Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
VIRGIN MARY

Return to Occult Library Index

0 0

66 binah: the third emanation on the tree of life. occultists identify binah with the great mother in all her forms. she is the womb of forthcoming, the source of all the great images and forms that manifest in the universe as archetypes. she is also the supreme female principal in the process of creation and, via the process of mythological correspondences, is associated with such deities as the virgin mary, rhea, isis, and demeter. chesed: the fourth emanation on the tree of life. occultists identify chesed as the ruler, but not creator, of the manifested universe. he is characterized as stable, wise, and merciful by contrast with his more dynamic opposite, geburah. chesed is associated with the gods zeus and jupiter. geburah: the fifth emanation on the tree of life. geburah is often ass

18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

(see suppl. they implore elias to make their fields fruitful, and keep the liail away from them^ olearius already had put it upon record, that the circassians on the caspian sacrificed a goat on ellas s clay, and stretched the skin on a pole with prayers* even the muhammadans, in praying that a thunderstorm may be averted, name the name of ilya^ now, the servian songs put by the side of elias the virgin mary; and it was she especially that in the mid. ages was invoked for rain. the chroniclers mention a rain-procession in the liege 1 gotman, a divine, a priest] conf. supra, pp. 88-9. 2 the eabbinical legend likewise assumes that elias will retiu-n and sluy the malignant sammael; eisenmenger 2, 696. 851. 3 klaproth's travels in the caucasus 2, 606. 601* erman's archiv flir russland 1841, 42

272) the bright, it is only another part of his history that is related here: orvandill must have set out on his travels again, and on this second adventure forfeited the toe which thorr set in the sky, though what he had to do with the god we are not clearly told. beyond a doubt, the name of the glittering star-group is referred to, when as. glosses render' jubar' by earendel, and a hymn to the virgin mary in cod. kxon" 7, 20 presents the following passage. eala earendel, engla beorhtast, ofer middangeard monnum sended, and s6i5fa?sta sunnan leoma> torlit ofer tunglas]?u tida gehwane of sylfuni l^e symle inlihtes! i.e, jubar, angelorum spleudidissime, super orbem terrarum hominibus misse, radie vere solis, supra stellas lucide, qui omni tempore ex te ipso luces! mary or christ is here ad

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK SPELLS

early decades of the nineteenth century and were said to offer protection against drowning. for this reason, hot cross buns were hung from the roofs of coastal churches where their remains can still be seen. the old ways did not die quickly, however, and so for centuries the two religions co-existed as people gradually transferred their allegiance from the earth mother, or mother goddess, to the virgin mary and the female saints. the persecution of witches but in medieval times, two largely political issues brought about the persecution of witches, especially women. the religious emphasis on the sin of eve and the belief in the inferiority of women had existed since the time of st paul, but with the rise of an organised male medical profession, women healers who had acted as herbalists an

an amplifier for your own inner radiance and self-confidence and will repel any hostility. my own favourite method is to wrap the crystals in white silk and take them to a sacred place of ancient power, such as a standing stone, an old stone circle or one of the ancient healing wells. these wells were formerly dedicated to the mother goddess but were christianised and rededicated to st bride, the virgin mary or other christian, often celtic, saint. go as early in the morning as possible and place the crystals on a flat surface, either on one of the stones or close to the water. sit near to the source of power, touching it with your two hands so that you create a circuit of energy parallel to that being absorbed by the crystals and so empower your own auric field (the area of psychic energy

ink your partner is at risk from temptation, add the empowered condiment to a salad and they will absorb the protection. a protective ritual with empowered salt* place the salt in a small ceramic dish on your altar and light a pure beeswax candle at the four main compass points around the edges of the altar. beeswax has a long tradition in magick: it was sacred to the mother goddess and later the virgin mary. demeter, goddess of the grain, was called queen bee and aphrodite's symbol at her hive-shaped shrine in eryx was a gold honeycomb. her high priestess was always called melissa, latin for bee* beginning at the north of your circle, light your elemental candles. at each quarter of the circle say: demeter, aphrodite, melissa, pure mother bee, charge with thy light this salt, to enfold my

the souls of the dead. according to the koran, the cherubim were created from michael's tears. he offers power to overcome any obstacles and challenges, and brings wisdom and illumination as to the right path. michael stands in the south and his colour is gold. gabriel archangel of the moon, the messenger archangel and the heavenly awakener, gabriel appears many times in the bible. he visited the virgin mary and her cousin elizabeth, mother of john the baptist, to tell them that they were to bear sons who would lead mankind to salvation. it was gabriel who parted the waters of the red sea so that the hebrews could escape from the pharaoh's soldiers. gabriel is usually pictured holding a sceptre or lily. to the followers of islam, gabriel is the spirit of truth who dictated the koran to moh

nd an early forerunner of both robin hood and st george. the mother goddess in her maiden aspect mated with the ascended sun god or, in popular folk tradition the green man, so that the conceived infant would be reborn as the new sun at the next winter solstice, thus ensuring the wheel of the year continued to turn. in the christian church, 25 march is the feast of the annunciation of the blessed virgin mary when gabriel told her she was with child. the energies of this festival are good for cleansing the seas and air of pollution, for new peace-making initiatives of all kinds, for beginning reforestation and regeneration projects, the reclamation of wildlife habitats and work to restore the indigenous trees and wildlife to an area. they will also support major attitude changes towards int

istian festival of christmas. the name alban arthuran means 'light of arthur, named after king arthur who in legend bore the title sun king. his round table represented the great solar wheel of the year. the common theme of the festival that spans many ages and cultures is that the mother goddess, under one of her many names, gives birth to the sun itself, the sun god. it is the same theme as the virgin mary giving birth to the son of god in a cave or stable at the darkest hour of the year. the virgin birth features in several cultures and traditionally a candle (or other flame) is left burning all night on this longest of nights, to persuade the newborn sun to rise again on christmas eve to light mary on her way. the feasting of christmas was another magical gesture to ensure there would

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

n night's tale of antiquity; it is the same today: there are very few englishmen who have spent any time in india who have not been approached with proposals of this character. similar conditions, curiously enough, existed in france; the "fils papa" was usually a hopeless rotter, and his wife often resorted to a famous monastery on the riviera, where was an exceptionally holy image of the blessed virgin mary, prayers unto whom removed sterility. but when m. combes turned out the monks, the image somehow lost it virtue. now get your bible and turn up luke viii, 2! when the sal volatile has worked, turn to john xiii 2,3 and ask a scholar what any greek of the period would have understood by the technical expressions there unambiguously employed. 1^ weh note: this is a reference to the school

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 1 2

o his opinion that the excellence of miss nichols' work effected a saving on press corrections almost or quite equal to the cost of her work."the photographs in this number of""the equinox" are by the" dover street studios 38 dover street, mayfair. amphora "blue cloth, gold design, 80 pp. price "2s. 6d. published by burns oates, 28 orchard st. w. this wonderful collection of hymns to the blessed virgin mary is the work (so it is said) of a leading london actress. father kent writes in "the tablet""among the many books which benevolent publishers are preparing as appropriate christmas presents we notice many new editions of favourite poetic classics. but few, we fancy, can be more appropriate for the purpose than a little volume of original verses, entitled 'amphora, which messrs. burns an

! lieut.-col. gormley writes:"the hymns ordinarily used in churches for devotional purposes are 'no doubt excellent in their way, but it can scarcely be said, in the case of many of them, that they are of much literary merit, and some of them indeed are little above the familiar nursery rhymes of our childhood; it is therefore somewhat of a relief and a pleasure to read the volume of hymns to the virgin mary which has just been published by messrs. burns and oats. these hymns to the virgin mary are in the best style, they are devotional in the highest degree, and to roman catholics, for whom devotion to the virgin mary forms so important part of their religious belief, these poems should indeed be welcome; personally i have found them just what i desired, and i have no doubt other catholic

tten with an engaging simplicity and fervour of feeling, and with a graceful, refined literary art that cannot but interest and attract many readers beyond the circles of such as must feel it religiously impossible not to admire them. the "daily telegraph" says:"in this slight volume we have the utterances of a devout anonymous roman catholic singer, in a number of songs or hymns addressed to the virgin mary. the author, who has evidently a decided gift for sacred verse and has mastered varied metres suitable to her high themes, divides her poems into four series of thirteen each thus providing a song for each week of the year. the songs are all of praise or prayer addressed to the virgin, and, through many have a touch of mysticism, most have a simplicity of expression and earnestness of

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 3

that they were fish and not flesh! annual raids were made on the seals after dark, usually in the autumn, and large numbers were captured. all, however, did not belong to the captors, for other persons of prominence were entitled to a share. the parish minister, according to martin "hath his choice of all the young seals, and that which he takes is called by the natives cullen-rory, that is, the virgin mary's seal. the steward of the island hath one paid to him, his officer hath another; and this by virtue of their offices" in the hebrides, as in orkney, the seal is regarded not as an animal of the ordinary brute creation, but as one endowed with great wisdom, and closely allied to man. one of the old beliefs is that seals are human beings under magic spells. the seal was credited with be

o his opinion that the excellence of miss nichols' work effected a saving on press corrections almost or quite equal to the cost of her work "the photographs in this number of "the equinox" are by the" dover street studios 38 dover street, mayfair. amphora "blue cloth, gold design, 80 pp. price "2s. 6d" published by burns& oates, 28 orchard st, w. this wonderful collection of hymns to the blessed virgin mary is the work (so it is said) of a leading london actress. father kent writes in "the tablet "among the many books which benevolent publishers are preparing as appropriate christmas presents we notice many new editions of favourite poetic classics. but few, we fancy, can be more appropriate for the purpose than a little volume of original verses, entitled 'amphora' which messrs. burns an

r" lieut.-col. gormley writes "the hymns ordinarily used in churches for devotional purposes are no doubt excellent in their way, but it can scarcely be said, in the case of many of them, that they are of much literary merit, and some of them indeed are little above the familiar nursery rhymes of our childhood; it is therefore somewhat of a relief and a pleasure to read the volume of hymns to the virgin mary which has just been published by messrs. burns and oats. these hymns to the virgin mary are in the best style, they are devotional in the highest degree, and to roman catholics, for whom devotion to the virgin mary forms so important a part of their religious belief, these poems should indeed be welcome; personally i have found them just what i desired, and i have no doubt other cathol

tten with an engaging simplicity and fervour of feeling, and with a graceful, refined literary art that cannot but interest and attract many readers beyond the circles of such as must feel it religiously impossible not to admire them" the "daily telegraph" says "in this slight volume we have the utterances of a devout anonymous roman catholic singer, in a number of songs or hymns addressed to the virgin mary. the author, who has evidently a decided gift for sacred verse and has mastered varied metres suitable to her high themes, divides her poems into four series of thirteen each- thus providing a song for each week of the year. the songs are all of praise or prayer addressed to the virgin, and, though many have a touch of mysticism, most have a simplicity of expression and earnestness of

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

f is in particular to be dreaded. of mystic phenomena we may notice the immense class of devotional apparitions. vishnu, christ, jehovah and other deities appear in response to long-continued and passionate love. see "bhagavad gita" chap. xi, the visions of many catholic saints, teresa, gertrude, francis and others, anna kingsford("clothed with the sun" part iii, idra rabba qadisha and so on. the virgin mary is a favourite with many; it is all one phenomenon. observe, though, that many such apparitions are not of the dhyana type at all; they are mostly mere hallucinations of the "astral plane" in section xiii. we have indicated the diagnostics. 69 methods of obtaining these states are to be found in any book on bhakta yoga- swami vivekananda's is the best i know of- and in loyola's "exerci

ALEX SANDERS THE KING OF THE WITCHES

until he woke up to fmd the white-haired man of his vision bending over him. he was a. doctor and he was stitching the cut. alex's 'growing belief in witchcraft, reinforced by 'each experience of clairvoyance, did not conflict with his regular attendance at sunday school. his gran had explained .that there was only one god but that he was known by many names. it was easy, too, to accept that the virgin mary was the moon goddess in disguise. alex's childhood heroes took on new aspects when gran re-told their stories. there was robin hood, previously just the leader of the merry men, but now revealed in his real role as a witch who used his powers to direct money where it was most needed, and to escape his pursuers. and joan of are, who was really the witch queen of france and unashamedly d

ALICE A BAILEY04 A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE

e, viewing them in their totality as cosmic force; it is their action upon the negative or mother aspect which, on cosmic levels, produces that self-conscious unity, a solar logos, functioning through his physical vehicle. from the christian standpoint, the greater builders are the holy spirit, or force overshadowing and fecundating matter, whilst the negative or lesser builders correspond to the virgin mary. the lunar pitris, and lesser builders from the systemic point of view find their fullest expression in the animal kingdom. when they, as the initiatory impulse, had produced animal man they had performed their prime function, and just as (on a smaller scale and in connection with only one of- 366- a treatise on cosmic fire copyright 1998 lucis trust the heavenly men) the moon is a dyi

ALICE A BAILEY08 A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC

latent and quiescent. nevertheless, it remains a fact that when the energies, latent at- 113- a treatise on white magic copyright 1998 lucis trust the base of the spine, are carried to the head and are brought (via the solar plexus, that clearing house of energy, and the medulla oblongata) to the centre between the eyebrows, then the personality, the matter aspect, reaches its apotheosis and the virgin mary in the individual sense, which is a finite parallel of an infinite reality is "carried up into heaven" there to sit by the side of her son, the christ, the soul. when the energies of the sacral centre, focussed hitherto on the work of physical creation and generation and therefore the source of physical sex life and interest, are sublimated, re-oriented and carried up to the throat cen

ALICE A BAILEY10 FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

of mercury or hermes was myrrha or maia; the mother of the siamese saviour sommona cadom was called maya maria, i.e `the great mary; the mother of adonis was myrrha; the mother of buddha was maya; now, all these names whether myrrha, maia or maria, are the same as mary, the name of the mother of the christian saviour. the month of may was sacred to these goddesses, so likewise is it sacred to the virgin mary at the present day. she was also called myrrha and maria, as well as mary."37 in the symbolic language of esotericism, a cave is regarded as the place of initiation. this has always been so, and a very interesting study of the initiatory process and of the new birth could be made if the many references in the ancient writings to these events which have transpired in caves were collecte

tion, was on a journey to her father, when lo, the birth of the messiah took place under a tree. one account says that `she had alighted at an inn when buddha was born "the mother of lao-tse, the virgin-born chinese sage, was away from home when her child was born. she stopped to rest under a tree, and there, like the virgin maya, gave birth to her son."49 we are told in the gospel story that the virgin mary, with her husband joseph and bearing within herself the christ child, went up from nazareth in galilee to bethlehem. sometimes, through a study of the significances of the names we meet in the bible and in tradition, we can throw much light on the episode itself and unveil some of its hidden meaning. in the study of the bible story, i have used only the bible itself and cruden's concor

adds stone to stone, or beam to beam. he is the symbol of the building-creative aspect of god the father. in these three people, joseph, the infant jesus, and mary, we have the- 44- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust divine triplicity symbolised and represented, god the father, god the son and god the holy spirit, or matter informed by deity, and therefore typified for us in the virgin mary. today the masses are on a journey. today the teaching of the path and of the way to god is engrossing the attention of the aspirants in the world. we are on the path of return to the individual and to the racial bethlehem. we are now on the point of entering the cave wherein the new birth can take place, and therefore one stage of life's long journey is nearly completed. this symbolis

fest. he is hidden and veiled by the form. mary is seen, not the christ. 2. as the wheel of life (the galilee experience) carries us from one lesson to another, we approach nearer and nearer to the indwelling reality and the hidden deity. but the christ child is still hidden in the womb of the form. 3. in due time, the personality physical, emotional and mental is fused into one living whole. the virgin mary is ready to give birth to her son. 4. the long journey draws to a close, and the hidden christ child is born at the first initiation. this truth dr. inge touches upon in these words "macarius, following methodius, teaches that the very idea of the incarnation includes the union of the logos with pious souls, in whom he is well-pleased. in each of them a christ is born. thus besides the

ter, as we have seen, is the symbol of the emotional nature, which nature when purified through initiation, becomes a peaceful limpid pool, capable of reflecting the divine nature in its purity. thus, in the form of a dove, the peace of god descended upon jesus. secondly, the essential dualities of existence are typified for us in the bible. the old testament stands for the natural lower man, the virgin mary aspect, carrying within itself the promise of the messiah, of him who shall come. the new testament stands for the spiritual man, for god made flesh, and for the birth of that which the material nature carried and veiled for so long. the old testament opens with the appearance of the raven at the time of the founding of the ancient world, as we can begin to know it. the new testament o

he kingdom of god, the fifth kingdom in nature. when considering the transfiguration it is necessary to realise that it was not simply a great initiation, in which god revealed himself in his radiance and glory to man, but that it had a definite relation to the medium of revelation the material physical nature, which we call the "mother aspect" we saw, when studying the birth initiation, that the virgin mary (even when recognising, as we do, the historicity of christ's existence) is the symbol of the form nature, of the material nature of god. she typifies in herself that which preserves the life of god, latent yet with infinite potentialities. christ revealed the love-nature in the father. through his person, he revealed the purpose and objective of the form-life of man. in this mountain

