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the activities of the rest of mankind. Their knowledge, like their powers, say Theosophists, far exceeds that of man, and they can control forces both in the spiritual and the physical realm, and are said to be able to prolong their lives for centuries.

They are also known as the Great White Brotherhood, Great
Hermetic Order, Rishis, Rahats, or Mahatmas. Those who
earnestly desire to work for the betterment of the world may
become apprentices or chelas to Adepts, in which case the latter
are known as ” masters, ” but the apprentice must first have
practised self-denial and self-development in order to become
sufficiently worthy. The master imparts teaching and wisdom
otherwise unattainable, and helps the apprentice by communion
and inspiration. Madame Blavatsky (q.v.) alleged that she was the
apprentice of these masters, and claimed that they dwelt in the
Tibetan Mountains. The term Adept was also employed by
mediaeval magicians and alchemists to denote a master of their
sciences.

Adhab-Algal: The Mohammedan purgatory, where the wicked are
tormented by the dark angels Munkir and Nekir.

Adjuration: A formula of exorcism by which the evil spirit is
commanded, in the name of God, to do or say what the exorcist
requires of him.

Adonai: A Hebrew word signifying ” the Lord, ” and used by the
Hebrews when speaking or writing of Jehovah, the awful and
ineffable name of the God of Israel. The Jews entertained the
deepest awe for this incommunicable and mysterious name, and
this feeling led them to avoid pronouncing it and to the substitution
of the word Adonai for ” Jehovah ” in their sacred text. This custom
still prevails among the Jews, who attribute to the pronouncement
of the Holy Name the power of working miracles. The Jehovah of
the Israelites was their invisible protector and king, and no image
of him was made. He was worshipped according to his
commandments, with an observance of the ritual instituted through
Moses. The term ” Jehovah ” means. the revealed Absolute Deity, e
Manifest, Only, Personal, Holy Creator and Redeemer.

Adoptive Masonry: Masonic societies which adopt women as
members. Early in the eighteenth century such societies were
established in France, and Speedily spread to other countries. One
of the first to “adopt” women were the Mopses. The Felicitaries
existed in 1742. The Fendeurs or Woodcutters were instituted in
1763 by Bauchaine, Master of a Parisian Lodge. It was modelled
on the Carbonari, and its popularity led to the establishment of
other lodges, notably the Fidelity, the Hatchet, etc. In 1774 the
Grand Orient in Lodge of France established a system of degrees
called the Rite of Adoption, and elected the Duchess of Bourbon as
Grand Mistress of France.

The rite has been generally adopted into Freemasonry, and various
degrees added from time to time, to the number of about twelve in
all. Latin and Greek mysteries were added to the rite by the
Ladies’ Hospitallers of Mount Tabor. The greatest ladies in France
joined the French lodges of adoption. The Rite of Mizraim created
lodges for both sexes in 1818, 1821, 1838 and 1853, and the Rite
of Memphis in 1839. America founded the Rite of the Eastern Star
in five points. In these systems admission is generally confined to
the female relations of Masons. The Order of the Eastern Star and
that of Adoptive Masonry were attempted in Scotland, but without
success.

Agathodemon: A good demon, worshipped by the Egyptians under
the shape of a serpent with a human head. The dragons or flying
serpents venerated by the ancients were also called
Agathodemons, or good genies.

Agla: A kabalistic word used by the rabbis for the exorcisms of the
evil spirit. It is made up of the initial letters of the Hebrew words,
Athah gabor leolam, Ado-nai, meaning, ” Thou art powerful and
eternal, Lord.” Not only among the Jews was this word employed,
but among the more superstitious Christians it was a favourite
weapon with which to combat the evil one, even so late as the
sixteenth century. It is also to be found in many books on magic,
notablv in the Enchiridion of Pope Leo III.

Agrippa von Nettesheim, Henry Cornelius (1486-1535): Cornelius
Agrippa - A German soldier and physician, and an adept in
alchemy, astrology and magic. He was born at Cologne on the 14th
of September, 1486, and educated at the University of Cologne.
While still a youth he served under Maximilian 1. of Germany. In
th
century he lectured at the University of Dole, but a
the early 16
charge of heresy brought against him by a monk named Catilinet
compelled him to leave Dole, and he resumed his former
occupation of soldier. In the following year he was sent on a
diplomatic mission to England, and on his return followed
Maximilian to Italy, where he passed seven years, now serving one
noble patron, now another. Thereafter he held a post at Metz,
returned to Cologne, practised medicine at Geneva, and was
appointed physician to Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis 1.; but,
on being given some task which he found irksome, he left the
service of his patroness and denounced her bitterly.

