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New Age Directory

 

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Earth Magic: The derivation of the term 'Geomancy' points clearly to its meaning as 'Earth Magic' but like so many terms, this one had undergone a metamorphosis since the dawning of the New Age. In Napoleonic times, Geomancy was a system of divination by means of dots, tapped in random lines with a pencil on a piece of paper. If there was any connection with the earth, it lay in the graphite of the pencil, or possibly a suspicion that the dots may orginally have been pebbles cast at random Today, however the term is used very differently, although perhaps not quite so precisely.It is associated wiht Chinese Feng Shui, with ley lines, dowsing, ch'i and megalithic sites. Sometimes though more rarely those interested will even postulate a linkage with the mystery of UFO's

Broadly speaking, modern theories of Geomancy suggest the ancients knew a great deal more about earth currents - the sort that dowsers my be picking up - than we do today. The planet is seen as something analogous to the human body and is criss-crossed by the planetrary equivalent of acupuncture meridians

Prehistoric peoples in Britain,Ireland, end Europe created megalithic monuments. Like Stonehenge or the menhirs of Brittany - to manuipulate these and certain cosmic currents or purposes we no longer understand, but which may have been associated with the fertility of the land

The dowser Guy Underwood, visited hundreds of megalithic sites and discovered almost every one was aligned in realtion to aspects of geodisic force perfectly discernible to his r. Underwood speculated that the philosophers and priests of the old religion seem to have believed that particularly when manifested in spiral forms (the geodisic force) was involved with the generative powers of Natuare, that it was part of the mechanism by which what we call Life comes into being

Even more telling was the work of Alexander Thom, a Professor of Engineering, who as long ago as 1934, was taken by the possibility that the ancients were as much engineers as he was.The insight dawned - the day he anchored his sailing boat in Loch Roag, in the Outer Hebrides, to take a look at a great stone circle on a nearby hillside. Staring along the avenue of menhirs, he noted they followed a north / south alignment and were pointing towards the Polar Star. But due to the precession of the equinoxes, the Pole Star was not in its present position in prehistoric times. So the megalith builders must have had some other means of determining true North.After his retirement ,Thom, began to take meticulous measurements at megalithic circles throughout the British Isles and Europe. What he discovered was astonishing. Every circle he examined was based on a single standard measurement he name a 'megalithic yard' of 2.72 feet.The circles themselves were astronomically aligned, the majority of them being huge machines for predicting eclipses of the moon. Thom's findings ran completely contrary to the orthodox archaeological theories of the day, but his published work contained his measurements and calculations, all of which could be - and soon were - checked for accuracy. It soon became evident he had made no mistakes

But even now, there is considerable controversy about what Thom's findings mean. Eclipses of the moon have no known effect on crops or the fertility cycles of human beings or domestic beasts.Nor do they mark any seasonal sub-division. Why then, did prehistoric humanity expend such time and energy predicting them? The Geomantic mystery remains

Eckankar: A patented form of Astral Projection taught by the American guru Paul Twitchell. In a series of Out of the Body Experiences (OOBE), Twitchell found himself in touch with superior beings called the Eck Masters who revealed a series of complex and comprehensive Spiritual truths to him. Also called Inner Plane Adepti - these are superhuman entities, manifesting on the Astral Plane - although usually held to have their real existence in even more remote dimensions - in order to guide the evolution of humanity through occult contacts

On basis of these truths, Twitchell founded an international Eckankar organization, the followers of which attempt to practise projection, according to the methods Twitchell has given

Eckhart, Meister: A late thirteenth-century, early fourteenth-century German mystic, Eckhart von Hochheim, became Prior of the Dominican Friary at Erfurt around 1298. He believed and taught renunciation of wealth and posessions in order to receive the divine light of God's Wisdom, which he claimed was open to creatures other than humanity, although in a lesser degree than to humanity itself. Not all Meister Eckhart's doctrines proved acceptable to the ecclesiastical authorities. A papal bull of 1329 - around Eckhart's death - condemned no fewer that 28 of his propositions as potentially heretical

Ectoplasm: A white, viscous substance which an ozone-like smell, which is said to exude from the orifices of mediums and is moulded by Spirits to assume physical shapes. It has frequently been photographed in such a form, but the existence of the substance has never been proved.In fact the distinctive terture and smell of ectoplasm can be created using various ingredients, such as a mixture of soap, gelatin and egg white. In the late nineteenth century many fraudulent mediums used muslin

