1.
Rose Cross
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The Rose Cross is a symbol largely associated with the semi-mythical Christian Rosenkreuz, Qabbalist and alchemist and founder of the Rosicrucian Order. It has several meanings, depending on the source and they dislike mystification and secrecy, they are open and frank, have nothing to do with secret societies and with external ceremonies. They possess a spiritual temple, in which God is presiding and it is further a symbol of the Philosophers Stone, the ultimate product of the alchemist. Within the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite concordant body of Freemasonry, the Eighteenth Degree is specifically concerned with the rose cross and confers the title of Knight Rose Croix. He goes on to give an explanation of what he believes to be the symbolism of the Rose Cross in that degree, thoth or Phtha is represented on the oldest monuments carrying in his hand the Crux Ansata, or Ankh. It was the hieroglyphic for life, and with a triangle prefixed meant life-giving, to us therefore it is the symbol of Life—of that life that emanated from the Deity, and of that Eternal Life for which we all hope, through our faith in Gods infinite goodness. The ROSE, was sacred to Aurora and the Sun. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn made use of the cross as well, including The Ritual of the Rose Cross, designed for spiritual protection. Based on the Rosicrucian symbolism of the Red Rose and the Cross of Gold and it is a highly important symbol to be worn over the heart during every important operation. It is a glyph, in one sense, of the higher Genius to whose knowledge, in the Rituals it is described as the Key of Sigils and Rituals. This lamen is a synthesis of the masculine, positive, or rainbow scale of color attributions. The four arms of the cross belong to the four elements and are colored accordingly, the white portion belongs to the Holy Spirit and the planets. The petals of the rose refer to the paths on the Tree of Life. It is the cross in Tiphareth, the receptacle and the center of the forces of the Sephiroth, upon the white portion of the lamen, below the rose, is placed the hexagram, with the planets. Around the pentagrams, which are placed one upon each elemental colored arm, are drawn the symbols of the spirit, upon each of the floriated of the cross are arranged the three alchemical principles of sulfur, salt, and mercury. N. R. I. The symbol of the rosy cross played a role within the system of Thelema as developed by Aleister Crowley. In a cosmological context, the rose is Nuit, the infinitely expanded goddess of the sky, and the cross is Hadit. For Crowley, it was the job of the adept to identify with the appropriate symbol so to experience the mystical conjunction of opposites, whatever the form chosen, it is the symbol of the Great Work
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
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Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was a British occultist. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Mathers was born on 8 or 11 January 1854 in Hackney, London, England. His father, William M. Mathers, died while he was still a boy and his mother, whose maiden name was Collins, died in 1885. He attended Bedford School, subsequently working in Bournemouth, Dorset, as a clerk and his wife was Moina Mathers, sister of the philosopher Henri Bergson. Mathers added the MacGregor surname as a claim to Highland Scottish heritage and he was a practising vegetarian, or vegan, an outspoken anti-vivisectionist, and a non-smoker. It is known that his interests were magic and the theory of war. He became more and more of an eccentric towards his later years, Mathers was introduced to Freemasonry by a neighbour, alchemist Frederick Holland, and was initiated into Hengist Lodge No.195 on 4 October 1877. He was raised as a Master Mason on 30 January 1878, in 1882 he was admitted to the Metropolitan College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia as well as a number of fringe Masonic degrees. Working hard both for and in the SRIA he was awarded an honorary 8th Degree in 1886, same year he lectured on the Kabbalah to the Theosophical Society. He became Celebrant of Metropolitan College in 1891 and was appointed as Junior Substitute Magus of the SRIA in 1892 and he left the order in 1903, having failed to repay money which he had borrowed. Upon the death of William Robert Woodman in 1891, Mathers assumed leadership of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and he moved with his wife to Paris on 21 May 1892. After his expulsion from the Golden Dawn in April 1900, Mathers formed a group in Paris in 1903 called Alpha et Omega, Mathers choosing the title Archon Basileus. Mathers was a polyglot, among the languages he had studied were English, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Gaelic and Coptic, though he had a greater command of some languages than of others. They have had influence on the development of occult and esoteric thought since their publication, as has his consolidation of the Enochian magical system of John Dee. In addition to many supporters, he had enemies and critics. One of his most notable enemies was one-time friend and pupil Aleister Crowley, according to Crowleys memoirs, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Mathers was in the habit of ostensibly playing chess matches against various pagan gods. Mathers would set up the chessboard and seat himself behind the white pieces, after making a move for himself, Mathers would then shade his eyes and peer towards the empty chair, waiting for his opponent to signal a move. Mathers would then move a black piece accordingly, then make his move as white
5.
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
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Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a Masonic esoteric Christian order formed by Robert Wentworth Little in 1865, although some sources acknowledge the date to be 1866-67. Members are confirmed from the ranks of subscribing Master Masons of a Grand Lodge in amity with United Grand Lodge of England. The structure and grade of this order, as A. E. Waite suggests, were derived from the 18th-century German Order of the Golden and it later became the same grade system used for the Golden Dawn. The society claims to be inspired by the original Rosicrucian Brotherhood and it bases its teachings on those found in the Fama and Confessio Fraternitas published in the early 17th century in Germany along with other similar publications from the same time. The society was founded in 1867, derived from a pre-existing Rosicrucian order in Scotland, following the admission of William James Hughan and these Fratres were advanced quickly in Scotland and granted a warrant to form a Society in England. The formation meeting took place on 1 June 1867 in Aldermanbury, London with Frater Little elected Master Magus and they produced a journal, called The Rosicrucian, which was co-edited by William Robert Woodman. The Order is subdivided into, Members of the 1st Order meet in a College which is equivalent to a Freemasons Lodge, a College is empowered to confer the first four degrees of the society which are known as Grades. A minimum of six months must elapse between the receipt of grades, however, the emphasis in the work of the society is learning, therefore every member is encouraged to deliver a paper of their own work on some topic of interest in open college. The Chief Adept is empowered to confer three further Grades at this level to deserving Fratres of Grade IV who have been a member of the Society for a minimum of four years. Grade V - Adeptus Minor Grade VI - Adeptus Major Grade VII - Adeptus Exemptus A minimum of one year must elapse between the receipt of grades at this level. A member can serve as the Celebrant of a College of the First Order after receiving the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus. This is equivalent to a Grand Lodge headed by a Supreme Magus, Senior Substitute Magus, Members of the second order who have given service to the society and been selected by the Supreme Magus for such advancement may be awarded a further two Grades. A great deal of the SRIA structure survived in the new order, William Robert Woodman William Wynn Westcott Kenneth R. H. King, Francis X. Modern Ritual Magic, The Rise of Western Occultism, societas Rosicruciana in Anglia - Official Website. Seven Steps of Wisdom, a course of introduction to the principles of the SRIA. Bishop Wilkins SRIA College An SRIA college with papers, Rosicrucian texts and information about the Society
6.
Occult
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The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance
7.
