Making the Connection

anthroposophy

A spiritual or religious philosophy that Rudolph Steiner (1861–1925), an Austrian philosopher and scientist, developed, with the core belief centering around the human accessibility of the spiritual world to properly developed human intellect. Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society in 1912 to promote his ideas that spiritual development should be humanity's foremost concern.

clairvoyance

The ability to see, visualize, or sense things beyond the normal range of human vision or senses.

cosmology

The philosophical study and explanation of the nature of the universe or the scientific study of the origin and structure of the universe.

cryptomensia

A state of consciousness in which the true source or origin of a particular memory is forgotten or is attributed to a wrongful source or origin.

ephemerality

Refers to the state of something living or lasting for a markedly short or brief time. The nature of existing or lasting for only a day, such as certain plants or insects.

hieroglyphs

A system of writing which uses symbols or pictures to denote an object, concept, sound, or sequence of sounds. The word comes from an ancient Greek term meaning "sacred carving," to describe the characters carved on Egyptian tombs.

incantations

Ritual chanting or recitation of verbal charms or spells to produce a supposed magic effect.

Kabbalah (Cabala, Cabbala, Kabala, or Kabbala)

A body of mystical Jewish teachings based on an interpretation of hidden meanings contained in the Hebrew scriptures. Kabbalah is Hebrew for "that which is received," and also refers to a secret oral tradition handed down from teacher to pupil. The term Kabbalah is generally used now to apply to all Jewish mystical practice.

karmic law

Karma is the Sanskrit word for "deed." In the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism all deeds of a person in this life dictate an equal punishment or reward to be met in the next life or series of lives. In this philosophy, it is a natural moral law rather than a divine judgment which provides the process of development, enabling the soul into higher or lower states, according to the laws of cause and effect to be met.

manitou

A supernatural force, or spirit that suffuses various living things, as well as inanimate objects, according to the Algonquian peoples. In the mythology of the Ojibwa of the eastern United States, Manitou is the name of the supreme deity, or God, and means "Great Spirit."

precognition

The direct knowledge of the ability to foresee what is going to happen in the future, especially if this perception is gained through other than the normal human senses or extrasensory.

retrocognition

The mental process or faculty of knowing, seeing, or perceiving things, events, or occurrences of things in the past, especially through other than the normal human senses as in extrasensory.

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-European language and the language of traditional Hinduism in India. Spoken between the fourteenth and fifth centuries b.c.e., it has been considered and maintained as a priestly and literary language of the sacred Veda scriptures and other classical texts.

shaman

A religious or spiritual leader, usually possessing special powers, such as that of prophecy, and healing, and acts as an intermediary between the physical and spiritual realms.

shofar

A trumpet made of a ram's horn, blown by the ancient and modern Hebrews during religious ceremonies and as a signal in battle.

soul

The animating and vital principal in human beings, credited with the faculties of will, emotion, thought and action and often conceived as an immaterial entity, separate from the physical body. The spiritual nature of human beings, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state. The disembodied spirit of a dead human being.

telepathy

Communication of thoughts, mental images, ideas, feelings, or sensations from one person's mind to another's without the use of speech, writing, signs, or symbols.

transience

A state of impermanence, or lasting for only a brief time. Remaining in a place only for a short time, or the brief appearance of someone or something.