Theos-Talk Archives (November 1999 Message tl00226)

I don't believe there can be  a "real simple short version" to these questions.
And any short version obtained would be specific to one individual as a result
of a lifetime of experience and learning, and is bound to change from day to day
as one hopefully continues learning and accepting the unknown. Yesterday I came
across the following, which may or may not be helpful, or even what you're
looking for:

Glossary entry for
                           Dweller on the Threshold

>From the Collation Of Theosophical Glossaries:

    A literary invention of the English mystic and novelist Sir Bulwer Lytton,
found in his romance
    Zanoni. The term has obtained wide currency and usage in theosophical
circles. In occultism the word
    "dweller," or some exactly equivalent phrase or expression, has been known
and used during long
    ages past. It refers to several things, but more particularly has an
application to what H. P. Blavatsky
    calls "certain maleficent astral Doubles of defunct persons." This is exact.
But there is another
    meaning of this phrase still more mystical and still more difficult to
explain which refers to the
    imbodied karmic consequences or results of the man's past, haunting the
thresholds which the initiant
    or initiate must pass before he can advance or progress into a higher degree
of initiation. These
    dwellers, in the significance of the word just last referred to are, as it
were, the imbodied
    quasi-human astral haunting parts of the constitution thrown off in past
incarnations by the man who
    now has to face them and overcome them -- very real and living beings, parts
of the "new" man's
    haunting past. The initiant must face these old "selves" of himself and
conquer or -- fail, which failure
    may mean either insanity or death. They are verily ghosts of the dead men
that the present man
    formerly was, now arising to dog his footsteps, and hence are very truly
called Dwellers on the
    Threshold. In a specific sense they may be truly called the kama-rupas of
the man's past incarnations
    arising out of the records in the astral light left there by the "old" man
of the "new" man who now is.

>From http://www.lysator.liu.se/~ceci/current/moon_specific.html

    In Tarot tradition, the Moon represents unconscious desires and the fears
that accompany the sense of
    losing control or falling into the unconscious realm of sleep and dreams.
However, if one is afraid to
    enter one's own astral territory, one can never truly know oneself - and the
mystery of initiation is
    about little more than this.

    The real confrontation that the Moon represents is the meeting with the
"Dweller on the Threshold" of
    which occult and esoteric teachers speak. This is the giant force of
accumulated evil or wrongdoings,
    the hideous part of the self that a person would rather not look at and
would like to pretend doesn't
    exist, and which rises up at the point of real psychic growth. This "demon"
must not only be looked at,
    but integrated into the being, in order to establish wholeness.

>From http://www.primenet.com/~subru/Alchemy.html

    So here we have the methodology for accomplishing the Black Stone that will
vanquish and transmute
    our Dweller or Sin-Body: We must enlist our Martian energy or moving
spirit--the "purified metallic
    Sulfur"--by separating it from any connection with the Personality or lower
nature, so that our "unripe
    Mercury" becomes the voice of pure conscience, moderated by a loving spirit
of gentleness and
    patience. Our Mars becomes the warrior of the Higher Ego, and as the Christ
Spirit, speaking through
    the man Jesus, said: "I come not to bring peace, but a sword" and, "A man's
foes will be those of his
    own household." This will be our St. George who will slay the dragon of our
lower nature -- the
    Dweller on the Threshold.

>From Treatise On Astral Projection

    Many people have written to me describing their feelings of fear during
projection. This is a kind of
    natural barrier to some people that must be overcome. Some call it "The
Dweller on the Threshold". It
    is a manifestation of your own inner fears, very much like a child's
unreasoned fear of the dark; a fear
    of the unknown.

    Many people feel there is something evil waiting for them, or a nasty spirit
trying to stop them
    projecting. This must be faced with courage! Look upon it as a test, an
exam, that must be passed
    before you can project freely. Once you do project, and face it, you will
find it is only a hollow threat
    that will crumple into nothing.

Contributed by David Chance

More information is available at:

    The Collation Of Theosophical Glossaries

Van references in:

    "Dweller On The Threshold" (on Beautiful Vision)

Part of The Van Morrison Website

Glossary entry for
                                       glamour

In esoteric teachings the word glamour has a particular meaning. Alice A. Bailey
defines it as mental illusion
when intensified by desire, occurring on the astral plane. "Glamour has been
likened to a mist or fog in which
the aspirant wanders and which distorts all that he sees and contacts,
preventing him from ever seeing life truly
or clearly or the conditions surrounding him as they essentially are... He is
deceived by the appearance and
forgets that which the appearance veils. The emanatory astral reactions which
each human being initiates ever
surround him and through this fog and mist he looks out upon a distorted world."
(Glamour - A World Problem
(1950)).