Paranormal
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A paranormal phenomenon is different from hypothetical concepts such as dark matter and dark energy. Unlike paranormal phenomena, these concepts are based on empirical observations. The most notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to ghosts, extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects, psychic abilities or extrasensory perception, the term paranormal has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts, para and normal, the definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para. On the classification of paranormal subjects, Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience, what sets the paranormal apart from other pseudosciences is a reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are well outside the bounds of established science. Thus, paranormal phenomena include extrasensory perception, telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, the explanations for these allied phenomena are phrased in vague terms of psychic forces, human energy fields, and so on. This is in contrast to many pseudoscientific explanations for other nonparanormal phenomena, in traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is a manifestation of the spirit or soul of a person. Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals, sometimes the term ghost is used synonymously with any spirit or demon, however in popular usage the term typically refers to a deceased persons spirit. The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism, as the 19th-century anthropologist George Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough, souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body. Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread, the possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars. Projects such as SETI are conducting a search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system. Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well, the paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them. Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps, the first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting them as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves ufologists in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of extraterrestrial visitation, the second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal, many had backgrounds as active Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements, both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what are considered possible according to known aerodynamic constraints and physical laws. The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by the scientific method, acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture
8.
Great Britain
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Great Britain, also known as Britain, is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, Great Britain is the largest European island, in 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the worlds third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, the island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, the island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term Great Britain often extends to surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England, the archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years, the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, the oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne. The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι. The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans, the Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. The name Albion appears to have out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a term only. It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself King of Great Brittaine, France, Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination
9.
Magic (paranormal)
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Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals, symbols, actions, gestures, and language with the aim of exploiting supernatural forces. The term magic has a variety of meanings, and there is no agreed upon definition of what it is or how it can be used. Religious scholars have defined magic in many different ways, one approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer, has magic and science be opposites. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic, the term magic comes from the Old Persian magu, a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. This meaning of the term was adopted by Latin in the first century BCE. The concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE. This concept was pervasive throughout the Middle Ages, although in the modern period Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic. Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, throughout Western history, there have been examples of individuals claiming to be practitioners of magic and referring to themselves as magicians. This trend has proliferated in the period, with a growing number of magicians appearing within the esoteric milieu. Scholars of religion have failed to agree on a definition of magic is. The subject has one of intense dispute, with some scholars criticizing the validity of the term in the first place. Even among those throughout history who have described themselves as magicians, there has been some debate among scholars as to whether to use the term magic at all. The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith for example argued that it had no utility as a term that scholars should use. Religious historian Wouter Hanegraaff agreed, stating that the magic is an important object of historical research. Since the 1990s its usage among scholars has declined, within Western culture, magic has been linked to the idea of the Other. Using the term magic when discussing non-Western cultures or pre-modern forms of Western society raises problems, alternately, this term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western preconceptions are an unavoidable component of scholarly research. Magic is one of the most heavily theorized concepts in the study of religion, the intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two prominent British anthropologists, Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer. This was an approach that viewed magic as being the theoretical opposite of science, in his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as beliefs based on the error of mistaking ideal analogy for real analogy
10.
Wicca
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Wicca, also termed Pagan Witchcraft, is a contemporary Pagan new religious movement. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices. There are many variations on the structure, and the religion grows. It is divided into a number of lineages, sects and denominations, referred to as traditions, each with its own organizational structure. Due to its nature, there is some disagreement over what actually constitutes Wicca. Wicca is typically duotheistic, worshipping a Goddess and a God and these are traditionally viewed as the Moon Goddess and the Horned God, respectively. These deities may be regarded in a way, as having many different divine aspects which can in turn be identified with many diverse pagan deities from different historical pantheons. For this reason, they are referred to as the Great Goddess. These two deities are viewed as facets of a greater pantheistic divinity, which is regarded as an impersonal force or process rather than a personal deity. While duotheism or bitheism is traditional in Wicca, broader Wiccan beliefs range from polytheism to pantheism or monism, an unattributed statement known as the Wiccan Rede is a popular expression of Wiccan morality, although it is not accepted by all Wiccans. Wicca often involves the practice of magic, though it is not always necessary. Scholars of religious studies classify Wicca as a new religious movement, several academics have also categorised Wicca as a form of nature religion, a term that is also embraced by many of the faiths practitioners. However, given that Wicca also incorporates the practice of magic, Wicca is also a form of Western esotericism, and more specifically a part of the esoteric current known as occultism. The terms wizard and warlock are generally discouraged in the community, in Wicca, denominations are referred to as traditions, while non-Wiccans are often termed cowans. When the religion first came to attention, it was commonly called Witchcraft. For instance, Gerald Gardner—the man regarded as the Father of Wicca—referred to it as the Craft of the Wise, witchcraft, there is no evidence that he ever called it Wicca, although he did refer to the collective community of Pagan Witches as the Wica. As a name for the religion, Wicca developed in Britain during the 1960s, the first recorded use of the word Wicca appears in 1962, and it had been popularised to the extent that several British practitioners founded a newsletter called The Wiccan in 1968. In early sources Wicca referred to the entirety of the rather than specific traditions
11.
Thelema
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Thelema is a religion based on a philosophical law of the same name, adopted as a central tenet by some religious organizations. The law of Thelema is Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Love is the law, love under will. The law of Thelema was developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley and he believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904. An adherent of Thelema is a Thelemite, the Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law, Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Crowley described these deities as a literary convenience, the religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. This statement indicates that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own path in life. The philosophy also emphasizes the practice of Magick. The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα will, from the verb θέλω to will, wish, want or purpose. As Crowley developed the religion, he wrote widely on the topic and he also included ideas from occultism, yoga and both Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah. The word θέλημα is rare in classical Greek, where it signifies the appetitive will, desire, sometimes even sexual, but it is frequent in the Septuagint. Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will, and even the will of Gods opponent, the Devil, one well-known example is in the Lords Prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ”It is used later in the gospel, He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it. In his 5th-century Sermon on 1 John 4, 4–12, Augustine of Hippo gave an instruction, Love. In the Renaissance, a character named Thelemia represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican monk Francesco Colonna, the protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica and Thelemia. When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic, the only rule of this Abbey was fay çe que vouldras. In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham, where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club. Rabelaiss Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema, françois Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532, there he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books
12.
