The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavatsky

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavatsky

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:12 pm

The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky
by H. P. Blavatsky
compiled by Daniel H. Caldwell

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Table of Contents (Only major items listed below; extracts from letters, etc. not listed):

• Introduction
• The Blavatsky Lodge and the Esoteric Section of the T.S. by Katherine A. Beechey
• A Memorandum of the Master's Remarks
• The Meaning of the Pledge by Archibald Keightley
• Lodges of Magic: Extracts by H.P. Blavatsky
• The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society -- Official Announcement of Formation by Henry S. Olcott
• The Formation of the Esoteric Section by Alice Cleather
• Pledge Card sent by H.P. Blavatsky to an Applicant (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• Certificate of Membership signed by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• H.P.B.'s Appointment of W.Q. Judge (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• The Rules of the E.S.T.S.
• Preliminary Memorandum of the E.S.T.S. (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• Letter to E.S.T.S. Members in U.S.A. by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of 1889 original)
• The Printing of the E.S. Instructions
• E.S. Instructions No. I by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1890 Aryan Press Edition)
• E.S.T.S. Document signed by Bertram Keightley
• E.S. Instructions No. II by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1890 Aryan Press Edition)
• E.S.T.S. Document signed May 14, 1889 by H.P. Blavatsky
• E.S.T.S. Document signed May 27, 1889 by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of original)
• E.S.T.S. Document signed May 27, 1889 by American E.S. Council
• "A Voice from Over the Seas" by H.P. Blavatsky
• To All Theosophists: "The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society: and Its Enemies by H.P. Blavatsky
• The Work of the "Esoteric Section of the T.S.": To All the "Pledged" Theosophists by H.P. Blavatsky
• The Key to Theosophy: Extracts on the E.S.T.S. and its Members
• The Esoteric Section T.S.: Reorganization of the Section in America (Facsimile of September 1889 original)
• Preliminary Explanations to No. III of the Instructions by H.P.B.
• To the Members of the Esoteric Section T.S. by J.D. Buck (Facsimile of October 1889 original)
• Letter of H.P. Blavatsky dated Oct. 23, 1889
• To the Members of the E.S. of the T.S. by H.P. Blavatsky
• E.S.T.S. Document dated Nov. 29, 1889 by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of original)
• E.S. Instructions No. III by H.P. Blavatsky
• Colonel Henry S. Olcott and the Esoteric Section
• Charter of the Dzyan Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society
• Suggestions and Aids, No. 1: Correspondence Group, Series A1 (Facsimile of original)
• Suggestions and Aids, No. 1: Correspondence Group, Series A2 (Facsimile of original)
• Examination Paper No. 1 dated June 12, 1890 (Facsimile)
• Notice dated July 1890 by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of original)
• Notice from H.P.B. dated August 9, 1890 (Facsimile of original)
• The Inner Group Teachings -- Introduction
• Criticisms and Remarks by the Head of the Section Concerning Answers to Examination Paper No. 1 (Facsimile of original)
• Pledge Card (Revised Edition) (Facsimile of 1890 original)
• Preliminary Memorandum (new 1890 document)
• Book of Rules (Revised Edition of Preliminary Memorandum) (Facsimile of 1890 original)
• Notice dated Jan. 1, 1891 by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1891 original)
• On Changing the Name of the E.S.T.S. by H.P. Blavatsky et al.
• H.P. Blavatsky on Annie Besant
• E.S. Order by H.P.B. Appointing Annie Besant Chief Secretary of the Inner Group
• Form of Admission and Order of Business for an E.S. Lodge (Facsimile of original)
• Reprint of Instructions I, II and III: Notice (Facsimile of original)
• Notice about E.S. Members Sending Their Photographs to H.P.B. (Facsimile of 1891 original)
• Notice that H.P.B. Has Departed This Life signed by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of 1891 original)
• Declaration about H.P.B. by Members of the Inner Group (Facsimile of 1891 original
• Letter, Pledge, Minutes and Address Concerning Continuation of Esoteric School after H.P.B.'s Death signed by Annie Besant, William Q. Judge et al (Facsimile of 1891 originals)
• Appendix I
o 1891 Revised Edition of H.P.B.'s Instructions I, II and II (Facsimile of originals)
 Instruction No. I
 Instruction No. II
 Instruction No. III
 Notes on Instructions I, II and III
• Appendix II
o The Inner Group Teachings: Complete Transcription
• Appendix III
o The Occult Room
• Appendix IV
o Instructions Nos. IV, V, and VI (Facsimile of originals)
 Instruction No. IV
 First Supplementary Paper to Instruction No. IV
 Instruction No. V
 Instructions No. VI

In short, Kabalistic Astrology, as now practiced in Europe, is the semi-esoteric secret science, adapted for the outer and not for the inner circle. It is, furthermore, often left incomplete and not infrequently distorted to conceal the real truth. While it symbolizes and adopts its correspondences on the mere appearances of things. Esoteric philosophy, concerning itself preeminently with the essence of things, accepts only such symbols as cover the whole ground, i.e., such symbols as yield a spiritual as well as a psychic and physical meaning. Yet even Western Astrology has done excellent work, for it has helped to carry the knowledge of the existence of a Secret Wisdom throughout the dangers of the Medieval Ages and dark bigotry up to this day, when all danger has disappeared.

***

"'It is written,' said Simon in his ......., 'that there are two kinds of AEons having neither beginning nor end, issued both from the same Root -- the invisible and incomprehensible Potentiality -- named Silence [Sige.] One of these [series of AEons] appears to us superior to the other. This one is the "Great Intelligence" [Universal Mind, or divine Ideation] of all things; it rules all and is male [it is the Mahat of the Hindus). The other is much inferior, for it is [manifested] Thought, the great female AEon: these two kinds of AEons, intercommunicating with each other, form and manifest the intermediate [the middle sphere, or plane], the incomprehensible Air which has neither beginning nor end'."

***

Esotericism, pure and simple, speaks of no personal God; therefore are we considered as Atheists. But Occult Philosophy, as a whole, is based in reality and absolutely on the ubiquitous presence of God, i.e., the Absolute Deity; and if IT is not speculated upon (because too sacred and absolutely incomprehensible as a Unit to the finite intellect) the entire philosophy is based upon its divine Powers as sources of all that breathes and lives and has its existence, not merely its being. In every ancient religion the ONE was demonstrated by the many. In Egypt and India, as also in Chaldea and Phoenicia and finally in Greece, the ideas about Deity were expressed by multiples of three, five and seven; also of eight, nine and twelve great Gods -- symbolizing the powers and properties of the Only and Sole; it was related to that infinite subdivision by irregular and odd numbers that the metaphysics of these nations subjected their ONE DIVINITY to. Thus constituted, the cycle of the Gods had all the qualities and attributes of the "ONE SUPREME AND UNKNOWABLE;" for in this collection of divine personalities -- or rather of symbols personified -- dwells the ONE GOD, the GOD ONE, that God which, as in India, has no Second: "Oh God Ani (the Spiritual Sun), thou residest in the agglomeration of thy divine personages."

***

The member desiring to ascertain whether another person belongs to the E.S. will first say “Dhyani” to which the person addressed (if a member of the E.S. will reply “Pura”. The questioner must then say “Satri”, to which the reply will be “Asoph”.

***

The "Inner Lodge" of the Dzyan is the name by which the Master's Lodge in the inner Lamasery is known. All the adepts, chelas etc. in that part of the country are known among Lamas as Dzyan-pas. The "we" does not refer to me but to myself & staff. -- Secretary chosen by Council -- besides which, you W.Q.J. as the Chief & only agent of the "Dzyan" in America have to add your signature under mine on each Charter. The Charters may be prolix & high faluting -- perhaps, but they were written out by High Masons those of the Horus Lodge & Rosicrucians.

***

In the affairs of the Theosophical Society and of the E. S. there is an important cycle which comes to a conclusion in about ten years. It is broadly mentioned in the Key to Theosophy from p. 304 to 307.
The law is that the Adepts work with men (of the Caucasian race) directly and in large masses during the last twenty-five years of every century, and then stop for seventy-five
years, beginning again in the fourth quarter of the next century.

***

An examination of the method pursued by our teacher, H. P. B., shows that since she is not permitted to give out the complete teaching, nor to make known even a perfect outline of the doctrine on any one plane, she omits such parts and mixes up the remainder to a certain extent, like the pieces of a child's puzzle. For were she to state all that she gives out in its correct relation and order, we could readily fill in the gaps ourselves, and men would thus obtain knowledge, and therefore power, on the occult side of nature, before their moral natures were fitted for the trust. Therefore she conceals the clue by removing the pieces of the puzzle from their proper context, and so obliging us to have recourse to the light of intuition in order to restore them to their proper places in the perfect scheme.

***

Those willing and anxious to be our "enemies on the other side of the river" have fiercely assailed our teacher. They see only her personality, but they feel blindly the truth that blinds and binds where it cannot liberate and enlighten. They think that by bringing her into discredit and disgrace they will prevent the truth from appearing. They are unaware of their own motive because blinded by self-interest. If you touch their purse or their profits, or the creed or scheme under which they work, they hang their banners on the outer wall, and the sound of war is heard in their streets.

Try to imagine one the center of an angry mob bent on his destruction. They are deaf to every appeal; they drown his voice by their cries of vengeance, -- human beings, yet tigers, thirsting for blood. Imagine a human being thus at bay: his soul like a mirror; a focus for every surging wave of passion and every impulse of murder. "Away With him!" "Crucify him!" "Kill him!" Read the story of Hypatia, torn limb from limb by howling demons in the garb of priests, stifling humanity, and profaning at every breath the name of Christ. For fourteen years H. P. Blavatsky, a nervous, sensitive woman, has been the center toward which have poured from every direction these waves of hatred, of misrepresentation, of slander, and of ridicule. From churchman and scientist hatred and ridicule alike, and now from spiritualists the most unreasoning blind hatred from any. Have any of these answered her arguments or disproved her propositions? No, they have simply abused her.

***

In spite of the emphatic manner in which H. P. B. speaks of the Auric Egg, it does not seem to have received as much study and thought at the hands of Esotericists as it deserves. Philosophically, its importance lies in the fact that it is the "principle of individuality," since it is only in virtue of the limiting function of the Auric Egg that man can be said to possess any individuality whatever, whether on the physical or any higher plane. For the Auric Egg is the abstract root, the germ of all limitation and finiteness, i.e., of that distinction between units which we term individualization. All the principles in man differ in no respect from their macrocosmic prototypes except by being enclosed in the Auric Egg, and were that ever to cease to exist, the "principles" that compose us would merge back into the general stock, and we should cease to have any existence as individuals. It is this function of the Auric Egg which would seem to be pointed at in the beautiful Buddhist simile for the attainment of Nirvana, -- "the dewdrop slips into the shining sea." This shows that Nirvana is attained not, as some think, by the annihilation of the individuality, but by its indefinite expansion. In other words, when Nirvana is attained, the Auric Egg, the boundary of the individuality, expands until its limits become coextensive with those of "Brahma's Egg" -- which last is the particular Universe on which that individual has been performing his cyclic pilgrimage.

***

To be in Svarloka is to be completely abstracted on this plane, leaving only instinct to work, so that on the material plane you would behave as an animal. Yogîs are known who have become crystallized in this state, and then they must be nourished by others. A Yogî near Allahabad had been for fifty-three years sitting on a stone; his Chelâs plunge him into the river every night and then replace him. During the day his consciousness returns to Bhûrloka, and he talks and teaches. A Yogî was found on an island near Calcutta round whose limbs the roots of trees had grown. He was cut out, and in the endeavour to awaken him so many outrages were inflicted on him that he died....

The student, who is not naturally psychic, should fix the fourfold consciousness in a higher plane and nail it there. Let him make a bundle of the four lower and pin them to a higher state. He should centre on this higher, trying not to permit the body and intellect to draw him down and carry him away. Play ducks and drakes with the body, eating, drinking and sleeping, but living always on the ideal.

***

H.P.B said that thought should be centred on the highest, the seventh, and then an attempt to transcend this will prove that it is impossible to go beyond it on this plane. There is nothing in the brain to carry the thinker on, and if thought is to rise yet further it might be thought without a brain. Let the eyes be closed, the will set not to let the brain work, and then the point may be transcended and the student will pass to the next plane. All the seen stages of perception come before Antahkarana; if you can pass beyond them you are on the Mânasic Plane.

Try to imagine something which transcends your power of thought, say, the nature of the Dhyân Chohans. Then make the brain passive, and pass beyond; you will see a white radiant light, like silver, but opalescent as mother of pearl; then waves of colour will pass over it, beginning in the tenderest violet, and through bronze shades of green to indigo with metallic lustre, and that colour will remain. If you see this you are on another plane. You should pass through seven stages.

When a colour comes, glance at it, and if it is not good reject it. Let your attention be arrested only on the green, indigo and yellow. These are good colours. The eyes being connected with the brain, the colour you see most easily will be the colour of the personality. If you see red, it is merely physiological, and is to be disregarded. Green-bronze is the Lower Manas: yellow-bronze the Antahkarana, (Page 582) indigo-bronze is Manas. These are to be observed, and when the yellow-bronze merges into the indigo you are on the Mânasic Plane.

On the Mânasic Plane you see the Noumena, the essence of phenomena. You do not see people or other consciousnesses, but have enough to do to keep your own. The trained Seer can see Noumena always. The Adept sees the Noumena on this plane, the reality of things, so cannot be deceived.

In meditation the beginner may waver backwards and forwards between two planes. You hear the ticking of a clock on this plane, then on the astral—the soul of the ticking. When clocks are stopped here the ticking goes on on higher planes, in the astral, and then in the ether, until the last bit of the clock is gone. It is the same as with a dead body, which sends out emanations until the last molecule is disintegrated.

There is no time in meditation, because there is no succession of states of consciousness on this plane.

Violet is the colour of the Astral. You begin with it, but should not stay in it; try to pass on. When you see a sheet of violet, you are beginning unconsciously to form a Mâyâvi Rûpa. Fix your attention, and if you go away keep your consciousness firmly to the Mâyâvic Body; do not lose sight of it, hold on like grim death.

***

If we could remember our dreams in deep sleep, then we should be able to remember all our past incarnations.

***

The Manas can pass its essence to several vehicles, e.g., the Mâyâvi Rûpa, etc., and even to Elementals which it can ensoul, as the Rosicrucians taught. The Mâyâvi Rûpa may be sometimes so vitalized that it goes on to another plane and unites with the beings of that plane and so ensouls them. People who bestow great affection upon animal pets are ensouling them to a certain extent, and such animal souls progress rapidly; in return such persons get back the animal vitality and magnetism. It is, however, against Nature to thus accentuate animal evolution, and on the whole is bad.

***

QUESTION No. 1. -- "What are the Pitris?" ...

Note. -- This question was -- with rare exceptions -- very badly answered. A large number of Esotericists simply replied, "I do not know," or, "I am not very clear," -- a confession of ignorance which no one, after a year of study, should have been obliged to make. An Esotericist has the duty of right-thinking as well as right-living, and a lamentable want of study is shown in most of the papers. It is wholly impossible to give more advanced teaching to those who are not even familiar with the broad outlines of the doctrines given to the world in the Secret Doctrine. Even the Notes on the Secret Doctrine, given monthly in Lucifer, would have enabled Esotericists to answer this question.

