A Voltaire out of the Blue:

A Pagan Glossary

What is a Pagan? What is Witchcraft? What, or Who Is God to You? What Is Magic? Are You Satanists? What Are Your Ethics? Other Authorities A Pagan Glossary Reading List The Dragons’ Nest Back to Where You Where.

Arnouet de Voltaire said “Define your terms, you will permit me again to say, or we shall never understand one another.” The obstacle to this is that language, no matter how colorful or wordy, often falls short of the effort. Master Kung [@ 551 - 479 b.c.e.] noted that “Writing cannot express words completely. Words cannot express thoughts completely, [I Ching; p. 322].” To express the inexpressible we may employ images, sometimes verbal, to help. As effective as this is it still requires that we share a similar set of meanings for an image to understand each other. Here, I attempt to gloss over what I mean when I employ certain words. There is no attempt here to convince anyone that this is the way to use a word. As imprecise as language can be, I only wish not to be misunderstood.

Anxiety, clinical

Unpleasant, nonspecific fear or other emotive states, possibly conditioned by the past, always directed toward the future. It exists without a recognizable threat and is accompanied by sonomic discomfort.

Anxiety increases ambiguity by distorting perceptual acuteness. Conversely, increased accuracy in perception deceases anxiety.

Anxiety, Existential

Similar to (and possibly the origin of) clinical anxiety, we think existential anxiety to be related to various instincts. These anxieties are hypersensitive, mental and emotional, nonspecific awareness of challenges to our existence. Existential Psychotherapy strives to embrace these anxieties, rather than ignoring or eliminating them. This anxiety can take on any of the following flavors:

Death Anxiety:

Death Anxiety is the unidentified awareness of our impermanence. Directly related to our survival instincts, Death Anxiety is the mother of all other existential anxieties. Embracing this anxiety can help us live a fuller and more satisfying existence.

Freedom Anxiety:

More of a mental anxiety, freedom anxiety recognizes that we may actually control both our actions and our destiny. Those who embrace this anxiety are more responsible and strive for self-control and self-awareness. Growing from this is:

Isolation Anxiety:

This anxiety recognizes that no matter how many trusted allies, friends, or enemies I may have, I must face this life and death alone. At the quantum and even at the molecular level we are a part of the universe. At the holistic level, which is our whole self, we are each separate individuals, essentially isolated. Doubt that? If the doctor hits your knee, whose leg kicks out? Embracing this anxiety helps us become our own master and savior.

Meaning Anxiety:

In light of our impermanence and isolation we come to realize that, in the scope of time and space nothing we do has any real meaning. I have found the cure for this terror is to live this life for its own sake. This includes enjoying the creation of art for its own reason; helping our fellow human for its own sake. In other words, be who you are and cultivate every interest (and pursue something that is of no interest) and let life and history make of you what they will.

Archetype:

[psych] A primordial idea that rationally structures reality, human or divine psychological processes. They appear to us as symbolic images, sounds, gestures, or other stimuli.

[psych] A blueprint or model of basic human experience, based on our universally shared development, existential anxieties, and natural reproductive biology.

Atman:

A being who originated from the 5th dimension, and manifestly incarnates to reveal some truth for human evolution.

Brahman: «Sanshrit: to be great»

The cosmic power or Magic.

Christian: «Pertaining to Christ»

One who follows the teachings and examples of the Christ, whatever they believe about his historic condition, and calls him- or herself a Christian.

Christnick: «Yiddish: one who makes a big deal about being Christian»

One who never or rarely follows the teachings and examples of the Christ, whatever they believe about his historic condition: and still calls him- or herself a Christian.

For a Test of a Christian or a Christnick see Matthew 7.15-20 (Beware of false prophets), and Galatians 5.22-23 (But the fruit of the Spirit is). ˇW A R N I N G ! Christnicks, like other posers, can be dangerous, esp. when cornered. Unless the poser is going to do great damage, it is best to keep some distance.

Citizen:

Hindu (nÿ:garaka): a well to do, cultivated bourgeois male (may be applied to females in modern usage), who appreciates art, and is either merchant or civil servant living in a large city with time to spare.

Consciousness:

The immediate experience, that sentience of the mind, by means of which everything we see and feel has reality.

Cult: «Latin: cultus: worship:»

A system of religious worship, or rites and ceremonies.

An Authoritarian religious society, where the followers completely surrender their Adult status to regress into that of a child. The cult leader is a charismatic spiritualist, usually with a cynical view of society. This leader may even be classified as a “psychic parasite,” as she or he requires the energies of others to feel valuable and worthy. The followers are usually disenfranchised from family or clan, and lack the will to responsibility of adulthood, or the ability to cope with death anxieties. Cults prefer to operate in secret, for fear that the truth will set the followers free, denying the leadership of their protection.

