0.—The fifteenth letter and fourth vowel in the English alphabet. It has no equivalent in Hebrew, whose alphabet with one exception is vowelless. As a numeral, it signified with the ancients 11; and with a dash on it 11,000. With other ancient people also, it was a very sacred letter. In the Dêvanâgari, or the characters of the gods, its significance is varied, but there is no space to give instances.

 

Oak, sacred. With the Druids the oak was a most holy tree, and so also with the ancient Greeks, if we can believe Pherecydes and his cosmogony, who tells us of the sacred oak “in whose luxuriant branches a serpent (i.e., wisdom) dwelleth, and cannot be dislodged”. Every nation had its own sacred trees, pre-eminently the Hindus.

 

Oannes. (Gr.). Musarus Oannes, the Annedotus, known in the Chaldean “legends”, transmitted through Berosus and other ancient writers, as Dag or Dagon, the “man-fish”. Oannes came to the early Babylonians as a reformer and an instructor. Appearing from the Erythræan Sea, he brought to them civilisation, letters and sciences, law, astronomy and religion, teaching them agriculture, geometry and the arts in general. There were Annedoti who came after him, five in number (our race being the fifth )—“all like Oannes inform and teaching the same”; but Musarus Oannes was the first to appear, and this he did during the reign of Ammenon, the third of the ten antediluvian Kings whose dynasty ended with Xisuthrus, the Chaldean Noah (See “Xisuthrus”). Oannes was “an animal endowed with reason whose body was that of a fish, but who had a human head under the fish’s with feet also below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish’s tail, and whose voice and language too were articulate and human” (Polyhistor and Apollodorus). This gives the key to the allegory. It points out Oannes, as a man and a “priest”, an Initiate. Layard showed long ago (See Nineveh) that the “fish’s head” was simply a head gear, the mitre worn by priests and gods, made in the form of a fish’s head, and which in a very little modified form is what we see even now on the heads of high Lamas and Romish Bishops. Osiris had such a mitre. The fish’s tail is simply the train of a long stiff mantle as depicted on some Assyrian tablets, the form being seen reproduced in the sacerdotal gold cloth garment worn during service by the modern Greek priests. This allegory of Oannes, the Annedotus, reminds us of the “Dragon” and “Snake-Kings “; the Nâgas who in Buddhist legends instruct people in wisdom on lakes and rivers, and end by becoming converts to the good Law and Arhats. The meaning is evident. The “ fish” is an old and very suggestive symbol in the Mystery-language, as is also “water”. Ea or Hea was the god of the sea and Wisdom, and the sea serpent was one of his emblems, his priests being “serpents “ or Initiates. Thus one sees why Occultism places Oannes and the other Annedoti in the group of those ancient “adepts” who were called “marine” or “water dragons”—Nâgas. Water typified their human origin (as it is a symbol of earth and matter and also of purification), in distinction to the “fire Nâgas” or the immaterial, Spiritual Beings, whether celestial Bodhisattvas or Planetary Dhyânis, also regarded as the instructors of mankind. The hidden meaning becomes clear to the Occultist, once he is told that “this being (Oannes) was accustomed to pass the day among men, teaching; and when the Sun had set, he retired again into the sea, passing the night in the deep, “for he was amphibious”, i.e., he belonged to two planes: the spiritual and the physical. For the Greek word amphibios means simply “life on two planes”, from amphi, “on both sides”, and bios, “life”. The word was often applied in antiquity to those men who, though still wearing a human form, had made themselves almost divine through knowledge, and lived as much in the spiritual supersensuous regions as on earth. Oannes is dimly reflected in Jonah, and even in John, the Precursor, both connected with Fish and Water.

 

Ob (Heb.). The astral light-—or rather, its pernicious evil currents— was personified by the Jews as a Spirit, the Spirit of Ob. With them, any one who dealt with spirits and necromancy was said to be possessed by the Spirit of Ob.

 

Obeah. Sorcerers and sorceresses of Africa and the West Indies. A sect of black magicians, snake-charmers, enchanters, &c.

