Glossary
145 words of the old books, each defined in the books' own words, with the page it is printed on. The one-line glosses are ours.
Adonis
Our gloss: The Syrian and Greek god (Babylonian Tammuz) whose yearly death and return Frazer read as the decay and revival of vegetation.
The true name of the deity was Tammuz: the appellation of Adonis is merely the Semitic Adon, “lord,” a title of honour by which his worshippers addressed him.
Under the names of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis, the peoples of Egypt and Western Asia represented the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetable life, which they personified as a god who annually died and rose again from the dead.
See also Gardens of Adonis, Attis, Osiris.
Aeromancy
Our gloss: Divination by the air: winds, rainbows, halos, mists and shapes in clouds.
After the same maner doth Aeromancy divine by airy impressions, by the blowing of the Winds, by Rainbows, by Circles about the Moon and Stars, by Mists, and Clouds
See also Geomancy, Hydromancy, Pyromancy.
Alchemy
Our gloss: The art of transmuting metals and preparing the elixir; the Kybalion calls it "transcendental chemistry" and Agrippa describes alchemists' work on gold.
the ancients possessed a knowledge of transcendental astronomy, called astrology; of transcendental chemistry, called alchemy; of transcendental psychology, called mystic psychology
For which cause the Alchymists endeavour to separate this spirit from Gold, and Silver
See also Philosophers' Stone, Mental Transmutation.
Alligation
Our gloss: Binding or hanging a thing on the body (an amulet) so that its virtue passes to the wearer; also, in Agrippa, a binding spell.
By these alligations therefore, supensions, wrappings up, applications, and contacts the Accidents of the body, and mind are changed into sickness, health, boldness, fear, sadness
See also Occult Virtue, Fascination.
Aralim
Our gloss: The angelic order of "the Strong" or Thrones, assigned to Binah, the third Sephirah.
The Spirits of Binah are Aralim, or the Strong. Their empire is the creation of ideas; they correspond to activity and energy of thought.
the thrones, or which the Hebrews call Aralim
See also Binah, Hierarchies of Angels.
Attis
Our gloss: The Phrygian god beloved of Cybele, whose death and resurrection were mourned and celebrated each spring; to Frazer a god of vegetation like Adonis.
He was to Phrygia what Adonis was to Syria. Like Adonis, he appears to have been a god of vegetation, and his death and resurrection were annually mourned and rejoiced over at a festival in spring.
See also Adonis.
Augury
Our gloss: Roman divination by the behaviour of birds and animals; Agrippa says the Romans would do nothing public or private without it.
AUspicia, and Auguria, which foretell things to come by Animals & birds, Orpheus the divine himself (as we read) did teach and shew first of all
Amongst which Auguria, and Auspicia are the chiefest, which were in former time in such esteem amongst the Romanes, that they would do nothing that did belong to private or publique business
Auphanim
Our gloss: The angelic order of "Wheels" assigned to Chokmah, the second Sephirah.
The Spirits of Wisdom are the Auphanim, a Name which signifieth the Wheels, because all acts in Heaven like immense Wheels spangled with Stars.
or that the Hebrews call Orphanim, that is, forms or wheels
See also Chokmah, Hierarchies of Angels.
Balder
Our gloss: The Norse god, son of Odin, killed by a shaft of mistletoe; Frazer links his myth with the fire-festivals and the Golden Bough.
the Norse Balder, the good and beautiful god, the son of the great god Odin, and himself the wisest, mildest, best beloved of all the immortals
See also Mistletoe, Fire-festivals.
Beltane
Our gloss: The Celtic May Day festival, with its Beltane fires in the Scottish Highlands and Ireland.
IN THE CENTRAL Highlands of Scotland bonfires, known as the Beltane fires, were formerly kindled with great ceremony on the first of May
The festival of May Day or Beltane, as the Celts called it, which ushered in summer, has already been described
See also Fire-festivals, Hallowe'en.
Binah
Our gloss: The third Sephirah, "Understanding".
The third Sephira is Binah or Understanding.
See also Sephiroth.
Ceremonial Magick
Our gloss: Magic worked through rites, names and religious ceremonies; Agrippa divides it into Goetia and Theurgia.
Hence also they contain in them Goetia, and Theurgia, for which cause many divide Magick into two parts, viz. Naturall, and Ceremoniall.
THere are two things, which rule every operation of Ceremoniall Magick, namely Religion and Superstition.
Chaioth ha-Qadesh
Our gloss: The "holy living creatures", the highest order of angels, assigned to Kether and linked with the four beasts of Ezekiel.
The First Category of the Spirits is that of Chaioth Ha-Qadesh or the Intelligences of the Divine Tetragram, whose Letters are symbolised by the Mysterious Animals in the Prophecy of Ezekiel.
or as the Hebrews call them Haioth Hacadosch, that is creatures of holiness
See also Kether, Hierarchies of Angels.
Characters
Our gloss: In Agrippa, secret letters and signs that hide the names of gods and spirits from the profane; the ancients called them sacred or hieroglyphic letters.
Characters therefore are nothing else then certain unknowable letters and writings, preserving the secrets of the Gods, and names of spirits from the use and reading of prophane men, which the Ancients called Hyeroglyphicall, or sacred letters
See also Sigil.
Cherubim
Our gloss: An order of angels; in the Ancient Fragment, the spirits of Yesod, pictured in Hebrew symbolism as bulls.
The Spirits of Yesod are the Cherubim or Angels, those powers which fecundate the earth, and which are represented in Hebrew symbolism under the form of bulls.
See also Hierarchies of Angels, Yesod.
Chesed
Our gloss: The fourth Sephirah, "Mercy" or "Magnificence" (also called Gedulah).
The fourth Sephira is Gedulah or Chesed, Magnificence or Mercy.
the Idea of which in the divine numerations is called Hesed
See also Sephiroth.
Chokmah
Our gloss: The second Sephirah, "Wisdom".
The Second Number is two; the second Sephira is Chokmah or Wisdom.
his numeration is Hochma, that is wisdom, and signifieth the Divinity full of Idea's, and the first begotten
See also Sephiroth.
Collyrie
Our gloss: In Agrippa, an eye-salve or ointment believed to carry the virtues of things into the spirit.
MOreover Collyries, and Unguents conveying the vertues of things Naturall, and Celestiall to our spirit, can multiply, transmute, transfigure and transform it accordingly
Conjuration
Our gloss: A solemn calling upon or binding of spirits by holy names and other "bonds"; Agrippa sorts these bonds into three kinds.
THe bonds by which spirits are bound, besought, or cast out, are three
which conjurations, or adjurations, in as much as they are done by the name and power of Religion, and Divine vertue, those evil spirits are afraid of
See also Magus.
