Glossary of Spiritual and Religious Words

All

Aaron's Rod

Symbol of the raised serpent of fire.

Abaddon

(Hebrew אבדון) destruction.

"Sheol (hell) and Abaddon are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." - Proverbs 27:20

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." - Revelation 9:11

From The Theosophical Glossary: "[from the verbal root 'abad to perish, be cut off] Destruction, abyss; the region of the dead, synonym of She'ol in the Old Testament. Equivalent to the Greek apollyon (destruction, laying waste -- Rev 9:11). Thus Abaddon, Apollyon, Hades, and Orcus all signify the underworld -- the kama-loka or region of disintegrating "shells," human or other."

Abba

(Hebrew אב, spelled aleph-beth; “father”) The masculine sexual power of (the Holy Spirit) Binah (understanding), is the Father of Shechinah (feminine Hebrew word that means “the dwelling of the presence of God" - Chesed - Mercy), Gedulah is fecundated by the Holy Spirit Binah (Jehovah Elohim) within the womb of Aima Elohim. He controls the creation of the lower Sephiroth by means of Daath. Thereafter, he may impregnate the womb of Aima Elohim in order for Chokmah (as the Son of Man, Christ) to be born within the Bodhisattva.

Abel

(Hebrew הבל Hei, Beth, Lamed, pronounced "ha-bel") Literally, nonsense, futility, idleness, vapor, breath, vanity, to waste life on vain things. One of the sons of Adam and Eve.

"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain [Kayin], and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel [Habel]. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." - Genesis 4:1-2

הבל הבלים אמר קהלת הבל הבלים הכל הבל - "Abel of abel, saith the Preacher, abel of abels; all [is] abel (futility)." - Ecc 1:2

Aberamentho

The sacred name of the great Being who sent his Human Soul to the Earth two thousand years ago and came to be known as Jesus.

"Jesus, -- that is Aberamentho, -- said..." - The Pistis Sophia

Abhayan

(Sanskrit; a  “without,”  bhaya “fear”) 1. Fearless.  2. One who does not produce fear in others.

Abraham

(Hebrew אברהם) The progenitor of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. From Semitic roots, Abraham means “the divine Father is exalted”: from אב Ab, father; and רהם ram, raham, exalted.

"Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram [אברם], but thy name shall be Abraham [אברהם]; for a father [אב] of many nations have I made thee." - Genesis 17:5

In Kabbalah, Abraham represents the sephirah Chesed, our Innermost.

"When Abraham appeared, as he is the secret of Chesed..." - Zohar

"For it is written, that Abraham (Abba, the Father, Iod in Yesod) had two sons, the one by a bondmaid (the fallen Eve-Venus, the lunar serpent Od, Ida = Agar the lunar female force that instinctively procreates in Egypt, Matzarim, the World of Malkuth, Assiah), the other by a freewoman (Zain, Urania-Venus, Sa-Ra the Female Adept from Nirvana, the Mother of Isaac, the Son of Man in Daath).

"But he who was of the bondwoman was born (in Malkuth) after (the blood of) the flesh; but he (the Bodhichitta within the Bodhisattva) of the freewoman was by (sexual transmutation, and this is the) promise (of Shaddai-El-Chai, the Holy Spirit). Which things (women) are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Agar (Egypt, Matzarim, Assiah). For this Agar (Egypt, Matzarim, Assiah) is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to (the terrestrial) Jerusalem which now is (was and will be Malkuth, Egypt, Matzarim, Assiah), and is in bondage with her children (within the wheel of evolution and devolution in Samsara). But (the Heavenly) Jerusalem which is above (the Sephirah Malkuth, Egypt, Matzarim, Assiah) is free, which is the mother of us all (in Yesod the Fourth Dimension). For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bear not; break forth and cry, thou that travails not: for the desolate (Eve-Venus, the fallen lunar force in Malkuth) has many more children than she (Urania-Venus, the creative sexual force that rises to the Pineal Gland) which has a husband (the Holy Spirit). Now we, (Gnostic) brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of (Shaddai-El-Chai, the Holy Spirit through sexual transmutation, and this is the) promise. But as then he (the fornicator) that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born (through sexual transmutation) after the (Holy) Spirit (the sexual creative force of Shaddai-El-Chai), even so it is now.