 

Occult Sciences. The science of the secrets of nature—physical and psychic, mental and spiritual; called Hermetic and Esoteric Sciences. In the West, the Kabbalah may be named; in the East, mysticism, magic, and Yoga philosophy, which latter is often referred to by the Chelas in India as the seventh “Darshana” (school of philosophy), there being only six Darshanas in India known to the world of the profane. These sciences are, and have been for ages, hidden from the vulgar for the very good reason that they would never be appreciated by the selfish educated classes, nor understood by the uneducated; whilst the former might misuse them for their own profit, and thus turn the divine science into black magic. It is often brought forward as an accusation against the Esoteric philosophy and the Kabbalah that their literature is full of “a barbarous and meaningless jargon” unintelligible to the ordinary mind. But do not exact Sciences—medicine, physiology, chemistry, and the rest—do the same? Do not official Scientists equally veil their facts and discoveries with a newly coined and most barbarous Græco-Latin terminology? As justly remarked by our late brother, Kenneth Mackenzie—“To juggle thus with words, when the facts are so simple, is the art of the Scientists of the present time, in striking contrast to those of the XVIIth century, who called spades spades, and not ‘agricultural implements ‘.“ Moreover, whilst their facts would be as simple and as comprehensible if rendered in ordinary language, the facts of Occult Science are of so abstruse a nature, that in most cases no words exist in European languages to express them; in addition to which our “jargon” is a double necessity—(a) for the purpose of describing clearly these facts to him who is versed in the Occult terminology; and (b) to conceal them from the profane.

 

Occultist. One who studies the various branches of occult science. The term is used by the French Kabbalists (See Eliphas Lévi’s works). Occultism embraces the whole range of psychological, physiological, cosmical, physical, and spiritual phenomena. From the word occultus hidden or secret. It therefore applies to the study of the Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy, and all arcane sciences.

 

Od (Gr.). From odos, “passage”, or passing of that force which is developed by various minor forces or agencies such as magnets, chemical or vital action, heat, light, &c. It is also called “odic” and “odylic force”, and was regarded by Reichenbach and his followers as an independent entitative force—which it certainly is—stored in man as it is in Nature.

 

Odacon. The fifth Annedotus, or Dagon (See “Oannes”) who appeared during the reign of Euedoreschus from Pentebiblon, also “from the Erythræan Sea like the former, having the same complicated form between a fish and a man” (Apollodorus, Cory p. 30).

 

Odem or Adm (Heb.). A stone (the cornelian) on the breast-plate of the Jewish High Priest. It is of red colour and possesses a great medicinal power.

 

Odin (Scand.). The god of battles, the old German Sabbaoth, the same as the Scandinavian Wodan. He is the great hero in the Edda and one of the creators of man. Roman antiquity regarded him as one with Hermes or Mercury (Budha), and modern Orientalism (Sir W. Jones) accordingly confused him with Buddha. In the Pantheon of the Norse men, he is the “father of the gods” and divine wisdom, and as such he is of course Hermes or the creative wisdom. Odin or Wodan in creating the first man from trees—the Ask (ash) and Embla (the alder)_ endowed them with life and soul, Honir with intellect, and Lodur with form and colour.

 

Odur (Scand.). The human husband of the goddess Freya, a scion of divine ancestry in the Northern mythology.

 

Oeaihu, or Oeaihwu. The manner of pronunciation depends on the accent. This is an esoteric term for the six in one or the mystic seven. The occult name for the “seven vowelled” ever-present manifestation of the Universal Principle.

 

Ogdoad (Gr.). The tetrad or “quaternary” reflecting itself produced the ogdoad, the “eight”, according to the Marcosian Gnostics. The eight great gods were called the “sacred Ogdoad”.

 

Ogham (Celtic). A mystery language belonging to the early Celtic races, and used by the Druids. One form of this language consisted in the association of the leaves of certain trees with the letters, this was called Beth-luis-nion Ogham, and to form words and sentences the leaves were strung on a cord in the proper order. Godfrey Higgins suggests that to complete the mystification certain other leaves which meant nothing were interspersed. [w.w.w.]

 

Ogir or Hler (Scand). A chief of the giants in the Edda and the ally of the gods. The highest of the Water-gods, and the same as the Greek Okeanos.

 

Ogmius. The god of wisdom and eloquence of the Druids, hence Hermes in a sense.

 

Ogygia (Gr.). An ancient submerged island known as the isle of Calypso, and identified by some
with Atlantis. This is in a certain sense correct. But then what portion of Atlantis, since the latter
was a continent rather than an “enormous” island!

 

Oitzoe (Pers.). The invisible goddess whose voice spoke through the rocks, and whom, according to Pliny, the Magi had to consult for the election of their kings.

 

Okhal (Arab.). The “High”priest of the Druzes, an Initiator into their mysteries.

 

Okhema (Gr.). A Platonic term meaning “vehicle” or body.