Q. (2) -- "What is Kama Rupa?" ...

NOTE. -- Many students answered this question by merely translating Kama-Rupa into "body of desire" -- an answer that could have been given by any outsider who had picked up a Theosophical publication dealing with the seven principles. Only a very small minority stated that the Rupa was formed after death -- a fact which seems to imply, that great majority of Esotericists have not taken the trouble to read the third Instructions. Such gross ignorance as the the confounding of Kama-Rupa with Kama-Loca is also shown in some of the answers. The mistake in some cases was probably due to the acceptation by the students of Mr. Sinnett's classification, without any analysis. Kama-Rupa must be included in the classification, because potentially it exists, although it is not concentrated or collected into a definite form until death breaks up the body. This may be understood in the same way as when we say that in such-and-such a man's body there are so many ounces of carbon, which, however, we know will not reveal themselves as carbon until released from the other elements.

Q. (3) -- "What is the difference between the Higher and the Lower Self?" ...

Note. -- Scarcely any avoided a confusion between the Higher Self and the Higher Ego. Some fell into the most hopeless blunders, showing that they had no clear ideas of the septenary constitution of man. Serious mistakes were also made as to the meaning of the "Lower Self;" one wild guess identifying it with the Auric Egg. Yet every Esotericist has invoked the Higher Self, and ought surely to have taken the trouble to make clear to himself what it was he invoked.

Q. (4) -- "What is the Astral Light?" ...

Note. -- That the Astral Light contains the record of earth was generally stated, although one student informed his surprised teacher that the Astral Light was the divine spark within us. This particular student is required to study more and think more. Few, however, understood the relation of the Astral Light to the earth as its Linga Sarira.

Q. (5) -- "Give reasons for joining the E.S."

Note. -- This question was, on the whole, very well answered, the replies showing earnestness and sincerity.

Q. (6) -- "What Theosophical book do you consider has most helped you?"

Note. -- If the books named are carefully studied, knowledge will be rapidly acquired.

Q. (7) -- "What is Occultism; and what do you consider to be Practical Occultism?" ...

Note. -- Badly answered. Hardly anyone had caught the central idea of Occultism.

***

The real Head of the Esoteric Section is a Master, whom H. P. Blavatsky is the mouthpiece for this Section. He is one of those Adepts referred to in theosophical literature, and concerned in the formation of the Theosophical Society. It is through H. P. Blavatsky that each member of this Section will be brought more closely than hitherto under His influence and care if found worthy of it. No student, however, need inquire which of the Masters it is. For it does not matter in reality; nor is there any necessity for creating one more chance for indiscretion. Suffice it to say, such is the law in the East.

Each person will receive in the way of enlightenment and assistance, just as much as he or she deserves and no more; and it is to be distinctly understood that in this Section and these relations no such thing is known as favour -- all depends upon the person's merits -- and no member has the power or knowledge to decide what either he or another is entitled to. This must be left to those who know -- alone. The apparent favour shown to some, and their consequent apparent advancement, will be due to the work they do, to the best of their power, in the cause of Universal Brotherhood and the elevation of the Race....

The Masters can give but little assistance to a Body not thoroughly united in purpose and feeling, and which breaks its first fundamental rule -- universal brotherly love, without distinction of race, creed, colour or caste, i.e., the social distinctions made in the world; nor to a Society, many members of which pass their lives in judging, condemning, and often reviling other members in a most untheosophical, not to say disgraceful, manner.

For this reason it was decided to gather the "elect" of the T.S. and to call them to action. It is only by a select group of brave souls, a handful of determined men and women hungry for genuine spiritual development and the acquirement of soul-wisdom, that the Theosophical Society at large can be brought back to its original lines....

Disappointment is sure to come to those who join this Section for the purpose of learning "magic arts" or acquiring "occult training" for themselves, quite regardless of the good of other people less determined. Abnormal, artificially-developed powers -- except those which crown the efforts of the Black Magician -- are only the culmination of and reward for, labors bestowed unselfishly upon humanity, upon all men, whether good or bad. Forgetfulness of the personal Self and sincere altruism are the first and indispensable requisites in the training of those who are to become "White Adepts" either in this or a future incarnation....

Let every member know, moreover, that the time for such priceless acquisition is limited. The writer of the present is old; her life is well-nigh worn out, and she may be summoned "home" any day and almost any hour. And if her place is even filled up, perchance by another worthier and more learned than herself, still there remain but twelve years to the last hour of the term -- namely, till December the 31st, 1899. Those who will not have profited by the opportunity (given to the world in every last quarter of a century), those who will not have reached a certain point of psychic and spiritual development, or that point from which begins the cycle of adeptship, by that day -- those will advance no further than the knowledge already acquired. No Master of Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send any one to Europe or America after that period, and the sluggards will have to renounce every chance of advancement in their present incarnation -- until the year 1975. Such is the Law, for we are in Kali Yuga -- the Black Age -- and the restrictions in this cycle, the first 5000 years of which will expire in 1897, are great and almost insuperable....

To achieve this, the attitude of mind in which the teachings given are to be received is that which shall tend to develop the faculty of intuition. The duty of members in this respect is to refrain from arguing that the statements made are not in accordance with what other people have said or written, or with their own ideas upon the subject, or that, again, they are apparently contrary to any accepted system of thought or philosophy. Practical esoteric science is altogether sui generis. It requires all the mental and psychic powers of the student to be used in examining what is given, to the end that the real meaning of the Teacher may be discovered, as far as the student can understand it. He must endeavor as much as possible to free his mind, while studying or trying to carry out what is given him, from all the ideas which he may be impressed upon him apart from the words in which they are clothed. Otherwise, there is constant risk of his ideas becoming colored with preconceived notions as those of the writers of certain otherwise excellent works upon esoteric subjects who have made the occult tenets more subservient to modern Science than to occult truth....

Repetition of statements or gossip derogatory of others must be avoided. But condemnation of crime, of social evils and corrupt systems of every description, in the abstract, is a duty of every "Fellow." Above all, the duty of every member is to fight against cant, hypocrisy, and injustice in every shape....

If a member, whether falsely or truly, asserts that he has received letters of communications from Masters, unless directed to divulge the same, he will ipso facto, cease to derive any benefit from the teachings, whether the fact be known or unknown to himself or to others. A repetition of such offence gives the Head of the Section the right to expel the offender in discretion. In every case where a member shall receive a letter or communication purporting to come from Master or Masters, and which directs the divulgation of its contents or a part thereof, the same before being divulged shall be communicated to H.P.B. directly, if the recipient is in Europe, to William Q. Judge, if in America, and to Col. Olcott, if in India, for transmission to the said H.P.B. For deception is easy, and, without great experience, members are not able to decide whether such a communication is genuine or not....

No member shall pretend to the possession of psychic powers that he has not, nor boast of those which he may have developed. Envy, jealousy, and vanity are insidious and powerful foes to progress, and it is known from long experience that, among beginners especially, the boasting of, or calling attention to, their psychic powers almost invariably causes the development of these faults and increases them when present....

No member of this Section shall belong to any other body, association, or organization for the purpose of mystic study or occult training (Masonry excepted), as this would interfere with their progress in the Eastern Esoteric Teachings....

It is not the individual or determined purpose of attaining oneself Nirvana, which is, after all, only an exalted and glorious selfishness, but the self-sacrificing pursuit of the best means to lead our neighbour on the right path, and cause as many of our fellow creatures as we possibly can to benefit by it, which constitutes the true Theosophist....

In consequence of the different rates of progress of members, it has been found necessary to form an inner circle of Esotericists, who are deemed to have progressed sufficiently to receive more advanced teaching than those of the outer circle, and who are accordingly pledged to secrecy even as regards other members of the E.S. as well as conforming to a stricter mode of life.

***

The Esoteric Section, its qualification 'of the T.S.' notwithstanding, does not represent the latter, and in future it will drop the additional words altogether. From the very beginning its second rule stated, that the 'Esoteric Section has no official or corporate connection with the Exoteric Society' (see Lucifer of October, 188[8]). Henceforth it will be called 'the Esoteric School of Theosophy'.

***

I telegraphed to wait three days for this proposed change and again that "new name is the same as the one of Butler." This means that the name "Esoteric School of Theosophy," is precisely the title adopted by the infamous Hiram Butler affair for their school in which they had and have pupils, and get and get money in it for the rot they give out. They are not out of existence, as Butler when hunted out of Boston went to California and there has more followers and carries on his trade in the same way. It seems to me that to adopt his name is the very worst possible fate that could come to the E.S. Besides I cannot see the necessity for any change of name. If it is from a desire to cut the E.S. off from the T.S. that will not accomplish the end, for the reason that you can never do so, as every one still will think it a part of the inside work of the T.S. as long as you are alive and stay in the Society. And why there should be any wish or desire to cut the E.S. off from the T.S., I cannot see, and as all members of the E.S. have first to be F.T.S. it cannot be done without a complete and unnecessary back down. For another reason also and that is, that you have distinctly shown over and over again that the object of the E.S. is to strengthen and support the T.S., and as a fact it has already done so and has been of the very greatest benefit to the Society. Why then should any unnecessary distrust be created by altering the name?...

I would like also to call attention to the mass of stuff in the way of pretty but useless decorations put on the matter which has just been gotten out on the press. It is a jumble of everything, from gods acting as mortals to assortments of snakes out of place, and used with other symbols with which they never had any unity or correspondence. Is it not, and has it not always been a grievous thing to mix the symbols? And are they not all mixed up on this new title page? There is the two pillared hall, and then a style of pillar that has nothing to do with that hall; and then snakes who never appeared in that hall by any chance for they belonged to another degree; then there is the winged globe which truly belongs to the two pillared hall but not in the form taken in your seal which is for another purpose, and represents a different thing; then there is the hindu symbol with the sanskrit letters in the centre -- this certainly has nothing to do with the two pillared hall; then, and least of all, there is on the top a whole line of snakes with balls on head across the top, and they were never used in a mere apprentice degree: other sorts of snakes and other objects have place there. In fact it is all mixed up, and, while very well drawn, has no place whatever in the E.S. at this time, judging from what I have learned. I make bold to give these views because I am sure you in person did not make these up for use, but that someone else has made them who has not a real acquaintance with the use and meaning of the symbols....

Referring again to the pictures. Look at the initial word and say if anyone ever heard of a god representing reincarnation dressed as one and, being osirified, has the right to the crown of both upper and lower Egypt? It does not represent silence at all -- it attempts to show reincarnation but fails of its object. My practical opinion is that for the present section of the E.S. the less there is of these ornaments and symbols the better and the more unmixed the effect on the members.

***

Georges Caminade (d'Anger), Paris, has resigned from the E.S., stating that he has burnt his papers. He has since openly joined Papus (Geraud [Gerard] Encausse), the editor of L'Initiation and La Voile d'Isis, who has been publicly expelled from the T.S. for foul slander and persistent injury to the Society and its members in France.

***

Knowing moreover, that accusations of plagiarism, want of method and inaccuracy, are now being made and will in the future be brought against her literary work, we make the following statement for the benefit of all Fellows of the Theosophical Society and for the information of others:

H.P. Blavatsky's writings, owing to her imperfect knowledge of English and literary methods, have been invariably revised, recopied or arranged in MS., and the proofs corrected, by the nearest "friends" available for the time being (a few of whom have occasionally supplied her with references, quotations, and advice). Many mistakes, omissions, inaccuracies, &c., have consequently crept into them.

These works, however, have been put forward purely with the intention of bringing certain ideas to the notice of the Western world, and with no pretension on her part to scholarship or literary finish.

In order to support these views, innumerable quotations and references had to be made (in many cases without the possibility of verification by her), and for these she has never claimed any originality or profound research whatever.

***

"Let not the Fruit of your Karma be your motive; for your Karma, good or bad, being one and the common property of all mankind, nothing good or bad can happen to you that is not shared by many others. Hence your motive, being selfish, can only generate a double effect, good and bad, and will either nullify your good action, or turn it to another man's profit.... There is no happiness for one who is ever thinking of self and forgetting other selves."

***

In the eyes of truth and nature, no one organ is more noble or ignoble than another. The ancients considered as the most holy, precisely those organs which we associate with feelings of shame and secrecy: for they are the creative centres corresponding to the Creative Forces of the Kosmos.

The Esotericists are therefore warned that unless they are prepared to take everything in the spirit of truth and nature, and forget the code of false propriety bred by hypocrisy and the shameful misuse of primeval functions, which were once considered divine -- they had better not study Esotericism.

"OM," says the Aryan Adept, the son of the Fifth Race, who with this syllable begins and ends his salutation to the human being, his conjuration of, or appeal to, non-human PRESENCES.

***

[S]ince a key-note is required to analyze and comprehend any combination of differentiations of sound, we must never lose sight of the Platonic method, which starts with one general view of all, and descends from the universal to the individual. This is the method adopted in Mathematics -- the only exact science that exists in our day.

Let us study Man, therefore; but if we separate him for one moment from the Universal Whole, or view him in isolation, from a single aspect, apart from the "Heavenly Man " -- the Universe symbolized by Adam Kadmon or his equivalents in every philosophy -- we shall either land in black magic or fail most ingloriously in our attempt.

Thus the mystic sentence, "Om Mani Padme Hum," when rightly understood, instead of being composed of the almost meaningless words, "O the Jewel in the Lotus," contains a reference to this indissoluble union between Man and the Universe, rendered in seven different ways and having the capability of seven different applications to as many planes of thought and action.

***

Let those, I say again, who feel themselves too much the children of our age to approach the many mysteries which have to be revealed, in a truly reverential spirit, even though references be made to such subjects and objects as are deemed improper and, to use the correct term, indecent, in our modern day -- let such abandon these teachings at once. For I shall have to use terms and refer, especially in the beginning, to the most secret organs and functions of the human body, the bare mention of which is certain to provoke either a feeling of disgust and shame or an irreverent laugh.

It is such feelings which have invariably led the generations of writers on symbology and religions, ever since the day of Kircher, to materialize every natural emblem and ideograph in their impure thought, and finally to sum up all religions, Christianity included, as phallic worship. It is quite true that ever since the days of Pythagoras and Plato the exoteric cults gradually began to deteriorate, until they debased the symbolism into the most shameful practices of sexual worship. Hence the horror and contempt with which every true Occultist regards the so-called "personal God" and the exoteric ritualistic worship of the Churches -- be they Heathen or Christian. But even in the days of Plato it was not so. It was the persecution of the true Hierophants and the final suppression of those mysteries, which alone purified man's thoughts, that led to Tantrika sexual worship and, through the forgetting of divine truth, to BLACK MAGIC whether conscious or otherwise.

***

The mathematical Point, called the "Cosmic Seed," the Monad of Leibnitz; which contains the whole Universe, as the acorn the oak. This is the first bubble on the surface of boundless homogeneous Substance, or Space, the bubble of differentiation in its incipient stage. It is the beginning of the Orphic or Brahma's Egg. It corresponds in Astrology and Astronomy to the Sun.

***

It has often been explained that neither the cosmic planes of substance nor even the human principles -- with the exception of the lowest material plane or world and the physical body, which, as has been said, are no "principles," -- can be located or thought of as being in Space and Time. As the former are seven in ONE, so are we seven in ONE -- that same Absolute Soul of the World, which is both matter and non-matter, spirit and non-spirit, being and non-being. Impress yourselves well with this idea, all those of you who would study the mysteries of SELF.

