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Belief Concept Definitions

My first impression was to separate acts, groups, people, places, symbols, and terms, that were associated with beliefs. This can get hazy without serious study. For example :   tattwas: a) Primal energies that underlie the five elements of Hindu philosophy.   b) Realities or states of being.   c) Symbols used to graphically represent the five elements.    So instead, I will group them all here, include a brief definition, and divide them into further detail as my understanding develops.

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A

A Course in Miracles: spiritual development course established in 1965.
A.·.A.·. A secret order of western occultism, claims to be the Supreme and Eternal Inner School of initiates who have in all times overseen the evoluion of consciousness on this planet.
A-Albonic: Founded in 1985, believes the overt and covert organs of the Vatican and the British Empire are locked in mortal combat for control of the world.
Abbess: the nun in charge of a convent.
Abbey: a building or buildings occupied by monks under an abbot or nuns under an abbess, especially the church building.
Abbot: the monk in charge of a monastery.
Abductees Anonymous: A support group for persons who believe they extraterrestrials have kidnapped and sexually molested them.
Acupressure:see bodywork
Acupuncture:see bodywork
Aeon of Horus: A Thelemic concept of the "New Age".
Agamas: The scriptures of Jainism; may contain the actual sermons given by Mahavura to his disciples.
Age of Aquarius: A 2000 year long era of enlightenment, joy, intellect, peace, and closeness to God, to begin by the entry of the sun into the zodiac sign o the entry of the sun into the zodiac sign of Aquarius. The exact date is debated to be somewhere between 1904 to 2160.
Agni: Aryan god of fire.
Agnostic: the belief that it is impossible to know whether or not God exists.
Ahimsa: noninjury of living beings. Introduced by the Jains, believers make every effort to care for all forms of life and avoid injuring or killing any creature.
Ahura Mazda: The one true god recognized by Zoroastrians. His symbol is the sacred fire.
Ahmadiyya: Ahmadiyya is the name given to a Islamic reform movement that began in the 19th century in Lahore, Pakistan. It is now an international Muslim movement, taught in the Holy Quran and as illustrated in practice by the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
Aikido: a martial art originating in Japan that is similar to judo but incorporates blows made with the hands and feet. From Japanese, literally "way of coordinated breathing." see Martial Arts.
Ajivikas: The Ajivikas have disappeared along with their sacred texts... they were founded by Makkhali Gosala during the same period that Jainism and Buddhism developed (6th-5th centuries BC). They were fatalists who believed they were at the mercy of a cosmic power they called niyati. Liberation came only after a preset number of reincarnations, the last of which was as a monk of theas a monk of their ascetical order.
Ajwaka: African religious fuctionary whose primary purpose is to heal by driving out evil spirts believed to cause sickness.
Akasha: In Buddhism & Hinduism, the all pervasive life principle or space of the universe.
Akashic Records: The master records of everything that has ever occurred since the beginning of the universe. The records are said to exist as impressions in the astral plane.
Al Azif: Also known as "The Necronomicon","Kithab Al Azif", "The Book of the Names of the Dead", or "unholy masterpiece of the madman Abdhl' Al Hazred". The Necronomicon has been created by H.P.Lovecraft as a way to give more substance to his stories, although many still believe his writings were based on real occult writings.
Alchemy: Ancient art of transmutation and precursor of modern chemistry, believed by followers of Carl Jung to also be a mystical art for the transformation of consciousness. In this form it draws on various spiritual traditions of the East and West.
Alexander Technique: see Bodywork.
Allah: literally "the God"; Muslim name of the deity.
Alpert, Richard: see Ram Dass.
Altered States of Consciousness (ASC): Any shift in consciousness from "normal", first termed by parapsychologist Charles T. Tart. Categorized into 4 states of brain wave activity - alpha (8-13 cycles), beta (14-27 considered th4-27 considered the normal state), delta (0-4), theta (4-8).
Alternative Religious Movements: Various churches or sects, that are outside of the "mainstream", which is geographically based on % of population. aka Cults. For example, some conservative Christians define a cult as any religious group that is non-Christian, where as in areas of predominantly Buddhist or Hindu, Christianity is considered a cult.
Amaterasu: Sun goddess in Japanese mythology.
American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR): Founded in 1884, dedicated to the advancement of psychial research, what is now called "parapsychology".
Amesha-Spenta: Literally "holy Immortals"; six modes through which Ahura Mazda revealed himself to humanity in Zoroastrianism.
Amish: A conservative Christian group in North America, primarily members of the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church. They originated in Europe as followers of Jakob Ammann, a 17th-century Mennonite.
Amitabha: a dhyani Buddha who presides over the paradise called "the pure land of the west".
Amulet: An object, either natural or man-made, believed to be endowed with special powers to protect or bring good fortune. Amulets are carried on the person or kept in the place that is the desired sphere.
Anabaptist: "rebaptizer", member of radical, or left-wing, movement of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Its most distinctive tenet wtinctive tenet was adult Baptism.
Anatha: Goddess of yet to be understood orgin who us linked to several other goddesses or the same goddess with several other names such as - Acat, Acca, Achamoth, Aegea, Akka, Akna, Akwa Ba, Almathea, Al-Uzza,Ama, Amaterasu, Ana, Anat, Anath, Androphonos, Anna, Anna-Nin,Anna of the Angle.
Anatman (anatta): the state of nonsoulness that, according to the Buddha, was the natural state of humanity.
Ancestor Veneration: Veneration of deceased members of the family. It frequently involves upkeep and care of graves, memorization of the names from past generations, and prayers and sacrifices in honor of the dead.
Ancient Astronauts: Theory that extraterrestrial beings visited acient Earth, mated with humans, and taught them advanced science, technology, and mystical wisdom.
Andrews, Lynn V.: American author whose books describe her shamanistic experiences with various tribal medicine women.
Angel: Primarily in Western religions (i.e., Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), any of numerous benevolent spiritual beings, powers, or principles that mediate between the realm of the sacred (i.e., the transcendent realm) and the profane realm of time, space, and cause and effect. From Greek angelos and Latin angelus, which mean "messenger". Comparable beings in Eastern religions include the Hindu avatars and the Buddhist bodhisattvas.
Angelology: The study of angels, developed in ancient Persia, and absorbed into Judaism and Christianity. Angels belong to the class of beings known as demons, either friendly or hostile to humandkind, and are ranked in hierarchies, the highest are archangels, lesser ranked are the cherubim and seraphim.
Anglican Church: The name of the Church of England since out growing it's parent country, taken from the Angles as in Anglo-Saxon, members of a Germanic people, which, together with the Jutes and Saxons, invaded England in the 5th century AD. The Angles have since given their name to England.
Anglican Commuion: A religious body of national, independent, and autonomous churches throughout the world that evolved from the Church of England. The Anglican Communion is united by a common loyalty to the archbishop of Canterbury in England as its senior bishop and titular leader and by a general agreement with the doctrines and practices defined in the 16th-century Book of Common Prayer.
Angra Mainyu (Shaitin, Satan): The evil spirit recognized by Zoroastians.
Animal Psi: Animals' ability to have ESP, including: Clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy, psychokinesis.
Animism: belief in spiritual beings in nature who are concerned with human affairs and capable of intervening in them. A belief pervasive among most tribal or primitive peoples, who see souls or a self exsisting exsisting in trees, stones, rivers, and heavenly bodies as well as animals.
Anpsi: aka Animal Psi
Anthroposophy: see Steiner, Rudolf.
Antichrist: the chief enemy of Christ. The earliest mention of the name Antichrist, which was probably first coined in Christian eschatological literature (concerned with the end of time), is in the letters of St. John (I John 2: 18, 22; II John 7), although the figure does appear in the earlier II Thessalonians as "the lawless one." Yet the conception of a mighty ruler who will appear at the end of time and whose essence will be enmity of God is older and was taken over by Christianity from Judaism.
