tion is implied in the Old Testament. In this pas- sage Moses is speaking to the Israelites. He says to them, “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our forefathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive and here this day.” Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, and the covenant Moses is referring to was actually made with the generation of grandparents of those to whom he is speaking. In fact, the complete text implies that of those fore- fathers only three individuals are still alive. The usual and orthodox interpretation of this passage is that in making the covenant with the forefathers God was making it just as strongly with their de- scendants (grandchildren). The reincarnational in- terpretation of this passage is that the souls of the forefathers have been reincarnated into the bodies of their descendants; therefore, Moses is simply re- minding those reincarnated forefathers of their earlier covenant. However, since, there must have been considerable generational overlap between grandparents and grandchildren this reincarnation interpretation is illogical. Also, the Israelite popu- lation of the later period was greater than of the earlier period, and this interpretation, naturally, is problematic in light of the population increase
issue.
See also Ecclesiastes; Exodus; Forty; Genesis;
Kabbalah; Karma in the Bible? Old Testament and the afterlife; Old Testament and the soul; Psalms; Torah.
Devachan(Dwelling of the gods). In Theosophy this is an interim period state between lives in which the ego, after leaving behind its lower sheaths
(astral body, etc.) has time to peacefully or even blissfully contemplate its past and future.
The prominent theosophist James S. Perkins, in his book Experiencing Reincarnation (1977), states that spiritually advanced souls spend 1,000 to 2,000 years in devachan; that the souls of cultured self- disciplined people and those who have professional pursuits spend about 1,000 years there; that well- meaning and dutiful people spend 600–1.000 years there, and so forth, with the most primitive human beings spending only 30–40 years in devachan.
In Vajrayana Buddhism devachan can mean the
Pure-Landparadise of Amitabha Buddha. See also Devaloka; Heaven; Kamaloka.
Devaloka(World of the gods [deva]). In Buddhism this is one of the five or six worlds into which an or- dinary human being can be reborn as a reward for wholesome karma. Although an extremely blissful state, it is just as impermanent as in all the others
kama-ruparealms. Just as a rebirth factor is born into this realm due to virtuous karma, as soon as all that virtuous karma has been exhausted the rebirth factor must be reborn into one of the other four or five realms of samsara, and continue to be reborn and re-die until finally attaining nirvana. For this reason heavenly rebirth is not the highest goal in Buddhism.
It needs to be noted that all the entities in the
deva realm are not benevolent beings. For exam-
ple, the god Mara, the evil one, dwells in the deva realm.
Finally, among some Western reincarnationists the term devas is equated with the term angels.
See also Abhavya; Astral plane; Asuras; Bhava-
chakra; Brahma and rebirth in Buddhism;
Heaven; Nine doors; Pure-Land or Blissful Land Buddhism; Vimanavatthu.
Devas(S. Gods) see Devachan; Devaloka.
Devil see Lucifer (1).
Dharma Shastras(Law Commentaries). These are Hindu texts which outline the various rules (dhar-
mas) for the establishment of a harmonious soci-
ety. It was mainly through these texts, compiled from about 200 BCEonwards, that a widespread
acceptance of reincarnation was established in Hin-
duism.
Dhyani chohans. This is a Sanskrit-Tibetan com- pound name used in Theosophy to mean medita- tion lords, and it refers collectively to former human beings who have become the ascended
mastersor Masters of the Great White Brother-
hood(Lodge). These dhyani chohans are divided into three levels. The lowest consists of those who are still incarnated in human form; the second are
those who, while disincarnated, are still accessible to human beings; and the third are those far too advanced for human consciousness to completely comprehend. Among these dhyani chohans are El Morya, Hilarion, Jesus, Kuthumi, Saint Germain, Venetian, and Serapis (otherwise an Egyptian god). See also Church Universal and Triumphant;
Dark Brotherhood; Sinnett, Alfred Percy.