***

Meanwhile we have to recapitulate what has been said. (1) Each human being is an incarnation of his God, in other words, one with his "Father in Heaven," just as Jesus, an Initiate, is made to say. As many men on earth, so many Gods in Heaven; and yet these Gods are in reality ONE, for at the end of every period of activity, they are withdrawn, like the rays of the setting sun, into the Parent Luminary, the Non-Manifested Logos, which in its turn is merged into the One Absolute. Shall we call these "Fathers" of ours, whether individually or collectively, and under any circumstances, our personal God? Occultism answers, Never. All that an average man can know of his "Father" is what he knows of himself, through and within himself. The soul of his "Heavenly Father" is incarnated in him. This soul is himself, if he is successful in assimilating the divine individuality while in his physical, animal shell. As to the spirit thereof, as well expect to be heard by the Absolute. Our prayers and supplications are vain, unless to potential words we add potent acts, and make the aura which surrounds each one of us so pure and divine that the God within us may act outwardly, or, in other words, become as it were an extraneous Potency. Thus have Initiates, Saints, and very holy and pure men been enabled to help others as well as themselves in the hour of need, and produce what are foolishly called "miracles," each by the help and with the aid of the God within himself, which he alone has enabled to act on the outward plane.

(2) The word AUM or OM, which corresponds to the upper triangle, if pronounced by a very holy and pure man, will draw out, or awaken, not only the less exalted potencies residing in the planetary spaces and elements, but even his Higher Self, or the "Father" within him. Pronounced by an averagely good man, in the correct way, it will help to strengthen him morally, especially if between two "AUMS" he meditates intently upon the AUM within him, concentrating all his attention upon the ineffable glory. But woe to the man who pronounces it after the commission of some far-reaching sin: he will only thereby attract to his own impure photosphere invisible presences and forces which could not otherwise break through the divine envelope. All the members of the Esoteric School, if earnest in their endeavour to learn, are invited to pronounce the divine word before going to sleep and the first thing upon awakening. The right accent, however, should be first obtained from one of the officers of the E. S.

AUM is the original of Amen. Now, Amen is not a Hebrew term, but, like the word Halleluiah, was borrowed by the Jews and Greeks from the Chaldees. The latter word is often found repeated in certain magical inscriptions upon cups and urns among the Babylonian and Ninivean relics. Amen does not mean "so be it," or "verily," but signified in hoary antiquity almost the same as AUM. The Jewish Tanaim (Initiates) used it for the same reason as the Aryan Adepts use AUM, and with a like success, the numerical value of AMeN in Hebrew letters being 91, the same as the full value of YHVH, 26, and ADoNaY, 65, or 91. Both words mean the affirmation of the being, or existence, of the sexless "Lord" within us.

(3) Esoteric Science teaches that every sound in the visible world awakens its corresponding sound in the invisible realms, and arouses to action some force or other on the occult side of nature. Moreover, every sound corresponds to a colour and a number (a potency spiritual, psychic or physical) and to a sensation on some plane. All these find an echo in every one of the so-far developed elements, and even on the terrestrial plane, in the Lives that swarm in the terrene atmosphere, thus prompting them to action.

Thus a prayer, unless pronounced mentally and addressed to one's "Father" in the silence and solitude of one's "closet," must have more frequently disastrous than beneficial results, seeing that the masses are entirely ignorant of the potent effects which they thus produce. To produce good effects, the prayer must be uttered by "one who knows how to make himself heard in silence," when it is no longer a prayer, but becomes a command. Why is Jesus shown to have forbidden his hearers to go to the public synagogues? Surely every praying man was not a hypocrite and a liar, nor a Pharisee who loved to be seen praying by people! He had a motive, we must suppose: the same motive which prompts the experienced Occultist to prevent his pupils from going into crowded places now as then, from entering churches, seance rooms, etc, unless they arc in sympathy with the crowd....

He who carries out only those laws established by human minds, who lives that life which is prescribed by the code of mortals and their fallible legislation, chooses as his guiding star a beacon which shines on the ocean of Maya, or of temporary delusions, and lasts for but one incarnation. These laws are necessary for the life and welfare of physical man alone. He has chosen a pilot who directs him through the shoals of one existence, a master who parts with him, however, on the threshold of death. How much happier that man who, while strictly performing on the temporary objective plane the duties of daily life, carrying out each and every law of his country, and rendering, in short, to Caesar what is Caesar's, leads in reality a spiritual and permanent existence, a life with no breaks of continuity, no gaps, no interludes, not even during those periods which are the halting-places of the long pilgrimage of purely spiritual life. All the phenomena of the lower human mind disappear like the curtain of a proscenium, allowing him to live in the region beyond it, the plane of the noumenal, the one reality. If man by suppressing, if not destroying, his selfishness and personality, only succeeds in knowing himself as he is behind the veil of physical Maya, he will soon stand beyond all pain, all misery, and beyond all the wear and tear of change, which is the chief originator of pain. Such a man will be physically of matter, he will move surrounded by matter, and yet he will live beyond and outside it. His body will be subject to change, but he himself will be entirely without it, and will experience everlasting life even while in temporary bodies of short duration. All this may be achieved by the development of unselfish universal love of Humanity, and the suppression of personality, or selfishness, which is the cause of all sin, and consequently of all human sorrow.

-- The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavatsky
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:15 pm

Part 2 of quotes from above

ATMAN is no Number, and corresponds to no visible Planet, for it proceeds from the Spiritual Sun; nor does it bear any relation either to Sound, Colour, or the rest, for it includes them all.

***

For, let it be distinctly known, nothing of that which is printed broadcast, and available to every student in public libraries or museums, is really esoteric, but is either mixed with deliberate "blinds," or cannot be understood and studied with profit without a complete glossary of occult terms.

***

In Diagram II, as already stated therein, no notice need be taken of the numbers used in the left-hand column, as these refer only to the Hierarchies of the Colours and Sounds on the metaphorical plane, and are not the characteristic numbers of the human principles or of the planets. The human principles elude enumeration, because each man differs from every other, just as no two blades of grass on the whole earth are absolutely-alike. Numbering is here a question of spiritual progress and the natural predominance of one principle over another.

***

But the correspondences given in our Instructions are purely esoteric. For this reason it follows that when the planets of the solar system are named or symbolized (as in Diagram II) it must not be supposed that the planetary bodies themselves are referred to, except as types on a purely physical plane of the septenary nature of the psychic and spiritual worlds. A material planet can correspond only to a material something, Thus when Mercury is said to correspond to the right eye it does not mean that the objective planet has any influence on the right optic organ, but that both stand rather as corresponding mystically through Buddhi.

***

... and the Soul, or rather the Spirit, which should not be confounded with Atma, the Super-Spirit ...

***

Now, Mercury is called Hermes, and Venus, Aphrodite, and thus their conjunction in man on the psycho-physical plane gives him the name of the Hermaphrodite, or Androgyne. The absolutely Spiritual Man is, however, entirely disconnected from sex. The Spiritual Man corresponds directly with the higher "coloured circles," the Divine Prism which emanates from the One Infinite White Circle; while physical man emanates from the Sephiroth, which are the Voices or Sounds of Eastern philosophy.

***

As said in the Secret Doctrine, since the fourteenth century the Esoteric School has been divided into two departments, one for the inner Lanoos, or higher Chelas, the other for the outer circle, or lay Chelas. Mr. Sinnett was distinctly told in the letters he received from one of the Gurus that he could not be taught the real Esoteric Doctrine given out only to the pledged Disciples of the Inner Circle.

***

In Plate I, it will be seen that the principles numbered 3 and 2, viz: Linga Sarira and Prana, or Jiva, stand in the reverse order to that given in Diagram I. A moment's consideration will suffice to explain the apparent discrepancy between the exoteric enumeration, as printed in Plate I, and the esoteric order given in Diagram I. For in Diagram I, Linga Sarira is defined as the vehicle of Prana, or Jiva, the life principle, and as such must, on the esoteric plane, of necessity be inferior to Prana, not superior as the exoteric enumeration in Plate I would suggest.

The coloured part of the Plate is profoundly esoteric, but the old and more familiar exoteric enumeration has been used to force upon the attention of the student the fact that the principles do not stand one above the other, and thus cannot be taken in numerical sequence, their order depending upon the superiority and predominance of one or another principle, and therefore differing in every man.

***

[E]soteric philosophy, which concerns itself preeminently with the essence of things, accepts only such symbols as cover the whole ground, i.e., such symbols as yield a spiritual as well as a psychic and physical meaning....Esoteric Science is, above all, the knowledge of our relations with and in divine magic, inseparableness from our divine Selves -- the latter meaning something else besides our own higher spirit.

***

[I]n order to throw light on that which has hitherto been full of darkness, it will suffice to point to a certain key in them. Thus the Gnosis, both pre-Christian and post-Christian, will serve our purpose admirably.

There are millions of Christians who know the name of Simon Magus, and the little that is told about him in the Acts; but very few who have even heard of the many motley, fantastic and contradictory details which tradition records about his life. The story of his claims and his death is to be found only in the prejudiced, half-fantastic records about him in the works of the Church Fathers, such as Irenaeus, Epiphanius and St. Justin, and especially in the anonymous Philosophumena. Yet he is an historical character, and the appellation of "Magus" was given to him and was accepted by all his contemporaries, including the heads of the Christian Church, as a qualification indicating the miraculous powers he possessed, and irrespective of whether he was regarded as a white (divine) or a black (infernal) magician. In this respect, opinion has always been made subservient to the Gentile or Christian proclivities of the chronicler.

It is in his system and in that of Menander, his pupil and successor, that we find what the term "magic" meant for Initiates in those days.

Simon, as all the other Gnostics, taught that our world was created by the lower angels, whom he called AEons. He mentions only three degrees of such, because it was and is useless, as explained in the Secret Doctrine, to teach anything about the four higher ones, and he therefore begins at the plane of globes A and G. His system is as near to occult truth as any, so that we may examine it, as well as his own and Menander's claims about "magic," to find out what they meant by the term. Now, for Simon, the summit of all manifested creation was Fire. It is, with him as with us, the Universal Principle, the Infinite Potency, born from the concealed Potentiality. This Fire was the primeval cause of the manifested world of being, and was dual, having a manifested and a concealed or secret side. "The secret side of the Fire is concealed in its evident (or objective) side, and the objective is produced from the secret side," he writes, which amounts to saying that the visible is ever present in the invisible, and the invisible in the visible. This was but a new form of stating Plato's idea of the Intelligible (Noeton) and the Sensible (Aistheton), and Aristotle's teaching on the Potency (Dunamis) and the Act (Energeia). For Simon, all that can be thought of, all that can be acted upon, was perfect intelligence. Fire contained all. And thus all the parts of that Fire, being endowed with intelligence and reason, are susceptible of development by extension and emanation. This is our teaching of the Manifested Logos and these parts in their primordial emanation are our Dhyan Chohans, the "Sons of Flame and Fire," or higher AEons. This "Fire" is the symbol of the active and living side of divine Nature. Behind it lay "infinite Potentiality in Potentiality," which Simon named "that which has stood, stands and will stand," or permanent Stability and personified Immutability.

From the Potency of Thought, Divine Ideation thus passed to Action. Hence the series of primordial emanations through Thought begetting the Act, the objective side of Fire being the Mother, the secret side of it being the Father. Simon called these emanations Syzgyies (a united pair, or couple), for they emanated two-by-two, one as an active, and the other as a passive AEon. Three couples thus emanated (or six in all, the Fire being the seventh), to which Simon gave the following names: "Mind and Thought, Voice and Name, Reason and Reflection," the first in each pair being male, the last female. From these primordial six emanated the six AEons of the Middle World. Let us see what Simon himself says: "Each of these six primitive beings contained the entire infinite Potency [of its parent]; but it was there only in Potency, and not in Act. That Potency had to be called forth (or conformed) through an image in order that it should manifest in all its essence, virtue, grandeur and effects; for only then could the emanated Potency become similar to its parent, the eternal and infinite Potency. If, on the contrary, it remained simply potentially in the six Potencies and failed to be conformed through an image, then the Potency would not pass into action, but would get lost"; in clearer terms, it would become atrophied, as the modern expression goes.

Now, what do these words mean if not that to be equal in all things to the Infinite Potency the AEons had to imitate it in its action, and become themselves, in their turn, emanative principles, as was their parent, giving life to new beings, and becoming Potencies in actu themselves? To produce emanations, or to have acquired the gift of Kriyasakti, is the direct result of that power, an effect which depends on our own action. That power, then, is inherent in man, as it is in the primordial AEons and even in the secondary emanations, by the very fact of their and our descent from the One Primordial Principle, the Infinite Power, or Potency. Thus we find in the system of Simon Magus that the first six AEons, synthesized by the seventh, the Parent Potency, passed into Act, and emanated, in their turn, six secondary AEons, which were each synthesized by their respective Parent. In the Philosophumena we read that Simon compared the AEons to the "Tree of Life." '"It is written,' said Simon in the Revelation, that there are two ramifications of the universal AEons, having neither beginning nor end, issued both from the same Root, the invisible and incomprehensible Potentiality, Sige (Silence). One of these [series of AEons] appears from above. This is the Great Potency, Universal Mind [or Divine Ideation, the Mahat of the Hindus]; it orders all things and is male. The other is from below, for it is the Great [manifested] Thought, the female AEon, generating all things. These [two kinds of AEons] corresponding with each other, have conjunction and manifest the middle distance [the intermediate sphere, or plane], the incomprehensible Air which has neither beginning nor end'." This female "Air" is our Ether, or the Kabalistic Astral Light. It is, then, the Second World of Simon, born of FIRE, the principle of everything. We call it the ONE LIFE, the Intelligent, Divine Flame, omnipresent and infinite. In Simon's system, this Second World was ruled by a Being, or Potency, both male and female, or active and passive, good and bad. This Parent-Being, like the primordial infinite Potency, is also called "that which has stood, stands and will stand," so long as the manifested Kosmos shall last. When it emanated in actu and became like unto its own Parent, it was not dual or androgyne. It is the Thought that emanated from it (Sige) which became as itself (the Parent), having become like unto its image (or antetype); the second had now become in its turn the first (on its own plane or sphere). As Simon has it:

"It [the Parent or Father] was one. For having it [the Thought] in itself, it was alone. It was not, however, first, though it was preexisting; but manifesting itself to itself from itself, it became the second (or dual). Nor was it called Father before it [the Thought] gave it that name. As, therefore, itself developing itself by itself, manifested to itself its own Thought, so also the Thought being manifested, did not act, but seeing the Father, hid it in itself, that is, (hid) that Potency (in itself). And the Potency (Dunamis, viz: Nous) and Thought (Epinoia) are male- female. Whence they correspond with one another -- for Potency in no way differs from Thought -- being one. So from the things above is found Potency, and from those below, Thought. It comes to pass, therefore, that that which is manifested from them, although being one, yet is found to be twofold, the androgyne having the female in itself. So is Mind in Thought, things inseparable from each other, which though being one are yet found dual."

"He (Simon) calls the first Syzygy of the six Potencies and of the seventh, which is with it, Nous and Epinoia, Heaven and Earth: the male looks down from on high and takes thought for his Syzygy (or spouse), for the Earth below receives those intellectual fruits which are brought down from Heaven and are cognate to the Earth."

Simon's Third World with its third series of six AEons and the seventh, the Parent, is emanated in the same way. It is this same note which runs through every Gnostic system -- gradual development downward into matter by similitude; and it is a law which is to be traced down to primordial Occultism, or Magic. With the Gnostics, as with us, this seventh Potency, synthesizing all, is the Spirit brooding over the dark waters of undifferentiated Space, Narayana, or Vishnu, in India; the Holy Ghost in Christianity. But while in the latter the conception is conditioned and dwarfed by limitations necessitating faith and grace, Eastern Philosophy shows it pervading every atom, conscious or unconscious. Irenaeus supplements the information on the further development of these six AEons. We learn from him that Thought, having separated itself from its Parent, and knowing through its identity of Essence with the latter what it had to know, proceeded on the second or intermediate plane, or rather World (each of such Worlds consisting of two planes, the superior and inferior, male and female, the latter assuming finally both Potencies and becoming androgyne), to create inferior Hierarchies, Angels and Powers, Dominions and Hosts, of every description, which in their turn created, or rather emanated out of their own Essence, our world with its men and beings, over which they watch.

