|
- G - |
| Gabriel |
In Jewish and Christian sources, an archangel, best known in
Christianity for the announcement to Mary that she was to bear
Jesus. Gabriel (Arab. Jibril)
is the angel who conveys God's messages to humans, especially
prophets. The Qur'an (26:193) calls him "the trustworthy spirit" for
being a faithful messenger. The Qur'an was brought down by him.
Islamic tradition represents Jibril as having appeared in human form
and read to the Prophet Muhammad from of spiritual book of
scripture, because Muhammad could not read. Muhammad repeated what
Gabriel read to him. Gabriel also guided Muhammad during the
prophet's journey through the heavens. |
|
Gaia |
(Greek - Earth) The goddess of the
earth. It also refers to a scientific hypothesis formulated by
James Lovelock whereby all living matter on the earth is believed to
be a single living organism. In such a scheme, humanity is
considered the nervous system of the living earth. |
|
Gajakeshariyoga |
In Vedic astrology, when the Moon
is in an angular position (Kendra) or 1,4,7,10 signs from Jupiter.
Good aspect for wealth and power based on strength and other factors
in the chart |
| Ganapati |
Hindu god of luck and wisdom |
|
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand |
(1869-1948)Best known by his title, Mahatma
(Skt., "great soul"), social reformer and leader of India's
nationalist movement. Gandhi advocated a chaste, modern Hinduism
that rejected priests, caste, and deities and focused on Truth (Skt. satya)
as God. Gandhi's idea of self-sacrifice and asceticism (tapasya)
was based on the Bhagavad
Gita. With
nonviolence (ahimsa) as his ideal, Gandhi developed the
technique of satyagraha as
a virtuous form of conflict resolution and
political engagemen |
| Ganesha |
The elephant-headed deity, son of Shiva and Parvati, worshiped
since the medieval period in Hinduism as the remover of obstacles
and bringer of success. His mythology and festival were effectively
utilized during the British period to resist colonial authority in
the name of a revitalized Hindu tradition. |
|
Ganga, Ganges |
A holy river of India. The
principal river given this name originates in the Himalayas, flows
past Hardvar, Prayag (Allahabad), Varanasi (Banaras), and Gaya, and
empties into the Bay of Bengal at Gangasagar. This Ganga is said to
have come from the feet of the Hindu god Vishnu and to have landed
first on the matted hair of the god Shiva, where it aroused the
jealousy of Shiva's wife. It is also called Bhagirathi and Jahnavi.
Other Gangas include a Ganga in the sky (Akashaganga, the Milky
Way), a Ganga in the underworld (Patalaganga), and numerous replicas
of the Ganga on earth. |
|
Gardner, Gerald B |
(1884-1964)
An amateur English anthropologist
and folklorist whom many consider the person most responsible for
the revival of witchcraft as a Neo-Pagan religion. After his
retirement in 1936, Gardner moved to the New Forest area of England,
where he became involved in an occult society, The Fellowship of
Crotona. There, he said, he met a more secret group that claimed to
be hereditary witches and after the last witchcraft acts were
repealed in Britain in 1951, Gardner founded his own coven.
