R .—The eighteenth letter of the
alphabet; “the canine”, as its sound reminds one of a snarl. In the Hebrew
alphabet it is the twentieth, and its numeral is 200. It is equivalent as
Resh to the divine name Rahim (clemency); and its symbols are, a
sphere, a head, or a circle.
Ra (Eg.). The divine
Universal Soul in its manifested aspect—the ever-burning light; also the
personified Sun.
Rabbis (Heb.). Originally
teachers of the Secret Mysteries, the Qabbalah; later, every Levite of
the priestly caste became a teacher and a Rabbin. (See the series of Kabbalistic
Rabbis by w.w.w.)
1 Rabbi Abulafia of Saragossa born in 1240, formed a school
of Kabbalah named after him; his chief works were The Seven Paths of the Law
and The Epistle to Rabbi Solomon.
2 Rabbi Akiba. Author of a famous Kabbalistic
work, the “Alphabet of R.A.”, which treats every letter as a symbol of an idea
and an emblem of some sentiment; the Book of Enoch was originally a
portion of this work, which appeared at the close of the eighth century. It was
not purely a Kabbalistic treatise.
3 Rabbi Azariel ben Menachem
(A.D. 1160). The author of the
Commentary on the Ten
Sephiroth, which is the oldest purely
Kabbalistic work extant, setting aside the Sepher Yetzirah, which
although older, is not concerned with the Kabbalistic Sephiroth. He was the
pupil of Isaac the Blind, who is the reputed father of the European Kabbalah,
and he was the teacher of the equally famous R. Moses Nachmanides.
4 Rabbi Moses
Botarel (1480).
Author of a famous commentary on the Sepher Yetzirah; he taught that by
ascetic life and the use of invocations, a man’s dreams might be made
prophetic.
5 Rabbi Chajim Vital
(1600) ( The great exponent of the
Kabbalah as taught R. Isaac Loria : author of one of the most famous works,
Otz Chiim, or Tree of Life; from this Knorr von Rosenroth has
taken the Book on the Rashith ha Gilgalim, revolutions of souls, or
scheme of reincarnations.
6 Rabbi Ibn
Gebirol. A
famous Hebrew Rabbi, author of the hymn Kether Malchuth, or Royal Diadem,
which appeared about 1050; it is a beautiful poem, embodying the cosmic
doctrines of Aristotle, and it even now forms part of the Jewish
special service for the evening preceding the great annual Day of Atonement (See
Ginsburg and Sachs on the Religious Poetry of the Spanish Jews). This
author is also known as Avicebron.
7 Rabbi Gikatilla. A distinguished Kabbalist who
flourished about 1300 : he wrote the famous books, The Garden of Nuts, The Gate to the
Vowel Points, The mystery of the shining Metal, and The Gates of
Righteousness. He laid especial stress on the use of Gematria, Notaricon and
Temura.
8 Rabbi Isaac the Blind
of Posquiero.
The first who publicly taught in Europe, about A.D. 1200, the Theosophic doctrines
of the Kabbalah.
9 Rabbi Loria (also written Luria, and
also named Ari from his initials). Founded a school of the
Kabbalah circa 1560. He did not write any works, but his disciples
treasured up his teachings, and R. Chajim Vital published them.
10 Rabbi Moses Cordovero
(A.D.1550). The author of several
Kabbalistic works of a wide reputation, viz., A Sweet Light, The Book
of Retirement, and The Garden of Pomegranates; this latter can be
read in Latin in Knorr von Rosenroth’s Kabbalah Denudata, entitled
Tractatus de Animo, ex libro Pardes Rimmonim. Cordovero is notable
for an adherence to the strictly metaphysical part, ignoring the wonder-working
branch which Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi practised, and almost perished in the pursuit
of.
11 Rabbi Moses de Leon
(circa 1290 A,D.). The editor and first publisher
of the Zohar, or “Splendour”, the most famous of all the Kabbalistic
volumes, and almost the only one of which any large part has been translated
into English. This Zohar is asserted to be in the main the production of
the still more famous Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, who lived in the reign of the
Emperor Titus.
12 Rabbi Moses
Maimonides
(died 1304). A famous Hebrew Rabbi and author, who condemned the use of charms
and amulets, and objected to the Kabbalistic use of the divine names.
