Theosophical Society,
St
Lythans / Llwyneliddon
Chambered
Tomb,
Pagan Glossary
Absorption:
An antipsi talent for absorbing the power out of psychic
energy fields, including those around other beings. See Tapping and Vampire,
Psychic.
Achromatics:
The “colors” black, grey and white; used occasionally to refer to
moralistic schools of occultism.
Active
Ritual:
One in
which those persons raising and focussing the psychic
energies are not the main targets intended to be changed.
Active Talent:
A psychic talent that involves the discharge of energy or data from
the agent to the target.
Adept:
One who is
very skilled in magic or mysticism.
Agent:
The person or animal exercising a psychic talent.
Air:
One of the
main “elements” in occultism; associated in the West with thought, knowledge,
yellow, blue, swords, activity, daring, light, communication, heat, dampness,
etc.
Akasa or
Akasha:
One of the “elements” in Indian and Tantric occultism, equivalent
in most ways to the
“ether” concept and/or that of “astral”
matter.
Akasic
Records:
A concept
in Indian metaphysics, of a gigantic repository of all the memories of every
incarnation of every being; some gifted ones are said to be able to “read”
these records (possibly through retrocognition or the
clair senses) and to gain
data about past events. See Switchboard.
Amplification:
A psi or antipsi talent for
boosting the power levels of psychic energy fields.
Anachronism:
Something
that appears to be from a time period other than the one in which it is
perceived; as in medieval knights and ladies in modern America or astronomical
computers in the Stone Age.
Angel:
A
personification of what we consider good or pleasant. In theoilogy, a being just below the main god(s) in power for
good. In some
magical systems, a sort of “psychic robot.”
Angelology:
Medieval science of studying angels. Question: how many angels can dance on the
head of a photon? Answer: give the physicists who are working on quantizing
consciousness another decade or two.
Animal-Psi or Anpsi:
A little-used term for psychic phenomena involving the interactions
of animals with humans, each other and the environment.
Animism:
The belief that everything is alive. The Law of Personification taken as a
statement of universal reality rather than as one of psychic convenience.
Anthropomancy:
Divination from human entrails.
Anti-Psi or Antipsi:
A
categorical term for several genuine psychic talents that (for the most part)
serve to frustrate, avoid, confuse, destroy or otherwise interfere with the
operation of normal psi; they can affect the power
and/or information content and/or vector of psi
fields within range.
APK:
See Atomic
Psychokinesis.
Apopsi or
Avoidance:
An antipsi power that appears to generate an energy field into
which no external psi field can penetrate; may work
through transmutation, retuning or aportation; may
interfere with internal psi fields as well.
Aportation:
Archetype:
(1) Original astral form of a phenomenon; (2) In
the psychology of C. G. Jung, an inherited idea or mode of thought derived from
the experiences of the species and present in the unconscious of the individual
who picks it up from the collective unconscious of the species.
Asceticism:
A method of
altering the state of one’s consciousness through the avoidance of comfort and
pleasure; when extreme, may become masochism.
Aspect,
Astrological:
An angle
formed between two items on an astrological chart.
Assimilation:
A technique
of psychic healing involving the picking up of a patient’s pain and/or illness
by the healer, who experiences it personally for a short time, after which it
is supposed to vanish in both patient and healer; may also be done
accidentally.
Association:
Connection or correlation between two or more objects, ideas or
beings; thus forming a pattern.
Association,
Law of:
“If any two
or more patterns have elements in common, the patterns interact ‘through’ those
common elements and control of one pattern facilitates control over the
other(s), depending (among other factors) upon the number of common elements
involved.”
Astral
Planes:
Subjectively
real “places” where some astral projectors perceive themselves as traveling;
said to be multiple “levels” of (a) material density in the same space, and/or
(b) awareness and concentration.
Astral
Projection:
An OOBE or Psi talent that may involve
traveling GESP with the image of a body and/or the separation of a “less dense”
body from the normal physical one.
Astrology:
Divination through the correlation of earthly events with celestial
patterns.