Cynic: «Grk. Kunikos = a dog like: kuon = dog

Prophets or aesthetic Spiritualists of classical Greece and areas of her influence (such as Galilee) influential between the 5th Century bce to the 6th Century ce. Social, antinomian critics of oppressive social and legal forms. Some endured public life renunciation. Some offered thoughtful Critique via parresia in high places. Some provided high levels of literary composition espousing the cynic paradigm. The cynic valued the virtue of autarcheia (self-sufficiency).

One of a set of Greek philosophers who regarded virtue as the supreme good and despised all comphorts or refinemt.

[Modern Use] One who believes human conduct is based on self-interest.

Yshuah b‘Yoseph of Nazzereth would likely have been a Hebrew Cynic, if indeed he is a historic person.

Deism: «Grk. Pertaining to god»

The belief that god(s) and nature are undifferentiated & any differences are imagined.

Erotic Crystallization Inertia (ECI) «Anton LaVey»

The vitality of an older person who is sustained by what she or he considers an expression of “glamour,” schooled by the most sensually-appealing period in her or his life.

The Eternal One, ha-Shem:

The Hebrew conjugate, “” does not translate into English well because it is in a tense that does not exist in many linear European languages. The eternal present (human perspective) is an emphasis on a spiritual reality of cyclical and mythological events in an ever returning spiral. The Eternal One can enjoy the entire scope of time-space in one moment where our temporal nature obliges us to enjoy each event one moment after another. While some mystics may get a taste of the eternal moment, they must return to the temporal moment to share their experiences. From an English perspective “” must be translated as “I was/am/will be/am becoming,” for it means all of these things in a single thought. The verb is in an eternal tense, a thing that does not exist in English.
  I see (as best I can) the material and spiritual parts of the Universe as a single dynamic web of interrelated events. It is a tendency of the Pagan to perceive Nature as Divine. I do not mean to diminish the gods, such as Kali-ma or Hermes, whom I believe to be at least as real as a quark or even my own soul. I simply differentiate the parts from the whole, and call the whole the Eternal One.

Euhemerism: «Euhemerus, a Greek philosopher of the 3^rd century b.c.e.»

The theory that the gods were originally no more than human rulers who were later elevated to the status of gods by subsequent generations because of the benefits they bestowed on humanity, and for their heroic virtue.

Evil «O.E.: yfel»

It has been observed by more than a few Sages that we find evil when we look for good. It is sort of like holding a lantern a little closer to an object. The result would be that the object becomes clearer at the expense of everything else fading into shaded obscurity. Many an argument, no, many an evil has been committed when we hold something that is as minor as a dime too close to our eyes. Do that, and even the Sun in all her glory will be eclipsed by that dime. The children of Jhva in the Garden of Delights were told only to not eat of the fruits of the Gnosis of Good and Evil, or they would lose their innocence, if you will. (See Eden: Whose Fault is it? )

Having qualities that are harmful, disagreeable, unfortunate, bad, or of odious nature.

Any event that reminds us of our impermanence or mortality.

A being, non-being, or event that will consciously and deliberately go out of her or his way to ruin another event’s day or existence.

Hate is impatient; Hate is unkind; Hate is envious, boastful, arrogant and rude. It insists on its own way; it is irritable and resentful; it rejoices in wrongdoing, Hate rejoices not in the truth. It bears little, believes no thing, hopes no thing, endures no thing.
[Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13.4 - 7]

Existentialism,

The study of humanity’s search for meaning within our struggle to exist.

Existentialism, Transpersonal:

Transpersonal Existentialism is the study of humanity’s search for meaning within our struggle to exist within the context of the whole. This practice seeks to identify our relationship within the field of the whole.

Faith:

A trusted look into the future, based on the predictability of events as displayed in the past, though not necessarily related to the events one has placed faith into (ie, faith in a god is usually based on one’s experiences with parents and parental figures in one’s life.)

Gnosticism: «Gk: pert. to knowledge:»

Gnosticism is opposite on the philosophical pole from Literalistism. Gnosticism is the discovery of personal knowledge through one’s struggle to exist. Its expressions, vocabulary, and other means of expressing this knowledge are relative to those who use them. They would be accepted as such by others, knowing that they convey the same sort of spirit, just dressed a little differently. If a gnostic holds to a divine being, then that being is seen as immanent and accessible to any who wish to know. Rites and ceremonies are veils for truths too fragile for language, and must be discovered through epiphany.

God: «From German; Good»

A god is a being (corporeal), non-being (non-corporeal), or other process or event that inspires lesser events with conduct that we have noted for “Heroic Virtue,” and is capable of apparently supernatural activity.