Antinomianism: doctrine according to which Christians are freed by grace from the necessity of obeying the Mosaic Law. The antinomians rejected the very notion of obedience as legalistic; to them the good life flowed from the inner working of the Holy Spirit. In this circumstance they appealed not only to Martin Luther but also to Paul and Augustine.
Apocalypse, Book of the: "that which is revealed" describing a dramatic end of the world. see Revelation, Book of.
Apparition: The supernatural manifestation of people, animals, objects, and spirits.
Apport: in occultism, a material object that arrives suddenly and mysteriously through the powers of a medium. Often the arrival of an apport may require its passage through other matergh other material objects.
Aranyakas: "forest treatises";instruction for hermits in Vedic literature.
Arcanum: mysterious knowledge, language, or information accessible only by the initiate, usually used in it's plural form Arcana.
Archangel: a chief angel, judaism and christianity have 7 main archangels - Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel, Jophiel, Zadkiel, and Samael. Islam has four archangels, Azrael, Israfil, Gabriel, and Michael.
Archetypes: Contents of the collective unconscious that pattern behavior.
Archbishop: a bishop at the head of an ecclesiastical province or one of equivalent honorary rank.
Arguelles, Jose: Art Historian who made the connection between the Astrological and Mayan predictions of the Harmonic Convergence and published his findings in "The Mayan Factor" in 1987 which helped to get the over 144,000 people needed to meditate on leyes in order to save the Earth from destruction.
Arhat (arahat): State of sainthood in Buddhism.
Arigo: see psychic surgery.
Arjuna: a major character in the Bhagavad Gita.
Armageddon: in the New Testament, place where the kings of the Earth under demonic leadership will wage war on the forces of God at the end of world history.
Armanen Movement: German occult movement of the late 19th and early 20th century founded by Guido Von List and his ideology of Arman his ideology of Armanism. The only entry I could find for Guido Von List in the Encyclopedia Britanica writes "In 1910 a poet and nationalist ideologist Guido von List had suggested the swastika as a symbol for all anti-Semitic organizations; and when the National Socialist Party was formed in 1919-20, it adopted it".
Armanism: A combination of racial doctrines and occult nationalism that delevoped into a mystical system by Guido Von List, who believed in purifying the Aryan race includes worship of "Norse mythology" deities, the original pre-christian religion of the German-Austrian area. Similar (or the same?)to the same beliefs held by Nazi Germany, who used symbols from the pre-cristian Woutanism/Odinism/Norse/Teutonic alphabet, namely the swastika, originally Thor's hammer, and the "S sigil" used by the Nazi SS. see Runes.
Ark of the Covenant: Ark of the Covenant, in Judaism, sacred repository. Mentioned frequently in the Bible, the ark is described in Exodus 25 as a chest of acacia wood. It was known also as the Ark of the Law, the Ark of the Testimony, or the Ark of God. The chest was 2.5 cubits (3 ft 9 in) in length and 1.5 cubits (2 ft 3 in) in breadth and height; it could be carried by poles at the long sides. The ark lay in the Holy of Holies, the sacrosanct enclosure of the tabernacle and of the Temple in Jerusalem. The chest contained, according to various sources, Aaron's rod, a pot of manna, and the stone tablets of of the Decalogue (see Ten Commandments). In the synagogues today, the term ark designates the repository for the scrolls of the Law used in the sacred service.
Artificial Elemental: see Thought form.
Aryans: Sanskrit word for "the noble ones". Iran is the ancient name of Persia, and it is derived from the root "Arya" or Aryan. They were worshippers of Ahura Mazda. Ancient Zoroastrian scriptures speak of an earlier homeland from where the Aryan people came, the lost "Airyane Vaejahi" or seedland of the Aryans. From here they also migrated to India, where most of what is known about them exsist in the Vedic liturature that they wrote there. They also migrated across Germany, the same people from the Nazi myths, who continued to migrate through Greece, Italy, France, Russia, Scandinavia, England, Scotland and Ireland. Sanskrit, Latin, Avestan, most all European languages are sister languages because of this. Baradar in persian = Brata in sanskrit = Brother in english, etc. From the descriptions of the weather patterns mentioned in the Vedas, Tilak concluded that the ancient home must be in the Artic regions ie. above present Russia. The English word "paradise" itself stems from the Avestan "PairiDaize", meaning the same. Also, the word "garden" probably stems from the Avestan "Garod-man" meaning the House of songs - the ancient name of heaven for the Aryans.
Asatru: Pre-Christianity Northern European naean native religion. It was practiced by the Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and related peoples for thousands of years. Belives in both Gods & Godesses including - Odhinn (Odin), Baldr, Freyja, and Thorr(Thor). see Runes.
Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA): Modern organization of Asatru followers.
Asceticism: Thr practice of self-denial through various means, for the attainmanet of spiritualism and intellectual fulfillment.
Ashkenazim: Jews who lived in Europe, especially eastern Europe.
Ashram: A sanskrit term for a retreat of center of spiritual study, often admits outsiders for long or short term residencies.
Assagioli, Roberto: Psychologist
Association for Ontological Anarchy:
Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE): see Cayce, Edgar.
Astral: belonging to the ethereal region that is believed to exist throughout and at a higher level than the material world, in which personal auras are said to be perceived.
Astral Body: a second body, not directly perceivable by the human senses, believed to coexist with and survive the death of the physical body.
Astral projection: the ability to send the astral body outside of the physical body, while both remain connected.
Astrology: the study of the positions of the Moon, Sun, and other planets in the belief that their motions affect human beings.
fect human beings.
Atharva Veda: The fourth book in the Vedic collection, containing rituals and prayers used in the worship of Aryan gods.
Atheist: One who believes there are no gods.
Atlantis: in ancient mythology, an idyllic island that sank in an earthquake or cataclysm, as first clearly recorded by Plato in 350 BC, but also bears close resemblance to the legend of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 BC - 1750 BC), and the story Mahabharata of India. Some believe that Atlantians were descendents of the Lemurians, people of another lost contenent of Lemuria. Atlantians were also described by Edgar Cayce as being more technologically advanced then our current society.
Atomism: the theory that all matter in the universe is made up of small, individual, finite, and indivisible particles.
Attitudinal Healing: see Behavioral Medicine
Augustine, St.: (354-430) named Bishop of Hippo in 396, wrote "confessions","on the trinity", and "city of God", which established the theological foundation of midieval Chritianity, and is acknowledged to be 2nd only to St. Paul in influence on Christianity.
Aura: a force that is said to surround all people and objects, discernible, often as a bright glow, only to people of unusual psychic sensitivity.
Aurbindo, Sri: (1872-1950)Indian Yogi who developed Integral Yoga, a synthesis of yogic traditions adapted for modern times.
dern times.
Automatic writing: see Automatism
Automatism: 2 types, moto & Sensory, involves physical functions without conscience intervention. Moto automatism examples include automatic writing or painting. Sensory automatism examples include inner vision or hearing.
Avatar: Incarnation of a deity. Hindu belief of a human incarnation of the Divine who functions as a mediator between people of God.
Avebury: possibly the oldest and largest megalith in Britain.
Avidya: In the Upanishads, it means "ignorance".
Ayurveda:see behavioral medicine.
Aztecs: The Aztecs were a group of American Indians speaking Nahuatl, a language of the Siouan family. They came originally from North America but may have been in Mexico for several centuries before they became a powerful tribe. The language was also spoken by the Toltecs, who controlled most of Mexico between 750 and 1000 AD. Juan Diego was an Aztec Indian credited with persuading a bishop to build a temple after he witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1531. Eight million Aztecs were soon converted to Roman Catholicism.