He then accepted a post offered him by Margaret, Duchess of
Savoy, Regent of the Netherlands. On her death he repaired to
Cologne and Bonn, and thence to France, where he was arrested
for some slighting mention of the Queen Mother, Louise of Savoy.
He was soon released, however, and died at Grenoble in 1535.

Agrippa was a man of great talent and varied attainments. He was
acquainted with eight languages, and was evidently a physician of
no mean ability, as well as a soldier and a theologian. He had,
moreover, many noble patrons. Yet, notwithstanding these
advantages, he never seemed to be free from misfortune;
persecution and financial difficulties dogged his footsteps, and in
Brussels he suffered imprisonment for debt.

He himself was in a measure responsible for his. troubles. He was,
in fact, an adept in the gentle art of making enemies, and the
persecution of the monks with whom he frequently came into
conflict was bitter and increasing. His principal works were a
defence of magic, entitled De occulta philosophia, which was not
published until 1531, though it was written some twenty years
earlier, and a satirical attack on the scientific pretensions of his
day, De incertitudine et Vanitate Scientiarum et Artium atque
Excellentia Verbi Dei Declamatio, also published at Antwerp in
1531.

Ahnernerbe, S.S. – Reich Ancestral Heritage Office: Unlike other
states in which Occultists are accorded little respect, Nazi
Germany has made certain occult operations a part of the state,
while repressing others with strict brutality. The S.S. itself has a
network of Thule Society ritual which replaces Christian religion
for S.S. Officers. Based in Old Prussian Paganism, with Nordic

colorings, the S.S. has its own rites, festivals, rituals and burial
customs. The “spiritual center” of the S.S. – dedicated entirely to
the development of these and other public rituals, is the Ancestral
Heritage Office.

Reichsfuhrer S.S., Himmler, is an avid student of the occult. An SS
occult research department, the Ahnernerbe (Ancestral Heritage)
was established in 1935 with SS Colonel Wolfram von Sievers at
its head. Occult research took SS researchers as far afield as Tibet.

As soon as the Nazi movement had sufficient funds, it began to
organize a number of expeditions to Tibet and these succeeded one
another practically without interruption through the present day. It
is conjectured that the Nazis wish to find Shambala, an ancient
center of power which is said to be accessible through hidden
tunnels in Tibet.

The strongest influence on Hitler in this regard was Dietrich
Eckart (1868-1923). Most biographers have underestimated the
influence that Eckart exerted on Hitler. He was the wealthy
publisher and editor-in-chief of an anti-semitic journal which he
called In Plain German. Eckart was also a committed occultist and
a master of magic. As an initiate, Eckart belonged to the inner
circle of the Thule Society as well as other esoteric orders.

There can be no doubt that Eckart - who had been alerted to Hitler
by other Thulists - trained Hitler in techniques of self confidence,
self projection, persuasive oratory, body language and discursive
sophistry. With these tools, in a short period of time he was able to
move the obscure workers party from the club and beer hall
atmosphere to a mass movement. The emotion charged lay speaker
became an expert orator, capable of mesmerizing a vast audience.

One should not underestimate occultism’s influence on Hitler. His
subsequent rejection of Free Masons and esoteric movements, of
Theosophy, of Anthrosophy, does not necessarily mean otherwise.
Occult circles have long been known as covers for espionage and
influence peddling.

Akashic Record: the idea that all of the experiences and memories
of every living being are contained in the substance of the ether.
Advanced magicians develop the ability to recover details of past
events by “reading the Akashic Records.”

