terminology - fco

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Terminology

Terms used here

Yeats's Terms: AnAlphabetical List

Some notes on termsused on this site

The title A Vision is used torefer to the two separate

editions of the work in as much

as they constitute a single,

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Terminology.html






connected whole or set of

concepts, otherwise they are

referred to as A Vision A (or AV

A) and A Vision B (or AV B);

see The Two Editions. The

System, with a capital letter,

refers to the wider complex of ideas and themes, not all of

which are included in the

published versions of A Vision,and effectively stands for ‘the

complete system represented

partially in A Vision’; where the

word appears entirely in lower

case, as ‘system’, it does not

carry this specialised use.

Similarly Phase, where it refers

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Versions.html



to the specific label applied to

the twenty-eight combinations of

the Great Wheel, is capitalised,

and where it refers more

broadly to the lunar cycle is kept

in lower case. Sun and Moon

are capitalised, in consistencywith the other heavenly bodies,

as are the adjectives Solar and

Lunar, where they refer specifically to the symbolism of

Yeats’s System. The Automatic

Scriptis capitalised and refers to

the Yeatses’ material

transcribed in Yeats’s ‘Vision’

Papers, and sometimes also

abbreviated to “AS”.

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Biblio.html




The Terminology of A Brief Definitions

Yeats chose to italicise many, though not aspecialised terms that he coined. There are

some variations between the two versions

Vision, but the terms are given here in the

their later or otherwise most usual form.

definitions below give links to the fuller

considerations elsewhere.

Antithetical

One of the two Tinctures, the

to individuation and subjectiv

corresponding to the Lunar (w


http://sidewin%28%27/Tinctures.html','windowT')



operates on a larger and more

scale), and predominating dur

brighter Phases of the Moon, b

Phases 8 and 22. It is establis

opposition to the primary Tinc

defines itself by continual con

the primary.Automatic Script

A technique of mediumship, in

the clearing or distraction of tthough not usually trance, so th

hand writes without the interv

the conscious mind, see the A

Script. The Yeatses’ Automati

is an incredibly complex serie

questions and answers, evolvi

several years, mostly between

http://www.yeatsvision.com/AS.html



and 1920. After this a techniq

of Sleeps was used, with decr

frequency until 1924, though t

often loosely included under t

general heading of ‘Automatic

Only a proportion of the mater

was collected (now publishedin Yeats’s ‘Vision’ Papers) w

refined and elaborated into A

part this was because Yeats difully understand all of the mate

also because of the natural lim

imposed by the book; the parts

the System as a whole that are

expounded in A Vision may be

considered already quite comp

enough, but the Automatic Scr






elucidate certain areas consid

Beatific Vision

The culminating Moment of Cr

following the Initiatory and Cr

Moments.

Beatitude

The fourth stage of the after-licalled the Marriage, correspo

symbolically to the passage of

gyre through the Zodiacal signCancer, the sign of the summer

Being

‘By being is understood that wdivides into Four Faculties’ (

B 86); in a sense, as a special

is comparable to Heidegger's

the process of being or what is

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Faculties.html

http://www.yeatsvision.com/After.html




as opposed to his Sein, the ess

being, which may be closer to

the Principles, though as Heid

goes on to say, ‘ Alle Seiende i

Sein; das Sein ist das Seiende

being is in Being; Being is bei

the Human Being.Body of Fate

One of the Four Faculties the

representation of the external beyond the control of the indiv

Cardinal

Related to the Phases, those wrepresent the compass-points:

Phase 1, East-Phase 22, South

15 and West-Phase 8. These f

Phases exhibit special configu


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of the Faculties, where

the Oppositions and Discords

together, and represent crucial

the cycle. In terms of incarnati

Phases 1 and 15 are non-corpo

incarnations, while Phases 8 a

are crises for the soul. See ThCardinal Phases and the Triad

Celestial Body

One of the Four Principles, hithe hierarchy, which becomes

the Clarified Body once all ea

incarnations are finished. It

corresponds with the Faculty

of Fate.