Athame:
Ritual
dagger used by Neopagan Witches, borrowed by Gerald
Gardner from medieval grimoires. Probably was
originally “athane.” May be pronounced as
“ATH-ah-may” or “ah-THUH-may” (it’s all “ah-THAYM” to me).
Atomic Psychokinesis or APK:
Psychokinesis done upon the molecular,
atomic or subatomic levels; a subcategory of PK.
Augury:
Divination
by means of whatever is most handy at the time.
Aura:
One or more
energy fields supposedly generated by and surrounding all beings and many
objects; those persons blessed with clairvoyance or other psychic talents can
“read” the patterns of energy and determine information about the person or
object. See Kirlian Photography.
Belle
Indifference:
Lack of interest or concern on the part of a “hysteric” or RSPKer towards unusual events occurring in or around him or
her.
Beltane:
Celtic fire
festival beginning the summer half of the year; starts at sunset on May 4th
and is also known as Bealtaine, Galan-
Mai, Roodmas, Walpurgistag,
St. Pierre’s Day, Red Square Day, etc. Celebrated by most Neopagans and many
Marxists as a major religious holiday.
Bibliomancy:
Divination through the random selection of words or phrases taken
out of books, especially the Bible.
Biocurrents:
Electrochemical
energy currents generated by living cells.
Biological
Radio:
One Russian term for telepathy.
Biophysics:
The physics of biological phenomena.
Bit:
From
“binary digit,” a unit of data equal to the result of a choice between two
equally probably alternatives, used in computer technology. Eight bits usually
equals one “byte.”
Black
Magic:
A racist,
sexist, creedist and classist
term used to refer to magic being done for “evil” purposes or by people of whom
the user of the term disapproves.
Blessing:
The use of magic to benefit an object or being.
Bon:
The native
Tibetan religion that later merged with Buddhism and Tantrism.
Bonding
Control:
Boomerang
Curse:
Spell
designed to make an attacker suffer the effects of whatever hostile magic they
may have launched at the user; a variation of the “mirror effect,” probably
operates through reddopsi.
Buddhism
A variety
of religions founded by a man named Gautama
Siddhartha, the Buddha (“Enlightened One”). An outgrowth of Vedic Paleopagan mysticism, rooted in the “Four Noble Truths:”
(1) Existence is suffering, (2) Suffering is caused by desire, (3) Desire can
be overcome, (4) by following the Eightfold Path (right belief, right thought,
right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness
and right meditation).
Cabala:
See
Kabbalah.
Cartomancy:
Divination through the use of cards, especially Tarot Cards.
Casting
Runes:
(1) Divination through the use of small objects
which have been inscribed with runic letters. (2) A method of focusing or
firing a spell through the carving or writing of runes.
Catapsi:
An antipsi talent for the generation of strong fields of
psychic static, frequently at such high intensity that all other psi fields within range are disrupted and/or drowned out,
usually with the information content of those fields collapsing first.
Cause and
Effect, Law of:
“If exactly
the same actions are done under exactly the same conditions, they will usually be
associated with exactly the same ‘results’.” Good luck with those “exactlies!”
Cellular Psychokinesis or CPK:
A
subcategory of PK, involving the use of what is
probably several different APK talents in order to psychically affect the
structure and behavior of living organisms, working primarily on the cellular
level.
Centre or
Center, The:
Point of intersection of various planes or modes of existence,
including space and time, and which can be used for (at least subjective)
transportation between them.
Ceremonial
Magic:
Schools or
methods of magic which place their emphasis upon long and complex rituals,
especially of the Medieval and later European traditions; often degenerates
into ritualism.
Chakras:
Several
psychic centers of power associated with different parts of the human body in Tantric systems of anatomy.
Chalice:
Cup used in
rituals and usually associated in western occultism with “element” of Water
(though it often contains more potent fluids).
Circuit:
A pattern
or connection between whole or partial metapatterns
within the Switchboard; often may be (or be associated with) an archetype,
deity or other spirit.
