Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: A History Of Magic

(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)

Introduction
Egyptian Adepts & Mystery Schools
Eastern Indian Adepts
Other Adepts, Paganism
Greek/Roman/Norse Adepts & Mystery Schools
Persephone
Orpheus
Hermes-Thoth Trismegistus
The Wizard
Orders, Occult/Mystery Schools, Magicians & Adepts
Lexicon of Paganism, Mystery Religions, & Magical Creatures Glossary Of Terms
Famous Wizards In History
Conclusion
Exercises
Bibliography

Written by Sean Michael Smith
Consclusion & some Glossary Terms written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

Introduction

Paganism & Animism are found all over the globe. In this course we will look at Egyptian & Eastern Indian esoterics. We will also focus on two additional areas, Assyria: from Babylon to Jerusalem, & as far South as Saudi Arabia in the first area. The second area is Pagan Europe, Brittania, Teutonic/Gothic Germany, Gaul & Rome.

All world religions & mystical systems have their own cosmologies of gods & goddesses, their own mythical creatures & versions of the Adept. The mainstream religions all have sections to their religions, which produce types of Adepts, those who have used the systems to attain a higher state of being. Judaism has the Qabbalists, Christianity has the Essenes & Gnostics, & Islam has the Sufis. When we closely examine the map of the Silk Road, we can see that the metropolitan focal points for all the world religions, such as Jerusalem, Mecca, Cities of Tibet, Ethiopia, & China are all connected. Every major world religion practiced today was deeply affected by the cross fertilization of teachings & experiential yogas on the silk route.

The merchants traveled the silk route, & so did the mystics, adepts, yogis & seekers of the world. From one spiritual aspirant to another, practices & views were synthesized & borrowed, religion to religion, both implicitly & explicitly. All religions share teachings such as the power of the word (or mantra), the power of visualizing, & purification of the body in order to attain the Light Body. For the purposes of this course all systems which are able to produce the Adept, Wizard, or Magician are defined as systems using mantra (chant) & visualization, the natural biotic energies of the body such as the sex drive or altered perception, & those systems involving communication with "higher" or hidden wisdom beings that are an evolved humanity, or non-human beings that oversee our communal development. In all Gnostic wings of world religions these elements appear.

Following is a brief overview of other religious paths, comparable to the sutra path of Mahayana, & their esoteric Gnostic sections, comparable with the Vajrayana & Great Perfection of Buddhism. Esoteric practices can be more broadly & simply defined as the consciousness of continuum between microcosmic & macrocosmic reality. The gnostic precept that one contains the hidden god within is an essential precept as well. In the same way that Vajrayana is the esoteric or tantric wing of Mahayana Buddhism, all the other religions have their own gnostic wing where everyday living including eating, sleeping, & sexuality is taken as a spiritual practice.

Throughout this course we will overview these aspects of many world religions that have culturally influenced each other, creating the spiritual landscape we live within today. Every culture has its own set of gods & goddesses, spirits in a spiritual realm, magical creatures & mythological lore underlying & pointing to these universal spiritual truths. These truths universally led to the realization of the higher being within the human nature by enacting their teachings & mystery rituals. A higher self emerged & one would become an empowered adept, given abilities & cognitions beyond normal humanity. Every culture has their own version of the male & female adept as well, such as the Mahasiddha & Mahatma of India, the Wizard & Sorceress in European culture, or the Magus & Priestess of the Egyptian tradition. We will examine the gods, goddesses, magical creatures & lore of the many cultures that intermingled on the silk route as well as their syntheses as they are expressed today.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Egyptian Adepts & Mystery Schools

Egypt, for the most part, is where all magical traditions began. Most magical practices have their roots in the traditions practiced in ancient Egypt. Even Christian practices have roots in the magical practices in Egypt.

One way to attain transfiguration from humanity to divinity was through the Otherworld. One could attain this by flying to the celestial abodes as in the Pyramid texts, but mainly this was done by going through the Rastau, the door to the Otherworld (Amentet, the hidden world of Amun). Rather than ascension, the adept experiences a going deep within until arriving in the astral visionary world that the gods also inhabit. The Egyptian Book Of Coming Forth By Day, known erroneously as the Egyptian Book Of The Dead, is filled with the visions and trials an Adept must endure when going trough the Rastau to Osiris and Isis' heavenly palaces and pleasure fields. The Pharaoh and Priests would visit these realms while dreaming in order to seek guidance or instruction from the gods themselves. This form of transcendence has much more to do with the psychology and predispositions of the adept, as the Egyptians clearly show, in that there were different Books Of Coming Forth By Day for different seekers depending on what their particular life experience was.

This is a very spiritual means of attainment, comparable only to Revelations and similar Apocryphal literature in Western religion and the Tibetan Book Of The Dead in the Eastern traditions. Whereas it is difficult to tell whether the Egyptian Stargates and Merkaba ships of Celestial Ascension are spiritual or literal, it is obvious that attaining inner divinity through the Rastau into the Otherworld is completely astral and spiritual. Here the transformations and magic of dreams pervades the instructions given, such as in this passage in which all types of the gods are mentioned in their earth dwelling, star dwelling, and Otherworld dwelling aspects: "Homage to you, lords of eternity, who hide your forms, the place you dwell isn't known. Homage to you gods of the inundated lands and you gods in the Otherworld (Amentet) and those gods among you who dwell in the heavens. Grant that I can come before you, for I know you. I am pure, I am divine, I am mighty, I have become powerful and glorious, bringing to you gods perfume and incense." (Egyptian Book Of The Dead, E.A. Wallis Budge, 1967:168) Here we can see clearly that the Egyptian spiritual realm is a realm of gods and spiritual beings living in the heavens, on earth, and in the Otherworld of the astral ba (soul).

The Egyptians saw these divine realms as inhabited by myriads of different beings. There are star-people and sprits in the heavens. Celestial monsters and angelic beings were said to guard the heavenly divisions of the zodiac while terrible guardian demons ruled the trials and pylons the ba (soul) had to encounter in the Otherworld. The terrible serpent monster Apophis was a dragon that lived underground, only tamed and controlled by Set, which was one of the few reasons Set was still considered a god after his defeat by Horus. It seems that there were also saurian creatures similar to dinosaurs and large mammals that are extinct nowadays. The type of creature that is Set's head is unknown today. Archeologists speculate that it must be some extinct lizard or mammal.

These views that saw the spiritual and actual as one and the same gave rise to most other cosmologies and configurations of all later religions. For example, the war in the heavens of Christianity and Islam were largely based on the war between Set and Horus. Christian concepts of heaven and hell come from Egyptian cosmology. A punishment thieves and traitors received from Pharaoh "was to be put at a certain section of the Nile Delta in which a swamp had formed. There were saurian creatures abiding in the said swamp area, some of which being giant crocodiles (the earthly form of the celestial crocodile-god Sobek) and Set monsters. The swamp stank of sulfur and shimmered in the midday sun appearing to be aflame from far off. From this appearance of a very real, literal and seemingly fiery place full of demonic monsters are derived the genetic memories that became the notion of hell in Christianity." (Mutabaruka, The Cutting Edge, a radio show) Any criminal who was placed in the swamp would be killed very quickly by a crocodile, the Set monster, or any of many poisonous serpents in the area. Not only that, but the existence of such a place with its stink of sulfur and howls of wild life was enough to deter any Egyptian youth from a life of crime.

The Egyptians merged all scientific knowledge, mystical speculation, and spiritual realization into one, comprehensive cosmology. Most Egyptian mythological lore is this type of metaphysical mix between the actual workings of the cosmos on all levels and divinity as a casual agent. All these stories make up the teaching corpus of the Mystery Schools of Egypt, the Schools of the Left and Right Eyes of Ra. The Schools differed in that the right was concerned with the Celestial Ascension while the left was concerned with the tantric and magickal journey of transformations of the Otherworld. The Right was responsible for transmission of texts and wisdom, the Left initiation, rituals and Gnosis.

From these schools, teachers such as Orpheus and Pythagoras took their sciences and metaphysics to the pagan Greeks. The mystery religions of most of the world are partially or fully derived from the primary mystery school in Egypt. Hermes-Thoth laments this to his student Asclepius at a time when the Egyptian Mystery schools started sending teachers to the far ends of the Earth, secretly influencing, and in some cases creating, all other world religions. Hermes-Thoth says:

"Did you not know, O Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of Heaven, or, to speak more exactly, that in Egypt all the operations of the powers which rule and work in Heaven have been transferred to this Earth below? Nay, it should rather be said that the whole cosmos dwells in this our land as in its sanctuary...this land, which once was holy, a land which loved the gods and wherein alone, in reward for their devotion, the gods deigned to sojourn upon Earth; a land which was the teacher of mankind in holiness and piety...O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing will remain but an empty tale which thine own children in times to come will not believe; nothing will be left but graven words and only the stones will tell of thy piety."

—Complete Works Of Asclepius, Jordan, year unknown:234

The literature of the Egyptians is vast and should be researched thoroughly by anyone interested. However, a complete overview of the literature of Egypt is beyond the scope of this essay. The reader will find many brief references to these mythologies in the Lexicon of Egypt and Western Asia below, and there are several titles on this topic in the recommended reading and source material that is given.

The Adept in the Egyptian world-view was usually from the priest or priestess class, but there are stories of adepts who would appear from the other classes. The forms of the adept in Egyptwere those of the Astrologer, the Physician, the Magician who ruled the elements and forces, the Hierophant or High Priest who communed with the gods and held sway over the forces of life and death. Also included are the Scientist, the Architect, and the Sage-Prophet, wise men and women who gave prophecy and advice to the king. The Egyptian corpus is filled with literary examples of all of these events, places and concepts. The Pharaoh was seen to be part god and part man until transformation or death, when complete divinity is attained. Great Adepts such as Imhotep, the architect of the first pyramids, attained status as a god such as a Pharaoh would.

To be an Egyptian magician one needed a comprehensive knowledge of Astronomy, healing arts, the powers of transformation, and the occult lore of the Pyramid texts with one's own Book Of Coming Forth By Day. The Egyptian magician was also a dream interpreter and master of the astral realm. The vision of the Otherworld and the scientific wisdom of this world were melded into one. The Egyptian magus was said to have power over the elements and creatures of the earth and heaven. They were legendary at being able to transform themselves, and objects, into other things. They alone held concourse with the gods; there is an ancient saying that, "the adept alone comprehends and flies off with the gods." (Egyptian Book Of The Dead, E.A. Wallis Budge, 1967:214) Magicians who demonstrated their powers were instantly conferred a high status as holy people.

There are many hieroglyphs denoting sage, sacred person, and holy person. The Egyptian adept was able to sport with the Star-gods, commune with them through telepathy and congrex, and in effect raise human beings to that of the gods. Shades of the Egyptian magical tradition pervades eastern Tantra, Qabbalistic Judaism, Gnostic and orthodox Christianity, as well as Islamic Sufism.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Eastern Indian Adepts

The Eastern Indian Adept would be known as Guru, the heavy one, the teacher. They were called Buddhas, the awakened ones, Mahatmas, great souls, and Mahasiddhas, the great magicians with control over reality. The Adept in the sub-continent would be a master of all meditation, would possess the minor siddhas (powers), such as flying, walking through walls, knowledge of time, transformation, influencing from a distance, seeing the minds of others, speed walking, and automatic realization of the dharma. They would also posses all the super-mundane siddhas such as the enlightened qualities of body, speech, and mind, in which telepathy is taken to a level of omniscience. The Tibetan Buddhists list eight mundane and eight super-mundane siddhis, not including the myriad of powers of omniscient Buddhas. Patanjali and the Mahasiddhas, such as Krishnacarya, list hundreds of powers in their literary works. The magicians of the sub-continent would be expert oracles and diviners, healers with herbs, stones, and energy.

Buddhist teachers adopted many of the old shamanistic rites, such as attempting to contact the spirit world, and would often take the role of oracles or divine soothsayers for those Bon deities that had been brought into the new religion. This assimilation produced a very individual form of Buddhism that centered on the Lama, the Tibetan Guru and teacher. This is now the Buddhism of Nepal, Mongolian China, and Bhutan. Within India, Buddhism was largely reabsorbed into Hinduism; the Buddha himself was said to have come into being as the ninth incarnation of the great Hindu god Vishnu. This continual absorption and assimilation of different beliefs is perhaps the dominant characteristic of Indian religion. Certainly, it is what has helped give rise to such a rich and varied mythology.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Other Adepts, Paganism

African Paganism, Assyrian Paganism, Roman and Teutonic Paganism and Pantheism mixed with travelers, mystics, European and Islamic merchants from Arabia and Africa, and later Christian Crusaders, upon the all important trading routes in the center of the Earth. The esoteric and yogic disciplines from all these varied places were forever affected by the popular views comprising paganism. In the Cairo museum there is a wonderful stele of an Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Teutonic Pagan standing side by side with each other. Seeing it, one gets the impression that the image was the inspiration for the Biblical story of the Three Wise Men. Here we see a basic worship of nature and mankind's highest ideals as deified beings. There are two systems referred to here under the heading "paganism." One is that of the Pantheistic old world religions with elaborate systems of initiation and revelation, and the other is basic everyday nature worship. All the cultures just mentioned have both these aspects in common.

As with Egyptian lore, there is an air of historical roots in many of the mythic adventures of the Sumerian and Babylonian pantheons. The cosmology is one of a heaven, earth (sometimes expressed as having many planes of existence), and a subterranean underworld in which the dead reside. The Sumerian and Babylonian Pantheon reflect the Egyptian system to a high degree. The pantheon of Sumeria, or Mesapotamia, was from a system of religion later adopted by the Akkadians, Babylonians and other later civilizations in the region. Sumerian deities were organized into a set pantheon by priests who inscribed their myths on clay tablets. Likewise, the Babylonian pantheon was a set hierarchy of Astrologer Priests.

It was said the great gods born to Anshar and Kishar disturbed the repose of their ancient ancestors Apsu and Tiamat, who determined to destroy them. Marduk undertook to conquer Tiamat on the condition that the other gods made him pre-eminent. From Tiamat's corpse he created the heavens, earth, and humanity.

In the Zoastrian pantheon of Iran, there is a movement toward monotheism from a tradition of paganism. Many elements of Zoastrianism appear in Christianity and Islam, such as a single wise lord with angelic servants, which are His good qualities. Zoaster, like Christ, was seen to have transcended normal limitations of humanity to be gifted with prophecy and the teachings of Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord. The many spirits in service to the Wise Lord were always being attacked and battling the forces of darkness from Ahriman, the embodiment of Darkness and Evil in the Universe. The Gnostic Christians and Manicaens used this Zorastrian idea to explain their beliefs, exchanging the Father and Saboath, the Demi-Urge, as the alternate warring principles. In all these cultures, the planets are seen to be spirits or archangels that protect and serve the primary deities. The Babylonians and Sabeans referred to the planets as Kabiri, the wandering creator gods of the universe. Interestingly, the Egyptians called the Hebrews and all Assyrian star worshippers Kabiri as well, because, like the planets, they wandered as nomads at the outskirts of the Amrna Dynastic Kingdom. The Babylonian names for the planets later became the Hebrew Archangels of YHVH, Michael, Gabriel, Uzziel, Raphael, Uriel, and Samael, the last who later became synonymous with the devil.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Greek/Roman/Norse Adepts & Mystery Schools

Many a Wizard and Magus emerged from the Mystery Religions of Greece and Rome, as well as the Teutonic, Gallic, and Norse Pagan religions. The Mystery Religion in which initiates partook in secret rituals of instruction was the primary mode in which higher Paganism was communicated. The Mystery Schools of Egypt also operated on this level when revealing the outer mysteries to the populace.

