The Secret Doctrine

Volume 3

Compilation of H P Blavatsky’s writings

Published after her death

 

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The Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky

 

The Secret Doctrine,Volume 3

by H.P.Blavatsky

Published in the late 1800's

As for what thou hearest others say who persuade the many that the soul when once freed from the

body neither suffers....evil nor is conscious,I know that thou art better grounded in the doctrines

received by us from our ancestors and in the sacred orgies of Dionysus than to believe them;for the

mystic symbols are well known to us who belong to the Brotherhood.

Plutarch

The problem of life is man.Magic,or rather Wisdom is the evolved knowledge of the potencies of man's

interior being which forces are divine emanations,as intuition is the perception of their origin and

initiation our induction into that knowledge ...We begin with instinct;the end is omniscience.

A.Wilder

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Sect.Page

INTRODUCTORY 1

One Key to all Sacred Books 3

Assumptions Have to be Proven 5

The Spirit of Plato's Teaching 7

Self-Contradiction of the Critic 9

The Character of Ammonius Saccas 11

Plato a Follower of Pythagoras 13

Preliminary Survey 1 14

The Protectors of China 1 15

The A.B.C.Of Magic 1 17

Magic As Old As Man 1 19

The Tree of Knowledge 1 21

Occultism Must Win the Day 1 23

Black Magic at Work 1 25

Black Magic and Hypnotism 1 27

The Philosophy Stands on Its Own Merits 1 29

Modern Criticism and the Ancients 2 30

All Honour to Genuine Scientists 2 31

What is a Myth?2 33

Chaldean Oracles 2 35

The Origin of Magic 3 36

The Books of Hermes 3 37

What is the Origin of Magic?3 39

Pherecydes of Syros 3 41

Cain Mathematical and Anthropomorphic 3 43

The Secrecy of Initiates 4 44

Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings 4 45

Origen on “Genesis ”4 47

The “Dark Sayings ”of the “Testaments ”4 49

The Greatest Crime Ever Perpetrated 4 51

Asiatic Religions Proclaim Their Esoterism Openly 4 53

The Wisdom-Religion 4 55

Some Reasons for Secrecy 5 56

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

The Key of Practical Theurgy 5 57

The Ladder of Being 5 59

Three Ways Open to the Adept 5 61

Man is God 5 63

Jesus Taught Reincarnation 5 65

The Dangers of Practical Magic 6 67

Names are Symbols 6 69

The Three Mothers 6 71

The Bible and Word 6 73

Moses and the Jews 6 75

Old Wine in New Bottles 7 76

Copies That Ante-Dated Originals 7 77

Which Were the Thieves?7 79

Character of the Bible 7 81

The Book of Enoch The Origin and the Foundation of

Christianity 8 82

The Book of Enoch and Christianity 8 83

Enoch Records The Races 8 85

The Book of Enoch Symbolical 8 87

Occultists Do Not Reject the Bible 8 89

Hermetic and Kabalistic Doctrines 9 91

The Kabalah and The Book of Enoch 9 93

Numbers and Measures 9 95

The Doctrine Belongs to All 9 97

Various Occult Systems of Interpretations -of Alphabets and

Numerals 10 98

Numbers and Magic 10 99

Gods and Numbers 10 101

The Universal Language 10 103

The Hexagon with the Central Point,or The Seventh Key 11 105

Occult Weapons 11 107

The Duty of the True Occultist Toward Religions 12 109

Christian and Non-Christian Adepts 12 111

Post-Christian Adepts and Their Doctrines 13 112

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Unfair Criticism 13 113

The Two Eternal Principles 13 115

Simon and His Biographer Hippolytus 14 117

Uneven Balances 14 119

Stones as “Evidences.”14 121

St.Paul the Real Founder of Present Christianity 15 122

Abrogation of Law by Initiates 15 123

Paul Changed to Simon 15 125

Peter a Jewish Kabalist,Not an Initiate 16 126

The Seat of Peter 16 127

Appollonius of Tyana 17 129

The Mysterious Teacher 17 131

Apollonius Cannot Be Destroyed 17 133

De Mirville on Apollonius 17 135

Apollonius No Fiction 17 137

Facts Underlying Adept Biographies 18 138

Jesus and Apollonius 18 139

Biographies of Initiates 18 141

Similarity of Legends 18 143

Nature of Christ 18 145

A Serious Mistranslation 18 147

Secret Doctrine of Jesus 18 149

The Cross and Crucifix 18 151

The Story of Jesus 18 153

The Primitive Woman 18 155

Kabalistic Reading of Gospels 18 157

Universal Teachings 18 159

St.Cyprian of Antioch 19 160

Magic in Antioch 19 161

Sorcerer Become Saint 19 163

The Eastern Gupta Vidya &The Kabalah 20 164

A Mystery Within a Mystery 20 165

Authorship of the Zohar 20 167

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Chaldaic and Hebrew 20 169

The First Men 20 171

Many Events Not Historical 20 173

The Real Hebrew Characters Lost 20 175

Hebrew Esotericism Not Primitive 20 177

The Concealed of all the Concealed 20 179

Three-in-one and Four 20 181

The Septenary Sephira 20 183

The Blind Leading the Blind 20 185

Hebrew Allegories 21 186

The Hebrew Bible does not Exist 21 187

Some Hebrews Were Initiates 21 189

The Seven Creative Gods 21 191

Seven Keys to all Allegories 21 193

Gerald Massey on the Seven Creators 21 195

The Father and Mother 21 197

The “Zohar ”on Creation and the Elohim 22 199

Angels as Builders 22 201

Who are the Elohim?22 203

Monad Duad and Triad 22 205

The Creative Gods 22 207

God the Host 22 209

What the Occultists and Kabalists Have to Say 23 211

The Mystery of the Sun 23 213

Modern Kabalists in Science and Occult Astronomy 24 215

The Place of Neptune 24 217

Self-Generation Ex-Niholo?24 219

Are There Angels in Stars?24 221

Eastern and Western Occultism 25 222

Primordial Matter 25 223

The Great Deep 25 225

The Chaos of Genesis 25 227

The Bible of Humanity 25 229

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Chaos is Theos or Kosmos 25 231

One Hundred and Eight 25 233

The Idols and the Teraphim 26 234

Divining By Teraphim 26 235

Jehovah and Teraphim 26 237

Idol of the Moon 26 239

Egyptian Magic 27 241

Evidence of Papyri 27 243

Symbols and Their Reading 27 245

Rebirth and Transmigration 27 247

The Egyptian Khous 27 249

Obsession in Egypt 27 251

Two Rituals of Magic 27 253

Magical Statues 27 255

Romances -But True 27 257

The Origin of the Mysteries 28 258

An Instant in Heaven 28 259

Growth of Popular Beliefs 28 261

A True Priesthood 28 263

The Egyptian Priests 28 265

Revealing and Reveiling 28 267

Atlanteans Degenerating 28 269

The Trial of the Sun Initiate 29 270

Vishvakarma and Vikarttana 29 271

The Transmission of Light 29 273

Masonry and the Jesuits 29 275

The Mystery “Sun of Initiation ”30 277

The Sun as God 30 279

The Objects of the Mysteries 31 281

Mysteries and Theophany 31 283

The Mysteries and Masonry 31 285

Traces of the Mysteries 32 287

Christos and Chrestos 32 289

The Symbolism of Narada 32 291

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Egyptian Initiation 32 293

The Self-Sacrificing Victim 32 295

Orpheus 32 297

The Last of the Mysteries in Europe 33 298

Alesia and Bibractis 33 299

The Learning of Egypt 33 301

The Post-Christian Successors to the Mysteries 34 303

The Root Races 34 305

The “False Gnosis ”34 307

Teachers of Ammonius 34 309

Difficulties and Dangers 34 311

The Neo-Platonic School 34 313

Symbolism of Sun and Stars 35 315

The Circle Dance 35 317

Christian Astrolatry 35 319

Michael the Conqueror 35 321

The Christian Sun-God 35 323

Pagan Sidereal Worship or Astrology 36 325

The Planetary Angels 36 327

Celestial Wheels 36 329

The Promethean Mystery 36 331

The Souls of the Stars —Universal Heliolatry 37 332

Christian Star-Worship 37 333

A Singular Confession 37 335

Astrology and Astrolatry 38 337

The Defence of Astrology 38 339

Its Later Deterioration 38 341

Its Prominent Disciples 38 343

Cycles of Avatāras 39 345

An Unfulfilled Prophecy 39 347

Secret Cycles 39 349

Secret Cycles 40 350

The Naros 40 351

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Age of the Vedas 40 353

Testimony of the Song Celestial 40 355

Mackey's Arguments 40 357

The Doctrine of Avatāras 41 361

All Avatāras Identical 41 363

Voluntary Incarnation 41 365

Cardinal De Cusa 41 367

The Seven Rays 41 369

Special Cases 41 371

The Higher Astral 41 373

The Seven Principles 42 374

The Mystery of Buddha 43 376

Shankarāchārya 43 377

The Buddha Cannot Reincarnate 43 379

A Fuller Explanation 43 381

Sacrifice 43 383

Shankarāchārya Still Living 43 385

“Reincarnations ”of Buddha 44 386

Vajradhara 44 387

Living Buddhas 44 389

An Obscure Passage 44 391

An Unpublished Discourse of Buddha 45 393

A Mistaken View 45 395

Nirvana-Moksha 46 396

The Ćkāsha 46 397

Matter is Ever Giving 46 399

Blind Faith Not Expected 46 401

What Annihilation Means 46 403

The Secret Books of “Lam-Rin ” and Dzyan 47 405

Amita Buddha Kwan-Shai-Yin and Kwan-Yin —What the

“Book of Dzyan ”and the Lamaseries of Tsong-Kha-Pa Say 48 407

Tsong-Kha-Pa —Lohans in China 49 409

The Lost Word 49 411

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Tibetan Prophecies 49 413

A Few More Misconceptions Corrected 50 414

Misrepresentations of Buddhism 50 415

A Mysterious Land 50 417

Absurd Conclusions 50 419

Materialistic Orientalists 50 421

Introduction of Buddhism into Tibet 50 423

The 'Doctrine of the Eye'and The 'Doctrine of the Heart'or the

'Heart's Seal'51 424

Swedenborg Claims 51 425

The God 'Who'51 427

More Misrepresentations 51 429

Āryāsanga 51 431

Note 52 434

A Warning 52 435

The Jewel of the Lotus 52 437

The Pythagorean Tetrad 52 439

Seven Correspondential Contents 52 441

Correspondence Between Races and Man 52 443

Man and The Logos 52 445

Cosmic Spiritual and Physical Centres 52 447

Woman and Alchemy 52 449

Sound and Colour 52 451

The Days of the Week 52 453

An Explanation 52 455

Astrology and Lunar Weeks 52 457

Seeing Sounds and Hearing Colours 52 459

Planetary and Human Bodies 52 461

Planets and Faculties 52 463

Simon Magnus the Magician 52 465

Series of Ęons 52 467

The Triple Ęon 52 469

Magic and Miracles 52 471

Magic a Divine Science 52 473

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

The Seven Hierarchies 52 475

Origins 52 477

Colours and Principles 52 479

The Primordial Seven 52 481

The Hierarchies and Man 52 483

Wisdom and Truth 52 485

Occult Secrecy 52 487

The Light and Dark Sides of Nature 52 489

Nature's Finer Forces 52 491

The “Seven Principles ”52 493

The Auric Egg 52 495

Five or Seven Tattvas 52 497

The Tattvas 52 499

Esoteric and Tāntra Tables of the Tattvas 52 501

Hatha and Rāja Yoga 52 503

The Awakening of the Seventh Sense 52 505

The Master Chakras 52 507

The Human Harp 52 509

The Duality in Manas 52 511

The Living and the Dead 52 513

Gaining Immortality 52 515

Light and Life 52 517

The Two Egos 52 519

Death of the Soul 52 521

Reincarnation of Lower Soul 52 523

The Dweller on the Threshold 52 525

The Word 52 527

The Divine Witness 52 529

Appendix 52 530

A Mantra Operative 52 531

Colour and Spiritual Sound 52 533

Musical Table 52 535

Notes on Some Oral Teachings 52 537

The Dweller on the Threshold 52 539

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Con't Sect.Page

Fear and Hatred 52 541

Triangle and Quaternary 52 543

Prāna and Antahkarana 52 545

Sacred Centres of Body 52 547

Ćkāsha Nature's Sounding-Board 52 549

Kosmic Consciousness 52 551

Divisions of the Astral Plane 52 553

Kosmic Planes 52 555

Differentiation 52 557

Men and Pitris 52 559

Power of Imagination 52 561

Why Cycles Return 52 563

Talas and Lokas 52 565

States of Consciousness 52 567

Man and Lokas 52 569

Yogīs in Svarloka 52 571

Consciousness and Self-Consciousness 52 573

Scales of Consciousness 52 575

Vibrations and Impressions 52 577

The Crucifixion of the Christos 52 579

Rising Above the Brain 52 581

Christ and Apollonius 52 583

The Beginnings 52 585

Karmic Effects 52 587

Fire is Kriyāshakti 52 589

Responsibility and the Ego 52 591

Functions of the Astral Body 52 593

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PREFACE

The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a difficult and anxious one and it is necessary

to state clearly what has been done.The papers given to me by H.P.B.were quite unarranged and had

no obvious order;I have therefore taken each paper as a separate Section and have arranged them as

sequentially as possible.With the exception of the correction of grammatical errors and the elimination of

obviously un-English idioms,the papers are as H.P.B.left them save as otherwise marked.In a few

cases I have filled in a gap but any such addition is enclosed within square brackets,so as to be

distinguished from the text.In "The Mystery of Buddha"a further difficulty arose;some of the Sections

had been written four or five times over each version containing some sentences that were not in the

others;I have pieced these versions together taking the fullest as basis,and inserting therein everything

added in any other versions.It is,however with some hesitation that I have included these Sections in

the Secret Doctrine .Together with some most suggestive thought they contain very numerous errors of

fact and many statements based on exoteric writings,not on esoteric knowledge.They were given into

my hands to publish as part of the Third Volume of the Secret Doctrine,and I therefore do not feel

justified in coming between the author and the public,either by altering the statements,to make them

consistent with fact or by suppressing the Sections.She says she is acting entirely on her own authority

and it will be obvious to any instructed reader that she makes -possibly deliberately -many statements

so confused that they are mere blinds,and other statements -probably inadvertently -that are nothing

more than the exoteric misunderstandings of esoteric truths.The reader must here as everywhere use

his own judgment but feeling bound to publish these Sections,I cannot let them go to the public without

a warning that much in them is certainly erroneous.Doubtless,had the author herself issued this book,

she would have entirely rewritten the whole of this division;as it was it seemed best to give all she had

said in the different copies,and to leave it in its rather unfinished state for students will best like to have

what she said as she said it even though they may have to study it more closely than would have been

the case had she remained to finish her work.

The quotations made have been as far as possible found and correct references given;in this most

laborious work a whole band of earnest and painstaking students,under the guidance of Mrs.Cooper-

Oakley have been my willing assistants.Without their aid it would not have been possible to give the

references,as often a whole book had to be searched through in order to find a paragraph of a few lines.

This volume completes the papers left by H.P.B.with the exception of a few scattered articles that yet

remain and that will be published in her own magazine L cifer.Her pupils are well aware that few will be

found in the present generation to do justice to the occult knowledge of H.P.B.and to her magnificent

sweep of thoughts but as she can wait to future generations for the justification of her greatness as a

teacher so can her pupils afford to wait for the justification of their trust.

ANNIE BESANT

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INTRODUCTORY

(Page 1)"POWER belongs to him who knows;"this is a very old axiom.Knowledge -the first step to

which is the power of comprehending the truth of discerning the real from the false -is for those only

who have freed themselves from every prejudice and conquered their human conceit and selfishness,

are ready to accept every and any truth once it is demonstrated to them.Of such there are very few.The

majority judge of a work according to the respective prejudices of its critics,who are guided in their turn

by the popularity or unpopularity of the author rather than by its own faults or merits.Outside the

Theosophical circle therefore the present volume is certain to receive at the hands of the general public

a still colder welcome than its two predecessors have met with.In our day no statement can hope for a

fair trial or even hearing unless its arguments run on the line of legitimate and accepted enquiry

remaining strictly within the boundaries of official Science or orthodox Theology.

Our age is a paradoxical anomaly.It is preėminently materialistic and as preėminently pietistic.Our

literature our modern thought and progress,so called both run on these two parallel lines,so

incongruously dissimilar and yet both so popular and so very orthodox,each in its own way.He who

presumes to draw a third line as a hyphen of reconciliation between the two has to be fully prepared for

the worst.He will have his work mangled by reviewers,mocked by the sycophants of Science and

Church misquoted by his opponents,and rejected even by the pious lending libraries.The absurd

misconceptions,in so-called cultured circles of society of the ancient Wisdom-Religion (Bodhism)after

the admirably clear and scientifically-presented explanations in Esoteric B ddhism are a good proof in

point.They might have served as a caution even to those Theosophists who hardened in an almost life-

long struggle in the service of their Cause are neither timid with their pen nor in the least appalled by

dogmatic (Page 2)assumption and scientific authority.Yet do what Theosophical writers may neither

Materialism nor doctrinal pietism will ever give their Philosophy a fair hearing.Their doctrines will be

systematically rejected and their theories denied a place even in the ranks of those scientific ephemera

the ever-shifting "working hypotheses"of our day.To the advocate of the "animalistic"theory our

cosmogenetical and anthropogenetical teachings are "fairy-tales"at best.For to those who would shirk

any moral responsibility it seems certainly more convenient to accept descent from a common simian

ancestor and see a brother in a dumb tailless baboon than to acknowledge the fatherhood of the Pitris,

the "Sons of God "and to have to recognise as a brother a starveling from the slums.

"Hold back!"shout in their turn the pietists."You will never make of respectable church-going Christians

Esoteric Buddhists!"

Nor are we in truth in any way anxious to attempt the metamorphosis.But this cannot nor shall it

prevent Theosophists from saying what they have to say especially to those who in opposing to our

doctrine Modern Science do so not for her own fair sake but only to ensure the success of their private

hobbies and personal glorification.If we cannot prove many of our points,no more can they;yet we may

show how instead of giving historical and scientific facts -for the edification of those who knowing less

than they look to Scientists to do their thinking and form their opinions -the efforts of most of our

scholars seem solely directed to killing ancient facts,or distorting them into props to support their own

special views.This will be done in no spirit of malice or even criticism as the writer readily admits that

most of those she finds fault with stand immeasurably higher in learning than herself.But great

scholarship does not preclude bias and prejudice nor is it a safeguard against self-conceit but rather the

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reverse.Moreover it is but in the legitimate defence of our own statements,i.e.the vindication of Ancient

Wisdom and its great truths,that we mean to take our "great authorities"to task.

Indeed unless the precaution of answering beforehand certain objections to the fundamental

propositions in the present work be adopted -objections which are certain to be made on the authority of

this,that or another scholar concerning the Esoteric character of all the archaic and ancient works on

Philosophy -our statements will be once more contradicted and even discredited.One of the main points

in this Volume is to indicate in the works of the old Aryan Greek and

One Key to all Sacred Books -(Page 3)other Philosophers of note as well as in all the world-scriptures,

the presence of a strong Esoteric allegory and symbolism.Another of the objects is to prove that the key

of interpretation as furnished by the Eastern Hindu-Buddhistic canon of Occultism -fitting as well the

Christian Gospels as it does archaic Egyptian Greek,Chaldean Persian and even Hebrew -Mosaic

Books -must have been one common to all the nations,however divergent may have been their

respective methods and exoteric "blinds."These claims are vehemently denied by some of the foremost

scholars of our day.In his Edinburgh Lectures,Prof.Max Muller discarded this fundamental statement of

the Theosophists by pointing to the Hindu Shastras and Pandits,who know nothing of such Esotericism.

[ The majority of the Pandits know nothing of the Esoteric Philosophy now because they have lost the

key to it;yet not one of these if honest would deny that the Upanishads and especially the P ranas are

allegorical and symbolical:nor that there still remain in India a few great scholars who could if they

would give them the key to such interpretations.Nor do they reject the actual existence of Mahātmās -

initiated Yogis and Adepts -even in this age of Kali Yuga.] The learned Sanskrit scholar stated in so

many words that there was no hidden meaning no Esoteric element or "blinds,"either in the P rānas or

the Upanishads .Considering that the word "Upanishad"means,when translated the "Secret Doctrine."

the assertion is,to say the least extraordinary.Sir M.Monier Williams again holds the same view with

regard to Buddhism.To hear him is to regard Gautama the Buddha as an enemy of every pretence to

Esoteric teachings.He himself never taught them!All such "pretences"to Occult learning and "magic

powers"are due to the later Arhats,the subsequent followers of the "Light of Asia"!Prof.B.Jowett again

as contemptuously passes the sponge over the "absurd"interpretations of Plato's Timae s and the

Mosaic Books by the Neoplatonists.There is not a breath of the Oriental (Gnostic)spirit of Mysticism in

Plato's Dialog es the Regius Professor of Greek tells us,nor any approach to Science either.Finally to

cap the climax,Prof.Sayce the Assyriologist although he does not deny the actual presence in the

Assyrian tablets and cuneiform literature of a hidden meaning -

"Many of the sacred texts ....so written as to be intelligible only to the initiated"-

yet insists that the "keys and glosses"thereof are now in the hands of the Assyriologists.The modern

scholars,he affirms,have in their possession clues to the interpretation of the Esoteric Records.

"Which even the initiated priests [of Chaldaea ] did not possess."

(Page 4)Thus,in the scholarly appreciation of our modern Orientalists and Professors,Science was in its

infancy in the days of the Egyptian and Chaldean Astronomers.Pānini the greatest Grammarian in the

world was unacquainted with the art of writing.So was the Lord Buddha and everyone else in India until

300 B.C.The grossest ignorance reigned in the days of the Indian Rishis,and even in those of Thales,

Pythagoras,and Plato.Theosophists must indeed be superstitious ignoramuses to speak as they do in

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the face of such learned evidence to the contrary!

Truly it looks as if since the world's creation there has been but one age of real knowledge on earth -

the present age.In the misty twilight in the grey dawn of history stand the pale shadows of the old

Sages of world renown.They were hopelessly groping for the correct meaning of their own Mysteries,the

spirit whereof has departed without revealing itself to the Hierophants,and has remained latent in space

until the advent of the initiates of Modern Science and Research.The noontide brightness of knowledge

has only now arrived at the "Know-All "who basking in the dazzling sun of induction busies himself with

his Penelopeian task of "working hypotheses,"and loudly asserts his rights to universal knowledge.Can

anyone wonder then that according to present views the learning of the ancient Philosopher and even

sometimes that of his direct successors in the past centuries,has ever been useless to the world and

valueless to himself?For as explained repeatedly in so many words,while the Rishis and the Sages of

old have walked far over the arid fields of myth and superstition the mediaeval Scholar and even the

average eighteenth century Scientist have always been more or less cramped by their "supernatural"

religion and beliefs.True it is generally conceded that some ancient and also mediaeval Scholars,such

as Pythagoras,Plato Paracelsus,and Roger Bacon followed by a host of glorious names,had indeed

left not a few landmarks over precious mines of Philosophy and unexpected lodes of Physical Science.

But then the actual excavation of these the smelting of the gold and silver and the cutting of the

precious jewels they contain are all due to the patient labours of the modern man of Science.And it is

not to be the unparalleled genius of the latter that the ignorant and hitherto-deluded world owes a correct

knowledge of the real nature of the Kosmos,of the true origin of the universe and man as revealed in the

automatic and mechanical theories of the Physicists in accordance with strictly scientific Philosophy?

Assumptions Have to be Proven -(Page 5)Before our cultured era Science was but a name

Philosophy a delusion and a snare.According to the modest claims of contemporary authority on genuine

Science and Philosophy the Tree of Knowledge has only now sprung from the dead weeds of

superstition as a beautiful butterfly emerges from an ugly grub.We have therefore nothing for which to

thank our forefathers.The Ancients have at best prepared and fertilised the soil;it is the Moderns who

have planted the seeds of knowledge and reared the lovely plants called blank negation and sterile

agnosticism.

Such however is not the view taken by Theosophists.They repeat what was stated twenty years ago.It

is not sufficient to speak of the "untenable conceptions of an uncultured past"(Tyndall):of the "parler

enfantin "of the Vaidic poets (Max Muller);of the "absurdities"of the Neoplatonists (Jowett);and of the

ignorance of the Chaldaeo-Assyrian initiated Priests with regard to their own symbols,when compared

with the knowledge thereon of the British Orientalist (Sayce).Such assumptions have to be proven by

something more solid than the mere word of these scholars.For no amount of boastful arrogance can

hide the intellectual quarries out of which the representations of so many modern Philosophers and

Scholars have been carved.How many of the most distinguished European Scientists have derived

honour and credit for the mere dressing-up of the ideas of these old Philosophers,whom they are ever

ready to disparage is left to an impartial posterity to say.Thus it does seem not altogether untrue as

stated in Isis Unveiled to say of certain Orientalists and Scholars of dead languages,that they will allow

their boundless conceit and self-opinionatedness to run away with their logic and reasoning powers

rather than concede to the ancient Philosophers the knowledge of anything the modern do not know.

As part of this work treats of the Initiates and the secret knowledge imparted during the Mysteries,the

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statements of those who in spite of the fact that Plato was an Initiate maintain that no hidden Mysticism

is to be discovered in his works,have to be first examined.Too many of the present scholars,Greek and

Sanskrit are but too apt to forego facts in favour of their own preconceived theories based on personal

prejudice.They conveniently forget at every opportunity not only the numerous changes in language

but also that the allegorical style in the writings of old Philosophers and the secretiveness of the Mystics

had their raison d'źtre ;that both the pre-Christian and the post-Christian (Page 6)classical writers -the

great majority at all events -were under the sacred obligation never to divulge the solemn secrets

communicated to them in the sanctuaries;and that this alone is sufficient to sadly mislead their

translators and profane critics.But these critics will admit nothing of the kind as will presently be seen.

For over twenty-two centuries everyone who has read Plato has been aware that like most of the other

Greek Philosophers of note he had been initiated;that therefore being tied down by the Sodalian Oath

he could speak of certain things only in veiled allegories.His reverence for the Mysteries is unbounded;

he openly confesses that he writes "enigmatically "and we see him take the greatest precautions to

conceal the true meaning of his words.Every time the subject touches the greater secrets of Oriental

Wisdom -the cosmogony of the universe or the ideal preexisting world -Plato shrouds his Philosophy in

the profoundest darkness.His Timaeus is so confused that no one but an Initiate can understand the

hidden meaning As already said in Isis Unveiled:

The speculations of Plato in the Banq et on the creation or rather the evolution of primordial men and

the essay on cosmogony in the Timaeus,must be taken allegorically if we accept them at all.It is this

hidden Pythagorean meaning in Timae s Cratyl s and Parmenides and a few other triologies and

dialogues,that the Neoplatonists ventured to expound as far as the theurgical vow of secresy would

allow them.The Pythagoran doctrine that God is the Universal Mind diffused through all things,and the

dogma of the soul's immortality are the leading features in these apparently incongruous teachings.His

piety and the great veneration he felt for the Mysteries are sufficient warrant that Plato would not allow

his indiscretion to get the better of that deep sense of responsibility which is felt by every Adept.

"Constantly perfecting himself in perfect Mysteries a man in them alone becomes truly perfect "says he

in the Phaedrus .

He took no pains to conceal his displeasure that the Mysteries had become less secret than formerly.