Civilisation

Usually used as the secular co

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Principles.html

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Twelvefold.html





of a Religion, a 2,200-year ci

runs from the mid-point of the

preceding Religious era to the

point of the next. It does not ne

correspond to any conventiona

recognised cultural label, such

Minoan civilisation or even clcivilisation. Yeats’s Classical

Civilisation runs from around

1000BCE to around 1000CE,Monotheistic Religious Period

focused on the Christian Dispe

starting at its mid-point, givin

the Civilisation which this ena

around the year 1000CE (see

B 203-04). These two historic

cycles, therefore, have the sa

http://www.yeatsvision.com/History.html




but are ‘syncopated’, the Civil

corresponding to a Lunar mont

Religion to a Solar month. Ye

sometimes uses it for periods

thousand-odd years, referring

instance to a period correspon

1000CE-2100CE as ‘our Gothcivilisation’ ( AV B 255).

Cone

A diagrammatic convenience trepresent the gyre that become

virtual synonym for gyre.

Creative Mind

One of the Four Faculties orig

termed ‘Creative Genius’ in th

Automatic Script. It represents

mind in its consciously constr







aspect, and in more

subjective, antithetical peopl

seen as imagination ( AV B 142

Critical Moment

The second of the Moments of

following the Initiatory Mome

preceding the Beatific Vision.Cycle

1. A general term referring to

modified repetition of the gyreof the cyclical phenomena whi

inform the paradigm, such as t

natural cycles of the day, the

the year.

2. A specific term (often capit

"Cycle") referring to a comple

of 28 incarnations. The paradi





soul’s progress involves 12 su

Cycles, after which it may the

the Thirteenth Cycle. These C

received considerable attentio

the Automatic Script, where th

labelled by the signs of the Zo

starting with Taurus, Yeats cohimself to be in his Sixth Cycl

incarnation (the Libra Cycle),

George was in her Seventh Cyincarnation (the Scorpio Cycle

Daimon

A complex concept, which ev

with time, and which Yeats w

probably never entirely sure a

The Daimon is the supernatura

opposite of the human being, b





a single continuous conscious

the human, and can even be vi

the same elements in a differe

dimension. To a certain extent

controls human destiny, but ne

human counterpart to complete

knowledge of the whole. Seethe Human Being and the Dai

Discord

A relationship between Faculsee AV B 93-94. The

two Oppositions are Discords

other: Will and Mask , the two

fundamentally antithetical

Faculties are the Discords to

Mind and Body of Fate, the tw

fundamentally primary Facult



http://www.yeatsvision.com/Daimon.html

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Human.html



can go further and call Creativ

Mind the major Discord of W

both are active Faculties, whi

of Fate is the minor Discord,

is a target- Faculty, so has eve

common. In incarnation, the m

Discords fall in Phases whereadmixture of the two Tincture

same, but where growth of one

the other is in the opposite dir When shown on the double co

two major Discords Will : Cre

Mind and Mask : Body of

Fate therefore appear to move

along the cones and, when sho

the Wheel, they are reflected a

axis of the New Moon-Full M




the Wheel, the minor Discords

reflected in the axis of Phases

Phases 1, 8, 15 and 22 represe

special cases, where Oppositi

Discord come together, the ma

Discords coincide at Phases 1

the minor Discords coincide a8 and 22.

Double Cone

The ‘normal double cone’ or gshows the two Tinctures as

intersecting cones or gyres (se

In this form, the Faculties app

move as in pairs of the

major Discords, Will and Crea

Mind joined by a line across o

and Mask and Body of Fate jo





line across the other. See the s

gyre.

Dreaming Back

A subsidiary state in the secon

of the after-life, the Return, in

the events of the preceding life

relived according to their inteFaculties

The four fundamental constitue

the human psyche during incarThe Faculties are: the

active, Lunar force of Will and

focus or target, the Mask , and

active, Solar force of Creative

Mind and its focus, the Body o

The Faculties are all, howeve

in relation to the Principles, a










unlike the Principles, they are

but incapable of attaining

understanding: ‘Man can embo

but he cannot know it’.

The Faculties are not intrinsic

hierarchical, and are arranged

the circle of Wheel in rough ealthough during any particular

incarnation, one or more Facu

be stronger.Foreknowledge

The sixth and final stage of the

life state, corresponding symb

to the passage of Spirit 's gyre

the Zodiacal sign of Virgo.

