The Book of Abramelin (Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage) is a 15th century’s Grimoire written by Rabbi Yaakov Moelin, a German Jewish Talmudist. The text describes an initiatic journey from Germany to Egypt. A magician and Qabalistic Master, Abramelin, teaches his secrets to his son Lamech. This volume is composed of four Books: 1. The initiatic journey. 2. Materials from practical Qabalah. 3 & 4. Magical practices.

The text describes an Invocation to Visible Appearance of the Holy Guardian Angel. A long preparation is required (between six and eighteen months). This angelic manifestation is supposed to give high magical secrets to the Magician. This book (translated by Mathers) became a central Mystery in the Order of the Golden Dawn.

Excerpt from the book: “Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons” Jean-Louis DE BIASI, Llewellyn Publications (http://goo.gl/gBTzU)

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: image, cult-statue, ornament, shrine, object of worship, something in which one takes delight

Long Description: image, cult-statue, ornament, shrine, object of worship, something in which one takes delight; theon agalmata is the common phrase for ‘images of the gods’ and ‘cult-statues’ which may be ‘animated’ by the theurgists; the word agalma contains no implication of likeness and is not a synonim of eikon; for Plato, the created cosmos is ‘a shrine brought into being for the everlasting gods’ ( ton aidion theon gegonos agalma: Tim.37c); for the Emperor Julian, the visible Sun is ‘the living agalma, endowed with soul and intelligence and beneficent, of the noetic Father’ ( Ep.51.434).

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: sensation, perception, as an opposite of intellection (noesis), understanding and pure thought; more loosely – any awareness

Long Description: sensation, perception, as an opposite of intellection ( noesis), understanding and pure thought; more loosely – any awareness; for Plato, some aistheseis have names, such as sights, sounds, smells, cold and heat, distress, pleasures, fears, but nameless aistheseis are countless ( Theaet.156b); for Plotinus, perceptions in this world are dim intellections ( noeseis), and intellections in the noetic world are vived perceptions; Philo of Alexandria postulates an Idea of aisthesis, along with an Idea of nous, in the Intellect of God ( Leg.Alleg.I.21-27).

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Ancient Egyptian)

Short Description: the ancient Egyptian term for intelligence, spiritual light, illumination, irradiation

Long Description: the ancient Egyptian term for intelligence, spiritual light, illumination, irradiation; it may designate both a spiritual being (the winged soul, ba, divinized and raised above the Osiris state) and the entire spiritual dimension that corresponds to the Neoplatonic kosmos noetos; through the celestial ascent a pharaoh (the prototype of a philosopher-mystic of later times) becomes a ‘shining one’ ( akh), a star irradiating light throughout the cosmos, and is united with Ra (the divine Intellect) as his ‘son’.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

Alchemy can be seen as the origin of modern Chemistry. However the purpose of the alchemists was (and is) not just a study of chemical reactions. For them, everything in the universe is connected. Your body is a representation of the cosmos. Many people believe that the main purpose of Alchemy is not to make gold. In fact, the long process of working with plants and stones is meant to simultaneously accomplish an inner spiritual work. If you are inwardly pure, you will achieve a connection between the inner life and the outer world that enables you to obtain such results as the alchemical elixir. In fact, all of the external work is just a representation of the ascension of the soul. Alchemy cannot be understood or practiced independent of the spiritual alchemy that is the real alchemy of the soul.

Excerpt from the book: “Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons” Jean-Louis DE BIASI, Llewellyn Publications (http://goo.gl/gBTzU)

Alexandria is the famous city that was founded by Alexander the Great in the Nile delta in Egypt. The first famous library of Alexandria was built there. It was the central hub of a great cultural network involving all the religions and cultures of that time. This is the place where the Bible was translated from Hebrew to Greek. When Christianity emerged and became a political power, the philosophical schools were shut down and the initiatic traditions went into hiding.

Excerpt from the book: “Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons” Jean-Louis DE BIASI, Llewellyn Publications (http://goo.gl/gBTzU)

The All-seeing-eye is also known as the Eye of Providence. One of the first uses of this ancient symbol is found in the writings of ancient Egypt. The Eye of Ra is drawn on the walls of many ancient Egyptian buildings. It represents the Divine presence and power among all the peoples of the world and all living creatures. The Eye of Ra was ultimately connected with the Christian God, but was not depicted as having any relationship to Christianity prior to the Medieval era.  The Christian Trinity was eventually symbolized by a triangle with the Divine eye at the center, resulting in this specific symbol. This symbol has been used in many documents: political, Masonic, religious, etc. as a primary symbol of Divine providence. In 1782, it was engraved into the top of the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States.

