One of the three gunas, or qualities of nature. The quality of darkness, foulness, ignorance, obscurity, heaviness or inertia. The “lowest” of the three qualities. From the Mahabarata: "Complete delusion, ignorance, illiberality, indecision in respect of action, sleep, haughtiness, fear, cupidity, grief, censure of good acts, loss of memory, unripeness of judgment, absence of faith, violation of all rules of conduct, want of discrimination, blindness, vileness of behaviour, boastful assertions of performance when there has been no performance, presumption of knowledge in ignorance, unfriendliness (or hostility), evilness of disposition, absence of faith, stupid reasoning, crookedness, incapacity for association, sinful action, senselessness, stolidity, lassitude, absence of self-control, degradation, - all these qualities are known as belonging to Darkness (Tamas). Whatever other states of mind connected with delusion exist in the world, all appertain to Darkness. Frequent ill-speaking of other people, censuring the deities and the Brahmanas (priests), illiberality, vanity, delusion, wrath, unforgiveness, hostility towards all creatures, are regarded as the characteristics of Darkness. Whatever undertakings exist that are unmeritorious (in consequence of their being vain or useless), what gifts there are that are unmeritorious (in consequence of the unworthiness of the donee, the unseasonableness of the time, the impropriety of the object, etc.), vain eating, - these also appertain to Darknesss (Tamas). Indulgence in calumny, unforgiveness, animosity, vanity, and absence of faith are also said to be characteristics of Darkness. Whatever men there are in this world who are characterised by these and other faults of a similar kind, and who break through the restraints provided by the scriptures, are all regarded as belonging to the quality of Darkness."

Sanskrit for "continuum" or "unbroken stream." This refers first (1) to the continuum of vital energy that sustains all existence, and second (2) to the class of knowledge and practices that harnesses that vital energy, thereby transforming the practitioner. There are many schools of Tantrism, but they can be classified in three types: White, Grey and Black. Tantra has long been known in the West as Alchemy.

“In the view of Tantra, the body's vital energies are the vehicles of the mind. When the vital energies are pure and subtle, one's state of mind will be accordingly affected. By transforming these bodily energies we transform the state of consciousness.” -The 14th Dalai Lama

"Through the Gypsies the Tarot cards may be traced back to the religious symbolism of the ancient Egyptians. [...] Count de Gébelin believed the word Tarot itself to be derived from two Egyptian words, Tar, meaning "road," and Ro, meaning "royal." Thus the Tarot constitutes the royal road to wisdom. (See Le Monde Primitif.) [...] The Tarot is undoubtedly a vital element in Rosicrucian symbolism, possibly the very book of universal knowledge which the members of the order claimed to possess. The Rota Mundi is a term frequently occurring in the early manifestoes of the Fraternity of the Rose Cross. The word Rota by a rearrangement of its letters becomes Taro, the ancient name of these mysterious cards.  [...] The Pythagorean numerologist will also find an important relationship to exist between the numbers on the cards and the designs accompanying the numbers. The Qabbalist will be immediately impressed by the significant sequence of the cards, and the alchemist will discover certain emblems meaningless save to one versed in the divine chemistry of transmutation and regeneration."' As the Greeks placed the letters of their alphabet--with their corresponding numbers--upon the various parts of the body of their humanly represented Logos, so the Tarot cards have an analogy not only in the parts and members of the universe but also in the divisions of the human body. They are in fact the key to the magical constitution of man. [...] The Tarot cards must be considered (1) as separate and complete hieroglyphs, each representing a distinct principle, law, power, or element in Nature; (2) in relation to each other as the effect of one agent operating upon another; and (3) as vowels and consonants of a philosophic alphabet. The laws governing all phenomena are represented by the symbols upon the Tarot cards, whose numerical values are equal to the numerical equivalents of the phenomena. As every structure consists of certain elemental parts, so the Tarot cards represent the components of the structure of philosophy. Irrespective of the science or philosophy with which the student is working, the Tarot cards can be identified with the essential constituents of his subject, each card thus being related to a specific part according to mathematical and philosophical laws. "An imprisoned person," writes Eliphas Levi, "with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequalled learning and inexhaustible eloquence." - Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)

