F —The sixth letter of the English alphabet, for which there is no equivalent in Hebrew. It is the double F F of the Æolians which became the Digamma for some mysterious reasons. It corresponds to the Greek phi. As a Latin numeral it denotes 40, with a dash over the letter (F) 400,000.

Faces (Kabbalistic), or, as in Hebrew, Partzupheem. The word usually refers to Areekh Anpeen or Long Face, and Zeir-Anpeen, or Short Face, and Resha Hivrah the “White Head” or Face. The Kabbala states that from the moment of their appearance (the hour of differentiation of matter) all the material for future forms was contained in the three Heads which are one, and called Atteekah Kadosha

(Holy Ancients and the Faces). It is when the Faces look toward each other, that the Holy Ancients” in three Heads, or Atteekah Kadosha, are called Areek Appayem, i.e., “Long Faces”. (See Zohar iii., 292a.) This refers to the three Higher Principles, cosmic and human.

Fafnir (Scand.). The Dragon of Wisdom.

Fahian (Chin.). A Chinese traveller and writer in the early centuries of Christianity, who wrote on Buddhism.

Fa-Hwa-King (Chin.). A Chinese work on Cosmogony.

Faizi (Arab.). Literally the “heart”. A writer on occult and mystic subjects.

Fakir (Arab.). A Mussulman ascetic in India, a Mahometan “Yogi”. The name is often applied, though erroneously. to Hindu ascetics; for strictly speaking only Mussulman ascetics are entitled to it. This loose way of calling things by general names was adopted in Isis Unveiled but is now altered.

Falk, Caїn Chenul. A Kabbalistic Jew, reputed to have worked “miracles”. Kenneth Mackenzie quotes in regard to him from the German annalist Archenoiz’ work on England (1788) :—“ There exists in London an extraordinary man who for thirty years has been celebrated in Kabbalistic records. He is named Caїn Chenul Falk. A certain Count de Rautzow, lately dead in the service of France, with the rank of Field-Marshal, certifies that he has seen this Falk in Brunswick, and that evocations of spirits took place in the presence of credible witnesses.” These “spirits” were Elementals, whom Falk brought into view by the conjurations used by every Kabbalist. His son, Johann Friedrich Falk, likewise a Jew, was also a Kabbalist of repute, and was once the head of a Kabbalistic college in London. His occupation was that of a jeweller and appraiser of diamonds, and he was a wealthy man. To this day the mystic writings and rare Kabbalistic works bequeathed by him to a trustee may be perused in a certain half-public library in London, by every genuine student of Occultism. Falk’s own writings are all still in MS., and some in cypher.

Farbauti (Scand.). A giant in the Edda; lit., “the oarsman”; the father of Loki, whose mother was the giantess Laufey (leafy isle); a genealogy which makes W. S. W. Anson remark in Asgard and the Gods that probably the oarsman or Farbauti “was the giant who saved himself from the flood in a boat, and the latter (Laufey) the island to which he rowed”—which is an additional variation of the Deluge.

Fargard (Zend.). A section or chapter of verses in the Vendidad of the Parsis.

Farvarshi (Mazd.). The same as Ferouer, or the opposite (as contrasted) double. The spiritual counterpart of the still more spiritual original. Thus, Ahriman is the Ferouer or the Farvarshi of Ormuzd— “demon est deus inversus”—Satan of God. Michael the Archangel, “he like god”, is a Ferouer of that god. A Farvarshi is the shadowy or dark side of a Deity—or its darker lining.

Ferho (Gnost.). The highest and greatest creative power with the Nazarene Gnostics.

(Codex Nazaræus.)

Fetahil (Gr.). The lower creator, in the same Codex.

First Point. Metaphysically the first point of manifestation, the germ of primeval differentiation, or the point in the infinite Circle “whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere“.

The Point is the Logos.

Fire (Living). A figure of speech to denote deity, the “One” life. A theurgic term, used later by the Rosicrucians. The symbol of the living fire is the sun, certain of whose rays develope the fire of life in a diseased body, impart the knowledge of the future to the sluggish mind, and stimulate to active function a certain psychic and generally dormant faculty in man. The meaning is very occult.

Fire-Philosophers. The name given to the Hermetists and Alchemists of the Middle Ages, and also to the Rosicrucians. The latter, the successors of the Theurgists, regarded fire as the symbol of Deity. It was the source, not only of material atoms, but the container of the spiritual and psychic Forces energizing them. Broadly analyzed, fire is a triple principle; esoterically, a septenary, as are all the rest of the Elements. As man is composed of Spirit, Soul and Body, plus a four fold aspect: so is Fire. As in the works of Robert Fludd (de Fluctibus) one of the famous Rosicrucians, Fire contains (1) a visible flame (Body); (2) an invisible, astral fire (Soul); and (3) Spirit. The four aspects are heat (life), light (mind), electricity (Kâmic, or molecular powers) and the Synthetic Essence, beyond Spirit, or the radical cause of its existence and manifestation. For the Hermetist or Rosicrucian, when a flame is extinct on the objective plane it has only passed from the seen world unto the unseen, from the knowable into the unknowable.