Instead of profaning them by putting them within the reach of the multitude he would have guarded them

with jealous care against all but the most earnest and worthy of his disciples.[ This assertion is clearly

corroborated by Plato himself who writes:"You say that in my former discourse I have not sufficiently

explained to you the nature of the First.I purposely spoke enigmatically that in case the tablet should

have happened with any accident either by sea or land a person without some previous knowledge of

the subject might not be able to understand its contents."(Plato.Ep.II.312 Cory.Ancient Fragments.

p.304 ] While mentioning the Gods on every page his monotheism is unquestionable for the whole

thread of his discourse indicates that by the term "God"he means a class of beings lower in the scale

than Deities,and but one grade higher than men.Even Josephus perceived and acknowledged this fact

despite the natural prejudice of his race.

The Spirit of Plato's Teaching -(Page 7)In his famous onslaught upon Apion this historian says;"Those

however among the Greeks who philosophized in accordance with truth were not ignorant of anything ..

.nor did they fail to perceive the chilling superficialities of the mythical allegories,on which account they

justly despised them....By which thing Plato being moved says it is not necessary to admit any one of

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the other poets into ‘the Commonwealth 'and he dismisses Homer blandly after having crowned him and

pouring unguent upon him in order that indeed he should not destroy by his myths the orthodox belief in

respecting one God."[ Isis Unveiled i.287 288.]

And this is the "God"of every Philosopher God infinite and impersonal.All this and much more which

there is no room here to quote leads one to the undeniable certitude that (a )as all the Sciences and

Philosophies were in the hands of the temple Hierophants Plato as initiated by them must have known

them;and (b),that logical inference alone is amply sufficient to justify anyone in regarding Plato's writings

as allegories and "dark sayings,"veiling truths which he had no right to divulge.

This established how comes it that one of the best Greek scholars in England Prof.Jowett the modern

translator of Plato's works seeks to demonstrate that none of the Dialogues -including even the

Timae s -have any element of Oriental Mysticism about them?Those who can discern the true spirit of

Plato's Philosophy will hardly be convinced by the arguments which the Master of Balliol College lays

before his readers."Obscure and repulsive"to him,the Timae s may certainly be;but it is as certain that

this obscurity does not arise as the Professor tells his public,"in the infancy of physical science "but

rather in its days of secresy;not "out of the confusion of theological mathematical and physiological

notions,"or "out of the desire to conceive the whole of Nature without any adequate knowledge of the

parts."[ The Dialog es of Plato translated by B.Jowett.Regius Professor of Greek at the University of

Oxford 111 5z3.]For Mathematics and Geometry were the backbone of Occult cosmogony hence of

"Theology "and the physiological notions of the ancient Sages are being daily verified by Science in our

age;at least to those who know to read and understand ancient Esoteric works.The "knowledge of the

parts"avails us little if this knowledge only leads us the more to ignorance of the Whole or the "nature

and the reason of the Universal "as Plato called Deity and causes us to blunder most egregiously

because of our boasted inductive methods.

(Page 8)Plato may have been "incapable of induction or generalization in the modern sense";[ Op.cit.

p.561 ] he may have been ignorant also of the circulation of the blood which we are told "was

absolutely unknown to him,"[ Op.cit.p.591 ]but then there is naught to disprove that he knew what

blood is -and this is more than any Physiologist or Biologist can claim nowadays.

Though a wider and far more generous margin for knowledge is allowed the "physical philosopher"by

Prof.Jowett than by nearly any other modern commentator and critic,nevertheless,his criticism so

considerably outweighs his laudation that it may be as well to quote his own words,to show clearly his

bias.Thus he says:

To bring sense under the control of reason;to find some way through the labyrinth or chaos of

appearances,either the highway or mathematics,or more devious paths suggested by the

analogy of man with the world and of the world with man;to see that all things have a cause

and are tending towards an end -this is the spirit of the ancient physical philosopher.[This

definition places (unwittingly of course),the ancient "physical philosopher"many cubits higher

than his modern "physical"confrčre since the ltima th le of the latter is to lead mankind to

believe that neither universe nor man have any cause at all -not an intelligent one at all

events -and that they have sprung into existence owing to blind chance and a senseless

whirling of atoms.Which of the two hypotheses is the more rational and logical is left to the

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impartial reader to decide.] But we neither appreciate the conditions of knowledge to which he

was subjected nor have the ideas which fastened upon his imagination the same hold upon

us.For he is hovering between matter and mind;he is under the dominion of abstractions;his

impressions are taken almost at random from the outside of nature;he sees the light but not

the objects which are revealed by the light;and he brings into juxtaposition things which to us

appear wide as the poles asunder because he finds nothing between them.

The last proposition but one must evidently be distasteful to the modern "physical philosopher "who sees

the "objects"before him but fails to see the light of the Universal Mind which reveals them i.e .who

proceeds in a diametrically opposite way.Therefore the learned Professor comes to the conclusion that

the ancient Philosopher whom he now judges from Plato's Timae s must have acted in a decidedly

unphilosophical and even irrational way.For:

He passes abruptly from persons to ideas and numbers,and from ideas and numbers to

persons;[ Italics are mine.Every tyro in Eastern Philosophy every Kabalist will see the

reason for such an association of persons with ideas,numbers,and geometrical figures.For

number says Philolaus,"is the dominant and self-produced bond of the eternal continuance of

things."Alone the modern scholar remains blind to the grand truth ] he confuses subject and

object first and final causes,and in dreaming of geometrical figures is lost in a flux of sense.

Self-Contradiction of the Critic -(Page 9)[ Here again the ancient Philosopher seems to be ahead of

the modern.For he only "confuses ...first and final causes"(which confusion is denied by those who

know the spirit of the ancient scholarship),whereas his modern successor is confessedly and absolutely

ignorant of both.Mr.Tyndall shows Science "powerless"to solve a single one of the final problems of

Nature and "disciplined [read modern materialistic ] ,imagination retiring in bewilderment from the

contemplation of the problems "of the world of matter.He even doubts whether the men of present

Science possess "the intellectual elements which would enable them to grapple with the ultimate

structural energies of Nature."But for Plato and his disciples,the lower types were but the concrete

images of the higher abstract ones:the higher abstract ones:the immortal Soul has an arithmetical as

the body has a geometrical beginning.This beginning as the reflection of the great universal archaeus

(Anima Mundi ),is self-moving and from the centre diffuses itself over the whole body of the Macrocosm.]

And now an effort of mind is required on our parts in order to nderstand his do ble lang age or to

apprehend the twilight character of the knowledge and the genius of ancient philosophers which under

such conditions [?] seems by a divine power in many instances to have anticipated the truth.[ Op.cit.

page 523 .]

Whether "such conditions"imply those of ignorance and mental stolidity in "the genius of ancient

philosophers"or something else we do not know.But what we do know is that the meaning of the

sentences we have italicized is perfectly clear.Whether the Regius Professor of Greek believes or

disbelieves in a hidden sense of geometrical figures and of the Esoteric "jargon "he nevertheless admits

the presence of a "double language"in the writings of these Philosophers.Thence he admits a hidden

meaning which must have had an interpretation.Why then does he flatly contradict his own statement

on the very next page?And why should he deny to the Timae s -that preėminently Pythagorean (mystic)

Dialogue -any Occult meaning and take such pains to convince his readers that

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The influence which the Timaeus has exercised upon posterity is partly due to a

misunderstanding.

The following quotation from his Introduction is in direct contradiction with the paragraph which precedes

it as above quoted:

In the supposed depths of this dialogue the Neo-Platonists found hidden meanings and

connections with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures,and out of them they dictated doctrines

quite at variance with the spirit of Plato.Believing that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost or

had received his wisdom from Moses,[ Nowhere are the Neoplatonists guilty of such an

absurdity.The learned Professor of Greek must have been thinking of two spurious works

attributed by Eusebius and St.Jerome to Ammonius Saccas,who wrote nothing:or must have

confused the Neoplatonists with Philo Judaeus.But then Philo lived over 130 years before the

birth of the founder of Neoplatonism.He belonged to the School of Aristobulus the Jew who

lived under Ptolemy Philometer (150 years B.C),and is credited with having inaugurated the

movement which tended to prove that Plato and even the Peripatetic Philosophy were derived

from the "revealed"Mosaic Books.Valckenaer tries to show that the author of the

Commentaries on the Books of Moses was not Aristobulus,the sycophant of Ptolemy.But

whatever he was he was not a Neoplatonist but lived before or during the days of Philo

Judaeus -since the latter seems to know his works and follow his methods.](Page 10)they

seemed to find in his writings the Christian Trinity the Word the Church ...and the Neo-

Platonists had a method of interpretation which could elicit any meaning out of any words.

They were really incapable of distinguishing between the opinions of one philosopher and

another or between the serious thoughts of Plato and his passing fancies.[Only Clemens

Alexandrinus,a Christian Neoplatonist and a very fantastic writer.]...[But ] there is no danger

of the modern commentators on the Timae s falling into the absurdity of the Neo-Platonists.

No danger whatever of course for the simple reason that the modern commentators have never had the

key to Occult interpretations.And before another word is said in defence of Plato and the Neoplatonists,

the learned master of Balliol College ought to be respectfully asked:What does,or can he know of the

Esoteric canon of interpretation?By the term "canon"is here meant that key which was communicated

orally from "mouth to ear"by the Master to the disciple or by the Hierophant to the candidate for

initiation;this from time immemorial throughout a long series of ages,during which the inner -not public -

Mysteries were the most sacred institution of every land.Without such a key no correct interpretation of

either the Dialog es of Plato nor of any Scripture from the Vedas to Homer from the Zend Avesta to the

Mosaic Books,is possible.How then can the Rev.Dr.Jowett know that the interpretations made by the

Neoplatonists of the various sacred books of the nations were "absurdities"?Where again has he found

an opportunity of studying these "interpretations"?History shows that all such works were destroyed by

the Christian Church Fathers and their fanatical catechumens,wherever they were found.To say that

such men as Ammonius,a genius and a saint whose learning and holy life earned for him the title of

Theodidaktos ("God-taught"),such men as Plotinus,Porphyry and Proclus,were "incapable of

distinguishing between the opinions of one philosopher and another or between the serious thoughts of

Plato and his fancies,"is to assume an untenable position for a Scholar.It amounts to saying that (a)

scores of the most famous Philosophers,the greatest Scholars and Sages of Greece and of the Roman

Empire were dull fools,and (b)that all the other commentators,lovers of Greek Philosophy some of

them the acutest intellects of the age -who do not agree with Dr.Jowett -are also fools and no better

than those whom they admire.The patronising tone of the last above-quoted passage is modulated with

the most naive conceit remarkable even in our age of self-glorification and mutual admiration cliques.

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The Character of Ammonius Saccas -(Page 11)We have to compare the Professor's views with those

of some other scholars.

Says Prof.Alexander Wilder of New York,one of the best Platonists of the day speaking of Ammonius,

the founder of the Neoplatonic School:

His deep spiritual intuition his extensive learning his familiarity with the Christian Fathers,

Pantaenus,Clement and Athenagoras,and with the most erudite philosophers of the time all

fitted him for the labour which he performed so thoroughly.[The labour of reconciling the

different systems of religion.] He was successful in drawing to his views the greatest scholars

and public men of the Roman Empire who had little taste for wasting time in dialectic pursuits

or superstitious observances.The results of his ministration are perceptible at the present day

in every country of the Christian world;every prominent system of doctrine now bearing the

marks of his plastic hand.Every ancient philosophy has had its votaries among the moderns;

and even Judaism ...has taken upon itself changes which were suggested by the "God-

taught"Alexandrian ...He was a man of rare learning and endowments,of blameless life and

amiable disposition.His almost superhuman ken and many excellencies won for him the title

of Theodidaktos;but he followed the modest example of Pythagoras,and only assumed the

title of Philalethian or lover of truth.[ New Platonism and Alchemy by Alex.Wilder M.D.pp.

7.4.]

It would be happy for truth and fact were our modern scholars to follow as modestly in the steps of their

great predecessors.But not they -Philalethians!

Moreover we know that:

Like Orpheus,Pythagoras,Confucius,Socrates,and Jesus himself [ It is well-known that

though born of Christian parents,Ammonius had renounced the tenets of the Church -

Eusebius and Jerome notwithstanding.Porphyry the disciple of Plotinus,who had lived with

Ammonius for eleven years together and who had no interest in stating an untruth positively

declares that he had renounced Christianity entirely.On the other hand we know that

Ammonius believed in the bright Gods,Protectors,and that the Neoplatonic Philosophy was

as "pagan"as it was mystical.But Eusebius,the most unscrupulous forger and falsifier of old

texts and St.Jerome an out-and-out fanatic,who had both an interest in denying the fact

contradict Porphyry.We prefer to believe the latter who has left to posterity an unblemished

name and a great reputation for honesty .] Ammonius committed nothing to writing.[ Two

works are falsely attributed to Ammonius.One now lost called De Consensu Moysis et Jes

is mentioned by the same "trustworthy"Eusebius,the Bishop of Caesaraea and the friend of

the Christian Emperor Constantine who died however a heathen.All that is known of this

pseudo-work is that Jerome bestows great praise upon it (Vir.Ill st .55:and Euseb.H.E ..

vi.19).The other spurious production is called the Diatesseron (or the "Harmony of the

Gospels").This is partially extant.But then again it exists only in the Latin version of Victor

Bishop of Capua (sixth century),who attributed it himself to Tatian and as wrongly probably

as later scholars attributed the Diatesseron to Ammonius.Therefore no great reliance can be

placed upon it nor on its "esoteric"interpretation of the Gospels.Is it this work we wonder

which led Prof.Jowett to regard the Neoplatonic interpretations as "absurdities"?] Instead

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he ...communicated his most (Page 12)important doctrines to persons duly instructed and

disciplined imposing on them the obligations of secresy as was done before him by Zoroaster

and Pythagoras,and in the Mysteries.Except a few treatises of his disciples we have only the

declarations of his adversaries from which to ascertain what he actually taught.[Op.cit .p.7.]

It is from the biased statements of such "adversaries."probably that the learned Oxford translator of

Plato's Dialogues came to the conclusion that:

That which was truly great and truly characteristic of him [Plato ] his effort to realise and

connect abstractions,was not nderstood by them [the Neoplatonists ] at all [?].

He states,contemptuously enough for the ancient methods of intellectual analysis,that:

In the present day ...an ancient philosopher is to be interpreted from himself and by the

contemporary history of thought.[ Op.cit .iii 524 .]

This is like saying that the ancient Greek canon of proportion (if ever found),and the Athena Promachus

of Phidias,have to be interpreted in the present day from the contemporary history of architecture and

sculpture from the Albert Hall and Memorial Monument and the hideous Madonnas in crinolines

sprinkled over the fair face of Italy.Prof.Jowett remarks that "mysticism is not criticism."No;but neither

is criticism always fair and sound judgement.

La critiq e est aisée,mais l'art est difficile.

And such "art"our critic of the Neoplatonists -his Greek scholarship notwithstanding -lacks from a to z .

Nor has he very evidently the key to the true spirit of the Mysticism of Pythagoras and Plato since he

denies even in the Timae s an element of Oriental Mysticism and seeks to show Greek Philosophy

reacting upon the East forgetting that the truth is the exact reverse;that it is "the deeper and more

pervading spirit of Orientalism"that had -through Pythagoras and his own initiation into the Mysteries -

penetrated into the very depths of Plato's soul.

But Dr.Jowett does not see this.Nor is he prepared to admit that anything good or rational -in

accordance with the "contemporary history of thought"-could ever come out of that Nazareth of the

Pagan Mysteries;nor even that there is anything to interpret of a hidden nature in the Timae s or any

other Dialogue.For him,

The so-called mysticism of Plato is purely Greek,arising out of his imperfect knowledge

[ "Imperfect knowledge"of what?That Plato was ignorant of many of the modern ‘working

hypotheses"-as ignorant as our immediate posterity is sure to be of the said hypotheses

when they in their turn after exploding join the "great majority"-is perhaps a blessing in

disguise .] and high aspirations,and is the growth of an age in which philosophy is not wholly

separated from poetry and mythology.[ Op.cit .p.524 .]

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Plato a Follower of Pythagoras -(Page 13)Among several other equally erroneous propositions,it is

especially the assumptions (a)that Plato was entirely free from any element of Eastern Philosophy in his

writings,and (b)that every modern scholar without being a Mystic and a Kabalist himself can pretend to

judge of ancient Esotericism -which we mean to combat.To do this we have to produce more

authoritative statements than our own would be and bring the evidence of other scholars as great as Dr.

Jowett if not greater specialists in their subjects,moreover to bear on and destroy the arguments of the

Oxford Regius Professor of Greek.

That Plato was undeniably an ardent admirer and follower of Pythagoras no one will deny.And it is

equally undeniable as Matter has it that Plato had inherited on the one hand his doctrines,and on the

other had drawn his wisdom from the same sources as the Samian Philosopher.[ I'Histoire Critiq e d

Gnosticisme by M.J.Matter Professor of the Royal Academy of Strasburg."It is in Pythagoras and Plato

that we find in Greece the first elements of [Oriental ] Gnosticism."he says.(Vol.i.pp.48 and 50.)] And

the doctrines of Pythagoras are Oriental to the backbone and even Brāhmanical;for this great

Philosopher ever pointed to the far East as the source whence he derived his information and his

Philosophy and Colebrooke shows that Plato makes the same profession in his Epistles,and says that

he has taken his teachings "from ancient and sacred doctrines."[Asiat.Trans .i.579.] Furthermore the

ideas of both Pythagoras and Plato coincide too well with the systems of India and with Zoroastrianism to

admit any doubt of their origin by anyone who has some acquaintance with these systems.Again:

Pantaenus,Athenagoras,and Clement were thoroughly instructed in the Platonic philosophy

and comprehended its essential unity with the Oriental systems.[ New Platonism and

Alchemy .p.4.]

The history of Pantaenus and his contemporaries may give the key to the Platonic,and at the same time

Oriental elements that predominate so strikingly in the Gospels over the Jewish Scriptures.

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SECTION I

Preliminary Survey

(Page 14)INITIATES who have acquired powers and transcendental knowledge can be traced back to the

Fourth Root Race from our own age.As the multiplicity of the subjects to be dealt with prohibits the

introduction of such a historical chapter which however historical in fact and truth would be rejected a

priori as blasphemy and fable by both Church and Science -we shall only touch on the subject.Science

strikes out at its own sweet will and fancy dozens of names of ancient heroes,simply because there is

too great an element of myth in their histories;the Church insists that biblical patriarchs shall be regarded

as historical personages,and terms her seven "Star-angels"the "historical channels and agents of the

Creator."Both are right since each finds a strong party to side with it.Mankind is at best a sorry herd of

Panurgian sheep following blindly the leader that happens to suit it at the moment.Mankind -the

majority at any rate -hates to think for itself.It resents as an insult the humblest invitation to step for a

moment outside the old well-beaten tracks,and judging for itself to enter into a new path in some fresh

direction.Give it an unfamiliar problem to solve and if its mathematicians,not liking its looks,refuse to

deal with it the crowd unfamiliar with mathematics,will stare at the unknown quantity and getting

hopelessly entangled in sundry x 's and y 's,will turn round trying to rend to pieces the uninvited disturber

of its intellectual Nirvana.This may perhaps,account for the ease and extraordinary success enjoyed by

the Roman Church in her conversions of nominal Protestants and Free-thinkers,whose name is legion

but who have never gone to the trouble of thinking for themselves on these most important and

tremendous problems of man's inner nature.

And yet if the evidence of facts,the records preserved in History and the uninterrupted anathemas of

the Church against "Black Magic"and Magicians of the accursed race of Cain are not to be heeded our

efforts will prove very puny indeed.When for nearly two millenniums a body of men has never ceased to

lift its voice against Black Magic,the inference ought to be irrefutable that if Black Magic exists as a real

fact there must be somewhere its counterpart -White Magic.

The Protectors of China -(Page 15)False silver coins could have no existence if there were no genuine

silver money.Nature is dual in whatever she attempts,and this ecclesiastical persecution ought alone to

have opened the eyes of the public long ago.However much travellers may be ready to pervert every

fact with regard to abnormal powers with which certain men are gifted in "heathen"countries;however

eager they may be to put false constructions on such facts,and -to use an old proverb -"to call white

swan black goose "and to kill it yet the evidence of even Roman Catholic missionaries ought to be taken

into consideration once they swear in a body to certain facts.Nor is it because they choose to see

Satanic agency in manifestations of a certain kind that their evidence as to the existence of such powers

can be disregarded.For what do they say of China?Those missionaries who have lived in the country for

long years,and have seriously studied every fact and belief that may prove an obstacle to their success

in making conversions,and who have become familiar with every exoteric rite of both the official religion

and sectarian creeds -all swear to the existence of a certain body of men whom no one can reach but

the Emperor and a select body of high officials.A few years ago before the war in Tonkin the archbishop

in Pekin on the report of some hundreds of missionaries and Christians,wrote to Rome the identical

story that had been reported twenty-five years before and had been widely circulated in clerical papers.

They had fathomed it was said the mystery of certain official deputations,sent at times of danger by the

Emperor and ruling powers to their Sheu and Kiuay as they are called among the people.These Sheu

and Kiuay they explained were the Genii of the mountains,endowed with the most miraculous powers.

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They are regarded as the protectors of China by the "ignorant"masses;as the incarnation of Satanic

power by the good and "learned"missionaries.

The Sheu and Kiuay are men belonging to another state of being to that of the ordinary man

or to the state they enjoyed while they were clad in their bodies.They are disembodied spirits,

ghosts and larvae living nevertheless,in objective form on earth and dwelling in the

fastnesses of mountains,inaccessible to all but those whom they permit to visit them.[ This

fact and others may be found in Chinese Missionary Reports and in a work by Monseigneur

Delaplace a Bishop in China."Annales de la Propagation de la Foi ".]

(Page 16)In Tibet certain ascetics are also called Lha Spirits by those with whom they do not choose to

communicate.The Sheu and Kiuay who enjoy the highest consideration of the Emperor and

Philosophers,and of Confucianists who believe in no "Spirits "are simply Lohans -Adepts who live in the

greatest solitude in their unknown retreats.

But both Chinese exclusiveness and Nature seem to have allied themselves against European curiosity

and -as it is sincerely regarded in Tibet -desecration.Marco Polo the famous traveller was perhaps the

European who ventured farthest into the interior of these countries.What was said of him in 1876 may

now be repeated.

The district of the Gobi wilderness,and in fact the whole area of Independent Tartary and

Tibet is carefully guarded against foreign intrusion.Those who are permitted to traverse it are

under the particular care and pilotage of certain agents of the chief authority and are in duty

bound to convey no intelligence respecting places and persons to the outside world.But for

this restriction many might contribute to these pages accounts of exploration adventure and

discovery that would be read with interest.The time will come sooner or later when the

dreadful sand of the desert will yield up its long-buried secrets,and then there will indeed be

unlooked-for mortifications for our modern vanity.

"The people of Pashai "[ The regions somewhere about Udyana and Kashmir as the

translator and editor of Marco Polo (Colonel Yule)believes (i.x75).] says Marco Polo the

daring traveller of the thirteenth century "are great adepts in sorceries and the diabolic arts."

And his learned editor adds:"This Paschai or Udyana was the native country of Padma

Sambhava one of the chief apostles of Lamaism i.e .of Tibetan Buddhism and a great

master of enchantments.The doctrines of Sakya as they prevailed in Udyana in old times

were probably strongly tinged with Sivaitic magic,and the Tibetans still regard the locality as

the classic ground of sorcery and witchcraft."

The "old times"are just like the "modern times";nothing is changed as to magical practices

except that they have become still more esoteric and arcane and that the caution of the

adepts increases in proportion to the traveller's curiosity.Hiouen-Thsang says of the

inhabitants:"The men ...are fond of study but pursue it with no ardour.The science of

magical form lae has become a reg lar professional b siness with them."[Voyage des

Pčlerins Bouddhistes.Vol.1..Histoire de la Vie de Hio en-Thsang etc.traduit du chinois en

francais,par Stanislas Julien .]We will not contract the venerable Chinese pilgrim on this point

and are willing to admit that in the seventh century some people made "a professional

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business:of magic,so also do some people now but certainly not the true adepts.

Moreoever in that century Buddhism had hardly penetrated into Tibet and its races were

steeped in the sorceries of the Bhon -the pre-lamaic religion.It is not Hiouen-Thsang the

pious,courageous man who risked his life a hundred times to have the bliss of perceiving

Buddh's shadown in the cave of Peshwur who would have accused the good lamas and

monkish thaumaturgists of "making a professional business"of showing it to travellers.

The A.B.C.Of Magic -

(Page 17)The injunction of Gautama contained in his answer to King Prasenajit his protector

who called on him to perform miracles,must have been ever-present to the mind of Hiouen-

Thsang."Great king "said Gautama "I do not teach the law to my pupils,telling them ‘Go ye

saints and before the eyes of the Brahmans and householders perform by means of your

supernatural powers miracles greater than any man can perform.'I tell them when I teach

them the law ‘Live ye saints,hiding yo r good works,and showing yo r sins .'"

Struck with the accounts of magical exhibitions witnessed and recorded by travellers of every

age who had visited Tartary and Tibet Colonel Yule comes to the conclusion that the natives

must have had "at their command the whole encyclopaedia of modern Spiritualists."Duhalde

mentions among their sorceries the art of producing by their invocations the figures of Laotseu

[ Lao-tse the Chinese philosopher.] and their divinities in the air and of making a pencil write

answers to q estions witho t anybody to ching it ."[T he Book of Ser Marco Polo i.3x8.]

The former invocations pertain to the religious mysteries of their sanctuaries;if done

otherwise or for the sake of gain they are considered sorcery necromancy and strictly

forbidden.The latter art that of making a pencil write without contact was known and

practised in China and other countries before the Christian era.It is the A B C of magic in

those countries.

When Hiouen-Thsang desired to adore the shadow of Buddha it was not to "professional

magicians"that he resorted but to the power of his own soul-invocation;the power of prayer

faith and contemplation.All was dark and dreary near the cavern in which the miracle was

alleged to sometimes take place.Hiouen-Thsang entered and began his devotions.He made

one hundred salutations,but neither saw nor heard anything.Then thinking himself too sinful

he cried bitterly and despaired.But as he was about to give up all hope he perceived on the

eastern wall a feeble light but it disappeared.He renewed his prayers,full of hope this time

and again he saw the light which flashed and disappeared again.After this he made a solemn

vow:he would not leave the cave till he had the rapture to at last see the shadow of the

"Venerable of the Age."He had to wait longer after this,for only after two hundred prayers was

the dark cave suddenly "bathed in light and the shadow of Buddha of a brilliant white colour

rose majestically on the wall as when the clouds suddenly open and all at once display the

marvellous image of the ‘Mountain of Light.'A dazzling splendour lighted up the features of the

divine countenance.Hiouen-Thsang was lost in contemplation and wonder and would not turn

his eyes away from the sublime and incomparable object."Hiouen-Thsang adds in his own

diary See-yu-kee,that it is only when man prays with sincere faith and if he has received

from above a hidden impression that he sees the shadow clearly but he cannot enjoy the

sight for any length of time (Max Muller B ddhist Pilgrims.)

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From one end to the other the country is full of mystics,religious philosophers,Buddhist saints

and magicians.Belief in a spiritual world full of invisible beings who on certain occasions,

appear to mortals objectively is universal."According (Page 18)to the belief of the nations of

Central Asia "remarks I.J.Schmidt "the earth and its interior as well as the encompassing

atmosphere are filled with spiritual beings,which exercise an influence partly beneficent

partly malignant on the whole of organic and inorganic nature....Especially are deserts and

other wild and uninhabited tracts,or regions in which the influences of nature are displayed on

a gigantic and terrible scale regarded as the chief abode or rendez-vo s of evil spirits.And

hence the steppes of Turan and in particular the great sand desert of the Gobi have been

looked on as the dwelling place of malignant beings,from the days of hoary antiquity."

The treasures exhumed by Dr.Schliemann at Mycenae have awakened popular cupidity and

the eyes of adventurous speculators are being turned toward the localities where the wealth of

ancient peoples is supposed to be buried in crypt or cave or beneath sand or alluvial deposit.