Clairaudience:
ESP input
as if it were normal hearing, without the medium of another mind.
Clairempathy:
A term I
once tried to get people to use instead of “psychometry,”
but which I am no longer using myself.
Clairgustance:
ESP input
as if it were normal tasting, without the medium of another mind.
Clairolfaction:
ESP input as
if it were normal smelling, without the medium of another mind or of a
cosmetics company.
Clair
Senses:
General term for all the forms of ESP that start with the prefix
“Clair-.”
Clairtangency:
ESP input
as if it were normal touching, without the medium of another mind.
Clairvoyance:
ESP input
as if it were normal seeing, without the medium of another mind; often used as
a term for clair senses, psychometry and/or precognition. See Remote Viewing.
Classification:
Association of some phenomenon into a predetermined pattern or
class of phenomena.
Cleric:
A person who uses both passive and active talents and rites for
both thaumaturgical and theurgical
purposes, for personal and public benefit.
Cold
Control:
The use of temperature control to freeze or thaw objects or beings.
Color:
An interpretation of the ways in which photons hit your eyes; one
way to see the difference between two objects of identical size, shape,
distance and illumination.
Color
Classifications:
Sets of associations between various colors and particular
concepts, interests or acts.
Computer:
A network
of electronic gates and memories that processes data; an unimaginative but very
logical problem solving machine; a magnificent slave and miserable ruler; a
great tool and toy for any technologically oriented occultist.
Cone of
Power:
Term for
the focusing of a group’s magical energies, visualized as a cone of psychic
power based upon a ritual circle containing the participants (who are usually Neopagan or Feminist Witches). There is some confusion
among various groups as to what exactly should be done with the energies at the
moment of “firing.”
Contagion,
Law of:
“Objects
or beings in physical or psychic contact with each other continue to interact
after spacial or temporal separation.”
CPK:
See
Cellular Psychokinesis.
Craft,
The:
(1) Old term used by Freemasons to refer to their
activities and beliefs. (2) Current term used by Neopagan,
Feminist and some other modern Witches to refer to their activities and
beliefs.
Critique:
A calm and unbiased evaluation of the structure and performance of
a ritual, not usually done in American occult groups thanks to internal
politics and delicate egos.
Crystallomancy:
Divination through the use of (usually) spheres of quartz crystal,
glass or plastic as focussing devices.
Cult:
Any
secretive religious, magical, philosophical or therapeutic group of which the
user of this term does not approve. See the Advanced Bonewits
Cult Danger Evaluation Frame.
Curse:
The use of magic to harm an object or being.
Cybernetics:
Comparative study of the autonomic control system formed by the
brains and nervous systems of human and other animals, as well as
electro-chemical-mechanical devices and communications systems.
Dactylogy:
Finger
signaling system of language (such as Ameslan) used
by deaf and mute persons; can also be used as powerful mudras
in rituals.
Dactylomancy:
Divination
by means of finger movements upon tripods, planchettes,
pendulums, Oui-Ja Boards, etc., or through the use of finger
rings.
Daemon:
A
“supernatural” spirit or being in ancient Greek religion and philosophy, far
below the Gods in power for good, evil or neutral purposes; probably the actual
sort of “demon” conjured by Goetic magicians.
Dagger:
A ritual
knife used for severing psychic bonds, exorcising, cursing and/or initiating.
Damping:
A psi or antipsi talent for
lowering the power levels of psychic energy fields.
Data:
Information or concepts of any sort.
Definition:
The meaning of a word; the classification pattern that it fits into
during the time period and for the given population involved.
Deflection
or Bouncing:
An antipsi talent for altering the force vectors of incoming psi broadcasts, thus “bouncing” them away.
Deity:
(1) The most powerful sort of “supernatural”
being. (2) A powerful pattern in the Switchboard. (3) The memory of a dead hero(ine) or magician. (4) An
ancient visitor from outer space. (5) An ancient visitor from inner space. (6) All
of the above?