"The author of the Tarot was the Angel Metatron. He is Lord of the serpent wisdom. The Bible refers to him as the Prophet Enoch. The Angel Metatron, or Enoch, delivered the Tarot, in which the entirety of divine wisdom is enclosed. The Tarot remains written in stone. He also left us the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This great Master lives in the Superior Worlds, in the world of Atziluth, which is a world of indescribable happiness. According to the Kabbalah, this world is the region of Kether, a very high Sephirah. All Kabbalists base themselves on the Tarot and it is necessary for them to comprehend the Tarot and study it deeply. The Universe was made with the laws of numbers, measurements, and weight. Mathematics forms the Universe, and the numbers become living entities." - Samael Aun Weor, The Initatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah

(Sanskrit) “truth, fundamental principle.” A reference to the essential nature of a given thing. Tattvas are the elemental forces of nature. There are numerous systems presenting varying tattvas as fundamental principles of nature.  Gnosticism utilizes a primary system of five: akash (which is the elemental force of the ether), tejas (fire), vayu (air), apas (water) and prittvi (earth). Two higher tattwas are also important: adi and samadhi.

The twenty-second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it symbolizes power and servitude. Its Kabbalistic value is 400.

There are four primary temperaments: Earth (Phlegmatic; Capricorn, Virgo and Taurus), Fire (Sanguineous; Leo, Aries, Sagittarius), Air (Nervous; Libra, Aquarius, Gemini), Water (Voluptuous; Pisces, Scorpio, Cancer).

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God;" for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death. - James 1:13-15

"Temptation is fire. Triumph over temptation is light." - Samael Aun Weor 

The results speak for themselves.  If there are no temptations there are no virtues.  Virtues are more grandiose when temptations are stronger.  What is important is not to fall into temptation.  That is why we have to pray to our Father, saying, “Lead us not into temptation.”  Only through the struggle, the contrast, the temptation, and rigorous esoteric discipline, can the flowers of virtue sprout from us." - The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah 

An account of personal experience.

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness." - Jesus teaching sexual transmutation to Nicodemus

"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." - Hebrews 9

A Greek word referring to the Hebrew name of God, the Holy Four-lettered Name יהוה YHVH (Yod He Vau He) often translated as Jehovah, or erroneously as Yahve, Yahweh or Jahve, which is actually the name of a demon although it is spelled the same way. This word has many levels of meaning and application.

Samael Aun Weor: “The different pseudo-esoteric and pseudo-occult schools affirm emphatically that the human being possess seven bodies:

1. The first one is called physical body, it is the famous Stula-Sarira of the Oriental theosophists.
2. The second one in Orient is called Linga-Sarira or Vital body and is the base of the organic life, the tetra-dimensional part of the physical body.
3. The third body is Kamas, the principle of desire, the famous Astral body cited by the medieval alchemists.
4. The fourth body is called the Mental body by the Hindustani and Inferior Manas in Sanskrit.
5. The fifth vehicle is the Causal body or Arupic as is called by the theosophists.
6. The sixth body is the Buddhic or Intuitional, the Superlative Consciousness of the Being.
7. The seventh is called Atman the Ineffable by the Hindustani... the Intimate (Innermost). Certainly, the ancient wisdom says: “Before that the false aurora ..... It is necessary to adore and worship the Intimate.”

(Egyptian) from Renenutet, Renenet, Ernutet, Thermuthis, Thermouthis, Termuthis. “She Who Rears” was a cobra goddess of nursing or rearing children, fertility and protector of the Pharaoh. Known as the “Nourishing Snake,” she not only was a goddess who was sometimes shown nursing a child, but she offered her protection to the Pharaoh in the Land of the Dead. In later times she was thought to be the goddess who presided over the eighth month of the Egyptian calendar, known by Greek times as Parmutit.