, of the material nature of god. she typifies in herself that which preserves the life of god, latent yet with infinite potentialities. christ revealed the love-nature in the father. through his person, he revealed the purpose and objective of the form-life of man. in this mountain experience we see the glorification of matter as it reveals and expresses the divine, indwelling christ. matter, the virgin mary, reveals god. form, the result of active material processes, must express divinity, and the revelation of this is god's gift to us at the transfiguration. christ was "very god of very god" but he was also "flesh of our flesh" and in the interplay and the fusion of the two, god stood revealed in all his magnetic and radiant glory. when we, as human beings, realise the divine purpose, an

means whereby the divine, indwelling christ can be revealed, we shall gain a new vision of physical living and a renewed incentive for the proper care and treatment of the physical body- 91- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust we shall cherish these bodies, through which we temporarily function, as the custodians of the divine revelation. we shall, each of us, regard them as the virgin mary regarded her body, as the repository of the hidden christ, and we shall look forward to that momentous day when we, too, shall stand upon the mount of transfiguration, revealing the glory of the lord through the medium of our bodies. browning sensed this and gave us the thought in the following well-known phrases "truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise from outward things, whate'e

om one state of being to another, through the agency of fire."6 it is appropriate in this connection to remember that the threefold lower man, with whom we have been dealing so often in these pages, is a dim reflection of deity itself. the physical body is related to the third aspect of divinity, the holy ghost aspect, and the truth of this can be realised if we study the christian concept of the virgin mary overshadowed by the holy ghost. the holy ghost is that aspect of divinity which is the active principle in matter, and of this the physical body is a correspondence. the emotional, sentient nature is a dim and distorted reflection of the love-nature of god which the cosmic christ, the second person in the trinity, is engaged in revealing; and this aspect (transmuted through the agency

ession of divinity possible in the natural world. it is deep within the heart of every man. the christ life brings him eventually to the point where he transits out of the human kingdom (when the work of normal evolution has done its part) and leads him into the kingdom of spirit. the recognition of the christ life within the form of man makes every human being, at some time, play the part of the virgin mary to that indwelling reality. it is the christ life which, at the new birth, comes to fuller expression, and from crisis to crisis leads on the developing son of god until he stands perfected, having achieved "the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ."24 we shall see later that upon the revelation of the risen christ must the new world religion take its stand. christ upon the

t together, and god's purpose and his method are seen as one. theologians have often forgotten this as they have struggled over the more technical aspects of christ's life. what he illumined in his function as the "light of the world" what he received of divine light and poured forth for the world, what he refracted, is often overlooked in the struggle to prove such doctrines as the fact that the virgin mary was an immaculate virgin, and christ was therefore born through the medium of an immaculate conception. today only a few of the younger generation care much about such points of doctrine. let us state that quite emphatically. but we do care that the love which he expressed should be demonstrated in the world and that the illumination he carried should "lighten our darkness" christ soun

seen in the east, with the line of the horizon passing through her centre, and this is one of the factors determining the doctrine of the virgin birth. another instance can here be given to illustrate the astronomical background of our christian festivals. there are two festivals kept in the roman catholic and the higher anglican churches, called the assumption of the virgin and the birth of the virgin mary. one is celebrated on august 15th and the other on september 8th. each year, the sun can be seen entering the sign virgo about the time of the assumption, and the entire constellation is enveloped and lost to sight in the radiant glory of the sun. about september 8th the constellation virgo can be seen slowly reappearing as it emerges from the rays of the sun. this is spoken of as the

s and nurtures the son and gives birth to him in bethlehem. in these words christ, utilising the symbolism of these two persons, relates them to each other, and practically says: son, recognise who is to give thee birth at bethlehem, the one who shelters and guards the christ life. to his mother, he says: recognise that in the developed personality there is latent the christ child. matter, or the virgin mary, is glorified through her son. therefore the words of christ have a definite reference to the third- 135- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust initiation, that of the transfiguration. thus in his first three words from the cross he refers to the first three initiations, and recalls to our minds the synthesis revealed in himself and the stages which we must cover if we a

ALICE A BAILEY15 THE DESTINY OF THE NATIONS

eir interest in human good and human welfare, the perseverance they show in their search for light and their longing and desire for a true peace, based on right human relations, implemented by goodwill. this "mind as it is in christ" can be seen in their revolt against materialistic religion and in the widespread effort to be seen in europe and elsewhere to return the land (mother-earth, the true virgin mary) to the people. it can be seen in the constant movement of people throughout the world from place to place, symbolised in the gospel story by the journey of mary with the infant jesus into egypt. then followed, as we are told in the new testament, a cycle of thirty years wherein all we know is that the infant jesus grew to manhood and could then take the second initiation, the baptism

ALICE A BAILEY16 GLAMOUR A WORLD PROBLEM

astral plane are not pure emotion and feeling, clothed in pure astral matter, for there is no such thing. they are the instinctual desires, evoked by the evolving substance of the physical plane and this, in its entirety and through the activity of the human family, is being redeemed and drawn upwards until some day we shall see the transfiguration of that substance and the "glorification of the virgin mary" the mother aspect in relation to divinity. they are also the descending thoughtforms which the developing human being is always creating and drawing downwards into manifestation, clothing them with the substance of desire. when the descending forms of thought (a reflection in the three worlds of that vast "cloud of knowable things" in process of perception, as patanjali calls it, and

ALICE A BAILEY18 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME III ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

e christ principle which is of paramount importance. virgo is, from certain angles, quite the oldest of all the signs, which is a statement i am quite unable to prove to you. in that first system, the faint symptoms (if i may use such a word) of the duality which is a proven fact in this system are to be found, and this truth is preserved for us in the words that "the holy spirit overshadowed the virgin mary" the life of the third divine aspect played then upon the ocean of quiescent matter and prepared that substance (over untold aeons) for its work in this solar system. it is in this system that the christ child, the expression of the divine consciousness and the result of the relationship of father-spirit and mother-matter, must he brought to the birth. another sign of the zodiac which

ALICE A BAILEY20 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME IV ESOTERIC HEALING

g of the average human being of today. its purpose is to guard health, to balance the bodily equilibrium in certain important aspects of the physical nature, and it symbolises the third aspect of intelligence and of substance impregnated with mind. it is in reality connected with the holy ghost, or the third divine aspect in manifestation "overshadowing (as the bible expresses it, the mother, the virgin mary. the parathyroids are symbolic of mary and joseph and the relation they hold to the overshadowing holy ghost. it will eventually be determined that there is a close physiological relation existing between the thyroid gland and the pineal gland, and between the parathyroids and the two lobes of the pituitary body, thus bringing into one related system the entire area of the throat and o

d or finally determined. this is a point of extreme importance. be not therefore misled by apparent moments of achievement. they are but prefaces to change, for such is the law of being. 7. the centre at the base of the spine. this centre is, above everything else, controlled and governed by the law of being, above referred to, and is established where spirit and matter meet and where matter, the virgin mary under the influence of the holy spirit, time energy of the etheric vehicle is translated "into heaven" there (as the christian phraseology puts it "to be seated beside her son in the house of the father" this centre is found at the very base of the spine, and supports all the other centres. it is relatively quiescent at this time, for it is only roused into full activity by an act of t

ces and their activities, via the christ and through their responsiveness to his work and imminent appearance. on the phrase "mother of the world" the various ways in which the phrase can be used can mean quite a number of differing things. it can mean: 1. the feminine aspect in manifestation, symbolised for us in many of the world religions as a virgin mother and in the christian religion as the virgin mary. it is that substance which enables deity to manifest. 2. nature itself, the mother of all forms. 3. the moon also, who is the symbol of the generative, creative life which gives birth to forms and is therefore the symbol of the form nature. 4. the concentration of the feminine force in nature in some individual in female form who is then called the "world mother" such an individual ha

eastern races have always held it, and from the western angle they are heathen and the heathen "in their blindness bow down to wood and stone" to quote one of your fundamentalist hymns. how curious it is to realise that, to the man from eastern countries, the religious people in the west do likewise, and can be seen on their knees before the christian altars bearing statues of the christ, of the virgin mary and of the apostles. the occultists of the world, through the theosophical societies and other occult bodies, so-called, have greatly damaged the presentation of the truth anent reincarnation through the unnecessary, unimportant, inaccurate and purely speculative details which they give out as truths anent the processes of death and the circumstances of man after death. these details a

ALICE A BAILEY22 DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE VOLUME II

her up our bodies within us' raising each into the light of the next one above, and is not this the meaning of culture, education, refinement, purification? is not that the personal work we should constantly be at, and is it not what is symbolised, in roman- 434- discipleship in the new age- volume ii copyright 1998 lucis trust catholic doctrine, by the assumption by the christ of the body of the virgin mary, his mother, into heaven" my reply to him is: in the above enquiry, my brother, you have asked nine questions, all bearing on the same subject. some of them would not have needed a reply had you had the time to study a treatise on cosmic fire, for in that book much of your question is answered. the difficulty in distinguishing between thought and emotion is due entirely to two things:

ALICE BAILEY THE LABOURS OF HERCULES

ee constellations connected with aries. first, there is cassiopeia, the enthroned queen, the symbol always of matter. it is most interesting to note how in the circle of the zodiac we come across three women. in connection with aries, the sign of commencement, we find cassiopeia, the dominant woman. woman and child and as we shall later see, mother-matter is the nurturer of the infant christ, the virgin mary gives birth to jesus. in pisces, at the close of the great round, we find andromeda, the chained woman. first the woman enthroned and dominant, then the woman caring for the infant, christ, and then the woman, representing matter that has been dominated and controlled. cassiopeia will be found seated on the arctic circle, close to [36] cepheus the king,or lawgiver, whom we shall meet l

in what way does taurus, the bull, become the bringer of illumination? we are told that in this sign the moon is exalted and venus is the ruler. the moon has always, from the standpoint of the esotericist, and among primitive agricultural peoples, been regarded as the form-building aspect. the moon is the symbol, therefore, of matter and is seen in many of our churches, closely connected with the virgin mary. the consummation of the work that is undertaken in taurus, and the result of the taurian influence, is the glorification of matter and subsequent illumination through its medium. all that at present prevents the glory, which is the soul, and the radiance which emanates from the god within the form, from shining forth in its full power, is the matter or form aspect. when that has been

nknown and all unrecognized gave unto you the needed love and power. you rescued that which needed you, and thus again the two are one. ponder anew upon the ways of life, reflecting on the ways of death. go rest, my son [115] the tibetan (djwhal khul) introduction it is said that, from some aspects, virgo is the oldest of the zodiacal signs. down through the ages, be it lilith or isis, eve or the virgin mary, all portray the mother of the world, but it is mary who at length bears the child in her arms. and it is in this sign that the christ consciousness is conceived and nurtured through the period of gestation until at last in pisces, the opposite sign, the world savior is born. as in leo, this is a cave experience "in the womb of time, and should be characterized by warmth, quietness, de

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

ne point fructifies the line- the virgin matrix of kosmos (the egg-shaped zero- and the immaculate mother gives birth to the form that combines all forms" prajapati is called the first procreating male, and "his mother's husband* this gives the key-note to all the later divine sons from immaculate mothers. it is greatly corroborated by the significant fact that anna (the name of the mother of the virgin mary) now represented by the roman catholic church as having given birth to her daughter in an immaculate way("mary conceived without sin, is derived from the chaldean ana, heaven, or astral light, anima mundi; whence anaitia, devi-durga, the wife of siva, is also called annapurna[[footnote(s* we find the same expression in egypt. mout signifies, for one thing "mother" and shows the charact

us. the lotus flower, represented as growing out of vishnu's navel- that god resting on the waters of space and his serpent of infinity- is the most graphic allegory ever made: the universe evolving from the central sun, the point, the ever-concealed germ. lakshmi, who is the[[footnote(s* in the christian religion gabriel, the archangel, holding in his hand a spray of water lilies, appears to the virgin mary in every picture of the annunciation. this spray typifying fire and water, or the idea of creation and generation, symbolizes precisely the same idea as the lotus in the hand of the bodhisat who announces to maha-maya, gautama's mother, the birth of the world's saviour, buddha. thus also, osiris and horus were represented by the egyptians constantly in association with the lotus-flower

ent, whoever they were. they must have been aware also of the priority of the egyptian esotericism, since they have adopted several such symbols that typify purely egyptian conceptions and beliefs- in their outward and inward meaning- and which are not to be found in the jewish canon. one of such is the water-lily in the hands of the archangel in the early representations of his appearance to the virgin mary; and these symbolical images are preserved to this day in the iconography of the greek and roman churches. thus water, fire, the cross, as well as the dove, the lamb, and other sacred animals, with all their combinations, yield esoterically an identical meaning, and must have been accepted as an improvement upon judaism pure and simple. for the lotus and water are among the oldest symb

hom tradition shows reigning at prayag (allahabad) ages before our era- had come from india, and brought with them the worship of their forefathers, of soma, and his son budha, which afterwards became that of the chaldeans. yet such adoration, apart from popular astrolatry and heliolatry, was in no sense idolatry. no more, at any rate, than the modern roman catholic symbolism which connects their virgin mary- the magna mater of the syrians and greeks- with the moon. of this worship, the most pious roman catholics feel quite proud[[vol. 1, page] 393 copies and originals. and loudly confess to it. in a memoire to the french academy, the marquis de mirville says "it is only natural that, as an unconscious prophecy, ammon-ra should be his mother's husband, since the magna mater of the christia

the world has seen, for these lunar phenomena and their humanly represented relationships, the incestuous included, are the very foundations of the christian trinity in unity. through ignorance of the symbolism, the simple representation of early time has become the most profound religious mystery in modern luniolatry. the roman church, without being in any wise ashamed of the proof, portrays the virgin mary arrayed with the sun, and the horned moon at her feet, holding the lunar infant in her arms- as child and consort of the mother moon. the mother, child, and adult male, are fundamental "in this way it can be proved that our christology is mummified mythology, and legendary lore, which have been palmed off upon us in the old testament and the new, as divine revelation uttered by the ver

niverse. the sun and moon, as male-female deities, fructify the earth, the microcosmical mother, and the latter conceives and brings forth, in her turn. with the christians "the first-born (primogenitus) is indeed generated, i.e, begotten "genitum, non factum" and positively conceived and brought forth "virgo pariet" explains the latin church. thus, she drags down the noble spiritual ideal of the virgin mary to the earth, and, making her "of the earth earthy" degrades that ideal to the lowest of the anthropomorphic goddesses of the rabble. truly, neith, isis, diana, etc, etc, were each of them "a demiurgical goddess, at once visible and invisible, having her place in heaven, and helping to the generation of species- the moon, in short. her occult aspects and powers are numberless, and, in

eological and cosmological powers in our universe (archaeol. de la vierge, pp. 116 and 119, and by the marquis de mirville. verily so, since pindar's hymns to minerva (p. 19 "who sits at the right hand of her father jupiter, and who is more powerful than all the other (angels or) gods" are likewise applied to the virgin. it is st. bernard, who, quoted by cornelius a lapide, is made to address the virgin mary in this wise "the sun-christ lives in thee and thou livest in him (sermon on the holy virgin. again the virgin is admitted to be the moon by the same unsophisticated holy man. being the lucina of the church, that is in childbirth, the verse of virgil "casta fove lucina, tuus jam regnat apollo- is applied to her. like the moon, the virgin is the queen of heaven" adds the innocent saint

use they are all the product of waters (mystically, of the akasic ocean, and of the third principle in nature. pitris and men on earth are the transformations (rebirths) of gods and demons (spirits) on a higher plane. water is, in another sense, the feminine principle. venus aphrodite is the personified sea, and the mother of the god of love, the generator of all the gods as much as the christian virgin mary is mare (the sea, the mother of the western god of love, mercy and charity. if the student of esoteric philosophy thinks deeply over the subject he is sure to find out all the suggestiveness of the term ambhamsi, in its manifold relations to the virgin in heaven, to the celestial virgin of the alchemists, and even to the "waters of grace" of the modern baptist[[vol. 1, page] 459 the pa