Around no other locality not even Peru hang so many traditions as around the Gobi Desert.In

independent Tartary this howling waste of shifting sand was once if report speaks correctly

the seat of one of the richest empires the world ever saw.Beneath the surface is said to lie

such wealth in gold jewels,statuary arms,utensils,and all that indicates civilization luxury

and fine arts as no existing capital of Christendom can show today.The Gobi sand moves

regularly from east to west before terrific gales that blow continually.Occasionally some of the

hidden treasures are uncovered but not a native dare touch them,for the whole district is

under the ban of a mighty spell.Death would be the penalty.Bahti -hideous,but faithful

gnomes -guard the hidden treasures of this prehistoric people awaiting the day when the

revolution of cyclic periods shall again cause their story to be known for the instruction of

mankind.[ Isis Unveiled i.599-601 603 598.]

The above is purposely quoted from Isis Unveiled to refresh the reader's memory.One of the cyclic

periods has just been passed and we may not have to wait to the end of Maha Kalpa to have revealed

something of the history of the mysterious desert in spite of the Bahti and even the Rakshasas of India

not less "hideous."No tales or fictions were given in our earlier volumes,their chaotic state

notwithstanding to which chaos the writer entirely free from vanity confesses publicly and with many

apologies.

It is now generally admitted that from time immemorial the distant East India especially was the land of

knowledge and of every kind of learning.Yet there is none to whom the origin of all her Arts and Sciences

has been so much denied as to the land of the primitive Aryas.From Architecture down to the Zodiac,

every Science worthy of the name was imported by the Greeks,the mysterious Yavanas -agreeably with

the decision of the Orientalists!Therefore it is but logical that even the knowledge of Occult Science

should be refused to India since of its general practice in that country less is known than in the case of

any other ancient people.

Magic As Old As Man -(Page 19)It is so simply because:

With the Hindus it was,and is,more esoteric,if possible than it was even among the Egyptian

priests.So sacred was it deemed that its existence was only half admitted and it was only

practised in public emergencies.It was more than a religio s matter,for it was [and is still ]

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considered divine .The Egyptian hierophants,notwithstanding the practice of a stern and pure

morality could not be compared for one moment with the ascetical Gymnosophists,either in

holiness of life or miraculous powers developed in them by the supernatural abjuration of

everything earthly.By those who knew them well they were held in still greater reverence than

the magians of Chaldaea."Denying themselves the simplest comforts of life they dwelt in

woods,and led the life of the most secluded hermits,"[ Ammianus Marcellinus,xxiii.6 .] while

their Egyptian brothers at least congregated together.Notwithstanding the slur thrown on all

who practised magic and divination history has proclaimed them as possessing the greatest

secrets in medical knowledge and unsurpassed skill in its practice.Numerous are the volumes

preserved in Hindu Mathams,in which are recorded the proofs of their learning.To attempt to

say whether these Gymnosophists were the real founders of magic in India or whether they

only practised what has passed to them as an inheritance from the earliest Rishis [The Rishis

-the first group of seven in number lived in days preceding the Vedic period.They are now

known as Sages and held in reverence like demigods.But they may now be shown as

something more than merely mortal Philosophers.There are other groups of ten twelve and

even twenty-one in number.Haug shows that they occupy in the Brahmanical religion a

position answering to that of the twelve sons of Jacob in the Jewish Bible The Brahmans claim

to descend directly from the Rishis.] -the seven primeval sages -would be regarded as mere

speculation by exact scholars.[ Isis Unveiled i.90 .]

Nevertheless,this must be attempted.In Isis Unveiled all that could be stated about Magic was set down

in the guise of hints;and thus,owing to the great amount of material scattered over two large volumes,

much of its importance was lost upon the reader while it still more failed to draw his attention on account

of the faulty arrangement.But hints may now grow into explanations.One can never repeat it too often -

Magic is as old as man .It cannot any longer be called charlantry or hallucination when its lesser

branches -such as mesmerism now miscalled "hypnotism ""thought reading ""action by suggestion "

and what not else only to avoid calling it by its right and legitimate name -are being so seriously

investigated by the most famous Biologists and Physiologists of both Europe and America.Magic is

indissolubly blended with Religion of every country and is (Page 20)inseparable from its origin.It is as

impossible for History to name the time when it was not as that of the epoch when it sprang into

existence unless the doctrines preserved by the Initiates are taken into consideration.Nor can Science

ever solve the problem of the origin of man if it rejects the evidence of the oldest records in the world

and refuses from the hand of the legitimate Guardians of the mysteries of Nature the key to Universal

Symbology.Whenever a writer has tried to connect the first foundation of Magic with a particular country

or some historical event or character further research has shown his hypothesis to be groundless.There

is a most lamentable contradiction among the Symbologists on this point.Some would have it that Odin

the Scandinavian priest and monarch originated the practice of Magic some 70 years B.C..although it is

spoken of repeatedly in the Bible.But as it was proven that the mysterious rites of the priestesses Valas

(Voilers)were greatly anterior to Odin's age [See Munter "On the most Ancient Religions of the North

before Odin.'Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de France.ii.230.] then Zoroaster came in for an

attempt on the ground that he was the founder of Magian rites;but Ammianus Marcellinus,Pliny and

Arnobius,with other ancient Historians,have shown that Zoroaster was but a reformer of Magic as

practised by the Chaldaeans and Egyptians,and not at all its founder.[ Ammianus Marcellinus,xxvi.6.]

Who then of those who have consistently turned their faces away from Occultism and even Spiritualism

as being "unphilosophical"and therefore unworthy of scientific thought has a right to say that he has

studied the ancients;or that if he has studied them,he has understood all they have said?Only those

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who claim to be wiser than their generation who think that they know all that the Ancients knew and

thus,knowing far more today fancy that they are entitled to laugh at their ancient simple-mindedness

and superstition;those who imagine they have discovered a great secret by declaring the ancient royal

sarcophagus,now empty of its King Initiate to be a "corn-bin "and the Pyramid that contained it a

granary perhaps a wine-cellar!["The date of the hundreds of pyramids in the Valley of the Nile is

impossible to fix by any of the rules of modern science:Herodotus informs us that each successive king

erected one to commemorate his reign and serve as his sepulchre.But Herodotus did not tell all

although he knew that the real purpose of the pyramid was very different from that which he assigns to it.

Were it not for his religious scruples,he might have added that externally it symbolized the creative

principle of Nature and illustrated also the principles of geometry mathematics,astrology and

astronomy .]

The Tree of Knowledge -(Page 21)Modern society on the authority of some men of Science calls Magic

charlatantry.But there are eight hundred millions on the face of the globe who believe in it to this day;

there are said to be twenty millions of perfectly sane and often very intelligent men and woman members

of that same society who believe in its phenomena under the name of Spiritualism.The whole ancient

world with its Scholars and Philosophers,its Sages and Prophets,believed in it.Where is the country in

which it was not practised?At what age was it banished even from our own country?In the New World

as in the Old Country (the latter far younger than the former),the Science of Sciences was known and

practised from the remotest antiquity.The Mexicans had their Initiates,their Priest-Hierophants and

Magicians,and their crypts of Initiation.Of the two statues exhumed in the Pacific States,one represents

a Mexican Adept in the posture prescribed for the Hindu ascetic,and the other an Aztec Priestess,in a

head-gear which might be taken from the head of an Indian Goddess;while the "Guatemalan Medal"

exhibits the "Tree of Knowledge"-with its hundreds of eyes and ears,symbolical of seeing and hearing -

encircled by the "Serpent of Wisdom"whispering into the ear of the sacred bird.)Bernard Diaz de

Castilla a follower of Cortez,gives some idea of the extraordinary refinement intelligence and

civilization and also of the magic arts of the people whom the Spaniards conquered by brute force.Their

pyramid are those of Egypt built according to the same secret canon of proportion as those of the

Pharaohs,and the Aztecs appear to have derived their civilization and religion in more than one way from

the same source as the Egyptians and before these the Indians.Among all these three peoples arcane

Natural Philosophy or Magic,was cultivated to the highest degree.

That it was natural not supernatural and that the Ancients so regarded it is shown by what Lucian says

of the "laughing Philosopher "Democritus,who he tells his readers,

Believed in no [miracles ] ...but applied himself to discover the method by which the

theurgists could produce them;in a word his philosophy brought him to the conclusion that

magic was entirely confined to the application and the imitation of the laws and the works of

nature.

[Internally it was a majestic fane in whose sombre recesses were performed the Mysteries,

and whose walls had often witnessed the initiation scenes of members of the royal family.The

porphyry sarcophagus,which Professor Piazzi Smith Astronomer Royal of Scotland

degrades into a corn-bin was the baptismal font upon emerging from which the neophyte

was ‘born again 'and became an adept.'(Isis Unveiled .i.518 519.)]

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(Page 22)Who then can still call the Magic of the Ancients "superstition"?

In this respect the opinion of Democritus is of the greatest importance to us,since the Magi left

by Xerxes,at Abdera were his instructors,and he had studied magic,moreover for a

considerable time with the Egyptian priests.[ Diog.Laert.in "Democrit.Vit."] For nearly

ninety years of the one hundred and nine of his life this great philosopher had made

experiments,and noted them down in a book,which according to Petronius,[Satyric ix.3.]

treated of nat re -facts that he had verified himself.And we find him not only disbelieving in

and utterly rejecting miracles,but asserting that every one of those that were authenticated by

eye-witnesses,had and could have taken place for all even the most incredible were

produced according to the "hidden laws of nat re ."[ Pliny Hist.Nat .]...Add to this that

Greece the "later cradle of the arts and sciences,"and India cradle of religions,were and

one of them still is,devoted to its study and practice -and who shall venture to discredit its

dignity as a study and its profundity as a science?[Isis Unveiled I.512 .]

No true Theosophist will ever do so.For as a member of our great Oriental body he knows indubitably

that the Secret Doctrine of the East contains the Alpha and the Omega of Universal Science;that in its

obscure texts,under the luxuriant though perhaps too exuberant growth of allegorical Symbolism lie

concealed the corner and the key-stones of all ancient and modern knowledge.That Stone brought

down by the Divine Builder is now rejected by the too-human workman and this because in his lethal

materiality man has lost every recollection not only of his holy childhood but of his very adolescence

when he was one of the Builders himself;when "the morning stars sang together and the Sons of God

shouted for joy."after they had laid the measures for the foundations of the earth -to use the deeply

significant and poetical language of Job the Arabian Initiate.But those who are still able to make room in

their innermost selves for the Divine Ray and who accept therefore the data of the Secret Sciences in

good faith and humility they know well that it is in this Stone that remains buried the absolute in

Philosophy which is the key to all those dark problems of Life and Death some of which at any rate

may find an explanation in these volumes.

The writer is vividly alive to the tremendous difficulties that present themselves in the handling of such

abstruse questions,and to all the dangers of the task.Insulting as it is to human nature to brand truth

with the name of imposture nevertheless we see this done daily and accept it.

Occultism Must Win the Day -(Page 23)For every occult truth has to pass through such denial and its

supporters through martyrdom before it is finally accepted;though even then it remains but too often -

A crown

Golden in show yet but a wreath of thorns.

Truths that rest on Occult Mysteries will have for one reader who may appreciate them a thousand who

will brand them as impostures.This is only natural and the only means to avoid it would be for an

Occultist to pledge himself to the Pythagorean "vow of silence."and renew it every five years.Otherwise

cultured society -two-thirds of which think themselves in duty bound to believe that since the first

appearance of the first Adept one half of mankind practised deception and fraud on the other half -

cultured society will undeniably assert its hereditary and traditional right to stone the intruder.Those

benevolent critics,who most readily promulgate the now famous axiom of Carlyle with regard to his

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countrymen of being "mostly fools,"having taken preliminary care to include themselves safely in the

only fortunate exceptions to this rule will in this work gain strength and derive additional conviction of the

sad fact that the human race is simply composed of knaves and congenital idiots.But this matters very

little.The vindication of the Occultists and their Archaic Science is working itself slowly but steadily into

the very heart of society hourly daily and yearly in the shape of two monster branches,two stray off-

shoots of the trunk of Magic -Spiritualism and the Roman Church.Fact works its way very often through

fiction.Like an immense boa-constrictor Error in every shape encircles mankind trying to smother in

her deadly coils every aspiration towards truth and light.But Error is powerful only on the surface

prevented as she is by Occult Nature from going any deeper;for the same Occult Nature encircles the

whole globe in every direction leaving not even the darkest corner unvisited.And whether by

phenomenon or miracle by spirit-hook or bishop's crook,Occultism must win the day before the present

era reaches "Shani's (Saturn's)triple septenary"of the Western Cycle in Europe in other words -before

the end of the twenty-first century "A.D."

Truly the soil of the long by-gone past is not dead for it has only rested.The skeletons of the sacred

oaks of the ancient Druids may still send shoots from their dried-up boughs and be reborn to a new (Page

24)life like that handful of corn in the sarcophagus of a mummy 4.000 years old which when planted

sprouted grew and "gave a fine harvest."Why not?Truth is stranger than fiction.It may any day and

most unexpectedly vindicate its wisdom and demonstrate the conceit of our age by proving that the

Secret Brotherhood did not indeed die out with the Philalethians of the last Eclectic School that the

Gnosis flourishes still on earth and its votaries are many albeit unknown.All this be done by one or

more of the great Masters visiting Europe and exposing in their turn the alleged exposers and traducers

of Magic.Such secret Brotherhoods have been mentioned by several well-known authors,and are

spoken of in Mackenzie's Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia .The writer now in the face of the millions who

deny repeats boldly that which was said in Isis Unveiled.

If they [the Initiates ] have been regarded as mere fictions of the novelist that fact has only

helped the "brother-adepts"to keep their incognito the more easily....

The St.Germains and Cagliostros of this century having learned bitter lessons from the

vilifications and persecutions of the past pursue different tactics now-a-days.[Op.cit .ii.403 .]

These prophetic words were written in 1876 and verified in 1886.Nevertheless,we say again

There are numbers of these mystic Brotherhoods which have naught to do with "civilized"

countries;and it is in their unknown communities that are concealed the skeletons of the past.

These "adepts"could if they chose lay claim to strange ancestry and exhibit verifiable

documents that would explain many a mysterious page in both sacred and profane history.

[ This is precisely what some of them are preparing to do and many a "mysterious page"in

sacred and profane history are touched on in these pages.Whether or not their explanations

will be accepted -is another question .]Had the keys to the hieratic writings and the secret of

Egyptian and Hindu symbolism been known to the Christian Fathers,they would not have

allowed a single monument of old to stand unmutilated.[ Ibid.]

But there exists in the world another class of adepts,belonging to a brotherhood also and mightier than

any other of those known to the profane.Many among these are personally good and benevolent even

pure and holy occasionally as individuals.Pursuing collectively however and as a body a selfish one-

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sided object with relentless vigour and determination they have to be ranked with the adepts of the

Black Art.

Black Magic at Work -(Page 25)These are our modern Roman Catholic "fathers"and clergy.Most of the

hieratic writings and symbols have been deciphered by them since the Middle Ages.A hundred times

more learned in secret Symbology and the old Religions than our Orientalists will ever be the

personification of astuteness and cleverness,every such adept in the art holds the keys tightly in his

firmly clenched hand and will take care the secret shall not be easily divulged if he can help it.There are

more profoundly learned Kabalists in Rome and throughout Europe and America than is generally

suspected.Thus are the professedly public "brotherhoods"of "black"adepts more powerful and

dangerous for Protestant countries than any host of Eastern Occultists.People laugh at Magic!Men of

Science Physiologists and Biologists,deride the potency and even the belief in the existence of what is

called in vulgar parlance "Sorcery"and "Black Magic"?The Archaeologists have their Stonehenge in

England with its thousands of secrets,and its twin-brother Karnac of Brittany and yet there is not one of

them who even suspects what has been going on in its crypts and its mysterious nooks and corners,for

the last century.More than that they do not even know of the existence of such "magic halls"in their

Stonehenge where curious scenes are taking place whenever there is a new convert in view.Hundreds

of experiments have been and are being made daily at the Salpetriere and also by learned hypnotisers

at their private houses.It is now proved that certain sensitives -both men and women -when

commanded in trance by the practitioner who operates on them to do a certain thing -from drinking a

glass of water up to simulated murder -on recovering their normal state lose all remembrance of the

order inspired -"suggested"it is now called by Science.Nevertheless,at the appointed hour and

moment the subject though conscious and perfectly awake is compelled by an irresistible power within

himself to do that action which has been suggested to him by his mesmeriser;and that too whatever it

may be and whatever the period fixed by him who controls the subject that is to say holds the latter

under the power of his will as a snake holds a bird under its fascination and finally forces it to jump into

its open jaws.Worse than this:for the bird is conscious of the peril;it resists however helpless in its final

efforts,while the hypnotized subject does not rebel but seems to follow the suggestions and voice of its

own free-will and soul.Who of our European men of Science who believe in such scientific experiments

-and very (Page 26)few are they who still doubt them now-a-days,and who do not feel convinced of their

actual reality -who of them it is asked is ready to admit this as being Black Magic?Yet it is the gen ine

undeniable and actual fascination and sorcery of old.The Mulu Kurumbas of Nilgiri do not proceed

otherwise in their envo tements when they seek to destroy an enemy nor do the Dugpas of Sikkim and

Bhutan know of any more potential agent than their wil l.Only in them that will does not proceed by jumps

and starts but acts with certainty;it does not depend on the amount of receptivity or nervous

impressibility of the "subjects."Having chosen his victim and placed himself en rapport with them the

Dugpa's "fluid"is sure to find its way for his will is immeasurably more strongly developed than the will of

the European experimenter -the self-made untutored and nconscio s Sorcerer for the sake of Science

-who has no idea (or belief either)of the variety and potency of the world-old methods used to develop

this power by the conscio s sorcerer the "Black Magician"of the East and West.

And now the question is openly and squarely asked:Why should not the fanatical and zealous priest

thirsting to convert some selected rich and influential member of society use the same means to

accomplish his end as the French Physician and experimenter uses in his case with his subject?The

conscience of the Roman Catholic priest is most likely at peace.He works personally for no selfish

purpose but with the object of "saving a soul"from "eternal damnation."In his view if Magic there be in

it it is holy meritorious and divine Magic.Such is the power of blind faith.

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Hence when we are assured by trustworthy and respectable persons of high social standing and

unimpeachable character that there are many well-organised societies among the Roman Catholic

priests which under the pretext and cover of Modern Spiritualism and mediumship hold séances for the

purposes of conversion by suggestion directly and at a distance -we answer:We know it.And when

moreover we are told that whenever those priest-hypnotists are desirous of acquiring an influence over

some individual or individuals,selected by them for conversion they retire to an underground place

allotted and consecrated by them for such purposes (viz .ceremonial Magic);and there forming a circle

throw their combined will-power in the direction of that individual and thus by repeating the process,gain

a complete control over their victim -we again answer:Very likely.

Black Magic and Hypnotism -(Page 27)In fact we know the practice to be so whether this kind of

ceremonial Magic and envoūtement is practised at Stonehenge or elsewhere.We know it we say

through personal experience;and also because several of the writer's best and most loved friends have

been unconsciously drawn into the Romish Church and under her "benign"protection by such means.

And therefore we can only laugh in pity at the ignorance and stubbornness of those deluded men of

Science and cultured experimentalists who while believing in the power of Dr.Charcot and his disciples

to "envoūté "their subjects find nothing better than a scornful smile whenever Black Magic and its

potency are mentioned before them.Eliphas Levi the Abbe-Kabalist died before Science and the

Faculté de Médecine of France had accepted hypnotism and influence par s ggestion among its

scientific experiments,but this is what he said twenty-five years go in his Dogme et Rit el de la Ha te

Magie,on "Les Envo tements et les Sorts ":

That which sorcerers and necromancers sought above all things in their evocations of the

Spirit of Evil was that magnetic potency which is the lawful property of the true Adept and

which they desired to obtain possession of for evil purposes....One of their chief aims was

the power of spells or of deleterious influences....That power may be compared to real

poisonings by a current of astral light.They exalt their will by means of ceremonies to the

degree of rendering it venomous at a distance....We have said in our "Dogma"what we

thought of magic spells,and how this power was exceedingly real and dangerous.The true

Magus throws a spell without ceremony and by his sole disapproval upon those with whose

conduct he is dissatisfied and whom he thinks it necessary to punish;[ This is incorrectly

expressed.The true Adept of the "Right Hand"never punishes anyone not even his bitterest

and most dangerous enemy:he simply leaves the latter to his Karma and Karma never fails to

do so sooner or later.] he casts a spell even by his pardon over those who do him injury and

the enemies of Initiates never long enjoy impunity for their wrong-doing.We have ourselves

seen proofs of this fatal law in numerous instances.The executioners of martyrs always perish

miserably;and the Adepts are the martyrs of intelligence.Providence [Karma ] seems to

despise those who despise them and puts to death those who would seek to prevent them

from living.The legend of the Wandering Jew is the popular poetry of this arcanum.A people

had sent a sage to crucifixion;that people had bidden him "Move on!"when he tried to rest for

one moment....well!That people will become subject henceforth to a similar condemnation;it

will become entirely proscribed and for long centuries it will be hidden "Move on!move on!"

finding neither rest nor pity.[Op.cit .ii.239.241 240.]

(Page 28)"Fables,"and "superstition "will be the answer.Be it so.Before the lethal breath of selfishness

and indifference every uncomfortable fact is transformed into meaningless fiction and every branch of

the once verdant Tree of Truth has become dried up and stripped of its primeval spiritual significance.

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Our modern Symbologist is superlatively clever only at detecting phallic worship and sexual emblems

even where none were ever meant.But for the true student of Occult Lore White or Divine Magic could

no more exist in Nature without its counterpart Black Magic,than day without night whether these be of

twelve hours or of six months duration.For him everything in that Nature has an occult -a bright and a

night side to it.Pyramids and Druid's oaks,dolmens and Bo-trees,plant and mineral -everything was full

of deep significance and of sacred truths of wisdom when the Arch-Druid performed his magic cures and

incantations,and the Egyptian Hierophant evoked and guided Chemnu the "lovely spectre "the female

Frankenstein-creation of old raised for the torture and test of the soul-power of the candidate for

initiation simultaneously with the last agonising cry of his terrestrial human nature.True Magic has lost

its name and along with it its rights to recognition.But its practice is in daily use;and its progeny

"magnetic influence ""power of oratory ""irresistible fascination ""whole audiences subdued and held as

though under a spell "are terms recognised and used by all generally meaningless though they now are.

Its effects,however are more determined and definite among religious congregations such as the

Shakers,the Negro Methodists,and Salvationists,who call it "the action of the Holy Spirit"and "grace."

The real truth is that Magic is still in full sway amidst mankind however blind the latter to its silent

presence and influence on its members,however ignorant society may be and remain to its daily and

hourly beneficent and maleficent effects.The world is full of such unconscious magicians -in politics as

well as in daily life in the Church as in the strongholds of Free-Thought.Most of those magicians are

"sorcerers"unhappily not metaphorically but in sober reality by reason of their inherent selfishness,their

revengeful natures,their envy and malice.The true student of Magic,well aware of the truth looks on in

pity and if he be wise keeps silent.For every effort made by him to remove the universal cecity is only

repaid with ingratitude slander and often curses,which unable to reach him,will react on those who

wish him evil.Lies and calumny -the latter a teething lie adding actual bites to empty harmless

falsehoods -become his lot and thus the well-wisher is soon torn to pieces,as a reward for his

benevolent desire to enlighten.

The Philosophy Stands on Its Own Merits -(Page 29)Enough has been given it is believed to show

that the existence of a Secret Universal Doctrine besides its practical methods of Magic,is no wild

romance or fiction.The fact was known to the whole ancient world and the knowledge of it has survived

in the East in India especially.And if there be such a Science there must be naturally somewhere

professors of it or Adepts.In any case it matters little whether the Guardians of the Sacred Lore are

regarded as living actually existing men or are viewed as myths.It is their Philosophy that will have to

stand or fall upon its own merits,apart from and independent of any Adepts.For in the words of the wise

Gamaliel addressed by him to the Synedrion:"If this doctrine is false it will perish and fall of itself;but if

true then -it cannot be destroyed.

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SECTION II

Modern Criticism and the Ancients

(Page 30)THE Secret Doctrine of the Aryan East is found repeated under Egyptian symbolism and

phraseology in the Book of Hermes.At or near the beginning of the present century all the books called

Hermetic were in the opinion of the average man of Science unworthy of serious attention.They were

set down and loudly proclaimed as simply a collection of tales,of fraudulent pretences and most absurd

claims.They "never existed before the Christian era "it was said:"they were all written with the triple

object of speculation deceiving and pious fraud;"they were all even the best of them silly apocrypha.[

See in this connection Pne matologie des Esprits by the Marquis de Mirville who devotes six enormous

volumes to show the absurdity of those who deny the reality of Satan and Magic,or the Occult Sciences -

the two being with him synonymous.] In this respect the nineteenth century proved a most worthy scion

of the eighteenth for in the age of Voltaire as well as in this century everything save what emanated

direct from the Royal Academy was false superstitious,foolish.Belief in the wisdom of the Ancients was

laughed to scorn perhaps more so even than it is now.The very thought of accepting as authentic the

works and vagaries of "a false Hermes,a false Orpheus,a false Zoroaster "of false Oracles,false Sibyls,

and a thrice false Mesmer and his absurd fluid was tabooed all along the line.Thus all that had its

genesis outside the learned and dogmatic precincts of Oxford and Cambridge [ We think we see the

sidereal phantom of the old Philosopher and Mystic -once of Cambridge University -Henry More

moving about in the astral mist over the old moss-covered roofs of the ancient town in which he wrote his

famous letter to Glanvil about "witches."The "soul"seems restless and indignant as on that day of May

1678 when the doctor complained so bitterly to the author of Sadd cism s Tri mphat s of Scot Adie

and Webster."Our new inspired saints "the soul is heard to mutter "sworn advocates of the witches....

who against all sense and reason ...Will have no Samuel but a confederate knave ...these in-blown

buffoons,puffed up with ...ignorance vanity and stupid infidelity!"(See "Letter to Glanvil "and Isis

Unveiled i 205 206)]or the Academy of France was denounced in those days as ‘unscientific,"and

"ridiculously absurd."This tendency has survived to the present day.

All Honour to Genuine Scientists -(Page 31)Nothing can be further from the intention of any true

Occultist -who stands possessed by virtue of his higher psychic development of instruments of

research far more penetrating in their power than any as yet in the hands of physical experimentalists -

than to look unsympathetically on the efforts that are being made in the area of physical enquiry.The

exertions and labours undertaken to solve as many as possible of the problems of Nature have always

been holy in his sight.The spirit in which Sir Isaac Newton remarked that at the end of all his

astronomical work he felt a mere child picking up shells beside the Ocean of Knowledge is one of

reverence for the boundlessness of Nature which Occult Philosophy itself cannot eclipse.And it may

freely be recognised that the attitude of mind which this famous simile describes is one which fairly

represents that of the great majority of gen ine Scientists in regard to all the phenomena of the physical

plane of Nature.In dealing with this they are often caution and moderation itself.They observe facts with

a patience that cannot be surpassed.They are slow to cast these into theories,with a prudence that

cannot be too highly commended.And subject to the limitations under which they serve Nature they are

beautifully accurate in the record of their observations.Moreover it may be conceded further that modern

Scientists are exceedingly improbable that any discovery will ever conflict with such or such a theory

now supported by such and such an aggregation of recorded facts.But even in reference to the broadest

generalizations -which pass into a dogmatic form only in brief popular text books of scientific knowledge

-the tone of "Science"itself if that abstraction may be held to be embodied in the persons of its most

distinguished representatives,is one of reserve and often of modesty.