Consecration
Our gloss: In Agrippa, the rite by which a spiritual virtue is drawn into the matter of a work, made effective by the holiness of the person and the prayer.
is a lifting up of experiments, by which a spirituall soul, being drawn by proportion and conformity, is infused into the matter of our works
Contagious Magic
Our gloss: Frazer's term for magic based on the "Law of Contact": the belief that things once in contact go on acting on each other, as a person's hair or nails on the person.
Charms based on the Law of Contact or Contagion may be called Contagious Magic.
contagious magic commits the mistake of assuming that things which have once been in contact with each other are always in contact
See also Sympathetic Magic, Law of Contact, Homoeopathic Magic.
Corn-maiden
Our gloss: The corn-spirit pictured as young: a puppet or doll made from the last sheaf, called the Maiden or the kirn-baby in Scotland.
This puppet is called the Maiden or the Corn-maiden.
In some parts of Scotland, as well as in the north of England, the last handful of corn cut on the harvest-field was called the kirn, and the person who carried it off was said “to win the kirn.”
See also Corn-mother, Corn-spirit.
Corn-mother
Our gloss: The corn personified as a mother in European harvest custom; Frazer, after Mannhardt, read Demeter's name as "Barley-mother" or "Corn-mother".
In Germany the corn is very commonly personified under the name of the Corn-mother.
Demeter means neither more nor less than “Barley-mother” or “Corn-mother”
See also Corn-spirit, Corn-maiden, Demeter.
Corn-spirit
Our gloss: In Frazer, the spirit believed to live in the growing grain, caught in the last sheaf at harvest and pictured as old or young, human or animal.
he or she represents the corn-spirit which has been caught in the last sheaf; in other words, the corn-spirit is represented in duplicate, by a human being and by a sheaf
In these customs the spirit of the ripe corn is regarded as old, or at least as of mature age. Hence the names of Mother, Grandmother, Old Woman, and so forth. But in other cases the corn-spirit is conceived as young.
See also Corn-mother, Tree-spirit, Lityerses.
Demeter
Our gloss: The Greek goddess of corn and mother of Persephone; Frazer saw in mother and daughter the old and new corn.
But sometimes the spirit appears in a double female form as both old and young, corresponding exactly to the Greek Demeter and Persephone
See also Corn-mother.
Departmental Kings of Nature
Our gloss: Frazer's term for persons believed to rule one element or side of nature, such as kings of rain or fire, compared with the King of the Wood.
If we could find instances of what we may call departmental kings of nature, that is of persons supposed to rule over particular elements or aspects of nature
See also King of the Wood, Man-god.
Diana
Our gloss: The Roman goddess of the woods, worshipped at Nemi; Frazer sees her as a goddess of fertility and the King of the Wood as her mate.
Diana was essentially a goddess of the woodlands, as Ceres was a goddess of the corn and Bacchus a god of the vine.
Like her Greek sister Artemis, she appears to have developed into a personification of the teeming life of nature, both animal and vegetable.
See also Nemi, King of the Wood, Sacred Marriage.
Divine King
Our gloss: In Frazer, a king held to embody a god, on whose health the world's welfare depends; hence, he argues, such kings were killed before their strength failed.
Now primitive peoples, as we have seen, sometimes believe that their safety and even that of the world is bound up with the life of one of these god-men or human incarnations of the divinity.
But no amount of care and precaution will prevent the man-god from growing old and feeble and at last dying.
See also Man-god, Temporary King.
Echeneis
Our gloss: The remora, a small fish said in ancient lore to stop a ship by its touch; Agrippa's example of a virtue in a thing's whole substance.
as that little fish Echeneis, which is said to stop a ship by its meer touch, this it doth not do according to any particular part, but according to the whole substance
See also Occult Virtue.
Elements
Our gloss: Fire, earth, water and air: in the old natural philosophy, the four grounds of which all bodies are compounded and into which they resolve.
THere are four Elements, and originall grounds of all corporeall things, Fire, Earth, VVater, Aire, of which all elementated inseriour bodies are compounded
See also First Qualities, Quintessence.
Emerald Tablet
Our gloss: A short alchemical text ascribed to Hermes, known from medieval Arabic and Latin versions, beginning "that which is above is as that which is below".
Tradition declares that on the dead body of Hermes, at Hebron, was found by an Isarim, an initiate, the tablet known as the Smaragdine. It contains, in a few sentences, the essence of the Hermetic wisdom.
See also Hermes Trismegistus, Principle of Correspondence, Telesme.
Expulsion of Evils
Our gloss: In Frazer, a public rite to drive out all a community's ills at once, either directly or by loading them on a scapegoat; often yearly.
The former may be called the direct or immediate expulsion of evils; the latter the indirect or mediate expulsion, or the expulsion by scapegoat.
See also Scapegoat.
External Soul
Our gloss: Frazer's term for the belief, common in folk-tales, that a person's soul or life can be kept hidden outside the body, so that he dies only if it is destroyed.
A warlock, giant, or other fairyland being is invulnerable and immortal because he keeps his soul hidden far away in some secret place
we may infer that the conception of an external soul is one which has had a powerful hold on the minds of men at an early stage of history
See also Soul as a Mannikin, Mistletoe, Totem.
Faces
Our gloss: In astrology, the three ten-degree divisions of each zodiac sign (36 in all), each given its own image.
THere are besides in the Zodiack thirty six images, according to the number of the faces
See also Triplicity.
Fascination
Our gloss: In Agrippa, a binding or bewitching worked through the eyes, the spirit of one person entering another's heart by the glance.
FAscination is a binding, which comes from the spirit of the Witch, through the eyes of him that is bewitched, entering to his heart.
In this principle lies the secret of personal magnetism, personal influence, fascination, etc.
Fire-festivals
Our gloss: The bonfires European peasants lit on fixed days of the year (Lent, Easter, May Day, Midsummer, Hallowe'en), which Frazer traces to pre-Christian times.
ALL over Europe the peasants have been accustomed from time immemorial to kindle bonfires on certain days of the year, and to dance round or leap over them.
See also Beltane, Midsummer Fires, Need-fire, Hallowe'en.
First Qualities
Our gloss: Hot, cold, moist and dry: the qualities of the four elements, each element having two (fire hot and dry, earth dry and cold, and so on).
For Fire is hot and dry, the Earth dry and cold, the VVater cold and moist, the Aire moist and hot.
OF the naturall vertues of things, some are Elementary, as to heat, to cool, to moisten, to dry; and they are called operations, or first qualities
See also Elements, Occult Virtue.