 

Okuthor (Scand.). The same as Thor, the “thunder god”.

 

Olympus (Gr.). A mount in Greece, the abode of the gods according to Homer and Hesiod.

 

Om or Aum (Sk.). A mystic syllable, the most solemn of all words in India. It is “an invocation, a benediction, an affirmation and a promise and it is so sacred, as to be indeed the word at low breath of occult, primitive masonry. No one must be near when the syllable is pronounced for a purpose. This word is usually placed at the beginning of sacred Scriptures, and is prefixed to prayers. It is a compound of three letters a,u,m, which, in the popular belief, are typical of the three Vedas, also of three gods—A (Agni) V (Varuna) and M (Maruts) or Fire, Water and Air. In esoteric philosophy these are the three sacred fires, or the “triple fire”in the Universe and Man, besides many other things. Occultly, this “triple fire” represents the highest Tetraktys also, as it is typified by the Agni named Abhimânin and his transformation into his three sons, Pâvana, Pavamâna and Suchi, “who drinks up water”, i.e., destroys material desires. This monosyllable is called Udgîtta, and is sacred with both Brahmins and Buddhists.

 

Omito-Fo (Chin.). The name of Amita-Buddha, in China.

 

Omkâra (Sk.). The same as Aum or Om. It is also the name of one of the twelve lingams, that was represented by a secret and most sacred shrine at Ujjain—no longer existing, since the time of Buddhism.

 

Omoroka (Chald.). The “sea” and the woman who personifies it according to Berosus, or rather of Apollodorus. As the divine water, however, Omoroka is the reflection of Wisdom from on high.

 

Onech (Heb.). The Phœnix so named after Enoch or Phenoch. For Enoch (also Khenoch) means literally the initiator and instructor, hence the Hierophant who reveals the last mystery. The bird Phœnix is always associated with a tree, the mystical Ababel of the Koran, the Tree of Initiation or of knowledge.

 

Onnofre or Oun-nofre (Eg.). The King of the land of the Dead, the Underworld, and in this capacity the same as Osiris, “who resides in Amenti at Oun-nefer, king of eternity, great god manifested in the celestial abyss”. (A hymn of the XIXth dynasty.) (See also “Osiris”.)

 

Ophanim (Heb.). More correctly written Auphanim. The “wheels” seen by Ezekiel and by John in the Revelation—world.spheres (Secret Doctrine I., 92.) The symbol of the Cherubs or Karoubs (the Assyrian Sphinxes). As these beings are represented in the Zodiac by Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, or the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and Man, the occult meaning of these creatures being placed in company of the four Evangelists becomes evident. In the Kabbalah they are a group of beings allotted to the Sephira Chokmah, Wisdom.

 

Ophis (Gr.). The same as Chnuphis or Kneph, the Logos; the good serpent or Agathodæmon.

 

Ophiomorphos (Gr.). The same, but in its material aspect, as the Ophis-Christos. With the Gnostics the Serpent represented “Wisdom in Eternity”.

 

Ophis-Christos (Gr.). The serpent Christ of the Gnostics.

Ophiozenes (Gr.). The name of the Cypriote charmers of venomous serpents and other reptiles and animals.

 

Ophites (Gr.). A Gnostic Fraternity in Egypt, and one of the earliest sects of Gnosticism, or Gnosis (Wisdom, Knowledge), known as the “Brotherhood of the Serpent”. It flourished early in the second century, and while holding some of the principles of Valentinus had its own occult rites and symbology. A living serpent, representing the Christos-principle (i.e., the divine reincarnating Monad, not Jesus the man), was displayed in their mysteries and reverenced as a symbol of wisdom, Sophia, the type of the all-good and all-wise. The Gnostics were not a Christian sect, in the common acceptation of this term, as the Christos of pre-Christian thought and the Gnosis was not the “god-man” Christ, but the divine EGO, made one with Buddhi. Their Christos was the “Eternal Initiate”, the Pilgrim, typified by hundreds of Ophidian symbols for several thousands of years before the “ Christian” era, so- called. One can see it on the “Belzoni tomb” from Egypt, as a winged serpent with three heads (Atma-Buddhi-Manas), and four human legs, typifying its androgynous character; on the walls of the descent to the sepulchral chambers of Rameses V., it is found as a snake with vulture’s wings—the vulture and hawk being solar symbols. “The heavens are scribbled over with interminable snakes ‘ writes Herschel of the Egyptian chart of stars. “The Meissi (Messiah?) meaning the Sacred Word, was a good serpent”, writes Bonwick in his Egyptian Belief. “This serpent of goodness, with its head crowned, was mounted upon a cross and formed a sacred standard of Egypt.” The Jews borrowed it in their “brazen serpent of Moses”. It is to this “Healer” and “Saviour”, therefore, that the Ophites referred, and not to Jesus or his words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it behoves the Son of Man to be lifted up”—when explaining the meaning of their ophis. Tertullian, whether wittingly or unwittingly, mixed up the two. The four-winged serpent is the god Chnuphis. The good serpent bore the cross of life around its neck, or suspended from its mouth. The winged serpents become the Seraphim (Seraph, Saraph) of the Jews. In the 87th chapter of the Ritual
(the Book of the Dead) the human soul transformed into Bata, the omniscient serpents says :—“ I am the serpent Ba-ta, of long years, Soul of the Soul, laid out and born daily; I am the Soul that descends on the earth”, i.e., the Ego.

