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A
- Abyss
- On the Tree of Life, the gulf dividing the three highest spheres from the seven below: the separation of the ideal from the actual.
- Adept
- One who has become skilled in the art through long practice. Traditionally, one who has attained conscious relationship with the higher self.
- Aether
- The fifth element of ancient physics, the substance of the heavens. In magick it is called spirit. See also quintessence.
- Albedo
- The whitening. The second color stage of the alchemical work, a phase of washing, purification and clarity.
- Alchemy
- The art of transmutation: the perfecting of metals in the laboratory and of the practitioner in the soul. One of the three traditional branches of Hermetic wisdom.
- Amulet
- An object carried for protection, to turn an unwanted influence away. Compare talisman.
- Anima mundi
- Latin for the soul of the world. The living principle that, in Platonic and Hermetic thought, animates the cosmos and binds its parts together.
- Arcanum
- A secret or mystery, especially of alchemy. Plural arcana. Also used of the cards of the tarot.
- Asclepius
- A long Hermetic dialogue preserved in Latin, also called the Perfect Discourse. Named for the pupil whom Hermes addresses in it.
- Aspirant
- A person who has set out on the work and has not yet completed its first stages. A beginner in earnest.
- Astral
- Literally, of the stars. Used of the subtle level of existence between the physical and the spiritual, the realm of image and imagination, associated with the sphere of the Moon.
- Astrology
- The art of interpreting the positions of the planets and stars in relation to events on earth. One of the three traditional branches of Hermetic wisdom.
- Athanor
- The alchemist's furnace, built to keep a steady, gentle heat for long periods. Inwardly, the sustained attention that the work requires.
B
- Banishing
- A short ritual performed to clear a place and the mind of the operator before and after a working. The usual opening and closing of ceremonial practice.
- Black stage
- See nigredo.
C
- Caduceus
- The staff of Hermes, wound with two serpents and topped with wings. A symbol of the reconciliation of opposites and of the messenger between worlds.
- Calcination
- The alchemical operation of reducing a substance to ash by fire. Inwardly, the burning away of pretense.
- Ceremonial magic
- Magic worked through formal ritual, using prepared space, tools, words and gestures. Also called ritual magic or high magic.
- Chaldean order
- The seven planets arranged from slowest to fastest: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. The basis of the planetary hours.
- Circle
- The boundary traced around the place of working. It sets the ritual apart from ordinary space and represents the operator's sphere of attention.
- Citrinitas
- The yellowing. The third color stage of the alchemical work, the dawning of the solar light. Often omitted in later schemes.
- Coagulation
- The alchemical operation by which a purified substance is made solid and stable. The last step of the work. See solve et coagula.
- Conjunction
- In alchemy, the joining of separated and purified principles, pictured as a marriage of king and queen. In astrology, two planets at the same point of the zodiac.
- Consecration
- The ritual dedication of an object, place or person to a single purpose.
- Contemplation
- Quiet, wordless attention resting on an object or idea, after discursive thought has fallen still. The highest phase of meditation.
- Corpus Hermeticum
- The collection of seventeen Greek philosophical treatises attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, written in Egypt in the first centuries of the common era.
- Correspondence
- A relation of likeness between things on different levels of existence, such as a planet, a metal and a quality of character. The working principle of magick.
- Cosmos
- Greek for order and for ornament. The universe considered as a beautiful, ordered whole.
D
- Demiurge
- Greek for craftsman. In Platonic and Hermetic cosmology, the divine power that shapes the visible world.
- Dissolution
- The alchemical operation of dissolving a solid in liquid. Inwardly, the softening of rigid attitudes.
- Distillation
- The alchemical operation of vaporizing and condensing a liquid to purify it. Inwardly, refinement by repeated raising and returning.
- Divination
- The practice of seeking knowledge by reading patterns, as in astrology, geomancy and tarot.
E
- Element
- One of the four modes of nature in ancient physics: fire, water, air and earth. In magick, also four modes of human experience: will, feeling, thought and sensation.
- Elixir
- The liquid form of the philosophers' stone, said to heal disease and prolong life.
- Emanation
- The doctrine that the world flows out from the divine in successive stages, as light from a lamp, without the source being diminished.
- Emerald Tablet
- A short text attributed to Hermes, first known in Arabic, regarded by alchemists as the summary of their art. The source of the phrase as above, so below.
- Esoteric
- Inner. Used of teachings intended for those prepared to receive them, and of the inward meaning of a symbol or text. Opposed to exoteric.
- Evocation
- The calling forth of a spirit or power to appear outside the operator. Compare invocation.
- Exoteric
- Outer. Used of teachings given publicly and of the surface meaning of a symbol or text.
F
- Fermentation
- The alchemical operation in which new life is introduced into matter that has decayed. Inwardly, the arrival of inspiration after a period of darkness.