13 Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi
(born 1641). A
very famous Kabbalist, who passing beyond the dogma became of great reputation
as a thaumaturgist, working wonders by the divine names. Later in life he
claimed Messiahship and fell into the hands of the Sultan Mohammed IV. of
Turkey, and would
have been murdered, but saved his life by adopting the Mohammedan religion. (See
Jost on Judaism and its Sects.)
14 Rabbi Simon ben Jochai
(circa
A.D. 70-80). It is round this name
that cluster the mystery and poetry of the origin of the Kabbalah as a
gift of the deity to mankind. Tradition has it that the Kabbalah was
a divine theosophy first taught by
God to a company of angels, and that some glimpses of its perfection were
conferred upon Adam; that the wisdom passed from him unto Noah; thence to
Abraham, from whom the Egyptians of his era learned a portion of the doctrine.
Moses derived a partial initiation from the land of his birth, and this was
perfected by direct communications with the deity. From Moses it passed to the
seventy elders of the Jewish nation, and from them the theosophic scheme was
handed from generation to generation; David and Solomon especially became
masters of this concealed doctrine. No attempt, the legends tell us, was made to
commit the sacred knowledge to writing until the time of the destruction of the
second Temple by
Titus, when Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, escaping from the besieged Jerusalem, concealed himself in a cave,
where he remained for twelve years. Here he, a Kabbalist already, was further
instructed by the prophet Elias. Here Simon taught his disciples, and his chief
pupils, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Abba, committed to writing those teachings which
in later ages became known as the Zohar, and were certainly published
afresh in Spain by Rabbi Moses de Leon, about 1280. A fierce contest has raged
for centuries between the learned Rabbis of Europe around the origin of the
legend, and it seems quite hopeless to expect ever to arrive at an accurate
decision as to what portion of the Zohar, if any, is as old as Simon ben Jochai.
(See “Zohar”.) [w.w.w.]
âdhâ (Sk.). The shepherdess among the
Gopis (shepherdesses) of Krishna, who was the wife of the
god.
Râga (Sk). One of the five
Kleshas (afflictions) in Patânjali’s Yoga philosophy. In Sânkhya
Kârikâ, it is the “obstruction” called love and desire in the physical or
terrestrial sense. The five Kleshas are: Avidyâ, or ignorance;
Asmitâ, selfishness, or “I-am-ness” ; Râga, love; Dwesha,
hatred; and Abhinivesa, dread of suffering.
Ragnarök (Scand.). A kind of
metaphysical entity called the “Destroyer” and the “Twilight of the Gods”, the
two-thirds of whom are destroyed at the “Last Battle” in the Edda.
Ragnarök lies in chains on the ledge of a rock so long as there are some good
men in the world; but when all laws are broken and all virtue and good vanish
from it, then Ragnarok will he unbound and allowed to bring every imaginable
evil and disaster on the doomed world.
Ragon, J. M. A French Mason, a
distinguished writer and great symbologist, who tried to bring Masonry back to
its pristine purity. He was born at Bruges in 1789, was received when
quite a boy into the Lodge and Chapter of the “Vrais Amis”, and upon removing to
Paris founded the
Society of the Trinosophes. it is rumoured that he was the possessor of a number
of papers given to him by the famous Count de St. Germain, from which he had
all his remarkable knowledge upon early Masonry. He died at Paris in 1866, leaving a
quantity of books written by himself and masses of MSS., which were bequeathed
by him to the “Grand Orient”. Of the mass of his published works very few are
obtainable, while others have entirely disappeared. This is due to mysterious
persons (Jesuits, it is believed) who hastened to buy up every edition they
could find after his death. In short, his works are now extremely
rare.
Rahasya (Sk.). A name of the Upanishads.
Lit., secret essence of knowledge.
Rahat. The same as “Arhat”; the adept
who becomes entirely free from any desires on this plane, by acquiring divine
knowledge and powers.
Ra’hmin Seth (Heb.). According to the
Kabala (or Qabbalah), the “soul-sparks”, contained in Adam
(Kadmon), went into three sources, the heads of which were his three sons. Thus,
while the “soul spark” (or Ego) called Chesed went into Habel, and
Geboor-ah into Qai-yin (Cain)—Ra’hmin went into Seth, and these three sons were
divided into seventy human species, called “the principal roots of the human
race”.