The human race is held sway, Bailey says, "by a very ancient glamour or series
of glamours, of entrenched
desires, potent aspirations of some kind and definitely human-made forms which
seek to hold the consciousness
of humanity upon the astral plane. Such a glamourous concept is that of money
and its materialistic value. This
glamourous desire is like a dense fog, cutting off the vision of truth, and
distorting a very large number of human
values."

Contributed by Alan Pert, Sydney, Australia

Alice A. Bailey writes about various New Age/New Thought topics such as esoteric
astrology. This discipline
attempts to understand the energies conditioning life on earth beyond the
(traditional astrological) planetary and
zodiacal influences to embrace the Seven Rays, their distant star sources and
other non-ecliptic fixed stars. Ms.
Bailey's book Esoteric Astrology was one of the last in a series of 19 books
telepathically dictated and
transmitted to her by the Tibetan Master, Djwal Khul, over a period of 30 years
in the first half of this century.

The reincarnating soul as the purposeful initiator of experience in the human
kingdom is the underlying
assumption of esoteric astrology, which asserts that all astrological influences
are energies the seeker toward
mastery must learn to manage wisely.

Van alludes to Alice Bailey in the Beautiful Vision liner notes: "Lyrics on
'Dweller on the Threshold' and part
of 'Aryan Mist' inspired by Glamour - A World Problem by Alice Bailey and the
Tibetan"

Contributed by Kimberly Livingston

Other books by Alice A. Bailey [and the Tibetan] - click on the links below to
order or review them at
Amazon.com:

    Initiation, Human and Solar
    Letters on Occult Meditation
    The Consciousness of the Atom
    A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
    The Light of the Soul
    A Treatise on White Magic
    From Bethlehem to Calvary
    Problems of Humanity
    The Reappearance of the Christ
    Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle
    The Externalisation of the Hierarchy
    Esoteric Psychology: A Treatise On The Seven Rays
    Esoteric Astrology

More information on Alice Bailey is available at:

    http://www.watchman.org/bailypro.htm
    http://neteze.com/mkthomas/work.htm

Van references in:

    "Dweller On The Threshold" (on Beautiful Vision)
    "Aryan Mist" (on Beautiful Vision)
    "Ivory Tower" (on No Guru, No Method, No Teacher)
    "Green Mansions" (on Hymns to the Silence)

Part of The Van Morrison Website

Glossary entry for
                                         astral

According to esoteric doctrine, there are a number of different planes, or
levels of reality. The names usually
given to these planes, taking them in order of materiality, rising from the
denser to the finer, are the physical, the
astral, the mental, the buddhic, and the nirvanic. The substance of each of
these planes differs from that of the
one below it in the same way as, though to a much greater degree than, vapour
differs from solid matter.

The astral region is the second of these great planes of nature - the next above
(or within) the physical world. It
has often been called the realm of illusion - not that it is itself any more
illusory than the physical world, but
because of the extreme unreliability of the impressions brought back from it by
the untrained seer. This is
because of two remarkable characteristics of the astral world: (1) many of its
inhabitants can rapidly change
their form, and cast glamour over those with whom they choose to sport; (2)
objects are seen from all sides at
once.

There are three types of inhabitants in the astral world: human, non-human and
artificial. The adept and the
psychically developed person can gain access to the astral plane at will. Much
has been written about astral
projection, whereby the adept can leave his/her physical body, and travel great
distances in the astral world.
When people dream they enter the astral world, but in most cases in an
uncontrolled manner. This is why our
dreams are so chaotic and unpredictable. The "dead" inhabit the astral plane
where they work out their karma,
according to the quality of the life they have led. This stage is sometimes
called the "summerland". When they
are prepared, they leave the astral body and go to the next sub-plane.

Among the non-human entities are the elementals: slyphs (air spirits),
salamanders (fire), gnomes (earth) and
nymphs or undines (water). There are various nature spirits, such as fairies,
pixies, elves, trolls, fauns, imps,
and goblins. They have their own forms but can assume any appearance at will.
Under ordinary conditions they
are not visible to physical sight,but they have the power to materialise at
will. Normally they are upset by
humans and prefer to avoid them.