"Nevertheless what says the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son (into Malkuth, the Wheel of Samsara): for the son (the soul dressed with lunar protoplasmic bodies) of the bondwoman (Eve-Venus, the fallen lunar force in Malkuth) shall not be heir with the son (the soul dressed with solar bodies) of the freewoman. So then, (Gnostic) brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman (Eve-Venus, the fallen lunar force in Malkuth), but of the free (sexual forces of SA and RA, which become the Divine Princess Kundalini that rises victoriously to the brain)." - Galatians 4: 22-31

Abraxas

or Abrasax (Gnostic, from the Greek Αβραξας) From The Theosophical Glossary: "Mystical term used by the Gnostics to indicate the supreme entity of our cosmic hierarchy or its manifestation in the human being which they called the Christos. Abraxas has the value of 365, based on numerical equivalents of the Greek alphabet. Because 365 represents the cycle of one revolution of our planet around the sun, they held that in Abraxas were mystically contained the full number of families of entities composing a hierarchy. These entities received from their supreme illuminator, Abraxas, the streams of life and inspiration governing their existence. Thus in a sense Abraxas is the cosmic Oversoul, the creative or Third Logos, Brahma. The Basilidean Gnostics [see: Basilides] taught that from this supreme God was created nous (mind). Abraxas also was identified with the Hebrew 'Adonai, the Egyptian Horus, and the Hindu Prajapati. Gnostic amulets known as Abraxas gems depicted the god as a pantheos (all-god), with the head of a cock, herald of the sun, representing foresight and vigilance; a human body clothed in armor, suggestive of guardian power; legs in the form of sacred asps. In his right hand is a scourge, emblem of authority; on his left arm a shield emblazoned with a word of power. This pantheos is invariably inscribed with his proper name IAO and his epithets Abraxas and Sabaoth, and often accompanied with invocations such as SEMES EILAM, the eternal sun (Gnostics and Their Remains 246), which Blavatsky equates with "the central spiritual sun" of the Qabbalists (SD 2:214). Though written in Greek characters, the words SEMES EILAM ABRASAX are probably Semitic in origin: shemesh sun; `olam secret, occult, hid, eternity, world; Abrasax Abraxas. Hence in combination the phrase may be rendered "the eternal sun Abraxax."

"Remember, beloved devotee, the double tail of the serpent that forms the legs of the solar rooster of Abraxas. The entire process of the Great Work consists of releasing oneself from the enchanted rings of the tempting serpent..." - Samael Aun Weor, The Aquarian Message

Absolute

Abstract space; that which is without attributes or limitations. Also known as sunyata, void, emptiness, Parabrahman, Adi-buddha, and many other names.

The Absolute has three aspects: the Ain, the Ain Soph, and the Ain Soph Aur.

"The Absolute is the Being of all Beings. The Absolute is that which Is, which always has Been, and which always will Be. The Absolute is expressed as Absolute Abstract Movement and Repose. The Absolute is the cause of Spirit and of Matter, but It is neither Spirit nor Matter. The Absolute is beyond the mind; the mind cannot understand It. Therefore, we have to intuitively understand Its nature." - Samael Aun Weor, The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah

"In the Absolute we go beyond karma and the gods, beyond the law. The mind and the individual consciousness are only good for mortifying our lives. In the Absolute we do not have an individual mind or individual consciousness; there, we are the unconditioned, free and absolutely happy Being. The Absolute is life free in its movement, without conditions, limitless, without the mortifying fear of the law, life beyond spirit and matter, beyond karma and suffering, beyond thought, word and action, beyond silence and sound, beyond forms." -  Samael Aun Weor, The Major Mysteries

Abyss

1) Hell, known in Kabbalah as Klipoth, which is depicted as a reflection of the Tree of Life, below Malkuth.

2) the great void that seperates the superior triangle of the Tree of Life from the remaining seven sephiroth. “We know very well that the “Great Abyss” of the eternal waters is found between Binah and Chesed. This is known by any Kabbalist who consults the Tree of Life.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled

Acheron

(Greek) One of the rivers of Hades in Greek Mythology

Adam

(Hebrew [אדם] aleph, daleth, mem) "The first."