Akiba: A Jewish rabbi of the first century, who, from being a
simple shepherd, became a learned scholar, spurred by the hope of
winning the hand of a young lady he greatly admired. The Jews say
that he was taught by the elemental spirits, that he was a conjurer,
and that, in his best days, he had as many as 24, 000 disciples. He
is said to be the author of a famous work, entitled, Yelzirah (q.v.,
On the Creation), which is by some ascribed to Abraham, and even
to Adam. It was first printed at Paris in 1552. The historic Akiba
was a formative influence on Judaism during the post-Diaspora
period.

Albagensianism: A neo-Manichæan (Gnostic) sect that flourished
in southern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Among
recent historians there is a pronounced tendency to look upon the
Cathari as the lineal descendants of the Manichæans. The
doctrine, organization, and liturgy of the former, in many points,
reproduce the doctrine, organization, and liturgy of the early
disciples of Manes. The successive appearance of the
Priscillianists, the Paulicians, and the Bogomili, representatives to
some extent of similar principles, fairly establishes the historical

continuity between the two extreme links of the chain — the
Manichæans of the third, and the Cathari of the eleventh, century.

The Albigensians may also have some relation to the Arian Heresy,
which flourished in southern France in the fifth century, before it
was repressed by the Frankish King Clovis, the leader of the
Merovingian Dynasty. The Arians denied that Jesus was divine.

The name Albigenses, given to the Southern French sect by the
Council of Tours (1163) prevailed towards the end of the twelfth
century and was for a long time applied to all the heretics of the
south of France. They were also called Catharists (katharos, pure),
though in reality they were only a branch of the Catharistic
movement. The rise and spread of the new doctrine in southern
France was favoured by various circumstances, among which may
be mentioned: the fascination exercised by the readily-grasped
dualistic principle; the remnant of Jewish and Mohammedan
doctrinal elements; the wealth, leisure, and imaginative mind of
the inhabitants of Languedoc; their contempt for the Catholic
clergy, caused by the ignorance and the worldly, too frequently
scandalous, lives of the latter; the protection of an overwhelming
majority of the nobility, and the intimate local blending of national
aspirations and religious sentiment.

What the Albigensians are supposed to have believed

Relatively little is known about the Albigensian beliefs, since the
sect was repressed, and most evidence destroyed. What is known
largely comes from their opponents. However some picture can be
drawn.

The Albigenses asserted the co-existence of two mutually opposed
principles, one good, the other evil. The former is the creator of the
spiritual, the latter of the material world. The bad principle is the
source of all evil; natural phenomena, either ordinary like the
growth of plants, or extraordinary as earthquakes, likewise oral
disorders (war), must be attributed to him. He created the human
body and is the author of sin, which springs from matter and not
from the spirit. The Old Testament must be either partly or
entirely ascribed to him; whereas the New Testament is the
revelation of the beneficent God. The latter is the creator of
human souls, which the bad principle imprisoned in material
bodies after he had deceived them into leaving the kingdom of
light. This earth is a place of punishment, the only hell that exists
for the human soul.

Punishment, however, is not everlasting; for all souls, being
Divine in nature, must eventually be liberated. To accomplish this
deliverance God sent upon earth Jesus Christ, who, although very
perfect, like the Holy Ghost, is still a mere creature. The
Redeemer could not take on a genuine human body, because he
would thereby have come under the control of the evil principle.
His body was, therefore, of celestial essence, and with it He
penetrated the ear of Mary. It was only apparently that He was
born from her and only apparently that He suffered. His
redemption was not operative, but solely instructive. To enjoy its
benefits, one must become a member of the Church of Christ (the
Albigenses). Here below, it is not the Catholic sacraments but the
peculiar ceremony of the Albigenses known as the
consolamentum, or “consolation,” that purifies the soul from all sin
and ensures its immediate return to heaven. The resurrection of
the body will not take place, since by its nature all flesh is evil.

The dualism of the Albigenses was also the basis of their moral
teaching. Man, they taught, is a living contradiction. Hence, the
liberation of the soul from its captivity in the body is the true end
of our being. To attain this, suicide is commendable; it was
customary among them in the form of the endura (starvation). The
extinction of bodily life on the largest scale consistent with huma
existence is also a perfect aim. As generation propagates the
slavery of the soul to the body, perpetual chastity should be
practiced. Matrimonial intercourse is unlawful; concubinage, bein
of a less permanent nature, is preferable to marriage.
Abandonment of his wife by the husband, or vice versa, is
desirable. Generation was abhorred by the Albigenses even in the
animal kingdom. Consequently, abstention from all animal food,
except fish, was enjoined. Their belief in metempsychosis, or the
transmigration of souls, the result of their logical rejection of
purgatory, furnishes another explanation for the same abstinence.
To this practice they added long and rigorous fasts. The necessity
of absolute fidelity to the sect was strongly inculcated. War and
capital punishment were absolutely condemned.