Demon:
(1) A personification of what we consider to be
evil or unpleasant (often repressed guilt feelings). (2) A nonphysical entity
of a destructive and evil nature opposed to the will of the God(s), such as
Maxwell’s.
Demonology:
Medieval science of studying demons.
Density
Control:
Devil:
A minor
spirit perceived as a force for evil.
Devil, The:
“Heir of
Man,” originally the Evil God of the Zoroastrians; later a creation of
Christian and Islamic theologians (who called him Satan and Shaitan)
consisting of old fertility gods, wisdom spirits and nature elementals combined
with Ahriman into a figure of terror and malevolence
fully equal to that of that Good God (Jehovah or Allah); the deity worshiped by
Neogothic Witches.
Dharanis:
One phrase
creeds or statements of belief, often used as mantras, such as “E = mc2.”
Dhyana:
Tantric trance, possibly a form
of hypnosis.
Difficult
Passage:
A common mythological motif involving a hard transition or journey
from one state or location to another through impossibly dangerous or
paradoxical territory.
Discipline:
Training or
experience that corrects, molds, strengthens, or perfects (especially) the mental
faculties or moral character; noted primarily by its absence in American occult
groups.
Disk of
Shadows:
A grimoire or other magical text (especially one of
witchcraft rituals) kept on a computer memory disk.
Divination:
The art and science of finding out hidden information about the
past, present or future through the use of psychic talents.
Diviner:
Obviously,
one who does divination.
Dowsing:
See Rhabdomancy.
Druids,
Ancient:
From the
root “dru-,” meaning “oak tree, firm, strong;” the entire
intelligentsia of the Celtic peoples, including doctors, judges, historians,
musicians, poets, priests and magicians; 99.9% of what has been written about
them is pure hogwash.
Druids,
Masonic:
Members of
several Masonic and Rosicrucian fraternal orders founded in the 1700’s (and
since) in
Druids,
Reformed:
Members of
several branches of a movement founded in 1963 c.e. at
Dualism:
A religious
doctrine that states that all the spiritual forces of
the
universe(s) are split into Good Guys and Bad Guys (white and
black, male
and female, etc.) who are eternally at war with each
other
Dualistic
Polytheism:
A style of
religion in which the Good Guys and Bad Guys include several major and minor
deities (though they may not always be called that by the official theologians);
what most so- called “monotheisms” really are. Examples would be
Zoroastrianism, Catholicism, and Christian Fundamentalism.
Duotheism:
A style of
religion in which there are two deities accepted by the polytheologians,
usually of opposite gender; all other deities worshiped are considered to be
“faces” or aspects of the two main figures.
Dynamic
Balance, Law of:
“In order
to survive, let alone to become a powerful magician, one must keep every aspect
of one’s universe(s) in a state of dynamic balance with every other one.”
Earth:
One of the
main “elements” in occultism; associated in the West with matter, brown, black,
pentacles, passivity, inertness, silence, food fertility, wealth, practicality,
cold, dryness, etc.
Earth-Mother:
Female personification of the Life force, fertility of the Earth
and its inhabitants.
One of the most widespread deity concepts in the world (though far from
universal); She is now worshiped in the West as Mother Nature.
Electric
Control:
An APK talent involving the control of electricity and other
electron phenomena. See
Picachu.
Electrochemical:
Having to do with the interchanges between electrical and chemical
energy, especially (in this text) those taking place in the body.
Electroencephalograph
or EEG:
A machine that records electromagnetic activity in the brain (the
so-called “brain waves”), usually upon a moving roll of paper.
Electromagnetic
Spectrum:
The entire range of frequencies or wave-lengths of electromagnetic
radiation from the longest radio waves to the shortest gamma rays.
Visible light is only a tiny part of this range.
Elementals:
Personifications
of the four or five “elements” of Western or Eastern occultism; in the West these
are “Gnomes” for Earth, “Undines” for Water, “Sylphs” for Air, “Salamanders”
for Fire, and “Sprites” for Spirit.
