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Metaphysical Dictionary

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A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Natal Astrology: The department of Astrology which deals with nativities - the influence of planets and signs upon the life and character of the individual.

Nature Spirits: or Elemental, according to theosophy, have bodies composed of the finer kinds of matter. There are countless hosts of them, divided into seven classes, which allowing for two unmanifested, belong to the ether, air, fire, water, and earth,—the last four being called by the Kabalists, sylphs, salamanders, undines, and gnomes respectively; and at the head of each class is a deva or inferior god. Nature spirits work in unsuspected ways, sometimes lending their aid to human beings in the form of certain faculties, and those in the astral world are engaged in the creation of form out of the matter which the outpouring of the Logos has quickened, hence it is they who form minerals, flowers, and so on. These nature spirits of the astral worlds of course have bodies of astral matter, and they frequently from mischievous or other impulses, change the appearance of these bodies. They are just without the powers of ordinary vision, and many people of more acute vision can see them, while the action of drugs also may make them visible. (See Nature Spirits)

Naturopathic: ("nay-chur-o-PATH-ic") medicine, or naturopathy, is a CAM alternative medical system. Naturopathic medicine proposes that there is a healing power in the body that establishes, maintains, and restores health. Practitioners work with the patient with a goal of supporting this power, through treatments such as nutrition and lifestyle counseling, dietary supplements, medicinal plants, exercise, homeopathy, and treatments from traditional Chinese medicine.

Nazarene Codex: The Scriptures of the Nazarenes and of the Nabotheans also. According to sundry Church Fathers, Jerome and Epiphanius especially, they were heretical teachings, but are in fact one of the numerous Gnostic readings of cosmogony and theogony, which produced a distinct sect.

Near Death Experience: (NDE):

Neopaganism:

Neo-Platonists: A school of philosophy which arose between the second and third century of our era, and was founded by Ammonius Saccas, of Alexandria. The same as the Philaletheians, and the Analogeticists; they were also called Theurgists and by various other names. They were the Theosophists of the early centuries. Neo-Platonism is Platonic philosophy plus ecstasy, divine Raja-Yoga.

Neoplatonism: A mystical philosophic system initiated by Plotinus of Alexandria A.D. 233, which combined the philosophy of ancient Greece with more modern spiritual cravings. Although to some extent founded on the teaching of Plato, it was undoubtedly sophisticated by a deep mysticism, which in all probability emanated from the traditions of the laud in which it originated. To a great extent it colored the thought of mediaeval mysticism and magic. Plotinus, its founder, commenced the study of philosophy in Alexandria at the age of 28. He early experienced an earnest desire to reach the truth concerning existence, and to that end made a deep study of the dialogues of Plato and the metaphysics of Aristotle. He practised the most severe austerities, and attempted to live what he called the "angelic" life, or the life of the disembodied in the body. He was greatly drawn to Apollonius of Tyana by reading his Life by Philostratus, and gave credence to many of the marvels recorded therein. The union of philosopher and priest in the character of Apoliontus fired the imagination of Plotinus, and in his Pythagorean teachings the young student discovered the elemants of both Orientalism and Platonism,—for both Pythagoras and Plato strove to escape the sensuous, and to realise in contemplative abstraction that tranquility superior to desire and passion which made men approach the gods; but in the hands of the later Pythagoreans and PSatonists, the principles of the Hellenic masters degenerated into a species of theurgic freemasonry. Many of the Pythagoreans had joined the various Orphic associations, and indeed had sunk to be mere itinerant vendors of charms.