History of the Albigensian Heresy

The contact of Christianity with the Oriental mind and Oriental
religions had produced several sects (Gnostics, Manichæans,
Paulicians, Bogomilae) whose doctrines were akin to the tenets of
the Albigenses. But the historical connection between the new
heretics and their predecessors cannot be clearly traced. In
France, where they were probably introduced by a woman from
Italy, the Neo-Manichæan doctrines were secretly diffused for
several years before they appeared, almost simultaneously, near
Toulouse and at the Synod of Orléans (1022). Those who propose
them were even made to suffer the extreme penalty of death. The
Council of Arras (1025), Charroux, Dep. of Vienne (c. 1028), and
of Reims (1049) had to deal with the heresy. At that of Beauvais
(1114) the case of Neo-Manichæans in the Diocese of Soissons
was brought up, but was referred to the council shortly to be held
in the latter city. Petrobrusianism now familiarized the South with
some of the tenets of the Albigenses. Its condemnation by the
Council of Toulouse (1119) did not prevent the evil from
spreading. Pope Eugene III (1145-53) sent a legate, Cardinal
Alberic of Ostia, to Languedoc (1145), and St. Bernard seconded
the legate’s efforts. But their preaching produced no lasting effect.
The Council of Reims (1148) excommunicated the protectors “of
the heretics of Gascony and Provence.” That of Tours (1163)
decreed that the Albigenses should be imprisoned and their
property confiscated. A religious disputation was held (1165) at
Lombez, with the usual unsatisfactory result of such conferences.

Two years later, the Albigenses held a general council at
Toulouse, their chief centre of activity. The Cardinal-Legate Peter
made another attempt at peaceful settlement (1178), but he was
received with derision. The Third General Council of the Lateran
(1179) renewed the previous severe measures and issued a
summons to use force against the heretics, who were plundering
and devastating Albi, Toulouse, and the vicinity. At the death
(1194) of the Catholic Count of Toulouse, Raymond V, his
succession fell to Raymond VI (1194-1222) who favoured the
heresy.

With the accession of Innocent III (1198) the work of conversion
and repression was taken up vigorously. In 1205-6 three events
augured well for the success of the efforts made in that direction.
Raymond VI, in face of the threatening military operations urged
by Innocent against him, promised under oath to banish the
dissidents from his dominions. The monk Fulco of Marseilles,
formerly a troubadour, now became Archbishop of Toulouse
(1205-31). Two Spaniards, Diego, Bishop of Osma and his
companion, Dominic Guzman (St. Dominic), returning from Rome,
visited the papal legates at Montpellier. By their advice, the
excessive outward splendour of Catholic preachers, which offended
the heretics, was replaced by apostolical austerity. Religious
disputations were renewed. St. Dominic, perceiving the great
advantages derived by his opponents from the cooperation of
women, founded (1206) at Pouille near Carcassonne a religious
congregation for women, whose object was the education of the
poorer girls of the nobility. Not long after this he laid the
foundation of the Dominican Order. Innocent III, in view of the
immense spread of the heresy, which infected over 1000 cities or
towns, called (1207) upon the King of France, as Suzerain of the
County of Toulouse, to use force. He renewed his appeal on
receiving news of the assassination of his legate, Peter of
Castelnau, a Cistercian monk (1208), which judging by
appearances, he attributed to Raymond VI. Numerous barons of
northern France, Germany, and Belgium joined the crusade, and
papal legates were put at the head of the expedition, Arnold, Abbot
of Citeaux, and two bishops. Raymond VI, still under the ban of
excommunication pronounced against him by Peter of Castelnau,
now offered to submit, was reconciled with the Church, and took
the field against his former friends. Roger, Viscount of Béziers,
was first attacked, and his principal fortresses, Béziers and
Carcassonne, were taken (1209).