 

Orai (Gr.). The name of the angel-ruler of Venus, according to the Egyptian Gnostics.

 

Orcus (Gr.). The bottomless pit in the Codex of the Nazarenes.

 

Örgelmir (Scand.). Lit., “seething clay”. The same as Ymir, the giant, the unruly, turbulent, erratic being, the type of primordial matter, out of whose body, after killing him, the sons of Bör created a new earth. He is also the cause of the Deluge in the Scandinavian Lays, for he flung his body into Ginnungagap, the yawning abyss; the latter being filled with it, the blood flowed over and produced a great flood in which all the Hrimthurses, the frost giants, were drowned; one of them only the cunning Bergelmir saves himself and wife in a boat and became the father of a new race of giants. “ And there were giants on the earth in those days.”

 

Orion (Gr.). The same as Atlas, who supports the world on his shoulders.

 

Orlog (Scand.). Fate, destiny, whose agents were the three Norns, the Norse Parcæ.

 

Ormazd or Ahura Mazda (Zend). The god of the Zoroastrians or the modern Parsis. He is symbolized by the sun, as being the Light of Lights. Esoterically, he is the synthesis of his six Amshaspends or Elohim, and the creative Logos. In the Mazdean exoteric system, Ahura Mazda is the supreme god, and one with the supreme god of the Vedic age—Varuna, if we read the Vedas literally.

 

Orpheus (Gr.). Lit., the “tawny one”. Mythology makes him the son of Æager and the muse Calliope. Esoteric tradition identifies him with Arjuna, the son of Indra and the disciple of Krishna. He went round the world teaching the nations wisdom and sciences, and establishing mysteries. The very story of his losing his Eurydice and finding her in the underworld or Hades, is another point of resemblance with the story of Arjuna, who goes to Pâtàla (Hades or hell, but in reality the Antipodes or America) and finds there and marries Ulupi, the daughter of the Nâga king. This is as suggestive as the fact that he was considered dark in complexion even by the Greeks, who were never very fair-skinned themselves.

 

Orphic Mysteries or Orphica (Gr.). These followed, but differed greatly from, the mysteries of Bacchus. The system of Orpheus is one of the purest morality and of severe asceticism. The theology taught by him is again purely Indian. With him the divine Essence is inseparable from whatever is in the infinite universe, all forms being concealed from all eternity in It. At determined periods these forms are manifested from the divine Essence or manifest themselves. Thus through this law of emanation (or evolution) all things participate in this Essence, and are parts and members instinct with divine nature, which is omnipresent. All things having proceeded from, must necessarily return into it; and therefore, innumerable transmigrations or reincarnations and purifications are needed before this final consummation can take place. This is pure Vedânta philosophy. Again, the Orphic Brotherhood ate no animal food and wore white linen garments, and had many ceremonies like those of the Brahmans.

 

Oshadi Prastha (Sk.). Lit., “the place of medicinal herbs”. A mysterious city in the Himalayas mentioned even from the Vedic period. Tradition shows it as once inhabited by sages, great adepts in the healing art, who used only herbs and plants, as did the ancient Chaldees. The city is mentioned in the Kumâra Sambhava of Kalidasa.

