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B.O.T.A.
The Builders of the Adytum (BOTA, also spelled B.O.T.A., BotA, or B.o.t.A.) is a school of the Western mystery tradition based in Los Angeles which is registered as a non-profit tax-exempt religious organization. It was founded by Paul Foster Case and has its roots in both the Hermetic Order of the Golden DawnBarrett, David V"Builders of the Adytum"in Clarke, Peter Bernard (ed.). ''Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements''. Psychology Press, 2006. and the Masonic blue lodge system.Hulse: Western Mysteries;p.148 It was later extended by Ann Davies. The B.O.T.A. teaches by correspondence, covering esoteric psychology, occult tarot, Hermetic Qabalah, astrology, and meditation techniques. It also holds a variety of ritual services and study groups, some open to the public. Worldwide membership is around 5,000. Origins of the name “Adytum” is Latin for “Inner Shrine” or “Holy of Holies” and “Builders” refer to the emulation of the Carpenter from Nazareth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Foster Case
Paul Foster Case (October 3, 1884 – March 2, 1954) was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on occult tarot and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of Builders of the Adytum or B.O.T.A. The knowledge lectures given to initiated members of the chapters of the B.O.T.A. were equally profound, although the limited distribution has made them less well known. Early life A modern scholar of the occult tarot and Qabalah, Paul Foster Case was born at 5:28 p.m., October 3, 1884 in Fairport, New York. His father was the town librarian and a deacon at the local Congregational church. When he was five years old, his mother began teaching him to play the piano and organ, and later in his youth, Case performed as organist in his family's church. A talented musician, he embarked on a successful career as a violinist, and orchestra conductor. He had an honorary d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Davies (occultist)
Ann Davies (October 28, 1912 – 1975) was an American occultist. B.O.T.A. Successor to Paul Foster Case in Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.), Davies served as Prolocutor General until her death in 1975. She expanded the curriculum of the school by amplifying and reworking Case's 'Esoteric Astrology' and by authoring the courses on 'Developing SuperSensory Powers,' 'Sexual Polarity,' 'Meditational Ascent of the Tree of Livingness,' and 'Qabalistic Doctrines of Rebirth.' According to her B.O.T.A. obituary, Ann was born on October 28, 1912, in Cleveland, Ohio. Published works ''This is Truth About the Self''. Short meditations covering the essence of each statement of The Pattern on the Trestleboard (something akin to a creed for the Builders of the Adytum). Touches on the Ten Divine Emanations depicted on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. ''Inspirational Thoughts on the Tarot''. Davies' original poetry, discussion of the attribution of the Tarot Keys and material from Davies' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divinatory, Esoteric And Occult Tarot
Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. French-suited playing cards can also be used; as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements (e.g., air, earth, fire, water). History One of the earliest references to tarot triumphs is given c. 1450–1470 by a Dominican preacher in a sermon against dice, playing cards and 'triumphs'. References to the tarot as a social plague or indeed as exempt from the bans that affected other games, continue throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but there are no indications that the cards were used for anything but games. As philosopher and tarot historian Michael Dummett noted, "it was only in the 1780s, when the practice of fortune-tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magical Organizations
A magical organization or magical order is an organization created for the practice of ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can include Hermetic orders, Wiccan covens and circles, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, witches' covens, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices. 19th century The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was an initiatic occult organisation that first became public in late 1894, although according to an official document of the order it began its work in 1870. The Order's teachings drew heavily from the magico-sexual theories of Paschal Beverly Randolph, who influenced later groups such as Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), although it is not clear whether or not Randolph himself was actually a member of the Order. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been credited with a vast revival of occult literature and practices and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical-religious societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and is a precursor to the Neopagan, Wiccan and New Age movements. The Hermetic Qabalah is the basis for Qliphothic Qabala as studied by left-hand path orders, such as the Typhonian Order. Hermetic Qabalah arose alongside and united with the Christian Cabalistic involvement in the European Renaissance, becoming variously Esoteric Christian, non-Christian, or anti-Christian across its different schools in the modern era. It draws on a great many influences, most notably: Jewish Kabbalah, Western astrology, Alchemy, Pagan religions, especially Egyptian and Greco-Roman (it is from the latter that the term "Hermetic" is derived), neoplatonism, gnosticism, the Enochian system of ange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical-religious societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and is a precursor to the Neopagan, Wiccan and New Age movements. The Hermetic Qabalah is the basis for Qliphothic Qabala as studied by left-hand path orders, such as the Typhonian Order. Hermetic Qabalah arose alongside and united with the Christian Cabalistic involvement in the European Renaissance, becoming variously Esoteric Christian, non-Christian, or anti-Christian across its different schools in the modern era. It draws on a great many influences, most notably: Jewish Kabbalah, Western astrology, Alchemy, Pagan religions, especially Egyptian and Greco-Roman (it is from the latter that the term "Hermetic" is derived), neoplatonism, gnosticism, the Enochian system of angeli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magical Organization