Gardens of Adonis
Our gloss: Pots of quickly sprouting plants tended for eight days and thrown into water with images of the dead Adonis; Frazer's proof that Adonis was a corn god.
These were baskets or pots filled with earth, in which wheat, barley, lettuces, fennel, and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended for eight days, chiefly or exclusively by women.
See also Adonis.
Geburah
Our gloss: The fifth Sephirah, "Justice", "Power" or "Fear" (also called Pachad).
The fifth Sephira is Geburah or Justice.
his numeration is called Geburach, which is to say, power, gravity, fortitude, security, judgement
See also Sephiroth.
Genius
Our gloss: A guardian spirit given to each person; Agrippa describes three good demons for every man, and the Key of Solomon calls them Genii.
EVery man hath a threefold good Demon, as a proper keeper, or preserver, the one whereof is holy, another of the nativity, and the other of profession.
God hath destined to each one of us a Spirit, which watches over us and takes care of our preservation; these are called Genii
See also Intelligence.
Geomancy
Our gloss: Divination by the earth: by its motions and tremors, or by figures of points marked on the ground; Agrippa calls it the most accurate of divinations.
The first therefore is Geomancy, which foresheweth future things by the motions of the earth, as also the noise, the swelling, the trembling, the chops, the pits, and exhalation, and other impressions
Also Geomancy it self the most accurate of Divinations, which divines by points of the earth, or any other superfices
See also Hydromancy, Aeromancy, Pyromancy.
Goetia
Our gloss: In Agrippa, the unlawful part of ceremonial magic, dealing with unclean spirits; he places necromancers and witches under it.
NOw the parts of Ceremonial Magick are Goetia and Theurgia; Goetia is unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities, unlawfull charms, and deprecations, and is abandoned and execrated by all laws.
See also Ceremonial Magick, Theurgia, Necromancy.
Golden Bough
Our gloss: The branch Aeneas plucked before entering the underworld in Virgil; Frazer identifies it with the bough the King of the Wood had to break, and with the mistletoe.
According to the public opinion of the ancients the fateful branch was that Golden Bough which, at the Sibyl’s bidding, Aeneas plucked before he essayed the perilous journey to the world of the dead.
It is not a new opinion that the Golden Bough was the mistletoe.
See also King of the Wood, Mistletoe.
Hallowe'en
Our gloss: The eve of All Saints' Day (31 October); in Frazer, the old Celtic feast that announced winter and may have begun the Celtic year.
one being celebrated on the eve of May Day and the other on Allhallow Even or Hallowe’en, as it is now commonly called, that is, on the thirty-first of October, the day preceding All Saints’ or Allhallows’ Day
Of the two feasts Hallowe’en was perhaps of old the more important, since the Celts would seem to have dated the beginning of the year from it rather than from Beltane.
See also Beltane, Fire-festivals.
Hermes Trismegistus
Our gloss: "Thrice-great Hermes", the legendary sage credited with the Hermetic writings and the Emerald Tablet; later scholarship dates the Hermetica to the early centuries AD.
bestowing upon him, distinctively, his ancient title, "Trismegistus," which means "the thrice-great"; "the great-great"; "the greatest-great"; etc.
Therefore am I called Thrice Great Hermes, having the Three Parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
See also Hermetic, Emerald Tablet, Kybalion.
Hermetic
Our gloss: Belonging to the teachings ascribed to Hermes; the Kybalion also notes the everyday sense of "secret" or "sealed".
Even to this day, we use the term "hermetic" in the sense of "secret"; "sealed so that nothing can escape"; etc., and this by reason of the fact that the followers of Hermes always observed the principle of secrecy in their teachings.
See also Hermes Trismegistus.
Hierarchies of Angels
Our gloss: The ordering of angels, after Dionysius, into three hierarchies of three orders each, from Seraphim down to Angels.
BUt our Theologians, together with Dionysius, maintain the three distinctions of Angels; every one of which they divide into three orders, they call these Hierarchies
The Spirits are governed by the natural and universal Hierarchy of things.
Hod
Our gloss: The eighth Sephirah, "Splendour" or "Glory": "eternal order" in Mathers, "praise" in Agrippa.
The eighth Sephira is Hod or eternal order.
Hod, which is interpreted both praise, confession
See also Sephiroth.
Homoeopathic Magic
Our gloss: Frazer's term for magic based on the "Law of Similarity": the belief that like produces like, so an effect can be caused by imitating it.
Charms based on the Law of Similarity may be called Homoeopathic or Imitative Magic.
Homoeopathic magic commits the mistake of assuming that things which resemble each other are the same
See also Sympathetic Magic, Law of Similarity, Contagious Magic.
Hydromancy
Our gloss: Divination by water: its ebb and flow, colours, and visions seen in it.
Now Hydromancy doth perform its presages by the impressions of water, their ebbing and flowing, their increases, and depressions, their tempests, and colours, and the like
Idea
Our gloss: In the Platonism Agrippa follows, an eternal form in the mind of God, of which bodily things are copies.
Platonists say that all inferiour bodies are exemplified by the superiour Idea's. Now they define an Idea to be a form, above bodies, souls, minds, and to be but one, simple, pure, immutable, indivisible, incorporeal, and eternall
See also Three Worlds.
Inchantment
Our gloss: A spell of spoken words or verses; Agrippa reports the belief that enchantments could overturn almost all of nature.
THey say that the power of inchantments, and verses is so great, that it is believed they are able to subvert almost all nature
See also Conjuration.
Intelligence
Our gloss: In Agrippa, a bodiless spiritual being; each planet has a good Intelligence as well as an evil spirit.
An Intelligence is an intelligible substance, free from all gross and putrifying mass of a body, immortall, insensible, assisting all, having Influence over all
Over this are of Divine names set such names as fill up the numbers with an Intelligency to what is good, with a spirit to what is bad
See also Planetary Spirit, Planetary Tables.
Isis
Our gloss: The Egyptian goddess, sister and wife of Osiris, who gathered his body and restored him; the Kybalion uses "the Veil of Isis" for hidden truth.
In pity for her sorrow the sun-god Ra sent down from heaven the jackal-headed god Anubis, who, with the aid of Isis and Nephthys, of Thoth and Horus, pieced together the broken body of the murdered god
Its use even tore aside the Veil of Isis to the extent that a glimpse of the face of the goddess might be caught.
See also Osiris.
Issim
Our gloss: The "animastic order" of blessed souls, heroes and demigods, set below the angels and assigned to Malkuth.
the Animastic al order is the next, which the Hebrew Theologians call Issim, that is, strong and mighty men; the Magicians of the Gentiles, call Heroes and Demi-gods, or gods half men
The Spirits of Malkuth are the Ischim, or the virile ones; they are the souls of the Saints whose Chief is Moses.
