Well-known Geminians include: Mesmer, Elsa Maxwell, Bob Dylan, Emerson, Bennett Cerf, Gucci, Duchess of Windsor, Pauline Kael, Escher, Stravinsky, Pascal, Judy Garland, Velikovsky, Peter the Great, Allen Ginsberg, Josephine Baker, Christine Jorgensen, Bob Hope, Herman Wouk, Dante, Arthur Conan Doyle, Isadora Duncan, Dionne Quintuplets, Marilyn Monroe, Marquis de Sade, Sartre, Jefferson Davis.
Magic has much to do with the casting of spells (and spelling goes back to Gematria and the meanings of the letters of words, an insight that the Jews picked up from the Egyptians). Once again, the connection between language and magic is quite clear. Remember, Gods are really cosmic magicians who create and mutate things through the Word and human magicians achieve their ends by invocation, evocation, chants, mantras, orisons, etc. All things are as they are because of the words we give to them.
Example, a mushroom can be called either a psychedelic or a death-dealing toadstool. Or if you call a man a king then he is a king and if you call him a fool then he is a fool. Grammar in the schoolroom sense is also magic, for knowing exactly and correctly how to phrase your thoughts you thereby affect reality for precision or imprecision.
Vedanta is even more specific. Vedanta actually means linguistic grammar.
Forunately, the gnomes are easily accessible, as they spring up continually from the earth around us. They are as eager to "use" us as we are to "use" them. The reason is that somehow the gnomes complement us and we help one another reciprocally by earthing and releasing opposing 'volutions (our e-volution, their in-volution) -- or rather, our entropy is grounded in the elementals while negentropy from them is anodically charged in spirit for us. The result in us is matter released in the form of creation, accumulation of wealth, whereas from us they learn how to collect energy into stasis or density.
In simpler terms, they are engaged in a downward spiral of involution toward ultimate crystallization. We, on the other hand, are engaged in the upward, evolutionary struggle towards total liberation of the spirit from its prison of flesh. Both we and the earth elementals occupy contrasting realms of reality normally inaccessible to one another. So the gnomes seek to unload on us the burden of their physical powers and material riches, as we seek to transcend the appetites of the flesh. In the mysterious exchange between our different levels of being the gnomes acquire from us the concretizations they need in order to shed abstraction and draw more deeply inward to their infinitely dense centers. We, on the other hand, discover a new respect within ourselves for the physical universe and a subtler understanding of how it operates. This enables us to work creatively with forms until we can free ourselves and break out of matter altogether. By learning how to stand on the earth firmly, trusting and depending upon its support, we can make successful launchings into "outer space".
The simplest rituals will attract earth elementals. They appreciate kindness and will meet generosity with redoubled generosity of their own. But you must avoid coarseness, grouchiness or impatience of any kind. Gnomes dislike these traits intensely. And any hint of laziness or greed acts as a repellant and the complementing is aborted.
The chief difference between Xtians and Gnostic Xtians, however, was that the Gnostics insisted that Jesus was but a symbol of the cosmic consciousness already present in everyone. They insisted on the maxim, Know thyself and, for them, to be a Christian meant to become a Christ oneself. Orthodox Xtians insisted upon making Christ into an historical, flesh and blood personage called Jesus. Henceforth the argument of the priests would be that their God was genuine because he had historical reality, whereas all other gods were only myths. As our gods are assimilated by us, they inevitably become symbols while the common man worships his gods as idealized bodies of a philosophy he can never hope to understand.
The original and most fantastic Gnosis (out of which the Xtian version arose) derived from leakages from the Egyptian mysteries. The main body, however, died out with the priests who kept their silence.
It is difficult to remember that all seemingly separate things -- all individuals -- created themselves out of the Original Void and go on forever creating themselves. Thus, spirit manifests itself through matter; we never cease to embody and demonstrate divinity -- sometimes wisely, more often not. It is the gravest error to reproduce and propagate life indiscriminately. Such attempts to reincarnate oneself on the merely material plane, to maintain the same identity perptually through the generation of progeny -- this form of lust vitiates the Spirit and greedily confines matter disproportionately to a single, inferior and separationist aim. That in turn results in premature entropy and the abortion of Cosmic Purpose.
We should distinguish between various divine synonyms. Daimon, for instance, did not, amongst the Greeks, have our sense of demon, but was rather a spirit or higher self. Socrates spoke often of his daimon who conversed with him. The Sanskrit deva, although translated god, amongst the Hindus means any God, but in the Zend Avesta it is always a malevolent spirit. In Buddhism deva refers to almost anything from a legendary hero to a hobgoblin, but pure Buddhism attaches no importance to Gods of any kind. It considers them to be illusions, like everything else.
Whether reflective of reality or not, it is easy enough to plot an origin for God in the singular, but whence the proliferation of multi-deities? In Egypt they were seen simply as the natures of things (neteru). Iamblichus asks of the Egyptians, however, what the cause of the distinction between them is and whether it is from their energies, or their passive motions, or from things that are consequent, or from their different arrangement with respect to bodies. By the latter, he goes on to say that he means, for example, that Gods inhabit the ethereal, that demons inhabit the air and that souls inhabit terrestrial bodies.
Of course, it is differentiation that being comes to be in the first place. Before differentiation there is nothing but tohu-bohu -- indeed between the Void and confusion (or chaos), there is little difference. With the utterance of the command Be! the zero is annihilated.
Trombetti hoped one day to see a lexicon of universal word comparisons, but in his day all his energies were absorbed in fighting an academic establishment that strongly resisted new ideas. Babel Rebuilt (as yet unpublished) is my attempt to provide such a lexicon of juxtapositions. It is the source of these words for God taken from various languages and juxtaposed strictly by similarity of form, without regard to family origin or historical sequence.
Lord division of Self and World and the assumption that what is good
for the Self is all that matters. Good magic is based on the understanding
that Self and World are one. Therefore, what is good for the world is
automatically good for the Self. Intelligent though that sounds on the
surface, it's illogical and amounts to wishful thinking. Whats good for
the head isn't necessarily good for the feet and what's good for the world
isn't always good for the self. Exploiters of evil are quick to point out
the disadvantages of self-sacrifice and altruism.
The wicked prosper because Evil is ignorant and any development of the
ego, being an act of ignorance, automatically rides over doubt. Thus
egotism propels itself forward with confidence. Egolessness, on the other
hand, lacking self-assurance, falters and is exploited. So we come back to
words. Illusion, ignorance and darkness are just synonyms for the Ego,
whose main job is to protect the body from destruction. Enlightenment is a
synonym for the elimination of the ego and the relingquishment of its
protection. From a materialistic point of view, therefore, the functions
of Good and Evil are reversed. It is only the highly advanced spiritual
understanding that accepts death not merely as inevitable, but as a
strange paradox: the non-existence of existence. What we mean by advanced
spiritual understanding is the recognition that since death is also an
illusion, then there really is no separation of self from other.
We really are crucibles for the testing of character. If we maintain
our materialistic selfishness, we're heaped with worldly rewards. If we
maintain our faith in self-denial, we earn injustice, if not crucifixion.
Good can triumph on earth only if the Self really does benefit more from
its connection to the world than from its separation. So we have to move
beyond Good and Evil, to the World beyond the world and to the Self
beyond the self, to the ultimate paradoxical truth: the only self that
matters is the individual, or that very idiosyncrasy which maintains the
strongest expression of self within the context of World or Other.
Self draws strength, in other words, not from identity, but from
contrast. This means that if we want to raise the self to a higher level,
we somehow have to raise the world first. Archimedes can do nothing in an
anthill. The materialist, on the other hand, being concerned only with his
isolation, sees the world in a parasitic fashion, strictly as his
life-support system. Thus Evil stands revealed as self-preoccupation at
the expense of the world and Good as the Self striving to be an
enhancement of the world. More esoterically, we can define Positive
Evil as that which goes against the evolutionary current, Negative
Evil as the opposition of an interior momentum not yet overcome.
This dictionary, I hope we can say, is an attempt to bridge both the
ancient and modern senses of the word at the same time.