Râhu (Sk.). A Daitya (demon) whose
lower parts were like a dragon’s tail. He made himself immortal by robbing the
gods of some Amrita— the elixir of divine life—for which they were
churning the ocean of milk. Unable to deprive him of his immortality, Vishnu
exiled him from the earth and made of him the constellation Draco, his head
being called Râhu and his tail Ketu—astronomically, the ascending and descending
nodes. With the latter appendage he has ever since waged a destructive war on
the denouncers of his robbery, the sun and the moon, and (during the eclipses)
is said to swallow them. Of course the fable has a mystic and occult
meaning.
Rahula (Sk.). The name of Gautama Buddha’s
son.
Raibhyas (Sk.). A class of gods in the 5th
Manvantara.
Raivata Manvantara
(Sk.). The life-cycle presided over
by Raivata Manu. As he is the fifth of the fourteen Manus (in Esotercism,
Dhyan Chohans), there being seven root-Manus and seven
seed-Manus for the seven Rounds of our terrestrial chain of globes (See
Esot. Buddhism by A. P. Sinnett, and the Secret Doctrine,
Vol.1., “Brahminical Chronology”), Raivata presided over the third Round and was
its root-Manu.
Râjâ (Sk.). A Prince or King in
India.
Râjagriha (Sk.). A city in Magadha famous for
its conversion to Buddhism in the days of the Buddhist kings. It was their
residence from Bimbisara to Asoka, and was the seat of the first Synod, or
Buddhist Council, held 510 B.C..
Râjârshis (Sk.). The King-Rishis or
King-Adepts, one of the three classes of Rishis in India; the same as the
King-Hierophants of ancient Egypt.
Râjas (Sk.). The “quality of foulness”
(i.e., differentiation), and activity in the Purânas. One of the
three Gunas or divisions in the correlations of matter and nature,
representing form and change.
Rajasâs (Sk.). The elder Agnishwattas
— the Fire-Pitris, “fire” standing as a symbol of enlightenment and
intellect.
Râja-Yoga (Sk.). The true system of developing
psychic and spiritual powers and union with one’s Higher Self—or the
Supreme Spirit, as the profane express it. The exercise, regulation and
concentration of thought. Râja-Yoga is opposed to Hatha-Yoga, the physical or
psycho physiological training in asceticism.
Râkâ (Sk.). The day of the full moon: a
day for occult practices.
Râkshâ (Sk.). An amulet prepared during the
full or new moon.
Râkshasas (Sk.). Lit., “raw eaters”,
and in the popular superstition evil spirits, demons. Esoterically, however,
they are the Gibborim (giants) of the Bible, the Fourth Race or the
Atlanteans.
(See Secret Doctrine, II., 165.)
Râkshasi-Bhâshâ (Sk.). Lit., the language of
the Râkshasas. In reality, the speech of the Atlanteans, our gigantic
forefathers of the fourth Root-race.
Ram Mohum Roy (Sk.). The well-known Indian
reformer who came to England in 1833 and died
there.
Râma (Sk.). The seventh avatar or
incarnation of Vishnu; the eldest son of King Dasaratha, of the Solar Race. His
full name is Râma-Chandra, and he is the hero of the Râmâyana. He married
Sîta, who was the female avatar of Lakshmi, Vishnu’s wife, and was
carried away by Râvana the Demon-King of Lanka, which act led to the famous
war.
Râmâyana (Sk.). The famous epic poem collated
with the Mahâbhârata. It looks as if this poem was either the original of
the Iliad or vice versa, except that in Râmâyana the allies
of Râma are monkeys, led by Hanuman, and monster birds and other animals, all of
whom fight against the Râkshasas, or demons and giants of
Lankâ.
Râsa (Sk.). The mystery-dance performed
by Krishna and his
Gopis, the shepherdesses, represented in a yearly festival to this day,
especially in Râjastan. Astronomically it is Krishna—the Sun—around whom
circle the planets and the signs of the Zodiac symbolised by the Gopis.
The same as the “circle-dance” of the Amazons around the priapic image, and the
dance of the daughters of Shiloh (Judges xxi.), and
that of King David around the ark. (See
Isis Unveiled, II., pp. 45, 331 and 332.)