William Robert Woodman
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Dr. William Robert Woodman, one of three co-founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Woodman was born in England in 1828 and he studied medicine and was licensed in 1851 and volunteered as a surgeon during Napoleon IIIs coup detat. Afterwards, he set up his own practice at Stoke Newington where he served as police surgeon. He had a love for gardening and was a prominent horticulturalist, inheritance left him with some property in Exeter, he retired there in 1871 to pursue his gardening aspirations, but moved back to London in 1887. So admired was he in that field of expertise that after his death and he was appointed Grand Sword Bearer of the United Grand Lodge of England, and he held high rank in many Orders, including the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine. Dr. Woodman was admitted into the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia on 31 October 1867 and he was co-editor for the societys journal, The Rosicrucian. In 1876, he was appointed Junior Substitute Magus, and in 1877 he was appointed Senior Substitute Magus, when Robert Little died in April 1878, Woodman became Supreme Magus. Under Woodman, the Order expanded from London to the rest of England and was extending its influence to Australia and America. In 1887 he was given the grade of Exempt Adept, of the Isis-Urania temple of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888. His mottos in the Order were Magna est Veritas et Praelavebit and Vincit Omnia Veritas, dr. Woodman died suddenly on 20 December 1891 in London after a brief illness. He left behind a letter naming William Wynn Westcott as his successor to the S. R. I. A. dr. Cipher Manuscripts Secret Chiefs King, Francis. Modern Ritual Magic, The Rise of Western Occultism, ISBN 1-85327-032-6 Woodman bio retrieved June 23
13.
Samuel Liddell Mathers
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Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was a British occultist. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Mathers was born on 8 or 11 January 1854 in Hackney, London, England. His father, William M. Mathers, died while he was still a boy and his mother, whose maiden name was Collins, died in 1885. He attended Bedford School, subsequently working in Bournemouth, Dorset, as a clerk and his wife was Moina Mathers, sister of the philosopher Henri Bergson. Mathers added the MacGregor surname as a claim to Highland Scottish heritage and he was a practising vegetarian, or vegan, an outspoken anti-vivisectionist, and a non-smoker. It is known that his interests were magic and the theory of war. He became more and more of an eccentric towards his later years, Mathers was introduced to Freemasonry by a neighbour, alchemist Frederick Holland, and was initiated into Hengist Lodge No.195 on 4 October 1877. He was raised as a Master Mason on 30 January 1878, in 1882 he was admitted to the Metropolitan College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia as well as a number of fringe Masonic degrees. Working hard both for and in the SRIA he was awarded an honorary 8th Degree in 1886, same year he lectured on the Kabbalah to the Theosophical Society. He became Celebrant of Metropolitan College in 1891 and was appointed as Junior Substitute Magus of the SRIA in 1892 and he left the order in 1903, having failed to repay money which he had borrowed. Upon the death of William Robert Woodman in 1891, Mathers assumed leadership of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and he moved with his wife to Paris on 21 May 1892. After his expulsion from the Golden Dawn in April 1900, Mathers formed a group in Paris in 1903 called Alpha et Omega, Mathers choosing the title Archon Basileus. Mathers was a polyglot, among the languages he had studied were English, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Gaelic and Coptic, though he had a greater command of some languages than of others. They have had influence on the development of occult and esoteric thought since their publication, as has his consolidation of the Enochian magical system of John Dee. In addition to many supporters, he had enemies and critics. One of his most notable enemies was one-time friend and pupil Aleister Crowley, according to Crowleys memoirs, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Mathers was in the habit of ostensibly playing chess matches against various pagan gods. Mathers would set up the chessboard and seat himself behind the white pieces, after making a move for himself, Mathers would then shade his eyes and peer towards the empty chair, waiting for his opponent to signal a move. Mathers would then move a black piece accordingly, then make his move as white
14.
Freemasonry
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The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft Freemasonry, members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, the basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the level by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry, each Grand Lodge is independent, modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups. Continental Freemasonry is now the term for the liberal jurisdictions who have removed some, or all. The Masonic Lodge is the organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly to conduct the formal business of any small organisation. In addition to business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, at the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge might adjourn for a formal dinner, or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies, candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. Some time later, in a ceremony, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft. In all of ceremonies, the candidate is entrusted with passwords, signs. Another ceremony is the installation of the Master and officers of the Lodge. In some jurisdictions Installed Master is valued as a separate rank, in other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of calendar, allowing Masons. Often coupled with events is the obligation placed on every Mason to contribute to charity. This occurs at both Lodge and Grand Lodge level, Masonic charities contribute to many fields from education to disaster relief. These private local Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, and a Freemason will necessarily have been initiated into one of these, there also exist specialist Lodges where Masons meet to celebrate anything from sport to Masonic research
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Masonic lodge
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A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly, but erroneously, used as a term for a building in such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered by a Grand Lodge, a Freemason is generally entitled to visit any Lodge in any jurisdiction in amity with his own. In some jurisdictions this privilege is restricted to Master Masons and he is first usually required to check, and certify, the regularity of the relationship of the Lodge – and be able to satisfy that Lodge of his regularity of membership. Freemasons gather together as a Lodge to work the three basic Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason, technically, Freemasons meet as a lodge not in a lodge. In this context, the lodge refers to a local chapter of Freemasons. However, the term is misused to refer to the buildings or rooms that Masons meet in. Masonic premises are also referred to as temples. In many countries Masonic centre or Masonic hall has now replaced these terms to avoid arousing prejudice, several different lodges, or other Masonic organisations, often use the same premises at different times. Blue lodges, craft lodges or ancient craft lodges refer to the lodges that work the first three Masonic degrees, rather than the appendant Masonic orders such as York Rite and Scottish Rite, the term craft lodge is used in Great Britain. The blue lodge is said to refer to the colour of regalia in lodges derived from English or Irish Freemasonry. Although the term was originally frowned upon, it has gained widespread, research lodges have the purpose of furthering Masonic scholarship. Quatuor Coronati Lodge is an example of a lodge, it has a strictly limited membership. Many jurisdictions have well-established research lodges, which usually meet less frequently than blue lodges, in Great Britain, a lodge of instruction may be associated with a Lodge, but is not constituted separately. In Great Britain, the mother lodge is used to identify the particular Lodge where the individual was first made a Mason. Provincial Grand Lodges exercise an intermediate authority, and also appoint Provincial Grand Officers, in any case, Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their member Lodges, and where there is no prescribed ritual Lodges may thus have considerable freedom of practice. Despite these minor differences, fraternal relations exist between Lodges of corresponding degrees under different Grand Lodges. Generally, to be accepted for initiation as a regular Freemason, believe in some kind of Supreme Being
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Hermetic Qabalah