 

Osiris. (Eg.). The greatest God of Egypt, the Son of Seb (Saturn), celestial fire, and of Neith, primordial matter and infinite space. This shows him as the self-existent and self-created god, the first manifesting deity (our third Logos), identical with Ahura Mazda and other “ First Causes”. For as Ahura Mazda is one with, or the synthesis of, the Amshaspends, so Osiris, the collective unit, when differentiated and personified, becomes Typhon, his brother, Isis and Nephtys his sisters, Horus his son and his other aspects. He was born at Mount Sinai, the Nyssa of the 0. T. (See- Exodus xvii. 15), and buried at Abydos, after being killed by Typhon at the early age of twenty-eight, according to the allegory. According to Euripides he is the same as Zeus and Dionysos or Dio-Nysos “the god of Nysa”, for Osiris is said by him to have been brought up in Nysa, in Arabia “the Happy”. Query: how much did the latter tradition influence, or have anything in common with, the statement in the Bible, that “Moses built an altar and called the name Jehovah Nissi”, or Kabbalistically—“Dio-Iao-Nyssi”? (See Isis Unveiled Vol. II. p. 165.) The four chief aspects of Osiris were—Osiris-Phtah (Light), the spiritual aspect; Osiris-Horus (Mind), the intellectual manasic aspect; Osiris-Lunus, the “ Lunar” or psychic, astral aspect; Osiris-Typhon, Daїmonic, or physical, material, therefore passional turbulent aspect. In these four aspects he symbolizes the dual Ego— the divine and the human, the cosmico-spiritual and the terrestrial.

Of the many supreme gods, this Egyptian conception is the most suggestive and the grandest, as it embraces the whole range of physical and metaphysical thought. As a solar deity he had twelve minor gods under him—the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Though his name is the “Ineffable”, his forty-two attributes bore each one of his names, and his seven dual aspects completed the forty-nine, or 7 X 7; the former symbolized by the fourteen members of his body, or twice seven. Thus the god is blended in man, and the man is deified into a god. He was addressed as Osiris-Eloh. Mr. Dunbar T. Heath speaks of a Phœnician inscription which, when read, yielded the following tumular inscription in honour of the mummy: “Blessed be Ta-Bai, daughter of Ta-Hapi, priest of Osiris-Eloh. She did nothing against anyone in anger. She spoke no falsehood against any one. Justified before Osiris, blessed be thou from before Osiris! Peace be to thee.” And then he adds the following remarks:

“The author of this inscription ought, I suppose, to be called a heathen, as justification before Osiris is the object of his religious aspirations. We find, however, that he gives to Osiris the appellation Eloh. Eloh is the name used by the Ten Tribes of Israel for the Elohim of Two Tribes. Jehovah-Eloh (Gen. iii. 21.) in the version used by Ephraim corresponds to Jehovah Elohim in that used by Judah and ourselves. This being so, the question is sure to be asked, and ought to be humbly answered—What was the meaning meant to be conveyed by the two phrases respectively, Osiris-Eloh and Jehovah-Eloh? For my part I can imagine but one answer, viz., that Osiris was the national God of Egypt, Jehovah that of Israel, and that Eloh is equivalent to Deus, Gott or Dieu”. As to his human development, he is, as the author of the Egyptian Belief has it . . . “One of the Saviours or Deliverers of Humanity . . . . As such he is born in the world. He came as a benefactor, to relieve man of trouble . . . . In his efforts to do good he encounters evil . . . and he is temporarily overcome. He is killed . . Osiris is buried. His tomb was the object of pilgrimage for thousands of years. But he did not rest in his grave. At the end of three days, or forty, he rose again and ascended to Heaven. This is the story of his Humanity” (Egypt. Belief). And Mariette Bey, speaking of the Sixth Dynasty, tells us that “the name of Osiris . . commences to be more used. The formula of Justified is met with”: and adds that “it proves that this name (of the Justified or Makheru was not given to the dead only”. But it also proves that the legend of Christ was found ready in almost all its details thousands of years before the Christian era, and that the Church fathers had no greater difficulty than to simply apply it to a new personage.

 

Ossa. (Gr.) A mount, the tomb of the giants (allegorical).

 

Otz-Chiim. (Heb.). The Tree of Life, or rather of Lives, a name given to the Ten Sephiroth when arranged in a diagram of three columns. [w.w.w.]

 

Oulam, or Oulom (Heb.). This word does not mean “eternity” or infinite duration, as translated in the texts, but simply an extended time, neither the beginning nor the end of which can be known.

 

Ouranos (Gr.). The whole expanse of Heaven called the “Waters of Space”, the Celestial Ocean, etc.
The name very likely comes from the Vedic Varuna, personified as the water god and regarded as the chief Aditya among the seven planetary deities. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Ouranos (or Uranus) is the same
as Cœlus (Heaven) the oldest of all the gods and the father of the divine Titans.