All of these magical functions and positions were very shamanic, involving communication with higher beings, use of rune-galder or chant for invocation as well as certain rituals, such as drinking potions, sometimes sexual union, and ingesting magical ale from a sanctified cup. These magicians and priests would be tested to see if their prophecies came true, their protection and spells blessed, or if they displayed magical will. A Norse Adept would be expected to know the extensive historical and rune lore of his people. They would be expected to heal the sick and give advice on all manner of healing arts. They would have to demonstrate their abilities as prophets, getting their prognostications correct every time for awhile before being bestowed the status of Eldar.

The Pagan mysteries of Greece and Rome, which were said at the time to be derived from Atlantis, gave rise to a cosmology of many gods and goddesses, and many types of Adept. The Atlantis legacy is commented upon by several ancient authors. Proclus, in the 5th century B.C. writes:

"The famous Atlantis exists no longer, but we can hardly doubt that it did once, for Marcellus, who wrote a history of Ethiopian affairs, says that so great an island once existed and this is evidenced by those who compose histories relative to the external sea. For they relate that in this time there were seven islands in the Atantic sea, sacred to Proserpine; and beside these, three of immense magnitude sacred to Pluto, Jupiter and Neptune. Besides this, the inhabitants of the last island (Poseidonis) preserved the memory of the prodigious magnitude of the Atlantic island as related by their ancestors and of its governing for many periods all the islands of the Atlantic Sea."

The gods of Greece and Rome are well known, and they are the names we also use for our planets just as the Romans did. Most of the gods lived on Mt. Olympus, the abode of Zeus, the head of the gods. He lived there with his wife Hera and family, often visited by the other gods including Artemis, goddess of the hunt; Athena, goddess of wisdom, Aphrodite, goddess of love; Mars, god of war; Hephastus (Vulcan), god of creation and works; and Hermes (Mercury), god of wisdom, communication and magic, who are personified with human characteristics and often based on human teachers and sages of ages past. Hades (Pluto) ruled over the underworld where he lived and never came into daylight except to capture his future wife Persephone, goddess of spiritual rebirth, daughter of Ceres, goddess of the grains and harvests.

In Greek and Roman Mystery tradition, the gnostic revelation of personal divinity isn't through the vast unified metaphysics of their cosmology, but through the subtle mythological symbolism used by the pagan Mystery schools to demonstrate profound truths. Usually initiates vowed to mimic the precepts and lifestyles of the great Adept their tradition was based on. The adepts of the schools would emulate their high priest or particular ritual deity. Those who followed Pythagoras lived like him. Those in the Orphic cult behaved and wandered like their poet founder Orpheus. The Bacchae of Dionysos celebrated with orgy and wanton abandonment of social norms. What could seem like a children's story would be used by the different mystery schools to initiate and instruct their students in the same way the parables and allegory of the New Testament is used to instruct higher truths that are nearly unsayable.

The most famous of the ancient religious Mysteries were the Eleusinian, whose rites were celebrated every five years in the city of Eluesis to honor Ceres (Demeter, Rhea, or Isis) and her daughter Persephone. The initiates of the Eluesian school were famous throughout Greece for the beauty of their philosophic concepts and the high standards of morality, which they demonstrated in their daily lives. Because of their excellence, these Mysteries spread to Rome and Britain, and later the initiations were given in both these countries. The Eleusian Mysteries, named for the community in Attica where the sacred dramas were first presented, are generally believed to have been founded by Eumolopus around 1400 B.C. Through the Platonic system of philosophy their principles have been preserved to modern times. The rites of Eleusis, with their mystic interpretations of nature's most precious secrets, overshadowed the civilizations of their time and gradually absorbed many smaller schools, incorporating them into their own system whatever valuable information the lesser institutions possessed.

The rites of Eleusis were divided into greater and lesser Mysteries. The lesser mysteries were celebrated in the spring at the vernal equinox in the town of Agare and the Greater Mysteries at the time of the autumnal equinox in Eleusis or Athens. The rituals of the Eleusinians were highly involved. Understanding them required a deep knowledge of Greek mythology. The lesser mysteries were dedicated to Persephone. In his Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, Thomas Taylor sums up their purpose succinctly, "These mysteries were designed by the ancient priests to signify by occult means, the condition of the unpurified soul invested with an earthly body and enveloped in a material and physical nature." Below, I will recap the more detailed story of Persephone than was covered in the UMS Gods, Goddesses & Mythology Course, for it pertains to a particular sect of Adepts and why their rituals and initiations were set up the way they were.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Persephone

The goddess Persephone was abducted by Pluto, lord of the underworld. While Persephone is picking flowers in a beautiful meadow, the earth suddenly opened and the gloomy lord of death, riding in a magnificent chariot, grasped her in his arms. Screaming and struggling, he dragged the goddess to his subterranean palace, where he forced her to become his Queen. She was trapped in the underworld because of her ingestion of a pomegranate. Because of hunger; having eaten of the bitter fruit of death, she becomes partly the goddess of death. The soul of humanity—often called Psyche, symbolized by Persephone in the Eleusinian Mysteries—is essentially a spiritual thing. Its true home is in the higher worlds, free from the bondage of material form, truly alive and self expressive.

The human, or physical nature of man, according to this doctrine, is a tomb, a quagmire, a false and impermanent thing, the source of all sorrow and suffering. Plato describes the body as the sepulcher of the soul; and by this he means not only the human form, but also the human nature. The gloom and depression of the Lesser Mysteries represented the agony of the spiritual soul unable to express itself because it has accepted the limitations and illusions of the human environment.

The crux of the Eleusinian argument was that a man was not better or wiser after death than during life. If he does not rise above ignorance during his sojourn here, at death a man goes into eternity to wander about forever, making the same mistakes he made here. If he doesn't outgrow the desire for material possessions he will be tormented by it in the invisible world where it is truly impossible to gratify his desire. To the Eleusinian philosophers, birth into the physical world was death in the fullest sense of the word, and the only true birth was that of the spiritual soul of man rising out of the womb of his own fleshly nature.

An ancient initiate once said that the living are ruled by the dead. As a member of the Eleusinian community this means that the majority of people are ruled by their senseless animal personalities rather than their genius spirits. Transmigration and reincarnation were taught in these Mysteries. The cult believed that at midnight the invisible and visible worlds were closer together making the passing of souls into our world easier. At this time the souls would come into human and animal wombs to be reborn again. Many of the ceremonies were done at midnight due to this belief, the initiates witnessing the passing to and fro of the dead between the worlds. The mystics of Eleusis laid a stress on the evils of suicide and homocide. To kill oneself or another was to kill god, who was hidden within us and in everything on the ultimate level.

The Greater Mysteries were sacred to Ceres, mother of Persephone, and represent her wandering through the worlds in search for her abducted daughter. On ritual wine bowls, in which the hallucinogenic wine of the Mysteries was poured Ceres, is depicted carrying two torches (intuition and reason) to help her in her search for her missing soul-child. She eventually found Persephone and emerged near Eleusi. Out of gratitude, she taught the people there to cultivate corn and grain, both sacred to her. Ceres established her Mysteries in full in the area of Eleusis. She showed priests how to gather grain and corn, which carried ergot, and collect hallucinogenic mushrooms from the area. The LSD within the ergot and psylocibin in the mushrooms was added to the wine of the Great Mystery. (This was shown by Gordon Wasson in Road To Eleusis yr: unknown) The initiate was given what would amount to a massive dosage of hallucinogenics at different points while they went through their nine days of initiation.

The nine days of initiation of the Mysteries were symbolic of the nine spheres through which the human soul descends during the process of assuming a terrestrial form. The secret exercises for spiritual unfoldment given to disciples are most likely from Indian Hindu origin via Thrace through Orpheus or his followers. Thrace was inhabited by many of a mixed African and Indian origin, such as Orpheus himself, and many elements of Hindu worship are very similar to those of Greece. It is well known to those in occult circles that the Eleusinian mysteries ended with the Sanskrit words, "Konx Om Pax," which means "light in extension."

The initiate would be led through different chambers during the nine days of his initiation, each day drinking the sacred wine and giving the appropriate offerings. The respective nine chambers become brighter and brighter with light as he went on. Each room was more brilliantly lit and radiant until the last day when the initiate, overcome by vision and bliss, would be led into a great vaulted room in the center of which was a illuminated statue of Ceres. Here, amidst visions, in the presence of the Hierophant and surrounded by priests in magnificent robes, he was instructed in the highest of the secret mysteries of Eleusis. At the conclusion of this ceremony he was hailed as an Epoptes, which means one who has beheld or seen Ultimate Reality directly. The Epoptes wouldthen take up his position as a keeper of the books and scrolls of the mystery. From the record available, a number of strange and supernatural phenomena accompanied the rituals. Many initiates would see the gods directly.

Ceres made a deal with Pluto to have Persephone come into the world for half the year in the summer and return to the underworld during the winter. The Greeks believed Persephone was a manifestation of the sun's energy. While in the winter months she lived under the earth with death, but in the summer she returned as the goddess of fertility and agriculture. It was said that the flowers of earth loved Persephone and would die in despair when she had to return to the land of the shades for another winter season. Thomas Taylor epitomizes the doctrines of the Greater Mysteries in the following statement: "The Greater Mysteries showed, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter when purified from the defilement of a material nature and constantly elevated to the realities of spiritual vision." Just as the lower mysteries discussed the prenatal epoch of man when the consciousness in its nine days was descending into the realm of illusion and assuming the veil of unreality, so the Greater Mysteries discussed the principles of spiritual regeneration and revealed to initiates not only the simplest but also the most direct and complete method of liberating their higher natures from the bondage of material ignorance. Like Prometheus chained atop Mt. Caucasus, man's higher nature is chained to his inadequate personality.

The astronomical part of the allegory of the mysterys consists in the diurnal appearance and disappearance of Lady Persephone. She was a simple marker for the procession of the equinoxes, but also symbolized a very important religious tenet that is also found in Orphism, tying death to dreams as a similar experience in which the soul can leave the body to traverse the astral planes. The Eleusinians taught astral projection and forms of dream yoga. The Spiritual principle Persephone, like Osiris in the Books of the Dead, would be hidden in the underworld during the daytime hours, but would ascend to the higher worlds during sleeping. The initiate was taught how to intercede with Pluto, the dark force of gravitation and finality in the universe and self, to allow the spiritual Persephone, the soul, to ascend from the darkness of his material nature into the light of understanding. When thus freed from the shackles of mortality and hardened concept structures, the initiate was liberated not only for the period of his life, but for all eternity he went to a superconscious heaven, the Elysinian Fields, rather than the unconscious darkness of the underworld.

In the Metamorphosis, Apulies describes his initiation into the Mysteries, "I approached to the confines of Death, and having trod on the threshold of Prosperine, I returned from it, being carried through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with a splendid light; and I manifestly drew near to the gods beneath and the gods above and adored them all..." The Mysteries Of Eleusis and the Gods were venerated by the great minds of the ancient world. Pindar, Plato, Cicero, Epicetus and others have spoken of them with great admiration. Strabo tells us in his histories that the great temple of Eleusis would hold between twenty to thirty thousand people. These immensely popular Mysteries survived until 400 A.D. when the tyrannical Christian Emperor Theodosis suppressed the system of initiation.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Orpheus

The Orphic Mysteries were the other immensely popular religion of Greece and Rome, which communed with higher powers using the magickal power of the word, music, and yogic living to attain self-divinity. Orpheus was responsible for bringing myth and allegory to Greece from Thrace, his birthplace. His was the dominant religious view in Greece while Bacchus worship and Mars (Weapon) worship were more prevalent in Rome. Orpheus, Dionysos and Christ were equated with one another until as late as 600 A.D., well after the firm establishment of Christianity. Orpheus, the Thracian bard, was celebrated as a divinity several centuries before the Christian era. In the Mystical Hymns of Orpheus, Taylor writes, "Scarcely a vestige of Orpheus' life is to be found amongst the immense ruins of time. Only a few of his immortal songs remain. All we know of him is that his birth place was Thrace, he was probably black, being named after orphasias, the dark one, and that he brought theology to the Greeks. He was the instructor of the morals of non-violence. He was the first of Western Prophets and the prince of poets, himself the offspring of a Muse, who taught the Greeks their sacred rites and mysteries and upon whose shoulders Homer, Pythagoras, and Plato stood. All mystery traditions of the Greeks flowed from the odes of Orpheus.

Musaos, in his Orphic Hymns and Hymns of Ethiopia, claims his father Orpheus brought the knowledge of the gods themselves to the Greeks. Orpheus was the founder of the Grecian mythological system that he used to promulgate his philosophical doctrines. The origin of his philosophy is universal in that he was an early wandering yogi-sage and has elements of all the places he had traveled. This includes an Eastern Indian influence, as many Thracians at the time were of a mixed Indian and African descent.

Orpheus was initiated into the Egyptian mysteries, from which he learned extensive knowledge of magic, astrology, sorcery, and medicine. The Mysteries of the Kabiri at Samothrace were also conferred on him and these undoubtedly contributed to his knowledge of medicine and music. Very similarly to Eastern Indian metaphysics, Orpheus and his religion Orphism taught what was called the metempsychosis of souls, when the state of pristine purity is attained and one is freed from cyclic existence. Orpheus was a pacifist and a healer, his music was the only "weapon" he used to teach, transform, and entertain the people. He was so wise and his music so beautiful that often the gods would seek him out to listen to him play. Both Apollo, the Sun god, and Morpheus, god of dreams, were said to be his father.

Orpheus was the shamanic link between super-consciousness and sub-consciousness. Orpheus taught moderation, vegetarianism, and herbalism as part of his presentation of truth. The tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice was the initiatory parable for the follower of Orpheus. Eurydice, in an attempt to escape from a rapist while Orpheus played music at their wedding night, was bitten on the heel by an asp and died. Orpheus, journeying into the depths of the underworld, so enchanted Pluto and Persephone with his music and poetry they agreed to permit Eurydice to return to life if Orpheus could lead her back to the sphere of the living without once looking round to see if she were following. So great was his fear, however, that she would stray from him that he turned his head and Eurydice was swept back into the land of the dead.

Orpheus wandered the Earth for a while in deep depression and there are several versions of his death. Some declare that he was slain by a bolt of lightning, some that he was successful in bringing back Eurydice and they ascended to heavenly paradise while still alive, and in one version he tried to commit suicide, but couldn't. Having already walked among the dead and returned, he had become immortal. The most popular version of his death was that he was torn to pieces by orgiastic Ciconian women in a Dionysian frenzy when he resisted their advances. The head of Orpheus, after being torn from his body was cast into the river Hebrus with his lyre that floated to the sea near Lesbos. Resting at an altar there, the head gave oracles and prophecies for many years, as Orpheus couldn't perish. The lyre, after being stolen from its shrine and resulting in the quick destruction of the thieves, was found by the gods and fashioned into a constellation in heaven.

Orpheus has long been sung as the patron of music. On his seven stringed lyre he played such perfect harmonies that the gods themselves were moved to acclaim his power. When he touched the strings of his instrument the birds and beasts gathered around him as he wandered through the forests. His enchanting melodies caused even the ancient trees with mighty effort to draw their gnarled roots from out the earth and follow him. Orpheus is one of the many Immortals who have sacrificed themselves that mankind might have the wisdom of the gods. By the symbolism and blessing of his music he communicated the divine secrets to humanity and several authors hint that the gods were jealous of the shaman because he had surpassed them.

As time passed, the man Orpheus became one with the mythic symbol of the Adept of the Orphic School. He was a living symbol of ancient wisdom, the wandering necromancer priest-poet. He was declared the son of Apollo, the divine and perfect truth, and Calliope, the Muse of Music, harmony and rhythm. In other words, Orpheus is the Logos of the secret doctrine God Apollo revealed through Harmony and Music, Calliope. Eurydice is the human part that dies in ignorance's underworld. In this allegory, Orpheus signifies the initiate who must lose the fleshly part of himself out of doubt about the natural understanding within one's own soul and faith in the higher powers. The Bacchic women who tore Orpheus apart are the contending forces of disruption and transformation that destroy the illusion of stasis in life. They are unable to harm Orpheus at first because his music creates a psychic shield around him, but when their wild howls drown out his voice they rend him to pieces. The harmony of the magical celestial seven-stringed lyre are the seven star chakras of the spiritual body in perfect harmony with the cosmos; when that harmony is disrupted the forces of nature can come in to devour.

