SATAN
/ SATANISM
Satan translated from the Hebrew, means 'the enemy'. Considered
to be the embodiment of evil in Jewish, Christian and Islamic
religions. Satan has many aliases, the Devil, the Prince of
Darkness and Beelzebub being among the most common, it is
used not to refer to him directly by as to utter the sound
or name of Satan is thought to draw unwelcome attention. There
are those who revere him as a deity, as a source of black
magic, and rituals are performed to him. The worship of the
Devil is known as Satanism.
Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally
focuses upon the spiritual advancement of self, rather than
upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. It should
be noted also that so-called classic 'Satanism' is not actually
known to be practiced in the world today. This is the Satanism
depicted during the Inquisition with tales of murder, incest
and baby eating.
The emergence of modern Satanism was largely the result of
a hoax carried out by French journalist Leo Taxil in the late
nineteenth century. In 1884 Taxil published pamphlets detailing
a vast satanic organisation, the Palladian order, which was
associated with Freemasonry. After several years, during which
the Catholic Church lent the anti-Palladian crusade its full
support, Taxil announced that the whole things was a fraud,
concocted to demonstrate how gullible the Catholic Church
was. The word 'Satanism' first entered the English language
in media accounts of the Palladian affair.
The 1960's and 70's saw a large scale campaign to prove that
secret conspiracies of Satanists were at work in American
society, committing crimes and encouraging sex, violence and
revolution. These claims reached a peak of frenzy in the 1980s
with dozens of satanic abuse accusations and prosecutions.
The 1980s also saw the emergence of Satanism as a small but
high profile sub culture among American teenagers. Drawing
their inspiration from Anton LaVey's 'Satanic Bible', and
from other Satan related ideas in literature, music and popular
culture, adolescent Satanists became the focus of a great
deal of debate and uproar in the media when a few disturbed
teenagers committed crimes in the name of Satanism.
Many contemporary Satanists eschew traditional religious beliefs,
attitudes and worship in favour of a more egotistic worldview
and practices such as magic.
SELF
The central archetype ( q.v. ); the archetype of order;
the totality of the personality. Symbolised by circle, square,
quaternity ( q.v. ), child, mandala etc.
C.G.
Jung : "The self is a quantity that is superordinate
to the conscious ego. It embraces not only the conscious but
also the unconscious psyche, and is therefore, so to speak,
a personality which we also are. . . There is little
hope of our ever being able to reach even approximate consciousness
of the self, since however much we may make conscious there
will always exist an indeterminate and indeterminable amount
of unconscious material which belongs to the totality of the
self." ( Two Essays on Analytical Psychology,
Coll. Works, Vol 7, p. 175.)
"
The self is not only the centre but also the whole circumferences
which embraces both consciousness and unconscious; it is the
centre of this totality, just as the ego is the centre of
the conscious mind." ( Psychology and Alchemy,
Coll. Works, Vol. 12, p. 41)
"The
self is our life's goal, for it is the completest expression
of that fateful combination we call individuality." (
Two Essays, Coll. Works, Vol 7, p. 238.)
From
C.G. Jung 'Memories, Dreams and Reflections p 416-417
SHADOW
According to Carl Jung, the shadow is the hidden or unconscious
aspect of a person that the conscious self [the ego] has either
repressed or ignored. The shadow is mostly composed of those
elements of themselves a person finds distasteful, such as
taboo urges, resentments and animal instincts. These repressed
elements, however, still find a way to be heard by the projection
of those qualities on to someone else. In other words, someone
else is blamed for a persons own weaknesses. Despite negative
associations of the shadow, acknowledging and assimilating
it into the ego is, according to Jung, a sign of a healthy
person.
From
From C.G. Jung 'Memories, Dreams and Reflections p 417
"The
inferior part of the personality; sum of all personal and
collective psychic elements which, because of their incompatibility
with the chosen conscious attitude, are denied expression
in life and therefore coalesce into a relatively autonomous
"splinter personality" with contrary tendencies
in the unconscious. The shadow behaves compensatory to consciousness;
hence its effects can be positive as well as negative."
C.G.Jung
: "The shadow personifies everything that the subject
refuses to acknowledge about himself and yet is always thrusting
itself upon him directly and indirectly - for instance, inferior
traits of character and other incompatible tendencies."