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Far therefore from being disposed to scoff at the errors into which the limitations of their methods may

betray men of Science the true Occultist will rather appreciate the pathos of a situation in which great

industry and thirst for truth are condemned to disappointment and often to confusion.

That which is to be deplored however in respect to Modern Science is in itself an evil manifestation of

the excessive caution which in its most favourable aspect protects Science from over-hasty conclusions:

(Page 32)namely the tardiness of Scientists to recognise that other instruments of research may be

applicable to the mysteries of Nature besides those of the physical plane and that it may consequently

be impossible to appreciate the phenomena of any one plane correctly without observing them as well

from the points of view afforded by others.In so far then as they wilfully shut their eyes to evidence which

ought to have shown them clearly that Nature is more complex than physical phenomena alone would

suggest that there are means by which the faculties of human perception can pass sometimes from one

plane to the other and that their energy is being misdirected while they turn it exclusively on the minutiae

of physical structure or force they are less entitled to sympathy than to blame.

One feels dwarfed and humbled in reading what M.Renan that learned modern "destroyer"of every

religious belief past present and future has to say of poor humanity and its powers of discernment.He

believes

Mankind has but a very narrow mind;and the number of men capable of seizing acutely

(finement)the true analogy of things,is quite imperceptible.[ Ét des Religie ses .]

Upon comparing however this statement with another opinion expressed by the same author namely

that:

The mind of the critic should yield to facts,hand and feet bound to be dragged by them

wherever they may lead him.[Ét des Historiq es .]

one feels relieved.When moreover these two philosophical statements are strengthened by a third

enunciation of the famous Academician which declares that:

To t parti pris a priori,doit etre banni de la science [Mémoire read at the Academie des

Inscriptions des Belles Lettres,in 1859 .]

there remains little to fear.Unfortunately M.Renan is the first to break this golden rule.

The evidence of Herodotus -called sarcastically no doubt the "Father of History "since in every

question upon which Modern Thought disagrees with him,his testimony goes for nought -the sober and

earnest assurances in the philosophical narratives of Plato and Thucydides,Polybius,and Plutarch and

even certain statements of Aristotle himself are invariably laid aside whenever they are involved in what

modern criticism is pleased to regard as myth.It is some time since Strauss proclaimed that:

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What is a Myth?-

(Page 33)The presence of a supernatural element or miracle in a narrative is an infallible sign

of the presence in it of a myth;

and such is the canon of criticism tacitly adopted by every modern critic.But what is a myth -ģõčļņ-to

begin with?Are we not told distinctly by ancient writers that the word means tradition?Was not the Latin

term fab la a fable synonymous with something told as having happened in pre-historic times,and not

necessarily an invention.With such autocrats of criticism and despotic rulers as are most of the French

English and German Orientalists,there may then be no end of historical geographical ethnological

and philological surprises in store for the century to come.Travesties in Philosophy have become so

common of late that the public can be startled by nothing in this direction.It has already been stated by

one learned speculator that Homer was simply "a mythical personification of the épopée ";[ See Alfred

Maury's Histoire des Religions de la Grčce .i.248:and the speculations of Holzmann in Zeitschriftf r

Vergleichende Sprach forsch ng ann.1882 p.487.sq.] by another that Hippocrates,son of Esculapius,

"could only be a chimera";that the Asclepiades,their seven hundred years of duration notwithstanding

might after all prove simply a "fiction";that "the city of Troy (Dr.Schliemann to the contrary)existed only

on the maps."etc.Why should not the world be invited after this to regard every hitherto historical

character of days of old as a myth?Were not Alexander the Great needed by Philology as a sledge-

hammer wherewith to break the heads of Brahmanical chronological pretensions,he would have become

long ago simply "a symbol for annexation "or "a genius of conquest "as has been already suggested by

some French writer.

Blank denial is the only refuge left to the critics.It is the most secure asylum for some time to come in

which to shelter the last of the sceptics.For one who denies unconditionally the trouble of arguing is

unnecessary and he also thus avoids what is worse having to yield occasionally a point or two before

the irrefutable arguments and facts of his opponent.Creuzer the greatest of all the modern

Symbologists,the most learned among the masses of erudite German Mythologists,must have envied

the placid self-confidence of certain sceptics,when he found himself forced in a moment of desperate

perplexity to admit that:

We are compelled to return to the theories of trolls and genii as they were understood by the

ancients;[it is a doctrine ] without which it becomes absolutely impossible to explain to oneself

anything with regard to the Mysteries.[Creuzer's Introd ction des Mystčres iii 456.]

of the Ancients,which Mysteries are undeniable.

(Page 34)Roman Catholics,who are guilty of precisely the same worship and to the very letter -having

borrowed it from the later Chaldaeans,the Lebanon Nabathaeans,and the baptized Sabaeans,[The

later Nabathaeans adhered to the same belief as the Nazarenes and the Sabaeans,honoured John the

Baptist and used Baptistm.(See Isis Unveiled ii.127:Munck,Palestine p.525;Dunlap Sid,the Son of

Man .etc.)]and not from the learned Astronomers and Initiates of the days of old -would now by

anathematizing it hide the source from which it came.Theology and Churchianism would fain trouble the

clear fountain that fed them from the first to prevent posterity from looking into it and thus seeing their

original prototype.The Occultists,however believe the time has come to give everyone his due.As to

our other opponents -the modern sceptic and the Epicurean the cynic and the Sadducee -they may find

an answer to their denials in our earlier volumes.As to many unjust aspersions on the ancient doctrines,

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the reason for them is given in these words in Isis Unveiled :

The thought of the present-day commentator and critic as to the ancient learning is limited to

and runs round the exoterism of the temples;his insight is either unwilling or unable to

penetrate into the solemn adyta of old where the hierophant instructed the neophyte to regard

the public worship in its true light.No ancient sage would have taught that man is the king of

creation and that the starry heaven and our mother earth were created for his sake.[i.535.]

When we find such works as Phallicism [ By Hargrave Jennings .] appearing in our day in print it is easy

to see that the day of concealment and travesty has passed away.Science in Philology Symbolism and

Comparative Religion has progressed too far to make wholesale denials any longer and the Church is

too wise and cautious not to be now making the best of the situation.Meanwhile the "rhombs of Hecate"

and the "wheels of Lucifer "[ See de Mirville's Pne matologie iii 267 et seq.] daily exhumed on the sites

of Babylonia can no longer be used as clear evidence of a Satan-worship since the same symbols are

shown in the ritual of the Latin Church.The latter is too learned to be ignorant of the fact that even the

later Chaldaeans,who had gradually fallen into dualism reducing all things to two primal Principles,

never worshipped Satan or idols,any more than did the Zoroastrians,who now lie under the same

accusation but that their Religion was as highly philosophical as any;their dual and exoteric Theosophy

became the heirloom of the Jews,who in their turn were forced to share it with the Christians.Parsis

are to this day charged with Heliolatry and yet in the Chaldean Oracles,under the "Magical and

Philosophical Precepts of Zoroaster"one finds the following:

Chaldean Oracles -(Page 35)

Direct not thy mind to the vast measures of the earth;

For the plant of truth is not upon ground.

Nor measure the measures of the sun collecting rules,

For he is carried by the eternal will of the Father not for your sake.

Dismiss the impetuous course of the moon;for she runs always by work of necessity.

The progression of the stars was not generated for your sake.

There was a vast difference between the true worship taught to those who showed themselves worthy

and the state religions.The Magians are accused of all kinds of superstition but this is what the same

Chaldaean Oracle says:

The wide aerial flight of birds is not true

Nor the dissections of the entrails of victims;they are all mere toys

The basis of mercenary fraud;flee from these

If you would open the sacred paradise of piety

Where virtue wisdom and equity are assembled.

[ Psellus,4:in Cory's Ancient Fragments.269.]

As we say in our former work:

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Surely it is not those who warn people against "mercenary fraud"who can be accused of it;

and if they accomplished acts which seem miraculous,who can with fairness presume to deny

that it was done merely because they possessed a knowledge of natural philosophy and

psychological science to a degree unknown to our schools?[ Isis Unveiled,i 535 536.]

The above q oted stanzas are a rather strange teaching to come from those who are niversally

believed to have worshipped the s n,and moon,and the starry hosts,as Gods.The sublime prof ndity

of the Magian precepts being beyond the reach of modern materialistic tho ght,the Chaldean

Philosophers are acc sed of Sabaeanism and S n-worship,which was the religion only of the

ned cated masses.

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SECTION III

The Origin of Magic

(Page 36)THINGS of late have changed true enough.The field of investigation has widened;old religions

are a little better understood;and since that miserable day when the Committee of the French Academy

headed by Benjamin Franklin investigated Mesmer ’s phenomena only to proclaim them charlatanry and

clever knavery both heathen Philosophy and Mesmerism have acquired certain rights and privileges,

and are now viewed from quite a different standpoint.Is full justice rendered them however and are they

any better appreciated?We are afraid not.Human nature is the same now as when Pope said of the

force of prejudice that:

The difference is as great between

The optics seeing as the objects seen.

All manners take a tincture from our own

Or some discolour ’d through our passions shown

Or fancy ’s beam enlarges,multiplies,

Contracts,inverts,and gives ten thousand dyes.

Thus in the first decades of our century Hermetic Philosophy was regarded by both Churchmen and men

of Science from two quite opposite points of view.The former called it sinful and devilish;the latter

denied point-blank its authenticity notwithstanding the evidence brought forward by the most erudite men

of every age including our own.The learned Father Kircher for instance was not even noticed;and his

assertion that all the fragments known under titles of works by Mercury Trismegistus,Berosus,

Pherecydes of Syros,etc.were rolls that had escaped the fire which devoured 100 000 volumes of the

great Alexandrian Library -was simply laughed at.Nevertheless the educated classes of Europe knew

then as they do now that the famous Alexandrian Library the “marvel of the ages,” was founded by

Ptolemy Philadelphus;that numbers of its MSS had been carefully copied from hieratic texts and the

oldest parchments,Chaldaean Phoenician Persian etc;and that these transliterations and copies

amounted in their turn to another 100 000 rolls,as Josephus and Strabo assert.

The Books of Hermes -(Page 37)There is also the additional evidence of Clemens Alexandrinus,that

ought to be credited to some extent.[ The forty-two Sacred Books of the Egyptians mentioned by

Clement of Alexandria as having existed in his time were but a portion of the Books of Hermes.

Iamblichus,on the authority of the Egyptian priest Abammon attributes 1 200 of such books to Hermes,

and Manetho 36.000.But the testimony of Iamblichus as a Neoplatonist and Theurgist is of course

rejected by modern critics.Manetho who is held by Bunsen in the highest consideration as a “purely-

historical personage ” with whom “none of the later native historians can be compared ” (see Egypte,i.

97)suddenly becomes a Pseudo-Manetho as soon as the ideas propounded by him clash with the

scientific prejudices against Magic and the Occult knowledge claimed by the ancient priests.However

none of the Archaeologists doubt for a moment the almost incredible antiquity of the Hermetic books.

Champollion shows the greatest regard for their authenticity and truthfulness,corroborated as it is by

many of the oldest monuments.And Bunsen brings irrefutable proofs of their age.From his researches,

for instance we learn that there was a line of sixty-one kings before the days of Moses,who preceded

the Mosaic period by a clearly-traceable civilization of several thousand years.Thus we are warranted in

believing that the works of Hermes Trismegistus were extant many ages before the birth of the Jewish

law-giver.“Styli and inkstands were found on monuments of the fourth Dynasty the oldest in the world ”

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says Bunsen.If the eminent Egyptologist rejects the period of 48.863 years before Alexander to which

Diogenes Laertius carries back the records of the priests he is evidently more embarrassed with the ten

thousand of astronomical observations,and remarks that “if they were actual observations,they must

have extended over 10.000 years ” (p.44).“We learn however ” he adds,“from one of their own old

chronological works ...that the genuine Egyptian traditions concerning the mythological period treated

of myriads of years.” (Egypte,i 15:Isis Unveiled i.33)] Clemens testified to the existence of an

additional 30 000 volumes of the Books of Thoth placed in the library of the Tomb of Osymandias,over

the entrance of which were inscribed the words,“ A Cure for the Soul.”

Since then as all know entire texts of the “apocryphal ” works of the “false ” Pymander and the no less

“false ” Asclepias,have been found by Champollion in the most ancient monuments of Egypt.[ These

details are taken from Pne matologie,iii pp 204 205 ] As said in Isis Unveiled :

After having devoted their whole lives to the study of the records of the old Egyptian wisdom

both Champollion-Figeac and Champollion Junior publicly declared notwithstanding many

biased judgments hazarded by certain hasty and unwise critics,that the Books of Hermes

“truly contain a mass of Egyptian traditions which are constantly corroborated by the most

authentic records and monuments of Egypt of the hoariest antiquity.”[ Egypte,p.143 Isis

Unveiled,i.625.]

The merit of Champollion as an Egyptologist none will question and if he declare that everything

demonstrates the accuracy of the writings of the mysterious Hermes Trismegistus,and if the assertion

that their antiquity runs back into the night of time be corroborated by him in (Page 38)minutest details,

then indeed criticism ought to be fully satisfied.Says Champollion:

These inscriptions are only the faithful echo and expression of the most ancient verities.

Since these words were written some of the “apocryphal ”verses by the “mythical ”Orpheus have also

been found copied word for word in hieroglyphics,in certain inscriptions of the Fourth Dynasty

addressed to various Deities.Finally Creuzer discovered and immediately pointed out the very

significant fact that numerous passages found in Homer and Hesiod were undeniably borrowed by the

two great poets from the Orphic Hymns,thus proving the latter to be far older than the Iliad or the

Odyssey.

And so gradually the ancient claims come to be vindicated and modern criticism has to submit to

evidence.Many are now the writers who confess that such a type of literature as the Hermetic works of

Egypt can never be dated too far back into the prehistoric ages.The texts of many of these ancient

works,that of Enoch included so loudly proclaimed “apocryphal ”at the beginning of this century are now

discovered and recognised in the most secret and sacred sanctuaries of Chaldaea India Phoenicia

Egypt and Central Asia.But even such proofs have failed to convince the bulk of our Materialists.The

reason for this is very simple and evident.All these texts -held in universal veneration in Antiquity found

in the secret libraries of all the great temples,studied (if not always mastered)by the greatest statesmen

classical writers,philosophers,kings and laymen as much as by renowned Sages -what were they?

Treatises on Magic and Occultism pure and simple;the now derided and tabooed Theosophy -hence

the ostracism.

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Were people then so simple and credulous in the days of Pythagoras and Plato?Were the millions of

Babylonia and Egypt of India and Greece with their great Sages to lead them all fools,that during those

periods of great learning and civilization which preceded the year one of our era -the latter giving birth

but to the intellectual darkness of mediaeval fanaticism -so many otherwise great men should have

devoted their lives to a mere illusion a superstition called Magic?It would seem so had one to remain

content with the word and conclusions of modern Philosophy.

Every Art and Science however whatever its intrinsic merit has had its discoverer and practitioner and

subsequently its proficients to teach it.

What is the Origin of Magic?-(Page 39)What is the origin of the Occult Sciences,or Magic?Who were

its professors,and what is known of them whether in history or legend?Clemens Alexandrinus,one of

the most intelligent and learned of the early Christian Fathers,answers this question in his Stromateis.

That ex-pupil of the Neoplatonic School argues:

If there is instruction you must seek for the master.[ Strom .VI vii.The following paragraph

from the same chapter .]

And so he shows Cleanthes taught by Zeno Theophrastus by Aristotle Metrodorus by Epicurus,Plato by

Socrates,etc.And he adds that when he had looked further back to Pythagoras,Pherecydes,and

Thales,he had still to search for their masters.The same for the Egyptians,the Indians,the Babylonians,

and the Magi themselves.He would not cease questioning he says to learn who it was they all had for

their masters.And when he (Clemens)had traced down the enquiry to the very cradle of mankind to the

first generation of men he would reiterate once more his questioning and ask,“Who is their teacher?”

Surely he argues,their master could be “no one of men.” And even when we should have reached as

high as the Angels,the same query would have to be offered to them:“Who were their (meaning the

‘divine ’ and the ‘fallen ’ Angels)masters?’

The aim of the good father ’s long argument is of course to discover two distinct masters,one the

preceptor of biblical patriarchs,the other the teacher of the Gentiles.But the students of the Secret

Doctrine need go to no such trouble.Their professors are well aware who were the Masters of their

predecessors in Occult Sciences and Wisdom.

The two professors are finally traced out by Clemens,and are as was to be expected God and his

eternal and everlasting enemy and opponent the Devil;the subject of Clemens ’ enquiry relating to the

d al aspect of Hermetic Philosophy as cause and effect.Admitting the moral beauty of the virtues

preached in every Occult work with which he was acquainted Clemens desires to know the cause of the

apparent contradiction between the doctrine and the practice good and evil Magic,and he comes to the

conclusion that Magic has two origins -divine and diabolical.He perceives its bifurcation into two

channels,hence his deduction and inference.

We perceive it too without however necessarily designating such bifurcation diabolical for we judge the

“left-hand path ” as it (Page 40)issued from the hands of its founder.Otherwise judging also by the effects

of Clemens ’ own religion and walk in life of certain of its professors,since the death of their Master the

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Occultists would have a right to come to somewhat the same conclusion as Clemens.They would have a

right to say that while Christ the Master of all true Christians,was in every way godly those who resorted

to the horrors of the Inquisition to the extermination and torture of heretics,Jews and Alchemists,the

Protestant Calvin who burnt Servetus and his persecuting Protestant successors,down to the whippers

and burners of witches in America must have had for their Master the Devil.But Occultists,not believing

in the Devil are precluded from retaliating in this way.

Clemens ’ testimony however is valuable in so far as it shows (1)the enormous number of works on

Occult Sciences in his day;and (2)the extraordinary powers acquired through those Sciences by certain

men.

He devotes,for instance the whole of the sixth book of his Stromat eis to this research for the first two

“Masters ” or the true and the false Philosophy respectively both preserved as he says,in the Egyptian

sanctuaries.Very pertinently too he apostrophises the Greeks,asking them why they should not accept

the “miracles ” of Moses as such since they claim the very same privileges for their own Philosophers,

and he gives a number of instances.It is,as he says,Aeachus obtaining through his Occult powers a

marvellous rain;it is Aristaeus causing the winds to blow;Empedocles quieting the gale and forcing it to

cease etc.[ See Pne matologie,iii.207 Therefore Empedocles is called źłėõčįõåģļņthe “dominator of

the wind.”Strom.,VI.iii.]

The books of Mercurius Trismegistus most attracted his attention.[ Ibid.iv.] He is also warm in his praise

of Hystaspes (or Gushtasp),of the Sibylline books,and even of the right Astrology.

There have been in all ages use and abuse of Magic,as there are use and abuse of Mesmerism or

Hypnotism in our own.The ancient world had its Apollonii and its Pherecydae and intellectual people

could discriminate then as they can now.While no classical or pagan writer has ever found one word of

blame for Apollonius of Tyana for instance it is not so with regard to Pherecydes.Hesychius of Miletia

Philo of Byblos and Eusthathius charges the latter unstintingly with having built his Philosophy and

Science on demoniacal traditions -i.e.on Sorcery.

Pherecydes of Syros -(Page 41)Cicero declares that Pherecydes is,poti s divin s q am medicus,

rather a soothsayer than a physician ” and Diogenes Laertius gives a vast number of stories relating to

his predictions.One day Pherecydes prophesies the shipwreck of a vessel hundreds of miles away from

him;another time he predicts the capture of Lacedaemonians by the Arcadians;finally he foresees his

own wretched end.[Summarised from Pne matologie,iii.209.]

Bearing in mind the objections that will be made to the teachings of the Esoteric Doctrine as herein

propounded the writer is forced to meet some of them beforehand.

Such imputations as those brought by Clemens against the “heathen ” Adepts,only prove the presence of

clairvoyant powers and prevision in every age but are no evidence in favour of a Devil.They are

therefore of no value except to the Christians,for whom Satan is one of the chief pillars of the faith.

Baronius and De Mirville for instance find an unanswerable proof of Demonology in the belief in the co-

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eternity of Matter with Spirit!

De Mirville writes that Pherecydes

Postulates in principle the primordiality of Zeus or Ether and then on the same plane a

principle coeternal and coactive which he calls the fifth element or Ogenos.[ Loc.cit.]

He then points out that the meaning of Ogenos is given as that which shuts up which holds captive and

that is Hades,“or in a word hell.”

The synonyms are known to every schoolboy without the Marquis going to the trouble of explaining them

to the Academy;as to the deduction every Occultist will of course deny it and only smile at its folly.And

now we come to the theological conclusion.

The resumé of the views of the Latin Church -as given by authors of the same characters as the Marquis

de Mirville -amounts to this:that the Hermetic Books,their wisdom -fully admitted in Rome -

notwithstanding are “the heirloom left by Cain the accursed to mankind.” It is “generally admitted ” says

that modern memorialist of Satan in History:

That immediately after the Flood Cham and his descendants had propagated anew the

ancient teachings of the Cainites and of the surmerged Race.[Op.cit.,iii 208 ]

(Page 42)This proves at any rate that Magic,or Sorcery as he calls it is an antediluvian Art and thus

one point is gained.For as he says:-

The evidence of Berosius makes Ham identical with the first Zoroaster founder of Bactria the

first author of all the magic arts of Babylonia the Chemesen a or Cham [The English

speaking people who spell the name of Noah's disrespectful son “Ham ”have to be reminded

that the right spelling is “Kham ”or “Cham ”] the infamo s [ Black Magic,or Sorcery is the ev il

result obtain e d in any shape or way through the practice of Occult Arts:hence it has to be

judged only by its effects.The name of neither Ham nor Cain when pronounced has ever

killed any one;whereas,if we have to believe that same Clemens Alexandrinus who traces the

teacher of every Occultist outside of Christianity to the Devil the name of Jehovah

(pronounced Jevo and in a peculiar way)had the effect of killing a man at a distance.The

mysterious Schemham-phorasch was not always used for holy purposes by the Kabalists,

especially since the Sabbath or Saturday sacred to Saturn or the evil Shani became -with

the Jews -sacred to “Jehovah.”] of the faithful Noachians,finally the object of adoration for

Egypt which having received its name ÷ēģåéį whence chemistry built in his honour a town

called Choemnis,or the “city of fire.” [Khoemnis,the pre-historic city may or may not have

been built by Noah's son but it was not his name that was given to the town but that of the

Mystery Goddess Khoemnu or Khoemnis (Greek form);the deity that was created by the

ardent fancy of the neophyte who was thus tantalised during his “twelve labours ”of probation

before his final initiation.Her male counterpart is Khem.The city of Choemnis or Khemmis

(today Akhmem)was the chief seat of the God Khem.The Greeks identifying Khem with Pan

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called this city “Panopolis.”] Ham adored it it is said whence the name Chammaim given to

the pyramids;which in their turn have been vulgarised into our modern noun “chimney.”[

Pne matologie,iii 210.This looks more like pious vengeance than philology.The picture

however seems incomplete as the author ought to have added to the “chimney ” a witch flying

out of it on a broomstick.]

This statement is entirely wrong.Egypt was the cradle of Chemistry and its birth-place -this is pretty well

known by this time.Only Kenrick and others show the root of the word to be chemi or chem,which is not

Chem or Ham but Khem,the Egyptian phallic God of the Mysteries.

But this is not all.De Mirville is bent upon finding a satanic origin even for the now innocent Tarot.

He goes on to say:

As to the means for the propagation of this evil Magic,tradition points it out in certain runic

characters traced on metallic plates [or leaves,des lames ] which have escaped destruction by

the Deluge [ How could they escape from the Deluge unless God so willed it?This is scarcely

logical.] This might have been regarded as legendary had not subsequent discoveries shown

it far from being so.Plates were found covered with curious and utterly undecipherable

characters,characters of undeniable antiquity to which the Chamites [Sorcerers,with the

author ] attribute the origin to their marvellous and terrible powers.[Loc.cit.,p.210 ]

The pious author may meanwhile be left to his own orthodox beliefs.

Cain Mathematical and Anthropomorphic -(Page 43)He at any rate seems quite sincere in his views.

Nevertheless,his able arguments will have to be sapped at their very foundation for it must be shown on

mathematical grounds who or rather what Cain and Ham really were.De Mirville is only the faithful son

of his Church interested in keeping Cain in his anthropomorphic character and in his present place in

“Holy Writ.” The student of Occultism on the other hand is solely interested in the truth.But the age has

to follow the natural course of evolution.

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SECTION IV

The Secrecy of Initiates

(Page 44)THE false rendering of a number of parables and sayings of Jesus is not to be wondered at in

the least.From Orpheus,the first initiated Adept of whom history catches a glimpse in the mists of the

pre-Christian era down through Pythagoras,Confucius,Buddha Jesus,Apollonius of Tyana to

Ammonius Saccas,no Teacher or Initiate has ever committed to writing for public use.Each and all of

them have invariably recommended silence and secresy on certain facts and deeds,from Confucius,

who refused to explain publicly and satisfactorily what he meant by his “Great Extreme ” or to give the

key to the divination by “straws ” down to Jesus,who charged his disciples to tell no man that he was

Christ [ Matthew xvi.20.] (Chrestos),the “man of sorrows ” and trials,before his supreme and last

Initiation or that he had produced a “miracle ” of resurrection.[ Mark v.43 .] The Apostles had to

preserve silence so that the left hand should not know what the right hand did;in plainer words,that the

dangerous proficients in the Left Hand Science -the terrible enemies of the Right Hand Adepts,

especially before their supreme Initiation -should not profit by the publicity so as to harm both the healer

and the patient.And if the above is maintained to be simply an assumption then what may be the

meaning of these awful words:

Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God;but unto them that are without

all these things are done in parables;that seeing they may see and not perceive;and hearing

they may hear and not understand;lest at any time they should be converted and their sins

should be forgiven them.[ Mark iv.11 .]

Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings -(Page 45)Unless interpreted in the sense of the law of silence and

Karma the utter selfishness and uncharitable spirit of this remark are but too evident.These words are

directly connected with the terrible dogma of predestination.Will the good and intelligent Christian cast

such a slur of cruel selfishness on his Saviour?[ It is not evident that the words:“lest at any time they

should be converted (or:“lest haply they should turn again ” -as in the revised version)and their sins be

forgiven them ” -do not at all mean to imply that Jesus feared that through repentance any outsider or

“them that are without ” should escape damnation as the literal dead-letter sense plainly shows -but

quite a different thing?Namely “lest any of the profane should by understanding his preaching

undisguised by parable get hold of some of the secret teachings and mysteries of Initiation -and even of

Occult powers?“Be converted ” is,in other words,to obtain a knowledge belonging exclusively to the

Initiated:“and their sins be forgiven them ” that is,their sins would fall upon the illegal revealer on those

who had helped the unworthy reap there where they have never laboured to sow and had given them,

thereby the means of escaping on this earth their deserved Karma which must thus re-act on the

revealer who instead of good did harm and failed.]

The work of propagating such truths in parables was left to the disciples of the high Initiates.It was their

duty to follow the key-note of the Secret Teaching without revealing its mysteries.This is shown in the

histories of all the great Adepts.Pythagoras divided his classes into hearers of exoteric and esoteric

lectures.The Magians received their instructions and were initiated in the far hidden caves of Bactria.

When Josephus declares that Abraham taught Mathematics he meant by it “Magic,” for in the

Pythagorean code Mathematics mean Esoteric Science or Gnosis.

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Professor Wilder remarks:

The Essenes of Judea and Carmel made similar distinctions,dividing their adherents into

neophytes,brethren and the perfect ....Ammonius obligated his disciples by oath not to

divulge his higher doctrines,except to those who had been thoroughly instructed and

exercised [prepared for initiation ].[New Platonism and Alchemy,1869.pp.7.9.]