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

a coffee-table/catch-all, if you can! if it is not possible to have a regular altar specially made or adapted and kept for ritual use then you can get by using a coffee-table or similar. in this case keep your deity figures wherever convenient. on a table, shelf or sideboard. they should be respected by your roommate (s) in the same way that you would respect their, or anyone else's, crucifix or virgin mary figure, or whatever, should they have such. when you are able to do your rituals (presumably alone) all you need do is clear enough floor space anywhere convenient and set up your circle, altar, etc. afterwards you will have to clear everything away again. there are many full covens who meet regularly in one-room apartments. a little light furniture moving and a circle can be cast and

CASSANDRA EASON A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

early decades of the nineteenth century and were said to offer protection against drowning. for this reason, hot cross buns were hung from the roofs of coastal churches where their remains can still be seen. the old ways did not die quickly, however, and so for centuries the two religions co-existed as people gradually transferred their allegiance from the earth mother, or mother goddess, to the virgin mary and the female saints. the persecution of witches but in medieval times, two largely political issues brought about the persecution of witches, especially women. the religious emphasis on the sin of eve and the belief in the inferiority of women had existed since the time of st paul, but with the rise of an organised male medical profession, women healers who had acted as herbalists an

own inner radiance and self-confidence and will repel any hostility. seite 91 wicca01.txt my own favourite method is to wrap the crystals in white silk and take them to a sacred place of ancient power, such as a standing stone, an old stone circle or one of the ancient healing wells. these wells were formerly dedicated to the mother goddess but were christianised and rededicated to st bride, the virgin mary or other christian, often celtic, saint. go as early in the morning as possible and place the crystals on a flat surface, either on one of the stones or close to the water. sit near to the source of power, touching it with your two hands so that you create a circuit of energy parallel to that being absorbed by the crystals and so empower your own auric field (the area of psychic energy

t risk from temptation, add the empowered condiment to a salad and they will absorb the protection. a protective ritual with empowered salt seite 97 wicca01.txt* place the salt in a small ceramic dish on your altar and light a pure beeswax candle at the four main compass points around the edges of the altar. beeswax has a long tradition in magick: it was sacred to the mother goddess and later the virgin mary. demeter, goddess of the grain, was called queen bee and aphrodite's symbol at her hive-shaped shrine in eryx was a gold honeycomb. her high priestess was always called melissa, latin for bee* beginning at the north of your circle, light your elemental candles. at each quarter of the circle say: demeter, aphrodite, melissa, pure mother bee, charge with thy light this salt, to enfold my

the souls of the dead. according to the koran, the cherubim were created from michael's tears. he offers power to overcome any obstacles and challenges, and brings wisdom and illumination as to the right path. michael stands in the south and his colour is gold. gabriel archangel of the moon, the messenger archangel and the heavenly awakener, gabriel appears many times in the bible. he visited the virgin mary and her cousin elizabeth, mother of john the baptist, to tell them that they were to bear sons who would lead mankind to salvation. it was gabriel who parted the waters of the red sea so that the hebrews could escape from the pharaoh's soldiers. gabriel is usually pictured holding a sceptre or lily. to the followers of islam, gabriel is the spirit of truth who dictated the koran to moh

nd an early forerunner of both robin hood and st george. the mother goddess in her maiden aspect mated with the ascended sun god or, in popular folk tradition the green man, so that the conceived infant would be reborn as the new sun at the next winter solstice, thus ensuring the wheel of the year continued to turn. in the christian church, 25 march is the feast of the annunciation of the blessed virgin mary when gabriel told her she was with child. the energies of this festival are good for cleansing the seas and air of pollution, for new peace-making initiatives of all kinds, for beginning reforestation and regeneration projects, the reclamation of wildlife habitats and work to restore the indigenous trees and wildlife to an area. they will also support major attitude changes towards int

istian festival of christmas. the name alban arthuran means 'light of arthur, named after king arthur who in legend bore the title sun king. his round table represented the great solar wheel of the year. the common theme of the festival that spans many ages and cultures is that the mother goddess, under one of her many names, gives birth to the sun itself, the sun god. it is the same theme as the virgin mary giving birth to the son of god in a cave or stable at the darkest hour of the year. the virgin birth features in several cultures and traditionally a candle (or other flame) is left burning all night on this longest of nights, to persuade the newborn sun to rise again on christmas eve to light mary on her way. the feasting of christmas was another magical gesture to ensure there would

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

teacher to disciple and the their principle unifying form was the distinction of receiving "the initiation" which gave them the right to be known as "unknown superiors" or "superieurs inconnus" or s.i. as it is written"-mark stavish. there were printed editions of them in french, german and latin. james bonaventure hepburn published at rome his virga aurea "the heavenly golden rod of the blessed virgin mary in seventy-two praises" consists of a list of seventy two alphabets (actually seventy, plus latin and hebrew which are the two languages of the text of the plate. cabala, speculum artis et naturae, in alchymia- stephan michelspacher. 1617 first volume of fludd's utriusque cosmi historia 1618 theophilus schweighardt speculum sophicum rhodo-stauroticum. the 'mirror of wisdom' maier's ata

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

acles' recorded throughout religious legend have an extraterrestrial (fourth dimensional) origin. the sight witnessed by 70,000 catholics at fatima, portugal in 1917 sounds like many of the stories described in both the ancient texts and the modern world. the fatima 'miracle' followed a series of meetings between three children and some strange being, which, they said, sometimes manifested as the virgin mary. the being promised to produce a miracle to open the eyes of humanity, and those tens of thousands of people who turned up to witness it did, indeed, see a fantastic sight. but what was it? ufo researcher, jacque vallee, believed he knew when he wrote, in his 1976 book, the invisible college "not only was a flying disc or globe consistently involved, but its motion, its falling leaf tr

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

"anointed one, or "christos" to the greeks, when he had his willy bathed in menstrual blood. i hope you're not eating. as barbara walker points out in the woman's encyclopedia of myths and secrets, many traditions of the early gnostic christians identified the serpent with jesus. she says that some christians believed that the serpent was the father of jesus, having "overshadowed" the bed of the virgin mary and begotten the human form of the saviour. this mirrors the legends of merovee, founder of the merovingians, and alexander the great, both of whom were said to have been fathered by a serpent or sea creature. jewish serpent-worshippers, known as the naasians, said the serpent was the "messiah. the many faces of the serpent cult 169 writers who have misrepresented the edda and other ac

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

d manipulation.another mind control sect which emerged from christianity/judaism is thejehovahs witnesses, the worship of the hebrew angry god, jehovah, and one of theirleading founders was the paedophile charles taze russell, a high degree freemason.these religions were set up to control, to create conflict between people, and to divideand rule the masses. visions of biblical characters like the virgin mary which haveenhanced mainstream christian beliefs over the centuries have followed a similarpattern. we have no idea what the jesus team looked like, but people always see themas their classic artistic depiction. those who have seen visions which relate to the biblestories have had shrines built to them, but those who see visions which are not biblicalare condemned as working with the de

the steward or stewart. upon bruces death, the first child of this unison becamerobert ii of scotland. the stuart line had its first king.157a creation of the officially disbanded knights templar was the order of the garter,the premier order of chivalry, created by edward iii in 1348 and still headed by thebritish monarch. it is an elite front for the babylonian brotherhood and is dedicated tothe virgin mary- semiramis/ninkharsag. meetings of the order took place underedward in a special chamber at windsor castle around a table modelled on the one inking arthur legend. windsor castle is built on an ancient and very powerful sacredenergy vortex and this is where the satanist and reptilian, henry kissinger, wasknighted by the queen. she is knowingly working for the brotherhood agenda and the

said to protect the wearer against death by assassination and ambush and protectedwomen in childbirth. on dianas lead coffin during the funeral were lilies, the flower oflilith, another version of hecate and a symbol of the bloodline. the lilies were chosen byearl spencer, dianas brother. the lily was also sacred to astarte, another diana deity,and it was used to symbolise the impregnation of the virgin mary. the blessed virginjuno, ruler of august, was said to have conceived her saviour-son, mars, on a magic lily.the lily is symbolic of the reptilian bloodlines. in the year 656, the 10th council oftoledo officially made the day of junos legendary conception of mars into the450christian festival of the mother of god, or lady day, insisting that it commemoratedmarys miraculous conception of

DEMONIC BIBLE

ael to his knees before me. after invoking the 30 ayres, i recited the following statement, repeating each line three times: i have risen up waging war on the heavens, by stealth i have conquered the heavens, i sit upon the throne of all creation, as lord of heaven, and earth, and hell. i force all the angels to kneel and supplicate themselves before me. i crucify jesus upon his cross. i rape the virgin mary and make her my concubine. i mock the cabala saying, i am the yod he vau he, i am the divine tetragrammaton, i am yahweh, i am allah, i am the elohim. i mock the cabala as i sit upon the throne of all creation. proclaiming a new aeon this ritual, like the one before it, was not included in the first edition of the demonic bible. it is not intended that the practitioner of the demonic b

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

hetic observers would probably conclude that we worshipped a sheep, and the holy ghost would yield some spectacular interpretations. let us credit other people with using metaphors if we do not expect to be taken literally our-selves. the outer form of the ancient pagan faiths is no cruder than christianity in backward latin countries, where jesus christ is represented in topper and tails and the virgin mary in lace-edged pantaloons. the inner form of the ancient faiths can compare very favourably with the best of our modern metaphysicians. after all, they produced plato and plotinus. the human mind does not change, and what is true of ourselves is probably true of the pagans. the lamb of god which taketh away the sins of the world is only another version of the bull of mithra which does t

mind that the use of the tree of life is not merely an intellectual exercise; it is a creative art in the literal meaning of the words, and faculties have to be developed in the mind even as manual skill is acquired by sculptor or musician. 21. the yetziratic text specifically refers to binah as the sanctifying intelligence. sanctification conveys the idea of that which is holy and set apart. the virgin mary is held to be intimately associated with binah, the great mother; and from this attribution the mind is led on to the idea of that which brings forth the all but retains its virginity; in other words, whose creativeness does not involve it in the life of its creation, but which remains apart and behind as the basis of manifestation, the root-substance whence matter arises. for although

also the death principle; for the giver of life in form is also the giver of death, for form must die when its use is outworn. upon the planes of form, death and birth are the two sides of the same coin. 43. the mother aspect of binah finds expression in the title of marah, the sea, which is given her. it is a curious fact that venus-aphrodite is represented as being born of the sea-foam, and the virgin mary is called by catholics stella mans, star of the sea. the word marab, which is the root of mary, also means bitter, and the spiritual experience attributed to binah is the vision of sorrow. a vision which calls to ruind the picture of the virgin weeping at the foot of the cross, her heart pierced by seven swords. we also recall the teaching of the buddha that life is sorrow. the idea of

the three of cups is, therefore, at home in binah, for the two sets of symbols reinforce each other. the three of cups, which is aptly named abundance, represents the fertility of binah in her ceres aspect. 55. the three of swords, however, is called sorrow, and its symbol in the tarot pack is a heart pierced by three swords. out readers will recall the reference to the sword-pierced heart of the virgin mary in catholic symbolism, and mary equates with marab, bitter, the sea. ave, maria, stella maris! 56. swords are, of course, geburah cards, and as such represent the destructive aspect of binah as kali, the wife of siva, the hindu goddess of destruction. 57. pentacles are cards of earth, and as such are congemal to binah, form. the three of pentacles, therefore, is lord of material works

e psychic connection between the plant and the force, and as in all such traditional associations, once established, the link is easily recoverable by those who know how to make use of the constructive imagination. whether there is any intrinsic relationship between the nature of the plant and the nature of the force to which it is assigned, as in the case of the rose to venus and the lily to the virgin mary, such a relationship is speedily established by the worshippers of a cult and equally speedily recoverable by those who follow in their footsteps, even after a lapse of centuries. therefore for all practical purposes there is such a relationship, not only in relation to the plants assigned to a particular deity, but in relation to animals as well. 36. an attribution which has especial

DION FORTUNE PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE

nt of mars, the emotional, suggestible one into the sphere of luna. the influences of these spheres play upon them. now the occultist working under a proper system, knowing that he has got to meet these forces sooner or later, picks them up one by one voluntarily and by means of the appropriate rituals, and synthesises them within his own nature. he knows too that each aspect has its obverse. the virgin mary is reflected in lilith. the older faiths knew this, but popular christianity, which has no roots in tradition, has forgotten it. protestant christianity threw away its occult aspect at the reformation. all the pagan pantheons have gross aspects of divinities as well as etherial ones. we need to search the refuse-heap of history for the lost parts of our own tradition if our faith is to

hese matters. according to the qabalists, lilith was the first wife of adam, who used to visit him in his dreams while he was as yet alone in the garden of eden, and the lord god became so perturbed at these goings-on that he created eve as a counter- attraction. witches were the recipients of similar attentions from the devil. st. theresa of avila records that the godhead itself visited her. the virgin mary received the holy ghost. st. anthony was tempted by apparitions of beautiful female demons. there are many cases on record of whole nunneries being attacked by the devil, who visited their members. george moore, in his exceedingly interesting study of convent life, sister theresa, gives an account of an outbreak of "counterparts" among the younger nuns, in which they formed liaisons wi

DONALDTYSON MIRACLES

iracles is overwhelming in it number and variety. only a few brief examples may be cited here. those interested in the subject should consult the 19th century text a dictionary of miracles by the reverend e. cobham brewer, an excellent compendium of christian wonders that runs to almost six hundred pages of double-column fine print. in 1380 a merchant was transporting a small wooden statue of the virgin mary to antwerp. when he reached the town of schiedam the image made itself too heavy to be moved. all the townspeople flocked to see this marvel, and the conclusion was reached that the virgin wished to remain in schiedam. they induced the merchant to sell the statue, then set it up in the church of st. john the baptist. st. hugh, the abbot of cluny (1024-1109) met a leper on the road and

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

version was printed in paris in 1552. rabbi akiba was a great teacher who developed a rabbinical school at jaffu, and his mishnah became the foundation of the religious code. he was involved in the revolt of bar-cochba against hadrian in 132 c.e. and suffered martyrdom by being flayed alive. akita in 1969, akita, japan, was the site of one of the more prominent modern series of apparitions of the virgin mary. while praying, sister agnes sasagawa, a young postulate of the order of the handmaids of the eucharist, a roman catholic order community, received a locution, a clairaudient message, concerning how she should pray. she ascribed this voice to an angel. the content of the prayer, she later discovered, was the same as that given to the three children who had seen the virgin mary at fatim

he is mentioned in a personal conflict with the devil about the body of moses. he is called by gabriel, michael, your prince, meaning the prince of the jewish church. gabriel first appeared as an angel to give daniel an interpretation of a dream (daniel 8:16.27) but earned his lasting fame as the one to announce both the birth of john the baptist to zachariah and the coming birth of jesus to the virgin mary (luke 1:11.38. developing notions about angels in the intertestimental period (the centuries just prior to the christian era) as the jewish notion of angelic orders developed, michael and gabriel were named as two of the seven archangels. the alleged prophecy of enoch states, michael, one of the holy angels who, presiding over human virtue, commands the nations. the same volume notes t

ng the omens of death, in the form of certain animals or birds, which follow some families. the poltergeist, whose playful manifestations must certainly be included among apparitions is suggested as another classification of these as visual, auditory, and tactile, since poltergeist hauntings.or indeed hauntings of any kind.are not confined to apparitions touching any one sense. apparitions of the virgin mary one characteristic type of apparition is the appearance of the virgin mary, who is usually seen by young girls in catholic countries. such appearances involve messages for mankind as a whole, usually admonitions against sin and exhortations to repentance. the apparitions are not sought by the children and youths concerned, and often the messages are well beyond their intellectual capac

burslem, 1808. tweedale, violet. ghosts i have seen. london, 1920. tyrrell, g. n. m. apparitions. london, 1953. reissued in one volume with tyrrell s science& psychical phenomena. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1961. wickwar, j. w. the ghost world. london, n.d. wright, dudley. vampires& vampirism. london, 1914. reprinted as the book of vampires. new york: causeway, 1973. apparitions of the virgin mary within the larger consideration of apparition, a special place has been given to apparitions of one figure, the virgin mary, believed to be the mother of jesus whom christians worship as the christ. apparitions of the virgin play an important role in doctrinal development and devotional life of the roman catholic church, the largest religious organization in the world, and to a lesser