See Chambers.

An Egyptian symbol of the Christ-Mind. Related to Hermes/Mercury.

See Chambers.

In Greek and Roman religion and mythology, the three daughters of Mother Earth, conceived from the blood of Uranus, when Kronos castrated him. They were powerful divinities that personified conscience and punished crimes against kindred blood, especially matricide. They were usually represented as winged women with serpent hair. Their names were Megaera [jealous], Tisiphone [blood avenger], and Alecto [unceasing in pursuit]. When called upon to act, they hounded their victims until they died in a “furor” of madness or torment. In the myth of Orestes they appear as Clytemnestra’s agents of revenge. After Athena absolved Orestes of guilt in the murder of his mother, she gave the Furies a grotto at Athens where they received sacrifices and libations, and became euphemistically known as the Eumenides [kindly ones]. Samael Aun Weor explains that the Three Furies are the same as the Three Traitors (see below).

An ancient esoteric symbol of our inner psychology. They are present in the Christian Gospel (Judas, Pilate, Caiaphas), in the Masonic Legend of Hiram Abiff, and are the Three Egyptian Demons who killed Osiris. These Three Traitors are related to our Three Brains and the Three Protoplasmatic Lunar Bodies.

"The first is the Demon of Desire, the second is the Demon of the Mind and the third is the Demon of Evil Will. The first one is inside the Astral Body. The second one is inside the Mental Body. The third is inside the Body of Will (Causal Body). All of these three together are the Black Dragon with three heads. They are also Sebal, Ortelut and Stokin, the three traitors of Hiram Abif. In short, these three unclean spirits are our psychological “I,” the ego, the myself." - The Aquarian Message

(Also tiferet; Hebrew תפארת means beauty or compassion) The sixth sephirah of the Tree of Life. The Human Soul.

"Tiphereth is the groom of the bride; it is the Superior Manas of Eastern Theosophy; it is nothing else but the Human Soul, the Causal Body. It is that Soul who suffers and gives that very human part onto us. We must distinguish between what the Human Soul is and what Tiphereth is in itself. It is very easy to mistake Tiphereth with the Causal Body. The Causal Body becomes the vehicle of Tiphereth." - Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

(Aztec; Tlal, “earth” and Tecuhtli, “Lord”) The Aztec god of earth.

(Greek σῶμα ἡλιακόν) Literally, “The Golden Body of the Solar Man.” A reference to the solar bodies, the soul, represented in various religions by the wedding garment, the chariot of Ezekiel, Krishna or Apollo, etc.

(Hebrew תורה) Literally, teaching, instruction, or law. This word is synonymous with the Sanskrit word Dharma.

"For the commandment [is] a lamp; and the תורה [law] [is] אור [light]; and reproofs of instruction [are] the way of חי [life]..." - Proverbs 6:23

As a term of esoteric psychology: "Every perception passes from the senses into the mind. The “I” translates all the information that is collected by the mind in accordance with its own prejudices, desires, fears, remembrances, preconceptions, maliciousness of a certain type, fanaticism, hatred, envy, jealousy, passion, etc., etc." - Endocrinology & Criminology

(Hebrew עץ הדעת טוב ורע) "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." - Genesis 2:9

From the Hebrew: עץ for tree. דעת (Daath) means knowledge. טוב means "goodness." רע means "pollution" or "impurity."

One of two trees in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge in Hebrew is Daath, which is related to the sexual organs and the study of sexuality, known also as Alchemy / Tantra.

The Law of Three, the Trinity, which creates. In any form of creation, there are always three forces.

"The creative process of the Sacred Cosmic Common Triamatzikamno was initiated with the sexual marriage of the Word because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Because of Him all things were made and without Him nothing that was made would have been made." - Samael Aun Weor, The Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology

(Sanskrit) Literally, “three faces” or “triple form.”

The reciprical nourishment of all organisms. The equilibrium of nature, within which all creatures receive what they need to survive, and give to others what they need to survive.