Short definitions of the terms that recur in our guides and in the literature itself. Where a word has a technical sense in one tradition and a looser one in general use, we give both.
- Alchemy
- The art of transmuting substances, especially base metals into gold, and of preparing medicines. It was practiced from the first centuries CE to the eighteenth century and has been read since as a symbolic language of inner change.
- Amulet
- An object worn or carried for protection. Compare talisman.
- Arcana
- Latin for "secrets". In tarot, the Major Arcana are the twenty-two trumps and the Minor Arcana the fifty-six suit cards. The terms were introduced in the 1860s.
- Astral magic
- Magic that draws on the powers of the stars and planets, typically by making an image at an astrologically chosen moment.
- Athenaeum
- A library or institution for literary and learned study, named for the goddess Athena.
- Book of Shadows
- In Wicca, the handwritten book of rituals and lore that an initiate copies and keeps.
- Cartomancy
- Divination with cards.
- Ceremonial magic
- Magic worked through elaborate ritual with consecrated tools, circles, prayers, and names of power.
- Chymistry
- A term used by historians for the undivided alchemy and chemistry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
- Codex
- A manuscript in the form of a book of bound leaves, as opposed to a scroll. The plural is codices.
- Correspondences
- The network of likenesses believed to link planets, metals, plants, colors, and parts of the body, so that each can act upon or stand for the others.
- Critical edition
- An edition that establishes a text by comparing the surviving manuscripts or printings and records their differences in notes.
- Decan
- One of the thirty-six divisions of the zodiac, each of ten degrees, inherited from Egyptian star clocks and important in astral magic.
- Demiurge
- Greek for "craftsman". In Plato, the divine maker of the cosmos. In Gnostic texts, the ignorant or hostile creator of the material world.
- Divination
- The art of gaining hidden knowledge by inspired or technical means.
- Emanation
- The flowing forth of lower levels of reality from a higher source, as in Neoplatonism and Kabbalah.
- Ephemera
- Printed matter made for a passing purpose: flyers, programs, tickets, and catalogs.
- Esoteric
- Inner; intended for or understood by the initiated. The noun esotericism names a family of Western currents that includes Hermetism, Kabbalah, and Theosophy.
- Exoteric
- Outer; teaching given openly to all. The counterpart of esoteric.
- Gematria
- The interpretation of Hebrew words by the numerical value of their letters.
- Geomancy
- Divination by sixteen figures made of dots and generated by chance.
- Gnosis
- Greek for "knowledge", especially a saving knowledge of the divine and of one's own origin.
- Goetia
- From a Greek word for sorcery. In later usage, the magic of evoking spirits, and the title of the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon.
- Grimoire
- A handbook of magic.
- Hermetica
- The writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
- Hermetism and Hermeticism
- Many scholars use Hermetism for the ancient Hermetic texts and their world, and Hermeticism for the later traditions of alchemy, magic, and philosophy that claimed Hermes as their founder.
- Horary astrology
- The branch of astrology that answers a question from a chart cast for the moment it is asked.
- Incunable
- A book printed in Europe before 1501.
- Initiation
- A rite of admission into a tradition, a grade, or a mystery.
- Kabbalah
- The main tradition of Jewish mysticism, centered on the ten sefirot. By convention spelled Cabala for its Christian adaptation and Qabalah for the Hermetic one.
- Macrocosm and microcosm
- The great world and the little world: the doctrine that the human being reflects the structure of the universe.
- Manuscript
- A text written by hand. Abbreviated MS, with the plural MSS.
- Mystery religion
- An ancient cult entered by initiation and bound to secrecy, such as those of Eleusis, Isis, and Mithras.
- Mysticism
- The pursuit or experience of direct union with, or knowledge of, the divine.
- Natal astrology
- The branch of astrology that interprets the chart of a person's birth.
- Natural magic
- The use of the hidden but natural properties of things, as distinct from magic that involves spirits.
- Neoplatonism
- The modern name for the Platonist philosophy of Plotinus and his successors, from the third century CE.
- Occult
- Hidden. Occult qualities were properties known by their effects and not by the senses. The occult sciences are chiefly magic, astrology, alchemy, and divination.
- Pagan
- Originally a Latin word for a country dweller or civilian, applied by Christians to followers of the old religions. Now also a name chosen by members of modern polytheistic and nature-centered religions.
- Palimpsest
- A manuscript whose original writing was scraped or washed away so that the parchment could be reused. The lower text can sometimes be recovered.
- Pentacle
- In the grimoires, a consecrated figure or seal drawn on parchment or metal. In modern Paganism, a five-pointed star within a circle.
- Philosophers' stone
- The substance sought by alchemists that would transmute base metals into gold and, in some accounts, cure all disease.
- Pleroma
- Greek for "fullness". In Gnostic texts, the divine realm.
- Polytheism
- The worship of many gods.
- Prisca theologia
- Latin for "ancient theology": the Renaissance belief in a single true wisdom handed down from sages such as Hermes, Zoroaster, and Orpheus.
- Provenance
- The history of the ownership of a book or manuscript.
- Pseudepigrapha
- Works written under a false or borrowed name.
- Recension
- A distinct version of a text produced by revision.
- Sabbat
- In demonological writing, the supposed nocturnal assembly of witches. In modern Paganism, one of the eight seasonal festivals.
- Scriptorium
- A room or workshop in which manuscripts were copied.
- Scrying
- Seeing visions in a crystal, a mirror, a bowl of water, or another reflective surface.
- Sefirot
- The ten emanations or attributes through which, in Kabbalah, the Infinite is revealed. The singular is sefirah.
- Shelf mark
- The code that records where a book stands on the shelves.
- Sigil
- A sign or seal that represents a spirit, a planet, or an intention.
- Syncretism
- The blending of gods, ideas, or practices from different traditions.
- Talisman
- An object made at a chosen time and marked with images or characters in order to draw down a particular power. Compare amulet.
- Theosophy
- Literally "divine wisdom". Used both for the Christian mystical philosophy of Jacob Boehme and his heirs and for the modern movement founded in 1875.
- Theurgy
- "Divine work": ritual practice aimed at union with the gods, as taught by the later Platonists.
- Tria prima
- The three principles of Paracelsus: salt, sulfur, and mercury.
- Wheel of the Year
- The cycle of eight seasonal festivals observed by many modern Pagans.
- Zine
- A small self-published magazine, usually photocopied and traded or sold at cost.
More help with words
Dictionaries and encyclopedias of religion, magic, and symbolism are shelved in the Tower in class T 1. See Reference and Bibliography.