Artificial inhabitants are thought forms, created by people either unconsciously
or consciously. Human thoughts
create living entities on the astral plane. If the thoughts are weak, the
entities only survive for a few minutes.
Often repeated and strong thoughts will form an entity whose existence may
extend to many days. This is the
basis of real magic, and the trained adept uses the mind to create on the astral
level, sometimes bringing the
creation into the physical world.

People from all around the world have in their folklore tales of fairies,
ghosts, hauntings, and things that go
bump in the night. This is not just superstition, but comes from a time when
people were more sensitive to the
invisible world. The Irish have a long tradition of contact with the "little
people", denizens of the astral world.

Contributed by Alan Pert, Sydney, Australia

Van references in:

    "Astral Weeks" (on Astral Weeks)

Part of The Van Morrison Website

Glossary entry for
                                        karma

The word "karma" means action, and the derived meaning is "action, and the
appropriate result of action". This
concept is very important in Hinduism and Buddhism. As applied to the moral
sphere it is the Law of Ethical
Causation, through the operation of which a person reaps what he sows; builds
his character, makes his destiny,
and works out his salvation. Karma also applies to groups of people such as
families and nations.

The doctrine of re-birth is an essential corollary to that of karma, the
individual coming into physical life with a
character and environment resulting from his actions in the past. Current
actions will in turn determine future
circumstances.

Contributed by Alan Pert, Sydney, Australia

More information available at:

    More information on Buddhism can be found at
    http://www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion/Buddhism/
    More information on Hinduism can be found at
    http://www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion/Hinduism/

Van references in:

    "These Dreams of You" (on Moondance)
    "Till We Get the Healing Done" (on Too Long In Exile)
    "Satisfied" (on Common One)

Part of The Van Morrison Website

Glossary entry for
                              music of the spheres

The concept of the "Music of the Spheres" dates back at least to the 16th
century, and is a central idea in the
Elizabethan world picture:

    "The idea that the universe is bound together by harmony or concord is
fundamental in Elizabethan
    cosmology. The music of the spheres orders the heavens, and music alike
orders and tempers human
    passions and social forces." (The Norton Anthology of English Literature,
vol 1., p.1049)

This phrase and the idea behind it figures prominently in Sir John Davies'
"Orchestra, or A Poem of Dancing"
from 1596:

    "The poet recounts how one night when Penelope (Ulysses' Queen) at Ithaca
appeared among her
    suitors, Athena inspires her with special beauty. Antonius, most courtly of
the suitors, begs her to
    dance or in his own words to

        Imitate heaven, whose beauties excellent
        Are in continual motion day and night.

    Penelope refuses to join in something that is mere disorder or misrule, and
there follows a debate
    between the two on the subject of dancing. Antonius maintaining that as the
universe itself is one great
    dance comprising many lesser dances we should ourselves join in the cosmic
harmony. It was creative
    love that first persuaded the warring atoms to move in order. Time and all
its division are a dance.
    The stars have their own dance, the greatest being that of the Great Year,
which lasts 25,800 years of
    the sun. The sun courts the earth in a dance. The different elements have
their different measures. The
    various happenings on the earth itself

        Forward and backward rapt and whirled are
        According to the music of the spheres.

    [...]

    ...it stands [...] for something central to Elizabethan ways of thinking:
the agile transformation from
    abstract to concrete, from ideal to real, from sacred to profane. And the
reason is the one given before
    for similar catholicity: the Elizabethans were conscious simultaneously and
to an uncommon degree of
    'the erected wit and the infected will of man'. It was thus possible for
Davies to pass from the mystical
    notion of the spherical music to the concrete picture of Elizabeth's
courtiers dancing, without
    incongruity."

    (E.M.W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan World Picture, Pelican 1943, pp. 112-114)

To relate this back to Van: His world picture seems to me remarkably similar in
its ability to incorporate the
opposites (say Jellyroll and Spiritual Healing) in one song, one performance,
one breath. He certainly has many
references to the powers of music and dance, and I think he would gladly agree
to the feeling that 'the universe
itself is one great dance...'

It is possible that Van never read the Elizabethan poets, and that he came to
this philosophy via other routes (f.
ex. some of the New Age/therapy ways of thinking, that themselves are not
original but derivates of Western
philosophy and Eastern religion and mysticism), but clearly there are some
correspondences here in the lyrics to
"Dweller", for instance the phrases "I'll sing the song of ages", "I'm gonna
turn and face the music, the music of
the spheres", etc.

Contributed by B. Sorensen

Van references in:

    "Dweller On The Threshold" (on Beautiful Vision)
    "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" (on The Healing Game)

Part of The Van Morrison Website