Diakka. In Spiritualism this is said to be a sizable group of morally unclean souls that reside in their own part of Summerland and who deliberately seek to misguide poorly skilled mediums and oth- ers who try to investigate the afterlife. This would presumably include the subject of reincarnation. It may have been just this group of malicious souls that Helena Blavatsky included in her rather ex- cessive condemnation of spiritualism after her very short interest in the subject. The name diakka comes from the work of the famous Spiritualist An-
drew Jackson Davis(1826–1910) who wrote The
Diakka and their Earthly Victims, (A. J. Davis Com-
pany, New York, 1873). See also Vampires.
Diathanatic(Greek: carried through death). This term refers to whatever it might be that carries over from one life to another. For example, diathantic memory would be whatever memory one had in this life about a past life.
See also Psychophore.
Dibbuk, Dybbuk (Hebrew: to cling, cleave). This
is a form of malevolent possession described in the
Kabbalah.Some sources state that a wicked soul (nefesh) becomes a dibbuk either because its sins block its journey into the afterworld and/or if the soul has not reformed after three lives (embodiment).
See also Attached entity; Karet.
Dichotomy. In reference to reincarnation, this refers to a view of the human being as a two part entity of the body and the soul, as opposed to a trichotomy of the body, the soul, and the spirit. While a dichotomy seem to be justified by some New Testament passages, a trichotomy is more commonly implied. In either case, if reincarnation is accepted it is the soul that would reincarnate, not the spirit.
Diogenes Laertius(2nd century CE). In his work
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 220 CE) this classic author tells us that Pythagoras was
able to remember a series of past lives beginning with Aethalides, the son of the god Hermes, who while denied god-like immortality, was granted the ability any lives he would live.
Dionysus. This ancient Greek deity is most com- monly thought of simply as the god of wine and
ecstasy; and this is exactly what he was, except when he is referred to as Dionysus Zagreus. In the Zagreus form he was the patron god of Orphism, a reincarnation believing sect that actually advo- cated abstaining from wine. There is nothing un- usual about any Greek god having such opposite associations. The Greeks, like most pagan people, were not greatly concerned about keeping their the- ology neatly organized. Such organization is of con- cern only to a highly institutionalized priesthood, which the Greeks did not have. In accordance with any lack of consistency in most ancient mythol- ogy, in Orphism the mother of Dionysus Zagreus is the goddess Persephone, while outside of Or- phism the mother is the mortal Semele. However, even in the non–Orphic myth Dionysus had a con- nection to death and immortality due to the story that he retrieved Semele from the underworld and guided her to the abode of the immortals.
See also Double torches; Greeks and reincar-
nation; Priesthood, lack of an organized; Re- birth, analogies from nature; Theophilus.
Disincarnation. This is the same as disembodi- ment; and as such it is the opposite of reincarnation.
Dissociation. This is a psychological process whereby there is a sudden, temporary alteration in the usual integrative functions of consciousness, identity, or motor behavior. If this alteration im- pacts consciousness, significant personal situations are not remembered. If this affects one’s personal identity, either the individual’s normal identity is temporarily lost to a new identity, or one’s normal sense of reality gives way to a sense of unreality. This condition has been suggested as one way of explaining channeling.
See also Multiple personalities; Trance states.
Divided consciousness. This is the condition in which two streams of consciousness are present at the same time. It is a frequent condition during
hypnotic age regression(past life regression). The person in this state is able to relive what is thought to be a past life while at the same time being com- pletely aware of the present time and their iden- tity. Divided consciousness is sometimes referred to as dual consciousness.
Divining past lives see Dreams, announcing; Lhamoi Latso Oracle; Sciomancy; Scrying ; Tarot.
Doceticism. This term comes from the Greek meaning “to seem” and refers to an early Christian gnostic concept that denied that Jesus was born, crucified, and died in a real physical body. This de- nial was necessary for most Christian gnostics in that Jesus could not be trapped in matter and still
be expected to be able to liberate others from such matter. This left Jesus as a pure spirit who created a kind of phantasmal or illusory embodiment in order to communicate his saving truth to embod- ied (entrapped) souls.