It is probable that at Alexandria Plotinus heard from Orientals the principles of eastern theosophy, which he did not find in Plato. But everywhere he found a growing indifference to religion as known to the more ancient Greeks and Egyptians. By this time, the Pantheons of Greece, Rome and Egypt, had become fused in the worship of Serapis, and this fusion had been forwarded by the works of Plutarch, Apuleius, and Lucian. The position of philosophy at this time was by no means a strong one. In fact speculation had given place to ethical teaching, and philosophy was regarded more as a branch of literature, or an elegant recreation. Plotinus persuaded himself that philosophy and religion should be one; that speculation should be a search after God. It was at this time that he first heard of Ammonius Saccas, who shortly before had been a porter in the streets of Alexandria, and who lectured upon the possibilities of reconciling Plato and Aristotle. "Scepticism," said Ammonius, "was death." He recommended men to travel back across the past, and out of the •whole bygone world of thought to construct a system greater than any of its parts. This teaching formed an epoch in :he life of Plotinus, who was convinced that Platonism, exalted into a species of illuminism and drawing to itself like a magnet all the scattered truth of the bygone ages, could alone preserve mankind from scepticism. He occupied himself only with the most abstract questions concerning knowledge and being. " Truth," according to him, "is not the agreement of our comprehension of an external object with the object itself, but rather the agreement of the mind with itself. For the philosopher the objects we contemplate, and that which comtemplates are identical: both are thought." All truth is then easy. Reduce the soul to its most perfect simplicity, and we find it is capable of exploration into the infinite; indeed it becomes one with the infinite. This is the condition of ec-:tasy, and to accomplish it a stoical austerity and asceticism was necessary. The Neoplatonists were thus ascetics and enthusiasts. Plato was neither. According to Plotinus, the mystic contemplates the divine perfection in himself ; ail worldly things and logical distinctions vanish during the period of ecstasy. This, of course, is purely Oriental and not Platonic at all. Plotinus regards the individual existence as phenomenal and transitory, and subordinates reason to ecstasy where the Absolute is in question. It is only at the end of his chain of reasoning thp.t he introduces the supernatural. He is first a rationalist, afterwards a mystic, and only a mystic when he finds thit he cannot employ the machinery of reason.

Nephesh: (Heb.) Breath of Life, Anima, Mens Vitae, appetites. The term is used very loosely in the Bible. It generally means Prana, "life"; in the Kabala it is the animal passions and the animal soul. Therefore, as maintained in theosophical teachings, Nephesh is the Prana-Kama Principle, or the vital animal soul in man.

New Motor, The: A strange machine constructed in 1854 by John Murray Spear at the instigation of the "Association of Electricizers" one of the bands of spirits by whom he was controlled. It was to derive its motive power from the magnetic store of nature, and was therefore to be as independent of artificial sources of energy as was the human body. The machine was hailed as a god -- the "Physical Saviour of the race," the "New Messiah" -- and a certain lady, in obedience to a vision, went to the High Rock (Lynn, Mass) whereon stood the New Motor, and for two hours suffered "birth pangs" whereby she judged that the essence of her spiritual being was imparted to the machine. At the end of that time it was averred that pulsations were apparent in the motor. A.J. Davis expressed the belief that the design was the work of spirits of a mechanical turn of mind, but was of no practical value. The New Motor was finally smashed by the inhabitants of Randolph (N.Y.) where it had been taken. In all it cost its builder some two thousand dollars.

New Thought: A late 19th century religion which in some of its tenets is akin to Christian Science, or faith-healing. Unlike Christian Science, however, it does not affect entirely to dispense with all material aids, as drugs, the setting of broken bones, and so on. Nor does it give the whole credit for the cure to the imagination of the patient, as does hypnotism. But striking a point midway between the two it gives considerable prominence to the mind in the healing process, while not altogether despising the doctor. The central teaching of New Thought is that thought evolves and unfolds, and our thinking creates our experience of the world. The movement places great emphasis in positive thinking, affirmations, meditation, and prayer.

