Safed
The town in the Galilee where sixteenth-century Kabbalah was reorganised, by Cordovero and then by Luria.
Reference · Glossary
Glossary
A guide to the words used across this site and in the texts behind it. Definitions describe historical usage, not proven supernatural effects. A term may mean different things in different traditions; the tradition label tells you which sense is meant here.
Looking for a sign rather than a word? Symbols draws the signs of astrology, alchemy and geomancy and links each to what this study says about it.
42 terms · page 1 of 3
Sagittarius
The Sagittarius sign of the zodiac. Sagittarius is mutable fire: a flame carried outward through travel, study, candour, belief, and the urge to find a horizon large enough to aim toward.
Salt in alchemy
A material and, in later alchemical systems, a term used for a principle of fixed or bodily substance; the intended sense depends on the text.
Sar-Torah
Also: Sar Torah
Prince of Torah. The angel adjured in part of the chariot literature so that what has been studied is never forgotten — a working for memory rather than for vision.
Saturn
A classical astrology planet. Saturn describes limits that acquire weight over time: duty, scarcity, endurance, structure, age and the consequences of delay.
Scorpio
The Scorpio sign of the zodiac. Scorpio is fixed water: feeling that gathers force in secrecy, allegiance, desire, grief, and the difficult work of staying present through a crisis.
Scourge, Dagger, and Chain
A ritual tool in Crowley, Book 4. A three-part disciplinary set arranged around the holy oil and read as Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt.
Scrying
Attempting to receive visions or messages through a reflective object or similar medium; Dee's diaries document it as a practice, not proof of its claims.
Seal
A marked emblem or design associated with a spirit, planet or rite. Some grimoires use 'seal' where others say 'character' or 'sigil'.
Second Temple period
From the rebuilding of the Temple in the sixth century BCE to its destruction in 70 CE — the setting of the apocalyptic throne visions behind the chariot literature.
Secret Seal of Solomon
A ritual tool in Ars Goetia. The seal that the Goetia says Solomon used to close the vessel containing the spirits and their legions.
Sefer Yetzirah
The Book of Formation, an early Jewish text that discusses ten sefirot and twenty-two foundation letters. Its meaning and diagrammatic interpretations are debated.
Sefirah
Also: Sephirah
One of the sefirot discussed in Jewish mystical texts. Accounts of their names, order and interpretation differ, so a diagram must identify its tradition.
Sefirot
Also: Sephiroth, sefiroth, sefirotic, sephirothic
The plural of sefirah, a central term in Jewish Kabbalah for divine emanations or attributes. Different texts do not always use the term in identical ways.
Sethian
A scholarly label for a group of related ancient texts that give Seth, the son of Adam, an important place in their mythic lineages.
Sextile
An approximate 60-degree relationship between chart positions, one of the classical aspects.
Shadow in emanation
Isaac Israeli's device for explaining why each level of a descent is dimmer than the one above it.
Shewstone
Also: Show-stone, shew-stone
A polished stone or crystal used for scrying; Dee's is the best-known.
Shi'ur Qomah
Also: Shiur Qomah
Measure of the body. A text giving the dimensions of the divine form in figures too vast to picture, which is generally taken to be the point of them.
Short lance
A ritual tool in Key of Solomon. A small spear or pointed tracing tool included with the Key's Mercury-made instruments.