It thus follows that every rational being -- called Man on Earth -- is of the same essence and possesses potentially all the attributes of the higher AEons, the primordial seven. It is for him to develop, "with the image before him of the highest," by imitation in actu, the Potency with which the highest of his Parents, or Fathers, is endowed. Here we may again quote with advantage from the Philosophumena:

"So then, according to Simon, this blissful and imperishable (principle) is concealed in everything in potency, not in act. This is 'that which has stood, stands and will stand,' viz: that which has stood above in ingenerable Potency; that which stands below in the stream of the waters generated in an image; that which will stand above, beside the blissful Infinite Potency, if it makes itself like unto this image. For three, he says, are they that stand, and without these three AEons of stability, there is no adornment of the generable which, according to them [the Simonians], is borne on the water, and being moulded according to the similitude is a perfect and celestial (AEon), in no manner of thinking inferior to the ingenerable Potency. Thus they say: 'I and thou [are] one; before me [wast] thou; that which is after thee [is] I.' This, he says, is the one Potency, divided into above and below, generating itself, nourishing itself, seeking itself, finding itself; its own mother, father, brother, spouse, daughter and son, one, for it is the Root of all."

Thus of this triple AEon, we learn the first exists as "that which has stood, stands and will stand," or the uncreate Power, Atman; the second is generated in the dark waters of Space (Chaos, or undifferentiated Substance, our Buddhi), from or through the image of the former reflected in those waters, the image of him, or It, which moves on them; the third World (or, in man, Manas) will be endowed with every power of that eternal and omnipresent Image if it but assimilates it to itself. For, "all that is eternal, pure and incorruptible is concealed in everything that is," if only potentially, not actually. And "everything is that image, provided the lower image (man) ascends to that highest Source and Root in Spirit and Thought." Matter as Substance is eternal and has never been created. Therefore Simon Magus, with all the great Gnostic teachers and Eastern philosophers, never speaks of its beginning. "Eternal Matter" receives its various forms in the lower AEon from the Creative Angels, or Builders, as we call them. Why, then, should not Man, the direct heir of the highest AEon, do the same, by the potency of his thought, which is born from Spirit? This is Kriyasakti, the power of producing forms on the objective plane through the potency of Ideation and Will, from invisible, indestructible matter.

Truly says Jeremiah, quoting the "Word of the Lord"; "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee"; for Jeremiah stands here for Man when he was yet an AEon, or Divine Man, both with Simon Magus and Eastern Philosophy. The first three chapters of Genesis are as occult as what is given in Instruction No. I. For the terrestrial Paradise is the Womb, says Simon, Eden the region surrounding it. The river which went out of Eden to water the garden is the Umbilical Cord; this cord is divided into four Heads, the streams that flowed out of it, the four canals which serve to carry nutrition to the Foetus, i.e., the two arteries and the two veins which are the channels for the blood and convey the breathing air, the unborn child, according to Simon, being entirely enveloped by the Amnion, fed through the Umbilical Cord and given vital air through the Aorta.

***

As many Esotericists have written and almost complained to me that they could find no practical, clear application of certain diagrams appended to the first two Nos. of Instructions, and others have spoken of their abstruseness, a short explanation is necessary.

The reason of this difficulty, in most cases, has been that the point of view taken was erroneous; the purely abstract and metaphysical was mistaken for, and confused with, the concrete and the physical. Let us take for example the diagrams on page 48 of Instruction II, and say that these are entirely macrocosmic and ideal. It must be remembered that the study of Occultism proceeds from Universals to Particulars, and not the reverse, as accepted by Science. As Plato was an Initiate, he very naturally used the former method, while Aristotle, having never been initiated, scoffed at his master, and, elaborating a system of his own, left it as an heirloom to be adopted and improved by Bacon. Of a truth the aphorism of the Hermetic Wisdom, "As above, so below," applies to all esoteric instruction; but we must begin with the above; we must learn the formula before we can sum the series.

The Diagrams and Plates are intended to familiarize students with the leading ideas of occult correspondences only, the very genius of metaphysical, or macrocosmic and spiritual Occultism, forbidding the use of figures or even symbols further than as temporary aids. Once define an idea in words, and it loses its reality; once figure a metaphysical idea, and you materialize its spirit. Figures must be used only as ladders to scale the battlements, ladders to be disregarded once the foot is set upon the rampart.

Let the Esotericists, therefore, be very careful to spiritualize the Instructions and avoid materializing them; let them always try to find the highest meaning possible, confident that in proportion as they approach the material and visible in their speculations on the Instructions, so far are they from the right understanding of them. This is especially the case with these first Instructions and Diagrams, for as in all true arts, so in Occultism, we must first learn the theory before we are taught the practice.

***

Enough has been said to show that while for the Orientalists and profane masses the sentence, "Om Mani Padme Hum," means simply "O, the Jewel in the Lotus," esoterically it signifies "O, my God within me." Yes; there is a God in each human being, for man was and will re-become God.

***

Our principles are the Seven-Stringed Lyre of Apollo, truly. In this our age, when oblivion has shrouded ancient knowledge, men's faculties are no better than the loose strings of the violin to the Laplander. But the Occultist who knows how to tighten them and tune his violin in harmony with the vibrations of colour and sound, will extract divine harmony from them. The combination of these powers and the attuning of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm will give the geometrical equivalent of the invocation "Om Mani Padme Hum."

***

The real occult names of these Hierarchies cannot now be given.

***

The student must, however, remember that the colours which we see with our physical eyes are not the true colours of occult nature, but are merely the effects produced on the mechanism of our physical organs by certain rates of vibration. For instance, Clerk Maxwell has demonstrated that the retinal effects of any colour may be imitated by properly combining three other colours. It follows, therefore, that our retina has only three distinct colour sensations, and we therefore do not perceive the seven colours which really exist, but only their "imitiations," so to speak, in our physical organism. Thus, for instance, the Orange-Red of the first "Triangle" is not a combination of Orange and Red, but the true "spiritual" Red, if the term may be allowed, while the Red (blood-red) of the spectrum is the colour of Kama, animal desire, and is inseparable from the material plane.

***

Esotericism, pure and simple, speaks of no personal God; therefore are we considered as Atheists. But, in reality, Occult Philosophy, as a whole, is based absolutely on the ubiquitous presence of God, the Absolute Deity; and if IT itself is not speculated upon, as being too sacred and yet incomprehensible as a Unit to the finite intellect, yet the entire philosophy is based upon Its divine Powers as being the source of all that breathes and lives and has its existence.

***

Let the dreadful possibility of losing one’s “soul,” not a rare occurrence, and vouched for, moreover, by the experience of a long series of seers and clairvoyant teachers, become known to all.

***

“Up and onward for evermore!”

***

The truths revealed to man by the "Planetary Spirits" (the highest Kumaras, those who incarnate no longer in the universe during this Mahamanvantara), who appear on earth as Avatars only at the beginning of every new human race, and at the junctions or close of the two ends of the small and great cycle -- in time, as man became more animalized, were made to fade away from his memory. Yet, though these Teachers remain with man no longer than the time required to impress upon the plastic minds of child-humanity the eternal verities they teach, their spirit remains vivid though latent in mankind. And the full knowledge of the primitive revelation has remained always with a few Elect, and has been transmitted from that time up to the present, from one generation of Adepts to another. As the Teachers say in the Occult Primer: "This is done so as to ensure them (the eternal truths) from being utterly lost or forgotten in ages hereafter by the forthcoming generations." .... The mission of the Planetary Spirit is but to strike the key-note of Truth: Once he has directed the vibration of the latter to run its course uninterruptedly along the concatenation of the race to the end of the cycle, he disappears from our earth until the following Planetary Manvantara. The mission of any teacher of esoteric truths, whether he stands at the top or the foot of the ladder of knowledge, is precisely the same: as above, so below. I have only orders to strike the key-note of the various esoteric truths among the learners as a body. Those units among you who will have raised themselves on the "Path" over their fellow-students, in their esoteric sphere, will, as the "Elect" spoken of did and do in the PARENT BROTHERHOODS, receive the last explanatory details and the ultimate key to what they learn. No one, however, can hope to gain this privilege before the MASTERS (not my humble self) find him or her worthy.

***
In the Book of Rules I advise students to get certain works, as I shall have to refer to and quote from them repeatedly. I reiterate the advice and ask them to turn to the Theosophist of November, 1887. On page 98 they will find the beginning of an excellent article by Mr. Rama Prasad on "Nature's Finer Forces." [The references to "Nature's Finer Forces" which follow, have respect to the eight articles which appeared in the pages of the Theosophist and not to the fifteen essays and the translation of a chapter of the Śaivâgama, which are contained in the book called Nature’s Finer Forces. The Śaivâgama in its details is purely Tântric, and nothing but harm can result from any practical following of its precepts. I would most strongly dissuade a member of the E.S. from attempting any of these Hatha Yoga practices, for he will either ruin himself entirely, or throw himself so far back that it will be almost impossible to regain the lost ground in this incarnation. The translation referred to has been considerably expurgated, and even now is hardly fit for publication. It recommends Black Magic of the worst kind, and is the very antipodes of spiritual Râja-Yoga. Beware, I say.] The value of this work is not so much in its literary merit, though it gained its author the gold medal of the Theosophist, -- as in its exposition of tenets hitherto concealed in a rare and ancient Sanskrit work on Occultism. But Mr. Rama Prasad is not an Occultist, only an excellent Sanskrit scholar, a university graduate and a man of remarkable intelligence. His Essays are almost entirely based on Tantra works, which, if read indiscriminately by a tyro in Occultism, will lead to the practice of most unmitigated Black Magic. Now, since the difference of primary importance between Black and White Magic is the object with which it is practised, and that of secondary importance, the nature of the agents used for the production of phenomenal results, the line of demarcation between the two is very, very thin. The danger is lessened only by the fact that every occult book, so called, is occult only in a certain sense; that is, the text is occult merely by reason of its blinds. The symbolism has to be thoroughly understood before the reader can get at the correct sense of the teaching. Moreover, it is never complete, its several portions each being under a different title and each containing a portion of some other work; so that without a key to these no such work divulges the whole truth. Even the famous Sivagama, on which "Nature's Finer Forces" is based, "is nowhere to be found in complete form," as the author tells us. Thus, like all others, it treats of only five Tatwas instead of the seven in esoteric teachings....

Knowing that some of the members of the E.S. try to follow a system of Yoga in their own fashion, guided only by the rare hints they find in Theosophical books and magazines, which must naturally be incomplete, I chose one of the best expositions upon ancient occult works, "Nature's Finer Forces," in order to point out how very easily one can be misled by their blinds.

The author seems to have been himself deceived. The Tantras read esoterically are as full of wisdom as the noblest occult works. Studied without a guide and applied to practice, they may lead to the production of various phenomenal results, on the moral and physiological planes. But let anyone accept their dead-letter rules and practices, let him try with some selfish motive in view to carry out the rites prescribed therein, and he is lost. Followed with pure heart and unselfish devotion merely for the sake of experiment, either no results will follow, or such as can only throw back the performer. But woe to the selfish man who seeks to develop occult powers only to attain earthly benefits or revenge, or to satisfy his ambition; the separation of the Higher from the Lower Principles and the severing of Buddhi-Manas from the Tantrist's Personality will speedily follow, the terrible Karmic results of the dabbler in Magic.

***

As the lower man is the combined product of two aspects: physically, of his Astral Form, and psycho-physiologically of Kama Manas, he is not looked upon even as an aspect, but all an illusion.

***

There are several reasons why only five Tatwas are given in the Hindu systems. One of these I have already mentioned; another is that, owing to our having reached only the Fifth Race and being (so far as Science is able to ascertain) endowed with only five senses, the two remaining senses that are still latent in man can have their existence proven only on phenomenal evidence, which to the materialist is no evidence at all. The five physical senses are made to correspond with the five lower Tatwas, the two yet undeveloped senses in man, and the two forces, or Tatwas, forgotten by Brahmans and still unrecognized by Science, being so subjective, and the highest of them so sacred, that they can only be recognized by, and known through, the highest Occult Sciences.

***

Ether, whatever modern Science makes of it, is differentiated Substance; Akasa, having no attributes save one -- SOUND, of which it is the substratum, -- is no substance even exoterically and in the minds of some Orientalists, but rather, Chaos, or the Great Spatial Void. Esoterically, Akasa alone is Divine Space, and becomes Ether only on the lowest and last plane, or our visible universe and earth. In this case the blind is in the word "attribute," which is said to be Sound. But Sound is no attribute of Akasa, but its primary correlation, its primordial manifestation, the Logos, or Divine Ideation made WORD, and that "Word" made "Flesh." Sound may be considered an "attribute" of Akasa only on the condition of anthropomorphizing the latter. It is not a characteristic of it, though it is certainly as innate in it as the idea "I am I" is innate in our thought.

***

Now, the science of Hatha Yoga rests upon the "suppression of breath," or Pranayama; to which exercise our Masters, are unanimously opposed. For what is Pranayama? Literally translated, it means the "death of (vital) breath." Prana, as said, is not Jiva, the eternal fount of life immortal: nor is it connected in any way with Pranava, as some think, for Pranava is a synonym of AUM in a mystic sense. As much as has ever been taught publicly and clearly about it is to be found in "Nature's Finer Forces." If such directions, however, are followed, they can only lead to black magic and mediumship. Several impatient Chelas, whom we knew personally in India, went in for the practice of Hatha Yoga, notwithstanding our warnings. Of these, two developed consumption, of which one died; others became almost idiotic; another committed suicide; and one developed into a regular Tantrika, a black magician, but his career, fortunately for himself, was cut short by death.

The science of the five breaths, the moist, the fiery, the airy, etc., etc., has a twofold significance and two applications. The Tantrikas take it literally, as relating to the regulation of the vital, lung breath, whereas the ancient Raja Yogis understood it as referring to the mental or "will" breath, which alone leads to the highest clairvoyant powers, to the function of the Third Eye and the acquisition of the true Raja Yoga occult powers. The difference between the two is enormous. The former, as shown, use the five lower Tatwas; the latter begin by using the three higher alone, for mental and will development, and the rest only when they have completely mastered the three; hence, they use only one (Akasa Tatwa) out of the Tantric five. As well said in the above stated work, "Tatwas are the modifications of Swara." Now, the Swara is the root of all sound, the substratum of the Pythagorean music of the spheres, Swara being that which is beyond spirit, in the modern acceptation of the word, the spirit within spirit, or as very properly translated, the "current of the life-wave," the emanation of the One Life. The Great Breath spoken of in volume I of the Secret Doctrine is ATMA, the etymology of which is "eternal motion." Now while the ascetic-chela of our school, for his mental development, follows carefully the process of the evolution of the Universe, that is, proceeds from universals to particulars, the Hatha Yogi reverses the conditions and begins by sitting for the suppression of his (vital) breath. And if, as Hindu philosophy teaches, at the beginning of cosmic evolution, "Swara threw itself into the form of Akasa," and thence successively into the forms of Vayu (air), Agni (fire), Apas (water), and Prithivi (solid matter), then it stands to reason that we have to begin by the higher supersensuous Tatwas. The Raja Yogi does not descend on the planes of substance beyond Sukshma (subtle matter); while the Hatha Yogi develops and uses his powers only on the material plane. Some Tantrikas locate the three Nadis: Sushumna, Ida and Pingala, in the medulla oblongata, the central line of which they call Sushumna, and the right and left divisions, Pingala and Ida, and also in the heart, to the divisions of which they apply the same names. The Trans-Himalayan school of the ancient Indian Raja Yogis, with which the modern Yogis of India have little to do, locates Sushumna, the chief seat of these three Nadis, in the central tube of the spinal cord, and Ida and Pingala on its left and right sides. Sushumna is the Brahmadanda. It is that canal (of the spinal cord), of the use of which physiology knows no more than it does of the spleen and the pineal gland. Ida and Pingala are simply the sharps and flats of that Fa of human nature, the key-note and the middle key in the scale of the septenary harmony of the principles, which, when struck in a proper way, awakens the sentries on either side, the spiritual Manas and the physical Kama, and subdues the lower through the higher. But this effect has to be produced by the exercise of willpower, not through the scientific or trained suppression of the breath. Take a transverse section of the spinal region, and you will find sections across three columns, one of which columns transmits the volitional orders, and a second a life current of Jiva -- not of Prana, which animates the body of man -- during what is called Samadhi and like states.