Some docetic Christians even used the gospel story at Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; and Luke 23:26 to argue for their view. In those passages Jesus was too weak to carry his cross so the Romans pressed into service the bystander Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Jesus. The docetic believers then argue that, through some clever, if not mirac- ulous exchange, it was Simon, not Jesus who was crucified. This docetic down-playing of the resur- rection allowed some gnostic Christians to replace the orthodox resurrection doctrine with a belief in reincarnation. To say the least, orthodox Christian- ity regarded doceticism as a damnable heresy.
The docetic view apparently was still strong enough in the late 6th century that it was able to influence Mohammed’s view of the fate of Jesus. In the Quran, at Sura 4:157– 158, it is stated, “They [the Jews] slew him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; ... they slew him not for certain, But Allah took him up unto Himself.”
The usual reason given for an original Moslem preference for a docetic view had nothing to do with favoring reincarnation; instead, it is an ortho- dox Islamic belief that a true prophet of God, which Jesus is considered to be in Islam, is suffi- ciently under divine protection so that no human action can ultimately harm him.
See also Basilides; Emanationism; Gnosticism;
Islam; Paulicians; Resurrection of Jesus.
Dor deah. This the Hebrew for “Generation of Knowledge” and is a reference to the Kabbalic idea that as a group the generation of the biblical flood reincarnated at the time of the Tower of Babel, and again at the Exodus, and now or very soon at the Age of Aquarius.
See also Kabbalah; Rebirth, ethnic; Rebirth,
group; Karma, racial.
Double, The see Shadow body.
Double torches. In some Greek pottery the god Dionysus is flanked by two Maenads (frenzied fe- male devotees) each of which carries a torch, one held up and the other held down. These are thought to represent the ascent (anodos) and re- birth or descent (cathodes) of the soul.
See also Orphism.
Dpal-gyi-rdo-rje see Belgi Dorje.
Dreams. Some people believe it is possible to recap- ture past life memories from the subconscious dur-
ing sleep because of the temporary disengagement from the more critical elements of the conscious mind. Having a re-occurring dream of parts of a life in some past time has been interpreted as sponta- neous recall of past life memories. Consistent day- dreams are sometimes also thought to be related to past life memories.
The idea that dreams have deep psychological meaning has been around for a very long time. It was given some scientific validity by early depth psychologists, such as Freud and Jung. However, psychoanalysis, for the most part, eventually found dreams to be too unreliable for therapy in this life. This was reinforced by modern psychology which has done, and continues to do, a very good job of showing that most, if not all, of our dreams are re- lated to working out problems in our present-day every day life, not in some past one.
See also Arguments supportive of rebirth; As-
tral body; Silver Chord; Soul and spirit levels, Theosophical; Soul, psychology of; Souls, fixed and free.
Dreams, announcing. These are dreams had by a parent or a close relative of a yet to be born child, which suggest to the dreamer that the child will be a reborn family member or friend. Such dreams are not uncommon among cultures that traditionally accept reincarnation. This foretelling of the future through dreams (oneiromancy), however, compli- cates any scientific investigation of the case since the child, if recalling a past life, may have memo- ries influenced by the adult dreamer’s expectations. Most serious past life researchers, therefore, do not give much credence to such dreams.
See also Australian Aborigines; Consanguious
Rebirth.
Dreams, lucid. This is the dream state in which the dreamer knows he is dreaming. It has been sug- gested that some past life scenarios experienced while in a hypnotic state may be related to lucid dreaming. Lucid, or even just ordinary, dreaming of deceased persons has been proposed as one of the sources for a belief in an afterlife.
See also Soul, psychology of.
Drink or fruit of forgetfulness. In a number of mythologies the souls of the deceased, before being reborn, travels to a place where they are told to drink or eat a substance which will cause all mem- ories of their former life to be lost. This is then said to be the reason that people can not remember past lives. In rare cases some individuals are believed to have avoided such consumption which accounts for their ability to remember parts of a past life. Some ancient Latin sources refer to this forgetful- ness as drinking from the Chalice of Oblivion (Latin: Oblivionis Poculum).
Kabbalic literature has a slightly different take on this forgetfulness. It says that the night-angel Layela (Laila[h]) gives the about to reincarnate soul a pinch on the nose and a light push on the upper lip of the astral face of the soul that causes it to for- get its past. The indentation on everyone’s upper lip is believed to be the proof of this angelic touch.