See also Malkuth, Hierarchies of Angels.
Kabbalah
Our gloss: The Jewish mystical tradition on God's names, letters and emanations; Agrippa explains the name as teaching received "only by hearing".
So certain Jews despising literature, placed this in memorie, and observations, and vocall traditions, whence Cabalie was by the Hebrews called as it were the reception of any thing from another only by hearing.
The Sephiroth are the ten Qabalistical Emanations of the Deity.
See also Sephiroth, Notariacon, Ziruph, Sepher Yetzirah, Tetragrammaton.
Kether
Our gloss: The first Sephirah, "the Crown", the simplest essence of the Divinity.
The First of the Divine Conceptions called the Sephiroth is Kether or the Crown.
his numeration is called Cether, which is interpreted a Crown or Diadem, and signifieth the most simple Essence of the Divinity
See also Sephiroth.
Key of Solomon
Our gloss: A grimoire of conjurations and pentacles ascribed to King Solomon, known from manuscripts of the 15th century on; Mathers edited it in 1889.
The Rabbins, who were careful to cultivate (the same knowledge) after him, called this Testament the Clavicle or Key of Solomon
so that like as a key openeth a treasure-house, so this (Key) alone may open the knowledge and understanding of magical arts and sciences
King of the Wood
Our gloss: The priest of Diana's grove at Nemi, a runaway slave who won office by plucking a bough and slaying his predecessor; the puzzle The Golden Bough sets out to explain.
Success in the attempt entitled him to fight the priest in single combat, and if he slew him he reigned in his stead with the title of King of the Wood (Rex Nemorensis).
first, why had Diana’s priest at Nemi, the King of the Wood, to slay his predecessor? second, why before doing so had he to pluck the branch of a certain tree
See also Golden Bough, Nemi.
Kybalion
Our gloss: A 1908 book by "Three Initiates" claiming to set out ancient Hermetic maxims; usually attributed to W. W. Atkinson of the New Thought movement, not ancient.
In the early days, there was a compilation of certain Basic Hermetic Doctrines, passed on from teacher to student, which was known as "THE KYBALION," the exact significance and meaning of the term having been lost for several centuries.
See also Hermes Trismegistus, Seven Hermetic Principles.
Law of Compensation
Our gloss: In the Kybalion, the aspect of Rhythm by which a swing one way is counterbalanced by an equal swing the other way.
One of the definitions or meanings of the word "Compensate" is, "to counterbalance" which is the sense in which the Hermetists use the term.
See also Principle of Rhythm.
Law of Contact
Our gloss: In Frazer, the second principle of magical thinking: that things once in contact keep acting on each other at a distance.
things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed
See also Contagious Magic, Law of Similarity.
Law of Neutralization
Our gloss: In the Kybalion, the means of escaping the swing of Rhythm by raising the consciousness to a higher plane, so that the backward swing is not felt.
This they call the Law of Neutralization. Its operations consist in the raising of the Ego above the vibrations of the Unconscious Plane of mental activity
See also Principle of Rhythm.
Law of Similarity
Our gloss: In Frazer, the first principle of magical thinking: that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause.
first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause
From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it
See also Homoeopathic Magic, Law of Contact.
Lesser World
Our gloss: Man seen as a small copy of the universe (the microcosm), containing in himself all its numbers, measures and elements.
SEeing man is the most beautifull and perfectest work of God, and his Image, and also the lesser world
See also Principle of Correspondence.
Lityerses
Our gloss: A Phrygian reaping song and its hero, said to behead strangers in his corn-field; Frazer reads it as a memory of killing a stand-in for the corn-spirit.
IN PHRYGIA the corresponding song, sung by harvesters both at reaping and at threshing, was called Lityerses.
certain persons, especially strangers passing the harvest field, were regularly regarded as embodiments of the corn-spirit
See also Corn-spirit.
Loadstone
Our gloss: The magnet, the standard example in Agrippa of an occult virtue: it draws iron by a power not explained by its elements.
IT is well known to all, that there is a Certain vertue in the Loadstone, by which it attracts Iron, and that the Diamond doth by its presence take away that vertue of the Loadstone
See also Occult Virtue.
Lots
Our gloss: Divination by casting lots, which Agrippa treats as a kind of oracle, citing the Bible.
THere are also certain Lots having a divine power of Oracles, and as it were Indexes of divine judgement
Magic and Religion
Our gloss: Frazer's contrast: magic assumes nature runs by fixed laws, religion seeks to please higher powers; his idea of an "Age of Magic" before religion is no longer accepted.
By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life.
Legitimately applied they yield science; illegitimately applied they yield magic, the bastard sister of science.
See also Sympathetic Magic.
Magicians as Kings
Our gloss: Frazer's thesis that kings often grew out of public magicians, so that many early kings held priestly or magical as well as royal powers.
Wherever ceremonies of this sort are observed for the common good, it is obvious that the magician ceases to be merely a private practitioner and becomes to some extent a public functionary.
Further, it appears that the royal priest is often a king, not only in name but in fact, swaying the sceptre as well as the crosier.
See also Public Magic, Divine King.
Magick
Our gloss: Agrippa's word for magic: in his account the highest science, knowing the hidden virtues of things and joining them to work wonders. His Vanity of Sciences, printed with it, condemns it.
MAgick is a faculty of wonderfull vertue, full of most high mysteries, containing the most profound Contemplation of most secret things, together with the nature, power, quality, substance, and vertues thereof, as also the knowledge of whole nature
Suidas is of the opinion that Magick had its name, and originall from the Maguseans. It is the common opinion, that it is a Persian name, to which Porphyry, and Apuleius assent, and that in that tongue it signifies a priest, wise man, or Philosopher.
See also Natural Magick, Ceremonial Magick, Mathematical Magick, Magus.
Magus
Our gloss: A magician; in the Key of Solomon, the master who leads an operation, also called the Exorcist; Agrippa notes the Persian sense of priest or wise man.
He who hath attained the rank or degree o Exorcist, which we are usually accustomed to call Magus or Master according to grade
It is the common opinion, that it is a Persian name, to which Porphyry, and Apuleius assent, and that in that tongue it signifies a priest, wise man, or Philosopher.
See also Magick.
Malkuth
Our gloss: The tenth and lowest Sephirah, "the Kingdom".
The tenth Sephira is Malkuth, or the kingdom of Forms.
his numeration is Malchuth, that is, Kingdom and Empire, & signifieth a Church, Temple of God, and a Gate
See also Sephiroth.