Gardnerian Wicca, one of the most important traditions of Neo-Pagan
Witchcraft, which many modern Wicca groups have unknowingly
assimilated, includes the Goddess as the preeminent deity, the
circle as a place to contain magical energy, ritual work done in
small intimate groups, and the idea that the priestess of the coven
becomes the Goddess through a ceremony known as "drawing down the
moon." |
|
Gardnerian Tradition |
The witchcraft tradition based on
the teachings of Gerald Gardner, who established Wicca in 1938 |
|
Garvey, Marcus M |
(1887-1940) Founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in
Jamaica in 1914. A black Jamaican, Garvey migrated to the United
States in 1916. His Back to Africa program promoted black pride and
capitalism. Garvey's religious teachings anticipated global
unification of people of African heritage under a black God and a
Christian-based black theology. |
| Gathas |
(Avestan,
"songs") Seventeen hymns in Yasna (a
section of the Zoroastrian scriptures) ascribed to Zoroaster, the
holiest words in the tradition. |
| Gautama |
The family name of the Buddha. There is no certainty about the
century in which the historical Gautama lived. Buddhists in various
parts of the world date the life of the Buddha to either 624 to 544
BC, 448 to 368 BC, or 566 to 486 BC According to Buddhist
biographies, Gautama was born the son of a king in Lumbini, now in
Nepal near the modern Indian border. He was raised in luxury, but
left home at age twenty-nine in search of "the Deathless." He spent
six years after this "Great Renunciation" following the spiritual
practices of other ascetic teachers and then experimenting on his
own. At the age of thirty-five he attained enlightenment,
rediscovering Truth (Dharma) and thus becoming worthy of the epithet
"Buddha," or "Awakened One." Out of compassion, he spent the next
forty-five years teaching what he had rediscovered, and each of the
different Buddhist traditions traces its doctrine to his career. He
died at the age of eighty. |
|
Gawain, Shakti |
New Age author who
popularized creative visualization (meditation) techniques |
|
Gehenna |
(Hebrew - Valley of Hinnon, just
outside of Jerusalem) A dump where rubbish, including the bodies of
criminals and the homeless, was burned. It was used as symbol of
the outcome of a lawless life. It is translated as "hell" in the
English NT |
|
|
|
Geller, Uri:
20th century mentalist who popularized "spoon bending"
Gematria: (Hebrew,
from Greek. geimetria, "measure"
In Judaism, a
system of the practice of cabbala.or interpreting or decoding
scripture according to either (1) the numerical value of the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet, hence of words or phrases, or (2) various
systems that substitute Hebrew letters for one another. It is
particularly useful in esoteric or mystical exegesis. It shows the
numerical value of Hebrew words by summing up the values of the
letters composing them; and further, it shows by this means,
analogies between words and phrases. Also, a method (arithmetical)
for extracting the mystical meaning from letters, words and
sentences.
Gentile::
Those who
are not Jews. Mormon's refer to those who are not Mormonas as
gentiles.
Genuflection: :
The custom of briefly kneeling onto
the right knee before the altar as a sign of respect in a Roman
Catholic church. In the Eastern church, the custom is a deep bow..
Geomancy: (Greek.,
"earth divination")
A widespread system of divination either by means of designs
drawn randomly on the ground with sand, pollen, or other similar
powders or by detecting, through calculations and signs, the hidden
forces present in the landscape. Chinese geomancy (feng-shui, lit.,
"wind and water") is an ancient system of site analysis to determine
its suitability for grave, home, or temple. Diviners often used a
special compass (lo-p'an) that indicated the main cosmic
factors impinging upon a site. In a "lair" (a hollow), in front of a
hill, or behind a body of water were the most desired locations.
Geomancy is best understood as an ancient method of harmonizing
humans and their works with the terrestrial and celestial powers
that might bring good or bad fortune to those who wished to build. See
feng-shui
Germain, Saint:
1)A Roman Catholic saint who died
in. 448 AD A married
lawyer, rather worldly, who became Bishop of Auxerre, 2) The
legitimate son of Franz-Leopold, Prince Ragoczy of Transylvania.
Count St Germain was apparently on the European scene from 1651 to
1896 - a period of 245 years. Unable to explain the incredible
lifespan of this man, the historians either omitted him from the
history books or claimed several impostors in different time periods
were responsible for the myth. Comte de St.-Germain
appeared in Leipzig in 1777 as
Prince Ragoczy, the son of Prince Ragoczy. reared and educated by
the last Duc de Medici. It is generally supposed that he was born
in 1710, but
the Countess Von Gergy declared that she had seen him during that
year in Venice and that he appeared to be between 45 and 50 years of
age at that time. While the church register at Eckernforde contains
a record of his death in 1784, it is known that he was seen upon
several occasions subsequent to that date, having attended a Masonic
conference in 1785 and having been recognized in Venice in 1788. The
last historical mention of the Comte de St.Gcrmain was in 1822, at
which time he embarking for India. He was acclaimed as an ascended
master by Madame Blavatsky and Godfry Rey King,
Gestalt Therapy:
Humanistic therapy originated by
Fritz Perls that centers on the reality of what is and each
individual being responsible for his/her own actions; includes the
interrelatedness of the object and the perceiver.