B

Ba: Egyptian goddess.
Baalim: Feritily gods worshiped by the ancient Canaanites.
Babis: Islamic based religion that developed in Iran around Mirza 'Ali Mohammad's claim to be a bab(Arabic: "gateway"), or divine intermediary,), or divine intermediary, in 1844.
Babylonian Captivity of the Church: Period between 1309 - 1377 CE, when the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church was at Avignon, France.
Bacon, Francis: see St. Germain.
Bahai: religion founded in Iran in the mid-19th century by Mirza Hoseyn 'Ali Nuri, who is known as Baha' Ullah (Arabic: "Glory of God").
Baptism: Christian initiatory ritual.
Baptist: group of Protestant Christians who share the basic beliefs of most Protestants but who hold as an article of faith that only believers should be baptized and that it must be done by immersion. The Baptists do not constitute a single church or denominational structure, but most of them adhere to a congregational form of church government.
Bar Mitzvah: Jewish religious ritual and family celebration commemorating the religious adulthood of a boy on his 13th birthday.
Barbanell, Maurice: see Spiritualism.
Bard College: private, coeducational school in New York. It is affiliated with the Episcopal church.
Bardo Thodol: Tibetan name for the Book of the Dead.
Barrett, William: Physicist interested in Spiritualist phenomina. Associated with the Society for Psychial Research (SPR).
Bastion, Adolf: ethnologist who developed "elementary ideas" theory.
Bat Mitzvah: see Bar Mitzvah.
Beatitudes: First 10 verses of Jesus' sermo 10 verses of Jesus' sermon on the mount.
Behavioral Medicine: Holistic healing considering body, mind, and soul.
Beidler, Paul Henry: Founded "Northern Forest" in 1973 combines teachings of Gurjieff & Sufism.
Benedict, St.: (480-547)Father of Western monasticism and founder of the Benedictines, the oldest religious order in the West. He also acurately predicted his own death six days in advance.
Benediction: a verbal blessing of persons or things, commonly applied to invocations pronounced in God's name by a priest or minister, usually at the conclusion of a religious service.
Bennett, John: Founded "American Society for Continuous Education" in 1971, based on Gurjieff's teaching.
Bernard, St.: (1090-1153) Clairvaux, France.
Bermuda Triangle: A mysterious area bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Numberous ships have disappeared in this area. Bright lights and balls of fire, and red flares in the sky that appear to be explosions, and UFOs have been reported. Beliefs range from extraterestrial tractor beams, alignments of the planets, time warps, and forces emanating from the unknown ruins of Atlantis. aka "Devil's Triangle".
Bernard of Clairvaux: (1090-1153) Christian saint, mystic, and doctor of the Western Church, author of the Johannine books (fourth gospel) or the New Testament.
Berry, Thomas: see Planetary consciousness.
Besant, Annie: see Theosophy.
Beth El Binah: Beth El Binah is the Reform Jewish congregation with outreach to the lesbian and gay community of Dallas/Forth Worth. In Hebrew, Beth El Binah means "House of an Understanding God."
Bhagavad-Gita: "The Song of the Blessed Lord", Hindu Yoga book of divine poems.
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh: considered an Alternative Religious Movement.
Bhakti: (from Sanskrit bhaj, "to allot," "to revere"), in Hinduism, a devotional movement emphasizing the intense emotional attachment and love of a devotee toward his personal god.
Bhakti-marga: "The way of devotion". Salvation in postclassical Hinduism through devotion to a specific god.
Bilocation: being in two places at the same time.
Binah: Identified in Kaballah as "the Sephirah Binah" this sphere of energy encompasses the Left Eye, Ear, Nostril, Temple and skull-area.
Bioenergetics: see Bodyworks.
Biofeedback: changing behavior by artificially controlling physiological processes.
Bird: nearly universal symbol for the soul.
Bishop: one having spiritual or ecclesiastical supervision: as a : an Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic clergyman ranking above a priest, having authority to ordain and confirm, and typically governing a diocese b : any of various Protestant clerical officials who superintend other cle superintend other clergy c : a Mormon high priest presiding over a ward or over all other bishops and over the Aaronic priesthood.
Black Elk, Nicholas: (1863-1950) Oglala Souix mystic.
Black Stone: Meteorite stone in Macca; the stone was an object of veneration in pre-Islamic Arabia.
Blake, William: (1757-1827) English mystic.
Blaratsky, Madame Helena: (1831-1891) Russian mystic.
Bliss: complete happiness, typically a meditative goal, and part of 'spiritual enlightenment'.
Bodhidharma: Monk who brought intuitve Buddhism from India to China in the 6th century C.E.
Bodhisattva: Buddhist enlightened being.
Bodywork: health therapies that involve manipulation of the body and it's bioelectrical field. Includes Acupuncture, Acupressure, Alexander Technique, Bioenergetics, Chiropractic, Feldenkrais, Polarity, reflexology, reichian massage, Reiki, Rolfing, Seiki-jutsu, shiatsu, therapeutic touch, touch for health.
Bon: Pre-buddhist native religion of Tibet.
Books, Betty: see White, Stewart Edward.
Book test: a test for evidence of survival after death.
Bot: The primary building found in a wat, or a Theravata complex, dedicated to teaching, preaching, and meditation.
Brahma: One of the three important gods in Hindu workship, generally regarded as the creator of the world.
Brahman: Impe.
Brahman: Impersonal god seen as total reality in the Upanishads.
Brahmana: Ritual instruction in Vedic literature.
Brahmin: Priestly caste of Indian society.
Buckland, Raymond: practitioner of witch craft.
Buddhavacana: Literature in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition which means "Revelation of the Buddha". It was proposed as the highest revelation, superseding prior texts.
Buddhism: religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha Gautama (or Gotama), who lived as early as the 6th century BC. Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of the Eastern world and during the 20th century has spread to the West.
Bushido: code of the Samurai.
Butsu-dan: Japanese Buddhist hosehold altar.