One of the most powerful reasons for the necessity of strict secresy is given by Jesus Himself if one may

credit Matthew.For there the Master is made to say plainly:

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,neither cast ye your pearls before swine;lest they

trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.[vii.6.]

Profoundly true and wise words.Many are those in our own age and even among us,who have been

forcibly reminded of them -often when too late.[ History is full of proofs of the same.Had not

Anaxagoras enunciated the great truth taught in the Mysteries,viz .that the sun was surely larger than

the Peloponnesus,he would not have been persecuted and nearly put to death by the fanatical mob.Had

that other rabble which was raised against Pythagoras understood what the mysterious Sage of Crotona

meant by giving out his remembrances of having been the “Son of Mercury ” -God of the Secret Wisdom

-he would not have been forced to fly for his life:nor would Socrates have been put to death had he

kept secret the revelations of his divine Daimon.He knew how little his century -save those initiated -

would understand his meaning had he given out all he knew of the moon.Thus he limited his statement

to an allegory which is now proven to have been more scientific than was hitherto believed.He

maintained that the moon was inhabited and that the lunar beings lived in profound vast and dark

valleys,our satellite being airless and without any atmosphere outside such profound valleys;this,

disregarding the revelation full of meaning for the few only must be so of necessity.If there is any

atmosphere on our bright Selene at all.The facts recorded is the secret annals of the Mysteries had to

remain veiled under penalty of death.]

(Page 46)Even Maimonides recommends silence with regard to the true meaning of the Bible texts.This

injunction destroys the usual affirmation that “Holy Writ ” is the only book in the world whose divine

oracles contain plain unvarnished truth.It may be so for the learned Kabalists;it is certainly quite the

reverse with regard to Christians.For this is what the learned Hebrew Philosopher says:

Whoever shall find out the true sense of the Book of Genesis ought to take care not to divulge

it.This is a maxim that all our sages repeat to us,and above all respecting the work of the six

days.If a person should discover the true meaning of it by himself or by the aid of another

then he ought to be silent or if he speaks he ought to speak of it obscurely in an enigmatical

manner as I do myself leaving the rest to be guessed by those who can understand me.

The Symbology and Esoterism of the Old Testament being thus confessed by one of the greatest Jewish

Philosophers,it is only natural to find Christian Fathers making the same confession with regard to the

New Testament and the Bible in general.Thus we find Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen admitting it as

plainly as words can do it.Clemens,who had been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries says,that:

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The doctrines there taught contained in them the end of all instructions as they were taken

from Moses and the prophets,

a slight perversion of facts pardonable in the good Father.The words admit after all that the Mysteries

of the Jews were identical with those of the Pagan Greeks,who took them from the Egyptians,who

borrowed them in their turn from the Chaldaeans,who got them from the Aryans,the Atlanteans and so

on -far beyond the days of that Race.The secret meaning of the Gospel is again openly confessed by

Clemens when he says that the Mysteries of the Faith are not to be divulged to all.

But since this tradition is not published alone for him who perceives the magnificence of the

word;it is requisite therefore to hide in a Mystery the wisdom spoken which the Son of God

taught.[ Stromateis,xii.]

Origen on “Genesis ” -(Page 47)Not less explicit is Origen with regard to the Bible and its symbolical

fables.He exclaims:

If we hold to the letter and must understand what stands written in the law after the manner of

the Jews and common people then I should blush to confess aloud that it is God who has

given these laws;then the laws of men appear more excellent and reasonable.[See Homilies

7.quoted in the So rce of Measures,p.307.]

And well he might have “blushed ” the sincere and honest Father of early Christianity in its days of

relative purity.But the Christians of this highly literary and civilised age of ours do not blush at all;they

swallow on the contrary the “light ” before the formation of the sun the Garden of Eden Jonah ’s whale

and all notwithstanding that the same Origen asks in a very natural fit of indignation:

What man of sense will agree with the statement that the first second and third days in which

the evening is named and the morning were without sun moon and stars,and the first day

without a heaven?What man is found such an idiot as to suppose that God planted trees in

Paradise in Eden like a husbandman etc?I believe that every man must hold these things

for images,under which a hidden sense lies concealed.[ Origen:Huet.Origeniana,167:

quoted from Dunlop ’s Sid .p.176 .]

Yet millions of “such idiots ” are found in our age of enlightenment and not only in the third century.When

Paul ’s unequivocal statement in Galatians,iv.22-25 that the story of Abraham and his two sons is all “an

allegory.” and that “Agar is Mount Sinai ” is added to this,then little blame indeed can be attached to

either Christian or Heathen who declines to accept the Bible in any other light than that of a very

ingenious allegory.

Rabbi Simeon Ben-“Jochai ” the compiler of the Zohar never imparted the most important points of his

doctrine otherwise than orally and to a very limited number of disciples.Therefore without the final

initiation into the Mercavah the study of the Kabalah will be ever incomplete and the Mercavah can be

taught only “in darkness,in a deserted place and after many and terrific trials.” Since the death of that

great Jewish Initiate this hidden doctrine has remained for the outside world an inviolate secret.

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Among the venerable sect of the Tanaim or rather the Tananim the wise men there were

those who taught the secrets practically and initiated some disciples into the grand and final

Mystery.But the Mishna Hagiga,2 nd Section say that the table of contents of the Mercaba

“must only be delivered to wise old ones.”The Gemara is still more dogmatic.“The more

important secrets of the Mysteries (Page 48)were not even revealed to all priests.Alone the

initiates had them divulged.” And so we find the same great secresy prevalent in every ancient

religion.[ Isis Unveiled ii.350 .]

What says the Kabalah itself?Its great Rabbis actually threaten him who accepts their sayings verbatim.

We read in the Zohar :

Woe to the man who sees in the Thorah i.e.,Law only simple recitals and ordinary words!

Because if in truth it only contained these we would even today be able to compose a Thorah

much more worthy of admiration.For if we find only the simple words we would only have to

address ourselves to the legislators of the earth.[ The materialistic “law-givers ”the critics and

Sadducees who have tried to tear to shreds the doctrines and teachings of the great Asiatic

Masters past and present -no scholars in the modern sense of the word -would do well to

ponder over these words.No doubt that doctrines and secret teachings had they been

invented and written in Oxford and Cambridge would be more brilliant outwardly.Would they

equally answer to universal truths and facts is the next question however .] to those in whom

we most frequently meet with the most grandeur.It would be sufficient to imitate them and

make a Thorah after their words and example.But it is not so;each word of the Thorah

contains an elevated meaning and a sublime mystery....The recitals of the Thorah are the

vestments of the Thorah.Woe to him who takes this garment for the Thorah itself ....The

simple notice only of the garments or recitals of the Thorah they know of no other thing they

see not that which is concealed under the vestment.The more instructed men do not pay

attention to the vestment but to the body which it envelops.[ iii.fol.1526 quoted in Myer ’s

Qabbalah,p.102.]

Ammonius Saccas taught that the Secret Doctrine of the Wisdom-Religion was found complete in the

Books of Thoth (Hermes),from which both Pythagoras and Plato derived their knowledge and much of

their Philosophy;and these Books were declared by him to be “identical with the teachings of the Sages

of the remote East.” Professor A.Wilder remarks:

As the name Thoth means a college or assembly it is not altogether improbable that the books

were so named as being the collected oracles and doctrines of the sacerdotal fraternity of

Memphis.Rabbi Wise has suggested the same hypothesis in relation to the divine utterances

recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures.[ New-Platonism and Alchemy.p.6 ]

This is very probable.Only the “divine utterances ” have never been so far understood by the profane.

Philo Judaeus,a non-initiate attempted to give their secret meaning and -failed.

But Books of Thoth or Bible,Vedas or Kabalah,all enjoin the same secresy as to certain mysteries of

nature symbolised in them.“Woe be to him who divulges nlawf lly the words whispered into the ear of

Manushi by the First Initiator.”

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The “Dark Sayings ” of the “Testaments ” (Page 49)Who that “Initiator ” was is made plain in the Book of

Enoch:

From them [the angels ] I heard all things,and understood what I saw that which will not take

place in this generation [Race ] but in a generation which is to succeed at a distant period [ the

6 th and 7 th Races ] on account of the elect [the Initiates ].[ i.2.]

Again it is said with regard to the judgment of those who when they have learned “every secret of the

angels,” reveal them that:

They have discovered secrets,and they are those who have been judged;but not thou my

son [Noah ] ...thou art pure and good and free from the reproach of discovering [revealing ]

secrets.[ IXIV.10.]

But there are those in our century who having “discovered secrets ” unaided and owing to their own

learning and acuteness only and who being nevertheless,honest and straightforward men undismayed

by threats or warning since they have never pledged themselves to secresy feel quite startled at such

revelations.One of these is the learned author and discoverer of one “Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian

Mystery.” As he says,there are “some strange features connected to the promulgation and condition ” of

the Bible.

Those who compiled this book were men as we are.They knew saw handled and realized

through the key measure [ The key is shown to be “in the source of measures originating the

British inch and the ancient cubit ”as the author tries to prove.] the law of the living ever active

God .[ The word as a plural might have better solved the mystery.God is ever-present ;if he

were ever-active he could no longer be an infinite God -nor ever-present in his limitation.]

They needed no faith that He was that He worked planned and accomplished as a mighty

mechanic and architect.[The author is evidently a Mason of the way of thinking of General

Pike.So long as the American and English Masons will reject the “Creative Principle ”of the

“Grand Orient ”of France they will remain in the dark.]What was it then that reserved to them

alone this knowledge while first as men of God and second as Apostles of Jesus the Christ

they doled out a blinding ritual service and an empty teaching of faith and no substance as

proof properly coming through the exercise of just those senses which the Deity has given all

men as the essential means of obtaining any right understanding?Mystery and parable,and

dark saying,and cloaking of the true meanings are the burden of the Testaments,Old and

New.Take it that the narratives of the Bible were purposed inventions to deceive the ignorant

masses,even while enforcing a most perfect code of moral obligations:How is it possible to

justify so great frauds,as part of the Divine economy when to that economy the attribute of

simple and perfect truthf lness must in the nature of things,be (Page 50)ascribed?What has,

or what by possibility ought mystery to have with the promulgation of the truths of God?[

So rce of Measures,pp.308 309 ]

Nothing whatever most certainly if those mysteries had been given from the first.And so it was with

regard to the first semi-divine pure and spiritual Races of Humanity.They had the “truths of God ” and

lived up to them and their ideals.They preserved them so long as there was hardly any evil and hence

scarcely a possible abuse of that knowledge and those truths.But evolution and the gradual fall into

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materiality is also one of the “truths ” and also one of the laws of “God.” And as mankind progressed and

became with every generation more of the earth earthly the individuality of each temporary Ego began

to assert itself.It is personal selfishness that develops and urges man on to abuse of his knowledge and

power.And selfishness is a human building whose windows and doors are ever wide open for every kind

of iniquity to enter into man ’s soul.Few were the men during the early adolescence of mankind and

fewer still are they now who feel disposed to put into practice Pope ’s forcible declaration that he would

tear out his own heart if it had no better disposition than to love only himself and laugh at all his

neighbours.Hence the necessity of gradually taking away from man the divine knowledge and power

which became with every new human cycle more dangerous as a double-edged weapon whose evil side

was ever threatening one ’s neighbour and whose power for good was lavished freely only upon self.

Those few “elect ” whose inner natures had remained unaffected by their outward physical growth thus

became in time the sole guardians of the mysteries revealed passing the knowledge to those most fit to

receive it and keeping it inaccessible to others.Reject this explanation from the Secret Teachings,and

the very name of Religion will become synonymous with deception and fraud.

Yet the masses could not be allowed to remain without some sort of moral restraint.Man is ever craving

for a “beyond ”and cannot live without an idea of some kind as a beacon and a consolation.At the same

time no average man even in our age of universal education could be entrusted with truths too

metaphysical too subtle for his mind to comprehend without the danger of an imminent reaction setting

in and faith in Gods and Saints making room for an unscientific blank Atheism.No real philanthropist

hence no Occultist would dream for a moment of a mankind without one title of Religion.

The Greatest Crime Ever Perpetrated -(Page 51)Even the modern day Religion in Europe confined to

Sundays,is better than none.But if as Bunyan put it “Religion is the best armour that a man can have ”

it certainly is the “worst cloak ” ;and it is that “cloak ” and false pretence which the Occultists and the

Theosophists fight against.The true ideal Deity the one living God in Nature can never suffer in man ’s

worship if that outward cloak woven by man ’s fancy and thrown upon the Deity by the crafty hand of the

priest greedy of power and domination is drawn aside.The hour has struck with the commencement of

this century to dethrone the “highest God ” of every nation in favour of One Universal Deity -The God of

Immutable Law not charity;the God of Just Retribution not mercy which is merely an incentive to evil-

doing and to a repetition of it.The greatest crime that was ever perpetrated upon mankind was

committed on that day when the first priest invented the first prayer with a selfish object in view.A God

who may be propitiated by iniquitous prayers to “bless the arms ” of the worshipper and send defeat and

death to thousands of his enemies -his brethren;a Deity that can be supposed not to turn a deaf ear to

chants of laudation mixed with entreaties for a “fair propitious wind ”for self and as naturally disastrous to

the selves of other navigators who come from an opposite direction -it is this idea of God that has

fostered selfishness in man and deprived him of his self-reliance.Prayer is an ennobling action when it

is an intense feeling an ardent desire rushing forth from our very heart for the good of other people and

when entirely detached from any selfish personal object;the craving for a beyond is natural and holy in

man but on the condition of sharing that bliss with others.One can understand and well appreciate the

words of the “heathen ”Socrates,who declared in his profound though untaught wisdom that:

Our prayers should be for blessings on all in general for the Gods know best what is good for

us.

But official prayer -in favour of a public calamity or for the benefit of one individual irrespective of losses

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to thousands -is the most ignoble of crimes,besides being an impertinent conceit and a superstition.

This is the direct inheritance by spoliation from the Jehovites -the Jews of the Wilderness and of the

Golden Calf.

It is “Jehovah ” as will be presently shown that suggested the necessity of veiling and screening this

substitute for the unpronounceable name and that led to all this “mystery parables,dark sayings (Page

52)and cloaking.” Moses had at any rate initiated his seventy Elders into the hidden truths,and thus the

writers of the Old Testament stand to a degree justified.Those of the New Testament have failed to do

even so much or so little.They have disfigured the grand central figure of Christ by their dogmas,and

have led people ever since into millions of errors and the darkest crimes,in His holy name.

It is evident that with the exception of Paul and Clement of Alexandria who had been both initiated into

the Mysteries,none of the Fathers knew much of the truth themselves.They were mostly uneducated

ignorant people;and if such as Augustine and Lactantius,or again the Venerable Bede and others,were

so painfully ignorant until the name of Galileo [ In his Pne matologie,in Vol.iv.pp.105-112 the Marquis

de Mirville claims the knowledge of the heliocentric system -earlier than Galileo -for Pope Urban VIII.

The author goes further.He tries to show that famous Pope not as the persecutor but as one persecuted

by Galileo and calumniated by the Florentine Astronomer into the bargain.If so so much the worse for

the Latin Church since her Popes,knowing of it still preserved silence upon this most important fact

either to screen Joshua or their own infallibility.One can understand well that the Bible having been so

exalted over all the other systems,and its alleged monotheism depending upon the silence preserved

nothing remained of course but to keep quiet over its symbolism thus allowing all its blunders to be

fathered on its God.] of the most vital truths taught in the Pagan temples -of the rotundity of the earth for

example leaving the heliocentric system out of question -how great must have been the ignorance of

the rest!Learning the accusations of dealing with the Devil lavished on the Pagan Philosophers.

But truth must out.The Occultists,referred to as “the followers of the accursed Cain ” by such writers as

De Mirville are now in a position to reverse the tables.That which was hitherto known only to the ancient

and modern Kabalists in Europe and Asia is now published and shown as being mathematically true.

The author of the Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery or the So rce of Meas res has now proved to

general satisfaction it is to be hoped that the two great God-names,Jehovah and Elohim stood in one

meaning of their numerical values,for a diameter and a circumference value respectively;in other

words,that they are numerical indices of geometrical relations;and finally that Jehovah is Cain and vice

versa.

This view says the author

Helps also to take the horrid blemish off from the name of Cain as a put-up-job to destroy his

character;for even without these showings,by the very text he [Cain ] was Jehovah.So the

theological schools had better be alive to making the amend honorable if such a thing is

possible to the good name and fame of the God they worship

Asiatic Religions Proclaim Their Esoterism Openly -(Page 53)[ Op.cit .App.vii.p.296.The writer

feels happy to find this fact now mathematically demonstrated.When it was stated in Isis Unveiled that

Jehovah and Saturn were one and the same with Adam Kadmon Cain Adam and Eve Able Seth.etc.

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and that all were convertible symbols in the Secret Doctrine (see Vol ii.pp.446 448 464 et seq .):that

they answered in short to secret numerals and stood for more than one meaning in the Bible as in other

doctrines -the author ’s statements remained unnoticed.Isis had failed to appear under a scientific form

and by giving it too much in fact gave very little to satisfy the enquirer.But now if mathematics and

geometry besides the evidence of the Bible and Kabalah are good for anything the public must find itself

satisfied.No fuller more scientifically given proof can be found to show that Cain is the transformation of

an Elohim (the Sephira Binah)into Jah-Veh (or God-Eve)androgyne and that Seth is the Jehovah male

than in the combined discoveries of Seyffarth Knight etc.and finally in Mr.Ralston Skinner ’s most

erudite work.The further relations of these personifications of the first human races,in their gradual

development will be given later on in the text.]

This is not the first warning received by the “theological schools.” which however no doubt knew it from

the beginning as did Clemens of Alexandria and others.But if it be so they will profit still less by it as the

admission would involve more for them than the mere sacredness and dignity of the established faith.

But it may also be asked why is it that the Asiatic religions,which have nothing of this sort to conceal

and which proclaim quite openly the Esoterism of their doctrines,follow the same course?It is simply

this:While the present and no doubt enforced silence of the Church on this subject relates merely to the

external or theoretical form of the Bible -the unveiling of the secrets of which would have involved no

practical harm had they been explained from the first -it is an entirely different question with Eastern

Esoterism and Symbology.The grand central figure of the Gospels would have remained as unaffected

by the symbolism of the Old Testament being revealed as would that of the Founder of Buddhism had

the Brahmanical writings of the P ranas,that preceded his birth all been shown to be allegorical.Jesus

of Nazareth moreover would have gained more than he would have lost had he been presented as a

simple mortal left to be judged on his own precepts and merits,instead of being fathered on Christendom

as a God whose many utterances and acts are now so open to criticism.On the other hand the symbols

and allegorical sayings that veil the grand truths of Nature in the Vedas,the Brahmanas,the Upanishads

and especially in the Lamaist Chagpa Thogmed and other works,are quite of a different nature and far

more complicated in their secret meaning.While the Biblical glyphs have nearly all a triune foundation

those of the Eastern books are worked on the septenary principle.They are (Page 54)as closely related to

the mysteries of Physics and Physiology as to Psychism and the transcendental nature of cosmic

elements and Theogony;unriddled they would prove more than injurious to the uninitiated;delivered into

the hands of the present generations in their actual state of physical and intellectual development in the

absence of spirituality and even of practical morality they would become absolutely disastrous.

Nevertheless the secret teachings of the sanctuaries have not remained without witness;they have been

made immortal in various ways.They have burst upon the world in hundreds of volumes full of the quaint

head-breaking phraseology of the Alchemist;they have flashed like irrepressible cataracts of Occult

mystic lore from the pens of poets and bards.Genius alone had certain privileges in those dark ages

when no dreamer could offer the world even a fiction without suiting his heaven and his earth to biblical

text.To genius alone it was permitted in those centuries of mental blindness,when the fear of the “Holy

Office ” threw a thick veil over every cosmic and psychic truth to reveal unimpeded some of the grandest

truths of Initiation.Whence did Ariosto in his Orlando F rioso,obtain his conception of that valley of the

Moon where after our death we can find the ideas and images of all that exists on earth?How came

Dante to imagine the many descriptions given in his Inferno -a new Johannine Apolcalypse a true Occult

Revelation in verse -his visit and communion with the Souls of the Seven Spheres?In poetry and satire

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every Occult truth has been welcomed -none has been recognised as serious.The Comte de Gabalis is

better known and appreciated than Porphyry and Iamblichus.Plato ’s mysterious Atlantis is proclaimed a

fiction while Noah ’s Deluge is to this day on the brain of certain Archaeologists who scoff at the

archetypal world of Marcel Palingenius ’ Zodiac and would resent as a personal injury being asked to

discuss the four worlds of Mercury Trismegistus -the Archetypal the Spiritual the Astral and the

Elementary with three others behind the opened scene.Evidently civilised society is still but half

prepared for the revelation.Hence the Initiates will never give out the whole secret until the bulk of

mankind has changed its actual nature and is better prepared for truth.Clemens Alexandrinus was

positively right in saying “It is requisite to hide in a mystery the wisdom spoken ” -which the “Sons of

God ”teach.

That Wisdom as will be seen relates to all the primeval truths delivered to the first Races,the “Mind-

born ”by the “Builders ”of the Universe themselves.

The Wisdom-Religion -(Page 55)There was in every ancient country having claims to civilisation an

Esoteric Doctrine a system which was designated WISDOM [ The writings extant in olden times often

personified Wisdom as an emanation and associate of the Creator.Thus we have the Hindu Buddha the

Babylonian Nebo the Thoth of Memphis,the Hermes of Greece:also the female divinities,Neitha Metis,

Athena and the Gnostic potency Achamoth or Sophia.The Samaritan Pentate ch denominated the

Book of Genesis,Akamouth or Wisdom and two remnants of old treatises,the Wisdom of Solomon and

the Wisdom of Jesus,relate to the same matters.The Book of Mashalim -the Disco rses of Proverbs of

Solomon -thus personifies Wisdom as the auxiliary of the Creator.In the Secret Wisdom of the East that

auxiliary is found collectively in the first emanations of Primeval Light the Seven Dhyani-Chohans,who

have been shown to be identical with the “Seven Spirits of the Presence ” of the Roman Catholics.] and

those who were devoted to its prosecution were first denominated sages,or wise men...Pythagoras

termed this system ēćķłóéņ ōłķ äķōłķ the Gnosis or Knowledge of things that are.Under the noble

designation of WISDOM the ancient teachers,the sages of India the magians of Persia and Babylon

the seers and prophets of Israel the hierophants of Egypt and Arabia and the philosophers of Greece

and the West included all knowledge which they considered as essentially divine;classifying a part as

esoteric and the remainder as exterior.The Rabbis called the exterior and secular series the Mercavah

as being the body or vehicle which contained the higher knowledge.[New Platonism and Alchemy,p.6 .]

Later on we shall speak of the law of silence imposed on eastern chelās.

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SECTION V

Some Reasons for Secrecy

(Page 56)The fact that the Occult Sciences have been withheld from the world at large and denied by the

Initiates to Humanity has often been made matter of complaint.It has been alleged that the Guardians of

the Secret Lore were selfish in withholding the “treasures ” of Archaic Wisdom;that it was positively

criminal to keep back such knowledge -“if any ” -from the men of Science etc.

Yet there must have been some very good reasons for it since from the very dawn of History such has

been the policy of every Hierophant and “Master.”Pythagoras,the first Adept and real Scientist in pre-

Christian Europe is accused of having taught in public the immobility of the earth and the rotary motion

of the stars around it while he was declaring to his privileged Adepts his belief in the motion of the Earth

as a planet and in the heliocentric system.The reasons for such secresy however are many and were

never made a mystery of.The chief cause as given in Isis Unveiled .It may now be repeated.

From the very day when the first mystic,taught by the first Instructor of the “divine Dynasties ”

of the early races,was taught the means of communication between this world and the worlds

of the invisible host between the sphere of matter and that of pure spirit he concluded that to

abandon this mysterious science to the desecration willing or unwilling of the profane rabble -

was to lose it.An abuse of it might lead mankind to speedy destruction;it was like surrounding

a group of children with explosive substances,and furnishing them with matches.The first

divine Instructor initiated but a select few and these kept silence with the multitudes.They

recognised their “God ”and each Adept felt the great “SELF ”within himself.The Atman the

Self the mighty Lord and Protector once that man knew him as the “ I am ”the “Ego Sum ”the

“Asmi ”showed his full power to him who could recognise the “still small voice.” From the days

of the primitive man described by the first Vedic poet down to our modern age there has not

been a philosopher worthy of that name who did not carry in the silent sanctuary of his heart

the grand and mysterious truth.If initiated he learnt it as a sacred science;if otherwise then

like Socrates,repeating to himself as well as his fellow-men the noble injunction “ O man

know thyself ” he succeeded in recognising his God within himself.

The Key of Practical Theurgy -

(Page 57)“Ye are Gods,”the king-psalmist tells us,and we find Jesus reminding the scribes

that this expression was addressed to other mortal men claiming for themselves the same

privilege without any blasphemy.And as a faithful echo Paul while asserting that we are all

“the temple of the living God ” cautiously remarked elsewhere that after all these things are

only for the “wise ” and it is “unlawful ”to speak of them.[ ii.317 318.Many verbal alterations

from the original text of Isis Unveiled were made by H.P.B.in her quotations therefrom and

these are followed throughout.]

Some of the reasons for this secresy may be given.

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The fundamental law and master-key of practical Theurgy in its chief applications to the serious study of

cosmic and sidereal of psychic and spiritual mysteries was,and still is,that which was called by the

Greek Neoplatonist “Theophania.” In its generally-accepted meaning this is “communication between the

Gods (or God)and those initiated mortals who are spiritually fit to enjoy such an intercourse.”

Esoterically however it signifies more than this.For it is not only the presence of a God but an actual -

howbeit temporary -incarnation the blending so to say of the personal Deity the Higher Self with man -

its representative or agent on earth.As a general law the Highest God the Over-soul of the human being

(Atma-Buddhi),only overshadows the individual during his life for purposes of instruction and revelation;

or as Roman Catholics -who erroneously call that Over-soul the “Guardian Angel ” -would say “It stands

outside and watches.” But in the case of the theophanic mystery it incarnates itself in the Theurgist for

purposes of revelation.When the incarnation is temporary during those mysterious trances or “ecstasy ”

which Plotinus defined as

The liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness,becoming one and identified with the

Infinite

this sublime condition is very short.The human soul being the offspring or emanation of its God the

“Father and the Son ” become one “the divine fountain flowing like a stream into its human bed.”

[ Proclus claims to have experienced this sublime ecstasy six times during his mystic life:Porphyry

asserts that Appollonius of Tyana was thus united four times to his deity -a statement which we believe

to be a mistake since Apollonius was a Nirmanakaya (divine incarnation -not Avatara)-and he

(Porphyry)only once when over sixty years of age.Theophany (or the actual appearance of a God to

man),Theopathy (or “assimilation of divine nature ”),and Theopneusty (inspiration or rather the

mysterious power to hear orally the teachings of a God)have never been rightly understood.] In

exceptional cases,however the mystery becomes complete;the (Page 58)Word is made Flesh in real

fact the individual becoming divine in the full sense of the term since his personal God has made of him

his permanent life-long tabernacle -“the temple of God ”as Paul says.

Now that which is meant here by the personal God of Man is,of course not his seventh Principle alone

as per se and in essence that is merely a bean of the infinite Ocean of Light.In conjunction with our

Divine Soul the Buddhi it cannot be called a Duad as it otherwise might since though formed from

Atma and Buddhi (the two higher Principles),the former is no entity but an emanation from the Absolute

and indivisible in reality from it.The personal God is not the Monad but indeed the prototype of the latter

what for want of a better term we call the manifested Karanatma [ Karana Sharira is the “causal ” body

and is sometimes said to be the “personal God.” And so it is,in one sense.] (Causal Soul),one of the

“seven ” and chief reservoirs of the human Monads or Egos.The latter are gradually formed and

strengthened during their incarnation-cycle by constant additions of individuality from the personalities in

which incarnates that androgynous,half-spiritual half-terrestrial principle partaking of both heaven and

earth called by the Vedantins Jiva and Vijnanamaya Kosha and by the Occultists the Manas (mind);

that in short which uniting itself partially with the Monad incarnates in each new birth.In perfect unity

with its (seventh)Principle the Spirit unalloyed it is the divine Higher Self as every student of

Theosophy knows.After every new incarnation Buddhi-Manas culls,so to say the aroma of the flower

called personality the purely earthly residue of which its dregs -is left to fade out as a shadow.This is

the most difficult -because so transcendentally metaphysical -portion of the doctrine.