middle ages, but came under heavy attack from protestant leaders in the sixteenth century (many considered it idolatry) and from the eighteenth-century enlightenment that saw most supernaturalism as mere superstition. from the eighteenth century one can see documented an attempt to revive interest in marian devotion with the call for a definition of the immaculate conception (the belief that the virgin mary was born free of original sin) as official dogma (teachings. it also saw the publication of several massive works on mariology, especially the eminently successful glories of mary (1876) by alphonsus liguori, which became one of the most highly circulated books on mary in modern times. through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the role of mary in theology and her place in the dev

anie matthieu (age 15. the pair were tending some cattle when they saw her. she relayed to them a message of warning concerning the neglect of attendance at mass and the use of christ s name in a profane manner. the continued impiety was destined to lead to crop failures and then famine, which in fact plagued the region for the encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. apparitions of the virgin mary 73 next decade. mary appeared next to a spring that had dried up. several days later, when the villagers finally heard about the claimed apparition, they went out to the site and found that the spring was once again flowing. possibly the most famous of the modern apparitions occurred to young bernadette souberous, also in france, this time at the village of lourdes not far from the spa

explanations. however, mary appeared on the roof of a coptic (not a roman catholic) cathedral. while roman catholic scholars have investigated and written about the sightings, the fact that mary chose to appear in a muslim country in a non-roman catholic setting has kept this apparition from being integrated into the body of material considered relevant by western mariologists. apparitions of the virgin mary encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 74 the meaning of the apparitions for conservative roman catholics, the apparitions are a major building block of faith in god s activity in the world. they, in effect, prove the existence of the supernatural and allow participation in it while living in an otherwise secular world. many liberal roman catholics see in the apparitions a

hoof, lueken, and their peers is structurally like that from new age channelers, but its content could not be more different. sources: connor, edward. recent apparitions of our lady. fresno, calif: academy guild publishers, n.d. delaney, john j. a woman clothed with the sun: eight great appearances of our lady. garden city, n.y: hanover house, 1960. mcclure, kevin. the evidence for visions of the virgin mary. wellingborough, uk: aquarian press, 1983. sharkey, don. the woman shall conquer. kenosha, wis: franciscan marytown press, 1976. applewhite, jr, marshall herff (1931.1997) in march 1997, marshall applewhite gained some degree of infamy when 39 members of the small communal group he led committed suicide together. the group, known by various names including human individual metamorphosi

with proper ceremony and reverence. in the upper amazon, banisteriopsis caapi is mixed with another plant, psychotria viridis, and boiled for a full day and then stored until needed for a ceremony. it is believed that in using the drug, the individual is connected to the force that interconnects all things. at the beginning of the twentieth century, raimundo irineu serra had an apparition of the virgin mary as our lady of conceic.ao. during the vision, she began to teach him new doctrine. he was under the influence of ayahuasca at the time. from this experience he began to construct what became a new religion, santo daime, the religion of the rainforest. that religion grew slowly, but in the decades since world war ii (1939.45) has spread across brazil and in recent decades has spread to

a religion, no matter how nonconventional, on trial. sources: king, godfre ray [guy w. ballard. the i am discourses. chicago: st. germain press, 1935. the magic presence. chicago: st. germain press, 1935. unveiled mysteries. chicago: st. germain press, 1934. ballinspittle (moving statue) ballinspittle is a village in county cork, ireland, and the site of a reported paranormal moving statue of the virgin mary. in the same year, 1985, many statues of the virgin mary throughout ireland were reported to be moving. the first reports began in asdee, county kerry, on february 14, when several children claimed to have seen a statue of the madonna and child at the parish church of st. mary open its eyes and move its hands. other people confirmed that they had seen movements. in july two teenage gir

es of the virgin mary throughout ireland were reported to be moving. the first reports began in asdee, county kerry, on february 14, when several children claimed to have seen a statue of the madonna and child at the parish church of st. mary open its eyes and move its hands. other people confirmed that they had seen movements. in july two teenage girls reported seeing movement in a statue of the virgin mary at ballinspittle, in a grotto some 20 feet up the side of a hill. this was a marian year shrine, and the statue was illuminated by a halo of 11 electric lights. within days of the first reports, thousands of pilgrims visited ballinspittle every night, some traveling hundreds of miles. at regular intervals prayers were spoken on a public address system and the people joined in. each nig

the next state (the education of an agnostic. london: watts, 1911. banner of light (periodical) spiritualist weekly, an exponent of the spiritual philosophy of the twentieth century, founded in 1857 and published in boston and new york. it ceased publication after 1910. banneux banneux is a town in the french-speaking section of belgium that in 1935 became the site of a set of apparitions of the virgin mary. these apparitions are often tied to those that occurred at the end of 1934 at beauraing, another belgian community not far away. it appears that the claims of five children to be seeing the virgin at beauraing was the occasion for the banneux apparition. the apparitions occurred to mariette beco, the eleven-yearold daughter of a non-practicing catholic family. the first appearance occ

e seeing the virgin at beauraing was the occasion for the banneux apparition. the apparitions occurred to mariette beco, the eleven-yearold daughter of a non-practicing catholic family. the first appearance occurred on january 15, 1935, less than two weeks after the last sighting at beauraing. mariette was looking at the window when she saw a woman walking in the garden. she recognized her as the virgin mary, but mariette s mother, who could not see the figure, would not let her daughter out of the house. without mentioning why, on january 18, mariette went into the garden and began praying before the figure, who was enveloped in light. her father came out but could see nothing. then, with a friend who was still a practicing catholic, he followed his daughter to a nearby stream where the v

. although ascribed to pope honorius iii and supported by what is claimed as a papal bull authorizing ordained priests to invoke spirits and control demons, this grimoire is denounced by roman catholic writers as a forgery. the grimoire became popular among seventeenth-century occult magicians. bayside bayside, a section of the borough of queens, new york, had been the scene of apparitions of the virgin mary to veronica lueken (1923.1995, a housewife, from 1970 until her death. over the years she received numerous messages from the virgin through a process now generally termed channeling. lueken s experience with the virgin began in june of 1968, on the day that presidential candidate robert f. kennedy was assassinated. watching television in her home, she responded to the call for prayers

e for 1972. lueken died in 1995. the messages channeled by her supported a conservative roman catholicism, prophesied many bauer, georg encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 162 disasters, and decried the moral degeneration of modern life. since her death the vigils have been carried on by the group that gathered around her and believed in her visions and the revelation spoken by the virgin mary through her. the continued vigils are carried on by our lady of the roses shrine, box 52, bayside, ny 11361. an internet presence can be found at http//www.roses.org. believers in the apparitions in massachusetts organized these last days ministries (p.o. box 40, lowell, ma 49331-0240) and launched a weekly radio show, these last days, to promote the messages from bayside. other groups

th it, and now stand in defiance of them; and thus i exerted myself about them and notwithstanding their continued threats i slept very well the next night, and continued to do so, though they continued with me above three months, day and night. beauraing beauraing is a small town in the french-speaking part of belgium that in 1932 became the site of one of the important modern apparitions of the virgin mary. the sighting of the virgin was made by five children, all students in a catholic parochial school. on november 29, 1932, at the end of the school day, the childen.fernande (age 15, gilberte (13, and albert voisin (11, and andree (14, and gilberte (11)degeimbre .gathered in front of the convent where the girls attended classes and prepared to walk home. albert was the first to see some

the war, a chapel was erected and pilgrimages commenced. beaumont, john encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 164 the children went on to lead rather ordinary lives. the four girls married and albert served in world war ii and afterwards moved to the congo as a teacher. today hundreds of thousands travel to beauraing to visit the spot in the convent garden where the children saw the virgin mary. the apparitions at beauraing are frequently tied to those at banneux, belgium, a nearby town that experienced a set of apparitons just a few weeks after those at beauraing stopped. sources: amatora, sister mary. the queen s heart of god: the complete story of our lady of beauraing. new york: pageant press, 1957. beevers, john. the golden heart: the story of beauraing, chicago: henry r

heosophical publishing house, 1963. williams, gertrude m. priestess of the occult: madame blavatsky. new york: alfred a. knopf, 1946. yost, g. w. n. blavatsky s posthumous memoirs. boston: joseph m. wade, 1896. bleeding statues since world war ii (1939.1945, a relatively new phenomenon has begun to manifest in roman catholic and eastern orthodox churches. statues and pictures of jesus christ, the virgin mary, and the saints have appeared to bleed, and they bleed in significant ways, from the hands or the brow, places where christ was wounded during his last days on earth, or from the eyes, as if weeping. while such phenomena had been reported since antiquity, in the twentieth century such reports have taken on added significance in light of the attack on supernatural occurrences in the con

as increased decade by decade during the last half of the century. many traditional religionists bleeding statues encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 196 view such miraculous occurrences as the bleeding statues and pictures in much the same way as spiritualists view mediumistic phenomena, as a demonstration of a supernatural world. typical of such reports is the small statue of the virgin mary belonging to olga rodriguez, a woman in santiago, chile, that on november 14, 1992, began to bleed from its eyes. the people who began to stop by the rodriquez home alerted police to the phenomenon, and the local criminal investigation department took samples of the liquid for analysis. it turned out to be type-o blood. that same year similar reports came from lake ridge, virginia, whe

ed from its eyes. the people who began to stop by the rodriquez home alerted police to the phenomenon, and the local criminal investigation department took samples of the liquid for analysis. it turned out to be type-o blood. that same year similar reports came from lake ridge, virginia, where a priest, fr. james bruse of st. elizabeth ann seton church, reported cold weather caused statues of the virgin mary to weep tears of blood. not only had many parishoners seen the primary statue at st. elizabeth ann seton church weep blood, but various other statues that bruse had been standing near. a third incident occurred in san tomas, mexico. it was first seen by a young girl praying before the statue for the healing of her mother. returning home, she found her mother up and fixing supper, the f

ype of blood varies from incident to incident. many have been seen by large groups and have occurred in such a way that the more obvious means of faking the phenomena have been ruled out. nevertheless, few of the cases have been given what might be thought of as a thorough investigation. possibly the most spectacular modern case of a bleeding statue occurred in akita, japan, where a statue of the virgin mary wept, perspired, and bled from the right hand in what appeared to be a cross-shaped wound. this case passed a rigorous investigation by local scientists, the local diocesan authorities, and the vatican. the phenomena were associated with the stigmata and three apparitions of the virgin mary received by a deaf japanese roman catholic nun, sister agnes sasagawa. skeptics such as joe nick

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

prosopus means creator of the great world. macumba african-derived brazilian religions that have spirit possession as a central feature. madonna ministry the madonna ministry is a new thought metaphysical ministry founded by bishop arnold michael, formerly a minister with the united church of religious science. as a young man, in 1947 he had written a book, blessed among women, on the life of the virgin mary published in 1948. the writing of the book became a life-altering event and michael left his job managing a restaurant and studied for the religious science ministry. he served religious science churches for the next 35 years. in 1980, he returned to his consideration of the virgin mary and began writing a series of newsletters under the title madonna ministry that explored mary s role

without foundation. it transpired that these books were part of the diana vaughan conspiracy of gabriel jogand-pages( leo taxil, designed to embarrass the roman catholic church and freemasonry. sources: stein, gordon. encyclopedia of hoaxes. detroit: gale research, 1993. mariapovch povch was a village in northeastern hungary and the place of origin of one of the more notable weeping icons of the virgin mary revered among eastern rite roman catholic christians. the icon was prepared by stefan papp, the brother of the pastor of the local parish church. originally, the icon was intended for display in the local parish church. the picture of the virgin was shown holding the infant jesus, who in turn held a threepetaled lotus in his hand. the icon was seen to weep for the first time on novembe

ing icon of mariapovch. http//www.carpathorusyn. org. april 14, 2000. marie of agreda (or maria de jesus (1602.1665) a spanish nun, maria fernandez coronel, who founded and was abbess of the franciscan recollects at agreda. she published a work entitled la mystica ciudad de dios (the mystic city of god, a miracle of the all-powerful, the abyss of grace: divine history of the life of the most holy virgin mary, mother of god, our queen and mistress, manifested in these last times by the holy virgin to the sister marie of jesus, abbess of the convent of the immaculate conception of the town of agreda, and written by that same sister by order of her superiors and confessors. this work, which was condemned by the sorbonne, described many strange and miraculous happenings said to have befallen t

gin mary, mother of god, our queen and mistress, manifested in these last times by the holy virgin to the sister marie of jesus, abbess of the convent of the immaculate conception of the town of agreda, and written by that same sister by order of her superiors and confessors. this work, which was condemned by the sorbonne, described many strange and miraculous happenings said to have befallen the virgin mary from her birth on, including a visit to heaven in her early years, when she was given a guard of 900 angels. these revelations appear to have come out of her own spiritual raptures, but were full of inaccuracies. she was said to have lived a pious life in spite of the condemnation of her writings. marion, frederick (1892) stage name of josef kraus, famous european performer of stage te

ation in the west is frequently identified with contemplation of a religious symbol or pious story. that is, the consciousness remains awake and alert as in zen, but also shut off from the outside world in total concentration upon a predetermined thought. roman catholics, for example, have a number of meditative practices built around contemplation of particular episodes in the life of jesus, the virgin mary, or the saints, while protestants have extolled the value of contemplating verses of scripture. eastern meditation traditions are numerous and complex. in hinduism, for example, meditation was usually taught by a guru only to a properly qualified pupil who had already followed a pathway of sadhana, or spiritual discipline that ensured purification at all levels. the various yoga system

and daybreak (journal) spiritualist weekly, started in 1869 by james burns, originally published under the title, medium, later absorbing the daybreak, a provincial paper, founded in 1867. for years it had the largest circulation of any weekly on spiritualism. it was published until burns died in 1895. medjugorje name of a village in yugoslavia that has been the site of claimed apparitions of the virgin mary. the case follows a pat- the medium and daybreak encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1016 tern seen also at lourdes, la salette, and fatima, in which teenage visionaries state that the virgin has given them secrets concerning civilization and religion. it is the latest of a series of prominent cases of the apparition of the virgin that began in the early nineteenth centu

girls, marija pavlovic (16, vicka ivankovic (16, mirjana dragicevic (16, and ivanka ivankovic (15, and two boys, ivan dragicevic (16) and jakov colo (10. on the feast of st. john, june 24, 1981, ivanka, marija, and mirjana went for a walk to the hill of crnica. ivanka suddenly exclaimed there s our lady! mirjana felt unable to look, but ivanka was convinced that she had seen an apparition of the virgin mary. the girls returned home, and a few hours later set out again to help a farmer with his sheep. they left a message for their friends to follow them. the apparition again appeared, and was also seen by some of the other children, who had met up with ivanka and mirjana. the apparition was a beautiful smiling mother with child, wearing a starry crown and floating above the ground. the fol

n was a beautiful smiling mother with child, wearing a starry crown and floating above the ground. the following day, four of the teenagers returned to the same place, followed by friends, and this time, jakov colo and marija pavlovic saw the apparition. similar encounters took place on succeeding days, when the virgin spoke to the children in excellent croatian. she said that she was the blessed virgin mary, sent from god with a gospel message. asked why the message should come through such ordinary children, she replied that it was precisely because they were ordinary and average, neither the best nor worst, that they had been chosen. thereafter, the children assembled on the hill each day to witness the apparition. when news of the apparition reached the church, the parish priest was te

nts surrounding the apparitions. sources: jones, e. michael. medjugorje: the untold story. south bend, ind: fidelity press, 1988. kraljevic, svetozar. apparitions of our lady of medjugorje (1981.1983. chicago: franciscan herald press, 1984. laurentin, rene, and henri joyeux. scientific& medical studies on the apparitions at medjugorje. dublin: veritas, 1987. laurentin, rene, and l. rupcic. is the virgin mary appearing at medjugorje? washington, d.c: word among us press, 1984. laurentin, rene, l. rupcic, and rene lejeune. messages and teachings of mary at medjugorje. milford, ohio: the riehle foundation, 1988. o carroll, michael. medjugorje: facts, documents, theology. dublin: veritas, 1986. pelletier, joseph a. the queen of peace visits medjugorje. worchester, mass: assumption, 1985. sevri

one hundred years of spiritualism. london: spiritualist association of great britain, 1972. thurston, herbert, s. j. the physical phenomena of mysticism. london: burns& oates, 1952. reprint, chicago: henry regnery, 1953. west, donald j. eleven lourdes miracles. london: duckworth, 1957. miraculous medal at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a young nun was privy to several apparitions of the virgin mary. in the second one she was told to create a medal, the use of which has since become one of the most popular among the many approved practices available to members of the roman catholic church. the story of the miraculous medal begins with the arrival of catherine laboure (1806.1876) at the convent of the sisters of charity of st. vincent de paul in paris, france, in 1830. just miracul

