Esoteric
Glossary
O – P
Occultist The
true occultist is a scientist and a devotee; where these two are not merged we
have the mystic, as well as the individual in danger of black magic, being governed
by the intellect and not by selflessness; the occultist is only the mystic
functioning on a higher plane - that of the mind.
Path (The)
The "linking light" or "bridging radiance" created between
the higher and the lower; communion or interplay between the personality and
the Soul, and later between the personality and Spirit; "Before the person
can tread the path, they must become that path themself"; The antahkarana
is the Path symbolically. This is one of the paradoxes of the esoteric science.
Step by step and stage by stage, we construct that Path just as the spider
spins its thread. It is that "way back" which we evolve out of
ourselves; it is that Way which we also find and tread.
Permanent
atom Small force centres on each of the planes which hold the memory of all
incarnations, and which the reincarnating soul draws upon when building new
bodies of manifestation.
Personality
The sumtotal of the threefold lower self: physical, astral, mental: a blend of
mental energy, of emotional energy and of vital force, and these three are
masked, hidden or revealed (note this terminology) by an outer shell or form of
dense physical matter. This outer crust is in itself a form of negative energy.
The result of this union of three energies in an objective form is
self-consciousness and their fusion produces that sense of individuality which
justifies the use of the wword "I," and which relates all occurrences
to a self; where this central conscious entity exists, utilising the mind,
reacting sensuously through the emotional body, and energising the dense
physical (via the vital body), then one has a personality; awareness of
identity in relation to other identities - true of God or man; sense or
identity persists only during the creative process; a state of awareness which
has its conditioning factor in the mind stuff and this can be transcended when
the mind stuff no longer controls.
Plan The
expression of Purpose in time and space; all we really know is the fact of the
Plan and that it is very good; that we are enfolded within it and subject to
it; the objective of the Plan is to reproduce upon the plane of the earth the
inner kingdom of the soul.
Plane (of
Perception) A level of existence. There are seven planes of perception on this,
the "cosmic physical" plane - physical, astral, mental, buddhic,
atmic, monadic and Adi. These planes are subdivided into seven subplanes each,
making 49 subplanes in all. An essential part of "septenaries" in
occultism that can be applied, with the 7 rays, to broaden understanding.
Planetary
Logos This term is generally applied to the seven highest spirits corresponding
to the seven archangels of the Christian. They have all passed through the
human stage and are now manifesting through a planet and its evolutions, in the
same way that man manifests through his physical body. The highest planetary
spirit working through any particular globe is, in reality, the personal God of
the planet. The Being Who is the life of our planet; the One in Whom we live
and move and have our being; the sumtotal of all organized life; the informing,
ensouling life of this planet earth; the life which integrates the planet as a
whole, and pours through all forms - great or small - which, in their
aggregate, constitute the Planetary form; our planetary Logos has been given
the name of the "experimenting divine physicist." A planetary logos
is the informing entity of any planetary scheme, which is made up of many other
globes and chains - the physical planet just being one expression of the great
life incarnate in a scheme. The Kumara for our planet, Sanat Kumara, is simply
the personality expression of this great being.
Prakriti That
which caused the universe to manifest itself.
Prana The
Life principle, the breath of life.
Pranayama The
science of rhytmic breathing as applied in meditation.
Prayer The
dim, faint and inadequate expression of the Science of Invocation and
Evocation; affirmation of divinity in order to attain material well-being.
Precipitation
An aggregation of energies arranged in a certain form, in order to express the
idea of some creative Thinker, and qualified or characterised by the nature of
his thought and held in that peculiar form as long as thought remains dynamic.
Principle The
embodiment of some aspect of truth on which this system of ours is based; that
which governs always the action of the ego on its own plane. The basic
differentiations, essential qualities or types of energy upon which all things
are built; they give the distinctive nature of all forms. Principles are
eternal, personalities temporal. Principles are to be viewed in the light of
eternity, personalities from the standpoint of time. The trouble is that, in
many situations, two principles are involved, one of which is secondary. The
difficulty lies in the fact that (both being principles) both are right. It is
a rule for safe guidance always to remember that usually basic principles (for
their wise comprehension and fruitful working out) call for play of intuition
whilst secondary principles are more purely mental. The methods hence
necessariy differ. While holding to the basic principles, the wisest methods
are silence and a joyful confidence that the Law works.
