Glossary of Spiritual and Religious Words

All

Yesod

(Hebrew יסוד means foundation) The ninth sephirah of the Kabbalah (the Tree of Life). In the macrocosmic universe, Yesod is the fourth dimension. In the microcosmic universe (man), Yesod corresponds to the sexual organs and to the Ethereal body. In the Bible, Yesod is Eden, the Promised Land.

"Yesod is the Vital or Ethereal Body. Yesod is the foundation of the Third Logos, the center where the sexual force of the Third Logos gravitates. The sexual forces which are the living foundation of our physiology gravitate in Yesod. The Holy Spirit abides in Yesod." - Samael Aun Weor

"And the king [Solomon] commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, [and] hewed stones, to lay the יסד [foundation] of the house." - 1 Kings 5:17

Yetzirah

(Hebrew יצירה; also Yetsirah or Olam Yetsirah) The third of four worlds in the Kabbalah. It is the world of formation and of the Angels.

Yew

"Yew, the profoundly sacred name, is related with the Light and clairvoyance.  It is written that Jesus, the Great Kabir, chanted a song of praise in the Great Name.  It is written that He pronounced the profoundly sacred name Yew and He blew in their eyes saying, “Ye are now clairvoyant.” Unquestionably, Yew is a mantric word or magic key related to clairvoyance." - The Pistis Sophia Unveiled

Yoalli-Ehecatl

The nature of the Abstract Absolute Space according to the Nahuatl.  Wind and darkness.  See: Omeyocan

Yoga

(Sanskrit) "union." Similar to the Latin "religare," the root of the word "religion." In Tibetan, it is "rnal-'byor" which means "union with the fundamental nature of reality."

"The word YOGA comes from the root Yuj which means to join, and in its spiritual sense, it is that process by which the human spirit is brought into near and conscious communion with, or is merged in, the Divine Spirit, according as the nature of the human spirit is held to be separate from (Dvaita, Visishtadvaita) or one with (Advaita) the Divine Spirit." - Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga

"Patanjali defines Yoga as the suspension of all the functions of the mind. As such, any book on Yoga, which does not deal with these three aspects of the subject, viz., mind, its functions and the method of suspending them, can he safely laid aside as unreliable and incomplete." - Swami Sivananda, Practical Lessons In Yoga

"The word yoga means in general to join one's mind with an actual fact..." - The 14th Dalai Lama

"The soul aspires for the union with his Innermost, and the Innermost aspires for the union with his Glorian." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of Beelzebub

"All of the seven schools of Yoga are within Gnosis, yet they are in a synthesized and absolutely practical way. There is Tantric Hatha Yoga in the practices of the Maithuna (Sexual Magic). There is practical Raja Yoga in the work with the chakras. There is Gnana / Jnana Yoga in our practices and mental disciplines which we have cultivated in secrecy for millions of years. We have Bhakti Yoga in our prayers and Rituals. We have Laya Yoga in our meditation and respiratory exercises. Samadhi exists in our practices with the Maithuna and during our deep meditations. We live the path of Karma Yoga in our upright actions, in our upright thoughts, in our upright feelings, etc." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of Beelzebub

"The Yoga that we require today is actually ancient Gnostic Christian Yoga, which absolutely rejects the idea of Hatha Yoga. We do not recommend Hatha Yoga simply because, spiritually speaking, the acrobatics of this discipline are fruitless; they should be left to the acrobats of the circus." - Samael Aun Weor, The Yellow Book

"Yoga has been taught very badly in the Western World. Multitudes of pseudo-sapient Yogis have spread the false belief that the true Yogi must be an infrasexual (an enemy of sex). Some of these false yogis have never even visited India; they are infrasexual pseudo-yogis. These ignoramuses believe that they are going to achieve in-depth realization only with the yogic exercises, such as asanas, pranayamas, etc.Not only do they have such false beliefs, but what is worse is that they propagate them; thus, they misguide many people away from the difficult, straight, and narrow door that leads unto the light. No authentically Initiated Yogi from India would ever think that he could achieve his inner self-realization with pranayamas or asanas, etc. Any legitimate Yogi from India knows very well that such yogic exercises are only co-assistants that are very useful for their health and for the development of their powers, etc. Only the Westerners and pseudo-yogis have within their minds the belief that they can achieve Self-realization with such exercises.Sexual Magic is practiced very secretly within the Ashrams of India. Any True Yogi Initiate from India works with the Arcanum A.Z.F. This is taught by the Great Yogis from India that have visited the Western world, and if it has not been taught by these great, Initiated Hindustani Yogis, if it has not been published in their books of Yoga, it was in order to avoid scandals. You can be absolutely sure that the Yogis who do not practice Sexual Magic will never achieve birth in the Superior Worlds. Thus, whosoever affirms the contrary is a liar, an impostor." - Samael Aun Weor, The Estoeric Course of Kabbalah

Yogacharya

(or Yogacarya) A school of Buddhism founded in India by Asanga (300 AD). “The Yogacharyas from the Mahayana school state that Alaya is the personification of the Illuminating Void.” - Cosmic Teachings of a Lama

Yogananda, Paramahamsa

A student of Kriya Yoga who brought his tradition to America in the early 20th century and founded the Self-realization Fellowship.

Yogi

(Sanskrit) male yoga practitioner.

Yogini

(Sanskrit) female yoga practitioner.

Yoni

Sexual Feminine Organ

Zain

(or Zayin) The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it symbolizes the feminine sexual power and the foundation of the property of breathing the breath, the Neshamah of God, pertaining to the nostrils Ob and Od. Its Kabbalistic value is 7. 

Zeir Anpin

also Zauir Anpin (Hebrew (זֵיר אנפִן) Literally, the "Lesser Countenance." In Greek, the Microprosopus. The fourth Parsuf ("face") is Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin is represented by the sephiroth Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod: these six Sephiroth together form what we call the Zauir Anpin, the child of Abba and Aima, "the Son of the Arick Anpin, the Father." The Monad, Zeir Anpin is the Son of Arik Anpin, the Glorian. Zeir Anpin has to develop in himself all the 13 AEons or Sephiroth (10 manifested and 3 unmanifested) with the assistance of Adam Kadmon (Kether, Arick Anpin), the first manifestation of the Ain Soph.

Zohar

(Sepher ha Zohar, ספר הזהר, "Book of Splendor" from Hebrew זֹהַר meaning splendor or radiance) A deeply important Hebrew scripture in the tradition of the Kabbalah.

"The Sepher ha Zohar ["Book of Splendor"] presumably was written by Simeon ben Jochai, a disciple of Akiba. Rabbi Simeon was sentenced to death about A.D. 161 by Lucius Verus, co-regent of the Emperor Marc Aurelius Antoninus. He escaped with his son and, hiding in a cave, transcribed the manuscript of the Zohar with the assistance of Elias, who appeared to them at intervals. Simeon was twelve years in the cave, during which time he evolved the complicated symbolism of the "Greater Face" and the "Lesser Face." While discoursing with disciples Rabbi Simeon expired, and the "Lamp of Israel" was extinguished. His death and burial were accompanied by many supernatural phenomena. The legend goes on to relate that the secret doctrines of Qabbalism had been in existence since the beginning of the world, but that Rabbi Simeon was the first man permitted to reduce them to writing. Twelve hundred years later the books which he had compiled were discovered and published for the benefit of humanity by Moses de León. The probability is that Moses de León himself compiled the Zohar about A.D. 1305, drawing his material from the unwritten secrets of earlier Jewish mystics." - Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)

"Moses de Leon could not be the author or the forger of the Zoharic works in the XIIIth century, as he is accused of being, since Ibn Gebirol gave out the same philosophical teaching 225 years before the day of Moses de Leon. No true Kabalist or scholar will ever deny the fact. It is certain that Ibn Gebirol based his doctrines upon the oldest Kabalistic sources, namely, the "Chaldean Book of Numbers," as well as some no longer extant Midrashim, the same, no doubt, as those used by Moses de Leon. But it is just the difference between the two ways of treating the same esoteric subjects, which, while proving the enormous antiquity of the esoteric system, points to a decided ring of Talmudistic and even Christian sectarianism in the compilation and glossaries of the Zoharic system by Rabbi Moses. Ibn Gebirol never quoted from the Scriptures to enforce the teachings (vide I. Myer's Qabbalah, p. 7). Moses de Leon has made of the Zohar that which it has remained to this day, "a running commentary on the . . . Books of the Pentateuch" (ibid.), with a few later additions made by Christian hands." - H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine (1888)