"We learned that man has names in different stages, FOR HE IS CALLED Adam (man), Gever (male man), Enosh (human), Ish (person). The greatest is Adam, as written, "So Elohim created man (Heb. adam) in His own image" (Beresheet 1:27), and, "for in the image of Elohim made He man (Heb. adam)" (Beresheet 9:6), instead of using Gever, Enosh or Ish. Rabbi Yehuda said, in that case, it is written, "If any man (Heb. adam) of you bring an offering to Hashem" (Vayikra 1:2). Who needs to bring an offering? Only whoever sins WHO IS OF A LESSER LEVEL." - Zohar 15:22:106

"Every spirit [ruach] is called Adam [man], which means that only the aspect of the light of the spirit that is enclothed within the body is called Adam [man]. So the body of the spirit of the holy side is only a covering; in other words, the spirit is the actual essence of man and the body is only its covering. But on the other side, the opposite applies. This is why it is written: "you have clothed me with skin and flesh..." (Iyov 10:11). The flesh of man is only a garment covering the essence of man, which is the spirit [ruach]. Everywhere it is written the flesh of man, it hints that the essence of man [Adam] is inside. The flesh is only a vestment for man, a body for him, but the essence of man [Adam] is the aspect of his spirit [ruach]." - Zohar 1A:10:120

Genesis 1:26: "And Elohim said; Let us make Adam in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion:

1. Over the fish of the sea (Tattva Apas – “He” - Water),
2. And over the fowl of the air (Tattva Vayu – “Vav” - Air),
3. And over the cattle, and over all the earth (Tattva Prittvi – “He” - Earth),
4. And over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth (wherein there is life – “Iod” - Tattva Tejas – Fire, the Serpent.)

Adam and Eve

A symbol with many levels of meaning. These are only a few of them:

Historical: ”Do not forget that Adam is not one man, neither is Eve one woman. Indeed, Adam is all of the millions of men of Lemuria, and Eve is all of the millions of women of Lemuria.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of Beelzebub

Anatomical:

1) Physical: Adam represents the brain and Eve represents the sexual organs

2) Ethereal:  Adam and Eve symbolize the two canals that entwine around the spinal column.

Adam Kadmon

(Hebrew) This term has many applications, including the first manifestation of the Abstract Space; The Archetypal Man; Humanity; The Heavenly Man, not fallen into sin.

“The body of Adam Kadmon is formed by the Sephiroth." - Tarot and Kabbalah, ch. XXXII

Adam-Solus

The Hebrew word Adam united to the Latin word Solus represents the Polar First Root Race who possessed a pure Androgynous-Physical-Spiritual existence. From them emerged the Second Root Race: the Hyperboreans, who expressed the Twin Souls, Adam-Eve or Iod-Havah, or pure Androgynous-Physical-Psychic existence. The Hyperboreans (by means of physical psychological transformation) originated the Lemurian Hermaphrodite Third Root Race, who when dividing themselves into opposite sexes (event symbolized in the Bible by the allegory in which the Inner Iod-Havah physically separates herself Eve “Havah” from his self “Iod” Adam) who by means of their physical fall divided their consciousness into Cain (the consciousness bottled up into Evil - the Mind) and Abel (the innocence of the Soul). The innocence of Abel died by the evilness of Cain, who by means of regeneration produced the Atlantean Fourth Root Race, Seth-Enos. The Atlanteans (by means of successive transformations) originated Noah, the Vaisvasvata Manu (the son of the Hyperborean Surya, “the Sun”), the forefather of the post-diluvium race, the Aryan Root Race. The Fourth and the Fifth (the present Aryan Root Race) are the outcome of the tasting of the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil (orgasm).

Adamah

(Hebrew אדמה) “ground, earth.” Genesis 2:7 says, “God [Adonay Elohim] formed man [Adam אדמ] out of dust of the ground [Adamah אדמה], and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life. Man [Adam אדמ] became a living creature." The Hebrew word for ground or earth, Adamah is related to Adam, the Hebrew word for man. Both words are also cognate to adom, meaning red, and dam meaning blood.  

"The substance in itself, the famous Iliaster that reposes within the profound darkness of the abyss or bottomless space during the great cosmic night, it is indestructible. This is unknown to the modern scientists. The atoms proffer many surprises that the men of science, nuclear physicists not even remotely suspect. The atoms carry within their interior that which the Hebrews call "Igneous Particles", "Hashim" or "Igneous Souls". These Igneous souls are formidable. The atoms cannot process themselves within the living constitution of matter without these Igneous Souls. Therefore, indeed, no one truly knows the power, for instance, of a few grains of dust. We can be sure that nobody knows the power which is enclosed or what it is capable of doing. The Hashim or Igneous Souls are enclosed within each atom (of Adamah 'the dust of the ground').The great Magicians of the east (Alchemists) know how to work with these igneous particles of the atoms, and in any situation, the atoms are impelled by these igneous particles." - Samael Aun Weor, The Aquarian Message

Adept

(Latin) adeptus, "He who has obtained." In occultism, one who has reached the stage of Initiation and become a Master in the science of esotericism.