He who has studied both systems, the Hatha and Raja Yoga, finds an enormous difference between the two: one is purely psycho-physiological, the other purely psycho-spiritual. The Tantrists do not seem to go higher than the six visible and known plexuses, with each of which they connect the Tatwas; and the great stress they lay on the chief of these, the Muladhara Chakra (the sacral plexus), shows the material and selfish bent of their efforts towards the acquisition of powers. Their five Breaths and five Tatwas are chiefly concerned with the prostatic, epigastric, cardiac and laryngeal plexuses. Almost ignoring the Ajna, they are positively ignorant of the synthesizing pharyngeal plexus. But with the followers of the old school it is different. We begin with the mastery of that organ which is situated at the base of the brain, in the pharynx, and called by Western anatomists the Pituitary Body. In the series of the objective cranial organs, corresponding to the subjective Tatwic principles, it stands to the Third Eye (Pineal Gland) as Manas stands to Buddhi: the arousing and awakening of the Third Eye must be performed by that vascular organ, that insignificant little body, of which, once again, physiology knows nothing at all. The one is the Energizer of WILL, the other that of Clairvoyant Perception....

When a man is in his normal condition, an Adept can see the golden Aura pulsating in both the centres, like the pulsation of the heart, which never ceases throughout life. This motion, however, under the abnormal condition of effort to develop clairvoyant faculties, becomes intensified and the Aura takes on a stronger vibratory or swinging action. The arc of the pulsation of the Pituitary Body mounts upward, more and more, until, just as when the electric current strikes some solid object, the current finally strikes the Pineal Gland, and the dormant organ is awakened and set all glowing with the pure Auric Fire. This is the psycho-physiological illustration of two organs on the physical plane, which are, respectively, the concrete symbols of the metaphysical concepts called Manas and Buddhi. The latter, in order to become conscious on this plane, needs the more differentiated fire of Manas; but once the sixth sense has awakened the seventh, the light which radiates from this seventh sense illumines the fields of infinitude. For a brief space of time man becomes omniscient; the Past and the Future, Space and Time, disappear and become for him the Present. If an Adept, he will store the knowledge he thus gains, in his physical memory and nothing, save the crime of indulging in Black Magic, can obliterate the remembrance of it. If only a Chela, portions alone of the whole truth will impress themselves on his memory, and he will have to repeat the process for years, never allowing one speck of impurity to stain him mentally or physically, before he becomes a fully initiated Adept.

***

the only eternal and living reality is that which the Hindus call Paramatma and Parabrahma. This is the one ever-existing Root Essence, immutable, and unknowable to our physical senses, but manifest and clearly perceptible to our spiritual natures. Once imbued with that basic idea and the further conception that if it is omnipresent, universal, and eternal, like abstract Space itself, we must have emanated from it and must, some day, return into it, and all the rest becomes easy.

If so, then it stands to reason that life and death, good and evil, past and future, are all empty words, or, at best, figures of speech. If the objective universe itself is but a passing illusion on account of its beginning and finitude, then both life and death must also be aspects and illusions. They are changes of state, in fact, and no more. Real life is in the spiritual consciousness of that life, in a conscious existence in Spirit, not Matter; and real death is the limited perception of life, the impossibility of sensing conscious or even individual existence outside of form, or, at least, of some form of matter. Those who sincerely reject the possibility of conscious life divorced from matter and brain-substance, are dead units. The words of Paul, an Initiate, become comprehensible. "Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God," which is to say: Ye are personally dead matter, unconscious of its own spiritual essence, and your real life is hid with your divine Ego (Christos) in, or merged with, God (Atman); now has it departed from you, ye soulless people. Speaking on esoteric lines, every irrevocably materialistic person is a dead MAN, a living automaton, in spite of his being endowed with great brain power. Listen to what Aryasanga says, stating the same fact:

"That which is neither Spirit nor Matter, neither Light nor Darkness, but is verily the container and root of these, that thou art. The Root projects at every Dawn its shadow on ITSELF, and that shadow thou callest Light and Life, O, poor dead Form. (This) Life-Light streameth downward through the stairway of the seven worlds, the stairs of which each step becomes denser and darker. It is of this seven-times-seven scale that thou art the faithful climber and mirror, O, little man! Thou art this, but thou knowest it not."

***

Now, it is in the power of the human Ego to chase away the shadows, or sins, and multiply the brightnesses, or good deeds, which make these impressions, and thus, through Antaskarana, ensure its own permanent connection, and its final reunion with the divine Ego. Remember that the latter cannot take place while there remains a single taint of the terrestrial, or of matter, in the purity of that light. On the other hand, the connection cannot be entirely ruptured, and final reunion prevented, so long as there remains one spiritual deed, or potentiality, to serve as a thread of union; but the moment this last spark is extinguished, and the last potentiality exhausted, then comes the severance. In an Eastern parable the divine Ego is likened to the Master who sends out his labourers to till the ground and to gather in the harvest, and who is content to keep the field so long as it can yield even the smallest return. But when the ground becomes absolutely sterile, not only is it abandoned, but the labourer also (the lower Manas) perishes.

***

[E]arth is Avitchi, and the worst Avitchi possible.

***

There is, however, still hope for a person who has lost his higher Soul through his vices, while he is yet in the body. He may be still redeemed and made to turn on his material nature. For either an intense feeling of repentance, or one single earnest appeal to the Ego that has fled, or best of all, an active effort to amend one's ways, may bring the Higher Ego back again. The thread of connection is not altogether broken, though the Ego is now beyond forcible reach, for "Antaskarana is destroyed," and the personal Entity has one foot already in Myalba; yet it is not entirely beyond hearing a strong spiritual appeal. There is another statement made in Isis Unveiled (loc. cit.) on this subject. It is said that this terrible death may be sometimes avoided by the knowledge of the mysterious NAME, the "WORD." What this "WORD," which is not a "Word " but a Sound, is, you all know. Its potency lies in the rhythm or the accent. This means simply that even a bad person may, by the study of the Sacred Science, be redeemed and stopped on the path of destruction. But unless he is in thorough union with his Higher Ego, he may repeat it, parrot-like, ten thousand times a day, and the "Word" will not help him. On the contrary, if not entirely at one with his higher Triad, it may produce quite the reverse of a beneficent effect, the Brothers of the Shadow using it very often for malicious objects; in which case it awakens and stirs up naught but the evil, material elements of nature. But if one's nature is good, and sincerely strives toward the HIGHER SELF, which is that AUM, through one's Higher Ego, which is its third letter, and Buddhi the second, there is no attack of the Dragon Apophis which it will not repel.

***

The Earth, or earth-life rather, is the only Avitchi (Hell) that exists for the men of our humanity on this globe. Avitchi is a state, not a locality, a counterpart of Devachan. Such a state follows the Soul wherever it goes, whether into Kama Loka, as a semi-conscious spook, or into a human body, when reborn to suffer Avitchi. Our philosophy recognizes no other Hell.

***

Now, letters, as vocal sounds, cannot fail to correspond with musical notes, and therefore with numbers and colours; hence also with Forces and Tatwas. He who remembers that the universe is built up from the Tatwas will readily understand something of the power that may be exercised by vocal sounds. Every letter in the alphabet, whether divided into three, four, or seven septenaries, or forty-nine letters, has its own colour, or shade of colour. He who has learnt the colours of the alphabetical letters, and the corresponding numbers of the seven, and the forty-nine colours and shades on the scale of planes and forces, and knows their respective order in the seven planes, will easily master the art of bringing them into affinity or interplay. But here a difficulty arises. The Senzar and Sanskrit alphabets, and other occult tongues, besides other potencies, have a number, colour, and distinct syllable for every letter, and so had also the old Mosaic Hebrew. But how many of the E.S. know any of these tongues? When the time comes, therefore, it must suffice to teach the students the numbers and colours attached to the Latin letters only (N. B. as pronounced in Latin, not in Anglo-Saxon, Scotch, or Irish). This, however, would be at present, premature.

The colour and number of not only the planets but also the zodiacal constellations corresponding to every letter of the alphabet, are necessary to make any special syllable, and even letter, operative. Therefore if a student would make Buddhi operative, for instance, he would have to intone the first words of the Mantra on the note mi. But he would have still further to accentuate the mi, and produce mentally the yellow colour corresponding to this sound and note, on every letter M in "Om mani padme hum"; this, not because the note bears the same name in the vernacular, Sanskrit, or even the Senzar, for it does not -- but because the letter M follows the first letter, and is in this sacred formula also the seventh and the fourth. As Buddhi it is second: as Buddhi-Manas it is the second and third combined.

***

To the five senses at present the property of mankind, two more on this globe are to be added. The sixth sense is the psychic sense of colour. The seventh is that of spiritual sound.

***

Psychic vision, however, is not to be desired, since psyche is earthly & evil.... A psychic's vision is that of one coming, as it were, into a lighted room, & seeing everything there by artificial light. When the light is extinguished, vision is lost. Spiritual vision sees by the light within, "the light hidden beneath the bushel" of the body, by which we can see clearly & independently of all outside. The psychic seeing by an external light, the vision is coloured by the nature of that light.

***

10. Why is the violet, the colour of the Linga Sarira, placed at the apex of the Image , whom the Macrocosm is figured as Image, thus throwing the yellow -- Budhi -- into the lower quaternary?

(Ans.) It is wrong to speak of the "lower quaternary" in the Macrocosm. It is the Tetraktys, the highest, the most sacred of all symbols. There comes a moment when, in the highest meditation, the Lower Manas is withdrawn into the Triad, which thus becomes the Quaternary, the Tetraktys of Pythagoras, leaving what are the Quaternary as the Lower Triad, which is then reversed. The triad is reflected in the Lower Manas. The Higher Manas can not reflect itself, but when the Green passes upwards it becomes a mirror for the Higher; it is then no more green, having passed from its associations. The psyche then becomes spiritual, the Ternary is reflected in the fourth, & the Tetraktys is formed. So long as you are not dead, there must be something to reflect the higher Triad; for there must be something to bring back to the waking consciousness the experiences passed through on the higher plane. The lower manas is as a tablet which records the things seen in trance.

***

Reason is a thing which wavers between right & wrong; but Intelligence (Intuition) is higher, it is the clear vision. To get rid of Kama Rupa, we must crush all our material instincts ("crush out matter"). "The flesh" is a thing of habit, it will repeat mechanically a good impulse as well as a bad. It is not the flesh which is always the tempter, in nine cases out of ten it is the Lower Manas which, by its images, brings the flesh into temptation.

***

The Dhyan Chohans are passionless, pure, & mindless; they have no struggle, no passions to crush.

***

The Great "Why." The reason of all evolution is the gaining of experience. The Dhyan Chohans are made to pass through the "schools of life": -- "God goes to school."

***

Form: Form was on different planes, & the forms of one plane might be formless to dwellers on another. The Kosmocratores build on planes in the Divine Mind, visible to them, though not to us. The principle of limitation -- principium individuationis -- is Form; this principle is Divine Law manifested in Kosmic matter, which in its essence is limitless. The A.E. is the limit of man, as Hiranyagarbha of the Kosmos.

Kriyasakti: The first step towards the accomplishment of Kriyasakti is the use of the Imagination. To "imagine" a thing is to firmly create a model of what you desire, perfect in all its details. The will is then brought into action, & the form is thereby transferred to the objective world. This is creation by Kriyasakti.

***

The influences of the Moon are wholly psycho-physiological. It is dead, sending out injurious emanations, like a corpse. It vampirises the earth & its inhabitants, so that anyone sleeping in its rays suffers, losing some of his life-force. A white cloth is a protection, the rays not passing through it, & the head especially should be thus guarded. It has most power when it is full. It throws off particles which we absorb, & is gradually disintegrating. Where there is snow the moon looks like a corpse, being unable through the white snow to vampirise effectively. Hence snow-covered mountains are free from its bad influences. The moon is phosphorescent.

***

H.P.B. began by saying that we ought to know the correct meaning of the Sanscrit terms used in Occultism, & should learn the Occult symbology. To begin with, we had better learn the correct esoteric classification & names of the fourteen (seven, &c., &c.) & seven (sapta) Lokas found in the exoteric texts. These were given in a very confused manner, & were full of blinds.

***

Further explanation of the same Classification: --

1. Auric, atmic, alayic sense, or state; one of full potentiality, but not of activity.

2. Buddhic, the sense of being one with the Universe; the impossibility of imagining itself apart from it.

(It was asked why the term Alayic was here given to the Atmic, & not to the Buddhic state? Ans: -- These classifications are not hard & fast divisions. A term may change places according as the classification is exoteric, esoteric, or practical. For the Inner Group the effort should be to bring all things down to states of consciousness. Buddhi is one & indivisible really; it is a feeling within, absolutely inexpressible in words. All cataloging is useless to explain it.)

***

Blue: H.P.B. could not say why blue was the colour of the earth.

***

Little finger: The greatest phenomena are produced by touching, & centring the attention on the little finger.

***


The Body: The flesh, the body, the human being in his material part, is -- on this plane -- the most difficult thing to subject. The highest Adept, put into a new body, has to struggle against & subdue it, & finds its subjugation difficult.

***

H.P.B. remarked that the Group should come to some common understanding, to some standard of agreement. She was anxious to give us facts which would lead us to practical knowledge, but could not do so until we all understood in the same way the instructions already given.

***

The Masters' bodies are illusionary, & hence do not grow old, become wrinkled, etc.

***

The work of the student: The student who is not naturally psychic should fix the fourfold consciousness on a higher plane & nail it there. Let him make a bundle of the four lower & pin them to a higher state. He should centre on this higher, trying not to permit the body & intellect to draw him down & carry him away. "Play ducks & drakes" with the body, eating, drinking, & sleeping, but keeping always in the ideal.

***

Thought & Action: Thought arises before desire; the thought acts on the brain, the brain on the organ, & thus desire awakes. It is not the outer stimulus that arouses the organ. Thought therefore must be slain ere desire can be extinguished. The student must guard his thoughts; five minutes thought may undo the work of five years, & though the five year's work will be run through more rapidly the second time, yet time is lost.

***

The occultist should train himself to receive & transmit, along the line of the seven scales of his consciousness, every impression -- or impressions -- simultaneously, he who reduces the intervals of physical time the most has made the most progress.