Man-god
Our gloss: In Frazer, a human being believed to have divine or supernatural powers, a god incarnate in human form.
The notion of a man-god, or of a human being endowed with divine or supernatural powers, belongs essentially to that earlier period of religious history in which gods and men are still viewed as beings of much the same order
See also Divine King, Magicians as Kings.
Mansions of the Moon
Our gloss: The 28 divisions of the zodiac through which the Moon passes in about 28 days, each held to have its own virtue.
ANd seeing the Moon measureth the whole Zodiack in the space of twenty eight dayes; hence is it, that the wisemen of the Indians and ancientest Astrologians have granted twenty eight Mansions to the Moon
Mathematical Magick
Our gloss: In Agrippa, the art claimed to make lifelike works, such as moving or speaking figures, by mathematical learning and the heavens rather than natural virtues.
which promise they can by the influences of the heavens, obtained without naturall vertues, but only by Mathematicall learning, produce works like to those of nature, as walking, or talking bodies, which have not animall vertues
See also Magick.
May-pole
Our gloss: The tree or pole set up in villages in spring; Frazer reads it as a way of bringing the blessings of the tree-spirit home to every house.
The intention of these customs is to bring home to the village, and to each house, the blessings which the tree-spirit has in its power to bestow.
See also Tree-spirit.
Mental Transmutation
Our gloss: In the Kybalion, the art of changing mental states and conditions into others, which it presents as the true meaning of Hermetic alchemy.
These teachings really constituted the basic principles of "The Art of Hermetic Alchemy," which, contrary to the general belief, dealt in the mastery of Mental Forces, rather than Material Elements—the Transmutation of one kind of Mental Vibrations into others, instead of the changing of one kind of metal into another.
We have shown you that a mental state and its opposite were merely the two poles of one thing, and that by Mental Transmutation the polarity might be reversed.
See also Principle of Polarity, Alchemy.
Metatron
Our gloss: In Agrippa's account of the Kabbalah, the intelligence of Kether, "the prince of faces", through whom God spoke to Moses.
whose particular intelligence is called Merattron, that is, the prince of faces, whose duty it is to bring others to the face of the prince; and by him the Lord spake to Moses
See also Kether.
Midsummer Fires
Our gloss: The bonfires of the summer solstice (Midsummer Eve, 23 June), in Frazer's account the most widespread fire-festival in Europe.
BUT THE SEASON at which these firefestivals have been most generally held all over Europe is the summer solstice, that is Midsummer Eve (the twenty-third of June) or Midsummer day (the twenty—fourth of June).
See also Fire-festivals.
Mistletoe
Our gloss: The plant that killed Balder in Norse myth; Frazer argued it was thought to hold the life of the oak, being green in winter and rooted neither in earth nor sky.
The idea that the life of the oak was in the mistletoe was probably suggested, as I have said, by the observation that in winter the mistletoe growing on the oak remains green while the oak itself is leafless.
the Druids esteemed nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the oak on which it grew
See also Golden Bough, Balder, External Soul.
Natural Magick
Our gloss: In Agrippa, magic that works only through the natural virtues of herbs, stones and other things: "the active part of naturall Philosophy".
IT is thought that naturall Magick is nothing else but the highest power of naturall Sciences, which therefore is called the height of naturall Philosophy, and the most absolute consummation thereof, and that which is the active part of naturall Philosophy
See also Magick, Occult Virtue.
Necromancy
Our gloss: Divination or magic through the dead; Agrippa derives the name from its working on dead bodies and ghosts.
Hence Necromancy hath its name, because it worketh on the bodies of the dead, and giveth answers by the ghosts and apparitions of the dead, and subterrany spirits
it will be always better to perform them at night, which is the most fit and proper time for the Operations of Necromancy
See also Goetia.
Need-fire
Our gloss: A fire made by rubbing wood, lit in times of plague or cattle disease after all other fires were put out; Frazer thought it perhaps the oldest fire-festival.
The usual occasion for performing the rite was an outbreak of plague or cattle-disease, for which the need-fire was believed to be an infallible remedy.
The regular method of producing the need-fire was by the friction of two pieces of wood; it might not be struck by flint and steel.
See also Fire-festivals.
Nemi
Our gloss: A lake and town in the Alban Hills near Rome, site of the sacred grove of Diana where the King of the Wood served.
their old word for sanctuary seems to be identical in origin and meaning with the Latin nemus, a grove or woodland glade, which still survives in the name of Nemi
See also King of the Wood, Diana.
Netzach
Our gloss: The seventh Sephirah, "Victory".
The seventh Sephira is Netzach, or Victory.
his numeration is Nezah, that triumph and victory
See also Sephiroth.
Notariacon
Our gloss: A Kabbalistic method of reading each letter of a word as the initial of another word, or forming a word from initials.
the greatest mysteries lie in Hebrew letters, as is handled concerning these in that part of Cabaly which they call Notariacon
This again they divide into Arithmancy, viz. that which is called Notariacon, treating of Angelical vertues, names, & seals, also of the conditions of spirits, and souls
Occult Virtue
Our gloss: In Agrippa, a hidden power in a thing, such as the magnet's pull on iron, which does not come from its elements and whose cause cannot be seen.
And they are called occult qualities, because their Causes lie hid, and mans intellect cannot in any way reach
II is now manifest that the occult properties in things are not from the nature of the Elements, but infused from above, hid from our senses, and scarce at last known by our reason
See also First Qualities, Natural Magick, Loadstone.
Osiris
Our gloss: The Egyptian god killed by Set and restored by Isis; Frazer classes him with Adonis and Attis as a personification of the yearly cycle, especially the corn.
IN ANCIENT EGYPT the god whose death and resurrection were annually celebrated with alternate sorrow and joy was Osiris, the most popular of all Egyptian deities
Passions of the Mind
Our gloss: In Agrippa, motions of the soul toward or away from what it perceives as good or evil, which he says can act on one's own and others' bodies.
THe passions of the mind are nothing else but certain motions or inclinations proceeding from the apprehension of any thing, as of good or evill, convenient or inconvenient.
See also Phantasie.
Pentacle
Our gloss: In the Key of Solomon, a medal or sheet drawn with holy names and figures, used to protect the operator and command spirits.
The Medals or Pentacles, which we make for the purpose of striking terror into the Spirits and reducing them to obedience, have besides this wonderful and excellent virtue.
it is necessary that thou shouldest understand that the whole Science and understanding of our Key dependeth upon the operation. Knowledge, and use of Pentacles.
See also Pentagram, Sigil, Characters.
