taken to preserve the sanctity of the spot, for which reason no one was suffered to be buried there. at the foot of mount cynthus was a splendid temple of apollo which possessed an oracle, and was enriched with magnificent offerings from all parts of greece. even foreign nations held this island sacred, for when the persians passed it on their way to attack greece, they not only sailed by, leaving it uninjured, but sent rich presents to the temple. games, called delia, instituted by theseus, were celebrated at delos every four years. a festival termed the gymnopedaa was held at sparta in honour of apollo, in which boys sang the praises of the gods, and of the three hundred lacedamonians who fell at the battle

eir displeasure, the wooden image of pan, which always occupied a prominent place in their dwellings. all sudden and unaccountable sounds which startle travellers in lonely spots, were attributed to pan, who possessed a frightful and most discordant voice; hence the term panic terror, to indicate sudden fear. the athenians ascribed their victory at marathon to the alarm which he created among the persians by his terrible voice. pan was gifted with the power of prophecy, which he is said to have imparted to apollo, and he possessed a well-known and very ancient oracle in arcadia, in which state he was more especially worshipped. the artists of later times have somewhat toned down the original very unattractive conception of pan, as above described, and merely represent him as a young man, h

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

ts.10 a similar inscription discovered in nice-cimiez shows the lapidarii making a vow to hercules, their tutelary deity* it is also likely that the worship of roman builders had experienced the influence of foreign peoples because of the itinerant nature of these artisans and the fact that the romans benefited from the architectural knowledge of the greeks, who in turn had been influenced by the persians, egyptians, and syrians. in fact, the influence of the syrians must have been considerable following their significant immigration into the roman empire, to rome particularly, during the later years of its existence "it was especially in the first century that the syrian exercised his activities, charged with almost all the minor crafts. the syrus (oriental in the broad sense of the term)

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

alled penelope, which has led to stories of pan being the son of odysseus wife penelope, either by hermes or zeus in the form of a goat or ram; or even that pan, a name meaning all, was born after penelope slept with all her suitors while her husband was away (see p. 65. pan was also able to inspire the sudden, groundless fear known as panic. for example, in 490 bce, he is said to have caused the persians to flee in terror from the athenians, in return for the athenians worshiping him and performing ceremonial rites. these later became the roman lupercalia, a festival dedicated to the fertility god faunus. half-goat pan s goat-form inspired the conventional depiction of the christian devil; some writers see the devil-worship of the european witchcult as a continuation of the rites of pan

RELIGIOUS TENANTS OF THE YEZIDI

lind, and in order to prevent the moslems from desecrating; their sacred shrine. we have already noticed a similar subterfuge as practised by the christians of this district, and hence the convent of mar behn m is commonly called "khudhr elias" and that of mar mattai "sheikh matta" i think it cannot be doubted that the term "yezeedee" is derived from yezd, one of the titles applied by the ancient persians to the supreme being "we are yezeedees" said sheikh n sir to me on one occasion "that is, we are worshippers of god" but a difficulty then arises as to the person of him whom they designate "sheikh adi" and who there is every reason to believe also represents the deity in their theology. the conversation which i held with the guardians of the temple clearly leads to this conclusion, and t

the gospel has transformed the last remnant of the polytheists, into the christians of s. john, in the territory of bassora" it is not within the scope of this work to trace with precision, the relation existing between the modern yezeedees and the magians of old; enough has been advanced to show p. 127 that the religious system of both took its rise from the famous prophet and philosopher of the persians, and the after history of the yezeedees, their admixture with christians, and subjection to moslem rule, will fully account for any variations in their present opinions and rites, from those which they originally professed and practised. fr. 1 fn. 1. mr. layard, in his "nineveh and its remains (vol. ii. p. 462) gives the annexed sketch of a bird from one of the slabs dug up at nimrood: th

