Retort
A vessel with a bent neck used for heating and distilling materials.
Reference · Glossary
Glossary
A guide to the words used across this site and in the texts behind it. Definitions describe historical usage, not proven supernatural effects. A term may mean different things in different traditions; the tradition label tells you which sense is meant here.
Looking for a sign rather than a word? Symbols draws the signs of astrology, alchemy and geomancy and links each to what this study says about it.
10 terms · page 1 of 1
Retrograde
Apparent backward motion of a planet against the zodiac as seen from Earth, caused by changing relative positions rather than a planet reversing its physical orbit.
Rider–Waite–Smith
A twentieth-century tarot deck designed by Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, notable for its illustrated suit cards.
Ring of Solomon
A ritual tool in Ars Goetia. A silver ring held before the operator's face in encounters the text associates with noxious fumes.
Ritual bell
A ritual tool in Crowley, Book 4. A small, solemn bell attached to the chain, used to summon attention and to let one note decay completely into silence.
Ritual lamp
A ritual tool in Key of Solomon. The prepared lights of Book II: chiefly inscribed virgin-wax candles used for illumination within the circle.
Ritual robe
A ritual tool in Crowley, Book 4. A Tau-shaped garment of concealment, protection, silence, and withdrawal, varied according to grade and operation.
Rose Cross Lamen
A ritual tool in Golden Dawn. A wearable Golden Dawn synthesis of the elements, planets, zodiac, Hebrew letters, Sephiroth, and the order's colour scale—and the diagram from which many of its sigils are drawn.
Rubedo
The reddening that crowns the four-color sequence in some alchemical texts; it should not be imposed on every alchemical tradition.
Rulership
An astrological association of a planet with a sign or other chart place. Traditional and modern rulership lists can disagree and should be named as such.