Glossary-M

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Magic: The "Great Science;"  The science of communicating with and directing supernal supramundane potencies, as well as commanding those of lower spheres.  Magic is of three types: 1) Theurgia -Theosophists and/or metaphysicians, 2) Black magic and, 3) Natural or White.

Magic, Black: Sorcery; abuse of powers.

Magic, Ceremonial: Magic, according to Kabalistic rites worked out by invoking Powers higher spiritual than Man, and commanding Elementals who are far lower than himself on the scale of being.

Magic, White: Beneficent magic, so called, is divine magic, devoid of selfishness, love of power, of ambition or lucre, and bent only on doing good to the world in general and one's neighbor in particular.

Mahat (Sans): "The Great One."  The first principle of Universal Intelligence and Consciousness; the first product of root-nature or Pradhana (the same as Mulaprakriti); the produce of Manas, the thinking principle, and of Ahankara,  Egotism or the feeling of " I am I " in the lower Manas.

Mahatma (Sans): "Great Soul."  An adept of the highest order; an exalted being, who having attained to the mastery over his lower principles, is therefore living unimpeded by the "man of the flesh."  Mahatmas are in possession of knowledge and power commensurate with the stage they have reached in their spiritual evolution.  Called in Pali, Rahats and Arthas.

Maharishi:  great sage.

Mahayana (Sans): A school of Buddhistic Philosophy; Lit.,  the "Great Vehicle."  A mystical system founded by Nagarjuna.

Manas (Sans): Lit., the "mind."  The mental faculty which makes of man an intelligent and moral being and distinguishes him from the mere animal; a synonym of Mahat; the Higher Ego or the sentient reincarnating Principle in man.  When qualified, it is called Buddhi-Manas, or the spiritual soul, in contradistinction to its human reflection -Kama-Manas.

Manasaputra (Sans): Lit., the "Sons of Mind"  or mind-born Sons; a name given to our Higher Egos before they incarnated in mankind; the title given to the mind-born Sons of Brahma, the Kumara.

Manas Sutratma (Sans): "Mind" and "thread soul;"  the synonym of our Ego, or that which reincarnates.

Manas Taijasi (Sans): Lit., the "radiant" Manas: a state of the Higher Ego which only high metaphysicians are able to realize and comprehend. The same as "Buddhi Taijasi."

Mantras:  sacred sounds or syllables used to meditate on; verses from the Vedic works, used as incantations and charms; all portions of the Vedas which are distinct from the Brahmanas, or their interpretation.

Manu: The great Indian legislator; considered to be the first logos and almost a divine being.

Manvantara (Sans): A period of manifestation, as opposed to Pralaya (dissolution or rest); the term is applied to various cycles, esp. to a Day of Brahma -4,320,000,000 solar years- and to the reign of one manu - 308,448,000; Lit., "between Manus."

Master: A translation from the Sanskrit Guru, "Spiritual Teacher;"  an adept.

Materialization: an appearance of a so-called "spirit of the dead,"  who re-clothes himself occasionally in matter; i.e., they form for themselves out of the materials at hand found in the atmosphere and the emanations of those present a temporary body bearing the human likeness of the defunct, as he appeared when alive.

Materialist: any person who materializes the purely spiritual; such as believe in an anthropomorphic deity, in a soul capable of burning in hell fire, and a hell and paradise as localities instead of states of consciousness; one who believes in neither God nor soul, nor survival of the latter.

Maya (Sans): Illusion; the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence and the perceptions thereof possible.

Meditation (from the Latin: meditatio, a "thinking over," "contemplation."):  one-pointed concentration on a sacred word or image, or a concept (such as God or Love), that is thought about or reflected on, or both.

Mediumship: The abnormal psycho-physiological state which leads a person to take the fancies of his imagination, his hallucinations, real or artificial, for realities; a kind of vulgarized mediatorship in which one afflicted with this faculty is supposed to become an agent of communication between a living man and a departed spirit.

Mercavah, Mercabah (Heb): a "chariot."  The Kabbalists say that the Supreme, after He had established the Ten Sephiroth -which, in their totality, are Adam Kadman, the Archetypal Man, used them as a chariot or throne of glory in which to descend upon the souls of men.

Mesmerism: a vital current that one person may transfer to another; and through which he induces an abnormal state of the nervous system that permits him to have a direct influence upon the mind and will of the subject or mesmerized person.

Metempsychosis:  transmigration; the passing of a soul after death into some other body, either human or animal.

Metaphysics: From the Greek, meta (beyond), and  physica (the things of the external material world); the science which treats of the real and permanent being as contrasted with the unreal, illusionary or phenomenal  being.

Microcosm (Grk): the "little" Universe, meaning man, made in the image of his creator,  the Macrocosm, or "great" Universe and containing all that the latter contains.

Mishnah (Heb): Lit., "a repetition"  from the work shanah (to repeat) something said orally. A summary of written explanations from the oral traditions of the Jews and digest of the Scriptures on which the later Talmud was based.

Moksha (Sans): the same as Nirvana; a post-mortem state of rest and bliss of the "soul-pilgrim."

Monad (Lat): It is the Unity, the One; the unified duad, Atma-Buddhi -or that immortal part of man which incarnating in the lower kingdoms and gradually progressing through them to man, finds thence way to Nirvana.

Monas: Same as monad.

Monogenes (Grk): Lit., the "only-begotten;"  a name of Proserpine and other gods and goddesses as also of Jesus.

Mysteries (Sacred): A series of dramatic performances in which the mysteries of Cosmogony and nature in general were personified by the priests and neophytes, who enacted the part of various gods and goddesses, repeating supposed scenes (allegories) from their respective lives.  These were explained in their hidden meaning to the candidates for initiation and incorporated into philosophical doctrines.

Mystery Language: The sacerdotal secret "jargon" used by the initiated priests, and employed only when discussing sacred things.  Every nation had its own "mystery" tongue, unknown to all save those admitted to the Mysteries.

Mystic: From the Greek mysticos.  In antiquity, one belonging to those admitted to the ancient mysteries; in our own times, one who practices, holds mystic, transcendental views, etc; one who has awakened to the nonduality of the world of phenomena and the world of no-form, and whose life has been transformed by this unique experience.

Mysticism: Any doctrine involved in mystery and metaphysics, and dealing more with the ideal worlds than with our matter-of-fact, actual universe.

Myth:  not an untrue story, but a truth so majestic, so all-encompassing that it cannot be embraced within mere fact;  a metaphor for what lies behind the visible world.