Occult Glossary

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(See also Hypnotism)
Messenger
In the theosophical sense, an individual who comes with a mandate from the Lodge of the Masters of
Wisdom and Compassion to do a certain work in the world.
Only real genius -- indeed something more than merely human genius -- only extraordinary spiritual and
intellectual capacity, native to the constitution of some lofty human being, could explain the reason for
the choice of such messengers. But, indeed, this is not saying enough; because in addition to genius and
to merely native spiritual and intellectual capacity such a messenger must possess through initiatory
training the capacity of throwing at will the intermediate or psychological nature into a state of perfect
quiescence or receptivity for the stream of divine-spiritual inspiration flowing forth from the messenger's
own inner divinity or monadic essence. It is obvious, therefore, that such a combination of rare and
unusual qualities is not often found in human beings; and, when found, such a one is fit for the work to
be done by such a messenger of the Association of great ones.
The Masters of Wisdom and Compassion and Peace send their envoys continuously into the world of
men, one after the other, and in consequence these envoys are working in the world among men all the
time. Happy are they whose hearts recognize the footfalls of those crossing the mountaintops of the
Mystic East. The messengers do not always do public work before the world, but frequently work in the
silences and unknown of men, or relatively unknown. At certain times, however, they are commissioned
and empowered and directed to do their work publicly and to make public announcement of their
mission. Such, for instance, was the case of H. P. Blavatsky.
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Metempsychosis
(Greek) A compound vocable which may be rendered briefly by "insouling after insouling," or "changing
soul after soul." Metempsychosis contains the specific meaning that the soul of an entity, human or other,
moves not merely from condition to condition, migrates not merely from state to state or from body to
body; but also that it is an indivisible entity in its inmost essence, which is pursuing a course along its
own particular evolutionary path as an individual monad, taking upon itself soul after soul; and it is the
adventures which befall the soul, in assuming soul after soul, which in their aggregate are grouped
together under this word metempsychosis.
In ordinary language metempsychosis is supposed to be a synonym for transmigration, reincarnation,
preexistence, and palingenesis, etc., but all these words in the esoteric philosophy have specific meanings
of their own, and should not be confused. It is of course evident that these words have strict relations
with each other, as, for instance, every soul in its metempsychosis also transmigrates in its own particular
sense; and inversely every transmigrating entity also has its metempsychosis or soul-changings in its own
particular sense. But these connections or interminglings of meanings must not be confused with the
specific significance attached to each one of these words.
The essential meaning of metempsychosis can perhaps be briefly described by saying that a monad
during the course of its evolutionary peregrinations throws forth from itself periodically a new
soul-garment or soul-sheath, and this changing of souls or soul-sheaths as the ages pass is called
metempsychosis. (See also Transmigration, Reincarnation, Preexistence, Palingenesis)
Metensomatosis
(Greek) A compound word of which the significance may perhaps be briefly rendered thus: "changing
body after body." The reference is to a reimbodying entity which does not necessarily use human bodies
of flesh only, in which respect this word differs from reincarnation, but bodies of appropriate yet
different physical material concordant with the evolutionary stage which the human race may have
reached at any time, and with the plane or sphere of nature on which the reimbodiment takes place. This
word, because of the intricate ideas involved, is very difficult to explain properly or even to hint at in a
few words, but perhaps it may be made more clear by the following observation: In far past ages the
human race had bodies, but not bodies of flesh; and in far distant ages of the future, the human race will
likewise have bodies, but not necessarily bodies of flesh. Actually, our teaching in this respect is that in
those far-distant periods of the future, human bodies of that time will be compact of ether or, what comes
to much the same thing, of luminous matter which may very properly be called concreted light.
Microcosm
(Greek) A compound meaning "little arrangement," "little world," a term applied by ancient and modern
mystics to man when considering the seven, ten, and even twelve aspects or phases or organic parts of his
constitution, from the superdivine down to and even below the physical body.
Just as throughout the macrocosm there runs one law, one fundamental consciousness, one essential
orderly arrangement and habitude to which everything contained within the encompassing macrocosm of
necessity conforms, just so does every such contained entity or thing, because it is an inseparable part of
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the macrocosm, contain in itself, evolved or unevolved, implicit or explicit, active or latent, everything
that the macrocosm contains -- whether energy, power, substance, matter, faculty, or what not. The
microcosm, therefore, considered as man or indeed any other organic entity, is correctly viewed as a
reflection or copy in miniature of the great macrocosm, the former being contained, with hosts of others
like it, within the encircling frontiers of the macrocosm. Thus it was stated by the ancient mystics that the
destiny of man, the microcosm, is coeval with the universe or macrocosm. Their origin is the same, their
energies and substances are the same, and their future is the same, of course mutatis mutandis. It was no
vain figment of imagination and no idle figure of speech which brought the ancient mystics to declare
man to be a son of the Boundless.
The teaching is one of the most suggestive and beautiful in the entire range of the esoteric philosophy,
and the deductions that the intuitive student will immediately draw from this teaching themselves
become keys opening even larger portals of understanding. The universe, the macrocosm, is thus seen to
be the home of the microcosm or man, in the former of which the latter is at home everywhere.
Milky Way, The
The Milky Way or galaxy is held to be our own especial home-universe. The nebulae are in many cases
taken to be what are called island-universes, that is to say, vast aggregations of stars, many numbers of
them with their respective planets around them, and all gathered together in these individual
world-clusters. Of course there are nebulae of other kinds, but to these reference is not here made. Of the
island-universes, there are doubtless hundreds of thousands of them; but as none of these has as yet
[1933] been discovered to be as large in diameter, or as thick through, as is our own Milky Way system
-- which system has somewhat the shape of a lens or of a thin watch -- the astronomers call our Milky [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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