Pentagram
Our gloss: A five-pointed figure; in the Ancient Fragment, the four letters of the Tetragrammaton with the letter Shin added, each letter a power of good.
His Name is composed of the letters of the Divine Tetragram changed into the Pentagram by the addition of the Letter Schin
Each letter of this Pentagram represents a power of good attacked by the five accursed nations.
See also Tetragrammaton, Pentacle.
Phantasie
Our gloss: The imagination; Agrippa holds it rules the passions of the soul and can change the body.
THe Phantasie, or imaginative power hath a ruling power over the passions of the soul, when they follow the sensuall apprehension.
See also Passions of the Mind.
Philosophers' Stone
Our gloss: The legendary substance of alchemy said to turn base metal into gold; the Kybalion reads it as an allegory of mental transformation.
The legends of the "Philosopher's Stone" which would turn base metal into Gold, was an allegory relating to Hermetic Philosophy
See also Alchemy, Mental Transmutation.
Phrensie
Our gloss: Divine frenzy: in Agrippa, an illumination of the soul from the gods or demons, of four kinds (from the Muses, Dionysus, Apollo and Venus).
PHrensie is an illustration of the soul coming from the Gods, or Demons.
See also Soothsaying, Rapture.
Planetary Hours
Our gloss: The scheme by which each hour of the day and night is ruled by one of the seven planets in turn, starting from the planet that names the day.
It is, therefore, advisable to know that the hours of the day and of the night together, are twenty-four in number, and that each hour is governed by one of the Seven Planets in regular order, commencing at the highest and descending to the lowest.
The rule of the Planets over each hour begins from the dawn at the rising of the Sun on the day which take its name from such Planet, and the Planet which follows it in order, succeeds to the rule over the next hour.
Planetary Spirit
Our gloss: A spirit belonging to one of the seven planets; in Agrippa's tables each planet's spirit is set against its good Intelligence.
there are also Spirits of the Heaven of Saturn, which I call Saturnites; there are Jovial, Martial, Solar, Venerean, Mercurial, and Lunar Spirits
And there are over it divine names with an Intelligence to good, with a spirit to bad, and out of it is drawn the Character of Jupiter, and the spirits thereof.
See also Intelligence, Planetary Tables.
Planetary Tables
Our gloss: Agrippa's "sacred tables of the planets": number squares (magic squares) assigned to the seven planets, from which names and seals are drawn.
IT is affirmed by Magicians, that there are certain tables of numbers distributed to the seven planets, which they call the sacred tables of the planets
The first of them is assigned to Saturn, and consists of a square of three, containing the particular numbers of nine, and in every line three every way, and through each Diameter making fifteen.
See also Intelligence, Planetary Spirit, Sigil.
Principle of Cause and Effect
Our gloss: The sixth Hermetic principle in the Kybalion: every cause has its effect and every effect its cause; chance is only a name for law not recognized.
The great Sixth Hermetic Principle—the Principle of Cause and Effect—embodies the truth that Law pervades the Universe; that nothing happens by Chance; that Chance is merely a term indicating cause existing but not recognized or perceived
See also Seven Hermetic Principles.
Principle of Correspondence
Our gloss: The second Hermetic principle in the Kybalion: the laws and phenomena of the different planes of being correspond, summed up as "As above, so below".
This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. The old Hermetic axiom ran in these words: "As above, so below; as below, so above."
that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for performing the miracles of the One Thing
See also Seven Hermetic Principles, Emerald Tablet.
Principle of Gender
Our gloss: The seventh Hermetic principle in the Kybalion: masculine and feminine principles are at work in everything, on the physical, mental and spiritual planes.
This Principle embodies the truth that there is GENDER manifested in everything—the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work. This is true not only of the Physical Plane, but of the Mental and even the Spiritual Planes.
The "I" represents the Masculine Principle of Mental Gender—the "Me" represents the Female Principle.
See also Seven Hermetic Principles.
Principle of Mentalism
Our gloss: The first of the Kybalion's seven Hermetic principles: "The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental", so that the universe exists as a mental creation of The All.
The first of the Seven Hermetic Principles is the Principle of Mentalism, the axiom of which is "THE ALL is Mind; the Universe is Mental," which means that the Underlying Reality of the Universe is Mind; and the Universe itself is Mental
See also The All, Seven Hermetic Principles.
Principle of Polarity
Our gloss: The fourth Hermetic principle in the Kybalion: everything is dual, and opposites are two extremes of one thing, differing only in degree.
It explains that in everything there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that "opposites" are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them.
See also Seven Hermetic Principles, Mental Transmutation.
Principle of Rhythm
Our gloss: The fifth Hermetic principle in the Kybalion: everything flows out and in, with a pendulum-like swing between the two poles of a thing.
The great Fifth Hermetic Principle—the Principle of Rhythm—embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion; a to-and-from movement; a flow and inflow; a swing forward and backward; a pendulum-like movement
See also Seven Hermetic Principles, Law of Neutralization, Law of Compensation.
Principle of Vibration
Our gloss: The third Hermetic principle in the Kybalion: nothing rests and everything vibrates, the differences between matter, energy, mind and spirit being rates of vibration.
This Principle explains that the differences between different manifestations of Matter, Energy, Mind, and even Spirit, result largely from varying rates of Vibration.
See also Seven Hermetic Principles.
Public Magic
Our gloss: In Frazer, magic done for the whole community (such as rain-making), as against private magic for one person; he saw its practitioners as forerunners of kings.
But in savage society there is commonly to be found in addition what we may call public magic, that is, sorcery practised for the benefit of the whole community.
See also Magicians as Kings, Rain-making.
Pyromancy
Our gloss: Divination by fire: flames, comets, fiery colours and visions in the fire.
So also Pyromancy divines by fiery impressions, and by Stars with long Tailes, by fiery Colours, by visions, and imaginations in the fire.
See also Geomancy, Hydromancy, Aeromancy.
Quintessence
Our gloss: The "fifth essence" beyond the four elements; in Agrippa, the spirit of the world that joins soul to body and carries the virtues of the heavens.
Now they conceive such a medium to be the spirit of the World, viz. that which we call the quintessence: because it is not from the four Elements, but a certain first thing, having its being above, and besides them.
receive from heaven that Celestiall power which they call the quintessence, or the spirit of the world, or the middle nature
See also Spirit of the World, Elements.
Rain-making
Our gloss: The control of rain by magic, one of the chief tasks of the public magician in Frazer's account.
they also acted as public rain-makers, wringing showers from the dark sky by their enchantments whenever the parched earth cried out for the refreshing moisture
See also Public Magic, Homoeopathic Magic.