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

o that terrible number fifteen, symbolized in the tarot by a monster throned upon an altar, mitred and horned, having a woman's breasts and the generative organs of a man. a chimera, a malformed sphinx, a synthesis of deformities. below this figure we read a frank and simple inscription. the devil. yes, we confront here that phantom of all terrors, the dragon of all theogonies, the ahriman of the persians, the typhon of the egyptians, the python of the greeks, the old serpent of the hebrews, the fantastic monster, the nightmare, the croquemitaine, the gargoyle, the great beast of the middle ages, and. worse than all these. the baphomet of the templars, the bearded idol of the alchemist, the obscene deity of mendes, the goat of the sabbath. the frontispiece to this gritual h reproduces the

RUBY TABLET OF SET

in mind, consider the following: almost uniquely within the ancient world, egypt was free from hereditary caste, racial, or sexual discrimination in political affairs. a social aristocracy was created by property inheritance, but a scion of poor or even unknown parentage might just as easily rise to high office upon demonstrating suitable prowess. at various times the throne was held by negroes, persians, mesopotamians, greeks, and assorted asians without racial objections being raised. women enjoyed the same "citizenship" status as men, including choice of mate and inheritance of property. queens such as nefertiti and ty wielded as much or more power than their consorts, and female pharaohs such as hatshepsut and cleopatra ruled egypt as decisively and with as much popular support as did

sticism reading list: most gnostic groups lasted not much longer than two hundred years, during the formation of the orthodox christian groups. they were, and still are, often lumped in with christianity. this is always with the added label "heresy, but they were actually very syncretic. they did borrow from the teachings of christ, but equally from the greeks, egyptians, indians, israelites, and persians. theories as to their origins abound, but the most cogent one is that they derived from the heretical jewish sects, like the essenes. this is based in part on the geographical evidence of early gnostic writings, and on the teachings themselves. one of the prominent themes in their writings is their hatred of the old testament, it's god, and it's laws, which was in accord with many radical

ies. the reality of this world was seen as a place of suffering and spiritual darkness. the reality of a purely transcendent world which was seen as the realm of the pure spark of life, knowledge, love and light. this alien realm was seen as the true reality. the world of the dark lord, our physical world, was seen as a false reality. this philosophy was almost certainly derived from the mithraic persians. they divided the heavens into two forces, one of light and good, the other of darkness and evil. the orthodox christians also used this concept in their debasement of the greek god of nature, pan, into a god of evil. two prominent lines of thought developed among the gnostics as a result of this dualistic philosophy. one was that contact with this world was to be avoided whenever possibl

SATANIC BIBLE

to osiris and the moon. but, in time, it became degraded into a devil. the phoenicians worhipped a fly god, baal, from which comes the devil, beelzebub. both baal and beelzebub are identical to the dung beetle or scarabaeus of the egyptians which appeared to resurrect itself, much as the mythical bird, the phoenix, rose from its own ashes. the ancient jews believed, through their contact with the persians, that the two great forces in the world were ahura-mazda, the god of fire, light, life, and goodness; and ahriman, the serpent, the god of darkness, destruction, death, and evil. these, and countless other examples, not only depict man's devils as animals, but also show his need to sacrifice the original animal gods and demote them to his devils. at the time of the reformation, in the six

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

spouses may not be readily available. zoroastrianism s influences one of the fascinations of historical religious studies is the religious activity that took place in asia and the middle east in the centuries before and after the start of the common era. during these centuries the countries of the middle east and surrounding areas successively fell under the rule of various empires, including the persians and the romans. as a result, religions tended to intermix. the official religion of empires frequently changed, and one religion could exercise a marked influence on the thought and development of another. such is the case with zoroastrianism. scholars continue to debate the influences that zoroastrianism had. one factor that sustains the debate is the uncertainty about dates. conventiona