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Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. The Hermetic Qabalah is the basis for Qliphothic Qabala as studied by left hand path orders, Hermetic Qabalah differs from the Jewish form in being a more admittedly syncretic system, however it shares many concepts with Jewish Kabbalah. Hermetic Qabalah holds to the conception that the manifest universe, of which material creation is a part. These emanations arise out of three states that are considered to precede manifestation. The emanations of creation arising from Ain Suph Aur are ten in number and these are conceptualised somewhat differently in Hermetic Qabalah to the way they are in Jewish Kabbalah. From Ain Suph Aur crystallises Kether, the first sephirah of the Hermetic Qabalistic tree of life. From Kether emanate the rest of the sephirot in turn, viz. Kether, Chokhmah, Binah, Daath, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Daath is not assigned a number as it is considered part of Binah or a hidden sephirah. Each sephirah is considered to be an emanation of the energy which ever flows from the unmanifest. This flow of light is indicated by the lightning flash shown on diagrams of the tree which passes through each sephirah in turn according to their enumerations. Each sephirah is a nexus of energy and each has a number of attributions. These attributions enable the Qabalist to form a comprehension of each particular sephirahs characteristics and this manner of applying many attributions to each sephirah is an exemplar of the diverse nature of Hermetic Qabalah. Hermetic Qabalists see the cards of the tarot as keys to the Tree of Life, while the sephiroth describe the nature of divinity, the paths between them describe ways of knowing the Divine. Traditionalist Judaic views of Kabbalahs origins view it as an inherent development from within the Jewish religion, in contrast, Hermeticists have taken different views of Qabalahs origins. Christians, in contrast, would have been persecuted for the same process, with the Renaissance, this wisdom would have been relearned by Christianity from Judaism. It contributed strongly to the Renaissance view of ritual magics relationship with Christianity, once Hermeticism was no longer endorsed by the Christian Church it was driven underground and a number of Hermetic brotherhoods were formed. Non-Jewish Cabala, unlike in Judaic Kabbalahs mainstream censure of its side, became a central component of Western occult, magic. Rosicrucianism and esoteric branches of Freemasonry taught religious philosophies, Qabalah and their esoteric teachings, and secret society structure of an outer body governed by a restricted inner level of adepts, laid the format for modern esoteric organisations. Post-Enlightenment Romanticism encouraged societal interest in occultism, of which Hermetic Qabalistic writing was a feature, francis Barretts The Magus handbook of ceremonial magic gained little notice until it influenced the French magical enthusiast Eliphas Levi
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Classical element
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Ancient cultures in Egypt, Babylonia, Japan, Tibet, and India had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to air as wind and the fifth element as void. The Chinese Wu Xing system lists Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and these different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personified in deities, some of these interpretations included atomism but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that atomic theory is an explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred chemical elements such as oxygen, iron. These elements form chemical compounds and mixtures, and under different temperatures and pressures, the concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, particularly in a context, the four states-of-matter describe matter. Similar lists existed in ancient China and Japan, in Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of sensory experience. A Greek text called the Kore Kosmou ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, names the four fire, water, air. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire, the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water, fish, air and earth, the snake avoids the open air. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire, for instance salamanders and it is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four. According to Galen, these elements were used by Hippocrates in describing the body with an association with the four humours, yellow bile, black bile, blood. Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities, though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, the five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the elements, can be perceived by all five senses – hearing, touch, sight, taste. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen, next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen
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Astrology
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Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events. Throughout most of its history astrology was considered a tradition and was common in academic circles, often in close relation with astronomy, alchemy, meteorology. It was present in political circles, and is mentioned in works of literature, from Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer to William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in it has largely declined, Astrology is now recognized to be pseudoscience. The word astrology comes from the early Latin word astrologia, which derives from the Greek ἀστρολογία—from ἄστρον astron, astrologia later passed into meaning star-divination with astronomia used for the scientific term. Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the Indians, Chinese, the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems. Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, with roots in systems used to predict seasonal shifts. A form of astrology was practised in the first dynasty of Mesopotamia, Chinese astrology was elaborated in the Zhou dynasty. Hellenistic astrology after 332 BCE mixed Babylonian astrology with Egyptian Decanic astrology in Alexandria, Alexander the Greats conquest of Asia allowed astrology to spread to Ancient Greece and Rome. In Rome, astrology was associated with Chaldean wisdom, after the conquest of Alexandria in the 7th century, astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars, and Hellenistic texts were translated into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, Arabic texts were imported to Europe, major astronomers including Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo practised as court astrologers. Astrological references appear in literature in the works of such as Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer. Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition and it was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with other studies, such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine. At the end of the 17th century, new concepts in astronomy. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in astrology has largely declined, Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky. This was a first step towards recording the Moons influence upon tides and rivers, by the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the stars. Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa thought to be compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE, a scroll documenting an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash
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Tarotology
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Tarot cards were originally used in games and are still used for that purpose in many parts of Europe. Tarotology is considered pseudoscience, and the readings made from the cards have not been proved to constitute scientific evidence for making predictions about future events, the main article on Tarot gives full details of the history of Tarot cards as game-playing cards. References to the Tarot as a social plague continue throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, one of them was Court De Gébelin. From its humble uptake as an instrument of prophecy in France, the Tarot went on to become a thing of hermeneutic, magical, mystical, semiotic, and even psychological properties. Many involved in occult and divinatory practices attempt to trace the Tarot to ancient Egypt, divine wisdom. He thought the Tarot represented ancient Egyptian Theology, including Isis, Osiris, for example, he thought the card he knew as the Papesse and known today as the High Priestess represented Isis. He also related four Tarot cards to the four Christian Cardinal virtues, Temperance, Justice, Strength and he relates The Tower to a Greek fable about avarice. Later Egyptologists found nothing in the Egyptian language to support de Gébelins etymologies, despite this lack of any evidence, the belief that the tarot cards are linked to the Egyptian Book of Thoth continues in modern urban legend to the present day. The actual source of the occult Tarot can be traced to two articles in volume eight, one written by himself, and one written by M. le C. de M. ***, the second has been noted to have been even more influential than Gebelins. Etteilla in fact claims to have involved with Tarot longer than Court De Gebelin. Mlle Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand outshone even Ettiella and was the first cartomancer to people in places, being the personal confidant of Empress Josephine, Napoleon. Lenormand used both regular playing cards, in particular the Piquet pack, as well as derived from Etteillas Egyptian root. She was so famous that a deck was published in her name, the concept of the cards as a mystical key was extended by Eliphas Lévi. Lévi was educated in the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, was ordained as a deacon, Dummett notes that it is from Levis book Dogme et rituel that the whole of the modern occultist movement stems. Without the Tarot, he tells us, the Magic of the ancients is a closed book, according to Dummett Lévis notable contributions include, Lévi was the first to suggest that the Magus was to work with the four suits. Inspired by de Gébelin, Lévi associated the Hebrew alphabet with the Tarot trumps, Lévi linked the ten numbered cards in each suit to the ten sefiroth. Claimed the court cards represented stages of human life, claimed the four suites represented the Tetragrammaton. Dummett dismissed Lévis contribution to magic as the product of a state of intellectual deliquescent
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Geomancy