C

Cabala: General term for mystical elements in Judaism. See Qabalah.
Caddy, Eileen: see Findhorn.
Caddy, Peter: see Findhorn.
Caduceus: esoteric symbol of spiritual Enlightenment & higher wisdom. Looks like a wand entwined by 2 snakes & topped with wings or a winged helmet. IT is associated today with healing and has been the emblem of doctors for centuries. Some claim it originally belonged to Hermes (Mercury) in Greco-Roman mythology, but has also been seen in Mes but has also been seen in Mesopotanian cultures as early as 2600 BC. In India, it symbolises the 4 elements: Wand (earth), 2 Serpents (fire & water), Wings (air). The Buddhist and Hindu caduceus represents the transformation of spiritual consciousness through the bodies pranic energy system. The Wand = the spine, or Bramadanda, the serpents = Kundalini which entwines around 6 major chakras & flowers with wings at the crown chakra.
Cagliostro, Count Alessandro: (1743-1795) Royal alchemist, magician & mystic.
Caliph: from khalifa "deputy", successors of Muhammad in leading Islam, as Islam grew, the caliphate took on the role of a dynastic political leadership.
Calumet: sacred pipe.
Calvinism:
Campbell, Joseph: (1904-1987) Mythologist, author of "A Skeleton key to Finnegan's Wake","The Hero with a Thousand Faces", "Masks of God" focused on patterns from various myths.
Candle Magick:
Candomble:
Cardinal:
Castaneda, Carlos: (1925-1999) anthroplogist and author of a seies of book of his lessons about the Nagual (ordinary) and tonal (extraordinary) worlds. First with don Juan, a Yaqui sorcerer, later with don Genano Flores, a Mazatec Indian. Books include "Teachings of Don Juan" (1968), "A Separate Reality" (1971), "Journey to Ixtlan" (1972), "Tales of Power" (1974), "Second Ring of Power" (1974), "The Eagle's Gift", "The Fire From Within", "The Power of Si, "The Power of Silence".
Caste: from Portuguese casta "race", the classes that divide Indian society.
Catholic:
Cayce, Edgar: (1877-1945) American Psychic and the focus of several groups including Association for Research and Enlightenment, Atlantic University in Virginia Beach, which offers a Masters degree in Transpersonal Studies, and the Edgar Cayce foundation.
Celtic:
Chakras: sanskrit for "wheel",a system of Yoga energy centers, there are 100s of minor, and 7 major centers. The 7 manjors are - 1.root (muladhara), 2.sacal (svadhisthana), 3.solar plexsis (manipurna), 4.heart (anahata), 5.throat (visuddha), 6.brow (ajna), 7.crown (sahasrara). All chakra centers are connected to each other via the "nadis". There are 1000s of Nadis, and 3 majors - 1.sushumna, 2.ida, 3.pingala. There was no scientific evidence of chakras, until Hiroshi Motoyama of Japan conducted an experiment in a lead room where he recorded increased energy over the chakra centers of "enlightened" chakra meditators over the same areas of normal people.
Channeling: a form of mediumship where information is communicated from outside the consciousness.
Chanting: continuous recitation of a mantra.
Chantways: curing ceremonies of Native Americans of the Southwest.
Chanukah: Jewish feastival that celebrates the rededicating of the temple by Judas Maccabaeus in 165 BCE. aka s in 165 BCE. aka Hanukkah.
Charismatic Renewal: aka Neo-Pentecostalism.
Cherub: type of lower angel.
Ch'i: Asian universal lifeforce.
Ch'i Kung: see Qi Gong.
Chinmoy, Sri: (1931-) Hindu mystic with a following in the US, attained "nirvikalpa samadhi" the highest transcendent state of consciousness, taught raja yoga, where consciousness is controlled through meditation.
Chinvat Bridge: Bridge that connects the point of judgement with the region of reward or punishment in Zoroastianism.
Chiropractic care: See Bodywork.
Christ: What is known of Jesus, historically, is told in the Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. Paul and the other writers of Scripture believed that Jesus was the revealer not only of human life in its perfection but of divine reality itself. See Christianity; Christology.
Christian Science: see Church of Christ, Scientist.
Christianity: the most widely distributed of the world religions, having substantial representation in all the populated continents of the globe. Belief is centered in the "holy trinity" (father, son, and holy spirit) but these are considered formations of the same entity, therefore they are monotheistic. Its total membership may exceed 1.7 billion people. Since the 1st century, the church has been awaiting a new life of glory in the second comming of Christ. See Catechism; Eschatologatechism; Eschatology; New Testament; Rapture; Second Coming.
Christology: doctrines and theories of the belief in Christ (Jesus of Nazareth).
Christmas:
Church of All Worlds (CAW): Neo-pagan church. Name taken from Robert A Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land".
Church of Christ, Scientist: (1879) by Mary Baker Eddy, focuses on faith healing.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: or Mormon church, by Joseph Smith Jr. in 1830 after being visited by the Angel Maroni who told Joseph where to find a series of gold plates on which were written the history of a people descended from Israel who came to America, and were taught by Christ to prepare for the second coming. The plates were written by Marconi's father Mormon.
Church of Scientology: (1953) by Lafayette Ron Hubbard, with the idea that most people suffer "engrams" or trama in fetal or early childhood, that can get "cleared" with his psychoanalytic process.
Church of the Sub-Genius: Discordian movement founded by Bob Dobbs in the US.
Church Universal and Triumphant, The: Founded in 1958 by Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Based on the "messengership of the Ascended Masters", by Master El Morya.
Chukchi: See Shamanism.
Chokmah:
Circle:symbol of oneness, completion, perfection, the cosmos, eternity, the sun, the self, the psyche, femininity, m psyche, femininity, medicinal power.
Clairaudience:hearing of sounds not audible to normal hearing.
Clairsentience:psychic sense perception.
Clairvoyance: psychic perception of events,objects, people, in images or "visions". Often referred to as third eye, sixth chakra, siddhis.
Cloud Busting: see Cloud Dissolving.
Cloud Dissolving:psychokinetic ability to make clouds disperse.
Collective Unconscious:Carl G. Jung's concept of shared unconscious patterns by all or most people. Related to "Archetypes" and "Universal consciousness".
College of Psychic Studies:see spiritualism.
Color Lore:The seven primary colors visible to the human eye- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet- as well as black (the absence of light) and white (the sum of all light colors), are believed to have specific effects on the body, mind and spirit. This concept has been developed by the ancient Indians, Chinese, Tibetans, Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Babylonians, and others. Note: pigments and paints are reflective light, therefore hold the opposite nature of direct light, for example red paint absorbs all light waves other than red, it appears red because it reflects only red light waves. Black can be created by combining enough colors so that all light waves are absorbed.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP):an offshICOP):an offshoot of the American Humanist Association founded in 1976, publisher of "The Skeptical Inquirer" magazine.
Cone of Power:a force field of psychic energy raised by a coven of witches.
Confucianism: main doctrines include - Wu Ching:I Ching, Shu Ching, Shih Ching, Li Chi , Chunqiu. Shih Shu:Lun Yü, Ta Hsüeh, Chung Yung, Mencius.
Consciousness:see Altered States of Consciousness; Kundalini; Meditation; Mysticism; Psi.
Consubstantiation: Presence of the body and blood of Jesus in the bread and wine of communion.
Contemplation:see Prayer; Mystical Experiences.
Control:in mediumship, a spirit that controls all aspects of the communication.
Cook, Florence:(1856-1904) British medium.
Cook, Grace:(1892-1979) British spiritualist who founded the "White Eagle Lodge".
Copt: Member of the traditional Monophysite Christian church originating and centering in Egypt; the Coptic chrch traces its history to the earliest Christian communities.
Council of Trent: convened in 1545 by the Roman Catholic Church to reform the church and oppose the actions of Protestants.
Cosmology: belief in the origins and workings of the cosmos.
Crandon, Mina: see American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR).
Creation Spirituality: Christian movement to incorporate a creative mysticism accessible to all sticism accessible to all people.
Creative Visualization: use of mental pictures to obtain goals. AKA "positive thinking", "dynamic imaging", etc.
Croiset, Gerard: (1909-1980)Dutch clairvoyant with healing powers.
Crooks, William: see Cook, Florence; Parapsychology.
Crop Circles: Large images or patterns that inexplicably appear in crop fields.
Cross: symbol of Christianity.
Cross correspondence: the concept of an unconscious telepathic network.
Crowley, Aleister: (1875-1947) English magician and occultist, kicked out of the Golden Dawn, then leader of the O.T.O. Author of "The Book of the Law" and "Magick in Theory and Practice". Associated with sex magic, blood sacrifice rituals, and black magick, often called the prophet for the new Aeon of Horus.
Crucifix: symbol of Christianity depicting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Cryptomnesia: Carl Jung's belief of information that is consciously forgotten, but remains in the unconscious.
Crystal Balls: used to help Clairvoyants focus their concentration.
Crystals: various stones such as clear and colored quartz used as amulets and talismans.
Cults: see Alternative religious movements.
Culture hero: see Mythology.
Curse: see Psychic attack.

