The Magician's Dictionary. Edward E. Rehmus

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СКАЧАТЬ worlds defined by the nature of their species. The elephant lives in an elephant universe, the butterfly in a butterfly world. They inhabit separate spheres of consciousness. Says Uexküll, “when a dog runs, it moves its legs. When a sea urchin runs, it is moved by its legs.” Uexküll even distinguishes between acts of individual superstition (or “ritual”) — bird pecking at empty pavement, dog licking newly washed dinner bowl — and genuine “species environment” magic that involves entire herds or flocks, performing purely symbolic acts.

      ANKH — (Crux Ansata.) The hieroglyph of a sandalstrap or knot, indicating “life.” When the knot is fully undone, life is done. Ankh is the “knot” linking the Uas (a forked stick) and the Djed (Osiris’ spinal column). The uas is the first manifestation of life (fire), as it arises naturally out of the void. The Egyptians made a practice of elaborately ornamenting and gilding this stick to show the inevitable corruption of life. Thus it is transformed from a natural branch into a “wand” or sceptre. To emphasize even more completely the fall of spirit the top was generally carved to resemble an ass’s head. The ankh follows the uas and represents the continuity of life — the sandal used in walking. Finally, at death, comes the dismemberment of the God. Being divine, however, even the dismembered bones of Osiris are immortal. Hence, the djed is the support, or pillar of eternity. When these three are contained by the Nebet, the basket, the four of them become the four elements. The nebet is “earth,” which contains and gives actual form to the elemental potentialities of uas, ankh and djed. When held by Ptah the four together become the tools of creation.

      

      ANKH-F-N-KHONSU — “His life is in Khonsu” (Moon God of Thebes), title of high priest in Temple of Amen-Ra, the sun god, 26th Dynasty. Crowley’s former incarnations. His stele in the Cairo museum of 1904 was numbered “666.”

      ANKH (W)UDJA(T) SENEB — “May he live, be prosperous, be healthy” (Common Egyptian salutation appropriate for kings) - abbreviated to L. H. S. (Life, Health, Strength).

      ANODOS — In the Mysteries, the “Ascent” to the upper chambers.

      ANOMIE — Lack of purpose, identity or ethical values in a person or society; Disorganization; rootlessness.

      ANSIBLES — Superluminal signaling devices based on FTL or telepathic particles. They contradict the theory of randomicity which latter suggests that non-local phenomena must remain inaccessible.

      ANTHROPOPHUISM —The ascribing of human qualities to the Gods.

      ANTHROPOSOPHY — A movement of illumination, split from Theosophy. Lit. “Knowledge of Man” as opposed to “Knowledge of Divinity.” Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) is its originator, though the word itself was used in a different sense, anthroposophica theomagica, in the 17th Century, by the Rosicrucian, Thomas Vaughan. Steiner emphasizes the fact that man urgently needs to come into harmony with the world, himself and the universe through a spiritual science specifically tailored to his nature. Anthroposophy is an attempt to create such a science.

      ANTI-CHRISTIAN STRATEGIES — “My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years,” said Abraham Lincoln a century and a half ago. “What are the fruits of Christianity? Bigotry, superstition and persecution,” said president James Madison nearly two centuries ago. “For seventeen hundred years the Christian sect has done nothing but harm,” said Voltaire 220-odd years ago. Quotations of this sort by the wisest leaders and shapers, extending as they do back through the millennia, should serve as a skull and crossbones over the door of the church.

      Xtianity, obviously, is the worst of all worlds (with the possible exception of Islam). On the one hand, it exhorts its believers to live vicariously, to reach for nothing, inasmuch as Christ has done all the work of redemption for them. In this way it thoroughly discourages individualism, especially in its most creative aspects. On the other hand, it pledges salvation to the dregs of mankind — the lowest ranks of morality — to the mindless and the vicious. Thus it espouses egoism at the cheapest level.

      Arrogant Xtians are fond of saying, “You can’t have it both ways.” By that they mean that you can’t accept the interconnectedness of everything and at the same time believe in the separation of the individual. But Xtianity, founded as it is on the veneration of stupidity, has always confused paradox with inconsistency.

      The wise man leans neither on belief nor on non-belief. The whole issue of God/Not-God is unnecessarily dichotomous, as is our analysis of morality/immorality. The Either-Or world is dangerous. Indeed, it is so dangerous, that even to proceed in a line midway between this Scylla and Charybdis is to hem oneself in by unwanted limitations. “God” is a word that has yet to be defined and even the question of divine singularity vs. plurality is debatable. It is a common conceit that Monotheism is a step forward from Polytheism and one which some serious metaphysicians are finally beginning to deplore. The Initiate may declare that there is but one “God,” but he means that in a quite different sense from the common notion of exclusivity.

      Monotheism (see MONOLATRY) always leads to monolithism. We are one another only by differing from one another. It is uniqueness that makes us “divine.” It is quite possible to deny the existence of “God” without elevating man (in his present condition) to apotheosis). There is, for example, the teaching of Pantheism, in which all plants, animals and, in fact, matter itself, are all equally God. This is also “one” God.

      Anti-christians are admittedly defensive about “Salvation through Christ.” First of all, non-Christians insist, there can be no salvation without crucifixion (that is, one’s own sacrificial death, not that of some 2000 year old personage of legend) and second, Christ is a type of supraconsciousness already potential, but undeveloped, in all men and women. It must not be confused with the crazed folk hero invented by manic evangelism nor with the self-pitying figures depicted in stained glass windows. The Christ level of consciousness is, in fact, certainly not available to the average, plastic-coated, postmodern illiterate, whose vision scarcely extends beyond that of an insect and whose tenacity is no firmer than a worm’s pull. Therefore, to make salvation available to all men on a believe-as-you-go basis, is idiotic And finally, the Galilean-Mode is only one of many modes of consciousness — most of which are a lot more interesting. (See 666.)

      ANTIMATICS — Fanciful science invented by Lem, with propositions such as: “No number is equal to itself” and “There is no such thing as ‘Nothing’.”

      ANTI-OCCULT STRATEGIES — Because of Hitler’s occult interests, anti-occultists have tried time and again to establish that all those from whom he adapted his twisted ideas were themselves fascist and racist. Similarly, in the 1930’s everyone was tagged with either the Communist or Fascist label, whether deservedly or not. Attempts to link Hitler to the sympathies of Aleister Crowley, HPB, Jung and the rest are constantly being forced upon gullible and confused people. The fact is, the Nazis used anyone and anything they could to gain power, as do all villains. Accusations against the occult, however, invariably come down not to anti-semitic practices, but, on the contrary, to a tendency to question Christian authority. Even Nietzsche, the 3rd Reich’s most esteemed philosopher, though a strong enemy, it turns out, of the Catholic Church, was deeply opposed to Anti-Semitism.

      Jung’s essay in 1936 on Wotan is often cited in which he simply stated that the God of the German people was not Jesus, but Wotan. That the Nazis could take inspiration from that is hardly Jung’s fault СКАЧАТЬ