The head of Orpheus represents complete enlightenment and the pure Logos freed from limitation. This Logos and its doctrines continue to exist long after the "body" has been integrated and spread across the universe. Orpheus Lyre is the secret teaching of Orpheus, the seven strings are the seven divine truths which are the keys to universal knowledge. This was the primary allegory of the initiate. "The student was also taught of the two fountains of the other world. There are two fountains in the underworld, one of forgetting called Lethe, and one of remembering called Menomoseni. While most beings drank from the first, forgot their previous lives and were reborn among the ignorant once again, Orpheus taught to drink of the fountain of remembering in which one discovered total memory of all lives and our divine nature and super-consciousness," W.C. Guthrie tells us in Orphism (1953). This path led to total recall of all lives and to the Elysian Fields, an immortal paradise. This was a powerful instruction for both death and dreaming. This went along with strict food vows and anti-violence vows the poet mystic followers of Orpheus would take to improve their meditation and wisdom. Unlike the other popular mystery cult of Dionysos and Bacchus, which believed frenzied ecstatic states were the way to the divine, Orpheus taught stoical meditation and refined homage through song.

The conflict between the demi-urge of the body and the spiritual nature of man is emblematized by the tearing apart of Orpheus' body as well as a superior form of continual meditational ecstasis, the severed head being a metaphor for samadhi and deep meditation. Orpheus' body or substance is spread across the Universe; i.e. the divine principle is spread through everything at the moment of supreme awakening. The other popular rites in homage to Dionysos were celebrated as a banquet and party with hallucinogenic wine and wild sexuality. In both Orphism and early Gnosticism there is a direct movement against these forms of worship because they were seen as tricks of the senses to elude the soul and mind into the imprisonment of the flesh. Sabazius or Saboath, the birthplace of Dionysos, became one of the negative names of the false god in Gnosticism while the austere anti-drunkenness tenets of Orphism were absorbed into early Christian thought.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Hermes Thoth Trismegistus

One last very crucial figure that the pagan adept or wizard would be based upon is Hermes-Thoth Trismegistus, whose thought helped create Gnostic paganism and Christianity. Hermes Trismegistus was the one responsible for the axiom of magic, "as above, so below" denoting the balance of magical reality and the hierarchy of the natural world. Iambilichus averred that Hermes was the author of twenty thousand books; Manetho increased the number to more than thirty-six thousand. It is evident, however, that a solitary individual, even though he was overshadowed by divine perogative, could scarcely have accomplished such a monumental labor.

Among the arts and sciences, which it is affirmed Hermes revealed to mankind, were medicine, chemistry, law, art, astrology, music, rhetoric, magic, philosophy, geography, geometry, anatomy, and oratory. Orpheus is the only other man to be similarly acclaimed by the Greeks. In his Biographia Antiqua Francis Barret tells us of Hermes, "...if God ever appeared in man, he appeared in him, as is evident both from his books and his Pymander (teaching text); in which works he has communicated the sum of the Abyss and the divine knowledge to all posterity; by which he has demonstrated himself to have been not only an inspired divine, but also a deep philosopher, obtaining his wisdom from God and heavenly things, and not from man." His transcendent learning caused Hermes to be identified with many early sages and prophets. In his Ancient Mythology, Bryant writes: "I have mentioned that Cadmus was the same as the Egyptian Thoth; and it is manifest from his being Hermes, and from the invention of letters being attributed to him."

Some scholars identify Hermes with the Hebrew Enoch, called the Second Messenger of God. Hermes was accepted into the Greek and Latin pantheons as Mercury. He was revered through the form of the planet Mercury because this celestial body is nearest to the sun. Hermes, of all creatures, was nearest to God and became known as the Messenger of the Gods. In the Egyptian drawings of him, Thoth carries a waxen writing tablet and serves as the recorder during the weighing of the souls of the dead in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, a ritual of great importance. Hermes is of supreme importance to Masonic scholars, because he was the author of the mystery rituals the Masons later used; nearly all Masonic symbols are Hermetic in character. Pythagoras studied mathematics with the Egyptians and from them gained his knowledge of the symbolic geometric solids. Hermes is also revered for his reformation of the calendar system. He increased the year from 360 days to 365 days, thus establishing a precedent that still prevails.

Concerning the subject of Hermetic books, James Brown has written in History Of Chemistry (1920):

"A series of early Egyptian books is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who is identified with the god Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth. The Egyptians regarded him as the god of wisdom, letters, and the recording of time. It is in consequence of the great respect entertained by old alchemists that chemical writings were called "hermetic" and that the phrase "hermetically sealed" is still in use to designate the closing of a glass vessel by fusion, after the manner of chemical manipulation. We find the same root in the hermetic medicines of Paracelsus, and the hermetic freemasonry of the middle ages."

Among the fragmentary writings believed to have come from the stylus of Hermes are two famous works. The first is the Emerald Tablet and the second is the Divine Pymander, or as it is more commonly known, the Shepherd Of Men. One outstanding point in connection with Hermes is that he was one of the few philosopher-priests of pagandom upon whom the early Church fathers didn't attack. In his Stromata, Clement of Alexandria, one of the few chroniclers of pagan lore whose writings have been preserved to this age, gives practically all the information we have concerning the first 42 Books of Hermes and the importance with which these books were regarded by both the temporal and spiritual powers of Egypt. One of the greatest tragedies of the philosophic world was the loss of nearly all 42 books of Hermes-Thoth. These books were destroyed in the burning of the library of Alexandria. The Roman horde realized that until these books and sciences were destroyed they could never rule over the Egyptians.

While Hermes was still alive he entrusted to his chosen successors the sacred Book Of Thoth. Thoth was called "Lord of the Divine Books" and "Scribe of the Company of Gods." The Book Of Thoth contained the secret processes by which the regeneration of humanity was to be accomplished and also served as a key to his other writings. Nothing definite is known concerning the contents of the Book Of Thoth other than it is written in hieroglyphics that imparted powers upon the reader. When certain areas of the brain are stimulated by the processes of the Mysteries, the consciousness of man is extended and he is permitted to behold the immortals and is allowed to enter the presence of the superior gods. The Book of Thoth has always been known as the "Key to Immortality." According to legend, the Book of Thoth was kept in a golden box in the inner sanctuary of the temple; the only key being held by the high priest, the Master of the Mysteries, the highest initiate into the Hermetic Arcanum. He alone knew what was written in the secret book.

The Book of Thoth is still existent today for those who know how to find it, although its whereabouts are secret and for some time the book was thought to be forever lost. Aleister Crowley and other occultists correctly theorized that the Book Of Thoth was the original Tarot, using statues of the deities as Atu keys, rather than cards with initiatory pictures. It has since been asserted that The Book Of Thoth is the mysterious Tarot of the Bohemians. (The Tarot's 78 leaves have been in possession of the Gypsies since the time when they were driven from their ancient temple, Serapeum. According to the secret histories, the Gypsies were originally priests of Egypt.) There are now in the world several secret schools privileged to initiate candidates into the Mysteries, but in nearly every instance they must give homage to Hermes. In the Book Of Thoth, the One Way is revealed to humanity and for ages, the wise of every nation and faith have reached immortality by the One Way established by Hermes-Thoth.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

The Wizard

The Adept and Wizard in the pagan sphere would be modeled after the form of Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, or Pythagoras with a combination of any of the gods and adepts that came before these ones. The whole idea was to release the hidden god from within oneself whether this god was called Orpheus, Dionysos, Persephone or Adonis.

The Adept would need to know the extensive Greek and Roman lore, songs, initiations and elaborate rituals of the mystery religions. They would be known as magicians, poets, and philosophers. Higher thought and science were one with mysticism. The shamanic powers of Orpheus or Dionysos were said to be transmitted to the initiate; these included enchantment, taming of animals and men, healing by sound and light, and the ability to transverse the spiritual and astral realms. The Orphic, like the Christian Gnostic, would compose their own songs of teaching to add to the Orphic corpus as their "graduation," the proof they have traveled with the spirits and have attained the view of Orpheus as their supreme example and teacher.

Historically, by the medieval period, the concept of Wizard would include these teachings, largely based on these figures, especially Hermes Trismegistus the thrice born sage, with a mix of the Nordic ideas we have already covered. With the addition of alchemy, Tarot, certain Arabic and Hebrew magical practices, Goetic and Angelic Solomonic magic, and medical herbalism, the medieval and renaissance Wizard's entire corpus can be known. The Wizard was expected to command, like Orpheus, the elemental, physical, and spiritual creatures of creation with his invocation and force of magical will. This composite personality of the Wizard is demonstrated in literature by Shakespeare's Prospero, JRR Tolkien's Gandalf the White, and JK Rowling's Sirius Black. With the thought of Hermes-Thoth Trismegistus, the Wizard claimed a lineage from Atlantis and Egypt which provided insight and power to his or her works.

Medieval Alchemy was developed from the Moorish influence in Spain and Europe. The Moors brought Egyptian and Arabic mathematics and al-chemie from Egypt. "Al-Kimia" means black earth, Kemet, the part of Egypt where the study of immortality comes from. In Alchemy, one draws the philosopher's stone from the black earth of the base elements or produces gold from the base metals. Alchemy was a combination of chemistry and magic for self evolution beyond the confines of ordinary existence. Alchemists could create a potion, called by the code A.M.R.I.T.A. that cures all sickness and confers immortality. Egypt was home to the very first alchemists and scientific chemists, but the medical herbal traditions from the entire globe were incorporated into the Wizard's panacea by the Renaissance. The alchemist was able to transmute base metals to gold, a process strangely common in many world cultures. Texts on the subject exist all over Europe, Asia, Egypt, Arabia, Nepal and Tibet. The traditional medieval pattern of the creation of the Philosopher's Stone usually has a seven or nine part process, which was literally performed in an alchemical vase and as inner meditation.

The following are the elemental conditions while preparing the Philosopher's Stone: They are nigredo (the darkness), solve (division), purifactio (purification by fire), coagula (unification), lumens (circulation of the light), lapis philosphorum (philosopher's stone) and homo novus deus (the new divine being). Sometimes there is an intermediate stage of union of opposites between lumens and lapis philosphorum called hermaphroditus coelesti, the celestial hermaphrodite. The final and ninth stage of alchemy, homo novus deus, is only traditionally expressed in two texts and never directly, one of which is the Emerald Tablet Of Thoth-Mercury. The work of alchemists laid the foundation for what we know as chemistry today. In medieval times alchemy was considered the work of witches and wizards; although many very famous physicians and royal advisors were alchemists, such as John Dee, the advisor to Queen Elizabeth in Shakespearean Britain.

As time went on and persecution of magical practices became prevalent, it became dangerous to one's life to proclaim their magical workings. People who practiced alchemy were very secretive about their work. Even the scientist Isaac Newton, creator of Calculus and expander of physics, thought it fit to warn his students to keep their work secret.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Orders, Occult/Mystery Schools, Magicians & Adepts

Today, due to the availability of the world's entire corpus of esoteric knowledge, there are several syncretic mystery schools of magic and metaphysics.The alchemist and physician, the magus and priestess, wizard and sorceress are alive and well and walking throughout society. The so-called "New Age" movement is an extension of the occult schools. This began at the turn of the 20th century, and the immense interest in Eastern philosophy as a system of esoteric knowledge all its own became widely studied. All previous lexicons from Egypt to Western Africa, Jerusalem to London, are used by the modern shamanic adept. With the awareness of science and theories such as relativity, evolution, and quantum dynamic theory, there has opened a deeper understanding of magick.

Tibetan Buddhism's stance of developing humanity toward a higher evolution, has pervaded the occult and esoteric traditions of the modern era. With this more anthropological and scientific view of religion and mythic history, the theory that the higher beings spoken of by the Mayans or Gnostic Christians, or as mentioned in Genesis in the Bible which "created" or developed us as humans from simians, were literal beings visiting from other planes or other planets. The ancients also held similar beliefs and the esoteric tradition of the modern age is very much a reconnection with the view of the ancient Nazarite Hebrews, Egyptians, and Africans of old. In many languages such as in Hopi dialect or in the speech of the Dogon of Africa, gods, respectively "kachinas" and "nromo" mean "those from the sky." There is a saying my teacher told me which goes, "the perfect advancement of technology—exactly the same results as highest magick."

By researching the many overlapping traditions we find a pattern that the gods visit us every Annus Magnus or Great Sidereal Year, a complete rotation of the entire zodiacal wheel every 26,000 years. (These periods are called "yugas" in Eastern Indian philosophies). Called Elohim in Hebrew or Taut'ait, Urusha, or simply Neteru in Egyptian, these light beings could change into various forms and appear human, although composed of light. They are called "star people," "hidden chiefs," and gods throughout the literature of Egypt, as in the Pyramid Texts and the Books of Hru. One of the teachings of the Egyptian mystery schools that have survived is that the gods visit us from their abodes in the stars in a very literal way, engendering partially divine traits in hundreds of genetic lines as well as depositing the esoteric information needed to awaken such potential in ourselves each time they visit. Those who have remained behind choosing flesh and a long, but not immortal, life have been given many names in various traditions as well, such as Kabiri, Annunaki, and Nefilim, the "fallen angels."

Those who do not choose flesh, but return to their light habitation, remaining as gods, plant a communal evolutionary imperative in the minds of mankind, suitable to that cosmic cycle, until their return. This visiting earth for a few thousand years, then returning to the stars, is the Equinox of the Gods, when the old ruler-ship of powers overseeing our part of the universe are replaced or augmented by the new divine leaders amongst the gods. This occurs on a literal level and on an on-going astral and quantum level; as with the enlightened bodies of an omniscient Buddha, an example of man raised to a god. The Elohim exist simultaneously on a physical emanative plane; an astral visionary plane; a quantum plane of absolute truth, within the plane of Universal Mind's communal consciousness, which all beings share and perceive to varying degree. Finally, as a supreme individual deity that gathers other like consciousnesses to itself, merging in congrex as a unified nebula or cluster of deified mind, the mandala or divine eschatonic ship is created and maintained. With Each and every cycle of their returning, those who have ascended have given us all the tools we need to become gods ourselves. The information for transfiguration is right there in all traditions of the globe, encoded within us.

Here we will mention the grades and empowerments of the Golden Dawn and what an adept at each level should know as a suggestion of the development of the modern adept from the normal plane of human perception to that of a Magus, with the knowledge and vision of a god. This section contains some of the modern views of the old gods as well as new movements which have enriched the meaning of wizard and adept. Actual wizards through history are also to be found in this lexicon, those who have contributed to the Great Work over the ages up until this very day. Some people think that perhaps the Great White Brotherhood is a leftover of the Illuminati, who supposedly were (or are) so masterful over time and space on the Earth plane that they control humans more than anyone knows through magic that they were privy to in very private circles. This is pure speculation, however, and has not been proven or evidenced in any way.

The Golden Dawn, Order of Rosicrucians and Astrum Argentum provide a comprehensive model to the ranks and attainments of Adepts, which can be used as a developmental map of progress as one develops Adept-ship while progressing upon the spiritual path. The A:.A:. (Astrum Argentum) is an operating mystical society with a large world wide membership; it is often seen as the pinnacle of the western occult path and the Order of Melchizedek. There is rigorous testing at each level and grades by a student's personal teacher, always a mentor that is at least in the next highest grade. The entire hierarchical system remaining the same as in ancient Egypt, those in the highest grades were considered divine, transcendent beings among gods and humans who have attained the supreme realizations.