( The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Coll.
Works, Vol. 9, p. 284)
"The
shadow is that hidden, repressed, for the most part inferior
and guilt-laden personality whose ultimate ramifications reach
back into the realm of our animal ancestors and so comprise
the whole historical aspect of the unconscious. . . . if it
has been believe hitherto that the human shadow was the source
of all evil, it can now be ascertained on closer investigation
that the unconscious man, that is, his shadow, does not consist
only of morally reprehensible tendencies, but also displays
a number of good qualities, such as normal instincts, appropriate
reaction, realistic insights, creative impulses, etc."
( Aion, Coll. Works, Vol. 9, part 2, p. 266.)
SHAMAN
A magician - priest - healer - wise person who serves tribal
peoples of the Americas, India, Australia, Siberia and Mongolia,
as well as in some northern European traditions. In other
traditions shamans are also known as witch doctors or medicine
men.
The shaman is a follower of a visionary tradition that reaches
back to prehistory and is based on animistic ideas about the
world. They are often well versed in herbalism and spiritual
healing and can enter altered states of consciousness to tap
into the elemental powers of nature and the spirit world for
the health and well being of their people. They will typically
use rhythmic drumming, dancing, chanting, fasting, drugs and
vision quests to induce trance states, which allow the shamans
should to enter the sprit world in order to heal, divine the
future, communicate with spirits of the dead and perform other
supernatural feats.
Shamans also consult spirit guides in the form of animal guardians
called totems. They guide their people to awareness and maturity
by helping hem to contact their own totem guides, or something
through the use of psychogenic or psychedelic substances.
The shaman lives in two worlds: ordinary reality and non-ordinary
reality called the 'shamanic state of consciousness'. The
shaman remains lucid throughout his altered state, controls
it and recalls afterwards what transpired during it. In this
state he has access to information that is closed off during
ordinary reality.
SOCIETY
FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
First organisation established to investigate the paranormal
scientifically, set up in London in 1882. The Society for
Psychical Research [SPR] was formed by a group of individuals
whose aim was to discover scientific proof of spiritualist
phenomena. In 1885 the SPR helped found the American Society
for Psychical Research in Boston.
In time the SPR turned it attention from physical mediumship
to other phenomena that might suggest evidence for ESP or
survival after death, such a mental mediumship. By 1900 the
Society had produced thousands of reports and articles as
well as substantial works such as 'Phantasms of the Living'
[1886], a huge study of apparitions, and 'Human Personality
and Its Survival of Bodily Death', a comprehensive study of
evidence for survival.
By 1910 most of the key members of the group had died but
after death they reportedly communicated through various mediums,
providing evidence for cross correspondences.
The SPR differs from the American society in that for the
most part it leaves research to its members, whereas in the
ASPR this is left to the staff. Currently it runs a programme
of monthly lectures with a variety of invited speakers, held
in the Lecture Hall of the Kensington Public Library. Admission
is free to SPR members, with an admission fee for non-members.
The SPR also runs courses in psychic development and holds
an annual conference at different venues around the UK. www.spr.ac.uk
The SPR maintains an impressive library and publishes research
articles in the Society's 'Journal and Proceedings', which,
since 1995, have appeared in a magazine called the 'Paranormal
Review'. Research and information about the society is also
available online www.spr.ac.uk
SOUL
The
soul is believed to be the animating prescence within a person
and represents the individuals core identity, as distinguished
from the physical body. It is thought to live on after death
on this plane of existence and, depending on believes, lives
in heaven, hell or purgatory, is reincarnated or is transformed
into another living person, animal, plant or other organic
material. If a distinction is made between mind, body and
spirit, soul refers to the essence of a person and spirit
refers to the life force.
The
concept of soul is for many difficult to define as it differs
according to belief system. However, in almost all religious
traditions, except Buddhism, it is believed to be immortal.
In spiritualism the soul is conceived of as discarnate and
indivisible and each person is normally allocated one. The
soul, however, can detach from the body and may leave it during
out of body experiences and near death experiences. It is
also the part of a person that is said to travel into the
astral plane. In some cases apparitions are regarded as a
reflection of the soul itself.
C.G.