As is repeated many a time in this and other works,it is not the Philosophers,Sages,and Adepts of

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antiquity who can ever be charged with idolatry.It is they in fact who recognising divine unity were the

only ones,owing to their initiation into the mysteries of Esotericism to understand correctly the

õšóķóéį(hyponea),or under-meaning of the anthropomorphism of the so-called Angels,Gods,and

Spiritual Beings of every kind.Each worshipping the one Divine Essence that pervades the whole world

of Nature reverenced but never worshipped or idolised any of these “Gods,” whether high or low -not

even his own personal Deity of which he was a Ray and to whom he appealed.[ This would be in one

sense Self-worship.]

The Ladder of Being -

(Page 59)The holy Triad emanates from the One and is the Tetraktys;the gods,daimons,and

souls are an emanation of the Triad.Heroes and men repeat the hierarchy in themselves.

Thus said Metrodorus of Chios,the Pythagorean the latter part of the sentence meaning that man has

within himself the seven pale reflections of the seven divine Hierarchies;his Higher Self is,therefore in

itself but the refracted beam of the direct Ray.He who regards the latter as an Entity in the usual sense

of the term is one of the “infidels and atheists,” spoken of by Epicurus,for he fastens on that God “the

opinions of the multitude ” -an anthropomorphism of the grossest kind.[“The Gods exist ” said Epicurus,

“but they are not what the hoi polloi (the multitude)suppose them to be.He is not an infidel or atheist

who denies the existence of Gods whom the multitude worship but he is such who fastens on the Gods

the opinions of the multitude.” ] The Adept and the Occultist know that “what are styled the Gods are only

the first principles ” (Aristotle).None the less they are intelligent conscious,and living “Principles,” the

Primary Seven Lights manifested from Light nmanifested -which to us is Darkness.They are the Seven

-exoterically four -Kumaras or “Mind-Born Sons ” of Brahma.And it is they again the Dhyan Chohans,

who are the prototypes in the aeonic eternity of lower Gods and hierarchies of divine Beings,at the

lowest end of which ladder of being are we -men.

Thus perchance Polytheism when philosophically understood may be a degree higher than even the

Monotheism of the Protestant say who limits and conditions the Deity in whom he persists in seeing the

Infinite but whose supposed actions make of that “Absolute and Infinite ” the most absurd paradox in

Philosophy.From this standpoint Roman Catholicism itself is immeasurably higher and more logical than

Protestantism though the Roman Church has been pleased to adopt the exotericism of the heathen

“multitude ”and to reject the Philosophy of pure Esotericism.

Thus every mortal has his immortal counterpart or rather his Archetype in heaven.This means that the

former is indissolubly united to the latter in each of his incarnations,and for the duration of the cycle of

births;only it is by the spiritual and intellectual Principle in him entirely distinct from the lower self never

through the earthly personality.Some of these are even liable to break the union altogether in case of

absence in the moral individual of binding viz.,of spiritual ties.Truly as Paracelsus puts it in his quaint

tortured (Page 60)phraseology man with his three (compound)Spirits is suspended like a foetus by all

three to the matrix of the Macrocosm;the thread which holds him united being the “Thread-Soul ”

Sutratma and Taijasa (the “Shining ” )of the Vedantins.And it is through this spiritual and intellectual

Principle in man though Taijasa -the Shining “because it has the luminous internal organ as its

associate ” -that man is thus united to his heavenly prototype never through his lower inner self or Astral

Body for which there remains in most cases nothing but to fade out.

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Occultism or Theurgy teaches the means of producing such union.But it is the actions of man -his

personal merit alone -that can produce it on earth or determine its duration.This lasts from a few

seconds -a flash -to several hours,during which time the Theurgist or Theophanist is that

overshadowing “God ” himself;hence he becomes endowed for the time being with relative omniscience

and omnipotence.With such perfect (divine)Adepts as Buddha [ Esoteric,as exoteric,Buddhism rejects

the theory that Gautama was an incarnation or Avatara of Vishnu but teaches the doctrine as herein

explained.Every man has in him the materials,if not the conditions,for theophanic intercourse and

Theopneusty the inspiring “God ”being however in every case his own Higher Self or divine prototype .]

and others such a hypostatical state of avataric condition may last during the whole life;whereas in the

case of full Initiates,who have not yet reached the perfect state of Jivanmukta [ One entirely and

absolutely purified and having nothing in common with earth except his body.] Theopneusty when in full

sway results for the high Adept in a full recollection of everything seen heard or sensed.

Taijasa has fruition of the supersensible .[ Mand kyopanishad,4.]

For one less perfect it will end only in a partial indistinct remembrance;while the beginner has to face in

the first period of his psychic experiences a mere confusion followed by a rapid and finally complete

oblivion of the mysteries seen during this super-hypnotic condition.The degree of recollection when one

returns to his waking state and physical senses,depends on his spiritual and psychic purification the

greatest enemy of spiritual memory being man ’s physical brain the organ of his sensuous nature.

The above states are described for a clearer comprehension of terms used in this work.There are so

many and such various conditions and states that even a Seer is liable to confound one with the other.

Three Ways Open to the Adept -(Page 61)To repeat:the Greek,rarely-used word “Theophania ” meant

more with the Neoplatonists than it does with the modern maker of dictionaries.The compound word

Theophania ” (from “theos,” “God ” and “phainomai ” “to appear),” does not simply mean “ a manifestation

of God to man by act al appearance ” -an absurdity by the way -but the actual presence of a God in

man a divine incarnation.When Simon the Magician claimed to be “God the Father ” what he wanted to

convey was just that which has been explained namely that he was a divine incarnation of his own

Father whether we see in the latter an Angel a God or a Spirit;therefore he was called “that power of

God which is called great ” [ Acts viii 10 (Revised Version).] or that power which causes the Divine Self

to enshrine itself in its lower self -man.

This is one of the several mysteries of being and incarnation.Another is that when an Adept reaches

during his lifetime that state of holiness and purity that makes him “equal to the Angels,” then at death his

apparitional or astral body becomes as solid and tangible as was the late body and is transformed into

the real man.[ See the explanations given on the subject in “The Elixir of Life ” by G.M.(From a Chela ’s

Diary),Five Years of Theosophy.] The old physical body falling off like the cast-off serpent ’s skin the

body of the “new ” man remains either visible or at the option of the Adept disappears from view

surrounded as it is by the Akashic shell that screens it.In the latter case there are three ways open to the

Adept:

(1)He may remain in the earth ’s sphere (Vayu or Kama-loka),in that ethereal locality concealed from

human sight save during flashes of clairvoyance.In this case his astral body owing to its great purity and

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spirituality having lost the conditions required for Akashic light (the nether or terrestrial ether)to absorb

its semi-material particles,the Adept will have to remain in the company of disintegrating shells -doing

no good or useful work.This,of course cannot be.

(2)He can by a supreme effort of will merge entirely into and get united with his Monad.By doing so

however we would (a)deprive his Higher Self of posthumous Samadhi -a bliss which is not real Nirvana

-the astral however pure being too earthly for such state;and (b)he would thereby open himself to

Karmic law;the action being in fact the outcome of personal selfishness -of reaping the fruits produced

by and for oneself -alone.

(3)The Adept has the option of renouncing conscious Nirvana and (Page 62)rest to work on earth for the

good of mankind.This he can do in a two-fold way:either as above said by consolidating his astral body

into physical appearance he can reassume the self-same personality;or he can avail himself of an

entirely new physical body whether that of a newly-born infant or -as Shānkarācharya is reported to

have done with the body of a dead Rajah -by entering a deserted sheath ” and living in it as long as he

chooses.This is what is called “continuous existence.” The Section entitled “The Mystery about Buddha ”

will throw additional light on this theory to the profane incomprehensible or to the generality simply

absurd .Such is the doctrine taught everyone having the choice of either fathoming it still deeper or of

leaving it unnoticed.

The above is simply a small portion of what might have been given in Isis Unveiled had the time come

then as it has now.One cannot study and profit by Occult Science unless one gives himself up to it -

heart soul and body.Some of its truths are too awful too dangerous,for the average mind.None can

toy and play with such terrible weapons with impunity.Therefore it is,as St.Paul has it “unlawful ” to

speak of them.Let us accept the reminder and talk only of that which is “lawful.”

The quotation on p.56 relates,moreover only to psychic or spiritual Magic.The practical teachings of

Occult Science are entirely different and few are the strong minds fitted for them.As to ecstasy and

such like kinds of self-illumination this may be obtained by oneself and without any teacher or initiation

for ecstasy is reached by an inward command and control of Self over the physical Ego;as to obtaining

mastery over the forces of Nature this requires a long training or the capacity of one born a “natural

Magician.” Meanwhile those who possess neither of the requisite qualifications are strongly advised to

limit themselves to purely spiritual development.But even this is difficult as the first necessary

qualification is an unshakable belief in one ’s own powers and the Deity within oneself;otherwise a man

would simply develop into an irresponsible medium.Throughout the whole mystic literature of the ancient

world we detect the same idea of spiritual Esoterism that the personal God exists within nowhere

outside the worshipper.That personal Deity is no vain breath or a fiction but an immortal Entity the

Initiator of the Initiates,now that the heavenly or Celestial Initiators of primitive humanity -the Shishta of

the preceding cycles -are no more among us.Like an undercurrent rapid and clear it runs without

mixing its crystalline purity with the muddy troubled waters of dogmatism an enforced anthropomorphic

Deity and religious intolerance.

Man is God -(Page 63)We find this idea in the tortured and barbarous phraseology of the Codex

Nazarae s,and in the superb Neoplatonic language of the Fourth Gospel of the later Religion in the

oldest Veda and in the Avesta in the Abhidharma,in Kapila ’s Sankhya,and the Bhagavad Gitā.We

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cannot attain Adeptship and Nirvana Bliss and the “Kingdom of Heaven ” unless we link ourselves

indissolubly with our Rex Lux the Lord of Splendour and of Light our immortal God within us.“Aham eva

param Brahman ”-“ I am verily the Supreme Brahman ”-has ever been the one living truth in the heart

and mind of the Adepts,and it is this which helps the Mystic to become one.One must first of all

recognize one ’s own immortal Principle and then only can one conquer or take the Kingdom of Heaven

by violence.Only this has to be achieved by the higher -not the middle nor the third -man the last one

being of dust.Nor can the second man the “Son ”-on this plane as his “Father ”is the Son on a still

higher plane -do anything without the assistance of the first the “Father.”But to succeed one has to

identify oneself with one ’s divine Parent.

The first man is of the earth earthy;the second [inner our higher ] man is the Lord from

heaven....Behold I show you a mystery.[ I.Cor.,xv.47.50 .]

Thus says Paul mentioning but the dual and trinitarian man for the better comprehension of the non-

initiated.But this is not all for the Dephic injunction has to be fulfilled:man must know himself in order to

become a perfect Adept.How few can acquire the knowledge however not merely in its inner mystical

but even in its literal sense for there are two meanings in this command of the Oracle.This is the

doctrine of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas pure and simple.

Such is also the mystical sense of what was said to Paul to the Corinthians about their being the “temple

of God ”for this meant Esoterically:

Ye are the temple of [the or your ] God and the Spirit of [a or your ] God dwelleth in you.[ I

Cor .iii.16.Has the reader ever meditated upon the suggestive words,often pronounced by

Jesus and his Apostles?“Be ye therefore perfect as your Father...is perfect ” (Matt .v.48),

says the Great Master.The words are “as perfect as your Father which is in heaven ”being

interpreted as meaning God.Now the utter absurdity of any man becoming as perfect as the

infinite all-perfect omniscient and omnipresent Deity is too apparent.If you accept it in such

a sense Jesus is made to utter the greatest fallacy.What was Esoterically meant is,“Your

Father who is above the material and astral man the highest Principle (save the Monad)

within man his own personal God or the God of his own personality of whom he is the

‘prison ’ and the ‘temple.’ “”If thou wilt be perfect (i.e .an Adept and Initiate)go and sell that

thou hast ”(Matt .xix.21).Every man who desired to become a neophyte a chela then as

now had to take the vow of poverty.The “Perfect ” was the name given to the Initiates of every

denomination.Plato calls them by that term.The Essenes had their “Perfect.”and Paul plainly

states that they the Initiates,can only speak before other Adepts.“We speak wisdom among

them [only ] that are perfect ”(I.Cor .ii.6).]

(Page 64)This carries precisely the same meaning as the “ I am verily Brahman ”of the Vedantin.Nor is the

latter assertion more blasphemous than the Pauline -if there were any blasphemy in either which is

denied.Only the Vedantin who never refers to his body as being himself or even a part of himself or

aught else but an illusory form for others to see him in constructs his assertion more openly and

sincerely than was done by Paul.

The Delphic command “Know thyself ” was perfectly comprehensible to every nation of old.So it is now

save to the Christians,since with the exception of the Mussulmans,it is part and parcel of every Eastern

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religion including the Kabalistically instructed Jews.To understand its full meaning however

necessitates,first of all belief in Reincarnation and all its mysteries;not as laid down in the doctrine of

the French Reincarnationists of the Allan Kardec school but as they are expounded and taught by

Esoteric Philosophy.Man must in short know who he was,before he arrives at knowing what he is.And

how many are there among Europeans who are capable of developing within themselves an absolute

belief in their past and future reincarnations,in general even as a law let alone mystic knowledge of

one ’s immediately precedent life?Early education tradition and training of thought everything is

opposing itself during their whole lives to such a belief.Cultured people have been brought up in that

most pernicious idea that the wide difference found between the units of one and the same mankind or

even race is the result of chance;that the gulf between man and man in their respective social positions,

birth intellect physical and mental capacities -every one of which qualifications has a direct influence on

every human life -that all this is simply due to blind hazard only the most pious among them finding

equivocal consolation in the idea that it is “the will of God.” They have never analysed never stopped to

think of the depth of the opprobrium that is thrown upon their God once the grand and most equitable

law of the manifold re-births of man upon this earth is foolishly rejected.Men and women anxious to be

regarded as Christians,often truly and sincerely trying to lead a Christ-like life have never paused to

reflect over the words of their own Bible.

Jesus Taught Reincarnation -(Page 65)“Art thou Elias?” the Jewish priests and Levites asked the

Baptist.[ John,i.21.] Their Saviour taught His disciples this grand truth of the Esoteric Philosophy but

verily if His Apostles comprehended it no one else seems to have realised its true meaning.No;not

even Nicodemus,who to the assertion:“Except a man be born again [John,iii “Born ” from above viz.,

from his Monad or divine EGO the seventh Principle which remains till the end of the Kalpa the nucleus

of and at the same time the overshadowing Principle as the Karanatma (Causal Soul)of the personality

in every rebirth.In this sense the sentence “born anew ” means “descends from above ” the last two

words having no reference to heaven or space neither of which can be limited or located since one is a

state and the other infinite hence having no cardinal points.(See New Testament,Revised Version

loc.cit.)] he cannot see the Kingdom of God ” answers:“How can a man be born when he is old?” and is

forthwith reproved by the remark:“Art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things?-as no one

had a right to call himself a “Master ” and Teacher without having been initiated into the mysteries (a)of a

spiritual re-birth through water fire and spirit and (b)of the re-birth from flesh.[ This can have no

reference to Christian Baptism,since there was none in the days of Nicodemus and he could not

therefore know anything of it even though a “Master.”] Then again what can be a clearer expression as

to the doctrine of manifold re-births than the answer given by Jesus to the Sadducees,“who deny that

there is any resurrection ” i.e.,any re-birth since the dogma of the resurrection in the flesh is now

regarded as an absurdity even by the intelligent clergy:

They who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world [Nirvana ] [ This word translated in

the New Testament “world ”to suit the official interpretation means rather an “age ”(as shown

in the Revised Version )or one of the periods during the Manvantara a Kalpa or Aeon.

Esoterically the sentence would read:“He who shall reach through a series of births and

Karmic law the state in which Humanity shall find itself after the Seventh Round and the

Seventh Race when comes Nirvana Moksha and when man becomes ‘equal unto the

Angels ’ of Dhyan Chohans,is a ‘son of the resurrection ’ and ‘can die no more ’:then there will

be no marriage as there will be no difference of sexes ”-a result of our present materiality and

animalism .]....neither marry ...Neither can they die any more

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which shows that they had already died and more than once.And again:

Now that the dead are raised even Moses shewed ...He calleth the Lord the God of

Abraham and the God of Isaac,and the God of Jacob for he is not a God of the dead but of

the living.[ L ke,xx.27-38.]

The sentence “now that the dead are raised ” evidently applied to the then actual re-births of the Jacobs

and the Isaacs,and not to their (Page 66)future resurrection;for in such case they would have been still

dead in the interim and could not be referred to as “the living.”

But in the most suggestive of Christ ’s parables and “dark sayings ” is found in the explanation given by

him to his Apostles about the blind man:

Master who did sin this man or his parents,that he was born blind?Jesus answered Neither

hath this [blind physical ] man sinned nor his parents;but that the works of [his ] God should be

made manifest in him.[ John ix.2.3.]

Man is the “tabernacle ” the “building ” only of his God;and of course it is not the temple but its inmate -

the vehicle of “God ” [The conscious Ego of Fifth Principle Manas,the vehicle of the divine Monad or

“God ”.] that had sinned in a previous incarnation and had thus brought the Karma of cecity upon the new

building.Thus Jesus spoke truly;but to this day his followers have refused to understand the words of

wisdom spoken.The Saviour is shown by his followers as though he were paving by his words and

explanation the way to a preconceived programme that had to lead to an intended miracle.Verily the

Grand Martyr has remained thenceforward and for eighteen centuries,the Victim crucified daily far more

cruelly by his clerical disciples and lay followers than he ever could have been by his allegorical enemies.

For such is the true sense of the words “that the works of God should be made manifest in him ” in the

light of theological interpretation and a very undignified one it is,if the Esoteric explanation is rejected.

Doubtless the above will be regarded as fresh blasphemy.Nevertheless there are a number of Christians

whom we know -whose hearts go out as strongly to their ideal of Jesus,as their souls are repelled from

the theological picture of the official Saviour -who will reflect over our explanation and find in it no

offence but perchance a relief.

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SECTION VI

The Dangers of Practical Magic

(Page 67)MAGIC is a dual power:nothing is easier than to turn it into Sorcery;an evil tho ght suffices for

it.Therefore while theoretical Occultism is harmless,and may do good practical Magic,or the fruits of

the Tree of Life and Knowledge [ Some Symbologists relying on the correspondence of numbers and the

symbols of certain things and personages,refer these “secrets ” to the mystery of generation.But it is

more than this.The glyph of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil ” has no doubt a phallic and sexual

element in it as has the “Woman and the Serpent ” ;but it has also a psychical and spiritual significance.

Symbols are meant to yield more than one meaning.] or otherwise the “Science of Good and Evil ” is

fraught with dangers and perils.For the study of theoretical Occultism there are no doubt a number of

works that may be read with profit besides such books as the Finer Forces of Nat re,etc.the Zohar,

Sepher Jetzirah,The Book of Enoch,Franck ’s Kabalah,and many Hermetic treatises.These are scarce

in European languages,but works in Latin by the mediaeval Philosophers,generally known as

Alchemists and Rosicrucians,are plentiful.But even the perusal of these may prove dangerous for the

unguided student.If approached without the right key to them and if the student is unfit owing to mental

incapacity for Magic,and is thus unable to discern the Right from the Left Path let him take our advice

and leave this study alone;he will only bring on himself and on his family unexpected woes and sorrows,

never suspecting whence they come nor what are the powers awakened by his mind being bent on

them.Works for advanced students are many but these can be placed at the disposal of only sworn or

“pledged ” chelas (disciples),those who have pronounced the ever-binding oath and who are therefore

helped and protected.For all other purposes,well-intentioned as such works may (Page 68)be they can

only mislead the unwary and guide them imperceptibly to Black Magic or Sorcery -if to nothing worse.

The mystic characters,alphabets and numerals found in the divisions and sub-divisions of the Great

Kabalah are perhaps,the most dangerous portions in it and especially the numerals.We say

dangerous,because they are the most prompt to produce effects and results and this with or without the

experimenter ’s will even without his knowledge.Some students are apt to doubt this statement simply

because after manipulating these numerals they have failed to notice any dire physical manifestation or

result.Such results would be found the least dangerous:it is the moral causes produced and the various

events developed and brought to an unforeseen crisis,that would testify to the truth of what is now stated

had the lay students only the power of discernment.

The point of departure of that special branch of the Occult teaching known as the “Science of

Correspondences,”numerical or literal or alphabetical has for its epigraph with the Jewish and

Christian Kabalists,the two mis-interpreted verses which say that God ordered all things in

number measure and weight;[ Wisdom,xi.21.Douay version ]

and:

He created her in the Holy Ghost and saw her and numbered her and measured her.[

Ecclesiasticus,i.9.Douay version.]

But the Eastern Occultists have another epigraph:“Absol te Unity,x,within number and plurality.” Both

the Western and the Eastern students of the Hidden Wisdom hold to this axiomatic truth.Only the latter

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are perhaps more sincere in their confessions.Instead of putting a mask on their Science they show her

face openly even if they do veil carefully her heart and soul before the inappreciative public and the

profane who are ever ready to abuse the most sacred truths for their own selfish ends.But Unity is the

real basis of the Occult Sciences -physical and metaphysical.This is shown even by Eliphas Levi the

learned Western Kabalist inclined as he is to be rather jesuitical.He says:

Absolute Unity is the supreme and final reason of things.Therefore that reason can be neither

one person nor three persons;it is Reason and preeminently Reason (raison par excellence ).

[ Dogme et Rit el de la Ha te Magie,i,361 .]

Names are Symbols -(Page 69)The meaning of this Unity in Plurality in “God ” or Nature can be solved

only by the means of transcendental methods,by numerals,as by the correspondences between soul

and the Soul.Names,in the Kabalah,as in the Bible such as Jehovah Adam Kadmon Eve Cain Abel

Enoch are all of them more intimately connected by geometrical and astronomical relations,with

Physiology (or Phallicism)than with Theology or Religion.Little as people are as yet prepared to admit it

this will be shown to be a fact.If all those names are symbols for things hidden as well as for those

manifested in the Bible as in the Vedas,their respective mysteries differ greatly.Plato ’s motto “God

geometrises ” was accepted by both Aryans and Jews;but while the former applied their Science of

Correspondences to veil the most spiritual and sublime truths of Nature the latter used their acumen to

conceal only one -to them the most divine -of the mysteries of Evolution namely that of birth and

generation and then they deified the organs of the latter.

Apart from this,every cosmogony from the earliest to the latest is based upon interlinked with and most

closely related to numerals and geometric figures.Questioned by an Initiate these figures and numbers

will yield numerical values based on the integral values of the Circle -“the secret habitat of the ever-

invisible Deity ” as the Alchemists have it -as they will yield every other Occult particular connected with

such mysteries,whether anthropographical anthroplogical cosmic,or psychical.“In reuniting Ideas to

Numbers,we can operate upon Ideas in the same way as upon Numbers,and arrive at the Mathematics

of Truth ”writes an Occultist who shows his great wisdom in desiring to remain unknown.

Any Kabalist well acquainted with the Pythagorean system of numerals and geometry can

demonstrate that the metaphysical views of Plato were based upon the strictest mathematical

principles.“True mathematics,”says the Magicon “is something with which all higher sciences

are connected;common mathematics is but a deceitful phantasmagoria whose much praised

infallibility only arises from this -that materials,conditions and references are made to

foundation.”

The cosmological theory of numerals which Pythagoras learned in India and from the

Egyptian Hierophants is alone able to reconcile the two units,matter and spirit and cause

each to demonstrate the other mathematically.The sacred numbers of the universe in their

esoteric combination can alone solve the great problem and explain the theory of radiation

and the cycle of the emanations.The lower orders,before they develop into higher ones,must

emanate from the (Page 70)higher spiritual ones,and when arrived at the turning-point be

reabsorbed into the infinite.[Isis Unveiled,i 6,7.]

It is upon these true Mathematics that the knowledge of the Kosmos and of all mysteries rests,and to

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one acquainted with them it is the easiest thing possible to prove that both Vaidic and Biblical structures

are based upon “God-in-Nature ” and “Nature-in-God ” as the radical law.Therefore this law -as

everything else immutable and fixed in eternity -could find a correct expression only in those purest

transcendental Mathematics referred to by Plato especially in Geometry as transcendentally applied.

Revealed to men -we fear not and will not retract the expression -in this geometrical and symbolical

garb Truth has grown and developed into additional symbology invented by man for the wants and

better comprehension of the masses of mankind that came too late in their cyclic development and

evolution to have shared in the primitive knowledge and would never have grasped it otherwise.If later

on the clergy -crafty and ambitious of power in every age -anthropomorphised and degraded abstract

ideals,as well as the real and divine Beings who do exist in Nature and are the Guardians and

Protectors of our manvantaric world and period the fault and guilt rests with those would-be leaders,not

with the masses.

But the day has come when the gross conceptions of our forefathers during the Middle Ages can no

longer satisfy the thoughtful religionist.The mediaeval Alchemist and Mystic are now transformed into the

sceptical Chemist and Physicist;and most of them are found to have turned away from truth on account

of the purely anthropomorphic ideas,the gross Materialism of the forms in which it is presented to them.

Therefore future generations have either to be gradually initiated into the truths underlying Exoteric

Religions,including their own or to be left to break the feet of clay of the last of the gilded idols.No

educated man or woman would turn away from any of the now called “superstitions,” which they believe

to be based on nursery tales and ignorance if they could only see the basis of fact that underlies every

“superstition.” But let them once learn for a certainty that there is hardly a claim in the Occult Sciences

that is not founded on philosophical and scientific facts in Nature and they will pursue the study of those

Sciences with the same if not with greater ardour than that they have expended in shunning them.This

cannot be achieved at once for to benefit mankind such truths have to be revealed gradually and with

great caution the public mind not being prepared for them.

The Three Mothers -(Page 71)However much the Agnostics of our age may find themselves in the

mental attitude demanded by Modern Science people are always apt to cling to their old hobbies so long

as the remembrance of them lasts.They are like the Emperor Julian -called the Apostate because he

loved truth too well to accept aught else -who though in his last Theophany he beheld his beloved Gods

as pale worn-out and hardly discernible shadows,nevertheless clung to them.Let then the world cling

to its Gods,to whatever plane or realm they may belong.The true Occultist would be guilty of high

treason to mankind were he to break forever the old deities before he could replace them with the whole

and unadulterated truth -and this he cannot do as yet.Nevertheless,the reader may be allowed to learn

at least the alphabet of that truth.He may be shown at any rate what the Gods and Goddesses of the

Pagans,denounced as demons by the Church are not if he cannot learn the whole and final truth as to

what they are.Let him assure himself that the Hermetic “Tres Matres,” and the “Three Mothers ” of the

Sepher Jetzirah are one and the same thing;that they are no Demon-Goddesses,but Light Heat and

Electricity and then perchance the learned classes will spurn them no longer.After this,the Rosicrucian

Illuminati may find followers even in the Royal Academies,which will be more prepared perhaps,than

they are now to admit the grand truths of archaic Natural Philosophy especially when their learned

members shall have assured themselves that in the dialect of Hermes,the “Three Mothers ” stand as

symbols for the whole of the forces or agencies which have a place assigned to them in the modern

system of the “correlation of forces.” [ “Synesius mentions books of stone which he found in the temple of

Memphis,on one of which was engraved the following sentence:‘One nat re delights in another one

nature overcomes another one nature overrules another and the whole of them are one ’.” “The inherent

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restlessness of matter is embodied in the saying of Hermes:‘Action is he life of Phta ’:and Orpheus calls

nature ÷ļėõģē÷įķļņ ģįōēń ‘the mother that makes many things,’ or the ingenious,the contiving the

inventive mother.”-Isis Unveiled.i.257.]Even the polytheism of the “superstitious ”Brāhman and idolater

shows its raison d ’źtre,since the three Shaktis of the three great Gods,Brahma Vishnu and Shiva are

identical with the “Three Mothers ”of the monotheistic Jew.

