A Pagan Glossary of Terms

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The following is a list of technical words and phrases which may prove of value tothe reader, taken from the 1989 edition of Real Magic. This will be updated overthe next few months to incorporate new terms and definitions, as well aspolytheological vocabulary, with internal hyperlinks activated, and willeventually grow into A Polytheological Dictionary for Neopagans. Readers shouldremember that many of these definitions and coinages are my own, and that otherauthorities may disagree with me. All definitions should be taken, regardless ofthe source, as tentative approaches to complex realities.Absorption:An antipsi talent for absorbing the power out of psychic energy fields, includingthose around other beings. See Tapping and Vampire, Psychic.Achromatics:The "colors" black, grey and white; used occasionally to refer to moralisticschools of occultism.Active Ritual:One in which those persons raising and focussing the psychic energies are not themain targets intended to be changed.Active Talent:A psychic talent that involves the discharge of energy or data from the agent tothe target.Adept:One who is very skilled in magic or mysticism.Agent:The person or animal exercising a psychic talent.Air:One of the main "elements" in occultism; associated in the West with thought,knowledge, yellow, blue, swords, activity, daring, light, communication, heat,dampness, etc.Akasa or Akasha:One of the "elements" in Indian and Tantric occultism, equivalent in most ways tothe "ether" concept and/or that of "astral" matter.Akasic Records:A concept in Indian metaphysics, of a gigantic repository of all the memories ofevery incarnation of every being; some gifted ones are said to be able to "read"these records (possibly through retrocognition or the clair senses) and to gaindata about past events. See Switchboard.Amplification:A psi or antipsi talent for boosting the power levels of psychic energy fields.Anachronism:Something that appears to be from a time period other than the one in which it isperceived; as in medieval knights and ladies in modern America or astronomical

computers in the Stone Age.Angel:A personification of what we consider good or pleasant. In theoilogy, a being justbelow the main god(s) in power for good. In some magical systems, a sort of"psychic robot."Angelology:Medieval science of studying angels. Question: how many angels can dance on thehead of a photon? Answer: give the physicists who are working on quantizingconsciousness another decade or two.Animal-Psi or Anpsi:A little-used term for psychic phenomena involving the interactions of animalswith humans, each other and the environment.Animism:The belief that everything is alive. The Law of Personification taken as astatement of universal reality rather than as one of psychic convenience.Anthropomancy:Divination from human entrails.Anti-Psi or Antipsi:A categorical term for several genuine psychic talents that (for the most part)serve to frustrate, avoid, confuse, destroy or otherwise interfere with theoperation of normal psi; they can affect the power and/or information contentand/or vector of psi fields within range.APK:See Atomic Psychokinesis.Apopsi or Avoidance:An antipsi power that appears to generate an energy field into which no externalpsi field can penetrate; may work through transmutation, retuning or aportation;may interfere with internal psi fields as well.Aportation:a PK talent involving the seemingly instantaneous movement of an object from onelocation in space-time to another, apparently without going through the normalspace-time in between. See Teleportation.Archetype:(1) Original astral form of a phenomenon; (2) In the psychology of C. G. Jung, aninherited idea or mode of thought derived from the experiences of the species andpresent in the unconscious of the individual who picks it up from the collectiveunconscious of the species.Asceticism:A method of altering the state of one's consciousness through the avoidance ofcomfort and pleasure; when extreme, may become masochism.Aspect, Astrological:Angle formed between two items on an astrological chart.Assimilation:A technique of psychic healing involving the picking up of a patient's pain and/orillness by the healer, who experiences it personally for a short time, after which

it is supposed to vanish in both patient and healer; may also be doneaccidentally.Association:Connection or correlation between two or more objects, ideas or beings; thusforming a pattern.Association, Law of:"If any two or more patterns have elements in common, the patterns interact'through' those common elements and control of one pattern facilitates controlover the other(s), depending (among other factors) upon the number of commonelements involved."Astral Planes:Subjectively real "places" where some astral projectors perceive themselves astraveling; said to be multiple "levels" of (a) material density in the same space,and/or (b) awareness and concentration.Astral Projection:An OOBE or Psi talent that may involve traveling GESP with the image of a bodyand/or the separation of a "less dense" body from the normal physical one.Astrology:Divination through the correlation of earthly events with celestial patterns.Athame:Ritual dagger used by Neopagan Witches, borrowed by Gerald Gardner from medievalgrimoires.Atomic Psychokinesis or APK:Psychokinesis done upon the molecular, atomic or subatomic levels; a subcategoryof PK.Augury:Divination by means of whatever is most handy at the time.Aura:One or more energy fields supposedly generated by and surrounding all beings andmany objects; those persons blessed with clairvoyance or other psychic talents can"read" the patterns of energy and determine information about the person orobject. See Kirlian Photography.Belle Indifference:Lack of interest or concern on the part of a "hysteric" or RSPKer towards unusualevents occurring in or around him or her.Beltane:Celtic fire festival beginning the summer half of the year; starts at sunset onMay 4th and is also known as Bealtaine, Galan- Mai, Roodmas, Walpurgistag, St.Pierre's Day, Red Square Day, etc. Celebrated by most Neopagans and many Marxistsas a major religious holiday.Bibliomancy:Divination through the random selection of words or phrases taken out of books,especially the Bible.Biocurrents:Electrochemical energy currents generated by living cells.