Principle of
Expansion That which brings about the development of consciousness so that the
latent germ of sentiency or of sensitive response to environment may be
fostered in the living unit.
Principle of
Liberation Closely linked with that of the problem of limitation; death is
governed by the Principle of Liberaton, and not by that of Limitation. Death is
only recognised as a factor to be dealt with by self-conscious lives and is
only misunderstood by human beings, who are the most glamoured and deluded of
all incarnated lives. (See Death)
Principle of
Limitation The outcome of the purposeful will and formulated desire of some
thinking Being, and governs consequently the form-taking process of all
incarnated lives; controls the scope of an incarnation, sets its measure and
rhythm, determines the radius of its influence, and brings about that illusory
appearance of reality which we call manifestation. (see Principle of
Liberation)
Principle of
Periodic Manifestation The Law of Cycles; a beneficent operation of the
love-wisdom of innate divinity; produces that sequence of the states of
consciousness which we term Time; produces in the world field of awareness a
gradual and slow growth towards self-expression, self-appreciation, and
self-realisation.
Purpose The
motivating Life behind all that emanates from Shamballa; impulses all the
activities of the Hierarchy; the task of the Hierarchy is to formulate the Plan
for all forms of life in the three worlds and the four kingdoms in nature; the
Purpose of God is that which implements the Plan; God reveals His purpose
through the activity of the mind - which in turn impresses the brain, attuned
to receptivity. Later again, the mind becomes responsive to an illumination,
emanating from the Spirit aspect. Purpose is an energy, released within the
confines of the Council Chamber (Shamballa) and there it takes shape. Behind it
looms that which has brought it into being. (see Plan)
Purusha The
spiritual self. The embodied self. The word literally means "The dweller
in the city" - that is, in the body. It is derived from the Sanskrit
"pura" which means city or body, and "usha" a derivative of
the verb "vas," to dwell.
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Reincarnation
This guide has been included in response
to the number of enquiries we receive on
this
subject at Cardiff Theosophical Society
From A Textbook
of Theosophy By C W Leadbeater
How We Remember our Past Lives
Life after Death & Reincarnation
The Slaughter of the
a great demand by the public for
lectures on Reincarnation
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
Quotes from the Writings of
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 100
It is only by the attractive force of the contrasts
that the two opposites — Spirit and Matter — can be cemented together on
Earth, and, smelted in the fire of self-conscious experience and suffering, find
themselves wedded in Eternity.
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 108
It is the motive, and the motive alone, which makes any
exercise of power become black, malignant, or white, beneficent Magic. It is
impossible to employ spiritual forces if there is the slightest tinge of
selfishness remaining in the operator .... The powers and forces of animal
nature can equally be used by the selfish and revengeful, as by the unselfish
and the all-forgiving; the powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to
the perfectly pure in heart — and this is Divine Magic.
Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 36
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 3, Page
14
Even ignorance is better than
Head-learning with no Soul-wisdom to illuminate and guide it.
The
Voice of the Silence, Page 43
Annotation - The
Path, May, 1888
The Secret
Doctrine , Proem [Volume 1], Page 35
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 210
The Secret
Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 134
incarnation of
his God; and when the sense of personal responsibility will be so
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 2, Page 374
It is the
motive, and the motive alone, which makes any exercise of power become
The Secret
Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 498
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 36
From strength to
strength, from the beauty and perfection of one plane to the
greater beauty
and perfection of another, with accessions of new glory, of fresh
knowledge and
power in each cycle, such is the destiny of every Ego, which thus
becomes its own
saviour in each world and incarnation.
The Key to
Theosophy, Page 105
The Secret
Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 69
The mind
receives indelible impressions even from chance acquaintance or persons
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 311
The Key to
Theosophy, Page 228
A Student of
Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley (1847 -1929)Was the founder &
President
of the Point Loma Theosophical Society 1896 -1929
She and her students produced a series of informative
Theosophical works in the early years of the 20th
century
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man?
Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation
Karma The Seven in Man and Nature
The Occult World
By
Alfred Percy
Sinnett
The Occult World is an treatise on
the
Occult and Occult Phenomena,
presented
in readable style, by an early giant of
the Theosophical Movement.
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
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