The whole of the ancient religious and mystical literature is symbolical.The Books of Hermes,the Zohar,

the Ya-Yakav,the Egyptian Book of the Dead,(Page 72)the Vedas,the Upanishads,and the Bible are as

full of symbolism as are the Nabathean revelations of the Chaldaic Qu-tāmy;it is a loss of time to ask

which is the earliest;all are simply different versions of the one primeval Record of prehistoric knowledge

and revelation.

The first four chapters of Genesis contain the synopsis of all the rest of the Pentate ch,being only the

various versions of the same thing in different allegorical and symbolical applications.Having discovered

that the Pyramid of Cheops with all its measurements is to be found contained in its minutest details in

the structure of Solomon ’s Temple;and having ascertained that the biblical names Shem Ham and

Japhet are determinative

of pyramid measures,in connection with the 600-year period of Noah and the 500-year period

of Shem Ham and Japhet:...the term “Sons of Elohim ”and “Daughters ”of H-Adam [are ] for

one thing astronomical terms,[ So rce of Measures.p.x.]

the author of the very curious work already mentioned -a book very little known in Europe we regret to

say -seems to see nothing in his discovery beyond the presence of Mathematics and Metrology in the

Bible .He also arrives at most unexpected and extraordinary conclusions,such as are very little

warranted by the facts discovered.His impression seems to be that because the Jewish biblical names

are all astronomical therefore the Scriptures of all the other nations can be “only this and nothing more.”

But this is a great mistake of the erudite and wonderfully acute author of The So rce of Measures,if he

really thinks so.The “Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery ” unlocks but a certain portion of the hieratic

writings of these two nations,and leaves those of other peoples untouched.His idea is that the Kabalah

“is only that sublime Science upon which Masonry is based ” ,in fact he regards Masonry as the

substance of the Kabalah,and the latter as the “rational basis of the Hebrew text of Holy Writ.” About this

we will not argue with the author.But why should all those who may have found in the Kabalah

something beyond “the sublime Science ”upon which Masonry is alleged to have been built be held up to

public contempt?

In its exclusiveness and one-sidedness such a conclusion is pregnant with future misconceptions and is

absolutely wrong.In its uncharitable criticism it throws a slur upon the “Divine Science ”itself.

The Bible and Word -Juggling -(Page 73)The Kabalah is indeed “of the essence of Masonry ”but it is

dependent on Metrology only in one of its aspects the less Esoteric,as even Plato made no secret that

the Deity was ever geometrising.For the uninitiated however learned and endowed with genius they

may be the Kabalah which treats only of “the garment of God ”or the veil and cloak of truth

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is built from the ground upward with a practical application to present uses.[ Masonic Review,

July 1886 ]

Or in other words represents an exact Science only on the terrestrial plane.To the initiated the Kabalistic

Lord descends from the primeval Race generated spiritually from the “Mind-born Seven.”Having

reached the Earth the Divine Mathematics -a synonym for Magic in his day as we are told by Josephus -

veiled her face.Hence the most important secret yet yielded by her in our modern day is the identity of

the old Roman measures and the present British measures of the Hebrew-Egyptian cubit and the

Masonic inch.[See So rce of Measures pp.47 -50 et pass.]

The discovery is most wonderful and has led to further and minor unveilings of various riddles in

reference to Symbology and biblical names.It is thoroughly understood and proven as shown by

Nachanides,that in the days of Moses the initial sentence in Genesis was made to read B ’rash ithbara

Elohim,or “In the head-source [ or Mūlaprakriti -the Rootless Root ] developed [or evolved ] the Gods

[Elohim ] the heavens and the earth;”whereas it is now owing to the Massora and theological cunning

transformed into B ’rashith bara Elohim,or “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ”-

which word juggling alone has led to materialistic anthropomorphism and dualism.] How many more

similar instances may not be found in the Bible the last and latest of the Occult works of antiquity?There

is no longer any doubt in the mind of the Occultist that notwithstanding its form and outward meaning

the Bible -as explained by the Zohar or Midrash,the Yetsirah (Book of Creation)and the Commentary

on the Ten Sephiroth (by Azariel Ben Manachem of the X11th century)-is part and parcel of the Secret

Doctrine of the Aryans,which explains in the same manner the Vedas and all other allegorical books.The

Zohar in teaching that the Impersonal One Cause manifests in the Universe through Its Emanations,the

Sephiroth -that Universe being in its (Page 74)totality simply the veil woven from the Deity ’s own

substance -is undeniably the copy and faithful echo of the earliest Vedas .Taken by itself without the

additional help of the Vaidic and of Brahmanical literature in general the Bible will never yield the

universal secrets of Occult Nature.The cubits inches,and measures of this physical plane will never

solve the problems of the world on the spiritual plane -for Spirit can neither be weighed nor measured.

The working out of these problems is reserved for the “mystics and the dreamers ”who alone are capable

of accomplishing it.

Moses was an initiated priest versed in all the mysteries and the Occult knowledge of the Egyptian

temples -hence thoroughly acquainted with primitive Wisdom.It is in the latter that the symbolical and

astronomical meaning of that “Mystery of Mysteries,”the Great Pyramid has to be sought.And having

been so familiar with the geometrical secrets that lay concealed for long aeons in her strong bosom -the

measurements and proportions of the Kosmos,our little Earth included -what wonder that he should

have made use of his knowledge?The Esoterism of Egypt was that of the whole world at one time.

During the long ages of the Third Race it had been the heirloom in common of the whole of mankind

received from their Instructors,the “Sons of Light ”the primeval Seven.There was a time also when the

Wisdom-Religion was not symbolical for it became Esoteric only gradually the change being

necessitated by misuse and by the Sorcery of the Atlanteans.For it was the “misuse ”only and not the

use of the divine gift that led the men of the Fourth Race to Black Magic and Sorcery and finally to

become “forgetful of Wisdom ” ;while those of the Fifth Race the inheritors of the Rishis of the Treta

Yuga used their powers to atrophise such gifts in mankind in general and then as the “Elect Root ”

dispersed.Those who escaped the “Great Flood ”preserved only its memory and a belief founded on the

knowledge of their direct fathers of one remove that such a Science existed and was now jealously

guarded by the “Elect Root ”exalted by Enoch.But there must again come a time when man shall once

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more become what he was during the second Yuga (age),when his probationary cycle shall be over and

he shall gradually become what he was -semi-corporeal and pure.Does not Plato the Initiate tell us in

the Phaedrus all that man once was and that which he may yet again become:

Before man ’s spirit sank into sensuality and became embodied through the loss of his wings,

he lived among the Gods in the airy spiritual world where everything is true and pure.[ See

Cary's translation pp.322 323.]

Moses and the Jews -(Page 75 )Elsewhere he speaks of the time when men did not perpetuate

themselves,but lived as pure spirits.

Let those men of Science who feel inclined to laugh at this,themselves unravel the mystery of the origin

of the first man.

Unwilling that his chosen people -chosen by him -should remain as grossly idolatrous as the profane

masses that surrounded them Moses utilised his knowledge of cosmogonical mysteries of the Pyramid

to build upon it the Genesiacal Cosmogony in symbols and glyphs.This was more accessible to the

minds of the hoi polloi than the abstruse truths taught to the educated in the sanctuaries.He invented

nothing but the outward garb added not one iota;but in this he merely followed the example of older

nations and Initiates.If he clothed the grand truths revealed to him by his Hierophant under the most

ingenious imagery he did it to meet the requirements of the Israelites;that stiff-necked race would accept

no God unless He were as anthropomorphic as those of the Olympus;and he himself failed to foresee

the times when highly educated statesmen would be defending the husks of the fruit of wisdom that grew

and developed in him on Mount Sinai when communing with his own personal God -his divine Self.

Moses understood the great danger of delivering such truths to the selfish for he understood the fable of

Prometheus and remembered the past.Hence he veiled them from the profanation of public gaze and

gave them out allegorically.And this is why his biographer says of him that when he descended from

Sinai

Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone ...And he put a veil upon his face.[ Exod s.

xxxiv.29 33.]

And so he “put a veil ”upon the face of his Pentate ch;and to such an extent that using orthodox

chronology only 3376 years after the event people begin to acquire a conviction that it is “ a veil indeed.”

It is not the face of God or even of a Johovah shining through;not even the face of Moses,but verily the

faces of the later Rabbis.

No wonder if Clemens wrote in the Stromateis that:

Similar then to the Hebrew enigmas in respect to concealment are those of the Egyptians

also.[ Op,cit.,V,vii.]

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SECTION VII

Old Wine in New Bottles

(Page 76)IT is more than likely that the Protestants in the days of the Reformation knew nothing of the

true origin of Christianity or to be more explicit and correct of Latin Ecclesiasticism.Nor is it probable

that the Greek Church knew much of it the separation between the two having occurred at a time when

in the struggle for political power the Latin Church was securing at any cost the alliance of the highly

educated the ambitious and influential Pagans,while these were willing to assume the outward

appearance of the new worship provided they were themselves kept in power.There is no need to

remind the reader here of the details of that struggle well-known to every educated man.It is certain that

the highly cultivated Gnostics and their leaders -such men as Saturnilus,an uncompromising ascetic,as

Marcion Valentinus,Basilides,Menander and Cerinthus -were not stigmatised by the (now)Latin

Church because they were heretics,nor because their tenets and practices were indeed “ob t rpit dinem

portentosam nimi m et horribilem,”“monstrous,revolting abominations,” as Baronius says of those of

Carpocrates ;but simply because they knew too much of fact and truth.Kenneth R.H.Mackenzie

correctly remarks;

They were stigmatised by the later Roman Church because they came into conflict with the

purer Church of Christianity -the possession of which was usurped by the Bishops of Rome

but which original continues in its docility towards the founder in the Primitive Orthodox Greek

Church.[ The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia nder “Gnosticism.”]

Unwilling to accept the responsibility of gratuitous assumptions,the writer deems it best to prove this

inference by more than one personal and defiant admission of an ardent Roman Catholic writer evidently

entrusted with the delicate task by the Vatican.

Copies That Ante-Dated Originals -(Page 77)The Marquis de Mirville makes desperate efforts to

explain to the Catholic interest certain remarkable discoveries in Archaeology and Palaeography though

the Church is cleverly made to remain outside of the quarrel and defence.This is undeniably shown by

his ponderous volumes addressed to the Academy of France between 1803 and 1865.Seizing the

pretext of drawing the attention of the materialistic “Immortals ”to the “epidemic of Spiritualism ”the

invasion of Europe and America by a numberless host of Satanic forces,he directs his efforts towards

proving the same by giving the full Genealogies and the Theogony of the Christian and Pagan deities,

and by drawing parallels between the two.All such wonderful likenesses and identities are only “seeming

and superficial ”he assures the reader.Christian symbols,and even characters,Christ the Virgin

Angels and Saints,tells them were all personated centuries beforehand by the fiends of hell in order to

discredit eternal truth by their ungodly copies.By their knowledge of futurity the devils anticipated events,

having discovered the secrets of the Angels.”Heathen Deities,all the Sun-Gods,named Sotors -

Saviours -born of immaculate mothers and dying a violent death were only Ferouers [In the Fero ers

and Devs of Jacobi (Letters F.and D.)the word “ferouer ”is explained in the following manner:The

Ferouer is a part of the creature (whether man or animal)of which it is the type and which it survives.It is

the Nous of the Greeks,therefore divine and immortal and thus can hardly be the Devil or the satanic

copy De Mirville would represent it (See Memoires de l ’Academie des Inscriptions Vol.XXXV11 P.623

and chap.xxxix.p.749).Foucher contradicts him entirely.The Ferouer was never the “principle of

sensations,”but always referred to the most divine and pure portion of Man ’s Ego -the spiritual principle.

Anquetil says the Ferouer is the purest portion of man ’s soul.The Persian Dev is the antithesis of the

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Ferouer for the Dev has been transformed by Zoroaster into the Genius of Evil (whence the Christian

Devil),but even the Dev is only finite:for having become possessed of the soul of man by s rpation it

will have to leave it at the great day of Retribution.The Dev obsesses the soul of the defunct for three

days during which the soul wanders about the spot at which it was forcibly separated from its body the

Ferouer ascends to the region of eternal Light.It was an unfortunate idea that made the noble Marquis

de Mirville imagine the Ferouer to be a “satanic copy ” of a divine original.By calling all the Gods of the

Pagans -Apollo Osiris,Brahma Ormazd Bel etc.the “Ferouers of Christ and of the chief Angels,”he

merely exhibits the God and the Angels he would honour as inferior to the Pagan Gods,as man is inferior

to his Soul and Spirit:since the Ferouer is the immortal part of the mortal being of which it is the type and

which it survives.Perchance the poor author is unconsciously prophetic:and Apollo Brahma Ormazd

Osiris,etc.are destined to survive and replace -as eternal cosmic verities -the evanescent fictions

about the God Christ and Angels of the Latin Church!]-as they were called by the Zoroastrians -the

demon-ante-dated copies (copies anticipées )of the Messiah to come

The danger of recognition of such facsimiles had indeed lately become dangerously great.It had lingered

threateningly in the air hanging like a sword of Damocles over the Church since the days of Voltaire

Dupuis and other writers on similar lines.The discoveries (Page 78)of the Egyptologists,the finding of

Assyrian and Babylonian pre-Mosaic relics bearing the legend of Moses [ See George Smith's Babylon

and other works ]and especially the many rationalistic works published in England such as S pernat ral

Religion made recognition unavoidable.Hence the appearance of Protestant and Roman Catholic

writers deputed to explain the inexplicable;to reconcile the face of Divine Revelation with the mystery

that the divine personages,rites,dogmas and symbols of Christianity were so often identical with those

of the several great heathen religions.The former -the Protestant defenders -tried to explain it on the

ground of “prophetic,precursory ideas ” ;the Latinists,such as De Mirville by inventing a double set of

Angels and Gods,the one divine and true the other -the earlier -“copies ante-dating the originals ”and

due to a clever plagiarism by the Evil One.The Protestant stratagem is an old one that of the Roman

Catholics is so old that it has been forgotten and is as good as new.Dr.Lundy ’s Mon mental Christianity

and A Miracle in Stone belong to the first attempts.De.Mirville ’s Pne matologie to the second.In India

and China every such effort on the part of the Scotch and other missionaries ends in laughter and does

no harm;the plan devised by the Jesuits is more serious.De Mirville ’s volumes are thus very important

as they proceed from a source which has undeniably the greatest learning of the age at its service and

this coupled with all the craft and casuistry that the sons of Loyola can furnish.The Marquis de Mirville

was evidently helped by the acutest minds in the service of Rome.

He begins by not only admitting the justice of every imputation and charge made against the Latin

Church as to the originality of her dogmas,but by taking a seeming delight in anticipating such charges;

for he points to every dogma of Christianity as having existed in Pagan rituals in Antiquity.The whole

Pantheon of Heathen Deities is passed in review by him and each is shown to have had some point of

resemblance with the Trinitarian personages and Mary.There is hardly a mystery a dogma or a rite in

the Latin Church that is not shown by the author as having been “parodied by the Curvati ”-the “Curved ”

the Devils.All this being admitted and explained the Symbologists ought to be silenced.And so they

would be if there were no materialistic critics to reject such omnipotency of the Devil in this world.For if

Rome admits the likenesses,she also claims the right of judgment between the true and the false

Avatāra the real and the unreal God between the original and the copy -though the copy precedes the

original by millenniums.

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Which Were the Thieves?-(Page 79)Our author proceeds to argue that whenever the missionaries try

to convert an idolater they are invariably answered:

We had our Crucified before yours.What do you come to show us?[This is as fanciful as it is

arbitrary.Where is the Hindu or Buddhist who would speak of his “Crucified ’?] Again what

should we gain by denying the mysterious side of this copy under the plea that according to

Weber all the present P ranas are remade from older ones,since here we have in the same

order of personages a positive precedence which no one would ever think of contesting.[Op.

cit.,iv.237 ]

And the author instances Buddha Krishna Apollo etc.Having admitted all this he escapes the difficulty

in this wise:

The Church Fathers,however who recognised their own property under all such sheep ’s

clothing ...knowing by means of the Gospel ...all the ruses of the pretended spirits of light;

the Fathers,we say meditating upon the decisive words,“all that ever came before me are

robbers ”(John,x.8),did not hesitate in recognising the Occult agency at work the general

and superhuman direction given beforehand to falsehood the universal attribute and

environment of all these false Gods of the nations;“omnes dii genti m daemonia (elilim ).”

(Psalm xcv.)[ Loc cit.,250.]

With such a policy everything is made easy.There is not one glaring resemblance not one fully proven

identity that could not thus be made away with.The above-quoted cruel selfish self-glorifying words,

placed by John in the mouth of Him who was meekness and charity personified could never have been

pronounced by Jesus.The Occultists reject the imputation indignantly and are prepared to defend the

man as against the God by showing whence come the words,plagiarised by the author of the Fourth

Gospel.They are taken bodily from the “Prophecies ”in the Book of Enoch .The evidence on this head of

the learned biblical scholar Archbishop Laurence and of the author of the Evol tion of Christianity who

edited the translation may be brought forward to prove the fact.On the last page of the Introduction to

the Book of Enoch is found the following passage:

The parable of the sheep rescued by the good Shepherd from hireling guardians and ferocious

wolves,is obviously borrowed by the fourth Evangelist from (Page 80)Enoch,Ixxxix,in which

the author depicts the shepherds as killing and destroying the sheep before the advent of the

Lord and this discloses the true meaning of that hitherto mysterious passage in the Johannine

parable -“All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers ”-language in which we now

detect an obvious reference to the allegorical shepherds of Enoch.

“Obvious ”truly and something else besides.For if Jesus pronounced the words in the sense attributed

to him then he must have read the Book of Enoch -a purely Kabalistic,Occult work,and he therefore

recognised the worth and value of a treatise now declared apocryphal by his Churches.Moreover he

could not have been ignorant that these words belonged to the oldest ritual of Inititation.

[“Q ” :Who knocks at the door?

A.:The good cowherd.

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Q.:Who preceded thee?

A.:The three robbers.

Q.:Who follows thee?

A.:The three murderers,” etc.etc.”

Now this is the conversation that took place between the priest-initiators and the candidates

for initiation during the mysteries enacted in the oldest sanctuaries of the Himalayan

fastnesses.The ceremony is still performed to this day in one of the most ancient temples in a

secluded spot of Nepaul.It originated with the Mysteries of the first Krishna passed to the

First Tirthankara and ended with Buddha and is called the Kurukshetra rite being enacted as

a memorial of the great battle and death of the divine Adept.It is not Masonry but an initiation

into the Occult teachings of that Hero-Occultism pure and simple.]

And if he had not read it and the sentence belongs to John or whoever wrote the Fourth Gospel then

what reliance can be placed on the authenticity of other sayings and parables attributed to the Christian

Saviour?

Thus,De Mirville ’s illustration is an unfortunate one.Every other proof brought by the Church to show the

infernal character of the ante-and-anti-Christian copyists may be easily disposed of.This is perhaps

unfortunate but it is a fact nevertheless -Magna est veritas et prevalebit.

The above is the answer to the Occultists to the two parties who charge them incessantly the one with

“Superstition.”and the other with “Sorcery.”To those of our Brothers who are Christians,and twit us with

the secresy imposed upon the Eastern Chelas,adding invariably that their own “Book of God ’ is “an open

volume ”for all “to read understand and be saved .” we would reply by asking them to study what we

have just said in this Section and then to refute it -if they can.There are very few in our days who are

still prepared to assure their readers that the Bible had

God for its author salvation for its end and truth without any mixture of error for its matter.

Character of the Bible -(Page 81)Could Locke be asked the question now he would perhaps be

unwilling to repeat again that the Bible is

all pure all sincere nothing too much nothing wanting.

The Bible,if it is not to be shown to be the very reverse of all this,sadly needs an interpreter acquainted

with the doctrines of the East as they are to be found in its secret volumes;nor is it safe now after

Archbishop Laurence's translation of the Book of Enoch to cite Cowper and assure us that the Bible

...gives a light to every age

It gives,but borrows none.

for it does borrow and that very considerably;especially in the opinion of those who ignorant of its

symbolical meaning and of the university of the truths underlying and concealed in it are able to judge

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only from its dead letter appearance.It is a grand volume a master-piece composed of clever ingenious

fables containing great verities;but it reveals the latter only to those who like the Initiates,have a key to

its inner meaning;a tale sublime in its morality and didactics truly -still a tale and an allegory;a repertory

of invented personages in its older Jewish portions,and of dark sayings and parables in its later

additions,and thus quite misleading to anyone ignorant of its Esotericism.Moreover it is Astrolatry and

Sabaean worship pure and simple that is to be found in the Pentate ch when it is read exoterically and

Archaic Science and Astronomy to a most wonderful degree when interpreted -Esoterically.

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SECTION VIII

The Book of Enoch The Origin and the Foundation of Christianity

(Page 82)WHILE making a good deal of the Mercavah the Jews or rather their synagogues,rejected the

Book of Enoch,either because it was not included from the first in the Hebrew Canon or else as

Tertullian thought it was disavowed

by the Jews like all other Scripture which speaks of Christ [Book of Enoch,Archbishop

Laurence ’s translation.Introduction p.v.]

But neither of these reasons was the real one.The Synedrion would have nothing to do with it simply

because it was more of a magic than a purely kabalistic work.The present day Theologians of both Latin

and Protestant Churches class it among apocryphal productions.Nevertheless the New Testament

especially in the Acts and Epistles,teems with ideas and doctrines,now accepted and established as

dogmas by the infallible Roman and other Churches,and even with the whole sentences taken bodily

from Enoch or the “pseudo-Enoch ” who wrote under that name in Aramaic or Syro-Chaldaic,as

asserted by Bishop Laurence the translator of the Ethiopian text.

The plagiarisms are so glaring that the author of The Evol tion of Christianity who edited

Bishop Laurence ’s translation was compelled to make some suggestive remarks in his

Introduction.On internal evidence [ The Book of Enoch was unknown to Europe for a

thousand years when Bruce found in Abyssinia some copies of it in Ethiopic;it was translated

by Archbishop Laurence in 1821 from the text in the Bodleian Library Oxford .] this book is

found to have been written before the Christian period (whether two or twenty centuries does

not matter).As correctly argued by the Editor it is

either the inspired forecast of a great Hebrew prophet predicting with miraculous accuracy the

future teaching of Jesus of Nazareth or the Semitic romance from which the latter borrowed

His conceptions of the triumphant return of the Son of man to occupy a judicial throne in the

midst of rejoicing saints and trembling sinners,expectant of everlasting happiness or eternal

fire;and whether these celestial visions be accepted as human or Divine they have exercised

so vast an influence on the destinies of mankind for nearly two thousand years that candid and

impartial seekers after religious truth can no longer delay enquiry into the relationship of the

Book of Enoch with the revelation or the evolution of Christianity.[Op.cit.,p.xx.]

The Book of Enoch and Christianity -

(Page 83)The Book of Enoch

a lso records the supernatural control of the elements,through the action of individual angels

presiding over the winds,the sea hail frost dew the lightening ’s flash and reverberating

thunder.The names of the principal fallen angels are also given among whom we recognise

some of the invisible powers named in the incantations [magical ] inscribed on the terracotta

cups of Hebrew-Chaldee conjurations.[ Loc.cit.]

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We also find on these cups the word “Halleluiah ”showing that

a word with which ancient Syro-Chaldeans conjured has become through the vicissitudes of

language the Shibboleth of modern Revivalists.[Op.cit.,p.xiv.note.]

The Editor proceeds after this to give fifty-seven verses from various parts of the Gospels and Acts,with

parallel passages from the Book of Enoch and says:

The attention of theologians has been concentrated on the passage in the Epistle of Jude

because the author specifically names the prophet;but the cumulative coincidence of

language and ideas in Enoch and the authors of the New Testament Scripture as disclosed in

the parallel passages which we have collated clearly indicates that the work of the Semitic

Milton was the inexhaustible source from which Evangelists and Apostles,or the men who

wrote in their names,borrowed their conceptions of the resurrection judgement immortality

perdition and of the universal reign of righteousness,under the eternal dominion of the Son of

man.This evangelical plagiarism culminates in the Revelation of John which adapts the

visions of Enoch to Christianity with modifications in which we miss the sublime simplicity of

the great master of apocalyptic prediction who prophesied in the name of the antediluvian

patriarch.[Op.cit.,p.xxxv.]

In fairness to truth the hypothesis ought at least to have been suggested that the Book of Enoch in its

present form is simply a transcript -with numerous pre-Christian and post-Christian additions and

interpolations -from far older texts.Modern research went so far as to point out that Enoch is made in

Chapter Ixxi to divide the day and night into eighteen parts and to represent the longest day in the year

as consisting of twelve out of these eighteen parts,while a day of sixteen (Page 84)hours in length could

not have occurred in Palestine.The translator Archbishop Laurence remarks thus:

The region in which the author lived must have been situated not lower than forty-one degrees

north latitude where the longest day is fifteen hours and a half nor higher perhaps than forty-

nine degrees,where the longest day is precisely sixteen hours.This will bring the country

where he wrote as high up at least as the northern districts of the Caspian and Euxine Seas ..

.the author of the Book of Enoch was perhaps a member of one of the tribes which

Shalmaneser carried away and placed “in Halah and in Habor by the river Goshen and in the

cities of the Medes.”[Op.cit.,p.xiii.]

Further on it is confessed that:

It cannot be said that internal evidence attests the superiority of the Old Testament to the

Book of Enoch ...The Book of Enoch teaches the pre-existence of the Son of man the Elect

One the Messiah who “from the beginning existed in secret [The Seventh Principle the First

Emanation.] and whose name was invoked in the presence of the Lord of Spirits before the

sun and the signs were created.”The author also refers to the “other Power who was upon

Earth over the water on that day ” -an apparent reference to the language of Genesis i.2.[ Op

cit.,p.xxxvii and xI.] [We maintain that it applies as well to the Hindu Nārāyana -the “mover

on the waters.” ] We have thus the Lord of Spirits,the Elect One and a third Power seemingly

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foreshadowing the Trinity [as much as the Trimūrti ] of futurity;but although Enoch ’s ideal

Messiah doubtless exercised an important influence on primitive conceptions of the Divinity of

the Son of man we fail to identify his obscure reference to another “Power ” with the

Trinitarianism of the Alexandrine school;more especially as “angels of power ” abound in the

visions of Enoch.[Op cit.,pp x1 and 1i .]

An Occultist would hardly fail to identify the said “Power.” The Editor concludes his remarkable reflections

by adding:

Thus far we learn that the Book of Enoch was published before the Christian Era by some

great Unknown of Semitic [?] race who believing himself to be inspired in a post-prophetic

age borrowed the name of an antediluvian patriarch [ Who stands for the “Solar ”or

Manvantaric Year.] to authenticate his own enthusiastic forecast of the Messianic kingdom.

