Theosophical Encyclopedia

MERCURY. The nearest known planet to the Sun. It is considered by the ancients as one of the seven sacred planets. Helena P. Blavatsky states that, as a planet, Mercury belongs to a different CHAIN of globes from that of the earth and is much older than the earth. In the early years of the Theosophical Society (TS), the book Esoteric Buddhism stated that Mercury is one of the three physical globes of the earth chain, the other being Mars. This was subsequently disputed by Blavatsky (see also MARS). Mercury is, according to The Secret Doctrine, just coming out of OBSCURATION, that is, it is just emerging from an inactive period during which there were no life activities in the planet except for the remnants, called SHISTAS, that will be the seeds of future life activity in the planet. It is considered one of the seven sacred planets. Blavatsky wrote that: “Man derives his Spiritual Soul (Buddhi) from the essence of the Mânasaputras, the Sons of Wisdom, who are the Divine Beings (or Angels) ruling and presiding over the planet Mercury” (CW XII:545).

The eighth planet of the Solar System, and the fourth largest. Although its mean distance is 4.5 billion kilometers away from the Sun, it is at times farther from the Sun than Plato due to the latter’s eccentric orbit. Neptune has rings like Saturn. Its largest moon, Triton, revolves around Neptune in the opposite direction of the planet’s rotation. Furthermore, its orbit tilts 157o to its equator, compared to less than 5o for other major satellites in the solar system. Helena P. Blavatsky wrote that Neptune does not really belong to our Solar System.

Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa (16 December 1875 – 18 June 1953), was a Sri Lankan scholar, lecturer, and writer who served as the fourth President of the Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India from 1945 to 1953. An accomplished linguist, he traveled extensively for fifty years as an international lecturer, speaking in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as Sinhalese and Tamil. He was known to his wide circle of friends as "Raja", "Brother Raja", or "CJ".

Evil sorcerers of the Atlantean period mentioned in the The Secret Doctrine and works of Charles W. Leadbeater who were destroyed by the Lords of the Dazzling Face (Adepts of White Magic) and the Lords of the Fires (Gnomes and fire elementals). They used air-vehicles called Viwans, said by Helena P. Blavatsky to be like air balloons.

Non-Being is, paradoxically, regarded in theosophy and Advaita as Absolute Being or Be-ness.

A Sanskrit term (lit. “waveless”), usually transliterated avīci, referring to a state of the greatest isolation, perhaps the conscious equivalent of absolute zero, and attained after physical death by a person who has been unrelentingly selfish and devoted to inflicting injury on others, therefore is a state devoid of spirituality, the result of a life of absolute evil. In Buddhist literature, it is the lowest Hell, immediately below one called Nirarbuda (“excessively cold”).

Refers to those who in their occult practices concern themselves almost entirely with the material forces in Nature. The term is often applied to the so-called “Black Magicians” or “Sorcerers.”