Jung : " If the human soul is anything, it must be of
unimaginable complexity and diversity, so that ti cannot possibly
be approached through a mere psychology of instinct. I can
only gaze with wonder and awe at the depths and heights of
our psychic nature. Its non-spatial universe conceals an untold
abundance of images which have accumulated over millions of
years of living development and become fixed in the organism.
My consciousness is like an eye that penetrates to the most
distant space, yet it is the psychic non-ego hat fills them
with non-spatial images. And these images are not pale shadows,
but tremendously powerful psychic factors. . . Besides this
picture I would like to place the spectacle of the starry
heavens at night, for the only equivalent of the universe
within is the universe without; and just as I reach this world
through the medium of the body, so I reach that world through
the medium of the psyche." ( Freud and Psychoanalysis,
Coll. Works, Vol. 4, pp. 331 ff.)
"It
would be blasphemy to assert that God can manifest Himself
everywhere save only in the human soul. Indeed the very intimacy
of the relationship between God and the soul automatically
precludes any devaluation of the latter. It would be going
perhaps too far to speak of an affinity; but at all events
the soul must contain in itself the faculty of relation to
God, i.e. a correspondence, otherwise a connection could never
come about. This correspondence is, in psychological terms,
the archetype of the God-image. ( Psychology and Alchemy,
Coll. Works, Vol. 12, pp. 10 ff.)
SOUL
MATE
The romantic belief that every person soul has a counterpart
and true happiness and fulfillment can only be found by meeting
and joining with that counterpart. In some cases this search
may span several incarnations.
Some people consult psychics, astrologers and so on in an
effort to find or attract their soul mate. Opinions differ
as to whether soul mates will come together naturally or whether
they must earn their affinity. It is generally thought, however,
that an obsession with soul mates puts unnecessary pressure
on a relationship by creating impossible expectations.
You
can read more about the concept explored from Steven Warren's
unique 'parallel lives' to understand why this idea of soul
mates came about here www.stevenwarren.co.uk/parallel-lives
SPACE
CLEARING
The
practice of clearing clutter from the home or office in order
to improve the flow of natural energies through the evniornment.
The aim of space clearing is to create harmony and balance
in a person's life by first creating it in personal living
spaces. Many beleive space clearing to be the first step in
applying feng shui principles to living and working spaces.
It is certainly similar to geomancy and other practices that
work with the energies of the earth.
Generally
there are believed to be three types of clutter: physical,
vibrational and internal. Physical clutter relates to the
clutter of objects, papers and things that create an untidy
enviornment. Vibrational clutter is those unresolved and negative
issues in a person's life, such as unaswered letters, debts
and stressful relationships. Dealing with these matters clear
the unconscious mind and results in more energy. Internal
clutter is assocated wtih health and concerns lifestyle choices
and habits such as poor diet, lack of exercise and so on.
Balancing the internal clutter through positive lifestyle
change or energy enhancing treatments like massage or acupuncture
is thought to result in improved health and wellbeing.
SPIRIT
A supernatural force of nature, discarnate entity or the animating
essence within our physical bodies; sometimes referred to
as soul but not precisely the same as the soul. Spirits can
also represent places, such as the spirit of lakes, trees,
mountains and scared sites.
Spirit is the divine essence of who we are, an individual
part of the three aspects of human existence: mind, body and
spirit. In many belief systems the spirit survives death and
can be contacted by a medium on our plane of existence.
Spirits are commonplace in the religions and folklores of
the world and come in a multitude of shapes and forms, such
as fairies, elves, demons and angels. In some cultures they
are also thought to personify characteristics and forces of
nature, which are worshipped. They are believed to exist in
an invisible realm but can be seen by persons with clairvoyance.
They are also thought to intervene at times in the affairs
of humanity, for better or for worse.
The term is often used to describe all non-physical entities,
including ghosts, but a spirit is not strictly speaking the
same as a ghost even though the distinction between the two
is sometimes vague. Spiritualism refers to a belief in the
immortality of the soul and to communication with spirits
of the dead, according to medium Arthur Ford, spirit was 'nothing
more than the stream of consciousness of a person with which
we are familiar in every human being. This is what survives
death not as a spiritual wraith but as an oblong blur.' Society
for Psychical Research founder Frederick Myers suggested in
his book 'Human Personality and Its Survival After Death'
[1903] that the spirit is the unknown part of a mans personality,
'which we discern as operating before or after death in the
methetherical environment.'