Egyptian Book Of the Dead: Although commonly called the Book of the Dead, by archaeologists and occultists alike, the actual title of this collection of funerial texts is Chapters for Coming Forth by Day, a clear description of what is promised for the soul of the deceased. The text contain spells, incantations and rituals designed to help thsoe who hve died to navigate the dangers of the underworld and achieve a happy afterlife.Some rituals were meant to help the deceased join the sun god in the sky.The practice of leaving such texts in the tomb seems to have dated to about the Eighteenth Dynasty (1580-1320 BC) but a number of the texts themselves are much older, deriving from the Pyramid Texts of 2350 BC

Egyptian Days: A series of calendrical lists of fortunate or unfortunate days, said to have originated from Egyptian Astrological practices but probably derived ultimately from Assyrian sources. The Egyptian days are sometimes called the 'lucky' and 'unlucky' days

Egyptian Mysteries: Orthodox scholarship has it that the Mystery Religions, with their secret doctrines, initiatory rites and ceremonial, were a phenomenon of ancient Greece and Rome, but the fact that Isis and Serapis were honoured in the Mysteries has led to widespread speculation that ancient Egypt had her Mystery Schools as well . Much of the speculation has been romantic in the extreme. It has been suggested that the chambers of the major pyramids of Giza, were initiation halls of the Egyptian Mysteries. Early authors wrote about a Mysteries temple beneath the statue of the Sphynx and one even claimed there was an entire underground city in the same area

Eliade, Mircea: A prolific author on a variety of subjects of interest in the New Age - including Yoga, Shamanism and comparative religin. Mircea Eliade was appointed Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago in 1958. Romanian-born Eliade is an accepted authority on mysticism, religious symbolism and initiatory patterns

Electional Astrology: The casting and interpretation of astrological charts to determine suitable times for commencing any specific activity, such as marriage, travel, commerce, and so on.This system was used by the Astrologer Joan Quigley on behalf of President Ronald Reagan of the United States in the 1990's

Elements: The four basic elements of Astrology are Fire, Earth, Air and Water. These support the material world but are not part of it, being Spiritual principles.In occult lore, the signs of the elements combine to form the six-pointed star or Seal of Solomon

Elixir: A term derived from alchemy and used to denote the supposed liquid, a draught of which would give eternal life or some similar required extension or intensification of being.While in popular imagination the Elixir is regarded as being a liquid, the early alchemical manuscripts also often describe it as a powder.The origin of the term is probably Arabic, for a word of similar sound denotes a powder used for healing wounds.Sometimes it was believed that the Elixir was the so-called Philosopher's stone, which could be used to turn base metals into gold or silver

El Morya (Theosophical Society & New Age - Ascended Master): El Morya is a new ascended master, first recorded in the 1880's by Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, and repopularized in the 1960s by Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet and other authors of the 'I Am' teachings.El Morya appears to be based upon an actual man named Ranbir Singh, son of Raja Gulab Singh, who was the ruler of Kashmir in the 1840s.Kashmir was threatened with takeover by the British in 1845, but Raja Singh paid a ransom to convince the British to leave the country alone.When the Raja died in 1858, Ranbir became Maharaj of Kashmir.Historians hail Ranbir for unifying the states of Nagar & Hunza and for creating, humane and fair civil and criminal laws.Ranbir was quite popular among his constituents. He passed away in 1885, the same time that Madame Blavatsky was writing her channeled books about the ascended masters.Blavatsky claimed to have spent time with El Morya in India and she may have been protecting a friendship with Ranbir by giving him a pseudonym

Blavatsky's Theosophical Society defines the term 'Morya' as 'the name of a Rajpoot tribe, so-called because of its being almost altogether composed of the descendants of the famous Moryan sovereign of Marya-Nagara.The Moryan Dynasty began with certain Kshatriyas of the Sakya line closely related to Goutama Buddha, who founded the town of Morya-Nagara in the Himalayas.Blavatsky, and later Elizabeth Clare Prophet, did make reference to El Morya, being a Rajput prince and a Tibetan Mahatman, both apt descriptions of Ranbir.He helps with Decision-making, Faith,Groundedness, Protection-especially energy & psychic

Elongation: In a psychic context the word is used to denote the elongation of the body of the medium in response to spiritual control. The famous Scottish medium Daniel Dunglas Home, who was never exposed as a fraud, was reportedly seen to elongate almost as much as twenty-five centimetres during a seance