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Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. Geomancy was practiced by people from all social classes and it was one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Africa and Europe, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In Renaissance magic, geomancy was classified as one of the seven forbidden arts, along with necromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy, Geomancy is dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being superstition. Geomancy, from Ancient Greek geōmanteía translates literally to foresight by earth, it is a translation of the Arabic term ‛ilm al-raml, earlier Greek renditions of this word borrowed the word raml directly, rendering it as rhamplion or rabolion. Other Arabic names for geomancy include khatt al-raml and darb al-raml, the original names of the figures in Middle Eastern geomancy were traditionally given in Arabic, excluding a Persian origin. The reference in Hermetic texts to the mythical Ṭumṭum al-Hindi potentially points to an Indian origin, having an Islamic or Arabic origin is most likely, since the expansive trade routes of Arabian merchants would facilitate the exchange of culture and knowledge. It is theorized that related systems of divination in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ifá and sikidy, European scholars and universities began to translate Arabic texts and treatises in the early Middle Ages, including those on geomancy. The poem Experimentarius attributed to Bernardus Silvestris, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century, was a translation of a work on astrological geomancy. Other translators, such as Gerard of Cremona, also produced new translations of geomancy that incorporated astrological elements and techniques that were, up until this point, from this point on, more European scholars studied and applied geomancy, writing many treatises in the process. Geomancy made a revival in the 19th century, when renewed interest in the occult arose due to the works of Robert Thomas Cross, franz Hartmann published his text, The Principles of Astrological Geomancy, which spurred new interest in the divination system. In effect, they had reduced geomancy from an art of interpretation. Like other systems of divination, geomancy has a mythological origin, according to one Arabic Hermetic text, Idris witnessed the angel Jibril in a dream. Idris asked for enlightenment, and Jibril proceeded to draw a figure, upon being asked what he was doing. Keeping this secret, he sought out Ṭumṭum al-Hindi, an Indian king and this book was passed down through clandestine circles into the hands of Khalaf al-Barbarĩ, who traveled to Medina and converted to Islam by the prophet Muhammad himself. Confessing to knowing a divinatory art, he explained that pre-Islamic prophets knew geomancy, another mythological story for the origin of geomancy also involves Idris. After praying to God that He give Idris easily a means to earn his living, Idris rested one day, bored and without work, as he did so, a stranger appeared before him and questioned what he was doing. Idris replied that he was entertaining himself, but the stranger replied that he was doing a very serious act. Idris became incredulous and tried to deny this, but the stranger explained the significance of the meaning of the figure Idris drew and he then commanded Idris to draw another figure, and upon doing so the stranger explained the meaning and significance of that figure
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Scrying
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Scrying is the practice of looking into a suitable medium in the hope of detecting significant messages or visions. The objective might be personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or inspiration and it remains popular in occult circles, discussed in many websites and books, both modern and centuries old. Clairvoyance in other words, is regarded as amounting in essence to extrasensory perception, furthermore, practitioners and authors coin terminology so arbitrarily, and often artificially, that no one system of nomenclature can be taken as authoritative and definitive. Commonly terms in use are Latinisations or Hellenisations of descriptions of the media or activities, examples of names coined for crystal gazing include crystallomancy, spheromancy, and catoptromancy. As an example of the looseness of such terms, catoptromancy should refer more specifically to scrying by use of mirrors or other reflective objects rather than by crystal gazing. Other names that have been coined for the use of various scrying media include anthracomancy for glowing coals, turifumy for scrying into smoke, There is no clear limit to the coining and application of such terms and media. Scrying has been practised in many cultures in the belief that it can reveal the past, present, or future. There is neither any systematic body of support for any such views in general however, nor for their respective rival merits. Some prefer glowing coals or shimmering mirages, some simply close their eyes, notionally staring at the insides of their own eyelids, and speak of eyelid scrying. Scrying media generally either suggest images directly, or else they distort or reflect the observers vision confusingly, such fancies have long been satirised by sceptics, for example in Hamlet III II, Do you see yonder cloud thats almost in shape of a camel. By the mass, and tis like a camel, indeed, methinks it is like a weasel. It is backed like a weasel, alternatively the medium might reduce visual stimuli to thresholds below which any clear impressions could interfere with fancied visions or free association. Examples include darkened reflections of night sky, or plain shadow or darkness, one class of methods of scrying involves a self-induced trance, with or without the aid of a medium such as a crystal ball. Once this stage is achieved, the scryer may begin free association with the perceived images, the technique of deliberately looking for and declaring these initial images aloud, however trivial or irrelevant they may seem to the conscious mind, attempts to deepen the trance state. In this state some scryers hear their own disassociated voices affirming what they see, apologists claim that the technique allows them to see relevant events or images within the chosen medium. Nostradamus practised scrying, he would stare into a bowl of water or a mirror to see the future while he was in trance. The silver chalice that is placed in Benjamins sack when he leaves Egypt is described as being used by Joseph for divination, the cup was said to contain an elixir of immortality, but without cogent explanation for any relevance of the elixir to the scrying function. In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith founded the Latter Day Saint movement based in part on what was said to be information obtained miraculously from the reflections of seer stones
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Astral projection
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The idea of astral travel is rooted in esotericism and occultism, and was promoted by 19th century Theosophists—philosophers who explored the mystical and preternatural origins of the natural world. It is sometimes reported in association with dreams, and forms of meditation, some individuals have reported perceptions similar to descriptions of astral projection that were induced through various hallucinogenic and hypnotic means. There is no evidence that there is a consciousness or soul which is separate from normal neural activity or that one can consciously leave the body. Claims of scientific evidence of astral projection are pseudoscientific and these astral spheres were held to be populated by angels, demons and spirits. The subtle bodies, and their planes of existence, form an essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the individual is a microcosm of the universe, the rational soul. is akin to the great Soul of the World while the material universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible. Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a series of circles or nested spheres. Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection, Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams—renowned experts in the field of astral projection—claim that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord. Scherman, however, contends that the points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to a machine. Pauls Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to refer to the planes, I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago. This statement gave rise to the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven and hell, similar concepts of soul travel appear in various other religious traditions. For example, ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as having the ability to hover outside the body via the ka. Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of a body by breathing meditations. With a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep, snoring and his primordial spirit, however, went straight into the banquet room and said, My lords, here I am again. With the officials to take a look, there really was a Taoist sleeping on the ground, yet inside, in the side room, there was another Taoist beating a fisher drum and singing Taoist songs. The officials all said, Although there are two different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike, clearly he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several places at once. At that moment, the Taoist in the room came walking out. Similar ideas such as the Linga Sari-ra are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki and he may then undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical body in sleep or wakefulness
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Alchemy