Humans whose heroic virtue not only made them trusted elders of the community, the benefits they bestowed upon subsequent generations elevated them to divine status by consent of those generations.

Grimoire: «Grammar»

We have derived the name “Grimoire” from the word “Grammar.” Basically, a grammar is a description of a set of symbols and how to combine them to create well-formed sentences. A Grimoire is, appropriately enough, a description of a set of magical symbols and how to combine them properly.
Most Grimoires are descriptions of traditional European ritual Magic, which in turn is based on Judeo-Christianity. While this is not to be confused with neo-Paganism, many neo-Pagan traditions, especially Wicca, use similar rituals and techniques, although with a different (usually Celtic) vocabulary.

Knowledge, Irrational:

Knowledge that is untouched by rational forces within the intellect and whose origins may be absurd or unknown. Irrational knowledge relates to an entirely nonintellectual experience of reality, approaching experience such as it is. These experiences often arise from non-ordinary states of consciousness, such as meditation. We also know irrational knowledge as absolute knowledge, because it relates only to itself.

Knowledge, Rational:

Knowledge that we derive from the experiences we have with objects and events in our everyday environment. It belongs to the realm of the intellect whose function it is to discriminate, divide, compare, measure and categorize. In this way, we can create a world of intellectual distinctions; one of opposites which really can exist only in relation to each other, hence we also know rational knowledge as relative knowledge.

Henotheism: «Gk. One god:»

Showing loyalty and devotion to a single god while acknowledging the existence of many.
“Though all the people walk, each in the name of their gods,
we will walk in the name of ha-Shem our god, forever and ever.”
[Micah 4.5]

Literalistism: «Pert. to writings»

Literalistism is opposite on the philosophical pole from Gnosticism. Literalistism requires the acquisition of revealed knowledge through oral or/and written traditions. These traditions or practices may be divergent, conflicting, and possessive. These differing opinions may be aggressively polemic, to the point of hunting down and killing out foreign ideas, or seeking isolation for itself from those it disagrees with. If the Literalist holds to a divine being, and they are highly likely to do so, this being is seen as solely transcendent and other than creation, even if the being is everywhere. Rites and Ceremonies are as presented, and have little or no occult meaning.

Magic: «Pertaining to the Magi»

The study and teachings of both the Mogur (Shaman) and Magus (Priest).

The living force or process of nature that interpenetrates both existence and nonexistence.

The apparent ability to generate miracles.

In its uncorrupted form, Magic claims to be a practical, intellectual, highly individualistic science; working towards the end of enlarging the sphere on which the human will can work, and obtaining experimental knowledge of planes of being usually regarded as transcendental. [Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, p. 152].

Magus: «pl. Magi. Old Persian, Mogur»

Priest and scientist of the temple-states of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and by extension Europe, China, the Americas, Africa, et. al., who arbitrate between the gods and people. They study the nature of the universe, consider her quantities and qualities, relations and antagonisms, and develop theories that allow them to use their special attunement with nature to guide the forces of nature, or to guide the clan to conform to nature.

The difference between magus and mogur is the degree of organization of information and level of individual responsibility.

Masorah: «Hebrew, Traditions»

About 2200 years ago Hebrew scholars at Alexandria, Egypt set about translating Hebrew scripture and stories into Greek. The Hebrew Alephbeyt is essentially a silabary; that is, each letter bears both a consonant, some of which mutate, and a vowel, all of which mutate. In other words, any one syllable in Hebrew may carry any one of ten to twenty phonemic pairs. So, when a scholar would read from a passage, the writing would present to them a memory tool to help them remember what oral tradition expected from them. This can create a problem as some words change their meaning not by a change in spelling, nor even by a change of stress. Some words may change their meaning simply by changing one or all the vowel components of the syllable.
Fearful that the oral tradition was being forgotten, the Masorym (called such because of their efforts here) developed a system to strengthen the scholar’s memory. These include the vowel marks, taºam (stress marks that also suggest grammar and cantalation), punctuation and verse and chapter numbering. Hence, Masorym are both:

everything that is included in a printed codex or bible, and are not found in the traditional scrolls, and;

the scholars who developed this system.

Meaning:

[Psyche] The context one has placed one’s self into where one holds to a reason to exist. This meaning may be found in activities ranging from art to helping AIDS patients find hope or meaning in their own lives.

Mogur: «Old Persian»

Shaman or natural scientists who arbitrate between the gods and people. They study the nature of the universe, consider her quantities and qualities, relations and antagonisms, and develop theories that allow them to use their special attunement with nature to guide the forces of nature, or to guide the clan to conform to nature.