eb: nde, near death experiences. http/ www.spiritweb.org/spirit/nde.html. april 10, 2000. wilson, ian. the after death experience. london: sidgwick& jackson, 1987. zaleski, carol g. otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experiences in medieval and modern times. new york: oxford university press, 1987. necedah necedah, wisconsin, was the site for almost 30 years of regular apparitions of the virgin mary to mary anne van hoof (1909.1984. the apparitions began on april 7, 1950, and attracted thousands to the small town in central wisconsin for what became one of the most controversial incidents in marian devotional history. van hoof initially saw the virgin on november 12, 1949, the one-year anniversary of the last of a set of apparitions that had taken place in lipa, philippines. then

arized in the 1960s for witchcraft as an older paganism displaced by christianity. old scratch one of the appellations given to the devil. it is supposed to have been derived from skrati, an old teutonic faun or satyr, a horned half-man and half-goat (see also nick; splitfoot) oliveto citra oliveto citra, a town in italy south of naples, was the site in the 1980s of a series of apparitions of the virgin mary, unusual for the number of people who reported sightings. they began on may 24, 1985, the feast day of saint macarius, the patron saint of oliveto citra. in the evening, as the townspeople gathered for the celebration, some dozen boys ages eight to ten were playing at a small square just off the piazza garibaldi, where the main celebration took place. suddenly, behind the iron gate tha

ng for the billet in hand. by this manner the medium is always one billet ahead. after the session, the billets are collected and become part of a file on those persons who are regular attendees at the medium s public events. sources: keene, lamar. psychic mafia. new york: st. martin s press, 1976. pellevoisen in 1876, pellevoisen, a town in central france, became the site of an apparition of the virgin mary and an accompanying spectacular healing of constance estelle faguette. faguette had been ill for several years. she was wasting away with tuberculosis (at the time an incurable disease) and related complications and had finally reached a point that she could not retain any food. she was given the last rites and a grave was being prepared. she had been the sole means of support for her

off the head of anyone who had it about his person. pontica according to ancient belief, this was a blue stone with red stars or drops and lines like blood. it compelled the devil to answer questions, and also put him to flight. pontmain pontmain, a town not far from the border of britanny and normandy, was, in the year 1871, the scene of one of the more important of the modern apparitions of the virgin mary. early on the evening of january 17, members of the barbadette family were at work in their barn when eugene (age 12) went to the door and looked at the starry sky. he noticed something unusual, a blank patch of sky over the house opposite theirs. then within the patch, he saw stars appear in the shape of a triangle. within the stars appeared a beautiful young woman. an expression of s

stainton moses admitted the possibility of reincarnation as another chance for souls that had sunk so low as practically to lose identity, and in the case of high spirits who descend with a mission. the opposition to kardec s philosophy in england was not universal; he had some followers. theosophist anna kingsford translated many of his books. she believed herself to be the reincarnation of the virgin mary, while her follower edward maitland believed that he had been st. john the divine. reincarnation and spiritualism outside france, spiritualist experience offered little to support the theory of reincarnation. john king, the famous control of the medium eusapia palladino, claimed to have been palladino s father in a previous existence. john king claimed manifestation through many differ

opedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. sandwich, the earl of (edward george henry. 1343 sangha newsletter former quarterly publication devoted to the mysticism of various tibetan buddhist teachers, primarily chogyam trungpa. it was issued by trungpa s organization, vajradhatu, headquartered in boulder, colorado. santa maria santa maria, california, is the site of a set of apparitions of the virgin mary to barbara matthias that began on march 24, 1990. santa maria, a town on california s central coast, had been the site since 1970 of several active charismatic prayer groups. within the groups, charismatic gifts, especially spiritual healing and prophecy, had been common. several members of the groups periodically received locutions, direct communications via telepathy, from jesus. in

ally, a prayer group centered on the medjugorje events would arise. in 1987, a young couple, charlie and carol nole, attended a holy spirit seminar, a class to introduce the idea of the range of charismatic spiritual gifts (as mentioned in the bible in 1 corinthians 12) to new members of the charismatic prayer groups. the following year, on march 24, 1988, carol began receiving locutions from the virgin mary. she was subsequently told to place a cross on a hill north of santa maria and given instructions as to its size and exact location. the project to place a cross on the hill was tied to the message of peace from the visionaries in medjugorje and santa maria was designated a city of peace. in september the prayer group that the noles attended was finally informed of the messages that ca

drug is made from boiling the vine banisteriopsis caapi in water along with various other plants. the resultant mixture contains several psychedelic substances that produce a unique ecstatic experience that has been compared to that produced by peyote. in the case of maestre irineu, as he is called by those affiliated with the movement, his use of ayahuasca was accompanied by an apparition of the virgin mary in which she began to expound the doctrine of what would become the santo daime religion. mary appeared as our lady of conceic.ao and opened the way for viewing christian teachings through the new experience. soon after his initial experience maestre irineu received the text of new songs that now comprise a hymnal for the movement. he also received the movements to three dances, each w

to all the colors of the rainbow. the bottom was strewn with red arsenic; on it was the basin full of fire, and from it rose flame without smell or smoke. two stone reservoirs were beside it, one containing rain, the other wind. this description is probably a symbolic one. secrets of fatima during 1917, three children in the town of fatima, portugal, claimed to have witnessed an apparition of the virgin mary some six times between may 13 an october 13. the attention of the public and the roman catholic church was captured by the phenomenon in the sky over fatima on the day of the last apparition, but as devotion to mary as advocated at fatima spread, a second element of the apparitions emerged to also claim widespread attention. during the july 13 apparition, the virgin shared information

k church, but magic was also common among them. many ostiaks carried a kind of fetish they called schaitan. larger images of this kind were part of the furnishings of an ostiak lodge, but they were attired in seven pearlembroidered garments and suspended from the neck by a string of silver coins. in a strange sort of dualism they were placed in many of the huts cheek by jowl with the image of the virgin mary, and at mealtimes their lips were smeared with the blood of raw game or fish. the mongols, who inhabited the more southern parts of the vast expense of siberia, were also ancient practitioners of magic and relied greatly on divination. to prognosticate the weather they employed a stone endowed with magic virtues, called yadeh-tash, which was suspended over or laid in a basin of water w

persecution of the huguenots in france. from the dawn of printing onward, unnatural events and prodigies of nature became the subject of broadside balladsheets and chapbook pamphlets, the street literature of poor people. monstrous births and other signs and wonders were made the occasion for moralizing about the sins of the day and predicted divine judgment. even in modern times, visions of the virgin mary are often considered signs of divine wrath at a sinful world (see also fatima; garabandal) sources: eniatos. mirabilis annus; or, the year of prodigies and wonders; being a collection of several signs that have been seen in the heavens, in the earth, and in the waters, together with many remarkable accidents and judgments. within the space of one year last past. london, 1661. grey, e

EXTRAORDINARY ENCOUNTERS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND OTHERWORLDY BEINGS

supposed to have supplanted in the imaginations of the superstitious and impressionable, according to any number of skeptical commentators were noted on occasion. at least one recent book from a reputable publisher janet bord s fairies: real encounters with little people (1997) argued that such things are a genuine aspect of a universe so complex that we cannot begin to understand it. the blessed virgin mary appeared, as usual, all over the world, as did other sorts of divine entities. the world, of course, goes on with its business as if none of this were true, taking serious (as opposed to tabloid) note only when belief in otherworldly beings goes horrendously wrong and thirty-nine cult members commit suicide while awaiting the arrival of a spaceship following a comet. the march 1997 mas

ed further reading brodu, jean-louis, 1995. magonia: a re-evaluation. in steve moore, ed. fortean studies: volume 2, 198 215. london: john brown publishing. drake, w. r, 1964. spacemen in the middle ages. flying saucer review10, 3 (may/june: 11 13. vallee, jacques, 1969. passport to magonia: from folklore to flying saucers. chicago: henry regnery company. marian apparitions visions of the blessed virgin mary (bvm) have been reported since at least the third century of the christian era. the first for which there is anything approximating detailed knowledge dates back to 1061 when the bvm provided a vision of christ s residence in nazareth and directed the witness, the lady of the manor in walsingham, norfolk, to see that a precise copy was constructed on the spot. a few visions are well kn

f an h o u r. when she and her friend ma ry mcloughlin we re on their way back to the p r i e s t s house, her friend re m a rked on the figu res. she ran off to notify re l a t i ves. me a nwhile, beirne watched the scene care f u l l y, later p roviding this description to inve s t i g a t o r s: i beheld. not only the three figures, but an altar further on the left of the figure of the blessed virgin mary, and to the left of the bishop and above the altar a lamb about the size of that which is five weeks old. behind the lamb appeared the cross; it was a bit away from the lamb, while the latter stood in front from it, and not resting on the wood of the cross. around the lamb a number of gold-like stars appeared in the form of a halo. this altar was placed right under the window of the ga

sted in a wide range of anomalous phenomena, treated bvm and comparable religious miracles as parapsychological phenomena. further reading dash, mike, 1997. b o rd e rl a n d s. london: he i n e m a n n. delaney, john j, ed, 1960. a woman clothed with the sun: eight great appearances of our lady in modern times. garden city, ny: hanover house. mcclure, kevin, 1983. the evidence for visions of the virgin mary. wellingborough, northamptonshire, england: aquarian press. nickell, joe, with john f. fischer, 1988. secrets of the supernatural: investigating the world s occult mys- teries. buffalo, ny: prometheus books. rogo, d. scott, 1982. miracles: a parascientific in- quiry into wondrous phenomena. new york: dial press. van meter, david, 1999. digest of marian apparitions and catholic apocalyp

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM BY MAX HEINDEL 2

ffairs and aiming to advance them by industry and statecraft, and a priest, head of the priestcraft, exercising a spiritual authority, in such a manner as they considered for the eternal good of their charges. the statecraft employed by the sons of cain holds up the male ideal, hiram abiff, the master craftsman, the son of fire, while the sons of seth as priestcraft uphold the female ideal in the virgin mary, the lady of the sea. thus fire and water, male and female, church and state, are opposed to each other, with the inevitable result that a great war has been waged ever since the separation, that sin, sorrow and death are rampant, and that humanity is praying for the day of redemption, when the two streams shall be united in the kingdom of heaven where there is neither marrying nor giv

nce there was enmity between cain, the son of fire, and abel, the son of water. so cain slew abel and abel was replaced by seth. in time and through generations, the sons of cain became the craftsmen of the world, skilled in the use of fire and metal. their ideal was male, hiram abiff, the master workman. the sons of seth, on the other hand, became the churchmen, upholding the feminine ideal, the virgin mary, and ruling their people by the magic water placed at their temple doors. various attempts have been made to unite the two streams of humanity and emancipate them from their progenitors, jehovah and the lucifer spirits. with this end in view the symbolical temple was built according to the instruction of solomon, the son of seth and the molten sea was cast by hiram abiff, the son of ca

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM BY MAX HEINDEL

g the male ideal, which is diametrically opposite to that of the hierarchy which works in the plastic element water. in the present day temples of the latter order, magic water stands at the door, and all who enter are required to apply this lethal liquid to the point in the forehead where the spirit resides; their reason is drowned in dictums and dogmas, and the female ideal is worshipped in the virgin mary. faith is the prime factor in their salvation, the attitude of unquestioning childlike obedience being cultivated. it is different in the temple of the other order; when the candidate enters there "poor "naked" and "blind" he is asked at once what he is seeking, and when he answers "light" it is the duty of the master to give what he asks and make him a phree messen--a child of light

nd superhuman rulers- lemurian epoch atlantean& aryan epochs new galilee- humanity was double-sexed temporal powers abolition of sex malefemale\ finding the word each being a/ king initiates\ the word becomes complete phree messen [children of light] flesh creative unit initiation by fire [light- melchisedec: male ideal christ: king& priest hiram abiff king& priest just& holy- just& holy received virgin mary baptism of spirit sacrifice female ideal- divine ruler priests--brahmins--levites divine ruler over a over human initiation by water [baptism] purged humanity called brotherhood/ abraham's seed dwelling typified by/ in the new jer-u-salem abraham ecclesiastical powers which means melchisedec is there shall be peace called king of division into races--nations- salem [peace] sects and pe

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

can take form and propagates itself. binah is often called the heavenly mother or holy spirit. her letter is h (heh, the numerical value of which is 5. binah possesses 50 gates, which is symbolical of the heh multiplied by the od; her symbol is the dove; her dimension is depth, whilst kether's is length (compare the lingam and yoni in hindu mythology; and her colour is sky blue, the colour of the virgin mary. from the union between kether and binah emanates 'hokmah (3) hmkc 'hokmah, wisdom. the third sephirah is the son or logos and the firstborn. it represents abstract ideas, the fruit of the gi am h forming in the mind. in the qabalah it is often called gthe only begotten son h. gin the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god h 17 here we have presented to

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

y homage to the male emblem of generation, thereby hoping to be honored as a mai or mary. on the wall of the temple at luxor are a series of sculptures "in which the miraculous annunciation, conception, birth, and adoration of amunoph iii, the son of the virgin queen mautmes, is represented in a manner similar to what is described in st. luke's gospel (ch. 1 and 2) of jesus christ, the son of the virgin mary, and which is found also in the gospel of st. matthew (ch. 1) as an addition not met with in the earliest manuscripts"[130] which fact has caused sharpe, from whom the above is quoted, to suggest that both accounts may have been of egyptian origin [130] barlow, symbolism, p. 127. the titles "lamb "anointed" etc, which were applied to christ, all appear attached to former in- carnations

isturbed, this fact of itself would seem to indicate that the "pagan abominations" against which these pious devotees of a "spiritual religion" thundered their denunciations, included only the female emblems. the fact must be borne in mind that the western church, which was rapidly usurping the ecclesiastical authority of britain and ireland, had not itself at this time adopted the worship of the virgin mary. a set of iconoclastic monks whom the christian world is pleased to designate as st. patrick, and who probably early in the fifth century of our era amused themselves by chiseling from the irish monuments many of the symbols of the female power, removed also the figures of serpents which had for ages appeared in connection with the emblems of woman, and by this act won the plaudits of

the shrines of this deity, although at the time moore wrote, terputty was in the possession of the english who made a profit of l15,000 a year from the temple. on the brechin tower in ireland are two arches one within the other in relief. at the top of the arch is a crucifix, and about midway from top to bottom on either side are two figures which, according to romanist christians, represent the virgin mary and st. john. at the bottom of the outer arch are two couchant beasts, the one an elephant and the other a bull. the figure on the cross has a parthian coronet. the appearance of a crucifix on the towers of britain and ireland has in the past led many writers to ascribe to these singular structures a christian origin. to the critical observer, however, the first question which presents

GILBERT R A CHAOS OUT OF ORDER THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SWEDENBORGIAN RITE

grabianka followed (after a visit to the swedenborgians in london) and in 1786 they founded the societe des illumines d avignon. precisely what this band of visionaries believed and taught is unclear; their doctrines have been described as a blend of swedenborgianism and roman catholicism, salted with occultism. to the cold intellectualism of the swedish visionary was added the veneration of the virgin mary and recital of the athanasian creed; while individual members studied renaiss-ance alchemy, the theurgy of alexandria, hermetic authors, the philosopher s stone, the divine science of numbers, and the mystical interpretation of dreams4[4. even less is known of the rituals they practised, but when two english swedenborgians, william bryan and john wright, visited the society in 1789, th

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

her of the living, shining mother and the holy spirit. sophia is seen as the counterpart of the logos and cannot work without. it is hence suggested in esoteric gnostic literature that it was the combined power of jesus and mary madgadene who transmitted the mysteries, not jesus alone. the sophia tradition has survived hidden under the veil of christian piety, it is still found in the cult of the virgin mary and is most powerful in the russian orthodox traditions. it is a tradition of great age and some beauty that personifies the power of the holy spirit as distinctly female. for example, in proverbs particularly we have sophia wandering the street begging men to love her. while in the following quotes we may even begin to think that sophia or wisdom is separate, yet in reality, sophia is