The Order was "re-begun" in its modern dispensation in the early 20th century by Master Therion, aka Aleister Crowley, after receiving Liber vel al Legis in Cairo, 1903. This was Crowley's version of the Golden Dawn, extending their teachings into ranks and grades of spiritual realization inaccessible in the G:.D: (Golden Dawn). as it was conceived in those days. The arrangement of schools of the Great Brotherhood of Melchizedek, A:.A:., thus became the Order of the G.D. as the outer school, the Order of the R.C. (Rosicrucians) as the middle school, and the Order of the S.S.(Silver Star) as the highest and innermost school. All the grades and ranks of the Adept, relational to the level of consciousness awareness of the Adept, are arranged very neatly upon the Tree of Life: each 10 Sephiroth and attendant angelic beings and realizations are attained for each of the 10 Grades. Upon the Tree of Life, the grades of the Magus are shown in the following way:

The G.D. contains the ranks of Student, Probationer 0 = 0, Neophyte 1 = 10, Zelator 2 = 9, Practicus 3 = 8, Philosophous 4 = 7, and Adeptus Minor 5 = 6. What is expected to be learned for each of the grades is relational to the student's ability and consciousness. After the rank of Probationer 0 = 0, which isn't even yet initiated to perceive the Tree of Life and the most basic of the outer mystical teachings, the work is about rising through the grades, surpassing logical or intellectual work as personal and spiritual transfiguration is stressed. The R.C. contains the ranks of the Adeptus Minor 5 = 6, Adeptus Major 6 =5, and Adeptus Exemptus 7 = 4; and the S.S. contains the ranks of Magister Templi 8 = 3, Magus 9 =2, and Ipsissimus 10 = 1. This is the order of the paths and stages of the A:.A:. The following is a more detailed look at the system:

One Star In Sight, A Glimpse of the Structure and System of the Great White Brotherhood A:.A:. (Argenteum Astrum)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

The Order of the Star called S.S. is, in respect of its existence upon the Earth, an organized Body of Men and Women distinguished among their fellows by the qualities here enumerated. They exist in their own Truth, which is both universal and unique. They move in accordance with their own Wills, which are each unique, yet coherent with the Universal Will. They perceive (that is, understand, know, and feel) in Love, which is both unique and universal.
The Order consists of Ten Grades or Degrees, known and numbered as follows; these comprise three groups, the Orders of the S.S., of the R.C. and the G.D. respectively.

The Order of the S.S.
Ipsissimus 10 = 1
Magus 9 = 2
Magister Templi 8 = 3

The Order of the R.C.
(Babe of the Abyss - the link)
Adeptus Exemptus 7 = 4
Adeptus Major 6 = 5
Adeptus Minor 5 = 6

The Order of the G.D.
(Dominus Liminis - the link)
Philosophous 4 = 7
Practicus 3 = 8
Zelator 2 = 9
Probationer 0 = 0

These figures have special meanings to the initiated, and are commonly employed to designate the Grades. The general Characteristics and Attributions of these Grades are indicated by their correspondences on the Tree of Life, as may be studied in detail in the Book 777. "The name of the Order, and those of its three divisions, are not disclosed to the Profane. Certain swindlers have stolen the initials A:.A:. in order to profit by its reputation. All those who wish to join the Order are advised to inquire of the Chancellor whether the person with whom they may be in communication on the subject is in fact an accredited representative of the Order. The A:.A:. accepts no remuneration of any kind for Its services."

Student: His business is to acquire a general, intellectual knowledge of all systems of attainment, as declared in the prescribed books.

Probationer: His principal business is to begin such practices as he may prefer, and to write a careful record of the same for one year.

Neophyte: Has to acquire perfect control of the astral plane.

Zelator: His main work is to achieve complete success in asana and pranayama. He also begins to study the formula of the Rosy Cross.

Practicus: Is expected to complete his intellectual training, and in particular study the Qabalah.

Philosophous: Is expected to complete his moral training. He is tested in Devotion to the Order.

Dominus Liminis: Is expected to show mastery of pratyahara and dharana.

Adeptus (without): Is expected to perform the Great Work and to attain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

Adeptus (within): Is admitted to the practice of the Rosy Cross on entering the College of the Holy Ghost. He should be a master dhyana.

Adeptus Major: Obtains a general mastery of practical Magick, although without full comprehension.

Adeptus Exemptus: Completes in perfection all these matters. He then either (a) becomes a brother of the left hand path or (b) is stripped of all his attainments and of himself as well, even of his Holy Guardian Angel, and becomes a Babe of the Abyss, who, having transcended Reason, does nothing but grow in the womb of its Mother. It then finds itself born by initiation into the Order of the S.S.

Magister Templi: His principal business is to tend his "garden" of disciples and to obtain a perfect understanding of the Universe. He is a Master of Samadhi.

Magus: Attains to Wisdom, declares His Law and is a master of all Magick in its greatest and highest sense.

Ipsissimus: Is beyond all this and beyond all comprehension of those of lower degrees.

(Of these last three Grades, one could see some further account in the Temple of Solomon the King, and elsewhere. It should be stated that these Grades are not necessarily attained fully or manifested wholly on all planes. The subject is very difficult and entirely beyond the limits of this small treatise.) I here append a more detailed account of these:

The Order of the S.S. is composed of those who have crossed the Abyss; the implications of this expression may be studied in Liber 418, the 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, and 9th Aethyrs in particular.

All members of the Order are in full possession of the Formulae of Attainment, both mystical or inwardly directed and magical or outwardly directed. They have full experience of Attainment in both these paths. They are all, however, bound by the original and fundamental Oath of the Order, to devote their energy to assisting the Progress of their Inferiors in the Order. Those who accept the rewards of their emancipation for themselves are no longer within the Order.

Members of the Order are each entitled to found Orders dependent on themselves on the lines of the R.C. and G.D. orders, to cover types of emancipation and illumination not contemplated by the original or main system. All such Orders must, however, be constituted in harmony with the A:.A:. as regards the essential principles.

All members of the Order are in possession of Word of the existing Aeon, and govern themselves thereby. They are entitled to communicate directly with any and every member of the Order, as they may deem fitting. Every active Member of the Order has destroyed all that He is and all that He has on crossing the Abyss; but a star is cast forth in the Heavens to enlighten the Earth, so that He may possess a vehicle wherein He may communicate with mankind. The quality and position of this star, and its functions, are determined by the nature of the incarnations transcended by Him.
The Grade of Ipsissimus is not to be described fully; but its opening is indicated in "Liber I vel Magi." There is also an account in a certain secret Document to be published when propriety permits. Here it is only said this: the Ipsissimus is wholly free from all limitations, existing in the Nature of all things without discriminations of quantity and quality between them. He has identified Being and not-Being and Becoming, Action and non-Action and Tendency toward Action, with all other such triplicities, not distinguishing between them in respect of any conditions, or between any one thing and any other thing as to whether it is with or without conditions.

He is sworn to accept this Grade in the presence of a witness, and to express its nature in Word and Deed, but to withdraw Himself at once within the veils of His natural manifestation as a man, and to keep silence during His human life as to the fact of His Attainment, even to the other members of the Order. The Ipsissimus is pre-eminently the Master of all modes of Existence; that is, His being is entirely free from internal and external neccesity. His work is to destroy all tendencies to construct or to cancel such necessities. He is the Master of the Law of Unsubstantiality (anaata).

The Ipsissimus has no relation as such with any Being; He has no Will in any direction, and no Consciousness of any kind involving duality, for in Him all is accomplished; as it is written "beyond the Word and the Fool; yea, beyond the Word and the Fool."
The Grade of Magus is described in "Liber I vel Magi," and there are accounts of its character in Liber 418, in the Higher Aethyrs. There is also a full and precise description of the attainment of this grade in the Magical record of the Beast 666. The essential characteristic of the Grade is that its possessor utters a Creative Magical Word, which transforms the planet on which He lives by the installation of new officers to preside over its initiation. This can take place only at an "Equinox of the Gods" at the end of an Aeon; that is, when the secret formula which expresses the law of its action becomes outworn and useless to its further development. (Thus "suckling" is the formula for an infant; when teeth appear, it marks a new "Aeon," whose "Word" is "Eating.")

A Magus can therefore only appear as such to the world at intervals of some centuries; accounts of historical Magi, and their Words, are given in Liber Aleph. This doesn't mean that only one man can attain this Grade in any one Aeon, so far as the Order is concerned. A man can make personal progress equivalent to that of a "Word of the Aeon," but He will identify Himself with the current Word, and exert His Will to establish it, lest He conflict with the Magus who uttered the Word of the Aeon in which He is living. The Magus is pre-eminently the Master of Magick, that is, his Will is entirely free from internal division or external opposition; His work is to create a new Universe in accordance with His Will. He is Master of the Law of Change (anicca).

To attain the Grade of Ipsissimus, He must accomplish Three Tasks, destroying the Three Guardians mentioned in Liber 418, the 3rd Aethyr; Madness, Falsehood, and Glamor; that is, Duality in Act, Word, and Thought.
The Grade of Master of the Temple is described in Liber 418. There are full accounts in the Magical Diaries of the Beast 666, who was cast forth into the Heaven of Jupiter, and of Omnia in Uno, Unus in Omnibus, who was cast forth into the sphere of the elements. The essential Attainment is the perfect annihilation of that personality which limits and opposes His true Self.

The Magister Templi is pre-eminently the Master of Mysticism, that is, His Understanding is entirely free from internal contradiction or external obscurity; His Word is to comprehend the existing Universe in accordance with His Own Mind. He is the Master of the Law of Sorrow (dukka).

To attain the Grade of Magus, he must accomplish Three Tasks: the renunciation of His enjoyment of the Infinite so that He may formulate Himself as the Finite; the acquisition of the practical secrets alike of initiating and governing His proposed New Universe; and the identification of Himself with the impersonal idea of Love. Any Neophyte of the Order (or as some say, anyone) possesses the right to claim the Grade of Master of the Temple by taking the Oath of the Grade. It is hardly necessary to observe that to do so is the most sublime and awful responsibility which it is possible to assume, and an unworthy person who does so incurs the most terrific penalties by his presumption.
The Grade of Babe of the Abyss is not a Grade in the proper sense, being rather a passage between the two Orders. Its characteristics are wholly negative, as it is attained by the resolve of the Adeptus Exemptus to surrender all that he has and is forever. It is an annihilation of all the bonds that compose the self or constitute the Cosmos, a resolution of all complexities into their elements, and these thereby cease to manifest, since things are only knowable in respect of their relation to, and reaction on, other things.
The Grade of Adeptus Exemptus confers authority to govern the lower Orders of R.C. and G.D. The Adept must prepare and publish a thesis setting forth His knowledge of the Universe, and his proposals for its welfare and progress. He will thus be known as a leader of a school of thought. (Eliphas Levi's Clef Des Grands Mysteres, the works of Swedonborg, von Eckartshausen, Robert Fludd, Paracelsus, Newton, Boylai, Hinton, Berkeley, Loyola, etc. are examples of such essays.) He will have attained all but the supreme summits of Meditation, and should be already prepared to perceive that the only possible course for him is to devote himself utterly to helping his fellow creatures.

To attain the Grade of Magister Templi, he must perform two tasks: the emanicipation from Thought by putting each idea against its opposite, and refusing to prefer either; and the consecration of himself as a pure vehicle for the influence of the Order to which he aspires.

He must then decide upon the critical adventure of our Order: the absolute abandonment of himself and his attainments. He cannot remain indefinitely an Exempt Adept; he is pushed onward by the irresistible momentum that he has generated.

Should he fail, by Will or weakness, to make his self-annihilation absolute, he is nonetheless thrust forth into the Abyss; but instead of being received and reconstructed in the Third Order, as a Babe in the Womb of Our Lady Babylon, under the Night of Pan, to grow up Himself wholly and truly as he was not previously, he remains in the Abyss, secreting his elements round his Ego as if isolated from the Universe, and becomes what is called a "Black Brother." Such a being is gradually disintegrated from lack of nourishment, and the slow but certain action of the attraction of the rest of the Universe, despite his most desperate efforts to insulate and protect himself, and to aggrandize himself by predatory practices. He may indeed prosper for awhile; but in the end he must perish, especially when with a New Aeon and New Words proclaimed which he cannot and will not hear, so that he is handicapped by trying to use an obsolete method of Magick, like a man with a boomerang in a battle where everyone else has a rifle.
The Grade of Adeptus Minor confers Magickal Powers (strictly so-called) of the second rank. His work is to use these to support the authority of the Exempt Adept, his superior. (This is not to be understood as an obligation of personal subservience or even loyalty; but as a necessary part of his duty to assist his inferiors. The authority of the Teaching and Governing Adept is the basis of all orderly work.)

To attain the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus, he must accomplish Three Tasks: the acquisition of absolute Self-Reliance, working in complete isolation, yet transmitting the Word of his Superior clearly, forcibly and subtly; and the comprehension and use of the Revolution of the Wheel of Force, under its three successive forms of Radiation, Conduction and Convection (Mercury, Sulphur, Salt; or sattva, rajas, and tamas), with their corresponding natures on other planes. Thirdly, he must exert his whole power and authority to govern the Members of lower Grades with balanced vigor and initiative in such a way as to allow no dispute or complaint; he must employ to this end the formula called "the Beast conjoined with the Woman" which establishes a new incarnation of Deity, as in the legends of Leda, Semele, Miriam, Pasiphae, and others. He must set up this ideal for the Orders which he rules, so that they may possess a not too abstract rallying-point suited to their undeveloped states.
The Grade of Adeptus Major is the main theme of the instructions of the A:.A:. It is characterized by the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. This is the essential Work of every man; none other ranks with it either for personal progress or for power to help one's fellows. This unachieved, man is no more than the unhappiest and blindest of animals. He is conscious of his own incomprehensible calamity, and clumsily incapable of repairing it. Acheived, he is no less than the co-heir of Gods, a Lord of Light. He is conscious of his own consecrated course, and confidently ready to run it. The Adeptus Major needs little help or guidance even from his superiors in our Order. His work is to manifest the Beauty of the Order to the world in the way that his superiors enjoin, and his genius dictates.

To attain the Grade of Adeptus Major, he must accomplish Two Tasks: the equilibrium of himself, especially as to his passions, so that he has no preference for any one course of conduct over another, and the fulfillment of every action by its compliment, so that whatever he does leaves him without temptation to wander from the way of his True Will.

Secondly, he must keep silence while he nails his body to the Tree of His Creative Will, in the shape of that Will, leaving his head and arms to form the symbol of Light, as if to make the oath that his every thought, word and deed should express the Light derived from God with which he has identified his Life, his Love, and his Liberty, symbolized by his heart, his phallus and his legs. It is impossible to lay down the precise rules by which a man may attain to the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel; for that is the particular secret of each one of us; a secret not to be told or even divined by any other, whatever his Grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof each man is his own High Priest, and none knows the Name of his brother's God, or the Rite that invokes Him.

The Masters of the A:.A:. have therefore made no attempt to institute any regular ritual for this central Work of their Order, save the generalized instructions in Liber 418 (the 8th Aethyr), and the detailed Canon and Rubric of the Mass actually used by Frater Perdurabo in His attainment. This has been written down by Himself in "Liber Samech." But They have published such accounts as those in the Temple of Solomon the King and in "John St. John." They have taken the only proper course: to train aspirants to this Attainment in the theory and practice of the whole of Magick and mysticism, so that each man may be expert in the handling of all known weapons, and free to choose and to use those which his own experience and instinct dictate as proper when he essays the Great Experiment.

He is furthermore trained to the one habit essential to Membership of the A:.A:. He must regard all his attainments as primarily the property of those less advanced aspirants who are confided to his charge.

No attainment whatsoever is officially recognized by the A:.A:. unless the immediate inferior of the person in question has been fitted by him to take his place.