Emerald Table: A legendary object, a tablet of emerald, engraved in Phoenician script by Hermes Trismegistus, with a message of secret and immense import. A latin version of it was available around the year 1200, translagted frim Arabic. Its opeining sentence ran Quod superius est sicut quod inferius est sicus quod superius ad perpetranda miracula re unius, that which is above is like that which is below is like that which is above, to achieve the marvels of the one thing.This phrase shortened into 'as above ' so below' underlies all Astrology and much magical practice

Emmanuel: Emmanuel first came through the channel Pat Rodegast during meditation. Rodegast has compiled a widely read collection - ' Emmanuel's Book: A Manual for living Comfortably in the Cosmos-Bantam 1987. Emmanuel says, 'The gifts I wish to give you are my deepest love, the safety of truth, the wisdom of the Universe and the reality of God.The issue of whether there is a Greater Reality or not, for me at least, has been settled. I know that there is. So I will speak to you from the knowing that I possess'

Encounter: There are various kinds of encounter groups, but the main two are basic encounter, developed by Carl Rogers and his associates, and open encounter developed by Will Schultz with others at Esalen. Encounter is a method for cultivation personal growth. The roots of the encounter group movement derive from the 1940s with training groups (T-groups) - which explored ways of developing training methods in inter-personal relationships.Later on, personal growth became more important.The aim of an encounter group is to make it posssible, in the context of a mutually supportive environment, to communicate genuine feelings, expressing them both verbally and phsyically

Enneagram: A fragmentary science taught by G.I.Gurdjieff, who claimed it was the key symbolic device of the Sarmaun Brotherhood, a mystic order that existed in Central Asia for thousands of years. The Enneagram is a remarkable system for clarifying and understanding human nature. The principle is simple - there are 9 personality types divided into three groups (triads). The Feeling Triad - includes the Helper, the Status Seeker, the Artist, the Doing Triad - includes the Thinker, the Loyalist, the Generalist, the Relating Triad - includes the Leader, the Peacemaker, the Reformer Ennea is Greek for nine, so a rough translation of Enneagram is a ' nine-diagram' which comprises nine equidistant points on the circumference of a circle

Enochian Language: When Elizabethan magus, Dr, John Dee, and his seer Edward Kelley, engaged in their most interesting series of magical experiments, they made contact with an entity which claimed to be an Angel. This being, visible only to Kelley, dictated a series of Calls or evocations to the Watchtowers of the Universe. The curious method of dictation, letter by letter and backwards, was explained by the fact that the Calls were so powerful even writing them down in the normal way might stir up potent and unwanted magical currents.The process of transcribing the Calls was bizarre. Dee & Kelley had somehow obtained, or created more than 100 large squares, or tablets, measuring 49 x 49 inces on average, each wholly or partly filled by a grid pattern of letters. During the course of the experiments, Dee would place one or more of these tablets before him on a writing table, while Kelley would sit across the room staring into a crystal shewstone.When contact was made, Kelley would report sight of the Angel in the shewstone, along with the Angel's own copies of the tablets.Using a wand, the Angel would then point to certain letters on the tablets and Kelley would call out the rank and file of the letter indicated. Dee would then locate the letters in the same position in his tablet and write it down. Thus the Calls were gradually build up

The Calls themselves are not in English, but in a language Dee referred to as Angelic or Enochian.It was supposed to have been the tongue spoken on the 'Lost Continent of Atlantis'. Although considerable doubts have been cast on Kelleys' bon fides as a seer, analysis has shown Enochian apears to be a genuine language fragment - as opposed to a code or cypher. Linguists claim it is not impossible to create a pseudo-language - it was ,after all, done with Esperanto - but to do so, requires highly specialist expertise and years of work.In these circumstances, it is difficult to imagine how Kelley, might have faked Enochian at all, let alone managed the prodigious feat of memory involved in pretending to recieve the Calls backwards

The original diaries of Dr Dee, recording the experiments in which the Calls were produced are now in the British Museum, but the Enochian story does not end there. In Victorian times, initiates of the Golden Dawn used the material to create a vast, complex system of Enochian magic, which included methods of conjuration and a fascinationg game of four-handed 'Enochina Chess'. Many occultists claim that nochian magic is one of the most powerful, hence dangerous, esoteric systems available in the New Age

