Ritual bell
A ritual tool in Crowley, Book 4. A small, solemn bell attached to the chain, used to summon attention and to let one note decay completely into silence.
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.
342 terms · page 14 of 18
Ritual lamp
A ritual tool in Key of Solomon. The prepared lights of Book II: chiefly inscribed virgin-wax candles used for illumination within the circle.
Ritual robe
A ritual tool in Crowley, Book 4. A Tau-shaped garment of concealment, protection, silence, and withdrawal, varied according to grade and operation.
Rose Cross Lamen
A ritual tool in Golden Dawn. A wearable Golden Dawn synthesis of the elements, planets, zodiac, Hebrew letters, Sephiroth, and the order's colour scale—and the diagram from which many of its sigils are drawn.
Rubedo
The reddening that crowns the four-color sequence in some alchemical texts; it should not be imposed on every alchemical tradition.
Rulership
An astrological association of a planet with a sign or other chart place. Traditional and modern rulership lists can disagree and should be named as such.
Safed
The town in the Galilee where sixteenth-century Kabbalah was reorganised, by Cordovero and then by Luria.
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.