-- The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavatsky
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:19 pm

Introduction

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For the past 20 years I have been researching H.P. Blavatsky's esoteric school and collecting various editions of her esoteric papers.

This compilation provides facsimiles of many of the original esoteric papers issued by Madame Blavatsky. Some of the documents reproduced in this volume have never been reprinted since first issued.

In fact, this volume is the most comprehensive collection of H.P.B.'s esoteric papers now available.

The documents in the main section of this work (pp. 1-335) have been arranged more of less in chronological order. Additional material will be found in the four appendixes (pp. 337-673).

For an overview of the material in this compilation, see the Table of Contents (pp. vii-x).

I have also added quotes from various published and unpublished letters of H.P.B. in which she mentions her work in the esoteric school. Unfortunately, when I first compiled these extracts, I did not list the sources from which I gathered the quotes. Prior to publication of this work, I was unable to go back and provide the proper references. Nevertheless, all quotes are from authentic letters written by H.P. Blavatsky.

There are a number of diagrams that were in color but in this reprint we were not able to provide colored reproductions.

For a 22-page overview of H.P.B.'s esoteric school and the major papers issued, see" A Historical Introduction" by Daniel H. Caldwell and Henk J. Spierenburg in The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky, compiled and annotated by Henk J. Spierenburg, 2nd revised and enlarged edition, San Diego, California, Point Lorna Publications, 1995.

The esoteric papers in this compilation supplement and complement the material found in the following sources:

H.P.B.'s Collected Writings. Volume XII. pp. 477-713. This section contains later editions of H.P.B.'s 5 esoteric instructions. Contains a number of colored diagrams and charts. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980.

The Esoteric Writings of Helena Perrovna Blavatsky. pp. 347-465. This section contains a reprint of H.P.B.'s Esoteric Instructions and Inner Group Teachings (edited and abridged) as first published 1897 in Volume ill of The Secret Doctrine. Contains a number of colored diagrams and charts. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books (Theosophical Publishing House), 1980.

W.Q. Judge's Echoes of the Orient. Volume III. pp. 285-478. This section contains Judge's esoteric Suggestions and Aids. San Diego, California: Point Lorna Publications, 1987.

The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky. Compiled and annotated by Henk J. Spierenburg. 2nd revised and enlarged edition. San Diego. California: Point Lorna Publications, 1995.

H.P.B.'s The Secret Doctrine, Volume 3: Occultism. A facsimile reprint of the original 1897 edition. Contains H.P.B.'s 3 Esoteric Instructions and Inner Group Teachings (edited and abridged). Whitefish. Montana. Kessinger Publishing Company.


Readers may send comments and feedback on this volume to:

Daniel H. Caldwell
P.O. Box 1844
Tucson, AZ 85702
U.S.A.

Thanks to Kessinger Publishing [http://www.kessinger.net] for
publishing this volume of H.P.B.'s esoteric papers.

Daniel H. Caldwell
http://www.blavatskyarchives.com
http://www.theosophy.info
Sunday, April 25, 2004

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THE ESOTERIC PAPERS OF MADAME BLAVATSKY

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Master Morya

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"After a long conversation with Master -- the first for a long, long time ... [e]ither I have to return to India to die this autumn, or I have to form between this and November next a nucleus of true Theosophists, a school of my own, with no secretary, only myself alone, with as many mystics as I can get to teach them. I can stop here, or go to England, or whatever I like ..."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated Jan. 1887 to Countess Wachtmeister

THE FORMATION OF THE ESOTERIC SECTION

The E.S. was started in November 1888. In May, 1887, I sent the following to H.P.B. from New York:

18th May.

Dear H.P.B. -- Please reply to this. So many people are beginning to ask me to be Chelas that I must do something, so I have drawn up the enclosed paper which you can send me with some formalities on it as you think right to do so --- or whatever I ought to have. If you do not think so, then please tell me in what way I had best proceed.

I know a good many good ones who will do well and who will form a rock on which the enemy will founder, and this plan would encourage them. So fiat something. As ever,

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.

Enclosed paper:

To WILLIAM Q. JUDGE: --- You are directed to draw together all those persons, members of the Theosophical Society in the U.S., who have or express the desire to serve the cause of the Blessed Masters. This you are to do with the understanding in writing in every case that the persons taken are not thereby made Chelas of the Masters, but simply that they are thus given a chance to make a preliminary trial of themselves, and in each case you will take from the applicant an expression in writing, before making your private register of the names, that they well understand the basis on which you thus take them. Nothing is promised; each will have just what he or she deserves --- no more, no less. And all must be faithful to the Cause, to Masters, and to the founders of the Theosophical Society.

Given [etc.]

H.P.B. replied that I might go ahead without the paper and soon she would do something else. Later, at the time she was explaining in London the plan of the E.S.T., I telegraphed her asking her to "make public the Inner Section". That telegram was received in the presence of Dr. Keightley and others. She then told me to come to London and help, which I did. The E.S. was founded on the exact lines of the above papers.

William Q. Judge
E.S.T. Circular,
"By Master's Direction",
November, 1894, p. 2.
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:23 pm

THE BLAVATSKY LODGE AND THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

"The Esoteric Section was formed in October 1888, quite obviously from the nucleus of students who had taken the Pledge of Blavatsky Lodge not so very many months before."

-- Katherine A. Beechey
The Theosophist,
May, 1937, p. 159


[The following extracts are from an article by Katherine A. Beechey on the history of the Blavatsky Lodge, London.]

"The Pledge of the (Blavatsky) Lodge

"... The following Minute concerns the meeting of the (Blavatsky) Lodge held on the 19th January 1888, "at which the President read a letter from Mr. Keightley; this letter communicated his ideas on the Pledge of the Lodge.

"This is the first mention in the Minutes of 'the Pledge of the Lodge' though subsequently references occur frequently. If we turn now to the end of this first Minute Book [of the Blavatsky Lodge] we find a page headed 'Pledge of the Lodge' in violent ink, and underneath are set out the six clauses thereof, as follows:

Image
FROM THE MINUTE BOOK OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE

1. I pledge myself to endeavor to make Theosophy a living factor in my life.

2. I pledge myself to support, before the world, the Theosophical movement, its leaders and its members.

3. I pledge myself never to listen without protest to any evil thing spoken of a brother Theosophist and to abstain from condemning others.

4. I pledge myself to maintain a constant struggle against my lower nature, and to be charitable to the weaknesses of others.

5. I pledge myself to do all in my power, by study or otherwise, to fit myself to help and teach others.

6. I pledge myself to give what support I can to the movement in time, money, and work.

So Help me, My Higher Self.

"Here follow the signatures of twenty members of the Lodge, the first eight being written in violet ink, as was the Pledge itself.

"... we are told in a statement made by Dr. Archibald Keightley ... on 5th January 1895 that 'all the founders of the Blavatsky Lodge were pledged, and for many months after the foundation each member who joined was pledged, among other things, to make Theosophy a living power in this life ... The original intention of the Lodge is shown by an article written by myself in Lucifer (September, 1888). This article is entitled 'The Meaning of a Pledge'. All members who entered the Lodge signed that Pledge in a book kept for that purpose.

"... the Pledge was not instituted until the beginning of 1888, while other facts make it probably that it was not in operation after the end of the same year, though 'the Pledge of the First Degree of the Blavatsky Lodge', which was instituted on 16th February 1888, may have been in operation for some months longer ...

"... on February 2 the meeting had had to be postponed 'owing to the entrance of strangers' seems to indicate that the Lodge meetings were not open to the public ...

"For the next month or two the Minutes simply record the proposal and election of new members and their signing of the Pledge...

"... there is a gap in the Minutes of the Blavatsky Lodge from July 1888 to September 1889...

"The Esoteric Section was formed in October 1888, quite obviously from the nucleus of students who had taken the Pledge of Blavatsky Lodge not so very many months before ..."

[Reprinted from H.P. Blavatsky in London" by Katherine A. Beechey, The Theosophist, May, 1937, pp. 155-159.]

***

KOOT HOOMI IN LONDON, JULY 1888

"...K H... only a few months ago ... [was here] in flesh & bones. But He is gone, was in London only eleven days, in July."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated Oct. 25, 1888
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:24 pm

A MEMORANDUM OF THE MASTER'S REMARKS [1]

[Note by C. Jinarajadasa: "This...Letter...is not in the handwriting of any of the Masters. It is in the handwriting of H.P.B., written on thin notepaper in pencil. It is evident that it is a memorandum of the remarks of the Master K.H. regarding the situation of the T.S. in 1888...The remarks of Master K.H. may have been one reason why H.P.B. insisted on forming the E.S.T., or in case Colonel Olcott refused, on making a separate division for Europe of the Parent Theosophical Society under her direction. Happily, the Letter [from K.H.]... which [Olcott] received [August 22, 1888] on board S.S. Shannon, broke down his opposition, and the two old comrades met in friendship, and the E.S.T. was born." [2]

[The Master is dictating his comments to H.P.B.:)

"Such are the reasons why if he [H.S. Olcott] still occasionally feels M Image, he never senses me nor hears from, or of me ..." [3]

[H.P.B. notes that she 'told him [the Master] the question put to me by Olcott...' To this question, the Master replies:

"He [Olcott] wants to know why? Because the [Theosophical] Society has liberated itself from our grasp and influence and we have let it go---we make no unwilling slaves. He says he has saved it? He saved its body, but he allowed through sheer fear, to its soul to escape, and it is now a soulless corpse, a machine run so far well enough, but which will fall to pieces when he is gone. Out of the three objects the second alone is attended to, but it is no longer either a brotherhood, nor a body over the face of which broods the Spirit from beyond the Great Range. [4] His [Olcott's] kindness and love of peace are great and truly Gautamic in their spirit; but he has misapplied that kindness..."

[This memorandum goes on to talke about Alfred J. Cooper-Oakley and says among other things:]

"...[A.J. Cooper-Oakley] for four years never wrote a letter to a theosophist without enclosing in it a Parthian arrow against the Prest. Founder [Olcott] and his Co-Founder [H.P.B.]..."

[Also the following is mentioned by the Master:]

"...we are told that the 'Masters' are in direct correspondence and communication with C.O. [Cooper-Oakley]---their true delegate being now at Madras---S.R.

[T. Subba Row] [5]...Henry feared to break with C.O. lest he should lost S.R. and N.C. [Neil Cook]; and now he lost N.C. and S.R. [6]..."

[NOTE: The present compiler is of the opinion that this memorandum of the Master's comments was probably written sometime during July, 1888.]

_______________

Notes:

This is letter 47 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom 1870-1900, First Series, transcribed and compiled by C. Jinarajadasa, Adyar, Madras, India, The Theosophical Publishing House, 1973, pp. 100-103.

2. Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom 1870-1900, First Series, 1973 printing, p. 139-140.

3. K.H. in his letter to Olcott on board the S.S. Shannon writes: "With yourself our relations are direct, and have been with the rare exceptions you know of, like the present, on the psychical plane, and so will continue thro' force of circumstances. That they are so rare --- is your own fault as I told you in my last." Does the phrase "as I told you in my last" refer back to this memorandum in H.P.B.'s handwriting? See Letter 19, the "S.S. Shannon" Letter, in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, 1879-1900. First Series, 1973 edition, p. 46.

4. Compare these statements with those of H.P.B. in her E.S.T.S. Preliminary Memorandum (dated London, Dece. 14, 1888):

"The Theosophical Society has just entered upon the fourteenth year of its existence; and if it has accomplished great, one may almost say stupendous, results on the exoteric and utilitarian plane, it has proved a dead failure on all those points which rank foremost among the objects of its original establishment. Thus, as a "Universal Brotherhood," or even as a fraternity, one among many, it has descended to the level of all those Societies whose pretensions are great, but whose names are simply masks, -- nay, even shams. Nor can the excuse be pleaded that it was led into such an undignified course owing to its having been impeded in its natural development, and almost extinguished, by reason of the conspiracies of its enemies openly begun in 1884. Because even before that date there never was that solidarity in the ranks of our Society which would not only enable it to resist all external attacks, but also make it possible for greater, wider, and more tangible help to be given to all its members by those who are always ready to give help when we are fit to receive it. When trouble arose, too many were quick to doubt and despair, and few indeed were they who had worked for the Cause and not for themselves. The attacks of the enemy have given the Society some discretion in the conduct of its external progress, but its real internal condition has not improved, and the members, in their efforts towards spiritual culture, still require that help which solidarity in the ranks can alone give them the right to ask. The Masters can give but little assistance to a Body not thoroughly united in purpose and feeling, and which breaks its first fundamental rule -- universal brotherly love....

For this reason it is now contemplated to gather the "elect" of the T.S. and to call them to action. It is only by a select group of brave souls, a handful of determined men and women hungry for genuine spiritual development and the acquirement of soul-wisdom, that the Theosophical Society at large can be brought back to its original lines. It is through an Esoteric Section alone -- i.e., a group in which all the members, even if unacquainted with one another, work for each other, and by working for all work for themselves -- that the great Exoteric Society may be redeemed and made to realize that in union and harmony alone lies its strength and power. The object of this Section, then, is to help the future growth of the Theosophical Society as a whole in the true direction, by promoting brotherly union at least among the few...."

5. In a letter dated July 12, 1888, H.P.B. relates the following to Mr. Khandalavala: "Mrs. C.O. [Isabel Cooper-Oakley] said to the Countess [Wachtmeister] several times that her 'Alf' [Alfred Cooper-Oakley] is constantly receiving through S.R. letters from the Master, my Master!! One of such letters (a copy) she showed and read to the Countess, to prove to her that she and S.R. and C.O. and Cook all believed in the Master. Now I know that my Master (whom they called Mahatma Morya) has never since I left Adyar written one single line to anyone at Adyar, or Madras, or India, except a few words once to H.S.O. [Olcott]. I have Master's assurance to this effect...surely something must be rotten 'in the State of Denmark'. This is private and confidential, and meant for you alone. You can ask the Countess if you like..."

6. In The Theosophist, June, 1888, Supplement, p. xli, it is announced that T. Subba Row and J.N. Cook have resigned membership in The Theosophical Society.

In a letter dated July 11, 1888, William Judge refers to these resignations: "The last 'Theosophist' announces the resignations of Subba Row and Dr. Cooke."
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:28 pm

THE MEANING OF A PLEDGE.

The Meaning of a Pledge

It has been thought advisable that members of a certain Occult lodge of the T.S. should have the meaning of the Pledge they are about to take laid before them as plainly as possible. At any rate, that those who have previously signed the Pledge shall lay before those who are about to do so all that they understand this Pledge to mean and what its signature involves.

The Pledge runs as follows:

"1. I pledge myself to endeavor to make Theosophy a living factor in my life.

"2. I pledge myself to support, before the world, the Theosophical movement, its leaders and its members.

"3. I pledge myself never to listen without protest to any evil thing spoken of a brother Theosophist and to abstain from condemning others.

"4. I pledge myself to maintain a constant struggle against my lower nature, and to be charitable to the weaknesses of others.

"5. I pledge myself to do all in my power, by study or otherwise, to fit myself to help and teach others.

"6. I pledge myself to give what support I can to the movement in time, money, and work.

"So Help me, My Higher Self."

It is at once plain that this is not a general Pledge like that which is taken so lightly by members of the Theosophical Society; but that it is a specific undertaking to do and to endeavor to do certain things. Also that it is given under an invocation: --

"So help me, my Higher Self."


The term "Higher Self" has recently come into considerable use -- at any rate so far as the Theosophical Society is concerned. To those who have studied the meaning of the words it is at once evident that to "take an oath" in the ordinary fashion of Christians is much less serious than a Pledge in presence of the "Higher Self."