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

le now shunned with horror, as formerly they had thronged to those processions. veiled under the biblical names of cain, ehas, enoch, antichrist, herodias, there come into view the same old myths about moon-spots, giants' buildings, a god of thunder and of storm, the preface. xxxvll gracious (holde) night-dame and the buruing of the world. and what arrests our attention still more is, that to the virgin mary we apply a whole host of charming legends about holda and frouwa, uorns and valkyrs, as the romans did those about venus, juno and the parcae; nay, in the fairy-tale, dame holle and mary can usurp the place of gray-hatted wuotan. what a tender fragrance breathes in those tales of mary, and what has any other poetry to put by the side of them? to the kindly heathen traits is superadded

ia.res along (p. 632. percuna tete (p. 173) washes her son the thunder-god in a bath: this is the bavarian 'and with her ley (p. 641. in austria they tell (ziska pp. 14 16, of the devil's?-anez= ver anel, how she felt dull in hell, and came for a change to the highlands (up. austria, where she got her son to build her a castle near the danube, imagining the people would worship her as much as the virgin mary; but as no one wanted her and the people laughed at her, she was enraged, and threw a huge piece of rock with a part of her castle into the danube, at the spot now called wirhel and strudel, and the ruins of her house are still named the devil's tower; conf. p. 592 on whirlpools. i suppose no one can doubt that all these notions date from heathen times (see suppl. private sacrifices, i

GRIMM TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 2 1883 COMPLETE

a little girl saw a copper pot standing on three legs, quite new and swarmingfull of horsebeetles (roskafer. she told her parents, who saw at once that the beetles were a treasure, and hastened with her to the hill, but found neither pot nor beetles any more (ibid. 8, 305. here beetles appear as holy animals guarding gold, and themselves golden. in sweden they call the small goldbeetle (skalkrak) virgin mary s key-maid (jungfru marie nyckelpiga, dybeck; s runa 1844, p. 10; in spring the girls let her creep about on their hands, and say, hon marker mig brudhandskar/ she marks (foreshews) me bride s gloves; if she flies away, they notice in which direction, for thence will come the bridegroom. thus the beetle seems a messenger of the goddess of love; but the number of the black spots on his

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

gypt that christian monasticism first developed, and the great monasteries partially took the place of temples in egyptian society. christian chroniclers provide evidence that some egyptians 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

ISIS UNVEILED

are of the many false teachings attributed by the roman church to the creator, we prefer disbelieving the latter assertion. the famous catholic theolo^an 'huemont, assures us in his work that "all the illus- trious pagans are condenmed to the eternal torments of hell, beeatue they lived before the time of jesus, and, therefore, could not be benefited by the redemption! he also assures us that the virgin mary person- ally testified to this truth over her own ugnature in a letter to a saint. therefore this is also a revelation "the spirit of god himself" teaching such charitable doctrines. we have also read with great advantage the topographical descrip- tions of hell arfd purgatory in the celebrated treatise of that name by a jesuit, the cardinal bellannine. a critic found that the aifthor

o to the rich city of bio de janeiro. in the church of the domo da candelaria, in a long hall running along one side of the church, there might he seen a few years ago another madonna. along the walls of the hall there is a line of saints, each standing on a contribution-box, which thus forms a fit pedestal. in the center of this line, under a gorgeously rich canopy of blue silk, is exhilhted the virgin mary leaning on the arm of christ 'our lady' is arrayed in a very dicouets blue satin dress with short digitizecoy google 10 isis untbii^d sleeves, showing to gteat advantage the snow-white, exquisitely-molded neck, moulders, and anns. the skirt, of blue satin with an over-skirt of rich lace and gauze puffs, is as short as that of a ballet-dancer; hardly reaching the knee, it exhibits a pai

st inter- vention of god or devil. hardly had the manifestations begun to attract attention in europe, than the clergy commenced their outciy that their traditional enemy had reappeared under another name, and 'divine miracles' also began to be heard of in isolated instances. first they were confined to humble individuals, some of whom claimed to have them produced through the intervention of the virgin mary, saints and angels; others according to the clergy began to suffer from obtettion and posieanon; tor the devil must have his share of fame as well as the deity. finding that, notwithstanding the warning, the independent, or so-called spiritual phe nomena went on increasing and multiplying, and that these mani* festatioos threatened to upset the carefully-constructed dogmas of the churc

odem re- search has mere than ever unveiled the secret "is not the worship of saints and angels now" said bbhop newton, years ago "in all respects the same that the worship of demons was in former times? the name only is different, the thing is identically the same. the very same temples, the very same images, which were once consecrated to jupiter and the other demons, are now consecrated to the virgin mary and the other saints. ajmost the whole of paganism is con- verted and api^ed to popery" why not be impartial and add that a good portion of it was adopted by protestant religions also? even the apostolic designation peter is from the mysteries. the hierophant or supreme pontiff bore the chaldaean title idd, peter, or in- terpreter. the names ptoft, peth'r, the residence of balaam, pata

the arba, or mystic four "immaculate is our lady isis" b the legend around an engraving 190. he prieita^ isii were todstued. 191. ancient pofon and modem ckrielian jsirmbotum, pp. 51. b, digilizocb, google catbouc bells from the buddhist pagodas 9s of serapis and isis, described by kng, in the gnoi^ict and their remmnt, h kypia eicic atnh. the very terms applied afterwards to that personage (the virgin mary) who succeeded to her form, titles, sym- bols, rites, and ceremonies. thus, her devotees carried into the new priesthood the former badges of their profession, the obligation to celi- bacy, the tonsure, and the surplice, omitting, unfortunately, the frequent ablutions prescribed by the ancient creed "the 'black virgins' so highly reverenced in certain french cathedrals. proved, when at

e author "that the latter, if they knew the real meaning of the symbols conmionly used by the boman church, would not have adopted them" to eliminate what is plainly derived from the sex and nature wor- ship of the ancient heathens, would be equivalent to pulling down the 219. thtm. taylor: euunnian and baeekie mgturiem, p. 27: 4tli ed. 220. niuitntted fisuns "from an ancient rosuy of the blessed virgin mary, printed t venice, 1524, wiui a lieense from the inquijition" in the uluatnttioni given by dr. inmui the virgin is represented in tn anyrian 'grove' the oaominaiton in on tyi* qf hu tiord, kccording to the bible propheta "the book in queition" uys the author "codtniu mimeroua ggurea, all resembling dosety the meaopotainun emblem of i^oar. hie ptewnce of the woman tt rnn identifie* tbe

pope's infallibility and in the immaculate nature of the virgin and afker atkestral female lineage to a certain remove could alone save the church from the indiscreet revelations of saence. it was a clever strc^e of polk^ on the part of the vicegerent of god. what matters it if, by "conferring upon her such an honor^ as don fasquale di franciscis naively expresses it, be has made a goddess of the virgin mary, an olympian deity who, having been by her very nature placed in the im- possibility of sinning, can claim no virtue, no personal merit for her purity, precisely for which, as we were taught to believe in our younger days, she was chosen among all other women. if his holiness has de- prived her of this, perhaps on the other hand he thinks that he has en- dowed her with at least one phy

er virgin-goddesses. but even this new dogma which, in company with the new claim to infauiinlity, has quasi-revolutionized the christian world, is not original with the church of rome. it is but a return to a hardly- remembered herety of the early christian ages, that of the collyridians, so called tmm their tacnjicing cakea to the virgin, whom they claimed to be virffin-bom* the new sentence "o virgin mary, conanced vnthout sin" is simply a tardy acceptance of that which was at first deemed a "ua ]aemou herety" by the orthodox fathers. to think for one moment that any of the popes, cardinals or other high dignitaries "were not aware" from the first to the lost of the exter- nal meanings of their symbols, is to do injustice to their great learning and uieir spirit of machiavellism. it is

es of jaggemath, and introduced the dancers from the brahmanical rites into the ceremonial of the church* let us at least thank these black-frocked politicians for their oonsbtency in employing the car of jagannatha, upon which the 'wicked heathen' 221. spmtktt qf pope pin* ix, u. 26: d. w. e. gkdrtone: amu, he, p. 140. 222. cf. c. w. king: the onothci, cte. p. 231, 2iul cd; tht onadon <4 ou bumi virgin mary, by patutub, buhap cf ries. 223. edtnburpaamem april, 1851, p. 411; dted in pococke /njtaircre(0(,pp.31s-9: londod. 1852. digitizecoy google the vffigin maby on the cab of jagannatha 111 codvey tbe ungam of siva. to have used thit car to carry id its turn the romish representative of the female principle in nature, is to show discrimination and a thorough knowledge of the oldest mythol

ortion lis- tened to him the nazarenes, the opponents of the jews, on account of their worshiping lurbo-adunai" achamoth had assured her son, ilda- t nvtkea of laojdiovab, c digitizecoy google 186 isis unveiled baoth, that the reign of christoa would be only temporal, and thus she induced him to send the forerunner, or precursor. besides that, she mode aim oaum the birth of the man jesus from the virgin mary, her own type on earth "for the creation of a material personage could only be the work of the demiurge, not falling within the province of a hi^er power. as soon as jesus was horn, chnstos, the perfect, uniting himself with sophia [wisdom and spirituauty, descended through the seven planetary regions, amiiming in each an analogous form, and concealing his true nature from their genii

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

re, in the path of the sun; and the children at home are the months produced in the house of the sun, or the solar year, or the signs of the zodiac which were originally ten, and not twelve* each sign answering* lady-cow, lady-cow, all but a little one fly away home! under a stone: thy house is on fire, fly thee home, lady-cow, thy children are flown. ere it be gone. the lady-bird, or cow, is the virgin mary, the little one 42 the rosicrucians. to one of the letters of the primeval alphabet, which were in number ten. thus, re-read, the lines run: lady-bird, lady-bird (columba, or dove, fly away home! your house is of fire your children are ten! the name of the flying insect called in england lady- bird is b te -dieu in french, which means god-creature, or god's creature. the napoleonic gre

w. the twelve pillars, or radii, are the signs of the zodiac, and are issuant out of the glorified centre, or opening rose, the sun or beginning of all things. king arthur s round table displays the crucified rose in its centre. in the tables* alternating with tying-knots, of the order of the garter, which most noble order was originally dedicated, be it remembered, to the blessed lady, or to the virgin mary, the microcosmical, miniture king arthur s round table becomes the individual female discus, or organ, waxing and waning, negative or in flower, positive or natural, alternately red and white, as in the rose of the world: rosamond, rosa mundi. and where we will adduce, as our justification for this new reading of the origin of the order of the garter, the very motto of the princely ord

traces discoverable in the orders of knighthood. he collar of esses is supposed always to be a part of the order of the garder. the coupled s.s. means the sanctus spiritus, or holy spirit, or the third person. the fleurs-de- lis, or lisses, or the lilies of the field, invariably appear in close connection with st. john, or the sanctus fig. 168. collar of esses. spiritus, and also with the blessed virgin mary, in all christian symbola or insignia. the prince of wales triple plume appears to have the same mythic egyptian and babylonian origin, and to be substantially the same symbol as the fleur-de-lis. when arranged in threes, the fleurs-de- lis represent the triple powers of nature, the producer, the means of production, and that produced. the fleur-de-lis is presented in a deep disguise i

second prinfigures of the centuari. 241 ciple, and express the sign of aquarius, with its watery or lunar hints, its twin-fishes, and its jonah-like anagrams of the redeemer. hence the boat-like, elongated, peculiar form called the vesica piscis, which is the oblong shuttleshaped frame continually set over doors and windows and elsewhere in gothic churches, to contain effigies of the saviour, or virgin mary, or groups from the new testament in connection with these two sacred persons. a doorway in barfreston church, kent, supplies an excellent example of the employment of this oblong figure; which is also babylonian, and means the female member as its starting-point in a previous part of our book we give various figures of the prows or cutwater-heads of gondolas, in which we clearly show

profound mythic meanings were not understood or were neglected. this smoothness of a sailor s face arises from the fact that the sea has always been mythologically feminine, and that sailors and men or followers of the sea are under the protection of the queen of the deep, or the virgin of the sea. hence the figure of britannia, with her sceptre of the sea or trident, and not that of neptune. the virgin mary, the star of the sea, and patroness of sailors, rules and governs the ocean, and her colours are the ultramarine of the deep, and sea-green, when viewed in this phase of her divine character. in all representations, ancient or modern, sailors have beardless faces, unless they belong to the reprobate and barbarian classes, such as pirates and outlaws, and men who have supposedly thrown

e are the armorial figures following: argent, on a cross gules, the agnus dei, or paschal lamb, or; gules, the agnus dei, displaying over the right shoulder the standard of the temple; or, a banner, triple cloven, bearing a cross gules; azure, a cross prolonged, potent, issuant out of the crescent moon argent, horns upwards; on either side of the cross, a star or. this latter figure signifies the virgin mary, and displays the cross as rising like the pole, or mast of a ship (argha, out of the midst of the crescent moon, or navis biprora, curved at both ends; azure, sem e of estoiles or. the staff of the grand master of the templars symbols in the temple church. 269 displayed a curved cross of four splays, or blades, red upon white. the eight-pointed red bhuddist cross was also one of the t

ull, apparently, of some purposely trodden creature. the head at the top is shown in the honour-point of the cover of the tomb. there is an amount of unsuspected meaning in every curve of these templar tombs; but it would at present too much occupy us to more fully explain. the crook part of a bishop s staff shows the undulating curve of the s.s. issuing out of the foliations: meaning the blessed virgin mary. this is particularly observable in the statue of william of wykeham, the founder, at st. mary s college, winchester; who, holding the spiritual crook in the left hand, gives the usual benediction of the two extended fingers with his right. the crook is the shepherd crook of the second person, and of the holy spirit. we now give a series of gnostic talismans, from originals. the reader

stian knights suspended in the chapel of the order, the chapel of st. george at windsor, as a perplexing, uncomfortable intrusion, according to assumed correct christian ideas. we fear that the admission of this heathen knight may possibly imply heraldically the infraction of the original constitutions of the order, which created it as exclusively christian. the garter is specially devoted to the virgin mary and to the honour (in the glorification of woman) of the saviour of mankind. the knights-companions are accepted, supposedly, as the special initiated holy guard of the christian mysteries, and they are viewed as a sworn body of brothers, by day and night, from their first association, bound to maintain and uphold, in life and in death, the faith that had bethlehem for its beginning an

rt. some say that he had an intention of instituting an order of knighthood upon the same feminine subject, but that he was anticipated by king edward; which shows that it was something more than an accident and a mere garter which inspired the idea of this rose forming the mystery. the knights were denominated equites aurese periscelidis. king edward the third had such veneration for the blessed virgin mary, that he ordained that the habit of his knights of the garter should be worn on the days of her five solemnities. elias ashmole states that the original of the statutes of institution had wholly perished long before his time. there was a transcript existing in the reign of henry the fifth, in an old book called registrum ordinis chartaceum. though the order was instituted so long ago a

hes, drawers, trousers. subligatus, cinctured, bound &c, wearing drawers. the king edward s gallantry. 293 origin of the garter is proven in this word not to be a garter at all it is most generally supposed that it was on january 19th, 1344, that king edward instituted his famous order of the garter. this period, it will be perceived, was almost within an octave of the purification of the blessed virgin mary; under whose patronage, and under the guardianship of st. george on earth (st. michael in heaven; both these saints being the same, with earthly and spiritual attributes refluent respectively, king edward placed his profoundly religious order. the whole was a revival of the round table of king arthur, or the apotheosised female discus in certain mythical aspects. to confirm us in our a

grammaton. the archetypical idea is also called reflective intelligible informed superessential endless in resource* the reflection of god is in the archetype which is the second principle, or macrocosmos (created worlds, exhibiting either sides, or will in action. this is displayed in three divisions, or spheres called (1st) the empyr um (god (2d) the ether um (the saviour (3d) the elements (the virgin mary. light emanates in the sephiroth( cabala) or sevenfold rotation hence the production of phenomena. in uniting with the ethereal spirit, it becomes the soul, or responsive sentience of the world. the further elucidation of the rosicrucian theological system, in its general features so far as in hint or parable submitted to unenlightened comprehension will be found pre-stated at page 208