A magical organization or magical order is an organization created for the practice of ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can include Hermetic orders, Wiccan covens and circles, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, witches' covens, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices. 19th century The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was an initiatic occult organisation that first became public in late 1894, although according to an official document of the order it began its work in 1870. The Order's teachings drew heavily from the magico-sexual theories of Paschal Beverly Randolph, who influenced later groups such as Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), although it is not clear whether or not Randolph himself was actually a member of the Order. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been credited with a vast revival of occult literature and practices and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pronaos
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures, including most Western cultures. Some noteworthy examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome and the portico of University College London. Porticos are sometimes topped with pediments. Palladio was a pioneer of using temple-fronts for secular buildings. In the UK, the temple-front applied to The Vyne, Hampshire, was the first portico applied to an English country house. A pronaos ( or ) is the inner area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple, situated between the portico's colonnade or walls and the entrance to the ''cella'', or shrine. Roman temples commonly had an open pronaos, usually with only columns and no walls, and the pronaos could be as long as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. Examples of initiation ceremonies might include Christian baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bat mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order, or graduation from school or recruit training. A person taking the initiation ceremony in traditional rites, such as those depicted in these pictures, is called an ''initiate''. See also rite of passage. Characteristics William Ian Miller notes the role of ritual humiliation in comic ordering and testing. Mircea Eliade discussed initiation as a principal religious act by classical or traditional societies. He defined initiation as "a basic change in existential condition", which liberates man from p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MacGregor Mathers
Samuel Liddell (or Liddel) MacGregor Mathers (8 or 11 January 1854 – 5 or 20 November 1918), born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was a British occultist. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a ceremonial magic order of which offshoots still exist. He became so synonymous with the order that Golden Dawn scholar Israel Regardie observed in retrospect that "the Golden Dawn was MacGregor Mathers." Early life Mathers was born on 8 or 11 January 1854 in Hackney, London, England. His father, William M. Mathers, died while he was still a boy. His mother, whose maiden name was Collins, died in 1885. He attended Bedford School and subsequently worked in Bournemouth as a clerk, before moving to London following the death of his mother. His wife was Moina Mathers (née Mina Bergson), sister of the philosopher Henri Bergson. Lifestyle Mathers added the "MacGregor" surname as a claim to Highland Scottish heritage. He was a practising vegetarian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enlightenment (spiritual)
Used in a religious sense, enlightenment translates several Glossary of Buddhism, Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably ''bodhi'', ''kensho,'' and ''satori''. Related terms from Asian religions are ''kaivalya'' and ''moksha'' (liberation) in Hinduism, ''Kevala Jnana'' in Jainism, and ''ushta'' in Zoroastrianism. In Christianity, the word "enlightenment" is rarely used, except to refer to the Age of Enlightenment and its influence on Christianity. Roughly equivalent terms in Christianity may be Divine illumination, illumination, kenosis, metanoia (theology), metanoia, revelation, salvation, Divinization (Christian), theosis, and Religious conversion, conversion. Perennial philosophy, Perennialists and Universalism, Universalists view enlightenment and mysticism as equivalent terms for religious or spiritual insight. Asian cultures and religions Buddhism The English term ''enlightenment'' is the western translation of the abstract noun ''bodhi'', the knowledge or wisdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oath
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to give an affirmation instead. Nowadays, even when there is no notion of sanctity involved, certain promises said out loud in ceremonial or juridical purpose are referred to as oaths. "To swear" is a verb used to describe the taking of an oath, to making a solemn vow. Etymology The word come from Anglo-Saxon ' judicial swearing, solemn appeal to deity in witness of truth or a promise," from Proto-Germanic '' *aiþaz'' (source also of Old Norse eiðr, Swedish ed, Old Saxon, Old Frisian eth, Middle Dutch eet, Dutch eed, German Eid, Gothic aiþs "oath"), from PIE *oi-to- "an oath" (source also of Old Irish oeth "oath"). Common to Celtic and Germanic, possibly a loan-word from one to the other, but the history is obscure and it may ultimately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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