Ghostly Self

Probably one of the most elusi





concepts in the System, not lea

Yeats himself. At some points

the Ghostly Self seems to be a

the Daimon as the archetype fr

which the individual human li

drawn and to which the soul w

return. At other points the GhoSelf appears to be closer to

the Theosophists’ Atman,

beyondCelestial Body but mirin Spirit , existing as the inviol

spark of divinity which stays s

from all incarnation. Its name

from the Holy Ghost of Christi

and the Self of Theosophic Bu

Gyre

The fundamental paradigm of

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Geometry.html

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Theosophy.html

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Daimon.html



and life in the Yeatses’ Syste

represents the cyclical nature

and the recurrent pattern of gro

decay, waxing and waning.

Husk

One of the Four Principles, th

in the hierarchy. It is the least permananent, but the one whic

closely associated with incarn

corresponding with the Facult Image

A projected form of the Mask

Image is a myth, a woman, a la

or anything whatsoever that is

external expression of the Mas

B 107).

Initiatory Moment





The first of the triad of Mome

Crisis, which never fully enter

Vision.

Lunar

The more inclusive term for th

subjective, individual, multitu

and creative pole of Yeats'soverarching duality, represent

incarnate life by the antithetic

Tincture: ‘the Tinctures belonman’s life while in the body, a

and Lunar may transcend that b

( AV A 139). See Solar and Lu

relation to theTinctures.

Marriage

An alternative name for the Be

the fourth stage of the after-life


http://www.yeatsvision.com/Tinctures.html




conceived of as the symbolic

of the Spirit and the Celestial

Mask

One of the Four Faculties, the

what we desire, wish to beco

revere, or regard as good.

MeditationPart of the first stage of the aft

following the preliminary Visi

Blood Kindred , marking the trof the consciousness from the

Will to the Principle Spirit , an

corresponding to the Spirit ’s pthrough the sign of Aries.

Moments of Crisis

An important element of the A







Script, which received brief tr

in AV A (172-73) and none in

linked particularly with sexua

They are associated with the

the least predictable element o

System, and are symbolised b

lightning flash. The Initiatoryrepresents a shift in the nature

the Mask and Body of Fate, th

‘sensuous image’, effectively aims, values and goals, which

motion a series of events whic

climax at the Critical Moment

Critical Moment represents a

of the greatest freedom within

individual life, where the intel

able to analyse the aims and a



initiated, probably with the he

the Daimonic mind, and the in

is able to act with as much fre

he or she is capable of. The C

Moment is not always reached

even if it is, this process may

repeated without the individuareaching the third stage of Bea

Vision, where the individual

into a form of greater wholene possibly Unity of Being.

Opening of the Tinctures

One of the more problematic t

ideas in A Vision, partly beca

Yeats's understanding changed

significantly between the two

In AV B he states that theantith




Tincture opens at Phase 11 an

the primary at Phase 12, and t

means ‘the reflection inward o

the Four Faculties: all are as

mirrored in the personality, U

Being becomes possible’ ( AV

See the Tinctures.Opposition

A relationship between Facul

see AV B 93-94. The two Oppare ‘the emotional Opposition

of Will and Mask ’, the two

fundamentally antithetical Fa

and ‘the intellectual Oppositio

of Creative Mind and Body of

the two fundamentally primar

Faculties. In each pair one is






active, appetent Faculty (Crea

Mind and Will ), while the othe

goal of its action, the

target- Faculty ( Body of

Fate and Mask ). Within the

fundamental gyre, the active F

the apex or origin of the gyre,target- Faculty is the base or w

expansion of the gyre; on the

the Oppositions are diametricopposed to each other. The tw

Oppositions form Discords to

other.

Passionate Body

One of the Four Principles, th

the hierarchy. It corresponds t

the Mask in the Faculties and





associated with passion and d

sharing much in common with

‘Desire Body’ of the Theosop

persists after death and is invo

during the first two stages of t

life, after which it should be s

this is not always possible, wentails a repetition in the same

incarnation.

PerfectionThere are four types of perfect

attainable, and these only in ce

Phases of incarnation: Self-Sa

(in Phases 2, 3 and 4), Self-K

(in Phase 13), Unity of Being (

Phases 16, 17 and 18), and Sa

Phase 27) (see AV B 95 & 100



Generally Unity of Being is us

Yeats to cover some or all of t

since it was the form that inter

him most and which was perso

possible to him.