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

is called, throughout the world(*op. cit, p. 31) 630. he goes on to explain that it is found in this association in egypt, in india and in mexico, and that it was so used by the roman collegia and the comacini. he also draws attention to the fact that the distinguishing badge of this degree has on it two blue rosettes, symbolizing the rose. blue was the colour of isis, and is that of the blessed virgin mary, whose emblem is the rose. the triangular flap, which in the first degree was worn with the point upward, to indicate that the spiritual had not yet entered into control of the material, is now turned down to show that the higher is supposed definitely to be taking charge of the lower. we shall see this same symbolism carried further still when we consider the sublime degree of the m.m

thought of devotion! the holy presence is never absent, but it certainly exhibits itself in greater activity in answer to an appeal. is the angel fs force-centre something like a faint reflection of that? 825. perhaps another analogy may be found in the twelve stars which, following the beautiful description in the apocalypse, are so often shown in medieval paintings round the head of the blessed virgin mary. all these represent powers; perhaps they correspond in some way to the points of light which the angels leave in our aura. the star always floating over the head of an initiate betokens the power of the king, upon which he can draw at any moment, while the star upon his forehead is the symbol of his own acquired power. 826. chapter x 827. two wonderful rituals 828. the workings in egy

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

ling rather the presiding angels of the various countries than the rulers of the nine orders of the angelic hosts. 328. pallas athene, the grey-eyed goddess of wisdom, was a magnificent and splendid being, who practically governed athens in the old days through her devotees. her influence was enormously stimulating, but she was not so much an embodiment of compassion or of love, as is the blessed virgin mary, but rather of efficiency and of that perfect accuracy of form that is the essence of all true art. much of the wonderful art of greece was inspired directly by her; and to satisfy her it had to be the very highest and truest and most accurate. she could not tolerate a single line misplaced, even in the smallest thing. there was something of polished steel about athene; she was cold an

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

e popular consciousness of the middle ages via the tale of theophilus, who according to legend had been the treasurer of a church in the sixth century. unfairly dismissed from his job, he sought revenge with the aid of a magician. this sorcerer invoked the devil, theophilus sold his soul, and he was subsequently restored to his position. however, he eventually regretted his actions, prayed to the virgin mary, and was saved. the legend of theophilus provided a model for the later narrative of faust easily the most famous man to sell his soul to satan though faust was motivated by pride rather than by the urge for revenge. also, unlike theophilus, faust did not escape his infernal fate in most versions of this story. the story of faust became the basis for a series of literary productions, i

agined by st. augustine, who asserted that if even infants died without the sacrament of baptism they would be eternally damned. it also helped to explain ghosts, who were viewed as souls undergoing purgatorial cleansing. the church cautiously embraced the notion that the prayers and other actions of the living could shorten the time the deceased spent in purgatory. as a merciful intercessor, the virgin mary became queen of purgatory to whom prayers for the deceased were addressed. this role led more or less directly to the medieval cult of mary. as is well known to those familiar with the history, it was the doctrine of the role the living could play to rescue souls from purgatory that set the stage for the protestant reformation. islam embraced the zoroastrian notion of purgatory as an a

t, rosemary s baby (1968) was the most successful movie with a satanic theme of all time. the overall plot is that, with the connivance of her ambitious husband and a group of neighboring satanists, rosemary, played by mia farrow, is impregnated by the devil for the purpose of giving birth to a satanic messiah. rosemary, however, does not become aware of her role as the infernal equivalent of the virgin mary until the very end of the story. the film s dramatic tension derives from her gradual discovery of the satanists diabolical machinations. rosemary s baby came out shortly after the birth of the church of satan. anton lavey, founder of the church of satan, claimed that he was not only a technical advisor for the film, but also did a cameo appearance as the devil. critics have disputed t

LIBER 777

tributions of assyrian, syrian, mongolian, tibetan, mexican, zend, south sea, west african &c. iacchus table of correspondences 10 xxxv. some roman gods. xxxvi. selection of christian gods (10; apostles (12; evangelists (4) and churches of asia (7. xxxvii. hindu legendary demons. 0. 1 jupiter god the 3 in 1 2 janus[[mercury] god the father, god who guides parliament 3 juno, cybele, hecate &c. the virgin mary 4 jupiter[[libitina] god the rain-make (vide prayer-book, god the farmer s friend 5 mars christ coming to judge the world 6 apollo[[bacchus, aurora] god the son (and maker of fine weather) 7 venus messiah, lord of hosts (vide prayer-book, r. kipling &c) 8 mercury god the holy ghost (as comforter and inspirer of scripture, god the healer of plagues 9 diana (as[[terminus, jupiter] god th

prayer-book, god the farmer s friend 5 mars christ coming to judge the world 6 apollo[[bacchus, aurora] god the son (and maker of fine weather) 7 venus messiah, lord of hosts (vide prayer-book, r. kipling &c) 8 mercury god the holy ghost (as comforter and inspirer of scripture, god the healer of plagues 9 diana (as[[terminus, jupiter] god the holy ghost (as incubus) 1010 ceres ecclesia xsti, the virgin mary 11 jupiter[[juno, olus] matthew 12 mercury sardis 13 diana laodicea 14 venus thyatira 15 mars, minerva [the disciples are too indefinite] 16 venus[[hymen. 17 castor and pollux [janus[[hymen. 18 mercury[[lares and penates. 19 venus (repressing the fire of vulcan. 20 [attis, ceres, adonis[[vesta, flora. 21 jupiter [pluto] philadelphia 22 vulcan[[venus, nemesis. 23 neptune[[rhea] john, je

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

on, possibly scandinavian or gothic. in these languages the name is pronounced isa, meaning ice, or water in its most passive, crystallized, negative state. this egyptian deity under many names appears as the principle of natural fecundity among nearly all the religions of the ancient world. she was known as the goddess with ten thousand appellations and was metamorphosed by christianity into the virgin mary, for isis, although she gave birth to all living things--chief among them the sun--still remained a virgin, according to the legendary accounts. apuleius in the eleventh book of the golden ass ascribes to the goddess the following statement concerning her powers and attributes "behold, i, moved by thy prayers, am present with thee; i, who am nature, the parent of things, the queen of a

to be regarded merely as emblems or reminders of invisible powers and principles. similarly, the body of man must not be considered as the individual but only as the house of the individual, in the same manner that the temple was the house of god. in a state of grossness and perversion man's body is the tomb or prison of a divine click to enlarge hand decorated with effigies of jesus christ, the virgin mary, and the twelve apostles. from an old print, courtesy of carl oscar borg. upon the twelve phalanges of the fingers, appear the likenesses of the apostles, each bearing its own appropriate symbol. in the case of those who suffered martyrdom the symbol signifies the instrument of death. thus, the symbol of st. andrew is a cross; of st. thomas, a javelin or a builder's square; of st. jame

omas aquinas in alchemy and philosophy. among other positions of dignity occupied by albertus magnus was that of bishop of regensburg. he was beatified in 1622. albertus was an aristotelian philosopher, an astrologer, and a profound student of medicine and physics. during his youth, he was considered of deficient mentality, but his since service and devotion were rewarded by a vision in which the virgin mary appeared to him and bestowed upon him great philosophical and intellectual powers. having become master of the magical sciences, albertus began the construction of a curious automaton, which he invested with the powers of speech and thought. the android, as it was called, was composed of metals and unknown substances chosen according to the stars and endued with spiritual qualities by

words "in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth, and divided the waters from the waters. bless the waters which are above the heavens" the circle contains this statement "the earth without form and void. out of the stars come the rains" the lower left panel continues the alchemical process, ending with admonition to renounce the misery of worldly existence. above is a prayer to the virgin mary which opens thus "hail mary, full of grace, the lord be with thee. blessed thou among women" click to enlarge leaf 16. the first sentence reads "the dead bodies remain; the spirits are freed by the death in the bodies. you will ride with that death with a scythe, and the light of the sun, the moon, and the fixed stars" over the scythe is written "subject to the sun, the moon and azoth

conquered by paul; but although the zealous converts of the apostles pretended to burn all their books on 'curious arts, ta perierga, enough of these remained for them to study when their first zeal had cooled off (see isis unveiled) being a great center of pagan learning, ephesus has been the locale for many early christian myths. the assertion has been made that it was the last domicile of the virgin mary; also that the tomb of st. john the divine was located there. according to legend, st. john did not depart from this life in the usual manner but, selecting his vault, entered it while still alive, and closing the entrance behind him, vanished forever from mortal sight. a rumor was current in ancient ephesus that st. john would sleep in his tomb until the return of the savior, and that

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

about was magical in content. i am the rose of sharon, and the lily of the valleys, as the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. the rose has been preserved as the lady's emblem in the annals of courtly love and among the symbols of alchemy. the lily, however, passed directly into christian catholicism and became an attribute of the madonna, which is only right and proper, as the virgin mary is but a christian echo of an aspect of the lady herself. however, due to this association, it is more to be considered a symbol of cool chastity rather than love or passion. having seen to your initial preparations, illumine the lamps and kindle the appropriate incense, chanting as you do such words of consecration as "in thy name, habondia, and that of thy ministers of love, do i pro

MORALS AND DOGMA

ty, are mere words, without any real meaning. the god of nineteen-twentieths of the christian world is only bel, moloch, zeus, or at best osiris, mithras, or adona, under another name, worshipped with the old pagan ceremonies and ritualistic formulas. it is the statue of olympian jove, worshipped as the father, in the christian church that was a pagan temple; it is the statue of venus, become the virgin mary. for the most part, men do not in their hearts believe that god is either just or merciful. they fear and shrink from his lightnings and dread his wrath. for the most part, they only _think_ they believe that there is another life, a judgment, and a punishment for sin. yet they will none the less persecute as infidels and atheists those who do not believe what they themselves imagine t

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

s conceived as complementary, as two equivalent to naught "divided for love's sake, for the chance of union- had enjoyed them in the form of a beast, bird, or what not; while later mary attributed her condition to the agency of a spirit spiritus, breath, or air in the shape of a dove (simple-minded readers must not think for one moment that a. c. is here "admitting the historical existence of the virgin mary; on the contrary, he is obviously putting her on the same footing with europa, semele and others. the virgin birth, like the dying god, is a much older myth than christianity; and the virgin was usually seeded by a god under the form of a beast. far from being original, christian theology is a pot-pourri of stolen goods) but the "small person" of hindu mysticism, the dwarf insane, yet

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

lave experience, was born in the hills of haiti, among escaped slaves known as maroons. in 1791 a petro ceremony, led by a voodoo priest, boukman dutty, sparked an uprising for independence. grave the cross on this tomb is the symbol of baron samedi and the crossroad of death. an offering of rum to ghede stands at its base. all the voodoo gods are identified with catholic saints: erzulie with the virgin mary, legba with both st. peter and lazarus, ogoun with st. james the greater, damballah wedo with st. patrick, azacca with st. isidore, baron samedi with st. expedit, and so on. the voodoo gods incline towards the fate of haiti by cameau rameau this painting reflects the widespread belief that the gods are involved in the politics of the island, often helping to elect or get rid of a presi

RUBY TABLET OF SET

ely the philosophers and gnostics could be kept busy. the pantheon of deities would not be complete without the legendary saints. these were not supposed to be worshipped, as they were not divine. it was claimed that they had all lived exemplary lives, and were worthy of veneration. there was a saint for every day of the year, and for almost any function you could think of except sex. the blessed virgin mary was not supposed to be divine either, but some of her feasts are holy days of "obligation" wherein the catholic was supposed to attend mass. if one didn't attend this mass without good cause it was a mortal sin, and one would go to hell if one died on the spot. that kind of requirement is known as mandatory worship, and in any other religion is reserved for divinity. further, much of t

SATANGEL

tradition that obscures the sexual elements of goetic sorceries. instructions to 'sacrifice children' may in fact be instruction to the magical use of non-procreative sex, classically either masturbatory, homosexual, or during the menstrual cycle of the sorceress. although these are perversions of catholic iconography, they are not inversions in the sense of satanism. the power of god, jesus, the virgin mary, the archangels, thrones, dominations, powers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles and evangelists are called upon to bully the demonic forces into submission to the will of the summoner. the danger of the heresy here is that it is not seen as at all incongruous that a holy man might also be conversing with the powers of darkness, even if it is to subordinate them. the book of abra-melin so

ration of malign spirits dealing in the bodies of people, as it is done by saint peter, fifteenth century. exorcism ii in the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirits, amen. i conjure you, elves and all kinds of demons, of the night and of the day, by the father, and the son, and the holy spirit, and the undivided trinity, and by the intercession of the most blessed and glorious ever virgin mary, by the prayers of the prophets, by the merits of the patriarchs, by the intercession of the angels and archangels, by the intervention of the apostles, by the passion of the martyrs, by the faith of the confessors, by the chastity of the virgins, and by the intercession of all the saints, and by the seven sleepers, whose names are malchus, maximian, dionysius, john, constantine, serap

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

tical calculations were a vital tool. the observation of the stars and planets likewise led to the modern science of astronomy. world religions: almanac 65 ancient religions of egypt and mesopotamia ancient egyptian influences egyptian religion passed on many of its deities to other religions. for example, isis, in her aspect as the mother of horus, also influenced the later christian cult of the virgin mary. like the mesopotamians, the egyptians also passed on additional products of their religion in the form of mathematics and medicine. for example, their numbering system was based on the number ten, as in the modern decimal system. the egyptian calendar, based on the appearance of the star sirius, held 365 days and was divided into twelve months of thirty days each. the remaining five d

discussing religious matters with the jewish scholars. world religions: biographies 189 jesus christ tradition holds that joseph was a carpenter, and that jesus adopted the same trade. upon joseph s death, jesus assumed the role of supporting his family. some accounts also hold that jesus became a self-taught rabbi, or jewish religious scholar and teacher, and devoted hours each day to study. the virgin mary mary, the mother of jesus of nazareth, has become one of the major figures of the christian church. the mary cult, a smaller group within christianity that places special focus mary, has been strong for two thousand years. also known as mariam or miriam, mary is the most celebrated female religious figure in the christian tradition, according to historian elizabeth a. johnson, writing

who disobeyed god s order and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden; it is the notion that all humans are born sinners) mary s birth without this original sin is called the immaculate conception. because of her own immaculate conception, mary was able to give birth to a pure son of god, without sin, while also remaining a virgin. she is often referred to as the virgin mary or the blessed virgin. as a young woman mary was engaged to joseph, a carpenter. during this time she was visited by the angel gabriel, who told her not to be afraid, for a son would be conceived by her who would be the son of god. when joseph discovered that his future wife was already pregnant, he decided to dissolve the engagement. he was then visited in his sleep by an angel and to

ty days later, after telling his disciples to spread his teachings far and wide, jesus was taken up to heaven. over time the life and death of jesus took on a more deeply symbolic form. though historians debate whether or not jesus called himself the son of god, his followers soon made this claim a fact of the budding religion of christianity, named after jesus christ. in this context, he was the virgin mary cradles jesus in her arms. richard cummins/corbis. 192 world religions: biographies jesus christ seen as a sacrifice on the part of a loving god, the father, who had offered up his only son to redeem humanity s sins. the crucifixion of jesus and his subsequent resurrection became major elements of christian belief and reflect an idea that jesus himself preached: that by believing in go

d to devote his life to god. ignatius of loyola 218 world religions: biographies years of wandering by march 1522 ignatius had recovered enough to leave the family castle and set out on a religious journey that would last the rest of his life. he first went to a monastery, or religious center for study, at montserrat, spain, where he placed his military armor and sword in front of an image of the virgin mary, the mother of jesus christ. thereafter he dressed in sandals and a rough cloth shirt or robe. he spent several months living in a cave near the town of manresa, spain, practicing what is known as religious asceticism. ascetics lead a simple life of prayer, frequently fast (go without food, and devote all of their time to religious matters. during this time ignatius began to write his

and was refused passage on two ships. these ships later sank in a storm. a third ship finally took him back to venice, italy. ignatius, now thirty-three years old, decided that he wanted to study to become a priest in the catholic church. in order to do that, he first had at the beginning of his religious journey, ignatius of loyola gave up his military armor and sword in front of a statue of the virgin mary like the one pictured here. this signaled his new devotion to god. public domain. world religions: biographies 219 ignatius of loyola to learn latin, the language used by educated people of the time. he went back to barcelona and studied latin while begging for food and shelter. he also gathered crowds to discuss religious matters and to teach them how to pray with feeling. this was du

family life happy. she later noted that she felt a strong religious calling at age twelve and wanted to help the poor by becoming a missionary. a missionary is someone who undertakes a religious task. at age eighteen she received permission from the vatican, the seat of authority of the roman catholic church, to join the sisters of loreto, more formally referred to as the institute of the blessed virgin mary. the sisters of loreto, located in rathfarnham, a residential suburb of dublin, ireland, was an order of nuns whose chief mission was the education of girls. when agnes completed her training, the order sent her to darjeeling, india. at this time she was a novice, or a person who has received religious education but has not taken her vows to the order. she took her first vows in 1931