This rule is not rigidly applied in all cases, as it would lead to congestion, especially in the lower Grades, where the need is greatest, and the conditions most confused; but it is never relaxed in the Order of the R.C. or of the S.S., save only in One Case.

There is also a rule that members of the A:.A:. shall not know each other officially, save only each member his Superior who introduced him and his inferior whom he himself has introduced. This rule has been relaxed and a "Grande Neophyte" appointed to superintend all Members of the Order of the G.D. The real object of the rule was to prevent members of the same Grade working together and so blurring each other's individuality; also to prevent work developing into social intercourse.

The Grades of the Order of the G.D. are fully described in "Liber 185," and there is no need to amplify what is there stated. It must however, be carefully remarked that in each of these preliminary Grades there are appointed certain tasks appropriate, and that the ample accomplishment of each and every one of these is insisted upon with the most rigorous rigidity.

Members of the A:.A:. of whatever Grade are not bound or expected or even encouraged to work on any stated lines, or with any special object, save as has been above set forth.

All Members must of necessity work in accordance with the facts of Nature, just as an architect must allow for the Law of Graviation, or a sailor reckon with currents.

So must all Members of the A:.A:. work by the Magical Formula of the Aeon.

They must accept the Book of the Law as the Word and Letter of Truth, and the sole Rule of Life. They must acknowledge the Authority of Master Therion and His Scarlet Woman as in the Book it is defined, and accept Their Will as concentrating the Will of our whole Order. They must accept the Crowned and Conquering child as the Lord of this Aeon, and exert themselves to establish His reign upon the Earth. They must acknowledge that "the word of the Law is Thelema," and that "Love is the law, love under will." Each member must make it his main work to discover for himself His Own True Will, and to do it, and do nothing else.

He must accept those orders in the Book of the Law that apply to himself as being necessarily in accordance with his own True Will, and execute the same to the letter with all the energy, courage, and ability that he can command. This applies especially to the work of extending the Law in the world, wherein his proof is his own success, the witness is Life to the Law that has given him light in his ways, and Liberty to pursue them. Thus doing, he pays his debt to the Law that has freed him by working his Will to free all men, and he proves himself a true man in our Order by willing to bring his fellows into freedom. By thus ordering his disposition, he will fit himself in the best possible manner for the task of understanding and mastering the divers technical methods prescribed by the A:.A:. for Mystical and Magical Attainment. He will thus prepare himself properly for the crisis of his career in the Order, the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel.

His Angel shall lead him anon to the summit of the Order of the R.C. and make him ready to face the unspeakable terror of the Abyss which lies between Manhood and Godhead; teach him to Know that agony, to Dare that destiny, to Will that catastrophe, and to Keep Silence forever as he accomplishes the act of annihilation.

From the Abyss comes No Man forth, but a Star startles the Earth, and Our Order rejoices above the Abyss that the Beast has begotten one more Babe in the Womb of Our Lady, His Concubine, the Scarlet Woman, Babylon. There is no need to instruct a Babe thus born, for in the Abyss it was purified of every poison of personality; its ascent to the highest is assured, in its season; and it has no need of seasons, for it is conscious that all conditions are no more than forms of its fancy.

Such a brief account, adapted as far as may be to the average aspirant to Adeptship, or Attainment, or Initiation, or Mastership, or Union with God, of Spiritual Development, or Mahatma-ship, or Freedom, or Occult Knowledge, or whatever he may call his inmost infinite need of Truth, of our Order of A:.A:.

It is designed principally to awake interest in the possibilities of human progress, and to proclaim the principles of the A:.A:. The outline given of the several successive steps is exact; the two crises— the Angel and the Abyss— are necessary features in every career. The other tasks are not always accomplished in the order given here; one man, for example, may acquire many of the qualities peculiar to the Adeptus Major, and yet lack some of those proper to the Practicus. But the system here given shows the correct order of events, as they are arranged in Nature; and in no case is it safe for a man to neglect to master any single detail, however dreary and distasteful it may seem. It often does so indeed; that only insists on the necessity of dealing with it. The dislike and contempt for it bear witness to a weakness and incompleteness in the nature that disowns it: that particular gap in one's defenses may admit the enemy at the very turning point of some battle. Worse, one were shamed forever if one's inferior should happen to ask for advice and aid on that subject, and one were to fail in service to him! His failure— one's own failure also! No step, however well won for oneself, till he is ready for his own advance!

Every Member of the A:.A:. must be armed at all points, and expert with every weapon. The examinations in every Grade are strict and severe; no loose or vague answers are accepted. In intellectual questions, the candidate must display no less mastery of his subject than if he were entered in the "final" for Doctor of Science or Law at a first-class University. In examination of physical practices, there is a standardized test. In asana, for instance, the candidate must remain motionless for a given time, his success being gauged by poising on his head a cup of water filled to the brim; if he spill one drop, he is rejected.

He is tested in the "Spirit vision" or Astral Journeying by giving him a symbol unknown and unintelligible to him, and he must interpret its nature by means of a vision as exactly as if he had read its name and description in the book whence it was chosen.

The power to make and "charge" talismans is tested as if they were scientific instruments of precision, as they are. In the Qabbalah the candidate must discover for himself, and prove to the examiner beyond all doubt, the properties of a number never previously examined by any student.

In Invocation, the divine force must be made as manifest and unmistakable as the effects of chloroform; in Evocation, the spirit called forth must be at least as visible and tangible as the heaviest vapors; in divination, the answer must be as precise as a scientific thesis, and as accurate as an audit; in meditation, the results must read like a specialist's report of a classical case.

By such methods, the A:.A:. intends to make occult science as systematic and scientific as chemistry; to rescue it from the ill repute which, thanks both to the ignorant and dishonest quacks that have prostituted its name, and to the fanatical and narrow-minded enthusiasts that have turned it into a fetish, has made it an object of aversion to those very minds whose enthusiasm and integrity make them most in need of its benefits, and most fit to obtain them.

It is the one really important science, for it transcends the conditions of material existence and so is not liable to perish with the planet, and it must be studied as a science, skeptically, with the utmost energy and patience.

The A:.A:. possesses the secrets of success; it makes no secret of its knowledge, and if its secrets are not everywhere known and practiced, it is because the abuses connected with the name of occult science dis-incline official investigators to examine the positive evidence at their disposal.

This paper has been written not only with the object of attracting individual seekers into the Way of Truth, but of affirming the propriety of the methods of the A:.A:. as the basis for the next great step in the advance of human knowledge. Love is the law, love under will.

The Adept, whether called Wizard, Sage, Immortal, Magician, or God in the mode and manner of Hermes-Thoth Trismegistus and all Great Adepts will see the accomplishment of the Great Work of attaining our own human divinity as of the utmost importance. The extensive self-sacrifice and arduous study required to prepare oneself for primordial divinity is taken upon by the aspiring Adept whole heartedly.

At each stage of development in the Apprentice Magus' development, such as are listed above, there is a set knowledge and consciousness that should be fully attained before moving on. There are extensive curriculums and systems in the different Orders and Mystical Universities of the planes that the student should seek out themselves. Presented here is the course of study for an Adept passing through the Grades as just demonstrated, again, not as a definitive course of action, but as a suggestion to the abilities required by the Magus during his or her development.

Synopsis Of The Grades

The texts recommended in the bibliography/recommended reading in relation to this course are taken from both the official curriculum of the A:.A:. and my own course of study where they are especially helpful. The following is a list of the "bare-bones" knowledge a developing Adept should have when maturing from a student and neophyte toward magical enlightenment and empowerment: the Probationer should have a firm intellectual grasp of the entire system of the Mystery religion and Eastern forms of Initiation. A clear knowledge of world religion and anthropology is extremely helpful although not crucial. What is most important is that the Probationer know his or her chosen spiritual system intellectually so he or she can choose which means and methods are best to begin with as actual practices. The Neophyte should realize his or her Light Body with attendant powers of attainment such as intuition, clairaudience, clairvoyance, intuitions, divination, etc. At this level astral vision, astral travel and accurate divination should be accomplished. The Zealtor should perfect body control such as in hatha yoga and begin to master the rites of his or her particular path of attainment. The Practicus should continue perfecting the Rites of his or her path while mastering meditation. The Philosophus masters all Rites and devotions to the Deities as Outer powers, equivalent to bhaktiyoga. The Dominus Liminis is transformed into the Adeptus Minor when meditation and ritual is perfected for the individual, and spontaneous yoga is attained along with the Dhyani wisdoms, culminating in the supreme guidance of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. The Major Adept attains full Magical Power in which case much tantric and secret knowledge is given to them that must be received from a qualified Master of the Way, the Secret Chiefs, and the Gods. The methods of ritual and study for the remaining grades is to be discovered by the fledgling Apprentice as they flower into a fully empowered Great Adept. The upper Grades members beyond Major Adept begin to exist at the level of being living Avatars or embodiments of the Gods themselves; "Gods" meaning communal clusters of consciousness that supercede homo sapiens and experience reality as their own primordially divine manifestation.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Lexicon of Paganism, Mystery Religions, & Magical Creatures
Glossary Of Terms

Magical worlds and mythological creatures have played a large part in metaphysics, in ancient times and in the modern day. Without the creatures of fantasy, and the legends about magic, perhaps metaphysics would not be what it is today. It is not unusual for metaphysical community to refer to nature devas and fairies, angels and spirit beings.

Many believe that the fantasy creatures in myths and legends, fantasy stories, and even movies like the Harry Potter series, are actual creatures that once roamed the Earth. Some believe these creatures might be ancient memories in the human unconscious. It certainly stands to reason that anything that can be imagined by the human mind might have been created somewhere in the universe, if not on Earth. Included here is a reference list of mythological and fantasy creatures, as well as some places and objects so that you will be a little more familiar with what purposes these creatures have served. Included is a description of alchemy, since it was a large part of a sorcerer's work.

Abracadabra: This is the Latinate version of an Aramaic phrase that is the secret magical formula for healing, immortality and parthenogenesis. Abracadabra was used by doctors in Rome to reduce fevers and delirium. It's magical formula consists of making Pythagorean Triangles eleven times, removing a syllable each time until the syllables of the magic word are gone, along with the sickness or fever. This method was used to cure the Plague as well. Abracadabra is also an alchemical transformative formula for realizing the "hidden god within" of European Witchcraft. In religious and magical terms Abracadabra means "so be it" or "it is commanded" and is used during evocation of powers and forces, as well as banishing negativities and demonic spirits.

Abraxas: He was the Gnostic Pagan God representing the divinity of all of time. Abraxas' number is 365 for the days of the year. His cosmology was important to Gnostic Paganism and was absorbed into mystical Christianity in Greece and Rome. Abraxas was a completely symbolic deity without any attempts at anthropomorphism, representing the emergence of multiplicity from the universal ground called "pleroma," the divine mind which is seeded with myriad points of light, the points of potential which can emerge as an event during the 365 day cycle of the god.

Aesir: This was a race of old Norse gods corresponding to the functions of magic, law, and war.

Alchemy: Alchemy was a combination of chemistry and magic, and alchemists were trying to create gold from baser metals and create a potion that would cure any and all ills; a side effect was that the drinker would also become immortal. Alchemy originates in the Arabic world and comes from the Arab term al-kimia, which is also a word for chemistry. Some historians believe that the Arab word itself came from the Greek language, kimia, meaning "Egypt." It is believed that Egyptian alchemists existed long before Arab alchemists. Perhaps, in truth, alchemy existed everywhere in some form or another, for mankind has always been interested in having more gold, immortality and freedom from sickness.

It was not unusual for rulers to hire alchemists, employing them to find the secret to creating gold out of base metals, and when they failed, they were imprisoned or executed. Fraudulent alchemists managed to con rulers out of gold as well. One was daring enough to invite the wealthiest men of Prague to a banquet. He promised to multiply the gold they brought. What he really did though was create a stink bomb that allowed him to escape with the gold they brought for multiplication purposes. The work of alchemists laid the foundation for what we know as chemistry today. In medieval and other Christian dominated times, alchemy was considered the work of witches and wizards and was considered evil, punishable by death. People who played with alchemy, or even basic chemistry, had to be very secretive about their work.

Angelic Hierarchy: The concept of the Angelic hierarchy is as old as the universe. The basic premise is a hierarchy of divine beings emanating down from a supreme Creator. The basic hierarchy of the magical universe for the Medieval Alchemist and Wizard was as follows: God upon his Throne lived above the Empyrean, the most subtle part of heaven; beneath him was the Primum Mobile, the first motion, etc.

Angels: The word means "messenger" in Aramaic and Greek. Angels are messengers of the Supreme Intelligence, beings made of varying degrees of light and holy fire depending upon their rank and function. The different angels live in kingdoms with their own species of angel. For example, the Cherubim live in the holy fire of the love of God, while the Angels live between the Earth and heavenly planes. There are forms of Angels in all cultures serving all sorts of positive and negative functions in the universe. Archangels were the main angels of the Western Judaic and Christian pantheons. The Psalms of David mentions Universal Intelligence's primal conception of Angels with the words, "I make winds my messengers, flames of divine fire my ministers..."

Animagus: This is a wizard who can turn into an animal with full magical powers. This transformation ability is found in almost all mythology, including the lore of the Native Americans. Shape changing is a common shamanic feature of all magic and religion. Such Wizards such as Osiris, Merlin, and Thoth all performed transformations into various animals.

Arachne: This was a mythical woman who was a spinner and weaver. She challenged Minerva, Roman goddess of handicrafts, and won a contest between them. Minerva was angry, though, and turned Arachne into a spider so that now she could only weave webs. Spiders are considered dreamweavers not only in Native American stories, but also the stories of other cultures. The web of the spider was meant to catch the good and let the bad pass through without entanglment in the human's affairs. This was for dreamtime and for real life applications. Dreamcatchers come from this legend, hung over a bed to catch good dreams. In the Pacific Islands, it was believed that Areop-Enap, a spider existed at the beginning of time with only the sea. Then Areop-Enap created everything in the world. Ghana has legends of a spider god named Anasi who created the world but liked playing tricks on humans.

Architeuthis: This is not an elusive creature because it is small, but because it lives so deep in the ocean that no human has ever seen one alive. Only a dead one has been found. It is a giant octopus, which is actually a real sea monster studied by scientists, and is one of the largest animal on Earth as far as we know. It grows up to 70 feet long and it can glow in the dark mile deep depths in order to light its own way.

Astrum: Astrum is Latin for "star." Paracelsus brought the knowledge of congrex with the essences of Stars from Egypt and knowledge of the inner essences of things from India to the Medieval Western world with his notion of healing by "Astrum or the inner star of things." The idea, adapted from the Egyptians, was that certain inner essences of things have either harmonizing or negating reactions when encountering the inner essences of other things. This inner essence is the Astrum Occultis or hidden star. As humans we have a very complex Astrum that certain minerals, herbs, or conditions of sunlight and environment can enhance or disturb. The Astrum is experienced by the Healer in order he know what to prescribe the patient. Noticing the Astrum of certain minerals helped cure and lighten the Astrum of terminally ill patients; Paracelsus revived the use of mineral drugs during the heights of Christian superstition and persecution.

Avadera Kedavara: This is a killing curse from the Aramaic, which means, "May you and your soul be devoured and undone, lost in negative or anti-creation (the Abyss)." Literally it means: "disappear like this word." Avadera Kedarvara is from the same or a similar Aramaic phrase as Abracadabra. A powerful Sorcerer can make a victim explode with this curse and it goes hand in hand with the evil eye. A healing wizard can heal terminal illness with this phrase as well. There is no evidence of it being used as a curse until the Dark Ages of the medieval period. Traditionally, in Aramaic speaking Judea and Palestine, it was used by physicians to help make illnesses and skin diseases disappear.