Phantasmagoria

A minor subsidiary stage of ththe second stage of the after-li

which life and imagination are

completed in order to exhaustPrimary

One of the two Tinctures, the

to the collective and objectivi

corresponding to the Solar , w

operates on a larger and more

scale, and predominating duri

darker Phases of the Moon, be


http://sidewin%28%27/Tinctures.html','windowT')





Phases 22 and 8. It is, theoreti

first of the two Tinctures, sinc

the primary we are one, & bec

are one before they become m

whereas the antithetical defin

by opposition to the primary (

B 71-72).Principles

The Principles represent pure

knowledge and spiritual realituncreative and incapable of m

new material, only of understa

what life offers. They remain i

unconscious mind during waki

and are partially responsible f

dream life, coming to the fore

death, where the individual ne




sign of Leo.

Record

In the Sphere, ‘All things are p

an eternal instant to our Daimo

B 193). However, this state is

incomprehensible to us, becau

things fall into a series of antihuman experience’, so that Ye

‘instructors have therefore fol

tradition by substituting for ita Record where the images of

events remain for ever "thinki

thought and doing the deed". T

in popular mysticism called "t

pictures in the astral light", a t

became current in the middle o

nineteenth century, and what B




called "the bright sculptures o

Hall"’ ( AV B 193). This defini

seems to lay stress upon the pa

elements, rather than the future

the eternal instant and, as Yeat

may owe more than a little to t

Theosophists’ idea of the ‘akarecord’, images in the spiritua

susbtance, as well as to the tra

of anima mundi.Religion

Sometimes used as

the Solar counterpart to

the Lunar civilisation.

Like civilisation, it does not

necessarily refer to any conve

recognised single religion; sin






corresponding to a Lunar mont

starting on the Ides of a

Religion’s Solar month.

Return

The second stage of the after-l

corresponding symbolically to

passage of Spirit 's gyre througsign of Taurus. It comprises se

states in each of which

theSpirit attempts to understan preceding life in different man

it passes from one to the other

sequence but in rhythmic alter

The first of these subsidiary st

also named the Return, where

are relived in sequence, and th

main stage is the Dreaming B






where they are relived accord

intensity. Further stages includ

the Phantasmagoria and other

variations which Yeats does n

clearly.

Shiftings

The third stage of the after-lifecorresponding symbolically to

passage of Spirit 's gyre throug

sign of Gemini.Single Gyre

The simplest form of the parad

gyre moving from its origin to

widest expansion and then di

again, either returning to the sa

origin, denoting cyclical time,

continuing in a new minimum,

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Geometry.html




linear time. See the double co

Sleeps

After 1920, since George Yea

the sessions of Automatic

Script increasingly draining, t

Yeatses started the practice of

‘Sleeps’, where George woultrance and speak, while W. B.

noted what she said. These too

decreased in frequency and ceapart from very occasional lat

instances, in 1924. George Mi

Harper gives a clear summary

Critical Edition of Yeats’s A

Vision (1925), xvii-xxiii.

Solar

The more inclusive term for th






objective, collective and unify

of Yeats's overarching duality

represents wisdom, knowledg

ultimate reality. In incarnate li

the primary Tincture represen

Solar aspect: ‘the Tinctures b

a man’s life while in the bodySolar and Lunar may transcen

body’ ( AV A 139). See Solar a

Lunar in relation to the TinctuSphere

The absolute and unitary form

beyond the gyres. The human

fixed in the antinomies, can on

perceive it as opposition to th

mundane gyre, and therefore s

a gyre or cone: the Thirteenth




Spirit

One of the Four Principles, Sp

active, Solar Principle, is the

movement and the individual b

within the archetype of the Ce

Body. Although it comes seco

hierarchy, it is probably the mimportant of all, since it repre

impetus to life and experience

SystemThe term is used here, when

capitalised as ‘System’, to ref

whole complex of ideas deriv

the Automatic Script, part of

was published as A Visionin it

versions.

Thirteenth Cone





The form of the Sphere, when

through the antinomies. If you

bright red for a while and then

white, it will appear green, the

complementary colour (a phen

harnessed by the Golden Daw

Tattwic Symbols, see RGD Vo16). Similarly, the human bein

trapped in the antinomies (red

the totality of the Sphere (whitform of opposition, an opposi

(green).