Esalen Institute: Founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Richard Price in Big Sur, California, the Esalen Institute has been the acknowledged centre of the Human Potential Movement. Throughout th 60's and 70's it was a testing ground for new ideas and personal growth techniques. Abraham Maslow, Fritz Peerls, Will Schutz, Carl Rogers, Alan Watts and Aldous Huxley were involved and many creative people visited and participated in seminars and workshops. A communityof about 100 is resident as Esalen today and it continues to hve a flourishing programme of workshops, seminars, and conferences

ESP: Extra Sensory Perception e.g. Clairaudience,Clairvoyancy,Telepathy. It means the ability to perceive information without the benefit of the senses. Such perceptions, collectively called PSA phenomena, are grouped in four main categories, telepathy, or mind-to-mind communication, Clairvoyance or the awareness of remote objects, persons or events, Precognition or the knowledge of events lying in the future and Retrocognition or the knowledge of past events in the absence of access to information about those events. Scientific theory does not recognise modes of perception other than those mediated by the sense organs and other body systems, so ESP by definition lies outside the realm of Scientific explanation

Essenes: A Jewish pacifist, pre-Christian mystical movement, the Essenes are today largely associated with the monastic settlement at Qumran and the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, but there were, in fact, lay Essenes as well as monastic. The Essene community lay and monastic, rejected the rituals of the Temple for a somewhat simpler and more inward observance and held firmly to a belief in the immortality of the soul. As one of many Jewish messianic sects, their doctrines on the imminent appearance of a greater Teacher of Righteousness so closely parallels the New Testament doctrines of Christ, that a great many scholars have seriously considered the possibility that Jesus was an Essene before leaving the movement to establish His own following. Dr. Edmund Szekely, poet, scholar, linguist and Unitarian bishop, has translated and interpreted the Essene gospels and writings

Etheric Body: Subtle body.Mirror image of the physical body. A term used by occulitsts to denote the sheath of vital forces that permeates the physical body.It was called by the philosopher and occultist Rudolf Steiner the 'Body of Formative Forces' and in some occult systems the etheric double. In traditional occultism, the etheric body is believed to be composed of 'finer matter' but recent research suggests it may actually be a field phenomenon, electrical in nature

Etheric Projection: The seperation from the physical, of a second, subtle body - which can then travel substantial distances in a very short space of time. Little was known about 'etheric projection' until the publication of a book entitled The projection of the Astral Body in 1929, jointly authored by the Psychical researcher Hereward Carrington and an unknwon American named Sylvan Muldoon..In this book, Muldoon, who suffered from chronic illness, told how he had experienced dozens even hundreds of etheric projections over a period of years. During these projections - his etheric body, was joined to the physical by a silver cord, but since the link was infinitely elastic, he was able to travel as freely as he wished. Muldoon believed most people were capable of projecting the etheric body and gave avariety of techniques to facilitate the process

First indication of a fulf aion is often paralysis of the entire bodyu- what Muldoon termed catalepsy or a 'glued-down feeling'. 'Shaking / Vibration' is often mentioned and is again almost universally experienced as unpleasant.When the paralysis or vibration begin, it requires an enormous effort to break free of them - in some instances you are powerless to break free at all an can only wait for the condition to pass and the projection itself to begin

Etherilization: A type of Physical Mediumistic Ability used during a seance. This form is rare and considered to be extremely dangerous.For that reason, very few mediums use it.The entities draw Ectoplasm from the medium and the seance participants in order to construct a life-size picture of the entitiy itself,from which the entitiy can speak

Eurythmy: Art of movement or Spiritual dance, created by Rudolf Steiner. Meditative preparation ensures that the dancer as microcosm expresses the appropriate aspects of the macrocosm. Performers of Eurythmy employ sweeping and flowing movements to enact the essence of legends and stories

Evans-Wentz, W.Y: Formerly of Jesus College, Oxford, Dr. W.Y. Evans-Wentz became in the words of a colleague, a 'sort of scholar-gypsy' in the early years of the twentieth century. Following the publication of his 'The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries'- a sympathetic book on Celtic Folklore which influenced W.B.Ye. Evans-Wentz spent several years in the Near and Middle East before, atthe invitaation of Maharaja Sidkyong Tulku, he went to live in India where he made an extensive study of the Eastern Esoteric Tradition. The outcome was a series of very fine books on the secret teachings of Tibet. These included his translations of The Tibetan Book of the Dead and The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, his fascinating biography of Tibet's Great Yogi, Milarepa and his extensive investigation of Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines

Evil Eye: In witchcraft and black magic it is said that certain individuals have the power to cast evil spells or to project evil thought forms merely by looking at another person.The idea of this evil power is virtually univesal, and there exisats idea of this evil power is virtually univesal, and there exists in virtually every language an equivalent term - the boser blick in german, malocchio in Italian, mauvais veil in French and from Latin fascinum, which was originally connected with the idea of binding, is derived the English 'fascinate' which was originally connected with such ideas as binding by means of diabolical power or pact. Thefact of theevil eye has given rise to numerous protective devices against it.Those include a wide range of magical signs and Amulets, reflective surfaces, and in particular, a number of obscene or phallic figures and amulets that are intended to deflect evil - such as the corno, acurved horn, and the curious gesture involving a clenced hand with the thumb stuck through middle and fourth fingers. Images of eyes are also used to avert evil on the grounds of Sympathetic magic, and many of the more ancient gems and symbols are designed with this in mind
Exorcism: The expulsion of troublesome evil spirits, ghosts or demons by special rites usually performed by a occult adept, priest or an appropriate official trained in the necessary skills. These rites exist in many cultures and societies where spirits are believed to interfere with the mental, phsyical, and spiritual health of human beingsThe magical arts of exorcism involved ceremonial magic, and the official exorcism ritesof Christianiryare in many wasy similar. This is one aspect of belief where orthodox religion and arcane cults meet head-on. and the conjunction is often srormy and violent. Ritual techniques include the use of Adjuration, prayers, invective, incense, foul odours and the use of holy substances such as sacred herbs, blessed water or salt. In Roman Catholic rituals exorcism is treated as a virtual tug of war with the possessing devil for the victim's soul . Certain symptoms of possession are supposed to manifest themselves before the exorcism can take place, such as Levitation, superhuman strength, speaking in tongues or Clairvoyance. Once exorcism commences, the victim suffers a violent sequence of fits, painful contortions, vomiting and swearing. Among Protestant churches, the Pentecostalists, Charismatics and Televangelists often use the laying on of hands to 'drive out devils' and allegedly cure illnesses

Extispicy: Divination by means of entrails. This was probably the most frequent form of divination in the ancient world, although after the Roman period it fell largely into disuse in the West. The liver and intestines were the parts most closely examined. There is an ancient Babylonian clay model of a lamb's liver, devided into fifty-five separate zones of significance.The origns of the practice may lie in a primitive form of autopsy ,practised by pastoral tribes, if the animals's insides showed signs of ill-health, it was time to move on. The extispices of the Roman religious colleges were the aruspices or augurs

Extrasensory Art: During a seance a type of Physical Mediumistical ability when - via various shapes and methods,spirits and entities transmit to the medium what should be painted or drawn.Often the entities enter the painging itself and change in it in order to leave a certain message or image

Eye of Horus: The highly stylised eye of the falcon-headed solar and sky god Horus (latin version of Hor) is associated with regeneration, health and prosperity. It was very common as an Amulet in ancient Egypt.Horus, the son of osiris and Isis, was called Horus who rules with two eyes.His right eye was white and represented the Sun. His left eye was black and represented the Moon.According to myth Horus lost his eye to his evil brother Seth, whom he fought to avenge Seth's murder of Osiris

Seth tore out the eye but lost the fight.The eye was reassembled by magic by Thoth, the god of writing, the Moon and magic. Horus presented his eye to Osiris, who experienced rebirth in the Underwold. As an amulet, the Eye of Horus has three versions. A left eye, a right eye and two eyes. The eye is constructed in fractional parts, with 1/64th missing, a piece Thoth added by magic

The Egyptian used the eye as a funeral amulet for protection against evil and rebirth in the Underwold, and decorated mummies, coffins and tombs with it. The Book of the Dead instructs that funerary eye amulets be made out of lapis lazuli or a stone called 'mak'. Some were gold-plated. Worn as jewellery fashioned of gold, silver, lapis, wood, porceleain or carnelian, the eye served to ensure safety, to preserve health and to give the bearer wisdom and prosperty

 

Main info sources

The Aquarian Guide To The New Age-Eileen Campbell & J.H.Brennan

Dictionary Of The Occult-Geddes & Grosset

Archangesl & Ascended Masters -Doreen Virtue,Ph.D