Ghee: (Hindi
ghi, from Sankrit. ghrita, "sprinkled")
Clarified butter, common as a ritual offering in Vedic and later
India; it was poured into fire to be conveyed to celestial gods by
smoke.
Ghetto: (possibly
from the Italian, "foundry" )
A section
of a city or town into which Jews were forcibly settled. Ghetto was
first employed to describe the walled-in area near a Venice foundry
that, in 1516, was designated as the only section of the city in
which Jews could dwell. Ghettos were usually walled off from the
rest of the urban area, and movement in and out was limited to a
small number of gates that were generally bolted at night. Jewish
ghettos in the technical sense are limited to Christian lands and
were most prominent in medieval Europe and areas under the rule of
Nazi Germany
Ghost:
(noun) from
Old English gāst ‘spirit,
soul’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch geest and
German Geist
Ghost, soul or
spectre of a dead person, usually believed to inhabit the
netherworld and to be capable of returning in some form to the world
of the living. According to descriptions or depictions provided by
believers, a ghost may appear as a living being or as a nebulous likeness
of the deceased or, occasionally, in other forms. Belief in ghosts
is based on the idea that a human soul separates from
the body and maintains its existence after death. In many societies,
funeral rituals are believed to prevent the ghost from haunting the
living.
A
“haunted house” is thought to be occupied by the haunting spirit
with some strong emotion of the past—remorse, fear, or the terror of
a violent death. Individuals who are haunted are believed to be
responsible for the ghost’s unhappy past experience. Visual manifestations of
haunting include ghostly apparitions, the displacement of objects,
or the appearance of strange lights. Sounds include disembodied
laughter and screams, footsteps, ringing bells, and the sounds from
unseen musical instruments.
Ghost Dance:
A new religious movement among Native Americans of the western
United States. The Ghost Dance had two distinct phases, both of
which originated in the visions of a Paiute shaman living in western
Nevada. The Ghost Dance of 1870: Wodziwob (d. ca. 1872), the
prophet of the 1870 dance, proclaimed that the world would soon be
destroyed, then renewed; the dead would be brought back to life and
game animals restored. He instructed his followers to dance a
nocturnal circle dance. This dance was similar to both older Paiute
traditions and an earlier regional movement, the Plateau Prophet
Dance, but it addressed very present conditions of deprivation
resulting from white incursions into tribal territories.
Gibbous:
The shape of the Moon between the half-moon and the full-moon.
Gifts,
Spiritual Gifts:
According
to Christian doctrine, special abilities given by God to worthy
believers.. Every Christian has at least one Following is a list
of the gifts arranged in two groups. The first are gifts that
require supernatural intervention and are possessed only by true
Christians. The second are gifts that do not require supernatural
intervention. Even non-Christians can have the second group of
gifts. A further issue is whether or not the gifts are still in use
today. Some believe they ceased with the apostles and the completion
of the writings of the Bible) and they are no longer needed for the
building up of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). Others believe the
gifts are still in use but not in the pure apostolic sense. In other
words, they are still in use but not in the same way possessed by
the apostles. Instead, they are available to the believer if and
when God decides it is beneficial to use them. The first group of
spiritual gifts are: Salvation, Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge,
Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophecy, Distinguishing of Spirits,
Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues. The group of spiritual gifts
are: Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Giving, Leading, and Showing
mercy.
Gilgamesh:
The legendary king of the Sumerian city-state Uruk (biblical
Erech) ca. 2650 BC. Of the man and his actual achievements nothing
certain is known, but within a century of his death he had become a
god residing in the underworld, a king and judge. Elements of
his legend are thought to be associated with the Noah.
Glamor:
1) The attractive external form of
someone or something that has little to do with their essence, as
the tinsel on a Christmas tree makes it attractive, though it does
not change the true nature of the tree. 2)A form of magick which
involves changing people's immediate perception of you. It generally
is simply altering your physical appearance (eye color, hair length,
height, etc.) temporarily. However, it can also include changing
people's emotional reaction to you.