Rapture
Our gloss: In Agrippa, a withdrawing of the soul from the senses and body by God, caused by long contemplation of sublime things.
Rapture is an abstraction, and alienation, and an illustration of the soul proceeding from God
See also Phrensie.
Sacrament of First-fruits
Our gloss: In Frazer, the solemn eating of the new corn, or of an animal or person standing for the corn-spirit, as a way of eating the god.
WE have now seen that the corn-spirit is represented sometimes in human, sometimes in animal form, and that in both cases he is killed in the person of his representative and eaten sacramentally.
See also Corn-spirit.
Sacred Marriage
Our gloss: In Frazer, the real or mock wedding of a god and goddess (or their human stand-ins), held to make the earth fruitful.
the sacred marriage of the powers both of vegetation and of water has been celebrated by many peoples for the sake of promoting the fertility of the earth
Thus the Sacred Marriage of the Sun and Earth, personated by the priest and his wife, is celebrated as a charm to ensure the fertility of the ground
See also Homoeopathic Magic, Diana.
Saturnalia
Our gloss: The Roman midwinter festival of licence when slaves played masters and a mock king was chosen; Frazer links it to the killing of a man who played Saturn.
Like the pale reflection of power thus accorded to bondsmen at the Saturnalia was the mock kingship for which freemen cast lots at the same season.
See also Temporary King.
Scapegoat
Our gloss: In Frazer, the animal, person or object onto which a community's accumulated evils are loaded and driven out; named after the goat of Leviticus 16.
For here, on the one hand, the evils are invisible and intangible; and, on the other hand, there is a visible and tangible vehicle to convey them away. And a scapegoat is nothing more than such a vehicle.
as is read in Leviticus concerning a goat to be offered to the Lord, and of the scape goat
See also Transference of Evil, Expulsion of Evils.
Sepher Yetzirah
Our gloss: The "Book of Formation", an early Kabbalistic text on the creation of the world through numbers and letters.
The “Sepher Yetzirah,” or “Book of Formation,” one of the most ancient Books of the Qabalah.
See also Kabbalah.
Sephiroth
Our gloss: In the Kabbalah, the ten emanations or attributes of God, each with a divine name; Agrippa calls them "numerations".
The Sephiroth are the ten Qabalistical Emanations of the Deity. The Sovereign Equivalents are the Divine Names referred thereto.
which by ten numerations which they call Sephiroth as it were vestiments, Instruments or examplars of the Archetype, have an influence on all things created
See also Kabbalah, Kether, Chokmah, Binah, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malkuth.
Seraphim
Our gloss: The highest order of angels in Dionysius's scheme; in the Ancient Fragment, the "Spirits burning with zeal" of Geburah.
The Spirits of Geburah are the Seraphim, or the Spirits burning with zeal.
They place therefore in the superior Hierarchies, Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, as it were supercelestiall Angels contemplating the order of the Divine providence
See also Hierarchies of Angels, Geburah.
Seven Hermetic Principles
Our gloss: The Kybalion's seven laws of its "Hermetic Philosophy": Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender.
I. The Principle of Mentalism. II. The Principle of Correspondence. III. The Principle of Vibration. IV. The Principle of Polarity. V. The Principle of Rhythm. VI. The Principle of Cause and Effect. VII. The Principle of Gender.
See also Principle of Mentalism, Principle of Correspondence, Principle of Vibration, Principle of Polarity, Principle of Rhythm, Principle of Cause and Effect, Principle of Gender.
Shells
Our gloss: In the Ancient Fragment printed by Mathers, the evil or "dead" spirits of the counter-hierarchy, opposed to the Sephiroth (the Qliphoth of the Kabbalah).
then if thou invertest the Sacred Ladder, if thou descendest instead of ascending, thou wilt discover the Counter-Hierarchy of the Shells, or of the Dead Spirits.
They have for Adversaries the Chaigidel, or the Shells which attach themselves to Material and Lying Appearances.
Sigil
Our gloss: A magical sign or seal standing for a divine name, angel or spirit.
all the Divine Sigils, Characters, and Names (which are the most precious and excellent things in Nature, whether Terrestrial or Celestial), should be written by thee each separately
out of the same numbers is drawn the seal, or Character of Saturn, and of the spirits thereof
See also Characters, Pentacle.
Soothsaying
Our gloss: In Agrippa, prophecy by priests or others seized by oracles and spirits descending from gods or demons.
SOothsaying is that which the priests or others were stricken withall, and discerned the causes of things, and foresaw future things, viz. when Oracles and Spirits descend from the Gods or from Demons upon them
See also Phrensie.
Sorcery
Our gloss: In Agrippa, a substance or potion used for bewitching; in Frazer, "positive magic", as against taboo.
THe force of Sorceries is reported to be so great, that they are believed to be able to subvert, consume, and change all inferiour things
Positive magic or sorcery says, “Do this in order that so and so may happen.” Negative magic or taboo says, “Do not do this, lest so and so should happen.”
See also Taboo.
Soul as a Mannikin
Our gloss: In Frazer's account of early thought, the soul is a little man or animal inside the body; sleep is its brief absence and death its permanent one.
if a man lives and moves, it can only be because he has a little man or animal inside who moves him. The animal inside the animal, the man inside the man, is the soul.
See also External Soul.
Spirit of the World
Our gloss: In Agrippa, the soul and spirit that animate the whole world and the heavens, through which celestial virtues reach lower things.
THe world, the heavens, the Stars, and the Elements have a soul, with which they cause a soul in these inferior and mixed bodies.
which indeed come from the Life, and the Spirit of the World, through the rayes of the Stars
See also Quintessence.
Suffumigation
Our gloss: A perfume or incense burned in a rite; Agrippa assigns fumes to each star and planet, and the Key of Solomon sweet ones to good spirits.
SOme Suffumigations also, or perfumings, that are proper to the Stars, are of great force for the opportune receiving of Celestiall gifts under the rayes of the Stars
There are many kinds of Incense, Suffumigations, and Perfumes, which are made for and offered unto the Spirits; those which are of sweet odour are for the good, those which are of evil savour are for the evil.
Sympathetic Magic
Our gloss: Frazer's name for magic that assumes things act on each other at a distance through a secret sympathy; it has two branches, homoeopathic and contagious.
Both branches of magic, the homoeopathic and the contagious, may conveniently be comprehended under the general name of Sympathetic Magic, since both assume that things act on each other at a distance through a secret sympathy
See also Homoeopathic Magic, Contagious Magic, Sympathy and Antipathy.
