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very beginning of the third century (about 213). He was a great traveler,
and attended at Alexandria the lectures of Ammonius Saccas, the founder of
Neo-Platonism, but was rather a critic than a follower. Porphyry (the Jew
Malek or Malchus) was his pupil before he became the disciple of Plotinus.
It is said of him that he was a living library and a walking museum. Towards
the end of his life he became the instructor in Greek literature of Zenobia,
Queen of Palmyra. She repaid his services by accusing him before the Emperor
Aurelius of having advised her to rebel against the latter, a crime for
which Longinus, with several others, was put to death by the Emperor in 273.
Macrocosm (Gr.) The "Great Universe" or Kosmos, literally.
Magic The "great" Science. According to Deveria and other Orientalists,
"Magic was considered as a sacred science inseparable from religion" by the
oldest and most civilized and learned nations. The Egyptians, for instance,
were a most sincerely religious nation, as were, and are still, the Hindus.
"Magic consists of, and is acquired by, the worship of the gods," says
Plato. Could, then, a nation which, owing to the irrefragable evidence of
inscriptions and papyri, is proved to have firmly believed in magic for
thousands of years, have been deceived for so long a time? And is it likely
that generations upon generations of a learned and pious hierarchy, many
among whom led lives of self-martyrdom, holiness, and asceticism, would have
gone on deceiving themselves and the people (or even only the latter) for
the pleasure of perpetuating belief in "miracles"? Fanatics, we are told,
will do anything to enforce belief in their god or idols. To this we reply:
In such cases Brahmins and Egyptian Rekhget-amens or Hierophants, would not
have popularized the belief in the power of man by magic practices, to
command the services of the gods: which gods are in truth but the occult
powers or potencies of Nature, personified by the learned priests
themselves, who reverenced only in them the attributes of the one unknown
and nameless Principle.
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As Proclus, the Platonist, ably puts it:
Ancient priests, when they considered that there is a certain alliance and
sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things manifest to occult
powers, and discovered that all things subsist in all, fabricated a sacred
science from this mutual sympathy and similarity & and applied for occult
purposes both celestial and terrene natures, by means of which, through a
certain similitude, they deduced divine natures into this inferior abode.
Magic is the science of communicating with, and directing supernal
supramundane potencies, as well as commanding those of lower spheres; a
practical knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature which are known only
to the few, because they are so difficult to acquire without falling into
sin against the law. Ancient and medieval mystics divided magic into three
classes-Theurgia, Goetia, and Natural Magic.
Theurgia has long since been appropriated as the peculiar sphere of the
Theosophists and metaphysicians,
-says Kenneth Mackenzie.
Goetia is black magic, and "natural" or white magic has risen with healing
in its wings to the proud position of an exact and progressive study.
The remarks added by our late learned brother are remarkable:
The realistic desires of modern times have contributed to bring magic into
disrepute and ridicule & Faith (in one's own self) is an essential element
in magic, and existed long before other ideas which presume its
preexistence. It is said that it takes a wise man to make a fool; and a
man's idea must be exalted almost to madness, i.e., his brain
susceptibilities must be increased far beyond the low miserable status of
modern civilization, before he can become a true magician, for a pursuit of
this science implies a certain amount of isolation and an abnegation of
self.
A very great isolation certainly, the achievement of which constitutes a
wonderful phenomenon, a miracle in itself. Withal, magic is not something
supernatural. As explained by Iamblichus,
& they, through the sacerdotal theurgy, announce that they are able to
ascend to more elevated and universal essences, and to those that are
established above fate, viz., to god and the demiurgos: neither employing
matter, nor assuming any other things besides, except the observation of a
sensible time.
Already some are beginning to recognize the existence of subtle powers and
influences in nature, in which they have hitherto known nought. But, as Dr.
Carter Blake truly remarks:
The nineteenth century is not that which has observed the genesis of new,
nor the completion of old, methods of thought &
-to which Mr. Bonwick adds, that:
& if the Ancients knew but little of our mode of investigation into the
secrets of Nature, we know still less of their mode of research.
Magic, Black (See above). Sorcery, abuse of powers.
Magic, Ceremonial Magic, according to Cabalistic rites worked out, as
alleged by the Rosicrucians and other mystics, by invoking Powers higher
spiritually than Man, and commanding Elementals who are far lower than
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himself on the scale of being.
Magic, White or "Beneficent Magic," so called, is divine magic, devoid of
selfishness, love of power, of ambition or material gain, and bent only on
doing good to the world in general and one's neighbor in particular. The
smallest attempt to use one's abnormal powers for the gratification of self
makes of these powers sorcery or Black Magic.
Maha-Manvantara (Sans.) Lit., the great interludes between the Manus-the
period of universal activity. Manvantara here implies simply a period of
activity as opposed to Pralaya or rest-without reference to the length of
the cycle.
Mahat (Sans.) Lit. "The Great One." The first principle of Universal
Intelligence and consciousness. In the Puranic philosophy, the first product
of root-nature or Pradhana (the same as Mlaprakiti); the producer of Manas
the thinking principle, and of Ahankra, Egotism or the feeling of "I am I"
in the lower Manas.
Mahatma (Sans.) Lit., "Great Soul." An adept of the highest order. An
exalted being, who having attained to the mastery over his lower principles,
is therefore living unimpeded by the "man of flesh." Mahatmas are in
possession of knowledge and power commensurate with the stage they have
reached in their spiritual evolution. Called in Pali Rahats and Arahats.
Mahayana (Sans.) A school of Buddhist philosophy; lit., the "Great Vehicle."
A mystical system founded by Nagarjuna. Its books were written in the second
century bc.
Manas (Sans.) Lit., the "Mind." The mental faculty which makes of a man an
intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere animal; a
synonym of Mahat. Esoterically, however, it means, when unqualified, the
Higher Ego or the sentient reincarnating Principle in man. When qualified it
is called by Theosophists Buddhi-Manas, or the spiritual soul, in
contradistinction to its human reflection-Kama-Manas.
Manasaputra (Sans.) Lit., the "Sons of Mind" or mind-born Sons; a name given
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