Glossolalia: (Greek.
glossa, "tongue," and lalein, "to speak")
Speaking in tongues. The act of
speaking in a "language" either unknown or incomprehensible to the
speaker. This practice may have played a significant role in early
Christianity. In the late twentieth century, a similar phenomenon is
practiced in certain Pentecostal and charismatic traditions.
Glyph:
1)A symbolic character, usually as
part of an inscription or writing. 2).A sigil imbued
with magick.
Gnome:
An elemental of the earth.
Gnosticism: (noun) from
Greek gnosis, "knowledge")
A pre- Christian category
of religions which
emphasizes that a personal experience, or knowlege, is essential to
salvation. The oldest oldest known Christian scriptures, The
Nag Hammadi Library, are believed to be of Gnostic origin. Neither
unequivocally Christian, Jewish, Greek, nor Iranian, Gnosticism is
not a clearly delineated religion, but rather a specific religious
interpretative perspective.
Goat's Head:
An occult symbol consisting of an upside-down five-pointed star.
See Baphomet.
Goetia:
See Key of Solomon.
Gog and Magog:
In Christian apocalypticism, the last great world power that
must be defeated before the coming of the kingdom of God.
Golden Dawn:
A hermetic order founded in 1888 and the most famous of modern
initiatory occult organizations. Its heyday was the 1890s, when its
London lodge was famous for both the literary figures it attracted,
such as W. B. Yeats, and the scandals and upheavals that devastated
it at the end of the decade. Though the Golden Dawn divided and
dwindled in the twentieth century, its ritual practices and
elaborate system of grades, each requiring significant esoteric
learning and accomplishment, have served as models for many later
occult orders in the Western tradition.
Golem: (Hebrew,
"embryo")
In Jewish mysticism and folklore, an animated humanoid fashioned
by a rabbi who had mastered the "secrets of creation." The most
famous golems were those created by Loew of Prague, Elijah of Chelm,
and Jaffe of Poland.
Gopi:
In Hinduism, one of the cowherding girls or women of Braj who
epitomize intimate devotion to Krishna. There are some sixteen
thousand gopis, all
sharing in Krishna's dance, but he makes himself present to each as
if she were trysting with him alone.
Gospel:
Literally meaning �good news,� the term gospel is used by
traditional Christians as a reference to the message of salvation as
contained in the New Testament. The first four books of the New
Testament, which consist of accounts of Jesus� ministry, death, and
resurrection (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), are also called the
Gospels.
Govinda:
Lord Krishna
Grace:
A purely Christian term. It refers to God giving
mankind salvation which was not earned but freely given.
Grail, Holy:
In Christian legend, the cup that
Jesus used at the Last Supper and that caught his blood when he was
crucified. The quest for the Grail was combined with the Arthurian
romances to produce a complex series of medieval texts and
traditions
Graphology:
The science of character analysis
through handwriting. Foretelling by handwriting.
Great Awakening:
A Christian revivalist movement
that swept the American colonies from 1725 to 1760. In experiences
of ecstatic joy and release, converts "awakened" to Christ and knew
him experientially. By 1730, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch
Calvinist, and Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist Presbyterian, had begun
the Awakening from their churches in New Jersey. In 1734, Jonathan
Edwards, the most formidable apologist for this experiential
religion, witnessed to the "surprising work of God" in his
Congregationalist church at Northampton, Massachusetts. British
evangelist George Whitefield toured the colonies between 1738 and
1740 lending impetus and cohesiveness to the movement. Itinerant
revivalists carried the Awakening to the South. Its distinguishing
characteristics included the insistence on the personal nature of
conversion to Christ, itinerant ministry, and a novel preaching
style appealing openly to the emotions. Mobile ministry and
individual conversion tended to undermine the parish structure of
the old tax-supported churches and led to a proliferation of
separate and voluntary ones. The revivalists succeeded in
revitalizing colonial Protestantism by a typically modern appeal to
individual experience. They accommodated New World Calvinism and
Anglicanism to conditions of dramatically expanded personal liberty.