Râshi (Sk.). An astrological division, the
sixth, relating to Kanya (Virgo) the sixth sign in the Zodiac.
Rashi-Chakra (Sk.), The
Zodiac.
Rasit (Heb.).
Wisdom.
Rasollâsâ (Sk.). The first of the eight
physical perfections, or Siddhis (phenomena), of the Hatha Yogis.
Rasollâsâ is the prompt evolution at will of the juices of the body
independently of any nutriment from without.
Rasshoo (Eg.). The solar fires
formed in and out of the primordial “waters”, or substance, of Space.
Ratnâvabhâsa Kalpa
(Sk.). The age in which all sexual
difference will have ceased to exist, and birth will take place in the
Anupâdaka mode, as in the second and third Root-races. Esoteric
philosophy teaches that it will take place at the end of the sixth and during
the seventh and last Root-race in this Round.
Râtri (Sk.). Night; the body Brahmâ
assumed for purposes of creating the Râkshasas or alleged
giant-demons.
Raumasa (Sk.). A class of devas (gods) said
to have originated from the pores of Verabhadra’s skin. An allusion to the
pre-Adamic race called the “sweat-born”. (Secret Doctrine, Vol.
II.)
Ravail. The true name of the Founder
of modern Spiritism in France, who is better known
under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec.
Râvana (Sk.). The King-Demon (the
Râkshasas), the Sovereign of Lankâ (Ceylon), who carried away Sîta, Râma’s wife,
which led to the great war described in the Râmâyana.
Ravi (Sk.). A name of the
Sun.
Rechaka (Sk.). A practice in Hatha Yoga,
during the performance of Prânâyâma or the regulation of breath : namely, that
of opening one nostril and emitting breath therefrom, and keeping the other
closed; one of the three operations respectively called Pûraka, Kumbhaka and
Rechaka—operations very pernicious to health.
Red Colour. This has always been associated
with male characteristics, especially by the Etruscans and Hindoos. In Hebrew it
is Adam, the same as the word for “earth” and “the first man”. It seems that
nearly all myths represent the first perfect man as white. The same word without
the initial A is Dam or Dem, which means Blood, also of red colour.
[w.w.w.]
The colour of the fourth
Principle in man—Kâma, the seat of desires is represented red.
Reincarnation. The doctrine of rebirth,
believed in by Jesus and the Apostles, as by all men in those days, but denied
now by the Christians. All the Egyptian converts to Christianity, Church Fathers
and others, believed in this doctrine, as shown by the writings of several. In
the still existing symbols, the human-headed bird flying towards a mummy, a
body, or “the soul uniting itself with its sahou (glorified body of the
Ego, and also the kâmalokic shell) proves this belief. “The song of the
Resurrection” chanted by Isis to recall her dead husband
to life, might be translated “Song of Rebirth”, as Osiris is collective
Humanity. “Oh! Osiris [here follows the name of the Osirified mummy, or the
departed], rise again in holy earth (matter), august mummy in the coffin, under
thy corporeal substances”, was the funeral prayer of the priest over the
deceased. “Resurrection” with the Egyptians never meant the resurrection of the
mutilated mummy, but of the Soul that informed it, the Ego in a new body.
The putting on of flesh periodically by the Soul or the Ego, was a universal
belief; nor can anything be more consonant with justice and Karmic law. (See
“Pre-existence”.)
Rekh-get-Amen (Eg.). The name of the
priests, hierophants, and teachers of Magic, who, according to Lenormant,
Maspero, the Champollions, etc., etc., “could levitate, walk the air, live under
water, sustain great pressure, harmlessly suffer mutilation, read the past,
foretell the future, make themselves invisible, and cure diseases” (Bonwick,
Religion of Magic). And the same author adds: “Admission to the mysteries
did not confer magical powers. These depended upon two things: the possession of
innate capacities, and the knowledge of certain formulæ employed under suitable
circumstances”. Just the same as it is now.
Rephaim (Heb.). Spectres,
phantoms. (Secret Doctrine, II., 279.)