D

Daeva: one of various pre-Zoroastian Ar: one of various pre-Zoroastian Aryan deities.
Dakhma: Round scripture, open to the sky, in which Zoroastrians expose their dead for disposal by birds.
Dalai Lama: Religious and temporal leader of the yellow hat group of Buddhist Tibet.
Da Love-Ananda: (1939-)American mystic and founder of the "Free Diast Communion".
Dasehra: Hindu celebration in honor of Durga.
David-Neel, Alexandra: (1868-1969) French scholar of Tibet, first woman to enter Llasa, capital of Tibet.
Deacon: "servant","attendant", "minister"; a functionary in Christian churches.
Dead Sea Scrolls: See Essences; Gnosticism.
Deathbed Visions: Paranormal experiences of the dying.
Déjà: when a person feels they have seen a new place or situation before witnessing it.
Demon: A low-level spirit that may be good, evil, or capable of both, and exist in numerous varieties. To the Greeks, daimons were intermediary spirits between human kind and the gods.
Depossession:aka releasement or exorcism.
Depth psychology: see psychology.
Dervish: "one who comes to the door"; member of a Muslim monastic order. see Sufism.
Deva: Sanskrit for "shining one"; used in Buddhism and Hindu for an exalted being.
Dharma: Buddhist and Hindu term for supreme law of the universe, or truth.
Dhyani Buddah: Buddist deity who dwells in /B> Buddist deity who dwells in heaven and can aid humans in their struggles through life.
Dianetics: see Church of Scientology.
Diaspora: the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile, which began with the Assyrian destruction of Israel in 721 BCE.
Digambara: "the sky clad"; conservative sect of Jaimism, which holds nudity as an ideal for its monks.
Direct-voice mediumship:method of spirit communication where a spirit speaks directly to an audience. Some claim an artificial larynx is created by the spirit of ectoplasm.
Discordian:
Divali: Hindu festival of lights that welcomes the new year; also celevrated by Jains.
Divination: Foretelling the future, finding the lost, and identifying the guilty through magical means. see I Ching, Tarot.
Divine Light Mission: Founded by Sri Hans Maharaj Ji in 1960, a sect of the Sant Mat tradition.
Dixon, Jeane:(1918-) american psychic famous for predictions of JFK's assassination among a list of others.
Docetism: Belief held by some Gnostics that Jesus only appeared to be human while he was actually pure spirit.
Dolmen: see Megaliths.
Donne, John: (1572-1631) English poet of mystical experiences.
Double: An apparition of a living person, aka "beta body", "fetch" in Ireland & England, "doppleganger" in Germany, "ka" in Egypt.in Germany, "ka" in Egypt.
Dowsing: Divination using a forked rod, bent wire, Doyle, Sir Aurthur Conan: see Fairies.
Dragon Project Trust: see Megaliths; Power point.
Dreams: Archetypes, Lucid Dreams, Precognitive dreams, REM sleep.
Drop-in Communicator: A strange entity who manifests unexpectedly at a seance.
Druidism: Heathen Priesthood, a noble caste of both men and women.
Durga: aka Kali; consort of Shiva.

E

Earth Lights: aka ghost lights, spook lights, luminous balls, that often change colors, have been reported in various regions around the world.
Earth mysteries: Dowsing; Earth Lights; Leys; Megaliths; Planetary consciousness; Power points.
Easter: Christian holiday for Christ's resurrection.
Eastern Orthodox:
Eckamkar: Religious movement founded in 1965 by Paul Twitchell, teaches ECK as the holy spirit or life force, and Sugmad, a sacred name for God, focuses on "Soul Travel" as beneficial vs. "astral projection", which they deem harmful. Twitchell spent over 5 years at the "Self Realization Church".
Ecstasy: a psycho-physi-mystical trace like condition of joy and unity. Also street name for the illegal chemical MDMA, which reports to give a similar condition.
Ectoplasm: a white fluidic substance said to emanate from the bodiltance said to emanate from the bodily orifices of a medium and is often used by spirits to assume phantom physical shapes.
Ecumenical: Movements among modern Christian denominations to attempt to minimize differences among various Christian denominations to attempt to minimize differences among various Christian groups and achieve some form of unity.
Eddy, Mary Baker: see Church of Christ, Scientist.
Ekhart, Johannes: (1260-1327) German Dominican theologian and mystic, founder of "German Mysticism".
Electronic voice phenomenon: The electronic recording of supernatural voices, aka "Raudive voices".
Elementals: see Native Spirits.
Elohim: "gods"; one of the names applied to God in Hebrew scriptures.
Emmanuel: see Channeling.
Empathy: Sensing the emotions of a person group or animal. Empaths are persons who sense the telepathic transmission of emotions across time or space.
Encounter phenomenon: Any experience involving alternate realities and non-physical beings.
Enlightenment: see Mystical experiences; Mysticism.
Enneagram: Arguably created by Gurdjieff, the enneagram is a symbol of his world view, a circle whose circumference is divided by nine points, showing the law of 3s and 7s, and a map for man's development.
Episcopal:
Epistemology:
Erhard, Werner: founder of EST.
Erhard Seminaof EST.
Erhard Seminars Training (EST): a human potential movement formed in 1971 by Werner Erhard, not to be confused with EST - Electro Shock therapy.
Erlendur, Haraldsson: see deathbed visions; Sai Baba.
Escatology: Doctrines concerning the end of the world.
Esoteric: designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone.
Essenes: Members of an ascetic, monastic Jewish sect, who lived in or near the Qumarn caves, where the Dead sea Scrolls were rediscovered, mainly between 100 BCE and 100 CE. Extremely interested in escatology.
Essentialism: a philosophical theory ascribing ultimate reality to essence embodied in a thing perceptible to the senses.
Etheric Body: see Aura; Healing, faith & psychic.
Eucharist: "thanksgiving"; Christian memorial meal of bread and wine that celebrates the sacrifice of Jesus.
Evangelical Friends International:
Evangelicalism:
Evangelism:
Evil Eye: an ancient & nearly universal belief that certain people can bring disaster, illness, and death with a stare. aka "fascination"; "overlooking"; see Eye of Horus; Psychic attack.
Existentialism: a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility forimate responsibility for his acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad.
Exorcism: expulsion of unwelcome non-physical beings. see Depossession; Feng Shui; Shamanism.
Experimenter effect: belief that the experimenter has unwitting influence upon the subject in a psychic or ESP test.
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP): aka "6th sense", information perceived beyond the normal 5 senses.
Extra Sensory Perception Cards: a deck of 25 cards of symbols, used in telepathy tests.
Extra Terrestrial Encounters: Various psychic. paranormal & mysterious phenomenon that are believed to be in conjunction with sightings & encounters with extraterrestrials. see Ancient Astronauts.
Extreme uniction: Roman Catholic last rite given to the dying.
Eye of Horus: common amulet of ancient Egyptian god Horus, son of Osiris & Isis. His right eye=the sun, his left eye=the moon. "Horus eye", in ancient Egyptian = "Udjat", meaning healthy, in good shape. The Rx symbol of modern pharmacies is derived from three pieces of the eye. see Amulet.
Eyeless Vision: perception of images & colors through the skin. aka "skin reading"; "skin vision"; "dermo-optics"; "para-optics"; "bio-introscopy".