Elementals,
Artificial:
Term used by
some Western occultists to refer to spiritual
entities
“created” by magicians, usually to perform specific
tasks.
Elementals,
Nature:
Term used
by some to refer to various minor spirits inhabiting or associated with various
natural phenomena such as trees, streams, rocks, dust storms, etc.
Elements,
The:
A
classification system based upon the division of all phenomena into four or
five categories; in Western occultism there are Earth, Water, Air, Fire and
sometimes Spirit or Ether (or in India, Akasha); in Chinese occultism these are
Earth, Water, Metal, Fire and Wood.
Empath:
One who
can use the psi talent of empathy.
Empath,
Controlled:
Someone who uses psychometry and/or
empathy and/or absorption, occasionally to the point of draining others of
their psychic energy.
Empath,
Total:
One who
has trouble controlling their empathic and/or other passive psychic talents,
and subsequently gets “overloaded” with data and power.
Empathy:
As I now
use it, a type of telepathic reception limited to the perception of emotions;
obviously this talent would tie in nicely with absorption.
Energy
Control:
In Tantra, the control of biocurrents and their movements through the body; otherwise
the control of energy in general.
Energy
Field:
A continuously distributed something in space that accounts for actions
at a distance; an area where energy does something. Don’t blame me for the vagueness of this
definition; it’s a standard one used in modern physics.
Entity:
A being, spirit, living creature or personification.
ESP:
See
Extrasensory Perception.
Ether:
A
hypothetical “substance” filling all space and conveying waves of energy. See
Space-Time Continuum.
Ethics:
(1) That part of philosophy and theoilogy dealing with matters of “right and wrong,” “good
and evil,” etc. (2) A set or system of moral values. (3) Principles of conduct
governing an individual or profession.
Ethnography:
Part of
social and cultural anthropology emphasizing descriptions of individual
cultures rather than cross-cultural comparisons; when engaged in by the
untrained, often degenerates into scrapbooking.
Evocation,
Law of:
“It is
possible to establish external communication with entities from either inside
or outside of oneself, said entities seeming to be outside of oneself during
the communication process.”
Exorcism:
The severing or disruption of all unwanted psychic circuits and
circuit potentials within a specific object, person or place; hence the
dismissal of ghosts and spirits.
Exorcist:
(1) One who performs exorcisms.
(2) A magician or psychic (often very religious) with strong talents for CPK, antipsi and the clair senses, who
specializes in forcing or persuading unwanted psychic energies (including
spirits) to depart from objects, persons or places.
Experiment:
A test of an idea or guess.
Experimental
Design:
The way the
test is put together, hopefully for maximum output of useful data.
Exponential
Decay Function:
A
“decaying” or “falling apart” function in which an independent variable appears
as one of the mathematical exponents.
Extrasensory
Perception or ESP:
The categorical term for several psi
talents involving the reception of (usually) external data through other than
the commonly recognized sensory means.
Faith
Healing:
CPK and/or
other psi talents interpreted as religious phenomena
in curing.
False:
That which is improbable, unpleasant or inconvenient to believe.
Familiars:
Animals
supposedly used by Gothic Witches and others to help them with their magic;
often believed to be incarnated spirits or the messengers of noncarnate ones.
Fam-Trad:
Short term for “Familial Tradition.” See Witchcraft, Familial and Tradition.
Feedback:
Data
returned as a reply or result, containing corrections and additions.
Filtering:
An antipsi ability to use apopsi, reddopsi or deflection selectively, thus
stopping part of a psi broadcast or field
while letting the desired remainder (usually part of the information content)
through.
Finite
Senses, Law of:
“Every
sense mechanism of every entity is limited by both range and type of data perceived,
and many real phenomena exist which may be outside the sensory scanning ability
of any given entity.” The Supreme Being(s) may be excepted
from this law.
Fire:
One of the
main “elements” in occultism; associated in the West with flames, red, orange,
wands or staves, activity, light, will, animals, energy, assertiveness, heat,
dryness, etc.
