Infinitum

Keats: On first looking into Chapman’s Homer

MUCH have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Tags: Keats, poetry

Phlogiston

The phlogiston theory (from the Ancient Greek φλογιστόν phlŏgistón “burning up”, from φλόξ phlóx “fire”), first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is a defunct scientific theory that posited the existence of a fire-like element called “phlogoism” that was contained within combustible bodies, and released during combustion. The theory was an attempt to explain processes such as combustion and the rusting of metals, which are now understood as oxidation.

History
In 1667, Johann Joachim Becher published his Physical Education, which was the first mention of what would become the phlogiston theory. Traditionally, alchemists considered that there were four classical elements: fire, water, air, and earth. In his book, Becher eliminated fire and air [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: Scientific, theories

hic sunt dracones

“Here be dragons” is a phrase used to denote dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of the medieval practice of putting sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas of maps.

The only known historical use of this phrase is in the Latin form “HC SVNT DRACONES” (i.e. hic sunt dracones) on the Lenox Globe (ca. 1503-07). Earlier maps contain a variety of references to mythical and real creatures, but the Lenox Globe is the only known surviving map to bear this phrase.

The term appeared on the Lenox Globe around the east coast of Asia, and might be related to the komodo dragons in the Indonesian islands, [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: Maps, Mythology

Slavic mythology

As various Slavic populations were Christianised between the 7th and 12th centuries, Christianity was introduced as a religion of the elite, flourishing mostly in cities and amongst the nobility. Amongst the rural majority of the medieval Slavic population, old myths remained strong. Christian priests and monks in Slavic countries, particularly in Russia, for centuries fought against the phenomenon called dvoeverie (double faith). On the one hand, peasants and farmers eagerly accepted baptism, masses and the new Christian holidays. On the other hand, they still persisted performing ancient rites and worshiping old pagan cults, even when the ancient deities and [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: Mythology, Slavic

The names of the Watchers

According to the Book of Enoch, exactly 200 Watchers fell to Earth to take human wives. It names 20 of these, explaining that each one was a leader in a group of 10. In his book From the Ashes of Angels, Andrew Collins names a few others, and other reference works corroborate some of the names given in these sources, sometimes with alternate spellings. Through these various sources, I have collected information on what some of these named Watchers taught to mankind. Where there was a variation in wording, I have included both wordings.

According to Collins, there is no complete [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: watchers

Alchemy

Alchemy became known as the spagyric art after Greek words meaning to separate and to join together in the 16th century, the word probably being coined by Paracelsus. Compare this with one of the dictums of Alchemy in Latin: SOLVE ET COAGULA — Separate, and Join Together (or dissolve and coagulate).

The best-known goals of the alchemists were the transmutation of common metals into gold (called chrysopoeia) or silver (less well known is plant alchemy, or “spagyric”); the creation of a “panacea”, or the elixir of life, a remedy that, it was supposed, would cure all diseases and prolong life [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: alchemy

The sacred word YOD-HE-VAU-HE

The Kabbalah and the Sacred Word–The Yod–The He–The Vau–The second He–Synthesis of the Sacred Word.

ACCORDING to the ancient oral tradition of the Hebrews, or Kabbalah, 1 a sacred word exists, which gives to the mortal who can discover the correct way of pronouncing it, the key to all the sciences, divine and human. This word, which the Israelites never uttered, and which the High Priest pronounced once a year, amidst the shouts of the laity, is found at the head of every initiative ritual, it radiates from the centre of the flaming triangle at the 33rd degree of the Freemasonry [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: Kabbalah

Theosophy

Formation

Theosophical Society’s foundation act

The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City, USA, in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others. Its initial objective was the investigation, study and explanation of mediumistic phenomena. After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai). There, they also became interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society’s agenda. After several iterations the Society’s objectives have evolved to be:

to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: Root races, Theosophy, Thule

Bedlam

The Bethlem Royal Hospital of London is a psychiatric hospital in Beckenham, south east London. Although no longer in its original location and buildings, it is recognised as the world’s first and oldest institution to specialise in the mentally ill. It has been variously known as St. Mary Bethlehem, Bethlem Hospital, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam.
The word bedlam, meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from its name. Although the hospital is now at the forefront of humane psychiatric treatment, for much of its history it was notorious for cruelty and inhumane treatment – the epitome of what the term “madhouse” connotes to the modern reader.

History of Bethlem
Bethlem [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: Bedlam, insanity, mental health

Watchers

The Watchers (from Greek egrḗgoroi (ἐγρήγοροι)) or Grigori are a group of fallen angels told of in Biblical apocrypha who mated with mortal women, giving rise to a race of hybrids known as the Nephilim, who are also mentioned in Genesis 6:4. The Watchers appear in Biblical apocrypha, in the first and second books of Enoch and Jubilees. The word “Grigori” derives from the Slavonic Second Book of Enoch.

According to the Book of Enoch, the Watchers numbered a total of 200 but only their leaders are named:

And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of [...] Continue Reading…

Tags: nephilim, watchers