Saligia: (The Seven Deadly Sins) – pronounced ‘SaLeeJea’– a MediaevilLatin ‘mnemonic’ name, (a memory aid - a made-up word or phrase to remember any difficult sequence), given to the Seven Deadly Sins. Collectively these are: superbia  (pride)

avaritia    (greed)

luxuria     (lust/extravagance)

invidia      (envy)

gula          (gluttony)

ira            (wrath/anger)

acedia      (sloth/apathy/melancholy).

The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the cardinal sins, are the vices that were originally used in The Roman Catholic Church’s Christian teachings, from the early 14th century, to educate and instruct people about (immoral) fallen man's tendency to sin.

Scarab: A beetle revered in ancient Egypt as sacred, under the name Kephri, and a symbol of self-generation and new life.

Sephiroth: Hebrew for ‘enumerations’. The ten emanations in Kabbalah, believed to be God’s methods of revealing himself and creating the physical realms of consciousness. It is believed that the sephiroth describe the spiritual lives of mortal men, as well as creating a connection between the human soul and the unknown Divine.

Though configurations differ between schools of teaching, the sephiroth is usually divided into three sephirah;Divine Will above all others; conscious Divine Intellect, and secondary-conscious Divine Emotions. Keter (crown), part of the Divine Will, indicates an unconscious mediation between God and the other. Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding) become part of the conscious Divine Intellect, while Chesed (kindness), Gevurah (severity), Tiferet (beauty), Netzach (victory), Hod (glory), Yesod (foundation), and Malchut (kingship) are believed to be the primary, compassionate attributes of the Divine Emotions. Through the sephiroth, Kabbalists wish to harness their inner motivational force and understand the role they take in service to God.

Seraphim: Plural form of ‘Seraph’; a celestial being belonging to the highest order in the hierarchy of angels. Caretakers of God’s throne, locked in an eternal song of praise known as the ‘Trisagion’.

Seven Angels: According to the revered medieval magical work, The Arbatel of Magic, the heavens were divided into provinces that were ruled by seven planetary angels. Each angel possessed a magical seal, which alchemists and magicians used extensively in the making of amulets and spells. The angels each had attributed to them, power over the planet, day of the week and metal, corresponding to their planet.

These are as follows:

Single Decade Rosary: A single string of prayer beads. The sequence of The Lord’s Prayer, followed by ten recitals of Hail Mary and one prayer of Glory Be to the Father, is known as a ‘decade’.

Soligram: from Latin solus (solo), and Greek gramma (that that is written or drawn), as in a solitary magical pentagram.

Spadillo/Ace of Spades: Usually the highest position in a deck of playing cards, the Ace of Spades, Spadillo or Spadille is also, more ominously known as the ‘death card’ – for reasons that are inextricably intertwined with folklore and mystery and the darkest depths of superstition. First interpreted as a symbol of a person’s potential demise as far back as the ancient Tarot decks and readings of Medieval Italy, media and literature soon caught on to the Ace’s morbid connotations. From functioning as a calling card for impending suicide in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Suicide Club, to finding a place in the Vietnam war as a psychological weapon – playing on the Vietnamese tradition of the spade bringing death and bad luck, scattering hundreds of the cards over the graves of the newly deceased – the Spadillo carries a nuance of the gruesome with it even into the present day.