U
Semitic root
(the heavens, light, fire, rain)
iu
Indo-Germanic root
lj�
Margi
(GOD)
ju-Piter
Latin
(the Father-God)
l�v�is
Oscan
Jao
Old Hebrew
(as in El-Shadeh-Yao, God Almighty
Jehovah
Hebrew
from IHVH, hayah, to be or ihoah, self-existent)
Johonaaeff
Navajo
(Ruler of the Day, ji = day, hence: The Sun)
Jaun
Basque
(God)
Jin(koa)
Basque
(Lord on High)
Dingirre
Sumerian
(gods)
Janus
Roman
(god)
Ju-mala
Finnish
(GOD)
jowl
Cornish
devil
(2)
dyau
Sanskrit
(heaven; sky)
diyu
Tartar
(demon)
D�w�
Javanese
(GOD)
Deok
Kafir
teuctli
Aztec
(leader; god)
taku
Sioux
(Something)
dux
Latin
(leader
Dxui
Bushman
(name of a god)
Dievs
Latvian
(GOD)
odev�
Kodagu
(master; god)
deva(s)
Sanskrit
O Devel, O Del
Gypsy
(The God)
Ziu
Old High German
(war-god)
Zeus
Greek
theos
Greek
Thoth
Egyptian
(god; Tehuti)
teotl
Aztec
(Bhagawan) thudu
Telugu
themugu
Telugu
Temayawet
Cupe�o
Metod
Beowulf
GRACE
An invention of the Xtians for resolving the dilemma of the
Elect, or those saved who did nothing to earn salvation. It is the
equivalent of Greek charisma, a gift.
GRACE
A synonym for The Holy Qabalah.
GREAT WHITE LODGE
Hierarchy of Adepts who form the inner
government of the world, guided by Secret Chiefs, according to Blavatsky.
Mather's and Crowley's Golden Dawn was supposedly the first outer
brotherhood and its Temple Masters were considered members. The
Rosicrucians were the second order and the Silver Star (A:.A:.) the third
and innermost order.
GREAT WORK, THE
In the Hermetic sciences it refers to the
hieros gamos or divine marriage. In alchemical practice, the
philosophers stone is the crown of the Great Work. Specifically, in
B.O.T.A. teachings, it is the eternal balancing of the black and white
pillars. in white magic and in general, it refers to the uniting of Self
and World, with the aim of raising the world and oneself along with it.
There is no greater task for anyone than the transformation of the hell
that is the world.
GREEK ASTROLOGICAL TERMS
The spellings are somewhat different from
what you might expect:
Kriou (Aries)
Helios (Sun)
Taurou (Taurus)
Selenes (Moon)
Didymon (Gemini)
Hermou (Mercury)
Karkinou (Cancer)
Aphrodites (Venus)
Leontos (Leo)
Areos (Mars)
Parthenou (Virgo)
Dios (Jupiter)
Zygou (Libra)
Kronou (Saturn)
Skorpiou (Scorpio)
Toxotou (Sagittarius)
Aigokerou (Capricorn)
Hydrochoou (Aquarius)
Ichthyon (Pisces)
GRIMOIRE
One of the infinite variety of medieval handbooks on
magic or collections of spells. The important thing to note is that a
grammarye, from which grimoire derives, was originally a grammar in
fact, one that actually taught the correct usage of a language. The other
word derived from grammar was glamour, the spell of witchcraft.
Indeed, the word spell itself is associated with magic, because the first
alphabets (Assyrian, Cuneiform, Egyptian, Phoenician, Hebrew, etc.) were
composed of magical letters or "glyphs", each of which had a numinous
meaning of its own. So to cast a spell was to take full advantage of the
words of the incantation, from the inside out.
GURDJIEFF, GEORGE IVANOVICH
Born 1873 or 1877, died 1949. Founder
of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. Taught that the
average man is asleep and must continually be awakened. Also, in order to
become a master of oneself, one must become a magician. His system of
octaves revealed that every activity is divided into 8 stages, like the
musical scale. We fail because we flag and wilt with the weaker notes and
do not try to come back in with the stronger succeeding notes. Views
from the Real World, which was written by his disciples, is probably
better than his own writings at explaining his teachings.