SPIRIT
GUIDE
A discarnate entity often perceived as the higher self or
a spirit of the dead that serves as communications bridge,
guardian or guide. In shamism the spirit guide is known as
a totem animal in spiritualism it is known as the mediums
control, while in witchcraft it is known as a familiar.
It is widely held around the world that every person has one
or more spirit guides from birth that remain with the person
throughout their life. At death these guides assist the soul
in crossing over to death. Psychics are often very aware of
their spirit guides. Some speak to them in dreams, see them
clairvoyantly or receive clairaudient messages through meditation
and visualisation. Children who have imaginary friends may
be communicating with their guides.
SPIRITUAL
HEALING
General
term used to describe a multitude of methods in which a healer
serves as a channel for healing energies to be directed into
a patient. This healing energy is believed to stimulate the
body's self-healing systems and the healing can be physical,
emotional or spiritual. Teh source of the healing energy depends
on individual belief. Some say it is from God, others from
the universal life force, spirit guides and so on.
Although
the spiritual healer acts a channel he or she still needs
to have innate healing or psychic ability. Healers sometimes
touch the person in need of healing to concentrate and focus
the energy; at other times they keep their hands just above
the body. Sometimes healing takes palce from a distance (see
absent healing below)
Spiritual
healers do not guarantee a cure but many people who have attended
spiritual healing sessions report feelings of tingling or
warmth where the energy is directed and a feeling of relaxation
afterwards. Because spiritual healing is a holistic therapy
that aims to treat the whole person it has been found to be
particularly beneficial for stress related conditons and emotional
upsets.
Absent
Healing - Healing
that results from sending healing thoughts, visualization,
prayers or energy towards some distant person or persons.
It is based on the belief that all beings are interconnected
by a universal life force or energy and that healing thoughts
send out subtle energetic charges into this web of interconnection
and out to the person being thought about.
Aside
from countless personal accounts from those who have benefited
from absent healing, American doctor Larry Dossey conducted
several double blind trials to test the effectiveness of absent
healing in the early 1990's. At the end of the trials the
groups that had been the object of prayer showed greater improvement
in health than the control groups.
Scientists
are now proposing that psychokenisis is at the basis of healing
be this self healing or healing by another person focusing
positive intention on another individual. See healing for
a more detailed exploration.
SPIRITUALISM
Religious and social movement that began in the United States
in 1848 and quickly spread to Britain and Europe. Interest
peaked in the early twentieth century and then subsided, although
today it still remains a vigorous religion around the world,
especially Britain and America. Its appeal originally derived
from the evidence it purported to provide of survival after
death, manifested through mediums who allegedly communicated
with spirits and performed paranormal feats.
Spiritualists believe that the soul survives death and make
a transition to the spirit world. Communication with these
souls is made possible through purposeful contact with the
departed - a séance - via a medium. The medium goes
into trance and through his or her psychic ability allegedly
establishes a link between this world and the afterlife. The
spirits then speak through the medium, who is temporarily
possessed by this entity. This contact is taken as proof by
believers that there is indeed life after death.
Spiritualism had a difficult relationship with Christianity
from the onset. Some Christians reject it as Satanic and even
tried to have it legally banned. Some spiritualists believed
in breaking ties with religion while others sought the endorsement
of the Church by advocating belief in Christian principles.
Today Spiritualist churches remain active in Britain, the
United States, Brazil and other countries. The majority are
modelled on Protestant churches but without a ministry. The
emphasis is on spiritual healing [prayer, laying on of hands
and energy transfer] and mental mediumship which can include
trance messages communicated from spirits to the congregation.
Spiritualists believe that their religion has been scientifically
proved by the paranormal feats of mediums. This is because,
according to believers, Spiritualism offers proof of life
after death in a way no other religion can; the living can
talk directly to their dearly departed, and, more importantly,
learn how best to live to later profit after they themselves
pass on.
The largest spiritualist organisation in the United States
is the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the
USA but the largest spiritualist organisations in the world
are in the UK: the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain
and the Spiritualists National Union. Until 1951 Spiritualism
had no legal status in the UK due to the Witchcraft Act of
1735, which enabled the prosecution of mediums as witches,
but in 1951 that law was repealed and replaced by the fraudulent
mediums' act.
