Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

Understanding Global Symbolism


Home
Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation

A to Z

Contact

Related Information

BIBLE VERSES

MAGIC, OR MAGICAL POWERS

A symbol of the inner and unobserved processes within the soul by which lower qualities are raised and transmuted into higher. These processes are the workings of Buddhi through the higher mind, in response to the aspirations of the personality.

"Those remained for ever with the Sun (Ra) who possessed the most minute information as to the next world and who were best versed in magic. Thus the whole doctrine (of immortality) is based upon a belief in the power of magic: by magic only could demons be worsted and everlasting bliss be won."

"Thoth was the god of writing, the scribe of the gods, and the god of letters—especially of religious literature. He was supposed to have written the most sacred books and formulas with his own hand, and therein to have set down his knowledge of magic, in which art Isis only was his rival." - WIEDEMANN, Rel. of Anc. Egyptians, pp. 95, 227.

"In the religious texts and works we see how magic is made to be the handmaiden of religion, and how it appears in certain passages side by side with the most exalted spiritual conceptions; and there can be no doubt that the chief object of magical books and ceremonies was to benefit those who had by some means obtained sufficient knowledge to make use of them." - BUDGE, Egyptian Magic, p. 3.

The power of magic is the efficacy of the buddhic function whereby the lower qualities are transmuted and the soul enabled to overcome the desires (demons) and rise to the planes of immortality.

Through the higher mind (Thoth) have come the revelations of the unseen contained in the symbolism of the sacred scriptures of the whole world. In the higher mind are to be found the meanings attached to the symbols of the ideas which have proceeded from the Holy Spirit or buddhic principle (Isis).

As the buddhic functioning (magic) is the means of the soul's redemption, its recognition is an exalted spiritual conception, and aspiration for its benefits is the essence of true religion.

The popular mistaken view of magic is referred to by Plutarch, who correctly gives the meaning of Isis.

"Isis,—Justice, Wisdom—shows the divine mysteries to be carriers of sacred things, and wearers of sacred robes: these are they that carry in the soul, as it were in a copper (bowl), the sacred story respecting the Gods, that cleanses the recipient from all superstition and magical follies." - PLUTARCH, Isis and Osiris, § 3.

The Wisdom (Isis) from above explains the Divine scriptures as containing secret things of the Spirit and hidden wisdom of the soul. These scriptures, venerated as a vehicle of Divine truth, are the means of opening the revering mind to intuitions of truth symbolised in the miraculous stories and nonsensical statements of the holy books and myths, and so cleansing the soul from superstition and sorcery, the products of ignorance, greed, and hate.

"The human soul is made to turn, by the subtle chemistry of its digestive experience, truth into goodness." - PHILIPS BROOKS, Serm., Young and Old Christian.

 

See Also

ALCHEMY
ASPIRATION
BARSOM
BUDDHI
BUDDHIC FUNCTION
CLOUDS
DEMONS
GRACE
HOLY GHOST
IMHOTEP
INTUITION
ISIS, GODDESS
MYTHOLOGY
PAPYRUS BOAT
PERSONALITY
REDEMPTION
RELIGION
REVELATION
RITUAL
SACRED TEXT
SCRIPTURES, SACRED
THOTH
TRANSMUTATION
WISDOM
WORD