The "Higher Self," moreover, is not a sort of sublimated essence of any one man; a sort of spiritualised "personality." It is universal and secondless and in such a sense the term "my Higher Self" seems misplaced. But every man, however dimly, is a manifestation of the Higher Self, and it is by the connection of the Jiva, the Monad, with the secondless "Higher Self" that it is possible to use the term. What then does the invocation mean?

The man who takes his Pledge in the right spirit calls upon It, and calls every help and blessing from It to his assistance. By an intense desire to be under Its protection he (though It per se is latent and passive) places himself under the protection of the active and beneficent powers that are the direct rays of the Absolute Higher Secondless Self.

But if a man takes his Pledge and betrays his Higher Self, he risks every evil and brings it upon himself. Thus then, he who remains true to the Pledge has nothing to fear; but he who has no confidence in himself to keep the Pledge when taken, had better leave it and, much more, leave Occultism alone.

Breaking this Pledge cannot, then, involve penalty on the "Higher Self," but it can affect the individual man. The "Higher Self" is immortal, but the Monad exists as a separate individual only during the Manvantaras, and around it various personalities are formed. This incarnates at every new birth, and not only can be, but is, punished if such a Pledge is broken. Once that it has progressed far enough to recognize the glorious light of the Higher Self and desire to live in it, the breaking of the Pledge tends towards a condition which would preclude the possibility of that light not only benefiting the Monad, but even reaching it.

Thus all men are in the presence of two forces in nature. One of them active and beneficent, whose aid and assistance is directly invoked by the Pledge; the other active, but maleficent, which is represented by beings who have a distinct interest in preventing the operation of the Pledge, and in hindering the work of the Theosophical Society. We see this more clearly when we know that we Pledge ourselves to be active, and not merely to endeavor to be.

Further, there are powers on the earth and in the flesh, as well as in the astral light, who desire to prevent and hinder the Pledge from taking effect. Some of these act consciously in this manner, and others because they are driven to such conscious action, but without any knowledge of the reason or force which drives them thereto.

We are to endeavor to "make Theosophy a living factor in our lives." Before we can endeavor to do this, much less do it effectually, we must first understand what Theosophy is, and actually define to ourselves what we individually mean by Theosophy. Now it is exactly this definition, its want, and our ignorance generally which hitherto has prevented us from carrying out this endeavor. Nothing need here be said of the Theosophical Society and the benefit which would come to it by even a small section of its members actually making Theosophy the living factor in their lives. Very few do so, and it is only too true that a member of the Theosophical Society is not necessarily a Theosophist. But those who take this Pledge are not content to remain nominally members of the Society, but aspire to be Theosophists indeed. And therefore it is so necessary that all should learn what a Theosophist is, and what any man must do to make Theosophy a living factor in his life.

As a negative definition nothing could be better than the definition in Lucifer, No. 3:

"He who does not practice altruism; he who is not prepared to share his last morsel with a weaker or poorer than himself; he who neglects to help his brother man, of whatever race, nation, or creed, whenever and wherever he meets suffering, and who turns a deaf ear to the cry of human misery; he who hears an innocent person slandered, whether a brother Theosophist or not, and does not undertake his defense as he would undertake his own -- is no Theosophist."


But this definition also contains a positive side. It is not sufficient merely to abstain from doing that which is condemned in this definition. The negative side alone is useless to those who take this Pledge -- and not merely useless, for it involves practically the breaking of the Pledge. The Pledge demands not only that the man who takes it shall abstain from evil doing but, more, that he shall positively work altruistically and defend any innocent person as he would himself.

Many men may be so colorless as not to offend against the negative clauses of the Pledge and definition; but few are they who are sufficiently positive in their own character as not only not to offend against these clauses but also work in the opposite direction. For the greatest importance does not consist in "I will not" but in the "I will do." Thus some strength is needed for impersonality. This impersonality is of two kinds, negative and positive. For the negative, strength is needed to fight against the forces of heredity and education, and prevent obedience to the instincts and acquired habits of this and other incarnations. But greater strength is needed to cross the zero-point and create new instincts and habits in the midst of conditions of life and habits of thought which are violently opposed to the new creation. And it would seem that strength is required so that it would be possible to conquer the tendencies of a devil and grow up into divinity. And if we regard the Pledge generally it would seem to be an admirable instrument, in view of the above quoted definition, for finding out and assailing everybody on their weak points. As men and women the Pledge compels us to refrain from acting and thinking in our daily life as our education has hitherto compelled us to do. If we do not so refrain, we do not make Theosophy a living factor in our lives. And more, while we are engaged in this difficult task, the positive side appears and we are told that we have to do other things as difficult - otherwise we are not Theosophists.

The second clause of the Pledge will prove a stumbling block to many lukewarm members of the Theosophical Society. Many may be in complete accord with the objects of the Theosophical Society, so far as they understand them, but also be in complete disagreement with the leaders of the Society and their method of work. Not only may they disagree but also be in either open or concealed hostility to those leaders and many of the members. It is of no use to disguise from ourselves the fact that this has been the case, and unfortunately may be so again. We work for "Universal Brotherhood" and we are at enmity with our immediate neighbors. This then we pledge ourselves to put a stop to, and to excise the tendency from our natures. Thus clause 2 has special reference to certain persons, arising out of the general circumstances.

The question naturally arises: "Of what use is a Theosophical Society with such aims, when it is composed of such diverse elements?" And again: "Has the Society any coherence and purpose which shall make it a living power in the society by which it is surrounded?" For an analogy exists; And the Society is an individual among societies, just as men and women are individuals. And it may here be emphatically stated that the power and force of any given body is not the total force of its component units, but that the body has an individual force and power of its own apart from them. One has but to turn to the chemistry of "alloys" to see that this is true. If then we regard the Society, it does not seem that any of its strength is due to the united purpose and action of its individual members. But it has a great purpose, and to this a certain number of devoted individuals have sacrificed all that lay in their power. Among these the founders and present leaders of the Society are notable examples. The result is that the Society continues to exist exoterically. But the continued existence of the Society is not due to these few individual efforts alone but to the underlying influence of those under whose direction the Society was founded by its present leaders, and to the fostering care of those Masters in Wisdom, after it was founded.

Clause 3 opens out to many, as the Society is at present constituted, a good deal of casuistical reasoning. It has been said, and it would seem truly said, that it is perfectly open to those who are true Theosophists to condemn an act but not the actor. But this will be found to be a distinction which is very subtle and difficult to make in life. Light on the Path, too, warns the aspirant against self-righteousness of a like character, "for the soiled garment you shrink from touching may have been yours yesterday, may be yours tomorrow." Thus those who take this Pledge are about to meet a very subtle difficulty (for in life the act and the actor are indissolubly connected), unless they have attained the power of observing and reading on a plane which is at present beyond the reach of the majority of mankind. However, even if this power is beyond reach at present, it is at all events right for those who aspire to be Theosophists to try. We can at least put a bridle on our physical lips and endeavor to do so on our mind, and thus abstain from "condemning others." For the silent condemnation of the mind would seem more "vicious" than physical speech, for, at any rate in the "judge," it is a form of moral cowardice. And herein lies the casuistry. For apart from the definition in Lucifer, it has been open to those who take the Pledge to consider that their human brothers are not "Brother Theosophists," and therefore that it is legal to judge and condemn. Thus if it could be clearly proven that any man or woman has erred against the said definition it might be possible to receive absolution from the pledge "never to listen without protest to an evil word spoken" of them. But the definition stops this with its "whether a brother Theosophist or not," and agrees with the legal maxim which is so seldom acted upon -- always to consider a man innocent until proven guilty. Suspicion is a dangerous guest to harbor, and we are finally brought back to the fact that it is best to "judge not that yea be not judged."

Clauses 4 and 5 are the completion of resolutions which go straight to the centre of all that militates against Theosophy and against its forming a living factor in men's lives. In this sense Clause 6 is a completion also. But the power to help and teach others can only be found in the united spirit of life, which is a spirit of absolute equality and in the sense that to the Theosophist every man is a teacher.

Clause 6 is a ratification of all that has gone before, but places it in more definite terms.

Thus then before this Pledge is taken it is necessary for all who aspire to take it to carefully ascertain, before pledging themselves to work and activity for Theosophy, what Theosophy really is. Is Theosophy identical with the practice of the Theosophical Society? If it is not, ought it to be? Shall I endeavor to make it so? In pledging myself to work for it, am I in the near or distant future, in this or in some succeeding reincarnation, looking for a reward? It would then seem that one of the first requisites is to endeavor to "Know Thyself."

Such a Pledge must not be taken lightly nor in a spirit of mere emotionalism. It has to be taken with a stern resolution to ever and ever more fully carry out its requirements, even at all costs to the man who takes it. It is taken at the risk of the man who takes it in a thoughtless spirit without examining what it really means and without the intention of making its fulfillment the supreme object of his life.

It is necessary "to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the truths which exist in Theosophy and then perhaps there may dawn upon the world the day when all men shall be as brothers, and Universal Brotherhood shall be a reality and the guide of all existence.

One who is Pledged.

[Reprinted from Lucifer, September, 1888, pp. 63-67.]

***

For the past 12 years I have been imparting, & transmitting esoteric teachings without enacting any pledge or imposing conditions to several — more or less known individuals among others — a few Hindus. Since the explosion of the infamous Hodgson & Coulomb conspiracy against me some of my ex-pupils ill-grounded in the theosophical spirit, have, for various reasons deserted me, after posing for chelas. The latter attitude they would not abandon, however. Hence since that time, they have been giving out travestied versions of the esoteric philosophy, composed of one part of truths, & three parts misconceptions & conceit. Thus great confusion, & contradictory statements have been made in print, all of which have been pitched back upon my unfortunate head. Not only that, but with the idea of making themselves more important they have pretended that my occult knowledge had faded away during my illness; that even[?] Masters have turned away from me to them, & that I was now the prey of Elementals & half-fledged chelas! Many, however, wish me to continue my instructions. But I am not willing to do so, save under restrictions shown by experience to be necessary. I am determined not to permit any longer the Master's names to be desecrated & dragged in the mire of idiotic criticism.

Now the "Blavatsky Lodge" of the T.S. was the outgrowth of this idea being composed of a few dozens of such friends, as are willing to enter with, & follow me in a spirit of candid loyalty on the path of true Occultism....

...Col. Olcott is here also to organize a British Section of the T.S. including all the British Branches; & I am organizing with his help to form a special centre — an adjunct to the IInd Section of accepted Chelas (such as the Presid. Founder, Mr. Judge & a few others) of exclusively occult students, willing to accept, not as dogmas but as a basis for self-evolution — the teachings of which I am the channel & which I cannot impart except to pledged members; for I cannot give them out in the "Secret Doctrine."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated Sept. 14, 1888 to John Ransom Bridge

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Henry S. Olcott
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:29 pm

LODGES OF MAGIC

ONE of the most esteemed of our friends in occult research, propounds the question of the formation of "working Lodges" of the Theosophical Society, for the development of adeptship. If the practical impossibility of forcing this process has been shown once, in the course of the theosophical movement, it has scores of times. It is hard to check one's natural impatience to tear aside the veil of the Temple. To gain the divine knowledge, like the prize in a classical tripos, by a system of coaching and cramming, is the ideal of the average beginner in occult study. The refusal of the originators of the Theosophical Society to encourage such false hopes, has led to the formation of bogus Brotherhoods of Luxor (and Armley Jail?) as speculations on human credulity. How enticing the bait for gudgeons in the following specimen prospectus, which a few years ago caught some of our most earnest friends and Theosophists.

"Students of the Occult Science, searchers after truth, and Theosophists who may have been disappointed in their expectations of Sublime Wisdom being freely dispensed by HINDU MAHATMAS, are cordially invited to send in their names to ...., when, if found suitable, they can be admitted, after a short probationary term, as Members of an Occult Brotherhood, who do not boast of their knowledge or attainments, but teach freely" (at £1 to £5 per letter?), "and without reserve" (the nastiest portions of P. B. Randolph's "Eulis"). "all they find worthy to receive" (read: teachings on a commercial basis; the cash going to the teachers, and the extracts from Randolph and other "love-philter" sellers to the pupils!) [1]


If rumour be true, some of the English rural districts, especially Yorkshire, are overrun with fraudulent astrologers and fortune-tellers, who pretend to be Theosophists, the better to swindle a higher class of credulous patrons than their legitimate prey, the servant-maid and callow youth. If the "lodges of magic," suggested in the following letter to the Editors of this Magazine, were founded, without having taken the greatest precautions to admit only the best candidates to membership, we should see these vile exploitations of sacred names and things increase an hundredfold. And in this connection, and before giving place to our friend's letter, the senior Editor of LUCIFER begs to inform her friends that she has never had the remotest connection with the so-called "H (ermetic) B (rotherhood) of L (uxor)," and that all representations to the contrary are false and dishonest. There is a secret body -- whose diploma, or Certificate of Membership, is held by Colonel Olcott alone among modern men of white blood -- to which that name was given by the author of "Isis Unveiled" for convenience of designation, [2] but which is known among Initiates by quite another one, just as the personage known to the public under the pseudonym of "Koot Hoomi," is called by a totally different name among his acquaintance. What the real name of that society is, it would puzzle the "Eulian" phallicists of the "H. B. of L." to tell. The real names of Master Adepts and Occult Schools are never, under any circumstances, revealed to the profane; and the names of the personages who have been talked about in connection with modem Theosophy, are in the possession only of the two chief founders of the Theosophical Society. And now, having said so much by way of preface, let us pass on to our correspondent's letter. He writes:

A friend of mine, a natural mystic, had intended to form, with others, a Branch T.S. in his town. Surprised at his delay, I wrote to ask the reason. His reply was that he had heard that the T.S. only met and talked, and did nothing practical. I always did think the T.S. ought to have Lodges in which something practical should be done. Cagliostro understood well this craving of humans for something before their eyes, when he instituted the Egyptian Rite, and put it in practice in various Freemason lodges. There are many readers of LUCIFER in __________ shire. Perhaps in it there might be a suggestion for students to form such lodges for themselves, and to try, by their united wills, to develop certain powers in one of the number, and then through the whole of them in succession. I feel sure numbers would enter such lodges, and create a great interest for Theosophy.