Great Invocation:
A universal prayer written in 1937 by Alice Bailey
(see Arcane
School) and circulated by various New Age groups. It
has been translated into over 80 languages. The purpose of this
prayer is to invoke the presence of the Cosmic Christ on earth, thus
leading to the unity and brotherhood of all mankind.
Great White Brotherhood:
In Western occult and theosophical movements, a collective term
for adepts, spirit beings or reincarnated teachers,
also called Ascended
Masters, existing on a non-physical higher plane. who have
concluded their cycles of reincarnation and have ascended to a
higher place of spiritual existence while retaining an active role
in the collective and individual salvation of human beings.
Great Rite:
The ritual act, usually Wiccan, of
sexual intercourse performed between the high-priestess and the
high-priest, or between the high-priestess and a coven member.
Originally performed in the midst of the circle, then later
performed apart from the circle. Now usually performed symbollicly
by placing the sword in the cup..
Greater Key of Solomon: (see
Goetia)
Grigori: (Italian)
They serve as guardians to the portals between the worlds - the
physical world and what lies beyond. They are the protectors.. The
Grigori are called upon to preside over the rites of Strega Pagans.
They are a stellar race, gazing down from the skies, watching us and
assisting us. They occupy the position of the four royal stars -
Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut. The Grigori are the
original essence behind the four Archangels. .
Grimoire:
A magickal workbook which contains
various information on rituals, formulae, correspondences, and
preparation of ritual tools and space. Similar to a Book of Shadows.
Gris-Gris:
In African religious systems, a
charm, fetish, or amulet.
Grounding:
1) The act of ritually, psychically
imbuing someone or something with a calming and stabilizing energy
to overcome flightiness and intability. 2).Sending excess energy
generated during a ritual into the earth, symbolically, back to the
God or the Goddess from which it came.
Group Guru:
A slang New Age term referring to the
Cosmic Christ. Being incarnate in all of humanity, alll mankind may
be seen as a single "guru."
Guardian Angel:
A supernatural being that acts as a
guide and protector for individuals or nations. (see also Spirit
Guide, Daemon)
Guardian Spirit:
A supernatural helper. (see also Familiar, Spirit Guide.
Guided Imagery:
Another term for Guided
Visualization
Guna: (Sanskrit)
Character
Gurdjieff, George Ivanovitch:(ca. 1877-1949)
Russian-born spiritual teacher and a major influence on
twentieth-century alternative spirituality. He is best known for the
community of disciples, which included well-known literary figures,
that he established in Fontainebleau, France, in the 1920s. His
basic teaching was that human beings are asleep and need to be
awakened, so that instead of acting merely out of mechanical habit
they can truly control their lives. Gurdjieff strove to awaken his
pupils through seemingly erratic demands, rapid changes of activity
or circumstance, sacred dance, and self-observation. Some groups in
the Gurdjieff tradition still operate. His early life reads like a
collection of tales from the Arabian Nights. Born in Alexandropol,
Russia, followers began to organize around him in 1913. He is
considered by some to have been the greatest mystical teacher of all
times.
Guru: (Sanskrit
- weighty)
Literally a teacher or spiritual
advisor. However, in India and Tibet it means one at a very high
level of consciousness. In fact, worship of Guru is done to develop
devotion or adoration, because the teacher is the highest expression
of God we know on Earth in our personal experience. There may be
many high Gurus even beyond those we
know personally, but we must take the reality we know of and not
accept anything on mere hearsay. Guru is a real manifestation
through which we can. directly experience our own capacities and
inadequacies.
Gymnosophists: (Greek.,
"naked philosophers")
Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist ascetics as represented in Greek
literature after Alexander the Great's Indian journey (327-325 BC)..
Gypsy: (Sanskrit
- weighty)
A member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in
northern India and now live chiefly in Europe and in smaller numbers
throughout the world.
They
travel from place to place, usually in caravans, rather than living
in one place. Some Gypsies object to this name, and prefer to be
called Romany. Because
so many Gypsies make an income by fortune-telling, the term gpsy has
been applied derogatorily to anyone practicing foretune
telling for money.
|