The difference between magus and mogur is the degree of organization of information and level of individual responsibility.

Monotheism: «Gk. One god»

Showing loyalty and devotion to a single god because she or he is the only genuine god.

Pagan: «Latin: country Dweller»

I Am Pagan!
The Earth is my sacred prayer mat,
Dance, my sacred prayer.
The sky is the vault of my cathedral,
Living trees Her columns.
My experience is my sacred writ,
As old as wind, as fresh as my last breath.

Can I believe in God? How could I?
I have been in Her embrace,
Washed by Her love, Her compassion.
Her blood flows through my soul.
I hear Her lullaby echo soft in the hills,
As I soar with Her above the abyss.

I
Am a mystery,
Experiencing xerself through consciousness,
Witnessing through the mind,
Manifest in a body,
That has a physical component.

I wonder at the
Magic of life, of love.
I have seen the very large;
I have seen the very small.
The forces of shade and light are one within me.
Truly, we are a marvel to consider.

Parataxic Distortions:

An interpersonal (or intrapersonal) situation when one person relates to another not from the realistic attributes of the other but from a personification existing chiefly in the former’s own fantasy.

Religion: «Latin: religio; to bind»

Religion is a social construction, where spirituality is a personal one. They can walk hand-in-hand and are better for doing so. A group of humans generates religion to serve the needs of the group.

A religion serves society by keeping it together, securing each other’s safety from threats foreign and domestic. A religion will network the needs and desires of society. It also provides a matrix or avenue for discovering and expressing existential and essential meaning, especially in times of high stress. What is most important, and too often forgotten, religion encourages, assists, and provides avenues of exploration and expression of personal spiritual experiences. Spirituality will seek ways to excel and be appreciated. Spirituality transcends the individual; religion transcends the group.

Scripture: «From Latin, to write »

Scripture, to me, is any attempt to rationalize and then share a personal spiritual experience. If this writing is well done it will be appreciated by a religious group and presented as a model of heroic virtue. To be effective, the script will transcend time, and harmonize with something in each reader.

Shaman [-s] (Mogur) «Tungusic, šaman»

One who has extraordinaty sensory sensitivity who can therefor intermediate between worlds.

Pre-eminently a religious phenomenon on Siberia and Central Asia, a Shaman is one who uses techniques of ecstasy to arbitrate between the gods and people, study the nature of the universe, and attune with nature to guide the forces of nature, or to guide the clan to conform to nature.

Shamanism is a technique of ecstasy.

Sorcerer: «Latin, sortiri»

Magus, Mogur, Natural Magus, Shaman, Spirit Singer (Warlock), Talamasca (Animal Mask).

One who cast lots (divination). Witchcraft, magic; enchantment; Magus; Witch.

The implementation of tools, esp. drugs or/and ritual, to get a mystical thrill, and possibly hide from our Death Anxiety. One who conjures Magic at the expense of others’ life essence.

Spells: German; spielen, story:

A spell is a story told to find a desired state of being. The story may be a short, simple poem, such as:
  Money, money come to me;
  Quickly, quickly, set me free.
Or, it may be as epic as Beowulf. Sometimes, Magic only requires that we have a different perspective. We may want love. Well, Magic may simply open our eyes to that person who is especially helpful, and likes to talk, and is readily available. And yet, we have never really noticed this person, until…. Well, this is only a small example.

Synchronicity:

The principle of meaningful coincidence.

In the words of Jung, “Philemon and other figures of my fantasies brought home to me the crucial insight that there were things in the psyche which I do not produce, but which produce themselves and have their own life.” When these forms correspond in a meaningful, yet unconnected way with events in the outer world, this is called synchronicity in psychology.

Theory

A Theory is a model of the Universe, or more regularly a small, mind size segment of the Universe. This model is designed to relate qualities and quantities, their relationships and antagonisms. A theory is developed by summarizing a preponderance of data, collected by observing nature, and by experimentation. In addition, the theory will prognosticate future observations, which in the end is the crucible that tries the theory’s validity. The scientific theory is by nature fragile, because new data may force the scientist to change the theory. If the theory refuses to adapt and evolve, the honest scientist will discard the theory in favor of the better explanation. In the end, a theory is valid only as long as someone accepts it as valid. This is because it only exists within the mind.
  A map is a model of the city. A person will not get to city hall by walking across the map. Yet the map can make getting to city hall more effective. That map may show a variety of paths to get from anywhere to city hall, and the person using it will choose one or another. If the map fails to describe any path with enough information to make that choice, or if the map is significantly flawed, it will be quickly discarded for a more effective one. A theory is not fact, no matter how accurate a story it will be about how the facts seem to relate to each other.

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