Fifty Gates of Wisdom (Kab.). The number is a blind, and there are really 49 gates, for Moses, than whom the Jewish world has no higher adept, reached, according to the Kabbalas, and passed only the 49th. These “gates” typify the different planes of Being or Ens. They are thus the “gates” of Life and the “gates” of understanding or degrees of occult knowledge. These 49 (or 50) gates correspond to the seven gates in the seven caves of Initiation into the Mysteries of Mithra (see Celsus and Kircher). ‘I’he division of the 50 gates into five chief gates, each including ten—is again a blind. It is in the fourth gate of these five, from which begins, ending at the tenth, the world of Planets, thus making seven, corresponding to the seven lower Sephiroth—that the key to their meaning lies hidden. They are also called the “gates of Binah” or understanding.

Flagæ(Herm.). A name given by Paracelsus to a particular kind of guardian angels or genii.

Flame (Holy). The “ Holy Flame” is the name given by the Eastern Asiatic Kabbalists (Semites) to the Anima Mundi the “world- soul” The Initiates were called the “Sons of the Holy Flame.

Fludd (Robert), generally known as Robertus de Fluctibus, the chief of the “Philosophers by Fire”. A celebrated English Hermetist of the sixteenth century, and a voluminous writer. He wrote on the essence of gold and other mystic and occult subjects.

Fluvii Transitus (Lat.). Or crossing of the River (Chebar). Cornelius Agrippa gives this alphabet. In the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, Vol. III., part 2, 1890, which work is the Report of the proceedings of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Freemasons, No. 2076, will be found copies of this alphabet, and also the curious old letters called Melachim, and the Celestial alphabet, supplied by W. Wynn Westcott, P.M. This Lodge seems to be the only one in England which really does study “the hidden mysteries of Nature and Science” in earnest.

Fohat (Tib.). A term used to represent the active (male) potency of the Sakti (female reproductive power) in nature. The essence of cosmic electricity. An occult Tibetan term for Daiviprakriti primordial light: and in the universe of manifestation the ever-present electrical energy and ceaseless destructive and formative power. Esoterically, it is the same, Fohat being the universal propelling Vital Force, at once the propeller and the resultant.

Foh-tchou (Chin.). Lit., “Buddha’s Lord”, meaning, however, simply the teacher of the doctrines of Buddha. Foh means a Guru who lives generally in a temple of Sakyamuni Buddha—the Foh-Maeyu.

Fons Yitæ (Lat.). A work of Ibn Gehirol, the Arabian Jewish philosopher of the Xlth century, who called it Me-gôr Hayyûn or the “Fountain of Life” (De Materia Universali and Fons Vitæ). The Western Kabbalists have proclaimed it a really Kabbalistic work. Several MSS.,Latin and Hebrew, of this wonderful production have been discovered by scholars in public libraries; among others one by Munk, in 1802. The Latin name of Ibn Gebirol was Avicebron, a name well-known to all Oriental scholars.

FourAnimals. The symbolical animals of the vision of Ezekiel (the Mercabah). “ With the first Christians the celebration of the Mysteries of the Faith was accompanied by the burning of seven lights, with incense, the Trishagion, and the reading of the book of the gospels, upon which was wrought, both on covers and pages, the winged man, lion, bull, and eagle” (Qabbalah, by Isaac Myer, LL.B.). To this day these animals are represented along with the four Evangelists and prefixing their respective gospels in the editions of the Greek Church. Each represents one of the four lower classes of worlds or planes, into the similitude of which each personality is cast. Thus the Eagle (associated with St. John) represents cosmic Spirit or Ether, the all-piercing Eye of the Seer; the Bull of St. Luke, the waters of Life, the all-generating element and cosmic strength ; the Lion of St. Mark, fierce energy, undaunted courage and cosmic fire; while the human Head or the Angel, which stands near St. Matthew is the synthesis of all three combined in the higher Intellect of man, and in cosmic Spirituality. All these symbols are Egyptian, Chaldean, and Indian. The Eagle, Bull and Lion-headed gods are plentiful, and all represented the same idea, whether in the Egyptian, Chaldean, Indian or Jewish religions, but beginning with the Astral body they went no higher than the cosmic Spirit or the Higher Manas—Atma-Buddhi, or Absolute Spirit and Spiritual Soul its vehicle, being incapable of being symbolised by concrete images.

Fravasham (Zend). Absolute spirit.

Freya or Frigga (Scand.). In the Edda, Frigga is the mother of the gods like Aditi in the Vedas. She is identical with the Northern Frea of the Germans, and in her lowest aspect was worshipped as the all- nourishing Mother Earth. She was seated on her golden throne, formed of webs of golden light, with three divine virgins as her handmaidens and messengers, and was occupied with spinning golden threads with which to reward good men. She is Isis and Diana at the same time, for she is also Holda, the mighty huntress, and she is Ceres-Demeter, who protects agriculture—the moon and nature.

Frost Giants or Hrimthurses (Scand.). They are the great builders, the Cyclopes and Titans of the Norsemen, and play a prominent part in the Edda. It is they who build the strong wall round Asgard (the Scandinavian Olympus) to protect it from the Jotuns, the wicked giants.

Fylfot (Scand.). A weapon of Thor, like the Swastika, or the Jaina, the four-footed cross ; generally called “Thor’s Hammer”.