Basilisk: This was an immensely large snake. Legend holds that the Basilisk is the offspring of a rooster or hen, combined with a snake or toad. The serpent is portrayed in ancient art with a crown or white spot on its head. The basilisk was deadly, even from afar, able to break rocks and burn trees just with its breath on the wind. Some legends describe the Basilisk as being golden and able to kill with a look. Another version of the basilisk breathed fire, and a third was like the medusa in Greek mythology, petrifying victims into stone. Shakespeare mentions a basilisk in Richard III. After the villain in the play kills his brother, and then compliments his brother's widow about her beautiful eyes, she replies that she wished they were the eyes of a basilisk so she could kill him. In legends, certain birds are fatal to the basilisk, especially the rooster and the phoenix. In the Middle Ages travelers carried roosters as protection against the Basilisk.

Bind Rune: Two or more runes superimposed over one another to perform magic.

Boggarts: Boggarts are known as bogeys, boogeyman, boggelmann, and less ominous sounding names like bugaboo or bugbear. They are mistreated spirits who are malevolent. Bogarts haunt families and will attach themselves to a family even when it moves. They feed on infuriating and humiliating a family. The more angry at its mischief one becomes the more powerful the boggart. Laughing at the boggart can get rid of him. The keys of Solomon contain talismans of protection from Boggarts.

Broomsticks: Witches were said to ride broomsticks, and most likely a person riding a broomstick was a woman because the broomstick is a domestic tool which a man was rarely seen using. Men were more prone to ride on pitchforks. The legend was that they rubbed the broomstick with magic oil and then flew up and out of the chimney. This was probably a story invented because it was customary to push a broomstick up a chimney in order to let neighbors know no one was home. If people suspected witches were flying, they rang church bells, which supposedly knocked witches off their broomsticks.

Cats (Familiar): Cats were considered sacred in Egypt and India. They have long been linked with magic and are thought to be assistants to witches. In Egypt, cats were given elaborate funerals. Sacred rituals in Europe were centered around cats. In Rome, the goddess Diane could shapeshift into a cat. Freya, the Norse goddess of love, marriage and fertility in the Scanidnavian legend, traveled in a cart drawn by cats. As Christianity replaced Paganism, however, cats became objects of fear. They were hunted down and killed, especially if they were thought to be a witch's "familiar," which is an assistant to the witch's evil doings.

Centaurs: The centaur was a creature with a horse's body, but where the horse's head and neck would normally go, there was a man's torso and head instead. Centaurs were thought to live in the mountains of Greece where they had mixed relations with people. Several pieces of Greek pottery record a battle between humans and centaurs that the centaurs lost in Greek history. Many centaurs were noble beings, such as Chiron. He was accomplished in the arts of medicine, music, philosophy and hunting, as taught to him by Apollo and Artemis. He tutored several heroes of the age such as Achilles, Theseus, and Odysseus. Chiron had been granted immortality, but a wound from a poisoned arrow gave him constant pain. Choosing mortality to relieve his suffering, Chiron was placed in the stars by Zeus as the constellation Sagittarius. Centaurus is another constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. Two of its stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri, are two of the ten brightest stars in the sky. Alpha Centauri is the closest star to Earth, only 4.3 light years away.

Cerberus: Cerberus, in Greek mythology, is a three-headed dog who guarded Hades, the Underworld, where the dead go after life on Earth. It was Cerberus' job to eat anyone who tried to leave the Underworld and chase away all living beings who tried to go to Hades before they were dead. Hercules captured Cerberus in one legend, and Orpheus lulled Cerberus into such a peaceful state that he was able to sneak by him to rescue his beloved, Eurydice.

Chimaera: This was an early Greek monster with three heads; a dragon, a lion and a goat. The Greek Bellerophon slew the Chimaera while riding the flying horse Pegasus.

Clavicula Solomonis: These are the "keys" of Solomon. They were Magical texts of an unknown antiquity commonly used to commune and command the angels of the heavens and the elemental forces that influence the stars and destiny. Filled with sigils and amulets, this text was a source for talismanic magic.

Devil's Mark: This is a superstitious notion from the middle ages. The mark is placed on a person's body who has been selected by the devil for diabolical service. These marks were actually birth marks or other physical blemishes. People accused of witchcraft were shaved completely so they could be thoroughly examined for this mark. Any blemish was said to be the devil's mark. Sometimes it was said that the Devil's mark was impervious to pain so the accused witch would be cruelly stuck with needles and burned in many spots of the body to find the mark. Often, because Witch Hunters were not paid if their victim was not found to be a witch they would use false pins called bodkins which retracted when stuck onto the skin, making the victim feel no pain and hence, finding the cursed devil's mark. At this point the most likely innocent witch would then be tortured and burned at the stake.

Dark Elves: These are the beings of the plane of the Elves of the Underworld in Norse cosmology. They are Elves who will entrap humans perpetually in the Elf kingdom, the Land of Summer's Twilight. They bear gifts and with them, entrap people forever in their dimension of reality. Sometimes it is said that Shakespeare's son Hamnet was taken into the Land of Summer's Twilight by the Fairy Queen Titania.

Dragons: The word dragon comes from the Latin word Draco. These creatures are the best-known magical creatures across all world mythology and are found in almost all folklore. The dragon was always guarding its possession of a vast secret treasure. They are the most challenging creature a hero can face. The dragon is a symbol of many real and fictional kings, including King Arthur Pendragon (Pendragon meaning "head of the dragon" or "chief dragon"). Dragons are usually misunderstood, and once the hero talks with dragons, he or she usually finds them beneficial rather than harmful. It was believed dragons came from hot places like Ethiopia or India. Britain was extremely plagued by dragons. Even invading Norsemen from Scandinavia decorated their ships to look like dragons. The patron saint of England and protector of Ethiopia, St. George, was famous for slaying a fierce dragon. Some benevolent dragons became protectors of villages, living in a cave outside the small town. Sometimes virgins were sacrificed to a dragon as a yearly gift in exchange for assistance or just as a ransom to keep the dragon from burning down the village and eating everyone. Draconite is a stone supposedly found inside a dragon's head, acting as its brain. The stone must be taken while the dragon is alive, or it loses its hardness and vanishes as the dragon dies. Draconite hunters would wait for the dragon to emerge from its cave and gave it herbs that would make it sleep. Then the men would cut the stone from the dragon's head. It was a luminous white stone worn on the crowns of kings of the East. The stone is so hard no inscription can be carved on it. Dragon's blood was also a magical part of many potions in ancient legends.

Edda: This was the title of ancient lore in the Norse Traditions. The Elder, or Poetic Edda, is a collection of poems composed between 800 and 1270 C.E., while the Prose Edda was written by Sturluson in 1222 C.E. as a codification of Norse and Teutonic mythology containing many references to ritual and divination of the Rune magicians.

Eldar: These were were ancient tree gods that conferred the wisdom of the ages upon those who sought them out. This was also a name an adept in the Norse traditions earned after proving oneself proficient in magic.

Elves: These were perfected beings that live on a plane of greater light and life. They are both good and evil. Elves may be remnants of the Ancient civilizations that preceded humanity as we know it upon the Earth. They were masters of beauty, song, enchantment and magic.

Erilaz: A vikti, rune magus, who is also a priest, a godhi.

Erkling: This was an evil monster in the Black Forests of Germany that snatched children. From Germanic legends it is said the Erklings would call to the children to play games, and then they would never be seen again. This was a wive's tale to keep curious children close to home away from the wolf, cougar, and bandit infested forest. The Erkling was said to eat children in a stew he made from them in his cave.

Etin: A type of giant renowned for strength.

Fairy/Faerie: These are the airy sylphan form of the elves. The fairie exist at the border between Earth and the Land of Summer's Twilight. Faerie can be caught and made to do one's bidding, but they are hard to handle and very whimsical. They are composed of fire and light like genies and angels.

Formali: Formulaic speeches used to combine actions with magical intent.

Fyfolt: An archaic English designation for the solar cross or swastika.

Fylgia: The "Fetch," a numinous being attached to every individual. It is the repository of all past action which accordingly affects the person's life (like karma).

Galdr: Originally incantation, and later, the word for Northern magic in general.

Galdrastafr: Literally, "stave of incantations." A magic sign of various types, made up of bind runes.

Gandr: Projected magical will and power; the wand, staff, or stave that contains the incantations.

Gargoyle: Gargoyles are often seen near the roofs and doorways of buildings. The Gargoyle is ugly and dragon like, incorporating demons and monsters from Paganism into the Gothic Architecture of Christianity. The French story of the Gargouille tells how the monster lived in the Seine River and spouted water, overturning boats and flooding houses.

Giants: Greek mythology calls them Gigantes, born from the blood of Uranus (The Heavens) falling on Gaea (Earth). The Gigantes fought the gods of Mount Olympus but they were defeated and buried underneath mountains that became volcanoes. Cyclops were another type of giant in Greek mythology, and they only had one eye and created the thunderboldt that Zeus used in his rulership. Cyclops, like Gigantes, loved to eat humans. The British giants were Gog and Magog, and are today represented by two large statues in Guildhall in London, erected in the 1400s. Supposedly, they were destroyed by the founder of London. (They have been replaced twice, once after a fire in 1600s and then after air raids in the Second World War.) Another British legend combines Gog and Magog, calling it Gogmagog. Gogmagog lived near Cornwall, and a soldier eventually pushed the giant off a cliff which is still called Giant's Leap today. Another British giant is called Gargantua (gargantuan in the English language means "huge"). This was a giant so huge that a football field could easily fit inside his mouth. He was employed by King Arthur and defeated Gog and Magog. He needed the milk of 17,913 cows to quench his thirst.

Giants And Magic: Stonehenge was supposedly built by giants, called the Giant's Ring in some texts. The giants moved them there from the remotest parts of Africa and set them up so that whenever the giants became ill, they would prepare a bath inside the stone ring, and they would be cured. Merlin suggested to Arthur that he move the stones to England, and Arthur took his advice and moved them to their present site, believing the stones had medicinal properties.

Glodhker: Fire pot used in magical rites. Gnomes: Gnomes, in general, are the elemental Earth spirits the wizard can invoke to serve him. There are also free living gnomes who reside in mushroom groves and tree trunks. These gnomes are relatives of Sylphs and Dwarves, and are good natured and generally helpful.

Goblins: The word goblin comes from the Greek word "kobalos" meaning "rogue." The same word is also the root of the German words kobold or kobolt and the French gobelin. Goblins roam, and don't usually haunt families or homes. They are miners and metalworkers, more interested in industry than they are in evil. They are rough around the edges, ugly, and klutzy, but they are strong and work hard if they decide they want to do something. Hobgoblins, a type of goblin, are pranksters and can be extremely evil. \

Godhi: A preist of the Aesir and Vanir. Also known as Goddha.

Goetia: A Medieval method for invoking the 72 Celestial Demons of the old world, derived from the Judeo-Egyptian magic of King Solomon-Amenhotep III. Goetia means witchcraft or lesser magic. This is ritual magic in which the adept stands in a protective circle and calls forth a specific day or night demon to do his bidding for a specific purpose suited to that particular demon. See the following elaborate description and instruction in the Goetia of Solomon and the Lesser and Greater Keys of Solomon, Clavicula Solomonis. Goth: A now extinct East Germanic language; the word also refers to the people who spoke this language.

Greek Fire: The mysterious all powerful fire created by alchemists in an outdoor alchemical vase.

Grindylows: These are water demons; sickly green creatures who live in ponds and lakes and drag children from the shore in England. In Lancashire, it is known as the Jenny Greenteeth. In other parts of England it is called the Nellie Long-Arms. Peg o' the Well lives in wells. These tales were most likely invented by parents to keep children away from a watery death by drowning.

Griffin: The griffin was a creature made of part lion, part eagle, and representing courage and virtue. They were first originated in India and guarded gold treasures. The Griffin flies like a dragon, having large feathered wings and its eyes were like fire. It lives in high mountains and is impossible to capture. In Greece, Apollo was said to ride a griffin, and also was the embodiment of Nemesis, the goddess of negation and retribution. The griffin became a symbol for Jesus Christ as the master of Earth and heaven. At first the griffin was thought to be a satanic symbol but later became a symbol of the dual nature of Jesus Christ (divine and human). It was master of Earth and sky. The griffin was the enemy of serpents and basilisks, both demonic beings. Many family crests have a griffin in them.

Hamingja: A mobile magical force rather like the mana and manitu of other traditions. Often defined simply as luck, "shape-shifting force" and "guardian spirit."

Hamr: The image forming substance that surrounds each individual, making up physical form. It may be collected and reformed by magical power according to the will.

Havamal: These are the sayings of the High One, the second poem of the Elder Edda; it contains words of wisdom, initiatory myths, and magical songs used by wizards for centuries.

Hermes: He was considered the greatest of all philosophers, the greatest of all priests, and the greatest of all kings. He was also said to be thrice born, once of his mother, once of the intellect, and once from God. He set the standards for all adepts.

Hermeticism: Magical methods, alchemical means and tradition of Hermes; a way of reading Hieroglyphs to discern their hidden magical meanings beyond their literary and semantic readings.

Hippocampus: These are sea horses that supposedly pulled the chariot of Poseidon. The name hippocampus is derived from the Greek words for horse (hippos) and sea monster (kampos). It was also called a Hydrippus, reflecting the Greek work for water (hydro). The hippocampus was thought to be the king of the fishes, but once Christianity began to debunk myths, the legend changed to incorporate the idea of a golden fish in the East. This gold fish would lead all the fish from the north, the south, the west and take them east. Where, we do not know.

Hippogriff: A form of griffin which can be tamed and rode upon by people.

Holy Grail: It is thought that this is the cup that Christ drank from at the last supper, but many cultures contain the grail myth from which everlasting life or healing from sickness can be gleaned, like the Black Cauldron of Plenty from Celtic traditions. Usually this container is depicted as a very simple, wooden, clay, or stone cup, not a fancy golden cup used by kings. In the earliest stories about the grail, it was depicted as a platter, not a cup. It is also called the Goblet Of Fire for its blue white flames. This cup, or cauldron was also supposedly able to determine if a person was worthy of its contents, and would kill those who were not.

Hugr: A portion of the psychosomatic complex corresponding to the conscious mind, intellect, and will.

Hugauga: Old Norse term for the mind's eye.

Hvel: Wheel, a spiritual center in the human body where magical forces are collected, transformed, and assimilated or projected.

Invisibility: Invisibility is a common thread in many legends and folklore. Hades had a helmet that when worn made him invisible. Harry Potter had an invisiblity cloak in the Harry Potter books. Bilbo in the JRR Tolkein series, Lord of the Rings, had a ring that made him invisible. The Mists Of Avalon story had an entire island that was invisible after passing through a particular fog bank in a boat. Wizards were often depicted as casting a mixture into a fire, causing a burst of light, and disappearing in the burst. Invisibility is portrayed in multitudes of ways. Even wishing for invisibility is a magical power in some stories.

Kappas: These creatures live in lakes and rivers and pull people down in the water. They are also called kawako meaning "child of the river." They are from Japanese legends and are monkeylike with webbed hands. Kappas enjoy human blood, but a human can escape if he or she knows that their vitality is drawn from a depression on its head. It must stay filled with water. If one bows to the kappa, the kappa will bow back, letting all the water fall out of the depression on the head. Then the kappa is defeated. If a human were to offer a cumcumber to a kappa, for they love cucumbers as much as they like the taste of humans, they will befriend the human and teach secrets about medicine.

Kelpie: This is a Celtic water demon that is a horse with a mane of green rushes. It lures people to ride its back and then takes them into deep water.

Labyrinth: Labyrinths, or mazes, were meant to test the skills of a hero. A labyrinth was built on the island of Crete by Daedalus, an inventor. It was built to hold the Minotaur, a monster with a bull's head and human body. Every year, Athens had to pay tribute to Crete, and the tribute was seven young men and seven young women. They were put in the labyrinth and could not escape because it was confusing. The Minotaur ate them. One year Theseus was one of the offerings. His lover, Ariadne, gave him a sword to kill the beast and a ball of thread so he could find his way back. He succeeded in killing the Minotaur.

