title
 
 
Glossary of terms used in Platonism  
 
 

agalma
    (Language:   Greek)
image, cult-statue, ornament, shrine, object of worship, something in which one takes delight (more)

aisthesis
    (Language:   Greek)
sensation, perception, as an opposite of intellection (noesis), understanding and pure thought; more loosely – any awareness (more)

akh
    (Language:   Ancient Egyptian)
the ancient Egyptian term for intelligence, spiritual light, illumination, irradiation (more)

anagoge
    (Language:   Greek)
ascent, elevation, bringing up (more)

anamnesis
    (Language:   Greek)
literally, a "lifting up of the mind" (more)

anthropos
    (Language:   Greek)
man (more)

apatheia
    (Language:   Greek)
impassivity or freedom from emotions, understood as a philosophical virtue (more)

apeiron
    (Language:   Greek)
(apeiros, apeiria): lacking of limit, unlimitted (more)

aporrhetos
    (Language:   Greek)
secret, prohibited, unspeakable (more)

apotheosis
    (Language:   Greek)
divinization; in the esoteric sense it is accomplished by the philosophical purification and theurgical anagoge which reveals one’s primal and true identity with the divine principles (more)

arche
    (Language:   Greek)
beginning, starting point, authority, government, heart, principle (more)

arete
    (Language:   Greek)
exellence, goodness, virtue (more)

arithmos
    (Language:   Greek)
number (more)

arrhetos
    (Language:   Greek)
ineffable, unspeakable (more)

ascesis
    (alternate spellings:  askesis)
    (Language:   Greek)
"exercise, practice, training," as of an athlete; spiritual exercises (more)

autozoon
    (Language:   Greek)
essential living Being (more)

ba
    (Language:   ancient Egyptian)
manifestation of certain divine qualities, arranged in the descending and ascending hierarchy (more)

bios
    (Language:   Greek)
life, or a way of life (more)
Related Terms: darshana

daimon
    (Language:   Greek)
it is an occult power that drives man forward or acts against him (more)

demiourgike seira
    (Language:   Greek)
the vertical series of gods, irradiating in time from the Creator (more)

demiourgos
    (Language:   Greek)
‘craftsman’ (more)

diadochos
    (Language:   Greek)
successor (more)

dialektike
    (Language:   Greek)
dialectic (more)

dianoia
    (Language:   Greek)
discursive reason, mind (more)

dikaiosune
    (Language:   Greek)
justice (more)

doxa
    (Language:   Greek)
opinion (more)

dunamis
    (Language:   Greek)
power, capacity (more)

eidolon
    (Language:   Greek)
image, idol, double, apparition, phantom, ghost (more)

eidos
    (Language:   Greek)
visible shape, form, a kind of thing, the intelligible Form, or the noetic Idea, of Platonism (more)

eikon
    (Language:   Greek)
image, icon (more)

ellampsis
    (Language:   Greek)
irradiation, shining forth, manifestation, illumination, flowing from the principle as a cause (more)

episteme
    (Language:   Greek)
knowledge (more)

epistrophe
    (Language:   Greek)
reversion, return (more)

epopteia
    (Language:   Greek)
beholding of the secret symbols or epiphanies of the gods (more)

eros
    (Language:   Greek)
love, sometimes personified as a deity, daimon, or cosmogonical, pedagogical and soteriological force, manifested in the process of demiurgy and within domain of providence (more)

eusebeia
    (Language:   Greek)
piety, meritorious piety (more)

gnosis
    (Language:   Greek)
knowledge (more)

goeteia
    (Language:   Greek)
magic (more)

hairesis
    (Language:   Greek)
taking, choice, course of action, election, decision (more)

hen (to hen)
    (Language:   Greek)
the one (more)

henas
    (Language:   Greek)
henad, unit (more)

henosis
    (Language:   Greek)
unity (more)

hermaike seira
    (Language:   Greek)
Hermaic chain (more)

hermeneus
    (Language:   Greek)
interprter (more)