STRING
THEORY
The theory that what are perceived, as particles are actually
vibrations on strings on membranes in a 10- or 11-dimensional
space. This theory resolves the incompatibility between general
relativity [the principle that gravitational and inertial
forces are equivalent] and quantum theory and unifies them.
String theory has been developed for several decades, with
a goal to become 'the theory of everything', that is, to unify
all four fundamental forces - gravity, electromagnetism, and
strong and weak nuclear forces. A revolutionary discovery
of the theory is that the while universe should have nine
or ten dimensions of space, instead of three [length, width
and height].
In an earlier version of string theory, it was assumed that
only three dimensions are observed because the other extra
dimensions are too small to be seen. However, a few years
before 2000, researchers suggested that these extra dimensions
could be as large as the ordinary dimensions. The reason they
cannot be seen is because all matter and electromagnetic waves
are confined in a three dimensional sub universe, called 'brainworld'.
String theory tries to explain multidimensional phenomena
beyond Einstein's four dimensions [the three spatial ones
plus time] and because it does this is has been proposed by
some physicists as an explanation for so called paranormal
phenomena. It attempts to address the mystery of the multi-dimensional
nature of reality by hypothesizing the existence of hyperspaces
that exist beyond the perceptual boundaries of the physical
senses, and by so doing it could potentially validate psychic
phenomena. Ultimately, it has been suggested that string theory
will be capable of explaining everything there is to explain,
including paranormal phenomena, but scientific research has
not reached that stage yet and the suggestions remains controversial.
SUPEREGO
According to Sigmund Freud, the superego is the higher part
of the mind that gives a person a sense of right and wrong,
of pride and guilt and of what is acceptable and what is not.
It is the opposite of the id, which is the unconscious part
of a person that only desires gratification of its own needs.
The superego tends to make a person act in ways that are acceptable
to society by repressing the needs of the id.
A
example of this would be the desire to eat another slice of
cake when already full. The id would urge a person to gratify
their appetite but the superego woud impose guilt at the thought
of eating something that is unhealthy and unnecessary. The
ego, the cosncious part of the mind, is in the middle of this
battle between the id and the supergo, attempting to balance
out conflicting desires. This is made easier by the fact that
the id and superego tend to operate on an unconscious level.
If an adult is a reasonably mature person then the id, ego
and superego will act in a balanced way, but if not the result
is childish, immature behaviour.
SYMBOL
A symbol, in its basic sense, is a representational object
or visual image for a concept, object, idea, quality or quantity.
It expresses a concept or idea beyond the object or image
itself. A symbol can be a material object whose shape or origin
is related to the thing it represents: for instance, the cross
is the main symbol of Christianity. A symbol can also be an
image [icon] or a patter or colour, for example, the halo
is a conventional symbol of sainthood in Christian imagery
and the colour red is often used as a symbol for socialist
movements. Symbols can also be immaterial entities like sounds,
words and gestures, for example, bowing is a common way to
indicate respect. The discipline of semiotics studies symbols
and symbol systems in general; semantics is specially concerned
with the meaning of words.
People respond to symbols both consciously and unconsciously
every day. Symbolistic thought dates back to primitive times
and in every culture, past and present, symbols play a crucial
role both in religion and in society as a whole. Religious
and metaphysical writing are known for their use of esoteric
symbolism, because they are believed to contain secret wisdom
assessable only to the initiated. Alchemical writings also
made extensive use of symbols for spiritual and chemical processes
[which practitioners also saw as symbols for each other].
Symbols also play a key part in magical ritual and practice
because magic symbols are believed to be the keys to raising
within the magician the qualities or abilities expressed by
the symbols.
The interpretation of dreams as symbols of ones experiences
is a main feature of Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian analytical
psychology, and the understanding of symbols and the integration
of them into consciousness is an important part of various
psychology's. Carl Jung believed that objects and ideas that
become symbols are endowed with a great psychological power
and can carry empowering messages to the psyche. According
to Jung symbols are the language of the unconscious, but to
be effective they must not be interpreted literally as their
true meaning must always be beyond the reach of logic and
comprehension.
Some
common symbols
There are thousands of symbols that are recognised by most
people all over the world, and millions more that are limited
to certain religions, religions, societies, etc. Here is just
a sample of the best known:
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