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Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Egypt and Asia. It aimed to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects, the perfection of the human body and soul was thought to permit or result from the alchemical magnum opus and, in the Hellenistic and western tradition, the achievement of gnosis. In Europe, the creation of a stone was variously connected with all of these projects. In English, the term is limited to descriptions of European alchemy, but similar practices existed in the Far East, the Indian subcontinent. In Europe, following the 12th-century Renaissance produced by the translation of Islamic works on science, Islamic and European alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental method, some of which are still in use today. However, they continued antiquitys belief in four elements and guarded their work in secrecy including cyphers and their work was guided by Hermetic principles related to magic, mythology, and religion. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists, and some philosophers, the subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts. The word alchemy was borrowed from Old French alquemie, alkimie, taken from Medieval Latin alchymia, the Arabic word is borrowed from Late Greek chēmeía, chēmía, with the agglutination of the Arabic definite article al-. This ancient Greek word was derived from the early Greek name for Egypt, Chēmia, based on the Egyptian name for Egypt, the Medieval Latin form was influenced by Greek chymeia meaning ‘mixture’ and referring to pharmaceutical chemistry. Alchemy covers several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents and these traditions general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences and genetic relationships. It is still a question whether these three strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other. Here, elements of technology, religion, mythology, and Hellenistic philosophy, each with their own much longer histories, Zosimos of Panopolis wrote the oldest known books on alchemy, while Mary the Jewess is credited as being the first non-fictitious Western alchemist. They wrote in Greek and lived in Egypt under Roman rule, mythology – Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to Pharaonic Egypt where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion. Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and these included the pantheon of gods related to the Classical planets, Isis, Osiris, Jason, and many others. The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus and his name is derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes. Hermes and his caduceus or serpent-staff, were among alchemys principal symbols, according to Clement of Alexandria, he wrote what were called the forty-two books of Hermes, covering all fields of knowledge. The Hermetica of Thrice-Great Hermes is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice and these writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era. Technology – The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes associated with that of metallurgy, Many writings were lost when the emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical books after suppressing a revolt in Alexandria
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Cipher Manuscripts
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The Cipher Manuscripts are a collection of 60 folios containing the structural outline of a series of magical initiation rituals corresponding to the spiritual elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire. It was used as the structure for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the folios are drawn in black ink on cotton paper watermarked 1809. The text is plain English written from right to left in a simple substitution cryptogram, numerals are substituted by Hebrew letters – Alef=1, Bet=2, etc. Crude drawings of diagrams, magical implements and tarot cards are interspersed in the text, one final page transcribes into French and Latin. The Ciphers contain the outlines of a series of graded rituals and it also contains several diagrams and crude drawings of various ritual implements. The Cipher Manuscripts are the source upon which the rituals. The actual material itself described in the Manuscript is of known origins, Hermeticism, Alchemy, Qabalah, Astrology and Tarot were certainly not unknown to 19th century scholars of the Magical arts, the Cipher is a compendium of previously known Magical traditions. The basic structure of the rituals and the names of the Grades are similar to those of the Rosicrucian orders Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and the German Orden der Gold- und Rosenkreuzer. The Manuscripts also contained an address of an adept named Fräulein Anna Sprengel in Germany. Westcotts first Golden Dawn temple was the Isis-Urania Temple, styled No.3, Temple No.1 would have been Fräulein Sprengels lodge, and No.2 was supposedly an abortive attempt at a lodge by some unnamed persons in London. Considerable controversy surrounds the origins of the Cipher Manuscripts, Westcott claimed Sprengel was a German Adept of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer Order who wrote letters to Westcott and Mathers granting them permission to establish the Order in England. Mathers later claimed only the letters were forgeries, but it seems unlikely that Westcott or Mathers wrote the Manuscripts themselves. There is considerable doubt among scholars that Westcotts story is accurate, in particular, the age and contents of the documents have been the subject of much controversy. The manuscripts are written on paper watermarked 1809, yet reference to Egyptian imagery that was unknown to scholars before the deciphering of the Rosetta stone in 1822. References are made to the connection between the Qabalistic Tree of Life and the Tarot trumps and this idea was first put forth by French author Eliphas Levi in 1855. A variety of theories exist as to the source of the Cipher Manuscript. Some of the common ones include, Westcott and Mathers created the Manuscripts and letters themselves. Woodford found the Cipher Manuscript in a bookstall on Wellington Road in London
25.
Tabula recta
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In cryptography, the tabula recta is a square table of alphabets, each row of which is made by shifting the previous one to the left. The term was invented by the German author and monk Johannes Trithemius in 1508, the Trithemius was published by Johannes Trithemius in his book Polygraphia, which is credited with being the first published work on cryptology. Trithemius used the tabula recta to define a polyalphabetic cipher, which was equivalent to Leon Battista Albertis cipher disk except that the alphabets are not mixed. The tabula recta is often referred to in discussing pre-computer ciphers, including the Vigenère cipher, all polyalphabetic ciphers based on Caesar ciphers can be described in terms of the tabula recta. It uses a square with the 26 letters of the alphabet following 26 rows of additional letters. This creates 26 different Caesar ciphers, the resulting ciphertext appears as a random string or block of data. However, the frequencies are just shifted, If e is the most frequent letter in the cleartext. Especially if a person is aware that this method is being used, the cipher is vulnerable to attack because it lacks a key, which is said to break Kerckhoffss principle, a rule of cryptology. In 1553, an important extension to Trithemiuss method was developed by Giovan Battista Bellaso called the Vigenère cipher, Bellaso added a key to switch cipher alphabets every letter. This method was misattributed to Blaise de Vigenère, who published a similar autokey cipher in 1586, each alphabet is shifted one letter to the left from the one above it. This forms 26 rows of shifted alphabets, ending with Z, Data is encrypted by switching each letter of the message with the letter directly below, using the first shifted alphabet. The next letter is switched by using the second shifted alphabet, in order to encrypt a plaintext, one locates the row with the first letter to be encrypted, and the column with the first letter of the key. The letter where the line and column cross is the ciphertext letter, programmatically, the cipher is computable, assigning A =0, B =1. Then the encryption process is c i p h e r t e x t =, decryption follows the same process, exchanging ciphertext and plaintext. Key may be defined as the value of a letter from a companion ciphertext in a running key cipher, coding for Data and Computer Communications. Modern Ritual Magic, The Rise of Western Occultism
26.
Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie
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Kenneth Robert Henderson Mackenzie was an English linguist, orientalist and autodidact. Mackenzie was born on 31 October 1833 at Deptford near London, the following year, his family lived in Vienna, where his father, Dr. Rowland Hill Mackenzie, was assistant surgeon in the midwifery department at Imperial Hospital. When Dr. Mackenzie and his wife returned to England around 1840, Kenneth remained in Vienna for his education, at 17, he was back in London, where he worked in the publishing office of Benjamin Disraeli. It is the earliest memoir of the author of the Iliad we possess. In 1852, the year of publication of his translation, from German, of Karl Richard Lepsius’ Briefe aus Aegypten, Aethiopen, Mackenzie also translated, from Danish, Hans Christian Andersen’s In Sweden. For T. A. Buckley’s 1852 book Great Cities of the Ancient World, Mackenzie supplied the chapters on Peking, America, and Scandinavia. In Buckleys Great Cities of the Middle Ages, the author thanked my literary friend and coadjutor, in 1855, Mackenzie translated, from the German, J. W. Wolf’s Fairy Tales Collected in the Odenwald. Between October 1858 and January 1859, at his own expense, Mackenzie published four issues of The Biological Review, in 1861, Mackenzie traveled to Paris to meet the French occultist Eliphas Levi. In 1854, Mackenzie had met the American Rosicrucian Paschal Beverly Randolph who, in 1866, with Mackenzie’s help, Little founded the Rosicrucian Society of England, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. The main leaders of the new organization were Little, William Wynn Westcott, William Robert Woodman, at the time, Mackenzie was preparing for the publication of a book on the subject. The publisher, in advance of the publication, had set in type and printed the title page, as for the paper read before the Society of Antiquaries, The Gentleman’s Magazine reported, it shewed considerable research, and was listened to with much interest. In 1870 in London, James Hogg & Son published Mackenzie’s translation of Johann Georg Ludwig Hesekiel’s Life Of Bismarck. In 1872, the year of his marriage, seven pages of a manuscript, Zythogala, or, Borne by the Sea, London & Paris, Published by Authority of The Cosmological Society, Philadelphia, Mackenzie & Co. Chestnut Street, Leipsig, ‘Als Manuskript Gedruct’ Tauchnitz,1872, entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1872 by Robert Shelton Mackenzie of Philadelphia, made their way into the formal holdings of the British Library. The book was never published, but to this day the incomplete manuscript – just the first seven pages – remain on a shelf at the British Library. In 1873, Mackenzie’s friend and mentor Frederick Hockley wrote of him, I made his acquaintance about 15 or 16 years since. In October 1874, a prospectus was issued for Mackenzie’s Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia. In mid-August 1875, Mackenzie wrote a friend that “when this book is finished, I shall, very likely and my father in law Harrison Aydon is carrying all before him and I am in correspondence with my cousin Alexander Mackenzie the Premier
27.