-- "A." [William A. Ayton]


In the above note of our venerable and learned friend is the echo of the voices of ninety-nine hundredths of the members of the Theosophical Society: one-hundredth only have the correct idea of the function and scope of our Branches. The glaring mistake generally made is in the conception of adeptship and the path thereunto. Of all thinkable undertakings that of trying for adeptship is the most difficult. Instead of being obtainable within a few years or one lifetime, it exacts the unremittent struggles of a series of lives, save in cases so rare as to be hardly worth regarding as exceptions to the general rule. The records certainly show that a number of the most revered Indian adepts became so despite their births in the lowest, and seemingly most unlikely, castes. Yet it is well understood that they had been progressing in the upward direction throughout many previous incarnations, and, when they took birth for the last time, there was left but the merest trifle of spiritual evolution to be accomplished, before they became great living adepts. Of course, no one can say that one or all of the possible members of our friend "A"'s ideal Cagliostrian lodge might not also be ready for adeptship, but the chance is not good enough to speculate upon: Western civilization seems to develop fighters rather than philosophers, military butchers rather than Buddhas. The plan "A" proposes would be far more likely to end in mediumship than adeptship. Two to one there would not be a member of the lodge who was chaste from boyhood and altogether untainted by the use of intoxicants. This is to say nothing of the candidates' freedom from the polluting effects of the evil influences of the average social environment. Among the indispensable pre-requisites for psychic development, noted in the mystical Manuals of all Eastern religious systems, are a pure place, pure diet, pure companionship, and a pure mind. Could "A" guarantee these? It is certainly desirable that there should be some school [3]of instruction for members of our Society; and had the purely exoteric work and duties of the Founders been less absorbing, probably one such would have been established long ago. Yet not for practical instruction, on the plan of Cagliostro, which, by-the-bye, brought direful suffering upon his head, and has left no marked traces behind to encourage a repetition in our days. "When the pupil is ready, the teacher will be found waiting," says an Eastern maxim. The Masters do not have to hunt up recruits in special __________ shire lodges, nor drill them through mystical non-commissioned officers: time and space are no barriers between them and the aspirant; where thought can pass they can come. Why did an old and learned Kabalist like "A" forget this fact? And let him also remember that the potential adept may exist in the White chapels and Five Points of Europe and America, as well as in the cleaner and more "cultured" quarters; that some poor ragged wretch, begging a crust, may be "whiter-souled" and more attractive to the adept than the average bishop in his robe, or a cultured citizen in his costly dress. For the extension of the theosophical movement, a useful channel for the irrigation of the dry fields of contemporary thought with the water of life, Branches are needed everywhere; not mere groups of passive sympathisers, such as the slumbering army of churchgoers, whose eyes are shut while the "devil" sweeps the field; no, not such. Active, wide-awake, earnest, unselfish Branches are Deeded, whose members shall not be constantly unmasking their selfishness by asking "What will it profit us to join the Theosophical Society, and how much will it harm us?" but be putting to themselves the question "Can we not do substantial good to mankind by working in this good cause with all our hearts, our minds, and our strength?" If "A" would only bring his __________ shire friends, who pretend to occult leanings, to view the question from this side, he would be doing them a real kindness. The Society can get on without them, but they cannot afford to let it do so.

Is it profitable, moreover, to discuss the question of a Lodge receiving even theoretical instruction, until we can be sure that all the members will accept the teachings as coming from the alleged source? Occult truth cannot be absorbed by a mind that is filled with preconception, prejudice, or suspicion. It is something to be perceived by the intuition rather than by the reason; being by nature spiritual, not material. Some are so constituted as to be incapable of acquiring knowledge by the exercise of the spiritual faculty; e.g. the great majority of physicists. Such are slow, if not wholly incapable of grasping the ultimate truths behind the phenomena of existence. There are many such in the Society; and the body of the discontented are recruited from their ranks. Such persons readily persuade themselves that later teachings, received from exactly the same source as earlier ones, are either false or have been tampered with by chelas, or even third parties. Suspicion and inharmony are the natural result, the psychic atmosphere, so to say, is thrown into confusion, and the reaction, even upon the stauncher students, is very harmful. Sometimes vanity blinds what was at first strong intuition, the mind is effectually closed against the admission of new truth, and the aspiring student is thrown back to the point where he began. Having jumped at some particular conclusion of his own without full study of the subject, and before the teaching had been fully expounded, his tendency, when proved wrong, is to listen only to the voice of his self-adulation, and cling to his views, whether right or wrong. The Lord Buddha particularly warned his hearers against forming beliefs upon tradition or authority, and before having thoroughly inquired into the subject.

An instance. We have been asked by a correspondent why he should not "be free to suspect some of the so-called 'precipitated' letters as being forgeries," giving as his reason for it that while some of them bear the stamp of (to him) undeniable genuineness, others seem from their contents and style, to be imitations. This is equivalent to saying that he has such an unerring spiritual insight as to be able to detect the false from the true, though he has never met a Master, nor been given any key by which to test his alleged communications. The inevitable consequence of applying his untrained judgment in such cases, would be to make him as likely as not to declare false what was genuine, and genuine what was false. Thus what criterion has any one to decide between one "precipitated" letter, or another such letter? Who except their authors, or those whom they employ as their amanuenses (the chelas and disciples), can tell? For it is hardly one out of a hundred "occult" letters that is ever written by the hand of the Master, in whose name and on whose behalf they are sent, as the Masters have neither need nor leisure to write them; and that when a Master says, "I wrote that letter," it means only that every word in it was dictated by him and impressed under his direct supervision. Generally they make their chela, whether near or far away, write (or precipitate) them, by impressing upon his mind the ideas they wish expressed, and if necessary aiding him in the picture-printing process of precipitation. It depends entirely upon the chela's state of development, how accurately the ideas may be transmitted and the writing-model imitated. Thus the non-adept recipient is left in the dilemma of uncertainty, whether, if one letter is false, all may not be; for, as far as intrinsic evidence goes, all come from the same source, and an are brought by the same mysterious means. But there is another, and a far worse condition implied. For all that the recipient of "occult" letters can possibly know, and on the simple grounds of probability and common honesty, the unseen correspondent who would tolerate one single fraudulent line in his name, would wink at an unlimited repetition of the deception. And this leads directly to the following. All the so-called occult letters being supported by identical proofs, they have all to stand or fall together. If one is to be doubted, then all have, and the series of letters in the "Occult World," "Esoteric Buddhism," etc., etc., may be, and there is no reason why they should not be in such a case-frauds, "clever impostures," and "forgeries," such as the ingenuous though stupid agent of the "S.P.R." has made them out to be, in order to raise in the public estimation the "scientific" acumen and standard of his "Principals."

Hence, not a step in advance would be made by a group of students given over to such an unimpressible state of mind, and without any guide from the occult side to open their eyes to the esoteric pitfalls. And where are such guides, so far, in our Society? "They be blind leaders of the blind," both falling into the ditch of vanity and self-sufficiency. The whole difficulty springs from the common tendency to draw conclusions from insufficient premises, and play the oracle before ridding oneself of that most stupefying of all psychic anæsthetics -- IGNORANCE.

_______________

Notes:

1. Documents on view at LUCIFER Office, viz., Secret MSS. written in the handwriting of--(name suppressed for past considerations), "Provincial Grand Master of the Northern Section." One of these documents bears the heading, "A brief Key to the Eulian Mysteries," i.e. Tantric black magic on a phallic basis. NO; the members of this Occult Brotherhood "do not boast of their knowledge." Very sensible on their part: least said soonest mended.

2 in "Isis Unveiled," vol. ii, p. 308. It may be added that the "Brotherhood of Luxor" mentioned by Kenneth Mackenzie (vide his Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia) as having its seat in America, had, after all, nothing to do with the Brotherhood mentioned by, and known to us, as was ascertained after the publication of "Isis" from a letter written by this late Masonic author to a friend in New York. The Brotherhood Mackeri6e knew of was simply a Masonic Society on a rather more secret basis, and, as he stated in the letter, he had heard of, but knew nothing of our Brotherhood, which having had a branch at Luxor (Egypt), was thus purposely referred to by us under this name alone. This led some schemers to infer that there was a regular Lodge of Adepts of that name, and to assure some credulous friends and Theosophists that the "H. B. of L." was either identical or a branch Of the same, supposed to be near Lahore!! -- which was the most flagrant untruth.

3. See the next page of this compilation for Colonel Olcott's announcement of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society.

[Reprinted from Lucifer, October, 1888]
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:29 pm

THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Owing to the fact that a large number of Fellows of the Society have felt the necessity for the formation of a body of Esoteric students, to be organized on the ORIGINAL LINES devised by the real founders of the T.S., the following order has been issued by the President Founder:—

I. To promote the esoteric interests of the Theosophical Society by the deeper study of esoteric philosophy, there is hereby organized a body, to be known as the “Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society.”

II. The constitution and sole direction of the same is vested in Madame H. P. Blavatsky, as its Head; she is solely responsible to the Members for results; and the section has no official or corporate connection with the Exoteric Society save in the person of the President-Founder.

III. Persons wishing to join the Section, and willing to abide by its rules, should communicate directly with: Mme. H. P. BLAVATSKY, 17 Lansdowne Road, Holland Park, London, W.

(Signed) H. S. OLCOTT,
President in Council.
Attest:—H. P. BLAVATSKY.

[Lucifer, Vol. III, No. 14, October, 1888, p. 176]

***

"LONDON, 9th October, 1888.

"THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

"I. To promote the esoteric interests of the Theosophical Society by the deeper study of esoteric philosophy, there is hereby organized a body, to be known as the 'Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society.'

"II. The constitution and sole direction of the same is vested in Madame H. P. Blavatsky, as its Head; she is solely responsible to the Members for results; and the section has no official or corporate connection with the Exoteric Society save in the person of the President-Founder.

"Persons wishing to join the Section, and willing to abide by its rules, should communicate directly with: Mme. H. P. BLAVATSKY, 17 Lansdowne Road, Holland Park, London, W.

"(Sd.) H.S. OLCOTT,
President in Council.

"Attest:
"H.P. BLAVATSKY,
"Corresponding Secretary."

[Reprinted from Henry S. Olcott's Old Diary Leaves, 1975 edition, Vol. IV, pp. 62-63.
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:30 pm

THE FORMATION OF THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"In Lucifer for October, 1888, a notice had appeared to the effect that an 'Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society' was to be formed under H.P.B., and that those who wished to join and abide by its Rules should send in their names. Mrs. Chowne [1] and I, also Colonel Chowne, if I remember rightly, at once responded; but for some time we heard nothing. Then, one day, Mrs. Chowne came down to Harrow to see me -- I was ill at the time -- bringing the E.S.T. Pledge from H.P.B. for me to write out and sign. She said that H.P.B. had told her that, on our sending in our signed Pledges, each one would be 'tested' (i.e., 'examined for fitness') on inner planes, by the Master. Mrs. Chowne’s exact words were, "taken out and tested." Our past lives would be called up, and upon what was there seen and known of our real selves, would depend whether or not we were accepted as candidates. She told me later that, when she handed our signed Pledges to HPB, she had looked very seriously—almost solemnly—at her, and said, "It is a great trust that you have given me."

So we waited; days, even weeks, passed, and nothing occurred. I had almost forgotten what Mrs. Chowne had warned me might happen, until, one Tuesday night, (it was full Moon, I remember) I had the most wonderful experience, save one, that had ever happened to me. I knew I was myself, lying half awake, half asleep, in my own room at home. Yet I was also in an Egyptian temple of extraordinary grandeur, and going through things quite unspeakable and most solemn. This experience began soon after 10 pm, and almost exactly as a neighboring church clock struck midnight, I lost consciousness in an overpowering and almost terrible blaze of light, which seemed completely to envelope me. The next morning I recorded all I could remember in my diary, and on Thursday went up to Lansdowne Road as usual for the Lodge meeting. I was a little early, but HPB at work in the inner room must have known who had arrived, for she called me in and, turning round, said most seriously: "Master told me last night that you are accepted." Nothing more; but I at once realized vividly that my experience the previous Tuesday night had indeed been my "testing." Thereupon I related the whole thing to HPB, who only nodded several times, but made no remark whatever about it.

Mrs. Chowne told me afterwards that she and her husband had had similar experiences, adding that only a few of the first applicants were so "tested"; that it did not, in fact, apply generally. Certainly I never heard from anyone else that they had been told what Mrs. Chowne told me. Members of the E.S.T. were all known by numbers (the uneven ones), and the Chownes and myself, and two others, ... received the first five single numbers...."

_______________

Notes:

1. "... I find the name of Mrs. Chowne immediately coming into my mind; for she was intimately bound up with the circumstances and events attending my admission into that body (E.S.T.S.]. She and her husband, Colonel Chowne, were personal friends of H.P.B., who had stayed with them in India, where he was stationed when she was there (from '79 to '85); and she had no more loyal or staunch adherents and supporters...."

Alice Leighton Cleather|
H.P. Blavatsky As I Knew Her
1923, pp. 15-17.
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Sat May 12, 2018 10:32 pm

PLEDGE CARD SENT BY H.P. BLAVATSKY TO AN APPLICANT (FACSIMILE OF 1888 ORIGINAL)

Image

THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE T.S.

Dear

I forward you herewith a copy of the Rules and Pledge for Probationers of the Esoteric Section of the T.S.

Should you be unable to accept them, I request that you will return this to me without delay.

H.P.Blavatsky

***

RULES OF THE ESOTERIC SECTION (PROBATIONARY) OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

1. No person shall belong to the Esoteric Section who is not already a Fellow of the Theosophical Society.

2. Application for membership in the Esoteric Section must be accompanied by a copy of the Pledge hereto appended, written out and signed by the Candidate, who thereupon enters upon a special period of probation, which commences from the date of his signature.

3. All members shall be approved by the Head of the Section.

4. He who enters the Esoteric Section is as one "newly born"; his past -- unless connected with crime, social or political, in which case he cannot be accepted -- shall be regarded as never having had existence in respect of blame for actions committed.

5. Groups of Theosophists belonging to the Esoteric Section may be formed under a charter from the Head of the Section.

6. Any member joining the Section expressly agrees, without reservation, Clause II of the Pledge.

7. To preserve the unity of the Section, any person joining it expressly agrees that he shall be expelled, and the fact of his expulsion made public to all members of the Section, should he violate any one of the three following conditions:-

(a) Obedience to the Head of the Section in all Theosophical matters.

(b) The Secrecy of the Signs and Passwords.

(c) The Secrecy of the documents of the Section, and any communication from any Initiate of any degree, unless absolved from such secrecy by the Head of the Section.

***

PLEDGE OF PROBATIONERS IN THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE T.S.

1. I pledge myself to endeavor to make Theosophy a living power in my life.

2. I pledge myself to support, before the world, the Theosophical movement, it's leaders and it's members; and in particular to obey, without cavil or delay, the orders of the Head of the Esoteric Section in all that concerns my relation with the Theosophical movement.

3. I pledge myself never to listen, without protest, to any evil think spoken of a brother Theosophist, and to abstain from condemning others.

4. I pledge myself to maintain a constant struggle against my lower nature, and to be charitable to the weakness of others.

5. I pledge myself to do all in my power, by study and otherwise, to fit myself to help and teach others.

6. I pledge myself to give what support I can to Theosophical movement, in time, money, and work.

7. I pledge myself to preserve inviolable secrecy as regards signs and passwords of the Section and all confidential documents.

So help me, my Higher Self.

Signed..............................

***

The arrangements with regard to the circulation of the Esoteric Teaching, which will be given to members of the Section, will be communicated to them in due course.

***

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"... almost the whole of the 'London Lodge'---'Blavatsky Lodge' like one man, the 'Cambridge Theos. Society'... as also the 'Dublin', 'Liverpool' & 'Glascow' Branches have signed it [the E.S.T.S. pledge] and thus sworn allegiance....From America ditto & France re ditto...."

"...K.H....only a few months ago...[was here] in flesh & bones. But He is gone, was in London only eleven days, in July."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated Oct. 25, 1888

***

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"... a new Section---the Esoteric Section of the T.S.---has just been established and announced in 'Lucifer' No. 14. This gives me work to do more than ever, for I am the sole responsible Head of it, and am independent of the Adyar administration — save the Prest Founder. Such a Section was clamoured for, for a long time, but Col. Olcott preferred to leave all the Branches exoteric for fear of some new conspiracy against Theosophy and myself. However, while on his way to Europe a day from Brindisi he received a letter from one of the Masters ... with instructions. Regardless of the sneers and insults from scoffers which were sure to come down on his head, his love of justice forced him to publish those portions of it that concerned me personally and determined my position in the T.S. I enclose it. It was printed in 'Lucifer' in a very fragmentary state...."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated Oct.-Nov., 1888
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