Thirteenth Cycle

Generally synonymous with T

Cone, since every cycle can b

represented by its own cone.

the preceding twelve Cycles a




of incarnation, which also cor

roughly with the twelve month

the Great Year , so the Thirtee

Cycle is sometimes seen as the

beginning of a new, supernatur

of ‘incarnations’, and AV

A complicates matters furthermentioning Fourteenth and Fi

Cycles.

TinctureThe two Tinctures are the sou

fundamental conflict and tensi

drives human life, the ‘two ete

of ‘Under Ben Bulben’:

the primary representing the O

macrocosm, the race, the colle

objective, truth, and knowledg


http://www.yeatsvision.com/History.html



strives with and against

the antithetical representing t

the microcosm, the soul, the in

the subjective, beauty and crea

On a grander scale, the poles

referred to as Solar and Lunar

the Tinctures being reserved fincarnate life. The term, whic

not originate in the Automatic

was borrowed from Jacob Bogive a joint name to the prima

antithetical polarity in the pre

card-index.

Triads

Groups of three Phases, which

form a single gyre, in which fo

tend to be used in Yeats's treat





history. Except for the four Ca

Phases, each Phase falls withi

The first Phase of triad is the

Manifestion of an energy, ofte

or anarchic; the second Phase

Organisation of that energy, w

codifies and arranges the powinvolved; the third Phase is the

Preparation for arrival of the

energy, showing a belief in,appreciation of or submission

quality (see AV B 93). See The

Cardinal Phases and the Triad

Unity of Being

Yeats had used the term before

Vision but developed it signifi

with relation to the System. He

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Twelvefold.html




the term from his memory of

Dante’s Convito, claiming tha

compares it to ‘a perfectly

proportioned human body’ ( A

although Dante does not use it

closest equivalent is a referen

harmony within a language. It defined in a draft as ‘Complet

Harmony between phisical [ si

intellect & spiritual desire allimperfect but if harmony is pe

unity’; in some ways it is a ver

Renaissance ideal, akin to the

of ‘Vitruvian man’, famously s

by Leonardo. It is declared to

unity attainable through the Ma

B 82), but reserved particularl

http://medwin%28%27http//www.yeatsvision.com/images/VitruvianManMoon.jpg','windowV')



the antithetical Phases, when

the Mask is free, and only real

attainable after the ‘Vision of

Evil’ which happens for some

the Full Moon. In effect, there

only really possible at Phases

and 18 - coincidentally the PhMaud Gonne, W. B. Yeats and

Yeats respectively.

VictimageA complex group of relationsh

through which one person may

work off another's karmic deb

Vision of the Blood Kindred

The start of the first stage after

when all the impulses and ima

the Husk or senses appear in a




synthesis, a version of the trad

person’s life flashing before t

The Meditation is also part of

stage and seems to be the more

significant element, but Yeats’

is not entirely clear ( AV B 223

235).Vision of Evil

The perception of the world a

continual and necessary strife, properly achieved at or shortl

the Full-Moon incarnation. It i

the acknowledgement of a dua

possibly even Manichean, uni

rather than any diabolic sense

man believes willingly in evil

suffering. How much of the str




weight of Dante and of Balzac

from unwilling belief, from the

it how much of the rhetoric an

vagueness of all Shelley that d

arise from personal feeling? ("

Four and Twenty"

VII, Explorations 277, cf. CW44).

Wheel

The Wheel portrays the cyclicof the gyre, and is usually divi

twenty-eight stages, identified

phases of the Moon. Yeats per

time as cyclical rather than lin

as in the Hindu symbol, the W

represents the cycle of the sou

rebirth. Yeats, in

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Wheel.html



an antithetical incarnation hi

does not see this as something

necessarily desirable to escap

Will

One of the Four Faculties, ori

termed ‘Ego’ in the Automatic

borrowing from Madame Blavrather than from the English tr

of Freud). It represents the life

a relatively basic form, the wicontinue. Without Mask it has

but with the appropriate focus

the creative force. The Will is

always the dominant Faculty b

one which determines the Phas

which a person is located, so t

those of Phase 17 have their




Spring Equinox, and are in ord

Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer

Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittar

Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.

SeeAstrology and Astronomy.

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Astronomy.html

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Astrology.html

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