F

Fairies: comes from falta or fake, referring to the 3 mythical women who control the threads of life. The main theords of life. The main theories show fairies as 1) earth bound souls, 2) guardians of the dead, 3)ancestral ghosts, 4) Lucifer's fallen angels, 5) nature spirits, 6) small humans.
Fairy Tales: see Mythology.
Fakir: Indian holy man who performs magic tricks, most popularly the suspended rope trick, lying on a bed of nails, or fire walking.
Falasha: form of Judaism found in Ethiopia.
False Face Society: An Iroquois medicine society named for the wooded face masks used in healing rituals.
Fatalism:
Father: 1) God: in the Christian religion, God, especially when considered as the first person of the Holy Trinity. 2) title for Christian clergyman: a title and form of address used for Christian clergymen, especially in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Episcopal churches.
Fatima: see Marian apparitions.
Felden Krais Technique: see Bodywork.
Feminism:
Feng Shui: Chinese belief of determining health & luck with the placement of objects, landscapes, houses & graves in alignment with natural Ch'i. aka Geomancy.
Fetish: religious charm; an object representing spirits used to create a bond between humans and the supernatural. Like a lucky coin or a rabbit's foot.
Findhorn: A spiritual Community in Northern Scotland. They tend a garden that grows plants to twice the normal size, in a cold and sandy area where plantd sandy area where plants do not normally survive.
Firewalking: walking barefoot across 30-60ft. long beds of hot coals, stones, or fire. They prepare themselves by meditating into a deep belief that they will not be hurt.
Firth, Violet Mary: see Dion Fortune.
Flint, Leslie: see direct voice mediumship.
Flotation: Sensory deprivation technique by floating in a dark enclosure of salt water, to induce altered or mystical states of consciousness. Created by neurophysiologist John C. Lilly.
Ford, Aurthur Augustus: (1897-1971) US medium famous for contacting Houdini after his death and giving the code word Houdini secretly gave his wife.
Fortean phenomena: any paranormal phenomena that defy natural explanation.
Fortune, Dion: (1890-1946) Magical name of Violet Mary Firth, student of Theodore Moriarty, kicked out of the Golden Dawn, founded the "Fraternity of the Innerlight", ran the "Chalice Orchard Club", founded "The Belfry", author of several books, most notably "Psychic Self Defense", "The Mystical Quabalah","The Sea Priestess", and "Moon Magic".
Fox, George: see Society of Friends; Quakers.
Fox, Matthew: see Creation Spirituality".
Fox Sisters: see Mediumship; Spiritualism.
Fraternity of the Inner Light: see Fortune, Dion.
Freemasonry: Secret fraternal organization descended from the the craft guilds of the the craft guilds of the Stone Masons. Condemned by the Vatican, all members being automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Members have included the leaders of the American Revolution, including Ben Franklin, John Hancock, George Washington, plus 16 other known US presidents. aka "Brotherhood of the Craft"; "Masonry".
Freud, Sigmund: (1856-1939) founder of psychoanalysis.
Friends General Conference:
Friends United Meeting:
Fundamentalism:

G

Gahambars: Zoroastrian seasonal feasts dedicated to the creation of heaven, water, earth, trees, animals, and humans.
Gaia hypotheses: see planetary consciousness.
Galilee:
Ganzfeld Stimulation: Mild sensory deprivation technique to stimulate ESP.
Gaon: A president of the early medieval Jewish academies.
Gardner, Gerald B: see Witchcraft.
Garrett, Eileen J: (1893-1970) US Medium,founded the "parapsychology Foundation" in NewYork City.
Gatha: a Zoroastrian hymn that takes on the quality of scripture.
Gautama, Siddhartha: see Buddhism.
Geller, Uri: (1946-) Israeli psychic famous for PK abilities.
Gemara: Commentary on the Mishnah. There are two Germaras: Palestinian and Babylonian.
Gematria: 1 of 3 Kabbalistic systems for discovery of hidden meanings in words.
Gem Elixirs: see Crystals.
General ESP (GESP): see ESP.
Genius: see inspiration.
Gentile: a person of a non-Jewish nation or of non-Jewish faith.
Geobiology: see Feng Shui.
Geomancy: divination by means of geographic figures. see Feng Shui.
Georgetown:
Ghetto: Section of certian European cities where Jews were forced to live.
Ghost: see Apparition; haunting.
Ghost Dance Religion: Native American tribes of the Plains & West who preach the end of the white civilization. Based on the Ghost Dance, and ancient circular dance of slow chanting where dancers experience mystical visions of the dead and the paradise to come.
Gilyak: See Shamanism
Glastonbury: old sacred site in England, believed to rest at the intersection of power "leyes" or earth power lines. Includes a town, abby, & Tor - a terraced volcanic rock 522 feet high.
Glassolalia: act of speaking or writing in an unknown language. see charismatic renewal; mormanism; pentecostals; shakers; quakers; tenoglossy.
Gnomes of Zurich:
Gnostic: Mystical Christian religion that believes redemption is only possible through knowledge, not faith alone.
Goddess: feminine divine force - center of most pre-Judaic and Hindu religions.
Golden Dawn: The reformed group that included women, most nroup that included women, most notably Dion Fortune.
Gospel: "good news" tells the story of Jesus' ministry, the first 4 books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
Graal: see Grail, the Holy.
Grail, the Holy: a pagan story of the Graal that became Christianized. The Graal is a gateway to paradise & the spirit realm, possessing unlimited healing and a direct apprehension of the divine. Grail symbolisms are also found in Rosicrucianism. In Christianity, it is the cup Christ drank from in the last supper that was used to contain the blood collected from the washing of his body after the crucifixion.
Granth: Scriptures of Sikhism.
Grant, Joan: (1907-) British psychic who wrote several past life biologies.
Guadalupe: see Marian apparitions.
Guarani: See Shamanism
Guardian Angel: according to the Babylonian Talmud, all beings are led and protected by angels, Catholics and some Protestants believe every person has a guarding angel.
Guardian Spirit: a spirit that protects aor grants magical powers, usually in tribal cultures as an animal spirit. see Spirit Guide.
Guided Imagery: see Creative Visualization.
Gurdwara: Sikh temple and meeting place.
Gurjieff, George Ivanovich: (1866-1949) Russian mystic, founded "Institute for the Harmonius Development of Man" in 1917 with a new system based on Sufi dance and a sed on Sufi dance and a series of 'shocks' to break pre-conceived notions of one's self. The institute continues on as "The Gurjieff Foundation".
Gurney, Edmund: see SPR.
Guru: "teacher" in Hindu, Spiritual master, in Sikhism refers to religious leader.