as trouble. pericles had enemies, and these enemies ultimately targeted his friends. some time around 450 bce anaxagoras was imprisoned and charged with impiety, or disbelief in the gods. the reason for his imprisonment was his claim that the sun was only a huge mass of hot metal and not a god, as was commonly believed at the time. he was also accused of maintaining secret communications with the persians, the enemy of athens, and was sentenced to death. pericles used his influence and had the death sentence changed to one of exile, which meant anaxagoras s life was spared, but he was forced to live outside of athens. exile in lampsacus anaxagoras left athens for lampsacus, an ancient greek city in northwestern asia minor. many young greeks came to study with him until his death in 429 bce

ise, thoughtful, and serious child, although one tale claims that he laughed at the time of his birth. he spent an extended period living in the wilderness, and by age fifteen he had decided to devote himself to contemplation and religious beliefs. traditional accounts hold that when he was seven years old he was the target of an assassination (murder) plot. the plot was supposedly formed by some persians who believed him to be the prophet of a new faith that would threaten already established religious beliefs. at about age twenty zarathushtra left his parents house and lived for seven years in a cave, where he practiced meditation, or focused thinking aimed at attaining greater spiritual knowledge and awareness. when he returned he was prepared to preach a new religion, one that placed l

SOLOMON

n psigos spoke to me, and used my seal. and i sealed her with a triple chain, and (placed) beneath her the fastening of the chain. i used the seal of god, and the spirit prophesied to me, saying "this is what thou, king solomon, doest to us. but after a time thy kingdom shall be broken, and again in season this temple shall be riven asunder [1; and all jerusalem shall be undone by the king of the persians and medes and chaldaeans. and the vessels of this temple, which thou makest, shall be put to servile uses of the gods; and along with them all the jars, in which thou dost shut us up, shall be broken by the hands of men. and then we shall go forth in great power hither and thither, and be disseminated all over the world. and we shall lead astray the inhabited world for a long season, unti

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

hutchens, 33, reveals that "the body of the holy spirit, the universal agent" is none other than "the serpent devouring his own tail."4 that is, the oroboros serpent. remember, in all their writings, the most revered of masonic scholars manly p. hall, albert mackey, albert pike, etc. claim that the masonic rituals and teachings come from the "mysteries" of ancient babylonians, egyptians, greeks, persians and others. thus, we glean understanding when we read, in earth's earliest ages, this the riddle of the great seal of the united states 269 statement by g. pember "there is little doubt that the culmination of the mysteries was the worship of satan himself."5 you'll also recall our discussion elsewhere in this book that the illuminist and masonic theology is solidly based on the jewish ca

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

cy. an oft-cited example of such ambiguity concerns the wealthy and powerful croesus (d. 546 b.c.e, king of lydia, who sought counsel regarding his plans to attack cyrus the great (c. 600 529 b.c.e, king of persia. the oracle told croesus that if he went to war with cyrus, he would thereby destroy a mighty kingdom. encouraged by such a prophecy, croesus went to war and was soundly defeated by the persians. the greek king had fulfilled the prophecy by destroying his own kingdom. in response to his bitter complaint, the pythia reminded him that their seership had been accurate. croesus was told that he should have thought first to ask whose kingdom would be destroyed before he set about waging war against the persians. the oracle at delphi was a major religious site for 2,000 years until it

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

s of white magick, the black magicians seek to gain control over supernatural forces for the sole purpose of personal aggrandizement, the glorification of their baser appetites, and the sowing of discord, discontent, and disease. the desire to use supernatural entities to wreak havoc upon one fs enemy or to acquire material wealth and power was in play during the time of the ancient egyptians and persians. the greeks and hebrews adapted many of the rituals and incantations, transforming the gods of the earlier cultures into the demons of their own time. this process of deity transmutation was continued into medieval times when the earlier gods of the middle east became devils, the ancient mysteries and fertility rites became orgies, and the orders of worship for the old hierarchy of gods a

cations of demonic entities. the deity most often invoked by the dark sorcerer of medieval times to the present day is satanas, a direct descendant of 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 magic and sorcery 51 baphomet: the sabbatic goat from the 1896 edition of transcendental magic (fortean picture library) egyptian set and an alias for the persians f ahriman, the muslims f iblis, the hebrews f asmodeus and beelzebub, and pan, the goatfooted nature god of the greeks, who became the image of satan in the common mind. in addition to satan, the master creator of evil, there were many other ancient gods who had been transformed into demons and personified as vices who could be ordered to do the bidding of the black magicians of the middl