Resha-havurah (Heb., Kab.). Lit., the
“White Head”, from which flows the fiery fluid of life and intelligence in three
hundred and seventy streams, in all the directions of the Universe. The “White
Head” is the first Sephira, the Crown, or first active light.
Reuchlin, John. Nicknamed the
“Father of the Reformation”; the friend of Pico di Mirandola, the teacher and
instructor of Erasmus, of Luther and Melancthon. He was a great Kabbalist and
Occultist.
Rig Veda (Sk.). The first and most important
of the four Vedas. Fabled to have been “created” from the Eastern mouth
of Brahmâ; recorded in Occultism as having been delivered by great sages on Lake
Man(a)saravara beyond the Himalayas, dozens of thousands of years
ago.
Rik (Sk.). A verse of
Rig-Veda.
Riksha (Sk.). Each of the twenty-seven
constellations forming the Zodiac. Any fixed star, or constellation of
stars.
Rimmon (Heb.). A Pomegranate,
the type of abundant fertility; occurs in the Old Testament; it figures in
Syrian temples and was deified there, as an emblem of the celestial prolific
mother of all; also a type of the full womb. [w.w.w.]
Rings, Magic. These existed as talismans in
every folk-lore. In Scandinavia such rings are
always connected with the elves and dwarfs who were alleged to be the possessors
of talismans and who gave them occasionally to human beings whom they wished to
protect. In the words of the chronicler: “These magic rings brought good luck to
the owner so long as they were carefully preserved ; but their loss was attended
with terrible misfortunes and unspeakable misery”.
Rings and Rounds. Terms employed by Theosophists
in explanation of Eastern cosmogony. They are used to denote the various
evolutionary cycles in the Elemental, Mineral, &c., Kingdoms, through which
the Monad passes on any one globe, the term Round being used only to denote the
cyclic passage of the Monad round the complete chain of seven globes. Generally
speaking, Theosophists use the term ring as a synonym of cycles, whether cosmic,
geological, metaphysical or any other.
Riphæus (Gr.). In mythology a
mountain chain upon which slept the frozen-hearted god of snows and hurricanes.
In Esoteric philosophy a real prehistoric continent which from a tropical ever
sunlit land has now become a desolate region beyond the Arctic Circle.
Rishabha (Sk.). A sage supposed to have been
the first teacher of the Jain doctrines in India.
Rishabham (Sk). The Zodiacal sign
Taurus.
Rishi-Prajâpati (Sk.). Lit., “revealers”,
holy sages in the religious history of Âryavarta. Esoterically the highest of
them are the Hierarchies of “Builders” and Architects of the Universe and of
living things on earth; they are generally called Dhyan Chohans, Devas and
gods.
Rishis (Sk.). Adepts; the inspired ones. In
Vedic literature the term is employed to denote those persons through whom the
various Mantras were revealed.
Ri-thlen. Lit., “snake-keeping”.
It is a terrible kind of sorcery practised at Cherrapoonjee in the Khasi-Hills.
The former is the ancient capital of the latter. As the legend tells us : ages
ago a thlen (serpent-dragon) which inhabited a cavern and devoured men
and cattle was put to death by a local St. George, and cut to pieces, every
piece being sent out to a different district to be burnt. But the piece
received by the Khasis was preserved by
them and became a kind of household god, and their descendants developed into
Ri-thlens or “snake keepers”, for the piece they preserved grew into a
dragon (thlen) and ever since has obsessed certain Brahmin families of
that district. To acquire the good grace of their thlen and save their
own lives, these “keepers” have often to commit murders of women and children,
from whose bodies they cut out the toe and finger nails, which they bring to
their thlen, and thus indulge in a number of black magic practices
connected with sorcery and necromancy.
Roger Bacon. A very famous Franciscan monk
who lived in England in the thirteenth
century. He was an Alchemist who firmly believed in the existence of the
Philosopher’s Stone, and was a great mechanician, chemist, physicist and
astrologer. In his treatise on the Admirable Force of Art and Nature, he
gives hints about gunpowder and predicts the use of steam as a propelling power,
describing besides the hydraulic press, the diving-bell and the kaleidoscope. He
also made a famous brazen head fitted with an acoustic apparatus which gave out
oracles.
Ro and Ru (Eg.). The gate or outlet, the spot
in the heavens whence proceeded or was born primeval light; synonymous with
“cosmic womb”.