Excerpt from the book: “Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons” Jean-Louis DE BIASI, Llewellyn Publications (http://goo.gl/gBTzU)

At the time of the earliest beginning of many religious traditions, the central altar was very often a piece of stone that was employed for offerings and sacrifices. Depending on the religion, or philosophical mystery teaching, the altar was placed variously, including: at the center of the Temple, in the East or in front of the Eastern wall. There is no set rule for the shape of these altars. They may be: circular, cubic, rectangular, etc. However, despite the variations, it is quite impossible to imagine a temple, or church without such altar.

Excerpt from the book: “Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons” Jean-Louis DE BIASI, Llewellyn Publications (http://goo.gl/gBTzU)

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: ascent, elevation, bringing up

Long Description: ascent, elevation, bringing up; the approach to the divine realm by means of purifications ( katharmoi), initiations ( teletai), the Platonic dialectic and allegorical exegesis, contemplation ( theoria) and the ineffable sacred rites employed in theurgy; it is prefigured by the sacred way which the initiates of mysteries ( mustai) walk, the path to the mountain ( oreibasia); typological analogies of the Neoplatonic ascent to the divine may be seen in the Pyramid Texts and the accounts of mi’raj of the Prophet Muhammad in the later Islamic tradition.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: literally, a "lifting up of the mind"

Long Description: (A) recollection, remembrance; in the Orphico-Pythagorean context, it is understod as a remembrance of one’s true divine nature, revealed through the sacred initiation; the idea of memory and restoration of the soul’s true identity is crucial for the Egyptian tradition as reflected in the Book of the Dead and later employed by Pythagoreans and Plato who explains anamnesis as recollection of things known before birth and forgotten (Meno 85d); thus Platonic learning is equated to remembering ( Phaed.72e). (B) literally, a "lifting up of the mind"; recollection or remembrance, as in the Platonic doctrine that all knowledge is a recalling of truths latent in the soul.

Source(s): (A) The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys (B) The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity, by Frithjof Schuon, edited by Dr. James S. Cutsinger

Short Description: man

Long Description: man; in Gnosticism, the macrocosmic anthropos is regarded as the Platonic ‘ideal animal’, autozoon, or a divine pleroma, which contains archetypes of creation and manifestation.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: impassivity or freedom from emotions, understood as a philosophical virtue

Long Description: impassivity or freedom from emotions, understood as a philosophical virtue; apatheia means not being affected in any way and is applied both to the sages and transcendent entities by the Neoplatonists.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: (apeiros, apeiria): lacking of limit, unlimitted

Long Description: (apeiros, apeiria): lacking of limit, unlimitted, as an opposite to peras, a bound; the even as an opposite to the odd; this is a fundamental Pythagorean term, designating one of the main principles of manifested being; the Pythagorean Unlimitted is indefinite and in need of Limit, it is infinite in a negative sense as infinitely divisible; in Neoplatonism, peras and apeiron constitute the primal archetypal duality located somewhere between the ineffable One and the noetic cosmos.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: secret, prohibited, unspeakable

Long Description: secret, prohibited, unspeakable; the common designation of mysteries and sacred rites of initiation; in Neoplatonism, the term is applied in metaphysics and negative theology, frequently understood as a characteristic of the First Principle.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: divinization; in the esoteric sense it is accomplished by the philosophical purification and theurgical anagoge which reveals one’s primal and true identity with the divine principles

Long Description: divinization; in the esoteric sense it is accomplished by the philosophical purification and theurgical anagoge which reveals one’s primal and true identity with the divine principles; this is not a Homeric conception, because Homer clearly separates the gods and men; however, following the ancient Egyptian spiritual paterns, the Orphic texts already promised apotheosis and immortality for the initiated soul who (like the Egyptian ba and the psuche in Plato’s Phaedrus) restores her wings and raises up back to the divine homeland.

Source(s): The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys

This word means to become Divine, to ascend to a divine level. The origins of this concept are found in the historical writings of many ancient religious and theurgic traditions. In ancient civilizations like Sumer and Egypt, the King was divinized and considered as the manifestation of God itself.  This was also true in Greece. The French monarchy also used this same principle. In Theurgy, the apotheosis occurs when, as a result of the soul’s contemplation, it is raised to the highest level of consciousness. The theurgic rituals are performed in order to ascend to this Divine world.

Christian theology attempted to associate this concept of “becoming God” with the absolute distinction between the unique God and its creatures. The resulting use of the term Apotheosis by that group is closer to an act of “partaking of the Divine nature”, rather than a real revelation of your own Divinity.

Excerpt from the book: “Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons” Jean-Louis DE BIASI, Llewellyn Publications (http://goo.gl/gBTzU)