The monstrous words: “Slay all; God will know His own,” alleged
to have been uttered at the capture of Béziers, by the papal legate,
were never pronounced (Tamizey de Larroque, “Rev. des quest.
hist.” 1866, I, 168-91). Simon of Monfort, Earl of Leicester, was
given control of the conquered territory and became the military
leader of the crusade. At the Council of Avignon (1209) Raymond
VI was again excommunicated for not fulfilling the conditions of
ecclesiastical reconciliation. He went in person to Rome, and the
Pope ordered an investigation. After fruitless attempts in the
Council of Arles (1211) at an agreement between the papal legates
and the Count of Toulouse, the latter left the council and prepared
to resist. He was declared an enemy of the Church and his
possessions were forfeited to whoever would conquer them. Lavaur,
Dep. of Tarn, fell in 1211, amid dreadful carnage, into the hands
of the crusaders. The latter, exasperated by the reported massacre
of 6,000 of their followers, spared neither age nor sex. The crusade
now degenerated into a war of conquest, and Innocent III, in spite
of his efforts, was powerless to bring the undertaking back to its
original purpose. Peter of Aragon, Raymond’s brother-in-law,
interposed to obtain his forgiveness, but without success. He then
took up arms to defend him. The troops of Peter and of Simon of
Montfort met at Muret (1213). Peter was defeated and killed. The
allies of the fallen king were now so weakened that they offered to
submit. The Pope sent as his representative the Cardinal-Deacon
Peter of Santa Maria in Aquiro, who carried out only part of his
instructions, receiving indeed Raymond, the inhabitants of
Toulouse, and others back into the Church, but furthering at the
same time Simon’s plans of conquest.

This commander continued the war and was appointed by the
Council of Montpellier (1215) lord over all the acquired territory.
The Pope, informed that it was the only effectual means of
crushing the heresy, approved the choice. At the death of Simon
(1218), his son Amalric inherited his rights and continued the war

with but little success. The territory was ultimately ceded almost
entirely by both Amalric and Raymond VII to the King of France,
while the Council of Toulouse (1229) entrusted the Inquisition,
which soon passed into the hands of the Dominicans (1233), with
the repression of Albigensianism. The heresy disappeared about
the end of the fourteenth century.

Albigensian Practice

The members of the sect were divided into two classes: The
“perfect” (perfecti) and the mere “believers” (credentes). The
“perfect” were those who had submitted to the initiation-rite
(consolamentum). They were few in number and were alone bound
to the observance of the above-described rigid moral law. While
the female members of this class did not travel, the men went, by
twos, from place to place, performing the ceremony of initiation.
The only bond that attached the “believers” to Albigensianism was
the promise to receive the consolamentum before death. They were
very numerous, could marry, wage war, etc., and generally
observed the ten commandments. Many remained “believers” for
years and were only initiated on their deathbed. If the illness did
not end fatally, starvation or poison prevented rather frequently
subsequent moral transgressions. In some instances the
reconsolatio was administered to those who, after initiation, had
relapsed into sin. The hierarchy consisted of bishops and deacons.
The existence of an Albigensian Pope is not universally admitted.
The bishops were chosen from among the “perfect.” They had two
assistants, the older and the younger son (filius major and filius
minor), and were generally succeeded by the former. The
consolamentum, or ceremony of initiation, was a sort of spiritual
baptism, analogous in rite and equivalent in significance to several
of the Catholic sacraments (Baptism, Penance, Order). Its
reception, from which children were debarred, was, if possible,
preceded by careful religious study and penitential practices. In
this period of preparation, the candidates used ceremonies that
bore a striking resemblance to the ancient Christian
catechumenate. The essential rite of the consolamentum was the
imposition of hands. The engagement which the “believers” took to
be initiated before death was known as the convenenza (promise).

Actions of the Church
Properly speaking, Albigensianism was not a Christian heresy but
an extra-Christian religion. Ecclesiastical authority, after
persuasion had failed, adopted a course of severe repression,
which led at times to regrettable excess. Simon of Montfort
intended well at first, but later used the pretext of religion to usurp
the territory of the Counts of Toulouse. The death penalty was,
indeed, inflicted too freely on the Albigenses, but it must be
remembered that the penal code of the time was considerably more
rigorous than ours, and the excesses were sometimes provoked.
Raymond VI and his successor, Raymond VII, were, when in
distress, ever ready to promise, but never to earnestly amend. Pope
Innocent III felt justtified in saying that the Albigenses were
“worse than the Saracens”; and still he counselled moderation and
disapproved of the selfish policy adopted by Simon of Montfort.