Rohinilâ (Sk.). The ancient name of a
monastery visited by Buddha Sâkyamuni, now called Roynallah, near Balgada, in
Eastern Behar.
Rohit (Sk.). A female deer, a hind; the
form assumed by Vâch (the female Logos and female aspect of Brahmâ who created
her out of one half of his body) to escape the amorous pursuits of her “father”,
who transformed himself for that purpose into a buck or red deer (the colour of Brahmâ
being red).
Rohitaka Stupa (Sk.). The “red stupa”, or dagoba,
built by King Asoka, and on which Maitribala-râjâ fed starving Yakshas with his
blood. The Yakshas are inoffensive demons (Elementaries) called pynya-janas
or “good people”.
Rosicrucians (Mys.). The name was
first given to the disciples of a learned Adept named Christian Rosenkreuz, who
flourished in Germany, circa 1460. He founded
an Order of mystical students whose early history is to be found in the German
work, Fama Fraternitatis (1614), which has been published in several
languages. The members of the Order maintained their secrecy, but traces of them
have been found in various places every half century since these dates. The
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a Masonic Order, which has adopted
membership in the “outer”; the Chabrath Zereh Aur Bokher, or Order of the G. D.,
which has a very complete scheme of initiation into the Kabbalah and the Higher
Magic of the Western or Hermetic type, and admits both sexes, is a direct descendant
from mediæval sodalities of Rosicrucians, themselves descended from the Egyptian
Mysteries. [w.w.w.]
Rostan. Book of the Mysteries of
Rostan; an occult work in manuscript.
Rowhanee (Eg.) or Er-Roohanee. is
the Magic of modern Egypt, supposed to proceed from Angels and Spirits, that is
Genii, and by the use of the mystery names of Allah; they distinguish two
forms—Ilwee, that is the Higher or White Magic; and Suflee and Sheytanee, the
Lower or Black Demoniac Magic. There is also Es-Seemuja, which is deception or
conjuring. Opinions differ as to the importance of a branch of Magic called Darb
el Mendel, or as Barker calls it in English, the Mendal: by this is meant a form
of artificial clairvoyance, exhibited by a young boy before puberty, or a
virgin, who, as the result of self-fascination by gazing on a pool of ink in the
hand, with coincident use of incense and incantation, sees certain scenes of
real life passing over its surface. Many Eastern travellers have narrated
instances, as E. W. Lane in his Modern Egyptians and his Thousand and
One Nights, and E. B. Barker; the incidents have been introduced also into
many works of fiction, such as Marryat’s Phantom Ship, and a similar idea
is interwoven with the story of Rose Mary and the Beryl stone, a poem by
Rossetti. For a superficial attempt at explanation, see the Quarterly
Review, No.117. [w.w.w.]
Ruach (Heb.). Air, also
Spirit; the Spirit, one of the “human principles” (Buddhi-Manas).
Ruach Elohim (Heb.). The Spirit of the
gods; corresponds to the Holy Ghost of the Christians. Also the wind, breath and
rushing water. [w.w.w.]
Rudra (Sk.). A title of Siva,
the Destroyer.
Rudras (Sk.). The mighty ones;
the lords of the three upper worlds. One of the classes of the “fallen” or
incarnating spirits; they are all born of Brahmâ.
Runes (Scand.). The Runic
language and characters are the mystery or sacerdotal tongue and alphabet of the
ancient Scandinavians. Runes are derived from the word rûna
(secret). Therefore both language and character could neither be understood
nor interpreted without having the key to it. Hence while the written
runes consisting of sixteen letters are known, the ancient ones composed
of marks and signs are indecipherable. They are called the magic characters. “It
is clear”, says E. W. Anson, an authority on the folk-lore of the Norsemen,
“that the runes were from various causes regarded even in Germany proper as full
of mystery and endowed with supernatural power”. They are said to have been
invented by Odin.
Rûpa (Sk.). Body; any form,
applied even to the forms of the gods, which are subjective to us.
Ruta (Sk.). The name of one of
the last islands of Atlantis, which perished ages before Poseidonis, the
“Atlantis” of Plato.
Rutas (Sk.). An ancient people that
inhabited the above island or continent in the Pacific Ocean.