Firing:
The discharge of psychic energy in a ritual, the timing of which is
frequently critical.
Folklore:
The study of folktales and legends, a subject overlapping that of
mythology.
Folktale:
Story
handed down among a people, such as “Cinderella,” “Rumpelstiltskin”
or “Our Leader Knows Best.”
Geller
Effect:
One or more
psi talents (probably including bonding control) that
enable the user to bend metal objects without touching them, named after this
century’s best known user, Uri Geller. The effect is real and has been done by
Geller and others under impeccable laboratory controls, regardless of the tales
told by Geller’s supporters and detractors.
General
Extrasensory Perception or GESP:
A term used
when two or more forms of ESP are operating at the same time.
Germ
Theory:
(1) In Tantra, the
theory that every entity has a germinal or root sound, the repetition of which
can create that entity. (2) In the West, a folk belief that all diseases are
caused by miniature demons called “germs” or “viruses.”
Ghost:
Personification
of data received as the result of a plug-in to an individual metapattern within the Switchboard, and/or the spirit of a
dead person or animal, still existing in a nonphysical manner, and/or
something(s) else entirely.
Goal:
The general
result one actually wishes to accomplish with a particular magical or psychic
act. Compare with Target.
God or
Goddess, A:
See Deity.
God or Goddess,
The:
The
particular masculine or feminine deity worshiped by a particular mono-, heno-, or duotheist.
“God
or Goddess, Thou Art:”
A statement of divine immanence common among Neopagans,
originally from Robert Heinlein’s book, Stranger in a
Godling:
A young or minor deity.
Goetia:
From words
meaning “howling or crying,” the medieval books of ceremonial magic, such as
The Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon.
Golem:
An artificial person given life by the carving of a Sacred Name upon
his or her forehead and usually used as a slave. Has deeper meanings
in real Hebrew Mysticism, in which we are all golems in some sense.
Graphology:
(1) An officially nonpsychic
method of personality assessment based upon the study of handwriting samples.
(2) A method of divination based upon the use of such samples as contagion
links.
Gravity
Control:
A psychic talent for altering the gravitational fields in a
particular location, such as in a room or around an object or being.
Gray Magic:
Magic that
is neither “black” nor “white,” hence morally neutral, at least according to
those who use these quaint terms.
Grimoires:
So-called “Black Books” of (usually Goetic)
magic, consisting of recipe collections, scrapbooks of magical customs, Who’s Who’s of the spirit worlds and phone directories for
contacting various entities. Fairly useless unless you know enough Hebrew,
Greek and Latin to correct all the mistakes.
Group mind:
A section
of the Switchboard consisting of two or more metapatterns
linked into an identity circuit. Term is used for those formed telepathically
in rituals but can also be used to refer to mobs or other cases of crowd
hysteria.
Gymnastics,
Metaphysical
The fine art of leaping from an unverified assumption to a foregone
conclusion, without traversing the logical space in between. See Theology.
Hallucination:
(1) Perception of objects or beings with no
reality or not present within normal sensory scanning range. (2) Experience of
sensations with no exterior cause, usually as a result of nervous dysfunction.
(3) Perceptions not in accord with consensus reality.
Hallucination,
Veridical:
One in
which the content is essentially factual.
Hallucinogen:
A chemical or biochemical substance capable of inducing
hallucinations when introduced into the human metabolism.
Hauntings:
Recurrent plug-ins to the Switchboard and/or perceptions of ghostly
entities associated with a particular location or being.
Heathenism:
The religion of those who live on the heath (where heather grows).
See
Paganism.
Hedonism:
A method
for altering the state of one’s consciousness through the experience of intense
pleasures; when extreme, may become tiring.
Henotheism:
A polytheistic religion where one deity is the official Ruler and is
supposed to be the prime focus of attention.
Hepatoscopy:
Divination through the use of animal innards (see Anthropomancy), especially livers. When done with French hens, usually
indicates cowardice.
Heat
Control:
The use of
temperature control to start or stop fires and other heating phenomena, also
called “psychopyresis.”