Magic: Egypt is typically considered the origin of the arts of magic by most scholars. Egyptian music and magic were linked. The Egyptian gods let humans play with magic, unlike the god in other cultures, who reserved magic only for themselves. Even in Greek mythology, mankind had to trick the gods into giving up fire, played out by the hero Prometheus. In Egyptian religion, magic took the form of Heka, a god which came soon after the creation of the world. Heka became the word that meant magic. In Greece, the word became mageia, the basis for the word in the English language today. Thoth, another Egyptian god (who incidentally was granted god-status after being an exceptional advisor and teacher as a human) is most well known for being associated with magic. He was skilled in the healing arts, wizardry, astronomy and mathematics. He wrote secret books, revealing truth about science and alchemy. He is usually pictured with a pen and a tablet. Egyptians were very secure in believing in charms and magic spells. They thought that speaking aloud was very powerful and could bring things into manifestation just by the sound of the spoken word and music. These incantations were spoken over a figurine, akin to the voodoo doll. These incantations were mostly used for healing purposes, but sometimes they were used for more malevolent purposes. For instance, one wizard became a ruler by sinking miniature figures of his enemies' fleets, and then the actual ships themselves sank. Egyptian magic was mostly concerned with holiness, rather than earthly riches. Where a person went after death was far more important that what he or she accomplished on the Earth.

Magic Forests: Magic forests were a common theme in many legends, for the forest was thought to be alive with its own agendas and sometimes malevolent toward man, especially because it did not like having its trees cut down for firewood or houses. Not only were the trees magical and alive, but magical creatures like the unicorn lived in it. Forests are supposedly wiser than humans, older than humans, and are only benevolent to humans who are kind to the forests, the Druids being one of the types of humans that forests favored.

Manticore: The manticore is a frightening creature that was half man and half beast with a nasty manner and sharp teeth. The word manticore comes from the Persian word martikhora, meaning "maneater." It lived throughout ancient Asia, especially India. In India it was called a manticoras. The manticore can sting with its tail or bite with its three rows of teeth on upper and lower jaws. It kills everything but an elephant. It shoots stingers off its tail that are a foot long. It likes to kill men, and wants to kill more than one, having no fear of groups. Hunters try to find the young and kill them before they grow up to be deadly, and their scream is so loud it is unbearably piercing.

Mirrors: Mirrors at one time were rare objects indeed, and were thought to hold magical properties. In some legends they were tools of the Devil, capturing souls as people looked into them. In the middle Ages, wizards used them to divine the future and find answers to perplexing questions. This was called scrying. The tale of Snow White engages a magical mirror. One of the uses of mirrors was to use them as portals to other worlds and dimensions. They are also considered reflection of the self, pleasant or unpleasant. Sometimes this could drive someone mad if they did not like what they see.

Merpeople: Mermaids and mermen are half human and half fish, having fish tails instead of legs. Almost every culture has legends about merpeople. Contact with merpeople symbolized the lure of the sea, causing one to never return to the land and become lost in the world of the sea.

Multiverse: A term descriptive of the many states of being that constitute the universe.

Naga or Nagamani: Naga is Sanskrit for snake. Nagi is the word for female. Nag is the word for snake in many languages. Nagas, according to Buddhism and Hinduism are snakes with supernatural power. They live in underground cities and have several heads. Some are depicted as being human from the torso up and snake from the waist down. Nagamani protected the Buddha as he sat in meditation.

Norn: One of the three complex cosmic beings in female form that embody the processes of cause, effect, and evolutionary force.

Numen: Numinous, living, nonphysical aspects within the cosmic order.

Odhraerir: The name of the hallucinogenic mead and its container used in rituals.

Old English: Language spoken by the Anglo-Saxon tribes in southern Britain from about 450 -1100 A.D.

Old Norse: The language spoken by West Scandanavians (in Norway, Iceland, and Britain) in the Viking Age (800 - 1100 A.D.). Also, the language of the Eddas and skaldic poetry.

Ond: Vital breath comparable to the Hindu notion of prana and universal life force.

Orlog: Literally, the primal layers or primal laws, i.e. the past actions that shape the present and future conditions. Roughly translated as Fate, it is similar to the Indian idea of karma and justice.

Owl: The owl's screech is considered a bad omen, perhaps death. They have also long been associated with sorcery, which was a scary subject to most people. Owls symbolize intelligence and wisdom in other legends, and were the advisors of travelers and wizards.

Padfoot: Padfoot, in central England, is one name given to these magical black dogs that appear throughout Europe and North America. They are also known as Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Shucky Dog, The Shag Monster, Grim, and Shag Dog. These dogs were said to guard churchyards, roads, and some just roam the countryside at night. They appear suddenly, sometimes right alongside a vulnerable person walking alone at night, and they disappear as quickly as they appeared, or slowly vanish away. They are larger than usual dogs, and sometimes they appear without a head. Their eyes are huge and blazing. They never make a sound though. They are silent. Some people thought they were one of the forms of the Devil. Some people thought they were omens of death and feared them greatly. Some people actually thought they were helpful, harmless and a positive sign. Accounts of the Black Dog vary.

Philosopher's Stone: The Philosopher's Stone was believed to be the missing ingredient in many attempts to turn base metals into gold. It had a very strong smell, and is now known to be sulfur. A famous alchemist named Nicolas Flamel, born in Paris around 1330, recorded in his records that with the Philosopher's Stone and Mercury (known in that time as quicksilver) he converted base metal into gold three times successfully with his wife Perenelle's help. He died with his secret in 1410 and even though many attempts were made to duplicate his formula, no one was successful in creating gold. Legend has it that he also created the Elixir Of Life, a potion offering immortality, and that his wife and he lived on in secret.

Phoenix: This is a magical eternal bird that cannot die. It lives for about five hundred years, according to legend. It didn't live on food, but on cardamom and frankincense. When it finishes five centuries of life, it dies in flames and becomes ash. Then a new phoenix is born and lives another five hundred years. This was known as bennu in Egyptian lore, a red and gold bird, a central symbol of the city of Heliopolis, the Sun City. The phoenix symbolizes the passage of time in Egyptian hieroglyphics, representing five hundred years. It is also a symbol of undying love, devotion and loyalty to the beloved.

Pixies: These are household spirits form the legends of England. Mostly, they are dressed in green with a pointed cap. They are youthful and have red hair. They are very small, not more than eight or ten inches high. They are helpful, but disappear if they are given a gift, for they want to play with the gift. They are not like house elves, who like doing all the work. They try to get lazy people of the household to do some work too. They love to play and dance in the moonlight, and they like to ride horses all night, leaving them exhausted in the morning. Their favorite game is to get travelers lost. People who are confused or lost are said to be pixied. This spell can only be broken by taking one's jacket off and putting it back on inside out. This creature has also been called the Will o' the Wisp, a misty, cloudlike being that also likes to lead travelers astray.

Red Caps: This is a well known creature in the legends of England and Scotland. It is also known as a Bloody Cap or Red Comb. The cap is red because the creature used it to catch the blood of victims. They lived in holes on battlegrounds wherever human blood had been spilled, and will continue to bludgeon people to death for their blood on dark nights if an unfortunate person crosses the old battlefield.

Remora: This is a creature that goes back thousands of years. There is a fish known as the remora, even today, but in ancient times, it was believed to have the power to stop ships. Remora comes from the Latin word for "delay." It attaches itself to a ship or to sharks with a suction cup so that it can feed on scraps. It is also known as the Mora and Echeneis. It was supposedly strong enough to halt ships with more force than an anchor, even though it was still a tiny fish. It was believed that Marc Anthony's warships were stopped by remoras in the Battle of Actium, making him lose the battle.

Runester: One skilled in runes; usually a wizard or bard will also be a runester or a vikti with empowerment in lore and divination. Runesters were consulted before doing anything by the Norse.

Salamanders: Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, expounded on the salamander and how it cannot be burned, and actually puts out fire by crawling through it. These are the elemental spirits of fire that the Wizard can invoke for his use. Usually a wizard will have an affinity for one or more of the elements, and will invoke those beings who easily respond to his will most often. The physician Paracelsus used Salamanders and their fiery powers in his healing to cure fever and the classic medieval description of a salamander is usually the one Paracelsus gives in his works. Certain Salamanders actually can put out fires by crawling through it with their cool bodies. It was believed by some that the speckled carnelian salamander would poison the fruit of any tree it climbed upon and those who ate of the tree's fruit would die of a consumptive fever or other heat related illnesses, such as swelling and brain anuerisms.

Salt Peter: An important alchemical and magical element of the triad mercury, sulfur, salt used to help create the Philosopher's Stone, as well in operations of higher and lower magic, such as augmentation of a protective circle or to bind a spirit within a given zone of space. In herbal medicine it is used for its cleansing and preserving properties, and to resuscitate those who have sunstroke or dehydration.

Scarabs: Scarabs are dung beetles who roll dung balls and lay their eggs within them. Scarabs also symbolized immortality, emerging form that which was discarded.

Scissormen: Demon possessed men with scissors for hands that would cut of the thumbs of naughty boys and girls during the night. They originate in wives' tales from London, England. Selkies and Merrows: The Selkies are known in Britain as seal people of the northern islands. They can assume the form of beautiful humans, but can only remain on land for short periods of time and must return to their form as seals. To kill one of them means that a terrible storm will come. Merrows are from Ireland and are the same as Selkies, but the women are said to be beautiful while the men are ugly. They all have special magic hats, and if a human steals their hat, they cannot return to the sea.

Signing: Magical signs or gestures, made with motions of the hands, to trace various magical symbols in the air around an object or person to be affected by their power.

Sirius: This was one of several stars crucial to Egyptian religion and represented Isis. Sirius is one of the brightest stars in the sky and held great magical significance for the ancient magical world. Sirius is referred to as the "Dog Star" and is within the constellation known as the Great Dog. Seirios, in the Greek language, means "burning." Egyptians set their calendars to Sirius and the first day of summer was New Year's Day. In Egypt, it forecast the annual flooding of the Nile Rive, which was absolutely necessary for the agricultural efforts of farmers. The long hot summer is referred to as "dog days" because Sirius rising just before the sun on the first day of summer announces their arrival. Sirius was also considered the home of the dead, so temples were built to align with its path across the sky. The openings in the Great Pyramid are meant to help the soul gain access to Sirius.

Skald: This is the term for a poet who composes highly formal, originally magical verse in the Norse tradition.

Sphinx: An important Egyptian magical creature which represents the akhu, the sense of "I" which is aware of divinity, yet still has functions and connections to the lower worlds. It also represents the divinity of this structure, serving as a guardian to the "Pyramid" apex of higher consciousness as self awareness becomes truly divine. The sphinx can have wings and will always have a god's head such as the goat head of Khnum or the face of a Pharaoh along with its lion body. The most famous Sphinx is the Guardian of the Giza Pyramid Complex. Thousands of smaller Sphinxes were found around Egypt. It is a symbol of mystery. In Greece, the sphinx was sent by Hera to punish a king who kidnapped a young man. The Greek sphinx asked travelers a riddle as they passed. The traveler was allowed to retreat without answering if he or she chose, but if he or she answered incorrectly, death was the punishment. Oedipus finally answered the riddle correctly, and when he did, the sphinx killed herself. The riddle was: "What animal goes on four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?" The answer was "Man creeps on hands and knees in childhood, walks upright in adulthood, and in old age uses a cane."

Sorceress and Sorcerer: in the Western connotation of Sorceress is a female, the Sorcerer a male magus or wizard who uses their powers for evil or mercenary means. They will usually have binding deals with demons and the dark lords. Often sorcery is mixed into necromancy and elemental magic. In the East, Sorcerer or Sorceress doesn't necessarily carry a negative connotation like it does in the West, although the western Sorcerer occasionally will be good, only exceedingly powerful and therefore frightful to those who do not understand magic or their own personal divinity.

Stadhagaldr: Posture magic using Runes and Talismans in invocatory rituals to attain specific ends.

Stonehenge: A Druid temple of the Ancient world found in Britain.

Sulfur: An important alchemical ingredient of the triad, mercury-sulfur-salt which is used to purify the alchemical vase and help create the Philosopher's Stone. Relates to the inert lower realm forces of nature.

Sylphs: Air elementals similar to faerie except completely controlled by their elemental affiliation and the guiding will of the Wizard who invokes them; equivalent to fire's salamanders.

Taufr: Talismanic magic, a talisman used for magical purposes.

Thuurs: Giants renowned for their stupidity and strength.

Tine: A rune talisman that can be very simple or complex in its construction.

Trolls: Trolls are a type of Ogre, unpleasant in every way. They were very smelly as well. They supposedly lived in underground cities and only came out at night, or else they would turn to stone in the sunlight. Scandinavian myths depict trolls as dwellers under bridges, reeking of sewer water. In the British northlands, some rocks that are especially bulbous and roundish are said to be trolls who were caught in sunlight. Trolls dislike the noise of humans and are cannibalistic, liking women and children the most.

Unicorn: A magical horse with one horn coming out of its forehead. These were always white horses who represented spiritual virginity and purity of the heart. They had silvery blood and their foals were born pure gold. Their coats turn silver by the time they are two years old and are pure white as a mature adult unicorn. Unicorns are found in the ancient art of Mesopotamia, China, and India. A unicorn technically can never be tamed, but it can be baited by a young virgin girl. The unicorn was able to save a person's life as well as his or her soul. The horn, when dipped in water, turns the water into an all healing medicine. Although it was a terrible crime to hunt and kill a unicorn, many medievals did just that, as depicted in the Unicorn Tapestry of France. The horns were used as a drinking cup to cure all ills.

Veela: Seductive nature spirits from the legends of central Europe. These are beautiful young women, elementals that lived in the woods, with long white hair and perfect forms. Mostly they are kind to humans, especially men whom they love and regard with great desire. They know of all the natural remedies one can get from the forest. They are kind, but if their dances are disturbed they become furious, whipping up winds and storms. As spirits of the wind, they invoke gales and tempests when they are angry.

Vikti: Magician, wise one, wizard; a wizard versed in rune lore, who is not necessarily a priest (godhi) within the faith of the Aesir, but who remains within the natural laws of that faith.

Vlupsa: Prophecy of the seeress, the first song of the Elder Edda dealing with cosmogony, anthropology and eschatology. It sets the whole world view for the rune magician and wizard.

Wands: Wizards use wands in every legend. Heiroglyphs show priests holding small rods. Some Greek gods carried rods or staffs. Hermes carried what was called a caduceus, and so did Thoth, an Egyptian god. The caduceus had wings with two serpents twisted around it, signifying wisdom and healing powers. Physicians adopted it as their symbol hundreds of years ago and still use it in a commonly seen medical symbol today. Druids used a different type of wand for their seven levels of priesthood. The elder tree was considered especially magical and many wizards favored wands made of this tree. Those who wanted to practice dark magic fashioned cypress wands, for cypress was associated with death. The yew tree is also supposed to have immense supernatural power and at one time was one of very few evergreens in Britain. It is a symbol of both death and rebirth, resulting in immortality. A wand is a necessary tool for the adept and the magician. It serves to focus power and intention when casting spells, moving objects, and removing curses. It is the magician's personal extention of himself or herself and serves to direct the magician's intention with great directness. A wand can be as long as a staff or as short as a one foot stick, even a crystal that is only a few inches long. It can be made of any substance that the magician feels an affinity with, but is most often wooden.

Witches Hammer: This book was as popular as the Bible when it was published in 1486. It paralleled the popularity of the Bible for 200 years. The Malleus Maleficarum (translated as The Hammer of Witches) was written by famous witch hunters who wanted to give a system for accusing, trying and executing witches.