Adolphus Frederick Alexander Woodford
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After a short stay in the Coldstream Guards, Adolphus entered the Anglican Church, having the living of Swillington from 1847–1872. On leaving the Army, he became a Freemason, rising to become Grand Chaplain in 1863. After moving to London, his editorship of the Freemason ignited an interest in the study of Masonic history, and led to the establishment of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, dedicated to masonic research. Woodford was the first Immediate Past Master of the lodge, just before his death, towards the end of 1887, he passed on a set of coded papers which resulted in the establishment of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Adolphus Woodford was born on 9 July 1821 and his father was already a distinguished soldier, and as eldest son he was named for the Colonel-in-Chief of his fathers regiment, the Coldstream Guards. It seems a natural progression for Adolphus to have become an officer in the same regiment and he was gazetted as a lieutenant on 25 December 1838, but resigned on 23 April 1841. His father was, by time, Governor-general of Gibraltar, and it was there, on 9 February 1842, that Adolphus was initiated into his fathers lodge. He was awarded his Bachelor of Arts in 1846, and Licentiate of Theology in 1847, meanwhile, he joined Marquis of Granby Lodge No 146, and served two years as Master. His second year as master,1847, also saw him appointed Provincial Grand Chaplain for the County of Durham. In 1847 Swillington, to the south-east of Leeds, was still a rural community, Woodford was still the Provincial Grand Chaplain in Durham, while completing structural work on his church in Yorkshire. It was not until 1854 that he joined Philanthropic Lodge No 382, the next year he was appointed Provincial Grand Chaplain for West Yorkshire. He was master of Philanthropic in 1856 and 1858, and the lodge history asserts that it thrived during the years of his regular attendance and he re-wrote their ritual in a unique form, which was shared with five daughter and granddaughter lodges. He joined the Lodge of Antiquity in London in 1863, in the same period, Woodford started to contribute articles on masonic history, starting with his researches into the old York lodges. He became known to local booksellers as he began to collect old manuscripts,1871 saw Woodford as one of the signatories of a remonstrance against the Privy Council for upholding a conviction of an Anglican Vicar, John Purchas, for the way in which he celebrated communion. The following year, he moved to London, resigning his living for a career in Masonic publishing, in London, Woodford settled into a busy career as a writer and researcher. Contributing essays to publications and periodicals, he also edited the Freemason. He compiled Kennings Masonic Cyclopaedia for the publisher of the two magazines, Woodford used the Freemason in 1879 to oppose a move in Grand Lodge to enforce uniformity of ritual on its lodges. His own letter on the subject provoked much correspondence, convincing Grand Lodge of the groundswell of resistance to such a move and it is plain from Goulds obituary that the rest of the lodge looked on him as a mentor
28.
Weston-super-Mare
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Weston-super-Mare /ˈwɛstən ˌsuːpər ˈmɛər/ is a town in Somerset, England, on the Bristol Channel 18 miles south west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Oldmixon, West Wick and Worle and its population at the 2011 census was 76,143. Since 1983, Weston has been twinned with Hildesheim, Germany, the growth continued until the second half of the 20th century, when tourism declined and some local industries closed. A regeneration programme is being undertaken with attractions including the Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare Museum, Grand Pier, the Paddle Steamer Waverley and MV Balmoral offer day sea trips from Knightstone Island to various destinations along the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary. Cultural venues include The Playhouse, the Winter Gardens and Blakehay Theatre, owing to the large tidal range in the Bristol Channel, the low tide mark in Weston Bay is about 1 mile from the seafront. Although the beach itself is sandy, low tide uncovers areas of mud, hence the colloquial name. These mudflats are very dangerous to walk in and are crossed by the mouth of the River Axe, just to the north of the town is Sand Point which marks the lower limit of the Severn Estuary and the start of the Bristol Channel. It is also the site of the Middle Hope biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in the centre of the town is Ellenborough Park, another SSSI due to the range of plant species found there. Weston comes from the Anglo-Saxon for the west tun or settlement, prior to 1348 it was known as Weston-juxta-Mare. The name was changed by Ralph of Shrewsbury, who was the Bishop of Bath, Westons oldest structure is Worlebury Camp, on Worlebury Hill, dating from the Iron Age. Castle Batch was a castle once stood overlooking the town. The present site has a mound of 160 feet in diameter which is believed to be the remains of a motte. The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred, the medieval church of St John was demolished in 1824 and built anew on the same site, though a stump of the Medieval preaching cross survives by the exterior south wall. The former rectory is a 17th-century structure with later additions, though it remains adjacent to the church it has not been a parsonage house since the end of the 19th century. Today it is known as Glebe House and is divided into flats, the Old Thatched Cottage restaurant on the seafront carries the date 1774, it is the surviving portion of a summer cottage built by the Revd. The Pigott family of Brockley, who were the local Lords of the Manor, had a residence at Grove House. Weston owes its growth and prosperity to the Victorian era boom in seaside holidays, construction of the first hotel in the village started in 1808, it was called Reeves. Along with nearby Burnham-on-Sea, Weston benefited from proximity to Bristol, the first attempt at an artificial harbour was made in the late 1820s at the islet of Knightstone and a slipway built from Anchor Head towards Birnbeck Island
29.