H

Hag Syndrome: see psychic attack.
Haggadah: "narrative"; history, folklore, and sermons in the Talmud.
Hajj: Pilgrimage each Muslim is supposed to make once in a lifetime to the shrines in and around Mecca.
Halachah: aka Halakhah, legal material, and rabbinic decisions in the Talmud.
Halakhah: see Halachah.
Halo: circle of radiant light which crowns the head of holy beings. Represents an Aura or Crown Chakra of a spiritually developed person.
Hanukkah: see Chanukah.
Hara-kiri: see seppuku.
Hare Krishnas: see International Society of Krishna Consciousness.
Harmonic Convergence: end of the material world according to Astrological and Mayan doctrines, connected by Jose Arguelles, happened Aug 16&17, 1987. Similar changes on this date were documented in Aztec, Hopi, Cherokee, and Mesoamerican ancient texts. see Aguelles.
Hasidim: movement in 17th century founded in Poland by Israel ben Elizer, who taught that God was not to be found in scholarly research or in he Talmud but in simple faith.
Haunting: Haunting: The manifestation of inexplicable phenomenon attributed to the presence of non-physical entities.
Healing, faith & psychic: treatment of illness without a known physical curative agent. see Universal Life Force; Shamanism.
Heathen:
Hermes: Greek god of wisdom & patron of magic, later fused together with Egyptian god Thoth, both credited with writing the sacred books of science, healing, philosophy, magic, and law, and passing it to humankind.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: (1881-1903) The Original order of the Golden Dawn, considered one of the stongest magical groups in the Western tradition. Membership was secretive, but those who were known members include - Arthur E. Waite, William Butler Yeats, and the notorious Aleister Crowley.
Hermetica: Mystical wisdom that helped form the western occult tradition. Contained in 42 books written by Hermes Trismegistus or "thrice greatest Hermes". The 42 books collectively are called Hermetica.
High God: The idea that 1 God created the world then withdrew from active participation. Worship is then given to lesser deities, who participate in the activies of the world.
Hijrah: "migration"; the migration of Muhammad and his disciples from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE.
Hildegard Bingen, St.:(1098-1179) benedictine abbess & prophet, mystic, theologian, writer, poet, composer, feminist. Worte "scinist. Worte "scivas" - a record of 26 illuminations. Her fest day is September 17th.
Hinduism: originated in India and is still practiced by most of its inhabitants, as well as by those whose families have migrated from India to other parts of the world (chiefly East Africa, South Africa, Southeast Asia, the East Indies, and England). The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word sindhu ("river"-more specifically, the Indus); the Persians in the 5th century BC called the Hindus by that name, identifying them as the people of the land of the Indus. The Hindus define their community as "those who believe in the Vedas" (see Veda) or "those who follow the way (dharma) of the four classes (varnas) and stages of life (ashramas)."Hinduism is a major world religion, not merely by virtue of its many followers (estimated at more than 700 million) but also because of its profound influence on many other religions during its long, unbroken history, which dates from about 1500 BC. The corresponding influence of these various religions on Hinduism (it has an extraordinary tendency to absorb foreign elements) has greatly contributed to the religion's syncretism-the wide variety of beliefs and practices that it encompasses. Moreover, the geographic, rather than ideological, basis of the religion (the fact that it comprises whatever all the people of India have believed and done) has given Hinduism the character of a social and doctrinal system that extxtends to every aspect of human life. The canon of Hinduism is basically defined by what people do rather than what they think. Consequently, far more uniformity of behavior than of belief is found among Hindus, although very few practices or beliefs are shared by all. So Hinduism has no founder and no centralized hierarchy. Doctrines include the Vedas, a set of 4 books - Rig Veda, Upanishads, Puranas, & Bhagavad-Gita. The Aryans invaded India in 2000 BC, and compiled the Vedas between 1000 & 500 BC. The Puranas include the main gods of Hinduism - Brahma, creator of the universe; Shiva, dhama goddess of morality and ethics; and Vishnu, the destroyer. Brah = the ultimate consciousness, not to be confused with Brahma their God.
Hmong: See Shamanism
Holi: Hindu festival dedicated to the god Krishna.
Holistic healing: a form of behavioral medicine.
Holy Grail: see Grail, Holy. Home, Daniel Douglas: (1833-1886) scottish physical medium credited with numerous feats, said to move objects, levitate, change the dimensions of his body, materialize ghostly forms, impervious to fire. Autobiography = "Incidents in my life" 1862.
Homeopathy: a form of behavioral medicine. Honorton, Charles: see Ganzfeld stimulation.
Horse Sacrifice: Elaborate, year long ritual in acient India; this ritual involved the sacrifice of thousands of animals.
Horus: > Horus: In ancient Egyptian religion, god in the form of a falcon whose eyes were the sun and the moon. The conception arose that the reigning king was a manifestation of Horus and, after Egypt had been united by the kings from Nekhen, this conception became a generally accepted dogma. The first of the Egyptian king's five names was the Horus name--i.e., the name that identified him with Horus.
Hyperborean: a member of a people held by the ancient Greeks to live beyond the north wind in a region of perpetual sunshine
Hypnagogic State:
Hypnapompic State:

I

I Ching: Ancient Chinese book of divination.
Iblis: Fallen Angel who is the Satan figure in Islam.
Id al-adha: Muslim feast of sacrifice.
Id al-fitr: Muslim feast of fast breaking. Celebrates a retun to normal life after the prolonged fast of Ramadan.
Idealism:
Identity Theory of Mind:
Illuminati:
Illumination:
Imam: To Sunni Muslims, the imam leads the community in prayers; to Shi'ite Muslims, imams were the legitimate successors of Ali.
Immaculate Conseption of Mary: Roman Catholic Church holds that Mary, mother of Christ, was born without the taint of original sin.
Individualism:
Indo-Aryan:
Indo-European:
Indra: Aryan god of thunder, rain Indra: Aryan god of thunder, rain, and the ruler of heaven.
Institutes of the Christian Religion, The: John Calvin's statement of Christian theology that became a classic for Protestant theology.
Intelligentsia:
International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKON): Founded in 1965 in the US by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A conservative form of Hunduism based on Bhakti Yoga. Memebers are often referred to as Hare Krishnas for their HAre Krishna mantra.
Inuit: See Shamanism
Islam: founded in Arabia and based on the teachings of Muhammad, who is called the Prophet. In the Koran, their primary doctrine, Islam means "to surrender to the will or law of God." One who practices Islam is a Muslim. Because the name Muslim is given in the Koran itself to the followers of Muhammad (Koran 22:78), Muslims resent being called Muhammadans, which implies a personal cult of Muhammad, forbidden in Islam. They also object to the spelling Moslem as a distortion of Muslim. Although exact statistics are not available, the Muslim world population is estimated at more than 1 billion. The major groups comprising the world community of Islam include the Arabs (North Africa and the Middle East); sub-Saharan Africans (from Senegal to Somalia); Turks and Turkic peoples (Turkey, Central Asia); Iranians; Afghans; the Indo-Muslims (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh); Southeast Asians (Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines); appines); and a small percentage of Chinese. In Europe, Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity.
Izanagi and Izanami: Mythological male and female who participated in the creation of the Japanese Islands.