Adhi-Buddha

"The Thirteenth Aeon is Ain, Sat, the Seity. Beyond the Thirteenth Aeon is the Cosmic Common Eternal Father, and Adhi-Buddha, who is the Buddha of our individual Buddha. Adhi-Buddha is the Father of our Father, but He never comes into manifestation, because He is the Unknowable Divinity. Only at the end of the Mahamanvantara, after having integrated ourselves with our Father who is in secret, do we then integrate ourselves with Adhi-Buddha. This integration with Adhi-Buddha is performed in the Mahapralaya, in the Cosmic Night and within the bosom of the Absolute Abstract Space." - The Pistis Sophia Unveiled

Adhyatmic

(Sanskrit) Spiritual.

Aditi

(Sanskrit) The Vedic name for Mulaprakriti, the abstract aspect of Parabrahman, though both are unmanifested and unknowable. In the Vedas, Aditi is the indivisible conscious-force and ananda of the Supreme; the Mother; the infinite Mother of the gods; supreme Nature or infinite Consciousness.

Adonai

(Hebrew אדני) Lord or master.

Adultery

"What do we understand by adulterer? When a man has sexual contact with another person that does not belong to him. When a man takes a woman and abandoned the one he already has, he is an adulterer. Even more when he takes this woman just to transmute, He still is an adulterer. The man is charged with a type of energy from his wife and when he enters in sexual contact with another woman that isn’t his wife. These two equal energies are destroyed, an electrical shock comes afterwards and a cable is burned. Which? The fine thread that exist within the spinal column, through which the sulfur arises. When this thread is burned, the alchemist loses all degrees and fails in the great work. The work is very delicate. This is why is written in the book of Revelation of Saint John that neither the fornicator nor adulterer will enter into the New Jerusalem." - Samael Aun Weor, from the lecture "Harvest of the Sun"

Adytum

(Greek) The Holy of Holies of any temple. A name for the secret and sacred precints or the inner chamber, into which no profane could enter; corresponds to the sanctuary of the altars of the Christian churches. 

Aelohim

"The Interior Elohim is the ray that emanates from Aelohim. Aelohim is the Omnimerciful, the Cosmic Common Eternal Father, the Abstract Absolute Space... Aelohim is the infinitude that sustains all." - Samael Aun Weor, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled

Aeon

1) the title of a Master of the Great Day.

2) a region or dimension. "The Twelve Aeons or Twelve Cosmic Regions mutually penetrate and co-penetrate without confusion... We must make a clear differentiation between Firmament and Regions. Regions are equivalent to Dimensions. The twelve Aeons are the twelve Regions. The twelve hours of Apollonius are related with the twelve existing Aeons within every Firmament... Unquestionably, the Initiate must work in each one of the Thirteen Aeons, if he wants the Final Liberation. The First Aeon is Malkuth, which is here and in the submerged Abyss. The Second Aeon is Yesod, which is in our sexual organs and in the fourth dimension, within which is the Terrestrial Paradise, the Ethereal World. The Third Aeon is the Astral World, the Sephira Hod. The Fourth Aeon is Netzach, the Mental World. The Fifth Aeon is Tiphereth, the Causal World. The Sixth Aeon is Geburah, the Buddhic or Intuitional World. The Seventh Aeon is the World of Atman, the Ineffable one, the region of Chesed or Gedulah. The Eight Aeon is Binah, the region of the Holy Spirit, the World of Shiva, the Third Logos. The Ninth Aeon is Chokmah, the region of the Logos, the Cosmic Christ. The Tenth Aeon is Kether, the Region of the Ancient of Days. The Eleventh Aeon is the Region of Ain Soph Aur, the Third Great Aspect of the Absolute. The Twelfth Aeon is the region of Ain Soph, the Second Aspect of the Absolute. The Thirteenth Aeon is the region of the Ain, the Unmanifested Absolute. Each one of the Thirteen Aeons must be Self-realized within ourselves. Pistis Sophia must Self-realize herself in these Thirteen Aeons, based on conscious works and voluntary sufferings." - Samael Aun Weor, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled