This is just a small occult glossary for the reader's knowledge. In each course, I present pages with their own glossaries.
Adept:
The word "adept" comes from Latin adeptus, which means “one who has attained”. A person who is considered to have reached a particular level of knowledge, ability, or aptitude in beliefs pertinent to a particular author or organization is known as an adept. His or her exceptional qualities make them stand out from others. All human qualities are developed in them, including intelligence and spirituality.
Through spiritual growth and personal development, anyone can become an adept.
Do not mix up adept and neophyte. A neophyte is a person who is actively exploring spirituality with no distinct direction; he is not committing to anything yet. Later, if he chooses, he will follow a specific path that leads to initiation, becoming an initiate. Later, he is an adept, more experienced, and performing magick.
Babalawô:
Priest of the Ifá oracle, man. Diminutive: Awô, the “Knower of the secrets”.
B.O.S., Book of Shadows:
Pagan terminology originating in Wicca refers to a personal diary thath collects spiritual information, practices, rituals, and spells.
Chaos Magick:
Chaos magick is a contemporary magical practice and new-age religious movement, drawing heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare. In the 1970s, it first appeared in England as a component of a larger neo-pagan and magical subculture. All occult systems are viewed by chaos magick as arbitrary symbol-systems that are only effective due to the practitioner's beliefs, and thus denies the idea of absolute truth.
Charge:
To sacramentally impart energy into an object.
Chthonic:
Usually attributed to gods; of or relating to the underworld.
Cone of Power:
In ceremonial magick, particularly in Wicca, the cone of power is a technique for increasing energy. The cone of power is visualized as a cone of energy that encompasses the circumference of the circle of Wiccans and tapers off to a point above the group. The Wiccans stand in a circle, occasionally holding hands, and concentrate on a single point above the group in the middle of the circle to create the cone.
Crossroads:
The point where two roads intersect, resulting in paths leading in four different directions. They left offerings at these "places of power" in Umbanda, Candomblé, and Kimbanda for deities like Eshús and Pombagiras.
Doppelganger:
Doppelganger is a term from German. "Doppel" and "gänger" both imply "double," "replica," or "duplicate" ("walker" or "wanderer"). A ghost that is identical to a living person; a spirit that resembles another person but is not a twin. An apparition that takes the form of a living person's double. The "double-goer" may represent your dark side or our evil double. If every particle has its own antiparticle, we can also have our own anti-self. It was referred to as "Khaibet" in ancient Egypt. Involuntary astral projection of a person is another possibility (when he is sleeping, for example, and does not realize it, then other people will see a specter of that individual).
Dream Walking:
The ability to dream lucidly or to gather information from dreams (oneiromancy). The capacity to enter another person's dream (like astral projection and telepathy combined). In the courses on Sumerian Magick and Vampyre Magick, I discuss a few rites.
Egregore:
Egregor is a "thoughtform" or "collective group mind," is an independent psychic being made up of and influencing a collection of people's thoughts. The term is derived from the Greek word egregorien, which means "awake" or "watching". Occult groups also create these entities in magickal works.
Element:
The five purest and most basic aspects of which all things in the universe are made up: fire, water, earth, air, and the fifth element being aether or spirit.
Elementals:
An elemental is a mythic being described in occult and alchemical works from the European Renaissance, most notably in Paracelsus' works from the 16th century. These elementals correspond to the four Empedoclean elements of antiquity: earth, water, air, and fire.
Energy Vampyrism:
There is also the term “psychic vampyrism” (psionics, psy vamp), but I think “energy vampyrism” is better used to describe the manipulation of energies. Another variant is Kinesism or Kinesia (which derives from the Eastern term for energy: Ki). Sometimes, the phrase "pranic vampyrism" is employed (derived from Prana, the Hindu term for this energy).
Enchant:
To cast a spell upon an item so that the item will perform some metaphysical function. Sometimes it is also used to refer to charging or blessing an item. Less often, the term is used to refer to a spell, usually beneficial, cast upon a person that will have some continuous effect.
Enochian Magick:
A system of magick that uses a purported angelic alphabet developed from the channeled works of Edward Kelly as interpreted by Dr. John Dee.
Familiar spirit:
In early modern and medieval European folklore, familiars, also known as familiar spirits, were thought to be supernatural beings that would aid witches and other cunning people in the practice of witchcraft. People who claimed to have had contact with familiar spirits said that they might appear in a variety of shapes, typically as an animal but occasionally as a human or humanoid figure, according to historical documents.
Glamour:
Any spell that aims to alter someone or something so that it is viewed differently than it actually is is known as a glamour.
Grimoire:
A grimoire (ɡrɪmˈwɑːr, grim-WAHR) often called a "book of spells" or "spellbook," is a manual of magic that usually contains instructions on how to make talismans and amulets, cast spells, charms, and use divination, as well as how to call upon or invoke supernatural beings including angels, spirits, deities, and demons. The name grimoire is most frequently thought to have come from the Old French word "grammaire," which was originally used to describe all books written in Latin.
Guhšu:
In Sumerian magick, it is the magic altar.
Heka:
Heka (/ˈhɛkə/; Ancient Egyptian: ḥkꜣ(w); Coptic: ϩⲓⲕ hik; also transliterated Hekau) was the deification of magic and medicine in ancient Egypt. The name is the Egyptian word for "magic". According to Egyptian literature (Coffin text, spell 261), Heka existed "before duality had yet come into being." The term ḥk3 was also used to refer to the practice of magical rituals. The name Heka is identical with the Egyptian word ḥk3w "magic". This hieroglyphic spelling includes the symbol for the word ka (kꜣ), the ancient Egyptian concept of the vital force. Heka is the personification of magic (the god Heka) but also means "magic power", all gods had some level of Heka. Heka also means "to speak with authority". Identical name: hekaut (words of power, mantras, magic words). Hekau (magick practitioner; also known as Setep-Sa).
