Parama-Hamsas
(See India.) Paraskeva, Saint: A saint of the Russian Calendar, whose feast day is August 3rd. On that day pilgrims from all parts of Russia congregate in St. Petersburg for the purpose of casting out devils. A newspaper report of the proceedings as they occurred in 1913 is as follows :- "Another St. Paraskeva's day has come and gone. The usual fanatical scenes have been enacted in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, and the ecclesiastical authorities have not protested, nor have the police intervened. Special trains have again been run to enable thousands of the lower classes to witness a spectacle, the toleration of which will only be appreciated by those acquainted with the writings of M. Pobiedonostzeff, the late Procurator of the Holy Synod. The Church of St. Paraskeva is situated in a factory district of the city. On the exterior side of one of the walls is an image of the Saint, to whom is attributed the power of driving out devils and curing epileptics, neurotics, and others by miraculous intervention. At the same time, the day is made a popular holiday, with games and amusements of all sorts, booths and lotteries, refreshment stalls and drinking bars. The newspapers publish detailed accounts of this year's proceedings without comment, and it is perhaps significant that the Novoe Vremya, a pillar of orthodoxy, ignores them altogether. Nor is this surprising when one reads of women clad in a single undergarment with bare arms being hoisted up by stalwart peasants to the level of the image in order to kiss it, and then having impure water and unclarified oil forced down their throats. The treatment of the first sick woman is typical of the rest. One young peasant lifted her in the air, two others held her arms fully extended, while a fourth seized her loosened hair, and, dragging her head from side to side and up and down, shouted Kiss, kiss St. Paraskeva!
The woman's garment was soon in tatters. She began groaning. One of the men exclaimed: "Get out!
Satan! Say where thou art lodged!" The woman's head was pulled back by the hair, her mouth was forced open, and mud-coloured water (said to be holy water) was poured into it. She spat the water out, and was heard to دو 66 66 Pasqually moan, Oh, they are drowning me!" The young man exultantly exclaimed, "So we've got you, devil, have we? Leave her at once or we will drown you!" He continued pouring water into the victim's mouth, and after that unclarified oil. Her lips were held closed, so that she was obliged to swallow it. The unfortunate woman was again raised and her face pressed against the image. "Kiss it! kiss it!" she was commanded, and she obeyed. She was asked who was the cause of her being "possessed."
Anna," was the whispered reply. Who was Anna ?
What was her village? In which cottage did she live ? A regular inquisition. The physical and mental sufferings of the first victim lasted about an hour, at the end of which she was handed over to her relatives, after a cross had been given to her, as it was found that she did not own one. According to accounts published by the Retch, Molva, etc., many other women were treated in the same fashion, the exercises lasting a whole day and night. The men "pilgrims" would seem to have been less severely handled. It is explained that the idea of unclothing the woman is that there should be no knot, bow, or fastening where the devil and his coadjutors could find a lodgment. And one is left with the picture of scores of women crawling around the church on their knees, invoking the aid of the Almighty for the future or His pardon for sins committed in the past."
The treatment of the "possessed is analogous to that employed by many barbarous peoples for the casting out of devils, and notably among the Chams of Cambodia (q.v.) who force the possessed to eat garbage in order to disgust the fiend they harbour. (See also Obsession.) Pasqually, Martinez de: (Kabalist and Mystic). [1715?--1779]. The date of Martinez Pasqualis' birth is not known definitely while even his nationality is a matter of uncertainty. It is commonly supposed, however, that he was born about 1715, somewhere in the south of France; while several writers have maintained that his parents were Portuguese Jews, but this theory has frequently been contested. It is said that from the outset he evinced a predilection for mysticism in its various forms, while it is certain that, in 1754, he instituted a Kabalistic rite, which was gleaned from Hebraic studies, and whose espousers were styled Cohens, this being simply the Hebrew for priests. He propagated this rite in divers masonic lodges of France, notably those of Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Paris; while in 1768 we find him settled in the French capital, gathering round him many people addicted to mysticism, and impregnating them with his theories. His sojourn here was cut short eventually, nevertheless, for he heard that some property had been bequeathed to him in the island of St. Dominique, and he hastened thither with intent to assert his rights; but he did not return to France, his death occurring in 1779 at Port-au-Prince, the principal town in the island aforesaid.
Pasqually is credited with having written a book, La Réintégration, but this was never published. As regards the philosophy which he promulgated, he appears to have believed partly in the inspiration of the Scriptures, the downfall of the angels, the theory of original sin, together with the doctrine of justification by faith; but he seems to have held that man existed in an elemental state long before the creation detailed in Genesis, and was gradually evolved into his present form. In short, Pasqually was something of an anticipator of endless modern theorists; nor did he fail to find a disciple who regarded him as a prophet and master, this being Louis Claude de St. Martin, a theosophist frequently styled in France "le philosophe inconnu," who founded the sect known as Martinistes. The reader will find some account of St. Martin in an article headed with his name.
Path, The: Is a term which represents an important theosophical teaching, and it is used in different senses to denote not only the Path itself but also the Probationary
Path along which a man must journey before he can enter on the former. Impelled by profound longing for the highest, for service of God and his fellows, man first begins the journey and he must devote himself wholeheartedly to this service. At his entrance on the Probationary Path, he becomes the chela or disciple of one of the Masters or Perfected men who have all finished the great journey, and he devotes himself to the acquiring of four qualifications which are (I) knowledge of what only is real (2) rejection of what is unreal; (3) the six mental attributes of control over thought, control over outward action, tolerance, endurance, faith and balance, these attributes though all necessary in some degree, not being necessary in perfect degree; and (4) the desire to be one with God. During the period of his efforts to acquire these qualifications, the chela advances in many ways, for his Master imparts to him wise counsel; he is taught by meditation to attain divine heights unthought of by ordinary man; he constantly works for the betterment of his fellows, usually in the hours of sleep, and striving thus and in similar directions, he fits himself for the first initiation at the entrance to the Path proper, but it may be mentioned that he has the opportunity either during his probation or afterwards to forego the heavenly life which is his due and so to allow the world to benefit by the powers which he has gained, and which in ordinary course, he would utilise in the heavenly life. In this case, he remains in the astral world, from whence he makes frequent returns to the physical world. Of initiations there are four, each at the beginning of a new stage on the Path, manifesting the knowledge of that stage. On the first stage there are three obstacles or, as they are commonly termed, fetters, which must be cast aside and these are the illusion of self which must be realised to be only an illusion; doubt which must be cleared away by knowledge; and superstition which must be cleared away by the discovery of what in truth is real. This stage traversed, the second initiation follows, and after this comes the consciousness that earthly life will now be short, that only once again will physical death be experienced, and the man begins more and more to function in his mental body. After the third initiation, the man has two other fetters to unloose-desire and aversion; and now his knowledge becomes keen and piercing and he can gaze deep into the heart of things. After the fourth initiation, he enters on the last stage and finally frees himself of what fetters remain-the desire for life whether bodily or not, and the sense of individual difference from his fellows. He has now reached the end of his journey, and is no longer trammelled with sin or with anything that can hinder him from entering the state of supreme bliss where he is reunited with the divine consciousness. (See Theosophy.)