Hinayana (aka “Lesser Vehicle”)
Buddhism
The oldest
or most “orthodox” form of Buddhism, with deities demoted to very minor roles
or completely absent.
Hixson’s
Law:
“All
possible universes that can be constructed out of all possible interactions of
all existing subatomic particles through all points in space-time,
must exist.”
Horoscope:
A
two-dimensional chart of the way “important” parts of the sky look at a particular
time and location, especially at birth, used in astrology.
Hyperapotheosis:
The promotion of one’s tribal deity to the rank of Supreme Being,
as in Judaism, Christianity or Islam.
Hypercognition:
A
categorical term for those psi talents consisting of superfast thinking, usually at a subconscious level, often
using data received via ESP, which then reveals all or part of the “gestalt”
(whole pattern) of a situation; this is then presented to the conscious mind as
a sudden awareness of knowledge (or “a hunch”), without a pseudo-sensory
experience. See Retrocognition and Precognition.
Hyperesthesia:
Excessive or pathological sensitivity of the skin or other senses;
heightened perception or responsiveness to the environment; often mistaken for real
ESP.
Hypnosis:
(1) As used in this book, an altered state of
consciousness within which the following can occur at will: increase in bodily
and sensory control, in suggestibility, in ability to concentrate and eliminate
distractions, and probably in psychic abilities as well.
(2) A useful word and tool for those who cannot
conceive of nor practice real mesmerism.
Hypothesis:
Scientific term for wild guess, hunch, tentative explanation or
possibility to be tested.
Iatromancy:
The divination of medical problems and solutions.
I Ching:
Chinese “Book of Changes;” key to sortilege system.
Identification,
Law of:
“It is
possible through maximum association of the elements of one’s own metapattern and those of another being’s
to actually become that being, at least to the point of sharing its knowledge
and wielding its power.”
Imaging or
To Image:
Term for strong visualization of a concept being used for focusing.
Imbolg or Imelc:
Celtic
fire festival beginning the second quarter of the year (or spring); starts at
sunset on February 3rd and is also known as Candlemas,
St. Bridget’s Day, Bride’s Day, Lady Day, etc.
Celebrated by most Neopagans
as a major religious holiday.
Impossible:
Unlikely, difficult, implausible, uncomfortable, new.
Incantation:
Words used
in a ritual or spell, should always be chanted or sung.
Infinite
Data, Law of:
“The
number of phenomena to be known is infinite and one will never run out of
things to learn.”
Infinite
Universes, Law of:
“The total
number of universes into which all possible combinations of existing phenomena
could be organized is infinite.” See Hixson’s Law and Personal Universes, Law
of.
Information
Theory:
Study of communication.
Information
Transfer:
Communication.
Initiation:
An intense personal experience, often of a death and rebirth sort,
resulting in a higher state of personal development and/or admission to a
magical or religious organization.
Input:
The way
incoming data is interpreted or classified.
Instrumental
Act:
One which is useful, even if for no other purpose than to relieve
stress.
Interdisciplinary
Approach:
The use of data and techniques from more than one art or science in
order to analyze phenomena.
Invocation,
Law of:
“It is
possible to establish internal communications with entities from either inside
or outside of oneself, said entities seeming to be inside of oneself during the
communication process.”
Jargon:
Any technical terminology or characteristic idiom of specialists or
workers in a particular activity or area of knowledge; often pretentious or
unnecessarily obscure.
Kabbalah:
(1) A Hebrew word for “collected teachings,”
referring to several different lists of books and manuscripts on various occult
and mundane topics. Sloppy translations of a handful of texts in the Kabbalah
of Mysticism, with Christian names and concepts forcibly inserted, are
responsible for much of what is now called “Cabala” by western metaphysicians.
If you can’t think fluently in Hebrew, you have no business trying to do
Kabbalistic magic. (2) A general term for collections of magical and mystical
texts from various cultures, thus “Greek Kabbalah,” “Arabic Cabala,” etc.