Hermeticism:
Hermeticism, also called Hermetism, is a philosophy that is mostly based on what is said to be the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, a mythical Hellenistic god who is a mix of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.
Holy Guardian Angel (HGA):
According to Crowley's previous works, the HGA is the "silent self," which is comparable to the genius of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Augoeides of Iamblichus, the Atman of Hinduism, and the daimon of the ancient Greeks. It is our higher-self, in my opinion.
Irkalla:
the underworld. Sometimes, the goddess Ereshkigal was also called by that name, as she was queen of the underworld. Irkalla was known in Sumerian as Kur, Arali or Kigal, Gizal, Arali, and in Akkadian as Erṣetu.
Kimbanda:
Kimbanda is a religious concept of Afro-Brazilian origin, a line of work different from Umbanda and Candomblé known as the "left hand path". It can also be written as Quimbanda; in the African language Bantu, it means “shaman” or “healer”. The word mbanda meant "the Afterlife". Brazilian Kimbanda retains some elements of European sorcery and demonology through syncretism. The name "Kiumbanda" is sometimes used to describe black magick. Eshús and Pombagiras are the principal deities that are worshipped.
Law of Contagion:
The law of contagion is a folk belief that suggests that once two people or objects have been in contact, a magical link persists between them unless or until a formal cleansing, consecration, exorcism, or other act of banishing breaks the non-material bond. The first description of the law of contagion appeared in The Golden Bough by James George Frazer. Bonewits and Bonewits have claimed parallels in quantum physics.
Magick:
Magick with a "k", refers to the ritualization of one’s spiritual intentions. It is often spelled with a ‘k’ after the usage of Aleister Crowley, a 20th-century esotericist who wished to differentiate magick practice from stage magic. Today, the alternate spelling separates the spiritual practice from the fictional magic of fantasy novels and films.
Mesmerism:
Animal magnetism, also called mesmerism, was a theory created by the German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. He thought that all living things, including humans, animals, and plants, had an invisible natural force that he called Lebensmagnetismus.
Santa Muerte:
This powerful entity, which represents death, karma, and reincarnation, is worshiped by more than 12 million people in Mexico, Cuba, and Spain, mainly in Central America. According to reports, the cult first appeared in the state of Veracruz in the 1940s. The roots of the death cult go back centuries, to the pre-Hispanic era, among the Aztecs. There was a dual concept: lord death (Mictēcacihuātl) and lady death, his partner (Mictlāntēuctli), ruled the underworld (Mictlān). Other epithets of Santa Muerte are: hesuda, niña blanca, flaquita, la madrina, and la poderosa.
Santería:
Santeria, "La Regla de Ocha" (or the way of the saints), has its roots in the Yoruba religion and is practiced in some countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Spain, USA, and Venezuela. Due to the syncretism and mixture of practices, it is also called “mixed spiritism” (espiritismo cruzado). The practitioner is the "Santero", the saints are the Orishás (mpúngos), but sometimes related to Catholic saints due to syncretism.
Scrying:
Scrying, also known by various names such as "seeing" or "peeping", is the practice of looking into a suitable medium in the hope of detecting significant messages or visions. The objective might be personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or inspiration, but down the ages, scrying in various forms has also been a means of divination or fortune-telling. It remains popular in occult circles.
Séance:
A séance or seance (ˈseɪ.ɑːns; French: seɑ̃s) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word “séance” comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma" ("a movie session"). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean, spiritist sessions are practiced and called "mesa blanca" (white table) or "misa" (mass).
Servitor:
Within chaos magick, a servitor is a psychological complex, deliberately created by the magus for a specific purpose and operating autonomously from the magician's consciousness. A servitor is an entity "specifically created by the mage to perform a set range of tasks". Austin Osman Spare stated that psychological complexes could be deliberately created through his sigil technique, referring to sigils as "sentient symbols". According to Spare, feeding sigils with free belief incubates "obsessions", which in turn give rise to complexes. This method and conviction are not unique to chaos magick. Many other magical systems use the method of creating sentient egregores, artificial elementals, bio-emissions, or tulpas (a term used in Hinduism).
Sigil:
A sigil (ˈsɪdʒɪl) is a type of symbol used in magic. Traditionally, the term referred to a type of graphic signature of a deity or spirit. The term “sigil” derives from the Latin sigillum (pl. sigilla or sigils), which means "seal." In medieval magic, the term “sigil” was commonly used to refer to occult signs that represented various angels and demons that the practitioner might summon. In our courses, whether from Umbanda, Kimbanda, or Santa Muerte, I reveal some seals from the entities. I can say that the symbols of spirits drawn on the ground (in Kimbanda and Umbanda they are called scratched points; in Vodoo they are called vevés) are also sigils.
Umbanda:
An Afro-Brazilian religion that combines Spiritism and Christianity (syncretism between saints and Orishás). The religion is mainly practiced in Brazil and neighboring countries.
Vampyre:
Generally, in occultism, vampyre is written with a “y” to distinguish the initiated vampyre magus from the folklore vampire, just as magick is spelled with a “k” instead of magic. The difference serves to distinguish the occult mage initiated vampyre from the fictional or mythical vampire.
Visualization:
The act of imagining images and situations in one's mind. Visualization is a common tool employed in magickal operations. To visualize is to discriminate between forms of energy and then to focus and direct them towards a purpose, a creative subjective process of consciousness.
Through visualization and emotion, you equivalentely direct potential energy and information.
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