Wizard: The word "wizard" is probably a British invention. The earliest wizards were Druids; a Celtic name meaning "knowing the oak tree." They were priests, teachers and judges, the more educated class in the population.

World (heim): The entire cosmos of universe, or one of the nine levels or worlds of existence that make up the ordered cosmos.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Famous Wizards In History

Some wizards were real people in history, some are not. A few are listed below:

Abramelim the Mage: He was an early Arabian magician who taught the use and control of all angels and demons of the Christian and Zoroastrian pantheon. His system of initiation, purification, and invocation of the angelic and demonic hierarchies is still used today in the Golden Dawn Order. It is the basis for many modern pagan and occult rituals involving visualization and transformation.

Agrippa: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was a Renaissance wizard near Cologne, Germany. He renamed himself Agrippa in order to honor the founder of his town. He was a doctor, lawyer, astrologer and faith healer. He made enemies quickly, however, and was branded a sorcerer. The church imprisoned him for heresy, calling him a heretic after he wrote a book called On Occult Philosophy, using Hebrew and Greek texts to argue that the magic led to knowing God. He died in prison in 1535.

Druidess Cliodna: Cliodna was the goddess of beauty and ruler of the Land of Promise, the afterlife. She was also goddesss of the sea. In some texts, she is the essence of every ninth wave that breaks on the beach. She has three enchanted birds that heal the sick. She comes from Irish mythology.

Paracelsus: Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus was born in Switzerland in 1493. He is considered the founder of modern chemistry and medicine. He was a medical doctor, but then turned to magic, especially alchemy and divination. He was a doctor and a wizard combined and came up with some very successful treatments. However, he was declared a sorcerer. In spite of this he discovered cures for several diseases, including silicosis, an ailment of miners that came from inhaling metal vapors. He also helped to stop an outbreak of the plague in 1534 by using a vaccination. Other doctors hated him and he spent most of a decade in exile from academic circles. He even had to flee for his life in the night in 1528. He died in 1541, but by then, his remedies were more accepted by the populace.

Morgana: Morgan Le Fay was a healer in British myth. She was the half sister of King Arthur, although she was his rival, stole his sword Excaliber, and plotted his death. She is said by some to live in the Straits of Messina near Italy. A phenomena in that area draws phosphorescent creatures from the depths to the surface, making lights and ghostly glows in the water and above it. These are called Fata Morgana, fata in Italian meaning "fairy."

Merlin: Merlin was a master sorcerer in Arthurian legends. He was the advisor to British kings such as Vortigern, Uther Pendragon, and Arthur. It is believed that he is a character based on a real person who lived. Some thought his powers came because he lived backward, therefore knowing the future because he came from there. Merlin's end came when he was entranced by the Lady of the Lake, who created a column of air which imprisoned him forever.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Conclusion

Conclusion and Exercises written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

This course has given an account of some of the historical information available on the subject of magic and magical practices. A few exercises are given at the end of this course, but how to perform magic is not covered because it is such a huge topic unto itself. There are some instructions given in the UMS courses: Witchraft, Solstice, Equinox & Moon Ceremonies, and Altars & Rituals. However, the practice of magic is a highly personal endeavor, and no magician, adept, or witch practices quite the same way. Much of the magic that is practiced is invented on the spot according to the present needs of the individuals and groups, or the events surrounding the situation. There are thousands of books in print on the topics of casting spells, mixing potions and other magical practices. There are millions of ways to practice magic, so if you are interested in this, you must seek out the techniques that resonate most with you. These techniques are available in every bookstore and library, if you are interested in detailed instructions.

However, you have already begun the spiritual path of the Adept and the Wizard. You are already being trained in the ways of the Magician. Simply studying metaphysics, meditation, and philosophy is the beginning of your magical training as an adept. You are already attempting to realize yourself as more than the human you have been trained to believe yourself to be. As you learn more, gather techniques, and observe the results of your experimentations in metaphysics, you will become "as gods among mankind."

First, you are being taught knowledge and history here at the University Of Metaphysical Sciences. Second, you are being taught the techniques of the adept, such as astral projection, lucid dreaming, aura viewing, channeling/divination, self mastery, energy movement and the opening of the heart and mind. Third, you are required to expound on your own ideas about metaphysical subjects, as the graduates of the ancient mystery schools were required. UMS is a modern day version of the ancient mystery schools where the student is educated in the practices of a magus.

The one difference in the distance learning format is that the student must apply oneself to the task and practice of the techniques offered, exerting self-discipline and vigilance from within rather than having these influences being enforced from outside the self, as was done in the ancient mystery schools. Schedules, instruction and discipline were structured and non-negotiable. In modern times, these secret techniques and practices are no longer a mystery and can be found in any bookstore or library, even the internet. The hard part is self discipline, such as daily meditation, daily pranayama and yoga practices, strict policing of the mind and emotions, and practicing to attain the siddhis (i.e.: lucid dreaming, astral travel, intuitive powers, aura viewing, and other "super-human" abilities). These things do take time and practice and cannot be achieved simply by reading about them.

I encourage you to fully pursue the techniques being offered at UMS in your education, and exercise selfdiscipline to work on these practices as a daily practice, especially meditations, pranayama yoga and clean thinking. These are the most important foundational practices for the adept wizard of magician. The ability to have a still mind, even while going about daily tasks in everyday life, is of utmost importance, for this is the mental state needed for working magic. Stillness in the mind is the doorway to the worlds beyond the physical. The magician straddles the physical world and the spiritual world. Between the worlds is where magic takes place. When you are in meditation and you feel that sudden sense of wholeness, peace and out-of-body feeling you are between the worlds. When you can stay there comfortably without wavering, this is when you can work magic. When you are able to bring this stability into your daily life, and stand between the worlds as eternal consciousness, you have become an avatar, a magus.

There are a few main ingredients in magical practices, one of them being the still mind. Another is intention and belief that all things are possible. Physical laws can be bent, and the magician must realize that one is not bound by them. Magic is the bending of physical laws, otherwise it would not be magic.

Besides bending physical laws, magic also has to do with the understanding of certain physical laws that are not common knowledge to the common person. For instance, it is an actual law of the universe that thought affects and manipulates matter. This is the ultimate alchemy! Thus, the magician can work effortlessly with some natural laws that are already in place, but with conscious knowledge of how they work, rather than the haphazard way that the uneducated common person does. The magician knows all that is necessary for some "magic" is the changing of attitudes, thoughts and beliefs which in turn cause physical reality to rearrange itself. The magician knows that to believe oneself whole, healthy and healed is to be so. Disease cannot exist in a person who believes oneself to be healthy and behaves as such. Physical reality is just a reflection machine that responds to consciousness. What consciousness holds, physical reality reflects. The magus understands these very basic and fundamental workings of the universe, and what might look like magic to the common person is only an educated manuever by the magician within existing laws of the universe. This is but one example of the many ways that the adept operates in the world simply by knowing certain natural laws of the universe and using them appropriately.

Good luck on your endeavors in the worlds of magic. Magic is available to everyone and anyone who begins to explore its properties and natural laws.

"As Above, So Below," ABRACADABRA...So Be It, Amen.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Exercises

Here are just a few techniques for practicing simple magic. The more complicated magic must be studied, intuited and invented by you personally.

Coning
Coning can only be done in groups. It is the ultimate manifestation technique for a group. This technique is to set intention and bring a group together into one mind, one heart, and one body (one entity). This is a good technique to use when attempting to energize a goal, set an intention for the future, or cause an event to come to manifestation. It is good to use as a prayer technique for ill people for whom the group would like to see get well and recover from the illness. Anything that a group focuses on with this technique will have a higher probability of manifesting than if the technique was not used.

First, the group gathers in a circle and holding hands is useful. All the individuals in the group must let go of individuality, let go of individual thoughts and intentions, and set the focus on the group desire, becoming one with eachother, as if becoming "one self." All the intention is put in the center of the circle, as if charging up a ball of light in the middle. As energy is gathered and built up, each individual becomes more and more one with the group and the intention, letting all thoughts and emotions become consumed by the "one self."

After critical mass is reached with the gathering of the energy for this intention, the ball of energy or other product of this intense focus by the group (whatever the visualization is, perhaps the person or event that is being focused on) is raised up above the heads of the those in the groups, higher and higher until it feels that the right height has been reached. It might be very high, perhaps not, but this is what creates the "cone," a point high up above the group and the wide end of the cone at the ground.

When the group feels that the right height has been reached, the wide part of the cone is disconnected from the ground. The group might feel a sudden whooshing energy as the intention takes off, now that it has been released from the ground. At this point, the group lets go of the energy so it might go where it will in order to bring about the events that will cause it to manifest. The group thanks the energy for creating what is desired, and retracts all mental attachments to the intention so that it is free to create itself without interference.

Casting The Four Directions
This is another technique that can be done in a group, but it can also be done as an individual. If in a group, one person or part of the group would be assigned to each of the Four Directions, responsible for calling in either the North, South, East or West. (Some innovative practitioners include the directions of Up, Down, Inside and Outside.) It is useful to have a symbolic item for each of the Four Directions, and as they are called on, the object is held up to the sky and intention is set into the object as one calls on the direction.

The reason for calling on the four directions can vary, but for the most part it calls in the energies of the natural universal laws, the Earth energies, and sets a sacred space for the ritual about to take place. It brings all the possibilities into play in order to bring about your desire.

A prayer that can be said as one casts the four directions might be as such:

"I call on you, O North, with your cold and cleansing breath, your icy mysteries of the cold lands. I call on you to assist me today in this humble request I have of thee.
I call on you, O East, who bears the rising sun that gives us life and vitality, ye who brings light to the land. I call on you to assist me today in this humble request I have of thee.
I call on you, O South, who holds the warmth of the tropics, and the playful arena of comfort to the lands. I call on you to assist me today in this humble request I have of thee.
I call on you, O West, who puts the sun to bed each night, and brings the stars and the mysteries of the night. I call on you to assist me today in this humble request I have of thee."

The prayer can be changed to words you would prefer, and you can get quite creative about the symbols you use for this magic. Once this is done, the request can take place and the powers of the directions will join together to bring your intention to fruition. With the help of all four, a balanced and fruitful manifestation of your request will take place.

Calling On The Elements
This ritual works much the same way that the previous exercise does, Casting The Four Directions. However, the Four Elements are called on. (Those who practice Feng Shui might want to call on five elements). The Four Elements are Earth, Wind, Water and Fire (and some use Wood, Metal, Liquid and Gas). A prayer similar to the one above is recited, and each element is called on in order to bring about this magic into manifestation. Again, this sets a sacred space for the request and intention, and calls on powerful forces older than the Earth itself to lend their energies to bring about your request, manifesting reality in the physical world. Working with the physical elements can add much to manifestation techniques since you are working with a reality that is made of these things.

Healer's Exercise
Magic is quite useful in the practices of healing. The physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies respond quite readily to intention and suggestion. Remember, magic is not necessarily the attainment of the impossible, but rather working with natural laws that most people simply don't know about.

This can be done alone or in a group. Picture the person (or plant, animal) you would like to work with in this exercise in your mind's eye. This can be done either in person with the healee or remotely on your own. It can be done on physical illnesses as well as emotional, mental and spiritual injuries, as these are the precursors to physical illnesses.

As you see this person in your mind's eye, cleanse the sickness from the emotional, mental and physical bodies. Keep removing empty space, dark spaces, tangles in the gridwork of the energy field, or whatever else appears to be an energetic imprint of the illness around or inside the person. There will eventually be a point where you no longer find any debris or damage and the person is ready for healing.

Fluff the person's energy up, making it brighter and brighter, softer and more pliable. You can use your breath or your "hands," whatever works for you. Dance around the person and bring joyousness and love into the person's aura. Imagine that you are seeing sunlight emanate from the person, sparkles of sunlinght coursing through the veins, whatever works to make the person more vital. If the person is resistant to feeling joyful or playful, try using some lightning or powerful blasts of light to supercharge the person's depleted aura. When you see the person responding favorably, beginning to generate his or her own energy, without needing any more fluffing from you, stand back and hold a space for this person to become more and more self-sufficient in the healing process. Watch and encourage this person's return to health.

As he or she comes to a point where full self-sufficiency is reached, and the energy is flowing freely and beautifully again, seal the healing. Do this by encasing the person in a golden or silver cocoon through which no interfering energies can pass through, and through which old thoughtforms and emotional states that caused the illness in the first place cannot return.

If the person's image or a thought of the person returns to you during the day, or through the week, pause and hold this image of this person in perfect health with the sealed cocoon of gold or silver light around him or her. This is a powerful technique for healing of self and others.

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Bibliography

Barret, Francis 1801
Biographia Antiqua. Lackington, Alley, And Co.; London

Borges, Jorge Luis with Margarita Guerrero 1969
The Book of Imaginary Beings. Dutton; New York, NY

Budge, E.A. Wallis, 1967
Egyptian Book Of The Dead. Dover Publications; New York, NY

Campbell, Joseph 1968
The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press; Princeton, NJ

Carswell, John and Louis De La Haba, Symour L. Fishbein, Thomas O'Neill 1981
Splendors Of The Past: Lost Cities Of The Ancient World. National Geographic Society; Washington, D.C.

Clute, John, and John Grant 1999
The Encyclopedia Of Fantasy. St. Martin's; New York, NY

Colbert, David 2001
The Magical Worlds Of Harry Potter. Berkley Books; New York, NY

Crowley, Aleister, 1976
Magick In Theory And Practice. Dover Publications; New York, NY

Foster, Robert 1979
The Complete Guide To Middle-Earth. Ballantine; New York, NY

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen 1999
The Encyclopedia Of Witches And Witchcraft. Facts On File Press; New York, NY

Helms, Randel 1974
Tolkein's World. Houghton Mifflin; Boston, MA
Manguel, Alberto and Gianni Guadalupi Dictionary Of Imagianary Places

Nigg, Joseph 1999
The Book Of Fabulous Beasts: A Treasury Of Writings From Ancient Times To The Present. Oxford University Press; New York, NY

Ogden, Thomas 1977
Wizards And Sorcerers. Facts on File; New York, NY

Rose, Carol 2000
Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia Of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. ABC-CLIO; Santa Barbara, CA

Willis, Roy 1995
Dictionary Of World Myth. Duncan Baird; London

Internet Resources

http://www.bartleby.com
http://www.mutabaruka.com (Mutabaruka, The Cutting Edge, a radio show)
http://www.sacred-texts.com

Miscellaneous Resources

Tibetan Book Of The Dead
Complete Works Of Asclepius, Jordan, year unknown
History Of Chemistry, Brown, James 1920

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: Index >>

Sponsored by the University of Metaphysical Sciences

What Is Satsang?

Winter Retreats, Satsangs and Workshops

Featured Affirmation

What are Affirmations?

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: A History Of Magic

Written by Sean Michael Smith
Consclusion & some Glossary Terms written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

Introduction

Egyptian Adepts & Mystery Schools

Eastern Indian Adepts

Other Adepts, Paganism

Greek/Roman/Norse Adepts & Mystery Schools

Persephone

Orpheus

Hermes Thoth Trismegistus

The Wizard

Orders, Occult/Mystery Schools, Magicians & Adepts

Synopsis Of The Grades

Lexicon of Paganism, Mystery Religions, & Magical Creatures
Glossary Of Terms

Famous Wizards In History

Conclusion

Conclusion and Exercises written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

Exercises

Bibliography

Internet Resources

Miscellaneous Resources

What Is Satsang?

Winter Retreats, Satsangs and Workshops

Featured Affirmation

What are Affirmations?

Wizards, Adepts, & Mystery Schools: A History Of Magic

Written by Sean Michael SmithConsclusion & some Glossary Terms written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

Synopsis Of The Grades

Conclusion and Exercises written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

Internet Resources

Miscellaneous Resources

Written by Sean Michael Smith
Consclusion & some Glossary Terms written by Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.