SIR WALLIS BUDGE EGYPTIAN MAGIC

he heathen" they proved that they possessed this belief, for they always endeavoured to throw down the statues of the gods of p. 66 the greeks and romans, knowing that if they were once shattered the spirits which dwelt in them would have no place wherein to dwell, and would thereby be rendered homeless and powerless. it will be remembered that it is stated in the apocryphal gospels that when the virgin mary and her son arrived in egypt there "was a movement and quaking throughout all the land, and all the idols fell down from their pedestals and were broken in pieces" then all the priests and nobles went to a certain priest with whom "a devil used to speak from out of the idol" and they asked him the meaning of these things; and when he had explained to them that the footstep of the son o

he might be able to resist any attack which the pirates might make, and punish them for their robberies in times past. soon after he had sailed he fell in with a pirate vessel, and a fight at once took place between his crew and the robbers, in the course of which he was shot in the eye by an arrow; he stopped the combat and then sailed for a port which was situated near a monastery, wherein the virgin mary was reported to work miracles by means of a picture of herself which was hung up in it. when the merchant arrived in port he was so ill through the wound in his eye that he could not be moved, and it was found that a portion p. 103 of the arrow which had struck him remained embedded in it; and unless he could obtain the virgin's help speedily he felt that his death was nigh. in this di

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

al phenomenon can be found on the internet. although thousands of people claimed miraculous cures as they looked upward at the glowing figure of the holy mother, no one announced receiving any special messages from her. no visionaries ever claimed to have received any warnings of impending disasters or relayed any admonitions from mother mary to repent or to cease sinning. sources: apparitions of virgin mary. http/ www.geocities.com/athens /7084 /stmaridx. htm, 11 october 2001. our lady of zeitoun. http//www.zeitoun.org, 11 october 2001. zeitoun apparition. http//www.science-frontiers.com, 11 october 2001. mother mary appears in egypt ninth century, but right now. matter stated that the interest in apparitions of the holy mother has been building for the past 150 years, with more and more

ary, st. joseph, st. john, and a lamb surrounded by golden stars. a short time after the villagers had reported their collective vision, many ill, diseased, or crippled people who visited the church began to claim miraculous cures as they knelt at the statue of mother mary. since that 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 188 religious phenomena virgin mary and jesus vision in hungary (karoly ligeti/fortean picture library) 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 religious phenomena 189 virgin mary appearing before bernadette soubirous (1844 1879) at lourdes (fortean picture library) time, the small village of knock has come to be called the irish lourdes. garabandal, spain: a series of ec

on and the brain. newsweek, 7 may 2001, pp. 50 57. cranston, ruth. the miracle of lourdes. new york: mcgraw-hill, 1955. delaney, john j, ed. a woman clothed with the sun. garden city, n.y: doubleday, 1961. 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 religious phenomena 191 vietnamese roman catholic nuns in a commemorative anniversary procession of the virgin mary apparition in vietnam (ap/wide world photos) kirkwood, annie. mary s message of hope. nevada city, calif: blue dolphin publishing, 1995. sparrow, scott g. i am with you always: true stories of encounters with jesus. new york: bantam books, 1995. steiger, brad, and sherry hansen steiger. mother mary speaks to us. new york: dutton, 1996; signet, 1997. armageddon in revelation 16:16, the

o: harpersanfrancisco, 1989. steiner, johannes. therese neumann. new york: alba house, 1967. wilson, ian. stigmata. new york: harper& row, 1989. virgin of guadalupe in mexico, december 12, virgin of guadalupe day, is a national holiday, and often as many as five million mexicans many crawling on bloodied knees make their annual pilgrimage to the country s most venerated shrine, a basilica for the virgin mary in mexico city. in 1996, eight people were killed and 15 were injured in the press of pilgrims gathered around the site. the story of the virgin of guadalupe is one of a mystery within a miracle. in 1531, a 57-year-old aztec indian named juan diego (1474 1548, whose native name cuauhtlatoatzin means eagle that sings (or in some translations, eagle that talks, claimed to have encountere

mexico city. in 1996, eight people were killed and 15 were injured in the press of pilgrims gathered around the site. the story of the virgin of guadalupe is one of a mystery within a miracle. in 1531, a 57-year-old aztec indian named juan diego (1474 1548, whose native name cuauhtlatoatzin means eagle that sings (or in some translations, eagle that talks, claimed to have encountered the blessed virgin mary on four occasions in desolate regions outside of mexico city. at first she appeared as a beautiful, dark-skinned 14-year-old mexican indian girl, who then revealed herself as the evervirgin mary, mother of god. during later appearances, mother mary told diego that she wished a church built to her in the place where she appeared to him guadalupe, the river of the wolf. as proof of her h

. ventura, calif: gospel light, 1994. kirkwood, annie. mary s message of hope. nevada city, calif: blue dolphin publishing, 1995. 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 religious phenomena 251 bleeding rosa mystica statue (fortean picture library) steiger, brad and sherry hansen steiger. mother mary speaks to us: life-changing encounters with the virgin mary. new york: dutton, 1997. weeping statues archives. http//www.mcn.org/1/ miracles/ weeparchive.htm. 1 october 2001. zimdars-swartz, sandral. encountering mary. new york: avon books, 1992. making the connection antichrist the antagonist or opponent of jesus christ (c. 6 b.c.e. c. 30 c.e, who is anticipated by many early as well as contemporary christians to lead the world into evil befor

ved. if the black madonna of czestochowa was truly a portrait of mary that had been painted from life by the apostle luke, he would surely have captured a woman with olive or dark brown skin and black or brown hair. other researchers into the mystique of the black madonna state that the reasons that the roman catholic church in general has not warmly embraced such depictions of the holy mother or virgin mary are because they fear that such representations are actually paying tribute to the ancient goddesses and earth mothers and that these images perpetuate 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 273 pope john paul ii praying at the black madonna shrine in czestochowa, poland, in 1999 (ap/wide world photos) strai

e royal family of france. for those who hold such beliefs, the holy grail is but a metaphor for mary magdalene s womb, which carried the true blood of jesus in the person of his unborn son. therefore, many of the depictions of the black madonna and child throughout the regions of southern france and spain may be regarded as images of mary magdalene carrying the infant son of jesus rather than the virgin mary carrying the infant jesus. m delving deeper baigent, michael, richard leigh, and henry lincoln. holy blood, holy grail. new york: dell publishing co, 1983. clifton, charles s. encyclopedia of heresies and heretics. new york: barnes& noble, 1992. dorese, jean. the secret books of the egyptian gnostics. new york: mjf books, 1986. duricy, michael p. black madonnas: our lady of czestochowa

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 313 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 mystery religions and cults the cult of the restoration of the ten commandments appears to have had its origins in the late 1970s when a group of schoolchildren claimed to have received visions of the virgin mary on a soccer field in the town of kibeho, rwanda. a cult of the virgin, combining roman catholicism with aboriginal religious traditions, formed and spread to southwest uganda. it was here that credonia mwerinde, a store proprietor and brewer of banana beer, said that the virgin mary appeared to her in 1984. in 1989, mwerinde met joseph kibwetere, a school administrator and politician

he ten commandments and strictly follow their admonitions if they were to escape damnation at the end of the world. and the end was near: according to mwerinde s visions, the world would end on december 31, 1999/january 1, 2000. the convictions of mwerinde and the newly inspired kibwetere proved to be convincing, and membership in uganda swelled to 5,000. the rules for the program dictated by the virgin mary through mwerinde were extremely strict. cult members were forbidden to communicate other than through sign language. they were to labor in the fields to grow their own food, and had to fast regularly. on mondays and fridays they were allowed only one meal. soap, a sinful indulgence, was forbidden. the continued existence of the world after january 1, 2000, caused dissension to grow in

sher, ian. exploring the deadly mystique surrounding a uganda cult. new york times on the web,april 1, 2000. sieveking, paul. shallow grave. fortean times, july 2000, 34 38. the restoration of the ten commandments dha. in jonestown, guyana, on november 14, 1978, jones joined 638 of his adult followers and 276 of their children in a mass suicide. in rwanda, credonia mwerinde combined a cult of the virgin mary and roman catholicism with aboriginal religious traditions and allowed the heavenly messages to end the lives of over 1,000 members by mass murder on march 15, 2000. in switzerland, the order of the solar temple sought to prepare humankind for the return of christ through the wisdom of occult and extraterrestrial masters, but when the illusion of immortality faded, a series of mass sui

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

n e d 12 secret societies by1897, the masons had about 750,000 members. who defended northern spain from the invading moors in the eleventh century, and the secret society continues to this day in a criminal organization akin to the mafia. according to tradition, around 710 a holy man named apollinario, who lived a hermitlike existence in the hills above cordova, had a vision in which the blessed virgin mary appointed him to be the savior of spain and drive the moors out of the land. at first the holy man was staggered by the very suggestion, regardless of the source from whence it had come. what remained of gothic spain had fallen into decay, deteriorating into a patchwork of petty princedoms, woefully ineffectual against the powerful moors who had conquered most of the land and establish

aradia, or demeter, has always been the benefactress of the outcast, the lonely, the people of the night. when the new religion of christianity achieved dominance in italy, the strege revered mother mary as an expression of the goddess diana. throughout italy, sicily, and malta, there are many strege passing as devout church members, including a few roman catholic priests, who accept the blessed virgin mary because they know she is just another incarnation of the goddess diana. one day, the strege believe religious tolerance will progress to the stage where they will once again have a public temple to the goddess. more than one scholar of the mass conversions of the pagan populace of europe during the middle ages has commented on the fact that the common folk simply went underground with

ddess diana. one day, the strege believe religious tolerance will progress to the stage where they will once again have a public temple to the goddess. more than one scholar of the mass conversions of the pagan populace of europe during the middle ages has commented on the fact that the common folk simply went underground with their worship of diana, or made the motions of giving reverence to the virgin mary, while secretly directing their true devotion to the goddess. gchristianization forced the old religionists underground in the twelfth century, but the sculptors paid tribute to their goddesses demeter and persephone by creating the madonna and female jesus. in ancient times people worshipped at the temple of demeter in enna, sicily, where they celebrated her daughter persephone fs res

remonies 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 places of mystery and power 275 fortress of sacsayhuman near cuzco, peru (klaus aarsleff/fortean picture library) can be seen in the calendar of festivals for the year. for example, dances celebrating the turtle, deer, or buffalo are interspersed with dances honoring st. anthony, st. jerome, and the virgin mary. all of these events are considered serious religious ceremonies. cameras are forbidden, and the tribal council asks that visitors render the same respect toward the dances and rituals as they would during a solemn service in their home churches. each year the tribal council, a group of 50 male elders, appoints a tribal governor and a war chief. the tribal governor and his staff are re

TRUE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

confesses under pain, recants when the pain is removed, only to be moved by more pain to confess again, she is asked "how did she influence the weather? she does not know what to say and can only whisper, oh, heavenly queen, protect me" was the victim calling upon "the goddess? or, as seems more likely, upon that aforementioned transfiguration of all ancient goddesses in christian mythology, the virgin mary. one more quote from dr. robbins, and i will cease to parade late medieval history before you. it comes from yet another priest, father cornelius loos, who observed, in 1592 that "wretched creatures are compelled by the severity of the torture to confess things they have never done, and so by cruel butchery innocent lives are taken (ibid, p 16. the "evidence" of the witch trials indica

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

worship, it appears certain that in the time of de lanere his favourite form of showing himself was that of a goat. at the opening of the sabbath the witches, male or female, presented formally to the devil those who had never been at the sabbath before, and the women especially brought to him the children whom they allured to him. the new converts, the novices, were made to renounce christ, the virgin mary, and the saints, and they were then re-baptized with mock ceremonies. they next performed their worship to the devil by kissing him on the face under the tail, or otherwise. the young children were taken to the edge of a stream for the scene was generally chosen on the banks of a stream and white wands were placed in their hands, and they were entrusted with the care of the toads which

the nephew of madame martin, who went to his aunt and merely enjoined her not to take the girl to the sabbath any more. jeannette said that at the solemn festivals all kissed the devil s posteriors except the notable witches, who kissed him in the face. according to her account, the children, at the age of two or three years, or as soon as they could speak, were made to renounce jesus christ, the virgin mary, their baptism &c. and from that moment they were taught to worship the devil. she described the sabbath as resembling a fair, well supplied with all sorts of objects, in which some walked about in their own form, and others were transformed, she knew not how, into dogs, cats, asses, horses, pigs, and other animals. the little boys and girls kept the herds of the sabbath, consisting of

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

t numerous sites of ancient human habitation. cultures devoted to the goddess tend to be stable and agrarian, inward-seeking and secretive in their rites. they build no empires, but are subject to the empire-building of more aggressive neighbors. cults of female gods, existing away from the center of societies, can still be observed. remnants of goddess worship are evident in the adoration of the virgin mary among christians, the veneration of the matronit and shekhinah among jews, the worship of shakti among hindus. the women's movement has sparked a revival of interest in the goddess. the contemporary pagan religion of wicca wor- ships the earth mother in her many guises. as for the worship of god as a child, christianity is the most obvious example. in the middle ages, jesus was often d

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

th roman numerals, for the twenty-four hours of the day. although the hand of the sun is longer than that of the moon, the sun, which points to the hours, appears to me to be the hour hand. this would be symbolically correct. the circular face of the clock is enclosed in a square with four circular windows, one in each corner (symbolizing the four beasts. above the clock is a statue of the seated virgin mary holding christ upon her knee. she represents the queen of heaven in revelation 12:l. to her right is a large roman numeral x; to her left is an equally large arabic numeral 5 (in connection with these numerals, see the description of the hieroglyphic monad in chapter viii, specifically dee's comments regarding the roman numeral x. in passing, it might be pointed out that much of this s

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

-l, and 4-m. one can experiment with alternate designs on these kameas, provided that every cell is included. for example, i have used a very powerful symbol, which has come to be known as the miraculous medal, on the simplest of the planetary squares. this medal was revealed to st. catherine laboure (who has had an incorruptible body.now in an open casket in paris.since her death in 1876, by the virgin mary in a vision, and has become a very potent miracle working talisman in the past 100 years. it fits very nicely on the saturn kamea (see figure 4-n. it is also appropriate there symbolically because mary (miriam. whose initial it is, means bitter sea, an attribution of binah/saturn, and she is said to be the universal mother. qabalistic students will notice other similarities in the symb

WICCA EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

andles that would be used for the coming liturgical year (catholics will be reminded that the following day, st. blaise's day, is remembered for using the newly-blessed candles to bless the throats of parishioners, keeping them from colds, flu, sore throats, etc) the catholic church, never one to refrain from piling holiday upon holiday, also called it the feast of the purification of the blessed virgin mary (it is surprising how many of the old pagan holidays were converted to maryan feasts) the symbol of the purification may seem a little obscure to modern readers, but it has to do with the old custom of 'churching women. it was believed that women were impure for six weeks after giving birth. and since mary gave birth at the winter solstice, she wouldn't be purified until february 2nd

rst day of the first sign of the zodiac, aries. however you look at it, it is certainly a time of new beginnings, as a simple glance at nature will prove. in the roman catholic church, there are two holidays which get mixed up with the vernal equinox. the first, occurring on the fixed calendar day of march 25th in the old liturgical calendar, is called the feast of the annunciation of the blessed virgin mary (or b.v.m, as she was typically abbreviated in catholic missals 'annunciation' means an announcement. this is the day that the angel gabriel announced to mary that she was 'in the family way. naturally, this had to be announced since mary, being still a virgin, would have no other means of knowing it (quit scoffing, o ye of little faith) why did the church pick the vernal equinox for t

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

pers of ephesus, according to the monkish legend, were christians who hid in a cave under the persecutions of decius in the 3rd century. they fell into a trance and slept 200 years. they awaked in a.d. 447 and going to the emperor 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 v

Return to Occult Library Index



Related Matches
age ages altar ancient angels apparition apparitions bible binah birth black blessed blood blue catholic catholics cave child children christ christian christians christianity church churches circle creation cross cult death deity demeter devil diana divine earth egypt egyptian existence father female fire force form forms france gabriel garden ghost god gods goddess gold heaven holy human immaculate initiation isis jesus jupiter king lamb legend living london magic male mary material matter medium michael mind modern moon mother mystery nature occultism order pagan people physical power powers priest queen re religion religions religious revelation roman rose sacred saint saints saviour sea set sin spirit spirits spiritual stars state stone sun symbol temple three tradition truth venus virgin water waters white wisdom women world worship


http://www.hollywoodinsiders.net
MWLibCreator Ver.2 By:Michael Wynn