hieratike techne
    (Language:   Greek)
namely the priestly art (more)

hierophantes
    (Language:   Greek)
he who shows sacred things (more)

hieros logos
    (Language:   Greek)
sacred tale, sacred word or book (more)

homoiosis theo
    (Language:   Greek)
likeness to God (more)

huparxis
    (Language:   Greek)
pure existence of a thing, an essential foundation (more)

hupodoche
    (Language:   Greek)
reception (more)

hupostasis
    (Language:   Greek)
standing under, sediment, foundation (more)

hupothesis
    (Language:   Greek)
proposal, intention, argument, hypothesis, the premiss of a syllogism (more)

idea
    (Language:   Greek)
the visual aspect of anything (more)

katharsis
    (Language:   Greek)
purification, purgation of passions (more)

kosmos noetos
    (Language:   Greek)
the intelligible cosmos of divine Forms and intellects, located between the One and the Soul (more)

logismos
    (Language:   Greek)
numerical calculation, the power of reasoning, reason. (more)

maat
    (Language:   ancient Egyptian)
measure, harmony, canon, justice and truth, shared by the gods and humans alike (more)

mania
    (Language:   Greek)
madness, frenzy (more)

mathema
    (Language:   Greek)
any study which a person may learn (more)

methexis
    (Language:   Greek)
participation (more)

mimesis
    (Language:   Greek)
imitation, representation (more)

morphe
    (Language:   Greek)
shape (more)

mustagogia
    (Language:   Greek)
an initiation into a mystery (more)

musteria
    (Language:   Greek)
the proceedings of initiation and sacred rites are called mysteries (more)

muthos
    (Language:   Greek)
myth, tale (more)

noesis
    (Language:   Greek)
intellection, thought, intellectual intuition (more)

nous
    (Language:   Greek)
intelligence, immediate awareness, intuition, intuitive intellect (more)

ochema
    (Language:   Greek)
vehicle (more)

onoma
    (Language:   Greek)
a noun as distinct from a verb (more)

ousia
    (Language:   Greek)
being, substance, nature, essence (more)

paideia
    (Language:   Greek)
education, culture (more)

paradeigma
    (Language:   Greek)
exemplar, paradigm, archetype, pattern, model (more)

paradosis
    (Language:   Greek)
transmission, tradition (more)

peras
    (Language:   Greek)
limit, boundary (more)

phantasia
    (Language:   Greek)
imagination (more)

philosophia
    (alternate spellings:  philosophy)
    (Language:   Greek)
love of wisdom (more)

phronesis
    (Language:   Greek)
thought, understanding, practical wisdom, sagacity, prudence (more)

phusis
    (Language:   Greek)
nature as opposed to the artificial (more)

pragmata
    (Language:   Greek)
things (more)

pronoia
    (Language:   Greek)
providence (more)

proodos
    (Language:   Greek)
procession (more)

psuche
    (alternate spellings:  psyche)
    (Language:   Greek)
soul; breath of life, life-stuff (more)

seira
    (Language:   Greek)
chain, series; the term (more)

skopos
    (Language:   Greek)
aim, purpose, target (more)

sophia
    (Language:   Greek)
wisdom (more)

sumbolon
    (Language:   Greek)
symbol (more)

sunthema
    (Language:   Greek)
token, passport, parole, symbol (more)

taxis
    (Language:   Greek)
order, series (more)

telestike
    (Language:   Greek)
one of the Neoplatonic names for theurgy and hieratic rituals (more)

telete
    (Language:   Greek)
initiation, the rite of initiation (more)

theios aner
    (Language:   Greek)
divine man, a god-like sage (more)

theologia
    (alternate spellings:  theology)
    (Language:   Greek)
divine science, theology (more)

theoria
    (Language:   Greek)
contemplation, theory (more)

theos
    (Language:   Greek)
god (more)

theourgia
    (alternate spellings:  theurgy)
    (Language:   Greek)
theurgy (more)

©2003 Dictionary of Spiritual Terms