- First matter
- In Latin, prima materia. The original, formless substance from which the alchemist begins. Said to be found everywhere and valued by no one.
- Fixed
- In alchemy, stable and resistant to fire, as opposed to volatile. In astrology, the four signs in the middle of each season: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.
- Four worlds
- In Qabalah, four levels of reality from the most spiritual to the most material: Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah.
G
- Geomancy
- A method of divination using sixteen figures built from rows of one or two dots. Widely practiced in medieval and Renaissance Europe.
- Gnosis
- Greek for knowledge. In the Hermetic texts, direct knowledge of the divine by acquaintance, which transforms the knower.
- Great Work
- In Latin, magnum opus. In alchemy, the making of the philosophers' stone. In the wider tradition, the complete spiritual development of a human being.
- Grimoire
- A handbook of magic, typically giving instructions for rituals, the preparation of tools and the names and seals of spirits. Most surviving examples date from the late Middle Ages onward.
- Grounding
- Returning attention to the body and ordinary surroundings after practice, usually by eating, drinking or physical activity.
H
- Heimarmene
- Greek for fate. In the Hermetic texts, the government of the lower world by the seven planets, from which the mind can be freed.
- Heptagram
- A seven pointed star. Drawn through the planets in Chaldean order, it gives the sequence of the days of the week.
- Hermes Trismegistus
- Hermes the Thrice Great. The legendary sage, formed from the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth, to whom the Hermetic writings are attributed.
- Hermetica
- The body of writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, divided by scholars into philosophical and technical works.
- Hermeticism
- The philosophical and religious tradition based on the Hermetica, and more broadly the current of Western esotericism that descends from it.
- Hexagram
- A six pointed star formed of two interlaced triangles, one pointing up and one down. The union of fire and water, above and below.
- Higher self
- The deepest and truest center of a person, of which the everyday personality is a partial expression. Also called the higher genius.
I
- Illumination
- The second phase of the path, in which direct understanding begins to arise in the purified mind.
- Initiation
- Literally, a beginning. A decisive change of inner state, or the ceremony intended to mark or bring about such a change.
- Intelligence
- In the old cosmology, the guiding spiritual principle of a planet or sphere.
- Invocation
- The calling of a divine power into oneself, so that the operator is filled with its quality. Compare evocation.
K
- Kabbalah
- The mystical tradition of Judaism, from a Hebrew word meaning that which is received. The source from which the Hermetic Qabalah was adapted.
- Kamea
- A magic square of numbers assigned to a planet, in which every row, column and diagonal has the same total. Used in making sigils.
- Kybalion
- A book published in 1908 under the name Three Initiates, which sets out seven Hermetic principles. A modern work in the Hermetic tradition.
L
- License to depart
- The formal release, at the close of a ritual, of whatever powers were called at its opening.
- Logos
- Greek for word and reason. In the Hermetic texts, the ordering principle that proceeds from the divine Mind and shapes the cosmos.
M
- Macrocosm
- The great world: the universe as a whole. Compare microcosm.
- Magick
- The art of bringing about change by the deliberate use of symbol, ritual and trained will. The spelling with a k distinguishes it from stage conjuring.
- Magnum opus
- See Great Work.
- Magus
- A master of the magical art. Originally a member of the priestly caste of ancient Persia. Plural magi.
- Mercury
- As a planet, the power of thought, speech and exchange. As an alchemical principle, the volatile, mediating spirit that joins sulfur and salt.
- Microcosm
- The small world: the human being, understood as containing in miniature everything found in the universe.
- Monad
- The One. The single source from which all number and all things proceed.
N
- Natural magic
- Magic that works with the hidden properties of natural things such as herbs, stones and metals, without the calling of spirits.
- Neoplatonism
- The late ancient development of the philosophy of Plato, teaching the emanation of all things from the One and the soul's return. A major influence on Hermetic and magical thought.
- Nigredo
- The blackening. The first color stage of the alchemical work: decay, dissolution and the confrontation with what has been hidden.
- Nous
- Greek for mind or intellect. In the Hermetic texts, both the divine Mind and the highest faculty in the human being, which is of the same nature.
O
- Occult
- Latin for hidden. Originally used of properties of things that cannot be perceived by the senses, such as magnetism. Later, a general name for the esoteric arts.
- Ogdoad
- The Eighth. The sphere of the fixed stars above the seven planets, which the purified soul enters on its ascent.
- Ouroboros
- The serpent that swallows its own tail. An alchemical emblem of the unity of all things and the circular nature of the work.
P
- Path
- One of the twenty two lines joining the spheres of the Tree of Life. Each stands for the experience of passing between two states.
- Pentacle
- A disk bearing a symbolic design. As one of the four ritual tools it represents earth. The word is also used of any talismanic figure.
- Pentagram
- A five pointed star drawn with a single line. With one point upward it represents spirit governing the four elements, and the human figure.
- Philosophers' stone
- The goal of alchemy: a substance said to perfect metals into gold and to heal. Inwardly, the completed and stable self.
- Picatrix
- The Latin title of a large Arabic compendium of astral magic, compiled around the eleventh century.
- Planetary hour
- One twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset, or between sunset and sunrise, each ruled by a planet in Chaldean order.
- Poimandres
- The first treatise of the Corpus Hermeticum, and the name of the divine Mind who speaks in it.
- Prisca theologia
- Latin for ancient theology. The Renaissance belief in a single primordial wisdom handed down through a line of sages that included Hermes.
- Projection
- In alchemy, the casting of the stone upon base metal to transmute it. In psychology, the perception of one's own disowned qualities in other people.
- Purification
- The first phase of the path: the cleansing and ordering of body, habits and mind.
Q
- Qabalah
- The Hermetic adaptation of Jewish Kabbalah, centered on the Tree of Life and used as a framework for the whole system of correspondences.
- Quarters
- The four directions of the ritual circle, each assigned to an element.
- Quintessence
- The fifth essence. The pure principle underlying the four elements, which the alchemists sought to extract. See aether.
R
- Rebirth
- In the Hermetic texts, the inner regeneration by which a person is born into the life of mind. The subject of treatise XIII of the Corpus Hermeticum.
- Ritual
- A deliberate sequence of words, gestures and images performed with full attention to bring about a change.
- Rubedo
- The reddening. The final color stage of the alchemical work: union, completion and the fixing of the result.
S
- Salt
- As an alchemical principle, the fixed and solid part of a thing: the body. One of the tria prima.
- Scrying
- Gazing into a reflective or translucent surface, such as a mirror, crystal or bowl of water, in order to perceive images.
- Separation
- The alchemical operation of dividing a substance into its components so that each can be purified.
- Sephirah
- One of the ten spheres of the Tree of Life, each a stage in the emanation of the world from the One. Plural sephiroth.
- Sigil
- A sign constructed to represent a spirit, a power or an intention. From the Latin for a seal.
- Solve et coagula
- Latin for dissolve and coagulate. The alchemical formula for all transformation: break down what is fixed, then recombine it in a purer form.
- Spagyrics
- The alchemy of plants, in which a herb is separated into its three principles, purified and recombined. The term comes from Paracelsus.
- Sphere
- In the old cosmology, one of the concentric shells carrying a planet around the earth. Also an English name for a sephirah.
- Spirit
- The fifth element, source and balance of the other four. Also a non physical being or intelligence. As an alchemical principle, see mercury.
- Sulfur
- As an alchemical principle, the fiery and combustible part of a thing: the soul. One of the tria prima.
- Sympathy
- The natural affinity that links things of the same family across the levels of the cosmos. The basis of natural magic.
T
- Talisman
- An object made and consecrated, at a chosen time, to draw a particular influence toward its owner. Compare amulet.
- Tarot
- A pack of seventy eight cards devised in fifteenth century Italy for a card game and adopted for divination and meditation from the late eighteenth century.
- Temple
- The place set apart for ritual. In practice, usually a room or part of one.
- Thaumaturgy
- Wonder working. Magic directed to particular practical results. Compare theurgy.
- Theurgy
- Divine work. Ritual directed to the purification of the soul and its union with the divine.
- Thoth
- The Egyptian god of writing, measurement, wisdom and magic, identified by the Greeks with Hermes.
- Transmutation
- The changing of one substance, or one state of mind, into another of a higher kind.
- Tree of Life
- The central diagram of the Qabalah: ten spheres joined by twenty two paths, representing the structure of the cosmos and of the soul.
- Tria prima
- The three principles of Paracelsian alchemy: sulfur, mercury and salt, corresponding to soul, spirit and body.
- True will
- The course of life that expresses a person's real nature, as distinct from passing wishes and borrowed ambitions.
V
- Vessel
- The sealed flask in which the alchemical work proceeds. Inwardly, the stable conditions of life and practice that contain the process of change.
- Visualization
- The deliberate forming and holding of an image in the mind. A basic skill of ceremonial practice.
- Vitriol
- An alchemical motto formed from the initials of a Latin sentence meaning: visit the interior of the earth, and by rectifying you will find the hidden stone.
- Volatile
- In alchemy, tending to rise as vapor when heated. Opposed to fixed.
W
- Wand
- The ritual tool of fire, representing the will of the operator.
- White stage
- See albedo.
- Will
- The power to give oneself a direction and keep to it. In magick, the settled purpose of the whole person, as distinct from desire.
- Working
- A ritual or series of rituals undertaken for a definite purpose. Also the central act within a single ritual.
Z
- Zodiac
- The belt of sky through which the Sun, Moon and planets move, divided into twelve signs of thirty degrees each.