Kachina:
A (usually
benevolent) supernatural being in Hopi religion; may be a personification of an
aspect of nature, an ancestor, or something revealed in a dream.
Kama-kali:
Ritual sexual intercourse in Tantra.
Karma:
In many
eastern religions, the load of guilt or innocence carried from one incarnation
to the next, determining one’s lot in the next life; often used by American
occultists as a general term for moral responsibility, as in “You can do that
if you want to, but it’s your karma.”
Karma
Dumping Run:
American
occult slang for a ritual process of visiting someone’s “just deserts” upon
them, by “concentrating the karma” they may have earned in their life (or
recent past) and delivering it back to them in one brief period of time;
usually done when someone is suspected of evil doing but proof is lacking,
since it is considered a morally neutral way of stopping them.
Kinesis:
Physical
movement including quantitative, qualitative, and positional change; sometimes
movement caused by stimulation but not directional or aimed.
Kinetic
Energy:
Energy
associated with motion.
Kirlian Photography:
A lenseless electrical photographic technique invented by
Russian parapsychologists S. D. and V. Kirlian in
1939 and which can be used to record energy fields around living or once living
objects and beings. Although the “Kirlian auras” vary
with emotional excitement and intent, there is as yet no proof that they are
the same as the “psychic auras” traditionally seen by clairvoyants. Time will tell.
Klutzokinesis:
Term
invented by Arlynde d’Loughlan
to describe the use of CPK to make people more clumsy (or agile) through
interference with neuron or muscle activities.
Knowledge,
Law of:
“Understanding
brings control; the more that is known about a phenomenon, the easier it is to
exercise control over it.”
Koran:
The sacred book of Islam.
Ksana:
The “favorable moment;” a temporal Centre.
Law:
A statement
of the ways phenomena seem to work.
Law of
Magic:
A statement
of the ways magical phenomena seem to work.
Laws, Law
of:
“The more
evidence one looks for to support a given law, the more one finds.”
Law,
Sturgeon’s:
From
science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon: “90% of everything is crud.”
Left-Hand
Path:
(1) The people we don’t like who are doing magic.
(2) Occultists who spend their time being destructive, manipulative and “evil”
— or at least annoying.
Levitation:
A psi talent involving the combination of
PK proper with Gravity Control and/or Mass Control in order to produce floating
effects.
Light
Control:
An APK talent for the control of photons.
Linguistics:
The study of human speech, including the units, nature, structure
and development of language(s).
Litany:
Long prayer or incantation with constantly repeating refrain.
Lodges:
Groups of
magical and mystical workers similar to (1) the old European guild systems,
with apprentices, journeypeople and masters, or (2)
church organizations with rank based upon goodness or evilness. In
Lughnasadh:
Celtic fire
festival beginning the third quarter of the year (or fall); starts at sunset on
August 6th or 7th and is also known as Lammas, Apple Day,
etc. Celebrated by most Neopagans
as a major religious holiday.
Mage:
A general term for anyone doing magic, especially of the active
kinds; often used as synonym for “magus.”
Magi:
Zoroastrian priests. Later used for powerful magicians of any sort.
Magic:
(1) A general term for arts, sciences, philosophies
and technologies concerned with (a) understanding and using various altered
states of consciousness within which it is possible to have access to and
control over one’s psychic talents, and (b) the uses and abuses of those
psychic talents to change interior and/or exterior realities. (2) A science and
an art comprising a system of concepts and methods for the build-up of human
emotions, altering the electrochemical balance of the metabolism, using
associational techniques and devices to concentrate and focus this emotional
energy, thus modulating the energies broadcast by the human body, usually to
affect other energy patterns whether animate or inanimate, but occasionally to
affect the personal energy pattern. (3) A collection of rule-of-thumb techniques
designed to get one’s psychic talents to do more or less what one wants, more
often than not, one hopes. It should be obvious that these are thaumaturgical definitions.
Magic
Circle:
A mandala-mudra-mantra combination used around an area where all or part of a ritual is to take place, so that an individual or group can