Alfarabi: (d. 954.) An adept of remarkable gifts and an extensive
knowledge of all the sciences; born at Othrar (or, as it was then
called, Faral), in Asia Minor. His name was Abou-i~Zasr-
Mohammed-lbn-Tarkaw, but he received, from the town of his
birth, his better-known appellation of Farabi, or Alfayabi. Though
he was of Turkish extraction, a desire to perfect himself in Arabic,
led him to Bagdad, where he assiduously studied the Greek
philosophers under Abou Bachar Nlaltey. He next stayed for a time
in Hanan, where he learned logic from a Christian physician.
Having far surpassed his fellow-scholars, he left Hanan and drifted
at last to Egypt. During his wanderings he came in contact with all
the most learned philosophers of his time, and himself wrote books
on philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and other sciences,
besides acquiring proficiency in seventy languages.

His treatise on music, proving the connection of sound with
atmospheric vibrations, and mocking the Pythagorean theory of the
music of the spheres, attained some celebrity. He gained the good-
will and patronage of the Sultan of Syria in a somewhat curious
fashion. While passing through Syria he visited the court of the
Sultan, who was at that moment surrounded by grave doctors and
astrologers, who were discussing abstruse scientific points with the
potentate. Alfarabi entered the presence of the Sultan in his
stained and dusty travelling attire (he had been on a pilgrimage to
Mecca), and when the prince bade him be seated, he, either
unaware of, or indifferent to the etiquette of court life, sat down
boldly on a corner of the royal sofa. The monarch, unused to such
an informal proceeding, spoke in a little-known tongue to a
courtier, and bade him remove the presumptuous philosopher.

The latter, however, astonished him by replying in the same
language: “Sire, he who acts hastily, in haste repents.” The Sultan,
becoming interested in his unconventional guest, questioned him
curiously, and learned of the seventy languages and other
accomplishments of Alfarabi. The sages who were present were
also astounded at his wide learning. When the prince called at
length for some music, Alfarabi accompanied the musicians on a
lute with such marvelous skill and grace that the entire company
was charmed. When he struck up a lively measure, the gravest
sages could not but dance to it. When he changed the melody to a
softer lilt, tears sparkled in every eye, and at last, with a gentle
lullaby, be put the court to sleep. The Sultan wished to keep such a
valuable philosopher about his court, and some say that Alfarabi
accepted his patronage and died peacefully in Syria. Others, again,
maintain that he informed the Sultan that he would never rest till
he had discovered the secret of the Philosophers’ stone, which he
believed himself on the point of finding. These say that he set out,
but was attacked and killed by robbers in the woods of Syria.

Almanach du Diable: An almanac containing some very curious
predictions for the years 1737 and 1738, which purported to be
published in the infernal regions. It is a satire against the
Jansenists, which was suppressed on account of some over-bold
predictions, and which has become very rare. The authorship was
ascribed to Quesnel, an ironmonger at Dijon. The Jansenists
replied with a pamphlet directed against the Jesuits, which was
also suppressed. It was entitled Almanac de Dieu, dedicated to M.
Carre de Montgeron, for the year 1738, and, in contradistinction to
the other, claimed satirically to be printed in heaven.

Alrunes: Female demons or sorceresses, the mothers of the Huns.
They took all sorts of shapes, but without changing their sex. The
name was given by the Germans to little statues of old sorceresses,
about a foot high. To these they attributed great virtues, honouring
them as the negroes. honour their fetishes; clothing-them richly,
housing them comfortably, and serving them with food and drink at
every meal. They believed that if these little images were neglected
they would cry out, a catastrophe which was to be avoided at all
costs, as it brought dire misfortunes upon the household. They may
have been mandrakes, and it was claimed for them that they could
foretell the future, answering by means of motions of the head, or
unintelligible words. They are still consulted in Norway.