Sympathy and Antipathy
Our gloss: The natural attraction and aversion between things; Agrippa makes it a ground of natural magic, and Frazer names "sympathetic magic" after it.
In the next place it is requisite that we consider that all things have a friendliness, and enmity amongst themselves, and every thing hath something that it fears & dreads
since both assume that things act on each other at a distance through a secret sympathy
See also Sympathetic Magic, Natural Magick.
Taboo
Our gloss: A ritual prohibition; Frazer calls it "negative magic" and finds its root in the belief that certain persons, things and words are dangerous and in danger.
Thus taboo is so far a negative application of practical magic.
To him the common feature of all these persons is that they are dangerous and in danger, and the danger in which they stand and to which they expose others is what we should call spiritual or ghostly, and therefore imaginary.
See also Sorcery, Sympathetic Magic.
Telesme
Our gloss: The Latin telesmus of the Emerald Tablet, rendered "perfection" or "consummation" in English versions: the finished work the One Thing brings about.
pater omnis telesmi, sive consummatio totius mundi est hic
This is the father of all perfection, or consummation of the whole world.
See also Emerald Tablet.
Temporary King
Our gloss: In Frazer, a stand-in who reigns briefly in the king's place and is sometimes put to death instead of him; later only mocked.
The king still abdicates annually for a short time and his place is filled by a more or less nominal sovereign; but at the close of his short reign the latter is no longer killed, though sometimes a mock execution still survives
See also Divine King, Saturnalia.
Tetractys
Our gloss: The Pythagorean name for the number four, held to be the root and foundation of all other numbers.
Pythagorians call the Number of four Tetractis, and prefer it before all the vertues of Numbers, because it is the foundation, and root of all other numbers
Tetragrammaton
Our gloss: The four-letter Hebrew name of God (YHVH), treated in these books as the holiest of the divine names.
besides the name Tetragrammaton, which is holy, signifying the substance of the Creator in a pure signification, in which no other thing is partaker with God the Creator; therefore it is called the separated name
by the Ineffable Name of God in Four Letters, Yod, He, Vau, He
The All
Our gloss: In the Kybalion, the single Substantial Reality underlying the universe, described as Spirit and thought of as an infinite living Mind.
It explains that THE ALL (which is the Substantial Reality underlying all the outward manifestations and appearances which we know under the terms of "The Material Universe"; the "Phenomena of Life"; "Matter"; "Energy"; and, in short, all that is apparent to our material senses) is SPIRIT which in itself is UNKNOWABLE and UNDEFINABLE
Spirit is simply a name that men give to the highest conception of Infinite Living Mind—it means "the Real Essence"
See also Principle of Mentalism.
Theoretical Magic
Our gloss: Frazer's distinction: magic seen as a (false) system of natural law is "theoretical"; seen as rules for getting what one wants, "practical".
Regarded as a system of natural law, that is, as a statement of the rules which determine the sequence of events throughout the world, it may be called Theoretical Magic: regarded as a set of precepts which human beings observe in order to compass their ends, it may be called Practical Magic.
See also Sympathetic Magic.
Theurgia
Our gloss: Theurgy: ceremonial magic claimed to work through good angels and divine names; Agrippa says many thought it lawful but doubts it.
NOw many think that Theurgia is not unlawfull, as if this be governed by good Angels, and a divine diety, when as yet oftentimes it is under the names of God, and the fallacies of evil Angels obstringed by the wicked fallacies of the devils.
See also Ceremonial Magick, Goetia.
Three Great Planes
Our gloss: The Kybalion's division of the universe into the physical, mental and spiritual planes, which it calls arbitrary degrees of one scale of life.
These divisions are more or less artificial and arbitrary, for the truth is that all of the three divisions are but ascending degrees of the great scale of Life, the lowest point of which is undifferentiated Matter, and the highest point that of Spirit.
I. The Great Physical Plane. II. The Great Mental Plane. III. The Great Spiritual Plane.
See also Principle of Correspondence.
Three Worlds
Our gloss: Agrippa's threefold world (elementary, celestial and intellectual), each ruled by the one above it; his three books follow this order.
Elementary, Celestiall, and intellectuall and every inferior is governed by its superior, and receiveth the influence of the vertues thereof
See also Idea.
Tiphereth
Our gloss: The sixth Sephirah, "Beauty", which Agrippa links with the tree of life and the Sun.
The sixth Sephira is Tiphereth the Supreme Beauty.
his numeration is Tiphereth, that is apparel, beauty, glory, pleasure, and signifieth the tree of life
See also Sephiroth.
Totem
Our gloss: An animal or plant with which a clan identifies and which members will not kill; Frazer's theory linking totems to the external soul has not held up.
Far more commonly the totem is appropriated not to a sex, but to a clan, and is hereditary either in the male or female line. The relation of an individual to the clan totem does not differ in kind from his relation to the sex totem; he will not kill it, he speaks of it as his brother, and he calls himself by its name.
See also External Soul.
Transference of Evil
Our gloss: In Frazer, the belief that sins and misfortunes can be shifted onto another person, animal or thing, like a load from one back to another.
The notion that we can transfer our guilt and sufferings to some other being who will bear them for us is familiar to the savage mind.
See also Scapegoat.
Tree-spirit
Our gloss: In Frazer, the spirit believed to dwell in a tree, later seen as apart from it, in human form or embodied in living men.
So much for the tree-spirit conceived as incorporate or immanent in the tree. We have now to show that the tree-spirit is often conceived and represented as detached from the tree and clothed in human form, and even as embodied in living men
IN THE RELIGIOUS history of the Aryan race in Europe the worship of trees has played an important part.
See also May-pole, Corn-spirit.
Triplicity
Our gloss: In astrology, a set of three zodiac signs sharing one element, such as the fiery triplicity of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.
constituting Aries, Leo, and Sagittary for the fiery and oriental triplicity
Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, because the constitute the watry & Northern Triplicity
Virgin Parchment
Our gloss: In the Key of Solomon, new parchment or paper, never used for anything else and ritually prepared, on which pentacles and characters are written.
Virgin paper, or card, is that which is new, pure, clean, and exorcised, never having served for any other purpose.
See also Pentacle.
Yesod
Our gloss: The ninth Sephirah, "Foundation", linked with the Moon.
The ninth Sephira is Yesod, or the fundamental principle.
his numeration is Iesod, that is foundation, and signifieth a good understanding, a Covenant, redemption and rest
See also Sephiroth.
Ziruph
Our gloss: A Kabbalistic method of drawing new names from a word by exchanging the letters of the alphabet according to a fixed scheme.
But sometimes by changing of the Alphabeth, which the Cabalists call Ziruph
See also Kabbalah, Notariacon.