J

Jain:
Jehovah's Witness:
Jesuit:
Jim Jones: See People's Temple.
John Birch Society:
Judaism: religious culture of the Jews (also known as the people of Israel); one of the world's oldest continuing religious traditions. The main doctrine is the Torah "revealed instruction", God's revealed instruction to Israel, which mandated both a world view and a way of life (Halakah); the "way" by which to walk-Jewish law, custom, and practice. Premodern Judaism, in all its historical forms, thus constituted (and traditional Judaism today constitutes) an integrated cultural system encompassing the totality of individual and communal existence & God's will for humankind expressed in commandments (mizvoth) . Christianity originated as one among several competing Jewish ideologies in 1st-century Palestine, and Islam drew in part on Jewish sources at the outset. Undergirding this monotheism is the teleological conviction that the world is both intelligible and purposive, because a single divine intelligence stands behind it. Nothing that humanity experiences is capricious; everything ultimately has meaning. see Qabalah. meaning. see Qabalah.
Judeo-Paganism:

K

Kaaba: Enclosure surrounding the black stone in Mecca; this stone became an object of veneration by pilgrims in pre-Islamic Arabia.
Kabala: see Qabalah.
Kabbalah: see Qabalah.
Kali: Consort of Shiva; also known as Durga.
Kami: Japanese for "spirits"; some scholars see this word as equivalent to mana, but no exact English translation has been achieved.
Kami-dana: "god shelf"; the center of domectic Shinto in a Japanese home. a shelf where sacred objects are kept and daily prayers are said.
Karaites: Medieval Jewish group that denied the authority of the Talmud and tried to live exclusively by the rules of the Hebrew bible.
Karma: that wich binds one to the endless cycles of life, death, and rebirth.
Kethey:
Kiddush:
King James Bible:
Kirlian photography: techniques that is believed to capture the Aura on film.
Klamath: See Shamanism
Knights of Malta:
Knights Templar:
Koan:"case study"; a riddle, tale, of short statement used by Zen masters to bring students to sudden insight.
Kojiki: "chronicals of ancient events"; the source book of Japanese mythology.
Koran: aka Quran.
Kosher: "fit; proper"; that which is ritually clean or accep; proper"; that which is ritually clean or acceptable in Judaism; usually applied to food or food preparation.
Krishna: Incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, who appears as a main character in the Bhagavad Gita.
Kshatriya: Warrior caste of Indian society.
Kuei: Evil spirits recognized in early Chinese religions.
Kusti: Sacred belt worn by all Zoroastrians.

L

Lamed Vovnik:
Lament:
Legalists: an advocate or adherent of Moral Legalism
Lent:
Li: Confucian term translated as "propriety", "rites",; probably means "the course of life as it is intended to go".
Logos: another word for God, or the Ultimate Reality.
Lollards: Wandering preachers; the movement was instituted by John Wycliffe in England during the 14th century CE.
Lord:
Lutheran:

M

Moral Legalism:
Magic: Slight of hand or illusions, as opposed to magick.
Magick: Attempts to influence the action of nature through special practices.
Magus:
Mahayana: "the expansive way"; the large, more liberal branch of Buhhism.
Malkuth:
Mana: language of the Melanesian islands; used to describe a mysterious force that causes nature to act as it does.
Manson Family:
Mantra: Ritual sound, word, phrase Family:
Mantra: Ritual sound, word, phrase used to evoke a certain religious effect.
Manu: Mythical survivor of the Great Indian Flood.
Manu, Code of: Classical Hindu literature that describes life in India between 300 BCE and 300 CE.
Marcionism: Early Christian heresy named for MArcion of Rome. Marcionism rejected the God of the Old Testament and all theological and literary attachments to the Old Testament.
Marrano: Spanish Jews who openly converted to Christianity but who secretly continued to practice Judaism.
Masonic Orders:
Mass:
Master:
Materialist:
Maya: False knowledge; in the Upanishads, all that is not Brahman - all perceptions, all individuality.
Medicine man: Native American religious functionary whose primary task is to heal by religious means.
Meditation:
Megalith: Large stone monuments (includes: Stonehenge, Easter Island statues, etc.) apparently raised in connection with religious practices.
Mennonite: see Amish.
Messiah:
Methodist:
Mindfulness:
Mishnah: Collection of oral laws gathered by Judah ha Nasi (135CE); the Mishnah contained the bulk of extrabiblical Jewish law up to the second century CE.
Mithra(s): Pre-Zoroastrian Aryian deity who appears in Hindu Vedic liturature as Mitra, in Zoroastrianism as the judge of the dead, atrianism as the judge of the dead, and as he leading figure in a Roman mystery religion.
Moghul Empire: Muslim rule of portions of India between the 16th and 18th centuries BCE.
Mohism:
Moism:
Moksha: Release from the cycle of death and rebirth in Indian religions.
Mongol: See Shamanism
Monk: a man who withdraws entirely or in part from society and goes to live in a religious community to devote himself to prayer, solitude, and contemplation.
Monotheism: The belied in a single Supreme God.
Mormon: see Church of Christ, Scientist.
Mosque: Muslim house of prayer.
Muezzin: One who calls the Muslim commn=unity to prayer five times a day.
Muktad: Zoroastrian All Soul's Day honoring departed ancestors.
Muslim: "submitter"; a believer is Islam that has proclaimed the Shahadah:"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger".
Mysticism:
Myths:

N

Nation of Islam:
Natural Law:
Naturalism:
Necronomicon: Fictional book used in stories by H.P. Lovecraft that many believe to be based on actual occult writings. see Al Azif.
Neoplatonism:
Nephilm:
New Age:
New American Bible:
Nichiren: "sun lotus"; sociopolitical sect of Mahayana Buddhism found prim"; sociopolitical sect of Mahayana Buddhism found primarily in Japan.
Niiname-sai: National Japanese festival of the harvest.
Ninety-five Thesus: Ninety-five points of controversy submitted by Martin Luther as grounds for debate in 1517.
Nirvana: "blowing out"; cessation of human individuality and desires and absorption into Brahman.
No Ruz: Zoroastrian festival celebrating the New Year.
Nominalism:
Numerology:
Nyaya: Hindu philosophical system that uses logical analysis to arrive at truth about the world.

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