See also Hell, the Chinese; Kabbalah; Lethe;
Mnemosyne; Nepenthean veil; Plato; Right-hand
path and left-hand path.
Drugs see Body-brain (mind) dependency; Kingsford, Anna Bonus; Moore, Marcia.
Druids. The Druids were the priesthood of the Celtic speakers of Gaul (ancient France) and the British Isles. The majority of evidence points to a belief in transmigration among at least the Celtic peoples of Gaul. The earliest known mention of the Druids of Gaul was by the Greek historian Timaeus (mid 4th–mid 3rd century BCE). This was followed by mention of them by the Greek Stoic philosopher Posidonius (about 135–51BCE). How-
ever, neither of these men mentions anything about Druid beliefs. It was not until the Greek writer Diordus Silculus (60 BCE–30 CE) that there is a
mention that the Druids of Gaul believed that the
soulwas immortal and passed from one body to another.
Julius Caesar, who conquered Gaul between 58 and 50 BCE, states in book VI of his De bello galico
(of the Gallic War) that “They [the Druids] are
chiefly anxious to have men believe the following: that souls do not suffer death, but after death pass from one body to another: and they regard this as the strongest incentive to valor, since the fear of death is disregarded.”
No classical figure gives us any information about the beliefs of the Druids of the British Isles, therefore whether the belief on the continent also applied to the insular Druids is still under de- bate.
Under the modern name Druidry there was been a revival of what was thought was the ancient reli- gion of the Celtic Druids, of course, minus the original Druid practice of human sacrifice and enemy head-hunting.
See also Higgins, Godfrey; Morgannwg, Iolo;
Neo-pagan religions; New Age religions; Spiritism; Summerland; Wicca.
Druzes. This is a religious sect in Syria, Lebanon and Israel named after one of its founders, Al Darazi. It evolved out of a medieval heretical form of Shiite Islam which regarded one of the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt, al Hakim Bi-Amr (985– 1021?), as an earthly manifestation or incarnation of God. Eventually abandoning the main requirements of
Islam, including observing Ramadan and the pil- grimage to Mecca, orthodox Muslims consider the Druzes to be apostates. The sect also adopted the non-orthodox Neoplatonic belief in the reincarna- tion (Arabic: tanasukh) of souls. The Druze com- munity is divided into the majority of uninitiated lesser knowing believers and the minority of initi- ated sages.
The Druzes believe that everyone must undergo reincarnation into different life situations in order to attain purification and perfection. It is for this reason that everyone must experience a life of health and sickness, of wealth and poverty, etc. They fur- ther believe that when one of their ordinary mem- bers dies he or she is always reborn as a Druzes and always as the same sex, while when one of the per- fected sages dies he or she ascends to heaven to live with God as a star. The Druzes do not have a be- lief in karma, since it is a personal God, not imper- sonal law that passes judgment. Therefore, for all those in the world who have not gained such astral immortality by the time of the Day of Judgment they will be sorted out and destined to either an eternity in heaven or in hell. For the Druzes there is no interim period, there is only instantaneous re- birth.
The world’s highest percentage of past life recall is found among the Druzes. This gives rise to the issue of how much their religious belief itself influences such recall.
See also Assassins; Children remembering past
lives; Judgment of the Dead; Neoplatonism; Nusayris (Nursaris); Rebirth, instantaneous; Re- birth, ethnic; Sufism; Yazidis.
Dual consciousness see Divided consciousness; Multiple personalities.
Dual or double souls see American Indians; Australian Aborigines; Hunting cultures and reincarnation; Rebirth, simultaneous.
Dual personality see Multiple personalities. Dualism. This is the belief that reality comes in two irreconcilable forms. Among the major forms of dualism the following are most common:
(1) There is the belief that there is a fundamen- tal opposition between the physical (bodily) realm and the spiritual (soul) realms. A large number of traditions that believe in reincarnation are dual- ist in this sense. Among these are Jainism and
Samkhya Yogapractitioners; however, while both