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

was a great revolution. the ark is tradition preserved in a family: religion at this period becomes a mystery and the property of the race. ham was cursed for having revealed it. 32 nimrod and babel are the two primitive allegories of the despot, and of the universal empire which has always filled the dreams of men- a dream whose fulfilment was sought successively by the assyrians, the medes, the persians, alexander, rome, napoleon, the successors of peter the great, and always unfinished because of the dispersion of interests, symbolized by the confusion of tongues. the universal empire could not realize itself by force, but by intelligence and love. thus, to nimrod, the man of savage 'right' the bible opposed abraham, the man of duty, who goes voluntarily into exile in order to seek libe

THE MAGICIAN S KABBALAH

path 11, path 12 and path 14. their names reflect their proximity to the "limitless light" of ain soph aur, being entitled; path 11: the fiery intelligence path 12: the intelligence of light path 14: the illuminating intelligence both light and fire, as we saw in the chapter relating to the ain soph aur, are symbols of the creative aspect of god, or the universal process of generation. the early persians venerated the fire god as the supreme creator god, and this probably relates to primitive associations between fire and survival. it was only in later civilisations that we moved away from fire and earth gods and began worshipping sky gods. perhaps as our species begins to explore the vastness of space, we will develop an allegiance to water gods. note that path 11 is called the "veil, an

THE HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION

the king ahasuerus commanded vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. 1:18 [likewise] shall the ladies of persia and media say this day unto all the king s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. thus [shall there arise] too much contempt and wrath. 1:19 if it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the persians and the medes, that it be not altered, that vashti come no more before king ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. 1:20 and when the king s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire (for it is great) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. 1:21 and the saying pleased the king

rified: 5:24 then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 5:25 and this [is] the writing that was written, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. 5:26 this [is] the interpretation of the thing: mene; god hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 5:27 tekel; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 5:28 peres; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the medes and persians. 5:29 then commanded belshazzar, and they clothed daniel with scarlet, and [put] a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 5:30 in that night was belshazzar the king of the chaldeans slain. 5:31 and darius the median took the kingdom [being] about threescore and two years old. 6:1 it pleased darius to set over

governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, o king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 6:8 now, o king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the medes and persians, which altereth not. 6:9 wherefore king darius signed the writing and the decree. 6:10 now when daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his god, as he did aforetime. 6:11 then these men assembled, and found daniel praying and

found daniel praying and making supplication before his god. 6:12 then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king s decree; hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask [a petition] of any god or man within thirty days, save of thee, o king, shall be cast into the den of lions? the king answered and said, the thing is true, according to the law of the medes and persians, which altereth not. 6:13 then answered they and said before the king, that daniel, which [is] of the children of the captivity of judah, regardeth not thee, o king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. 6:14 then the king, when he heard [these] words, was sore displeased with himself, and set [his] heart on daniel to deliver him: and he laboured

thee, o king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. 6:14 then the king, when he heard [these] words, was sore displeased with himself, and set [his] heart on daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 6:15 then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, know, o king, that the law of the medes and persians [is] that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. 6:16 then the king commanded, and they brought daniel, and cast [him] into the den of lions [now] the king spake and said unto daniel, thy god whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. 6:17 and a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with t

TURNER ROBERT ARBETEL OF MAGICK

hich is called divine magick; and these the latins did entitle sapientes, or wise men: for the feare and worship of god, is the beginning of knowledge. these wise men the greeks call philosophers; and amongst the egyptians they were termed priests; the hebrews termed them cabalistos, prophets, scribes and pharisees; and amongst the babylonians they were differenced by the name of caldeans& by the persians they were called magicians: and one speaking of sosthenes, one of the ancient magicians, useth these words: et verum deum merita majestate prosequitur& angelos ministros dei, sed veri ejus venerationi novit assistere; idem d monas prodit terrenos, vagos, humanitatis inimicos; sosthenes ascribeth the due majesty to the true god& acknowledgeth that his angels are 1. plin. lib. 30. nat. hist

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

ontrary, strabo tells us that the egyptians of his time were wholly ignorant of their ancient learning and religion,1 though impostors continually pretended to explain it. their ignorance in these points is not to be wondered at, considering that the most ancient egyptians, of whom we have any authentic accounts, lived after the subversion of their monarchy and destruction of their temples by the persians, who used every endeavour to annihilate their religion; first, by command of cambyses,2 and then of ochus.3 what they were before this calamity, we have no direct information; for herodotus is the earliest traveller, and he visited this country when in ruins. it is observable in all modern religions, that men are superstitious in proportion as they are ignorant, and that those who know le

nciples of religion are the most earnest and fervent in the practice of its exterior rites and ceremonies. we may suppose from analogy, that this was the case with the egyptians. the learned and rational merely respected and revered the sacred animals, whilst the vulgar worshipped and adored them. the greatest part of the former being, as is natural to suppose, destroyed by the persecution of the persians, this worship and adoration became general; different cities adopting different animals as their tutelar deities, in the same manner as the catholics now put themselves under the protection of different saints and martyrs. like 1 lib. xvii. 2 herodot. lib. iii. strabo, lib. xvii. 3 plutarch, de is. et osir. 32 on the worship them, too, in the fervency of their devotion for the imaginary a

the primary priapus was of the great generative principle of the universe. hence, in the allegories of the poets, this deity is said to be a son of bacchus and venus; that is, the result of the active and passive generative powers of nature. the story of his being the son of a grecian conqueror, and born at lampsacus, seems to be a corruption of this allegory. of all the nations of antiquity the persians were the most simple and direct in the worship of the creator. they were the puritans of the heathen world, and not only rejected all images of god or his agents, but also temples and altars, according to herodotus,1 whose authority i prefer to any other, because he had an opportunity of conversing with them before they had adopted any foreign superstitions. 2 as they worshipped the theri

s his temple, and the all-pervading element of fire his only symbol. the greeks appear originally to have held similar opinions; for they were long without statues;3 and pausanias speaks of a temple at sicyon, built by adrastus,4 who lived an age before the trojan war; which consisted of columns only, without wall or roof, like the celtic temples of our northern ancestors, or the pyr theia of the persians, which were circles of stones, in the centre of which was kindled the sacred fire,5 the symbol of the god. homer frequently speaks of places of worship consisting of an area and altar only (tenemoj bwmoj te, 1 lib. i. 2 hyde, anquetil, and other modern writers, have given us the operose superstitions of the present parsees for the simple theism of the ancient persians. 3 pausan. lib. vii

f the god. homer frequently speaks of places of worship consisting of an area and altar only (tenemoj bwmoj te, 1 lib. i. 2 hyde, anquetil, and other modern writers, have given us the operose superstitions of the present parsees for the simple theism of the ancient persians. 3 pausan. lib. vii. and ix. 4 lib. ii. 5 strab. lib. xv. 64 on the worship which were probably inclosures like these of the persians, with an altar in the centre. the temples dedicated to the creator bacchus, which the greek architects called hyp thral, seem to have been anciently of the same kind; whence probably came the title perikionion (surrounded with columns) attributed to that god in the orphic litanies.1 the remains of one of these are still extant at puzzuoli near naples, which the inhabitants call the temple