Mind is considered as highly refined matter, and therefore the " mind " cure is in a measure a material cure. It is clear that that part of the New Thought which deals with bodily healing has its roots in the Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism of bygone times. So much have they in common that it is needless to trace mental-healing further back than Dr. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866) the first to make use of the terms "mental-healing" and " Christian Science." Dr. Quimby was the son of a New Hampshire blacksmith, and was himself apprenticed to a clockmaker, having had but little education. At the age of thirty-six he attended a lecture on Mesmerism, and thereafter practised for himself. With the aid cf a clairvoyant youth he cured diseases, and so successful was his treatment that he soon adopted magnetic healing as a profession. At length, however, he got a glimpse of the true reason for his success—the expectation of the patient. The diagnoses of his clairvoyant he attributed to the latter's telepathic reading of the patient's own thoughts, and he judged that the treatment prescribed depended for its efficacy on the confidence it inspired rather than on its intrinsic merits. From this point he gradually evolved his doctrine that disease was a mere delusion, a traditional error that had fixed itself in men's minds, which it behoved them to be rid of as soon as might be. The way to cure disease, therefore, was to destroy the error on which it rested. Besides Christian Science, Quimby called his doctrine the Science of Health, or the Science of Health and Happiness. He had many disciples, among whom were Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science Church. Others whose influence was felt more in the direction of the New Thought movement were the Rev. W. F. Evans and Mr. and Mrs. Julius Dresser, whose son, Horatio W. Dresser, remains one of the ablest exponents of the New Thought As has been said, the method of healing practised by this school is not considered to be entirely immaterial. It is no longer believed, of course, that a fluid emanates from the finger-tips of the operator, or that he radiates a luminous odic force; but Mr. Dresser himself states that the communication is of a vibratory character, made up of ethereal undulations directed and concentrated by the thought of the healer. The power is equally efficacious at a distance and may be used without the patient's knowledge or even against his will. This belief in action at a distance is something of a bug-bear to the New Thinker, who fears the ascendency of an evil influence as the superstitious of the Middle Ages feared bewitchment. But there is a spiritual aspect of the New Thought as well as a physical one. The health of the soul is as fully considered as the health of the body. Spiritual sanity, then, is to be procured by lifting oneself to a higher plane of existence, by shutting out the things of the earth and living " in tune with the infinite." We must realise our own identity with the Infinite Spirit and open our lives to the Divine inflow. Ralph Waldo Trine, himself a New Thinker, says in an expressive metaphor, " To recognise our own divinity and our intimate relation to the Universal, is to attach the belt of our machinery to 'the power-house of the Universe." In short, we must have sufficient self-confidence to cast our fears aside and rise unfettered into the Infinite.

New Zealand : Maori superstitions. Amidst the mythological personages of New Zealand " the spirits of the dead " ever play a very prominent part, and our chief interest in noticing the Maoris, lies in the fact, that belief in, and open communion with these spirits, still exist. The priests or "Tohungas" are unmistakably "Mediums," in the modern sense of the term. Sometimes they are born with their gift, and sometimes they are devoted to the priestly office by their parents and acquire their power after the fashion of Eastern ecstatics, by prayer, fasting and contemplation. That good prophets exist amongst the Maoris has been abundantly proved. During the time when Great Britain busied herself in colonizing New Zealand, her officials frequently wrote home, that the Maori would never be conquered wholly; information of the parties sent out to attack them; the very color of the boats, and the hour when they would arrive; the number of the enemy, and all particulars essential to their safety, being invariably communicated to the tribes beforehand by their prophets or Tohungas.

Nichusch: Prophetic indication. In accordance with the Kabbalstic view that all events and natural happenings have a secret connection, and interact upon one another, it is believed that practically everything can become an object of soothsaying -- the fight of birds, movement of clouds, cries of animals, events happening to man, and so on. Man himself may become Nichusch by saying that if such and such a thing takes place it will be a good or a bad omen.

Nikola Tesla: (See Tesla, Nikola)

Norman, (Ruth):

Nous: (Gr.) A Platonic term for the Higher Mind or Soul. It means Spirit as distinct from animal-Soul, Psyche; divine consciousness or mind in man. The name was adopted by the Gnostics for their first conscious Aeon, which, with the Occultists, is the third logos, cosmically, and the third principle (from above) or Manas, in man. (See Nout.)

Nout: (Eg.) In the Egyptian Pantheon it meant the "One-only-One," because it does not proceed in the popular or exoteric religion higher than the thirdmanifestation which radiates from the Unknowable and the Unknown in the esoteric philosophy of every nation. The Nous of Anaxagoras was the Mahat of the Hindus-Brahmâ , the first manifested deity-"the Mind or spirit Self-potent." This creative principle is the primum mobile of everything to be found in the Universe-its Soul or Ideation. (see "Seven Principles" in man.)

Numerology: