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Metaphysical Dictionary

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I Ching: also known as the Book of Changes, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. It is used mainly for divination (fortune telling)

Identity: of spirit communicators is a comparatively recent problem. In olden times every spirit voice was considered the voice of God or of the devil. The prophets communed with God. Mediums commune with spirits. God could not be asked to prove his identity, the spirits have to. But John the Apostle said: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

Incarnate: Living in a physical body, as in incarnate soul.

Ichtyomancy: Divination by the inspection of the entrails of fish.

Incubus: An incubus is a demon in male form who, according to mythological and legendary traditions, lies upon sleeping women in order to engage in sexual activity.

India (Occultism in): Mystical Systems —It would be beyond the scope of such a work as this to undertake to provide any account of the several religious systems of India, and we must confine ourselves to a description of the mysticism and demonology which cluster round these systems, and an outline of the magic and sorcery of the native peoples of the empire.

Hinduism —It may be said that the mysticism of the Hindus was a reaction against the detailed and practical ceremonial of the Vedas. If its trend were summarized it might justly be said that it partakes strongly of disinterestedness ; is a pantheistic identifying of subject and object, worshipper and worship ; aims at ultimate absorption in the Infinite; inculcates absolute passivity, the most minute self-examination, the cessation of the physical powers; and believes in the spiritual guidance of the mystical adept.

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Indigo Children: According to popular belief, indigo children are believed to possess special, unusual, and sometimes supernatural traits or abilities. The idea is based on concepts developed in the 1970s by Nancy Ann Tappe and further developed by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober.

Ignis Fatuus: A wavering luminous appearance frequently observed in meadows and marshy places, round which many popular superstitions cluster. Its folk-names, Will o' the Wisp and Jack o' Lantern, suggest a country fellow bearing a lantern or straw torch (wisp). Formerly these lights were supposed to haunt desolate bogs and moorlands for the purpose of misleading travelers and drawing them to their death. Another superstition says that they are the spirits of those who have been drowned in the bogs, and yet another, that they are the souls of unbaptized infants. Science believes ignis fatuus is caused by the spontaneous combustion of gases emitted by rotting organic matter, or, more rarely, night-flying insects.

Infant soul: From the Michael teachings, someone in the first of the five main physical-plane soul ages, which emphasizes lessons about survival. Read about Infant souls.

Infernal Court: Wierius and others, learned in the lore of the infernal regions, have discovered therein princes and high dignitaries, ministers, ambassadors, and officers of state, whose names would fill much space to little purpose Satan is no longer the sovereign of Hades, but is, so to speak, leader of the opposition. The true leader is Beelzebub.

Infinite soul: From the Michael teachings, an incarnate representative of a reunited cadre who brings the Tao to bear through one of the three high planes, e.g., Jesus, who manifested the infinite soul through the messianic plane during the last thirty days of his life. The infinite soul is a catalyst for the spiritual transformation of humanity.

Initiate: From the Latin Initiatus. The designation of anyone who was received into and had revealed to him the mysteries and secrets of either Masonry or Occultism. In times of antiquity they were those who had been initiated into the arcane knowledge taught by the Hierophants of the Mysteries; and in our modern days those who have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious knowledge, which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on earth.

Initiation: The process of entry into a secret society or similar organization. The idea of initiation was certainly inherited by the Egyptians and Asssyrians from older Neolithic peoples, who possessed secret organizations or " mysteries " analogous to those of the Medwiwin of the North American Indians or those of the Australian Black-fellows. We read of initiation into the various grades of the Egyptian priesthood and the "mysteries" of Eleusis and Bacchus. (See Mysteries.) These processes probably consisted of tests of courage and fidelity (as do the savage initiations) and included such acts as sustaining a severe buffeting, the drinking of blood, real and imaginary, and so forth. In the Popol Vuh, the saga of the Kiche Indians of Guatemala we have a picture of the initiation tests of two hero-gods on entrance to the native Hades. Indeed, most of the mysteries typified the descent of man into Hell, and his return to earth, based on the corn-mother legend of the resurrection of the wheat plant. Initiation into the higher branches of mysticism, magic and theosophy has been largely written upon The process in regard to these is of course entirely symbolical, and is to be taken as implying a preparation for the higher life and the regeneration of the soul.

Intuition: that sense of faculty in the human mind by which man knows (or may know) facts of which he would otherwise not be cognizant-facts which might not be apparent to him through process of reason or so-called scientific proof.

Intuitional World: Formerly known as the Buddhic Plane, is in the theosophic scheme the fourth world, and from it come intuitions.

Ireland (Occult in): For information regarding ancient Ireland See " Celts." Although nominally Christianized, there is little doubt that the early mediaeval Irish retained many relics of their former condition of paganism, especially those which possessed a magical tendency. This is made clear by the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis, the first account we have of Irish manners and customs after the invasion of the country by the Anglo-Normans. His description, for example, of the Purgatory of St. Patrick in Lough Derg, Co. Donegal, proves that the demonology of the Catholic Church had already fused with the animism of Irish native heathnesse.

Isvara: (Sans.) The "Lord" or the personal god, divine spirit in man. Literally Sovereign (independent) existence. A title given to Siva and other gods in India. Siva is also called Isvaradeva, or sovereign deva.

Italy (Occultism in): (See Rome) Magic and sorcery in mediaeval Italy seem strangely enough to have centered round many great personalities of the church, and even several popes have been included by the historians of occult science in the ranks of Italian sorcerers and alchemists.

Iu-Kabar Zivo: Gnostic term. The "Lord of the Aeons" in the Nazarene system. He is the procreator (Emanator) of the seven holy lives (the seven primal Dhyani-Chohans or Archangels, each representing one of the cardinal virtues), and is himself called the third life (third Logos). In the Codex he is addressed as the Helmand Vine of the food of life. Thus he is identical with Christ (Christos) who says: "I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman." It is well known that Christ is regarded in the Roman Catholic Church as the "Chief of the Aeons," as also is Michael, "who is as God." Such also was the belief of the Gnostics.