not properly parts of the temple, but apartments of the priests, places for victims and sacred utensils, and chapels dedicated to subordinate deities introduced by a more complicated and corrupt worship, and probably unknown to the founders of the original edifice.4 the portico, which runs parallel with these buildings5 inclosed the temenos, or area of sacred ground, which in the pyr thia of the persians was circular, but is here quadrangular, as in the celtic temple in zeeland, and the indian pagoda before described. in the centre was the holy of holies, the seat of the god, consisting of a circle of columns raised upon a basement, without roof or walls, in the middle of which was probably the sacred fire, or some other symbol of the deity.6 the square area in which it stood, was sunk be

s among those curious ruins existing at chilminar, in persia, which have been supposed to be those of the palace of persepolis, burnt by alexander; but for what reason, it is not easy to conjecture. they do not, certainly, answer to any ancient description extant of that celebrated palace; but, as far as we can judge of them in their present state, appear evidently to have been a temple.4 but the persians, as before observed, had no inclosed temples or statues, which they held in such abhorrence, that they tried every means possible to destroy those of the egyptians; thinking it unworthy of the majesty of the deity to have his all-pervading presence limited to the boundary of an edifice, or likened to an image of stone or metal. yet, among the ruins at chilminar, we not only find many stat

. 3 spencer de leg. ritual vet. hebr or. lib. iii. dissert. 5. 4 see le bruyn, voyage en perse, planche cxxiii. 5 see le bruyn and niebuhr. of priapus 87 egyptian temples now extant.1 the portals are also of the same form as those at thebes and phil; and, except the hieroglyphics which distinguish the latter, are finished and ornamented nearly in the same manner. unless, therefore, we suppose the persians to have been so inconsistent as to erect temples in direct contradiction to the first principles of their own religion, and decorate them with symbols and images, which they held to be impious and abominable, we cannot suppose them to be the authors of these buildings. neither can we suppose the parthians, or later persians, to have been the builders of them; for both the style of workman

WALLIS BUDGE E A LEGENDS OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS

l, any more than the tryphillians, whom he mentions at the same time with them, he does not inform us. nor can i learn that any other person, whether greek or barbarian, except himself, has ever yet been so fortunate as to meet with these imaginary countries [in sec. xxiv. plutarch goes on to say that the assyrians commemorate semiramis, the egyptians sesostris, the phrygians manis or masdis, the persians cyrus, and the macedonians alexander, yet these heroes are not regarded as gods by their peoples. the kings who have accepted the title of gods have afterwards had to suffer the reproach of vanity and presumption, and impiety and injustice [second explanation of the story] xxv. there is another and a better method which some employ in explaining this story. they assert that what is relate

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

pronounceable name we call jehovah ihvh. this name was used by the qabalistic rabbis to hide their secret tenets of the divine essence of the creator god. almost all the peoples of antiquity possessed a name for deity consisting of four letters, and many of them considered 4 to be a divine number, thus- in hebrew we find also ihih called eheie; and ahih called aheie. assyrian adad, egyptian amun, persians syre of sire, greek theos, latin deus, german gott, french dieu, turkish esar, tartar itga, arabian allh, allah, samaritan jabe, egyptian teut, taut, thoth. in sanchoniathon we find the deity called ievo. in clemens alexandrinus, the deity is called jaqu. attention should be paid to the sanskrit holy phrase, aspiration or prayer of four syllables- aum mani padme hum--literally, oh, the je

ristian, was built upon seven hills. the palatine, coelian, aventine, viminal, quirinal, esquiline, and the capitol. in latin times it was called urbs septicollis. some old authors speak of valentia as a secret name for rome. the bijou notes and queries, vol. xiv, p. 235, says that the 7 days of the week have all been used as sacred days. sunday by christians; monday by the greeks. tuesday by the persians. wednesday by the assyrians. thursday by the egyptians. friday by the turks. saturday by the jews. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott the number 7 was curiously related to h. p. blavatsky and the theosophical society. lucifer was first published in 1887, and 1887 is the sum of 17 hundred, 17 tens and 17 units. h. p. b. lived at 17 lansdowne road, an

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