Bradford
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Bradford /ˈbrædfərd/ is in the Metropolitan Borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, in the foothills of the Pennines 8.6 miles west of Leeds, and 16 miles northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897. Following local government reform in 1974, city status was bestowed upon the metropolitan borough. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bradford rose to prominence during the 19th century as a centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the earliest industrialised settlements, the textile sector in Bradford fell into decline from the mid-20th century. However, Bradford has faced challenges to the rest of the post-industrial area of Northern England, including deindustrialisation, social unrest. It was recorded as Bradeford in 1086, after an uprising in 1070, during William the Conquerors Harrying of the North, the manor of Bradford was laid waste and is described as such in the Domesday Book of 1086. It then became part of the Honour of Pontefract given to Ilbert de Lacy for service to the Conqueror, there is evidence of a castle in the time of the Lacys. The manor then passed to the Earl of Lincoln, John of Gaunt, The Crown and, ultimately, by the middle ages Bradford, had become a small town centred on Kirkgate, Westgate and Ivegate. In 1316 there is mention of a mill, a soke mill where all the manor corn was milled. During the Wars of the Roses the inhabitants sided with House of Lancaster, Edward IV granted the right to hold two annual fairs and from this time the town began to prosper. In the reign of Henry VIII Bradford exceeded Leeds as a manufacturing centre, Bradford grew slowly over the next two-hundred years as the woollen trade gained in prominence. During the Civil War the town was garrisoned for the Parliamentarians, Sir Thomas Fairfax took the command of the garrison and marched to meet the Duke of Newcastle but was defeated. The Parliamentarians retreated to Bradford and the Royalists set up headquarters at Bolling Hall from where the town was besieged leading to its surrender, the Civil War caused a decline in industry but after the accession of William and Mary in 1689 prosperity began to return. The launch of manufacturing in the early 18th century marked the start of the development while new canal. In 1801, Bradford was a market town of 6,393 people. Bradford was thus not much bigger than nearby Keighley and was smaller than Halifax. This small town acted as a hub for three nearby townships – Manningham, Bowling and Great and Little Horton, which were separated from the town by countryside
30.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
31.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
32.
Christian Rosenkreuz
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Christian Rosenkreuz is the legendary, possibly allegorical, founder of the Rosicrucian Order. He is presented in three manifestos that were published early in the 17th century and these were, Fama Fraternitatis This manifesto introduced the founder, Frater C. R. C. Confessio Fraternitatis The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, under his direction a Temple, called Sanctus Spiritus, or The House of the Holy Spirit, was built. Rosenkreuzs crypt, according to the description presented in the legend, is located in the interior of the Earth, visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem. According to some researchers, Christian Rosenkreuz was the last descendant of the Germelshausen and their castle stood in the Thuringian Forest on the Border of Hesse and they had embraced Albigensian doctrines, combining Gnostic and Christian beliefs. The whole family was put to death by Konrad von Marburg except for the youngest son and he was carried away secretly by a monk who was an Albigensian adept from Languedoc. His account derives from oral tradition, steiner once identified Rembrandts painting A Man in Armour as a portrait of Christian Rosenkreuz, apparently in a 17th-century manifestation. Others believe Rosenkreuz to be a pseudonym for a famous historical figure. The legend presented in the Manifestos has been interpreted symbolically, the foundation of the Order can be supposed in similar terms to have occurred in the year 1407. However, these numbers are not taken literally by many students of occultism, the metaphorical nature of these legends lends a nebulous quality to the origins of Rosicrucianism. Similarly, Rosenkreuzs pilgrimage seems to refer to the steps of the Great Work. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited, The Meaning of the Rose Cross, lindisfarne Books,1999 ISBN0940262843 Prinke, Rafal T. Michael Sendivogius and Christian Rosenkreutz, The Unexpected Possibilities. The Hermetic Journal,1990, 72–98 online Weber, Charles, rays from the Rose Cross,1995
33.
Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney
34.
A. E. Waite
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As his biographer R. A. Waite was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Waites father, Capt. Charles F. Waite, died when he was young, and his widowed mother, Emma Lovell, returned to her home country of England. As they were not well off, Waite was educated at a private school in North London. When he was 13, he was educated at St. Charles College. When he left school to become a clerk he wrote verse in his spare time, in 1863 Waites mother converted to Catholicism. The death of his sister Frederika Waite in 1874 soon attracted him into psychical research, at 21, he began to read regularly in the Library of the British Museum, studying many branches of esotericism. In 1881 Waite discovered the writings of Eliphas Levi, when Waite was almost 30 he married Ada Lakeman, and they had one daughter, Sybil. Some time after Lucastas death in 1924, Waite married Mary Broadbent Schofield and he spent most of his life in or near London, connected to various publishing houses and editing a magazine, The Unknown World. Waite joined the Outer Order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in January 1891 after being introduced by E. W. Berridge, in 1893 he withdrew from the Golden Dawn. In 1896 he rejoined the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn, in 1899 he entered the Second order of the Golden Dawn. He became a Freemason in 1901, and entered the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia in 1902, in 1903 Waite founded the Independent and Rectified Order R. R. et A. C. This Order was disbanded in 1914, the Golden Dawn was torn by internal feuding until Waites departure in 1914, in July 1915 he formed the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, not to be confused with the Societas Rosicruciana. By that time there existed some half-dozen offshoots from the original Golden Dawn, aleister Crowley, Waites foe, referred to him as the villainous Arthwate in his novel Moonchild and referred to him as Dead Waite in his magazine Equinox. Lovecraft has a wizard in his short story The Thing on the Doorstep called Ephraim Waite, according to Robert M. Price. Waite was an author and many of his works were well received in academic circles. His works on the Holy Grail, influenced by his friendship with Arthur Machen, were particularly notable, Waite also wrote two allegorical fantasy novels, Prince Starbeam and The Quest of the Golden Stairs, and edited Elfin Music, an anthology of poetry based on English fairy folklore. The Rider-Waite-Smith tarot was notable for being one of the first tarot decks to illustrate all 78 cards fully, Golden Dawn member Pamela Colman Smith illustrated the cards for Waite, and the deck was first published in 1909. It is known that the inspiration for this deck was provided by Sola-Busca Tarot
35.
Neoplatonism
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Neoplatonists were heavily influenced by Plato, but also by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from Plato. In defining the term Neoplatonism, it is difficult to reduce the school of thought to a set of ideas that all Neoplatonic philosophers shared in common. The work of Neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, instead, the most concise definition of Neoplatonism casts it as a historical term. Thinkers of this period include Syrianus, Olympiodorus the Younger. Neoplatonism has been influential throughout history. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian, yeats and T. S. Eliot, among many more. The term Neoplatonism has a function as a historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus, on the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus interpretation of Plato. The term Neoplatonism implies that Plotinus interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that Neoplatonism constitutes a useful label and they claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus teachings from those of his immediate predecessors. Whether Neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato, for much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the Neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato. The Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, for instance, thought that the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic, contemporary scholars often identify the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Platos philosophy to be separate from that of his Neoplatonic interpreters. However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from Neoplatonism was the result of a historical development that preceded Schleiermachers scholarly work on Plato. The most important forerunners of Neoplatonism are the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, Neoplatonism is generally a metaphysical and epistemological philosophy. Neoplatonism is a form of idealistic monism combined with elements of polytheism, although the founder of Neoplatonism is supposed to have been Ammonius Saccas, the Enneads of his pupil Plotinus are the primary and classical document of Neoplatonism. One of the features of Plotinus system, which was also taken up by subsequent Neoplatonists, is the doctrine of the One beyond being. For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is a simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being