And as the contents of his marvellous book enter freely into the composition of the New

Testament it follows that if the author was not an inspired prophet who predicted the

teachings of Christianity he was a visionary enthusiast whose illusions were accepted by

Evangelists and Apostles as revelation -alternative conclusions which involve the Divine or

human origin of Christianity.[ Op Cit.,pp.xli xlii.]

Enoch Records The Races -(Page 85)The outcome of all of which is,in the words of the same Editor:

The discovery that the language and ideas of alleged revelation are found in a pre-existent

work,accepted by Evangelists and Apostles as inspired but classed by modern theologians

among apocryphal productions.[ Op.cit.,p.xlviii.]

The accounts also for the unwillingness of the reverend librarians of the Bodleian Library to publish the

Ethopian text of the Book of Enoch .

The prophecies of the Book of Enoch are indeed prophetic,but they were intended for and cover the

records of the five Races out of the seven -everything relating to the last two being kept secret.Thus

the remark made by the Editor of the English translation that:

Chapter xcii.records a series of prophecies extending from Enoch ’s own time to about one

thousand years beyond the present generation [Op.cit.,p.xxiii.]

is faulty.The prophecies extend to the end of our present Race not merely to a “thousand years ” hence.

Very true that:

In the system of [Christian ] chronology adopted a day stands [occasionally ] for a hundred

and a week for seven hundred years.[Loc.cit.]

But this is an arbitrary and fanciful system adopted by Christians to make Biblical chronology fit with facts

or theories,and does not represent the original thought.The “days ” stand for the undetermined periods

of the Side-Races,and the “weeks ” for the Sub-Races,the Root-Races being referred to by an

expression that is not even found in the English translation.Moreover the sentence at the bottom of page

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150:

Subsequently in the fourth week ...the visions of the holy and the righteous shall be seen

the order of generation after generation shall take place [xcii.9.]

is quite wrong.It stands in the original:“the order of generation after generation has taken place on the

earth ” etc.;that is,after the first human race procreated in the truly human way had sprung up in the

Third Root-Races:a change which entirely alters the meaning.Then all that is given in the translation -

as very likely also in the Ethiopic text since the copies have been sorely tampered with -as about things

which were to happen in the future is,we are informed in the past tense of the original Chaldean MSS.

and is not prophecy but a narrative of what had already come to pass.When Enoch begins -“to speak

from a book ”[Op.cit.,xcii.4.] he is reading the account (Page 86)given by a great Seer and the

prophecies are not his own but are from the Seer.Enoch or Enoichion means “internal eye ”or Seer.

Thus every Prophet and Adept may be called “Enoichion ” without becoming a pseudo-Enoch.But here

the Seer who compiled the present Book of Enoch is distinctly shown as reading out from a book:

I have been born the seventh in the first week [the seventh branch or Side-Race of the first

Sub-Race after physical generation had begun namely in the third Root-Race ] ...But after

me in the second week [second Sub-Race ] great wickedness shall arise [arose rather ] and in

that week the end of the first shall take place in which mankind shall be safe.But when the

first is completed iniquity shall grow up.[Op.cit.,xcii 4-7 ]

As translated it has no sense.As it stands in the Esoteric text it simply means,that the First Root-Race

shall come to an end during the second Sub-Race of the Third Root-Race in the period of which time

mankind will be safe;all this having no reference whatever to the biblical Deluge.Verse 10 th speaks of

the sixth week [sixth Sub-Race of the Third Root Race ] when

All those who are in it shall be darkened the hearts of all of them shall be forgetful of wisdom [

the divine knowledge will be dying out ] and in it shall a man ascend.

This “man ”is taken by the interpreters,for some mysterious reasons of their own to mean

Nebuchadnezzar;he is in reality the first Hierophant of the purely human Race (after the allegorical fall

into generation)selected to perpetuate the dying Wisdom of the Devas (Angels or Elohim).He is the first

“Son of Man ” -the mysterious appellation given to the divine Initiates of the first human school of the

Manushi (men),at the very close of the Third Root-Race.He is also called the “Saviour ” as it was He

with the other Hierophants who saved the Elect and the Perfect from the geological conflagration

leaving to perish in the cataclysm of the Close [ At the close of every Root-Race there comes a

cataclysm in turn by fire or water.Immediately after the “Fall into generation ”the dross of the third Root-

Race -those who fell into sensuality by falling off from the teaching of the Divine Instructors -were

destroyed after which the Fourth Root-Race originated at the end of which took place the last Deluge.

(See the “Sons of God ”mentioned in Isis Unveiled.593 et seq.)] those who forgot the primeval wisdom

in sexual sensuality.

And during its completion [of the “sixth week,” or the sixth Sub-Race ]he shall burn the house

of dominion [the half of the globe or the then inhabited continent ] with fire and all the race of

the elect root shall be dispersed.[ Op.cit.,xcii xx .]

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The Book of Enoch Symbolical -(Page 87)The above applies to the Elect Initiates,and not at all to the

Jews,the supposed chosen people or to the Babylonian captivity as interpreted by the Christian

theologians.Considering that we find Enoch or his perpetuator mentioning the execution of the “degree

upon sinners ” in several different weeks,[ Op.cit.,xcii 7 11 13 15.] saying that “every work of the

ungodly shall disappear from the whole earth ” during this fourth time (the Fourth Race),it surely can

hardly apply to the one solitary Deluge of the Bible still less to the Captivity.

It follows,therefore that as the Book of Enoch covers the five Races of the Manvantara with a few

allusions to the last two it does not contain “Biblical prophecies,” but simply facts taken out of the Secret

Books of the East.The Editor moreover confesses that:

The preceding six verses,viz .13 th 15 th 16 th 17 th and 18 th are taken from between the 14 th

and 15 th verses of the nineteenth chapter where they are to be found in the MSS.[ Op.cit .

note p.152 ]

By this arbitrary transposition he has made confusion still more confused.Yet he is quite right in saying

that the doctrines of the Gospels and even of the Old Testament have been taken bodily from the Book

of Enoch,for this is as evident as the sun in heaven.The whole of the Pentate ch was adapted to fit in

with the facts given and this accounts for the Hebrews refusing to give the book place in their Canon

just as the Christians have subsequently refused to admit it among their canonical works.The fact that

the Apostle Jude and many of the Christian Fathers referred to it as a revelation and a sacred volume is,

however an excellent proof that the early Christians accepted it;among these the most learned -as,for

instance Clement of Alexandria -understood Christianity and its doctrines in quite a different light from

their modern successors,and viewed Christ under an aspect that Occultists only can appreciate.The

early Nazarenes and Chrestians,as Justin Martyr calls them were the followers of Jesus,of the true

Chrestos and Christos of Initiation;whereas,the modern Christians,especially those of the West may be

Papists,Greeks,Calvinists,or Lutherans,but can hardly be called Christians,i.e.,the followers of Jesus,

the Christ.

Thus the Book of Enoch is entirely symbolical.It relates to the history of the human Races and of their

early relation to Theogony the symbols being interblended with astronomical and cosmic mysteries.

(Page 88)One chapter is missing however in the Noachian records (from both the Paris and

the Bodleian MSS.),namely Chapter 1viii in Sect X;this could not be remodelled and

therefore it had to disappear disfigured fragments alone having been left out of it.The dream

about the cows,the black,red and white heifers,relates to the first Races,their division and

disappearance.Chapter 1xxxviii in which one of the four Angels “went to the white cows and

taught them a mystery ”after which the mystery being born “became a man ”refers to (a)the

first group evolved of primitive Aryans (b)to the “mystery of the Hermaphrodite ”so called

having reference to the birth of the first human Races as they are now.The well-known rite in

India one that has survived in that patriarchal country to this day known as the passage or

rebirth through the cow -a ceremony to which those of lower castes who are desirous of

becoming Brahmans have to submit -has originated in this mystery.Let any Eastern Occultist

read with careful attention the above-named chapter in the Book of Enoch,and he will find that

the “Lord of the Sheep ”in whom Christians and European Mystics see Christ is the

Hierophant Victim whose name in Sanskrit we dare not give.Again that while the Western

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Churchmen see Egyptians and Israelites in the “sheep and wolves,”all these animals relate in

truth to the trials of the Neophyte and the mysteries of initiation whether in India or Egypt and

to that most terrible penalty incurred by the “wolves ”-those who reveal indiscriminately that

which is only for the knowledge of the Elect and the “Perfect.”

The Christians who thanks to later interpolations,[Those interpolations and alternations are

found in almost every case where figures are given -especially whenever the numbers eleven

and twelve come in -as these are all made (by the Christians)to relate to the numbers of

Apostles,and Tribes,and Patriarchs.The translator of the Ethiopic text -Archbishop Laurence

-attributes them generally to “mistakes of the transcriber ”whenever the two texts the Paris

and the Bodleian MSS.differ.We fear it is no mistake in most cases.] have made out in that

chapter a triple prophecy relating to the Deluge Moses and Jesus,are mistaken as in reality it

bears directly on the punishment and loss of Atlantis and the penalty of indiscretion.(The

“Lord of the sheep ”is Karma and the “Head of the Hierophants ”also the Supreme Initiator on

earth.)He says to Enoch who implores him to save the leaders of the sheep from being

devoured by the beasts of prey:

I will cause a recital to be made before me ...how many they have delivered up to

destruction and ...what they will do;whether they will act as I have commanded them or not.

Occultists Do Not Reject the Bible -

(Page 89)Of this,however they shall be ignorant;neither shalt thou make any explanation to

them neither shalt thou reprove them;but there shall be an account of all the destruction done

by them in their respective seasons.[Op.cit.,1xxxviii.99 100.]

...He looked in silence rejoicing they were devoured swallowed up and carried off and

leaving them in the power of every beast for food..[ Loc.cit.,94.This passage as will be

presently shown has led to a very curious discovery.]

Those who labour under the impression that the Occultists of any nation reject the Bible in its original

text and meaning are wrong.As well reject the Books of Thoth the Chaldaean Kabalah or the Book of

Dzyan itself.Occultists only reject the one-sided interpretations and the human element in the Bible

which is an Occult and therefore a sacred volume as much as the others.And terrible indeed is the

punishment of all those who transgress the permitted limits of secret revelations.From Prometheus to

Jesus,and from Him to the highest Adept as to the lowest disciple every revealer of mysteries has had

to become a Chrestos,a “man of sorrow ”and a martyr.“Beware ” said one of the greatest Masters,“of

revealing the Mystery to those without ”-to the profane the Sadducee and the unbeliever.All the great

Hierophants in history are shown ending their lives by violent deaths -Buddha [ In the profane history of

Gautama Buddha he dies at the good old age of eighty and passes off from life to death peacefully with

all the serenity of a great saint as Barthelemy St.Hilaire has it.Not so in the Esoteric and true

interpretation which reveals the real sense of the profane and allegorical statement that makes Gautama

the Buddha die very unpoetically from the effects of too much pork,prepared for him by Tsonda.How

one who preached that the killing of animals was the greatest sin and who was a perfect vegetarian

could die from eating pork,is a question that is never asked by our Orientalists,some of whom made [as

now do many charitable missionaries in Ceylon ] great fun at the alleged occurrence.The simple truth is

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that the said rice and pork are purely allegorical.Rice stands for “forbidden fruit ”like Eve's "apple"and

means Occult knowledge with the Chinese and Tibetans;and “pork “for Brahmanical teachings -Vishnu

having assumed in his first Avatāra the form of a boar in order to raise the earth on the surface of the

waters of space.It is not therefore from “pork ”that Buddha died but for having divulged some of the

Brahmanical mysteries,after which seeing the bad effects brought on some unworthy people by the

revelation he preferred instead of availing himself of Nirvana to leave his earthly form remaining still in

the sphere of the living in order to help humanity to progress.Hence his constant reincarnations in the

hierarchy of the Dalai and Teshu Lamas,among other bounties.Such is the Esoteric explanation.The life

of Gautama will be more fully discussed later on.]Pythagoras,Zoroaster most of the great Gnostics,the

founders of their respective schools;and in our own more modern epoch a number of Fire-Philosophers

of Rosicrucians and Adepts.All of these are shown -whether plainly or under the veil of allegory -as

paying the penalty for the revelations they had made.This may seem to the profane reader only

coincidence.

(Page 90)To the Occultist the death of every “Master ”is significant and appears pregnant with meaning.

Where do we find in history that “Messenger ”grand or humble an Initiate or a Neophyte who when he

was made the bearer of some hitherto concealed truth or truths,was not crucified and rent to shreds by

the “dogs ”of envy malice and ignorance?Such is the terrible Occult law;and he who does not feel in

himself the heart of a lion to scorn the savage barking and the soul of a dove to forgive the poor ignorant

fools,let him give up the Sacred Science.To succeed the Occultist must be fearless;he has to brave

dangers,dishonour and death to be forgiving and to be silent on that which cannot be given.Those who

have vainly laboured in that direction must wait in these days -as the Book of Enoch teaches -“until the

evildoers be consumed ”and the power of the wicked annihilated.It is not lawful for the Occultist to seek

or even to thirst for revenge:let him

Wait until sin pass away for their [the sinners ] names shall be blotted out of the holy books

[the astral records ] their seed shall be destroyed and their spirits slain.[Op.cit .cv.21.]

Esoterically Enoch is the “Son of man ”the first;and symbolically the first Sub-Race of the Fifth Root

Race.[ In the Bible [Genesis,iv and v ] there are three distinct Enochs [Kanoch or Chanoch ] -the son of

Cain the son of Seth and the son of Jared;but they are all identical and two of them are mentioned for

the purpose of misleading.The years of only the last two are given the first one being left without further

notice.] And if his name yields for purposes of numerical and astronomical glyphs the meaning of the

solar year or 365 in conformity to the age assigned to him in Genesis,it is because being the seventh

he is,for Occult purposes,the personified period of the two preceding Races with their fourteen Sub-

Races.Therefore he is shown in the Book as the great grandfather of Noah who in his turn is the

personification of the mankind of the Fifth struggling with that of the Fourth Root-Race -the great period

of the revealed and profaned Mysteries,when the “sons of God ”coming down on Earth took for wives

the daughters of men and taught them the secrets of the Angels;in other words,when the “mind-born ”

men of the Third Race mixed themselves with those of the Fourth and the divine Science was gradually

brought down by men to Sorcery.

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SECTION IX

Hermetic and Kabalistic Doctrines

(Page 91)THE cosmogony of Hermes is as veiled as the Mosaic system only it is upon its face far more in

harmony with the doctrines of the Secret Sciences and even of Modern Science.Says the thrice great

Trismegistus,“the hand that shaped the world out of formless pre-existent matter is no hand ” ;to which

Genesis is made to reply “The world was created out of nothing ” although the Kabbalah denies such a

meaning in its opening sentences.The Kabalists have never any more than have the Indian Aryans

admitted such an absurdity.With them Fire or Heat and Motion [ The eternal and incessant “inbreathing

and outbreathing of Parabrahman ”or Nature the Universe of Space whether during Manvantara or

Pralaya .] were chiefly instrumental in the formation of the world out of pre-existing Matter.The

Parabrahman and Mūlaprakriti of the Vedāntins are the prototypes of the En Suph and Shekinah of the

Kabalists.Aditi is the original of Sephira and the Prajāpatis are the elder brothers of the Sephiroth.The

nebular theory of Modern Science with all its mysteries,is solved in the cosmogony of the Archaic

Doctrine;and the paradoxical though very scientific enunciation that “cooling causes contraction and

contraction causes heat;therefore cooling causes heat ” is shown as the chief agency in the formation of

the worlds,and especially of our sun and solar system.

All this is contained within the small compass of Sepher Jetsirah in its thirty-two wonderful Ways of

Wisdom signed “Jah Jehovah Sabaoth ” for whomsoever has the key to its hidden meaning.As to the

dogmatic or theological interpretation of the first verses in Genesis it is pertinently answered in the same

book,where speaking of the (Page 92)Three Mothers,Air Water and Fire the writer describes them as a

balance with

The good in one scale the evil in the other and the oscillating tongue of the Balance between

them.[Op.cit.,iii x.]

One of the secret names of the One Eternal and Ever-Present Deity was in every country the same and

it has preserved to this day a phonetic likeness in the various languages.The Aum of the Hindus,the

sacred syllable had become the ‘Aéųķ with the Greeks,and the Aevum with the Romans -the Pan or All.

The “thirtieth way ” is called in the Sepher Jetzirah the “gathering understanding ”because

Thereby gather the celestial adepts judgments of the stars and celestial signs,and their

observations of the orbits are the perfection of science.[Op.cit.,30.]

The thirty-second and last is called therein the “serving understanding ” and it is so-called because it is

A disposer of all those that are serving in the work of the Seven Planets,according to their

Hosts.[Op.cit.,32 .]

The “work ” was Initiation during which all the mysteries connected with the “Seven Planets ” were

divulged and also the mystery of the “Sun-Initiate ” with his seven radiances or beams cut off -the glory

and triumph of the anointed the Christos;a mystery that makes plain the rather puzzling expression of

Clemens:

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For we shall find that very many of the dogmas that are held by such sects [of Barbarian and

Hellenic Philosophy ] as have not become utterly senseless,and are not cut out from the order

of nature [“by cutting off Christ ”[ Those who are aware of the term Christos was applied by

the Gnostics to the Higher Ego (the ancient Pagan Greek Initiates doing the same),will readily

understand the allusion.Christos was said to be cut off from the lower Ego Chrestos,after the

final and supreme Initiation when the two became blended in one;Chrestos being conquered

and resurrected in the glorified Christos -Franck,Die Kabbala,75:Dunlap Sod Vol.11.] or

rather Chrestos ] ...Correspond in their origin and with the truth as a whole.[ Stromateis,1.

xiii.]

In Isis Unveiled [ Op.cit.,II.viii.] the reader will find fuller information than can be given here on the Zohar

and its author the great Kabalist Simeon Ben Jochai.It is said there that on account of his being known

to be in possession of the secret knowledge and of the Mercaba which insured the reception of the

“Word ” his very life was endangered and he had to fly to the wilderness,where he lived in a cave for

twelve years surrounded by faithful disciples,and finally died there amid signs and wonders.[ Many are

the marvels recorded as having taken place at his death or we should rather say his translation;for he

did not die as others do but having suddenly disappeared while a dazzling light filled the cavern with

glory his body was again seen upon its subsidence.When this heavenly light gave place to the habitual

semi-darkness of the gloomy cave -then only says Ginsburg “the disciples of Israel perceived that the

lamp of Israel was extinguished.” His biographers tell us that there were voices heard from Heaven

during the preparation for his funeral and at his interment when the coffin was lowered into the deep

cave prepared for it a flame broke forth and a voice mighty and majestic pronounced these words:'This

is he who caused the earth to quake and the kingdoms to shake!']

The Kabalah and The Book of Enoch -(Page 93)His teachings on the origin of the Secret Doctrine or

as he also calls it the Secret Wisdom are the same as those found in the East with the exception that in

place of the Chief of a Host of Planetary Spirits he puts “God ”saying that this Wisdom was first taught

by God himself to a certain number of Elect Angels;whereas in the Eastern Doctrine the saying is

different as will be seen.

Some synthetic and Kabalistic studies on the sacred Book of Enoch and the Taro (Rota)are before us.

We quote from the MS.copy of a Western Occultist who is prefaced by these words:

There is but one Law one Principle one Agent one Truth and one Word.That which is above

is analogically as that which is below.All that which is,is the result of quantities and of

equilibriums.

The axiom of Eliphas Levi and this triple epigraph show the identity of thought between the East and the

West with regard to the Secret Science which as the same MS tells us,is:

The key of things concealed the key of the sanctuary.This is the Sacred Word which gives to

the Adept the supreme reason of Occultism and its Mysteries.It is the Quintessence of

Philosophies and of Dogmas;it is the Alpha and Omega;it is the Light Life and Wisdom

Universal.

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The Taro of the sacred Book of Enoch,or Rota is prefaced moreover with this explanation:

The antiquity of this book is lost in the night of time.It is of Indian origin and goes back to an

epoch long before Moses ...It is written upon detached leaves,which at the first were of fine

gold and precious metals ...It is symbolical and its combinations adapt themselves to all the

wonders of the Spirit.Altered by its passage across the Ages,it is nevertheless preserved -

thanks to the ignorance of the curious -in its types and its most important primitive figures.

This is the Rota of Enoch now called Taro of Enoch to which de Mirville alludes,as we saw as the

means used for “evil Magic.”the (Page 94)“metallic plates [or leaves ] escaped from destruction during the

Deluge ”and which are attributed by him to Cain.They have escaped the Deluge for the simple reason

that this Flood was not “Universal.”And it is said to be “of Indian origin ” because its origin is with the

Indian Aryans of the first Sub-Race of the Fifth Root-Race before the final destruction of the last

stronghold of Atlantis.But if it originated with the forefathers of the primitive Hindus,it was not in India

that it was first used.Its origin is still more ancient and must be traced beyond and into the Himaleh

[ Pockocke may be was not altogether wrong in deriving the German Heaven Himmel from Himalaya;

nor can it be denied that it is the Hindu Kailasa (Heaven)that is the father of the Greek Heaven (Koilon),

and of the Latin Coelum.] the Snowy Range.It was born in that mysterious locality which no one is able

to locate and which is the despair of both Geographers and Christian Theologians -the regions in which

the Brahman places his Kailasa the Mount Sumeru and the Pārvatī Pamīr transformed by the Greeks

into Paropamisus.

Round this locality which still exists the traditions of the Garden of Eden were built.From these regions

the Greeks obtained their Parnassus [ See Pockocke's India in Greece and his derivation of Mount

Parnassus from Parnasa the leaf and branch huts of the Hindu ascetics,half shrine and half habitation.

“Part of the Par-o-Pamisus (the hill of Bamian),is called Parnassus.“These mountains are called

Devanica because they are so full of Devas of Gods,called “Gods of the Earth:”Bhu Devas.They lived

according to the Puranas,in bowers or huts,called Parnasas,because they were made of leaves;

(Parnas),”p.302.] and thence proceeded most of the biblical personages,some of them in their day men

some demigods and heroes,some -though very few -myths,the astronomical double of the former.

Abram was one of them -a Chaldaean Brāhman [Rawlinson is justly very confident of an Aryan and

Vedic influence on the early mythology and history of Babylon and Chaldea .] says the legend

transformed later after he had repudiated his Gods and left his Ur (p r “town ”?)in Chaldaea into A-

brahms [This is a Secret Doctrine affirmation and may or may not be accepted.Only Abrahm Isaac and

Judah resemble terribly the Hindu Brahmā Ikshvāku and Yadu.] (or A-braham ”no-brāhman ”who

emigrated.Abram becoming the “father of many nations ”is thus explained.The student of Occultism has

to bear in mind that every God and hero in ancient Pantheons (that of the Bible included),has three

biographies in the narrative so to say running parallel with each other and each connected with one of

the aspects of the hero -historical astronomical and perfectly mythical the last serving to connect the

other two together and smooth away the asperities and discordancies in the narrative and gathering into

one or more symbols the verities of the first two.Localities are made to correspond with astronomical and

even with psychic events.

Numbers and Measures -(Page 95)History was thus made captive by ancient Mystery to become later

on the great Sphynx of the nineteenth century.Only instead of devouring her too dull querists who will

unriddle her whether she acknowledges it or not she is desecrated and mangled by the modern

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Oedipus,before he forces her into the sea of speculations in which the Sphynx is drowned and perishes.

This has now become self-evident not only through the Secret Teachings,parsimoniously as they may

be given but by earnest and learned Symbologists and even Geometricians.The Key to the Hebrew

Egyptian Mystery in which a learned Mason of Cincinnati Mr.Ralston Skinner unveils the riddle of a

God with such ungodly ways about him as the Biblical Jah-ve is followed by the establishment of a

learned society under the presidentship of a gentleman from Ohio and four vice-presidents one of whom

is Piazzi Smith the well-known Astronomer and Egyptologist.The Director of the Royal Observatory in

Scotland and author of The Great Pyramid,Pharaonic by name,H manitarian by fact,its Marvels,

Mysteries,and its Teachings,is seeking to prove the same problem as the American author and Mason;

namely that the English system of measurement is the same as that used by the ancient Egyptians in

the construction of their Pyramid or in Mr.Skinner's own words that the Pharaonic “source of measures ”

originated the “British inch and the ancient cubit.” It “originated ”much more than this,as will be fully

demonstrated before the end of the next century.Not only is everything in Western religion related to

measures,geometrical figures,and time-calculations,the principal period-durations being founded on

most of the historical personages,[ It is said in The Gnostics and their Remains by C.W.King (p.13)with

regard to the names of Brahma and Abram:“This figure of the man Seir Anpin consists of 243 numbers,

being the numerical value of the letters in the name ‘Abram ’ signifying the different orders in the celestial

Hierarchies.In fact the names Abram and Brahma are equivalent in numerical value.”Thus to one

acquainted with Esoteric Symbolism it does not seem at all strange to find in the Loka-pālas (the four

cardinal and intermediate points of the compass personified by eight Hindu Gods)Indra ’s elephant

names Abhra -(matanga)and his wife Abhramu.Abhra is in a way a Wisdom Deity since it is this

elephant ’s head that replaced that of Ganesha (Ganapati)the God of Wisdom cut off by Shiva.Now

Abhra means “cloud ”and it is also the name of the city where Abram is supposed to have resided -

when read backwards -“Arba (Kirjath)the city of four ...Abram is Abra with an appended m final and

Abra read backward is Arba ”(Key to the Hebrew Egyptian Mystery).The author might have added that

Abra meaning in Sanskrit “in or of the clouds,”the cosmo-astronomical symbol of Abram becomes still

plainer.All of these ought to be read in their originals in Sanskrit.] but the latter are also connected with

heaven and earth truly only with the Indo-Aryan heaven and earth not with those of Palestine.

The prototypes of nearly all the biblical personages are to be sought (Page 96)for in the early Pantheon of

India.It is the “Mind-born ”Sons of Brahma or rather of the Dhyāni-Pitara (the “Father -Gods ”),the “Sons

of Light ” who have given birth to the “Sons of Earth ”-the Patriachs.For if the Rig Veda and its three

sister Vedas have been “milked out from fire air and sun ” or Agni Indra and Surya as Man -Smriti tells

us,the Old Testament was most undeniably “milked out ”of the most ingenious brains of Hebrew

Kabalists partly in Egypt and partly in Babylonia -“the seat of Sanskrit literature and Brahman learning

from her origin.”as Colonel Vans Kennedy truly declared.One of such copies was Abram or Abraham

into whose bosom every orthodox Jew hopes to be gathered after death that bosom being localised as

“heaven in the clouds ”or Abhra.[ Before these theories and speculations -we are willing to admit they

are such -are rejected the following few points ought to be explained.(1)Why after leaving Egypt was

the patriarch ’s name changed by Jehovah from Abram to Abraham.(2)Why Sarai becomes on the same

principle Sarah (Gen.,xvii.).(3)Whence the strange coincidence of names?(4)Why should Alexander

Polyhistor say that Abraham was born at Kamarina or Uria a city of soothsayers and invented

Asrronomy?(5)“The Abrahamic recollections go back at least three millenniums beyond the grandfather

of Jacob “says Bunsen (Egypt ’s Place in History.v.35.)]

From Abraham to Enoch ’s Taro there seems to be a considerable distance yet the two are closely

related by more than one link,Gaffarel has shown that the four symbolical animals on the twenty-first key

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of the Taro at the third septenary are the Teraphim of the Jews invented and worshipped by Abram ’s

father Terah and used in the oracles of the Urim and Thummim.Moreover astronomically Abraham is

the sun-measure and a portion of the sun while Enoch is the solar year as much as are Hermes or Thot;

and Thot numerically “was the equivalent of Moses,or Hermes,”“the lord of the lower realms,also

esteemed as a teacher of wisdom ”the same Mason-mathematician tells us;and the Taro being

according to one of the latest bulls of the Pope “an invention of Hell ”the same “as Masonry and

Occultism ”the relation is evident.The Taro contains indeed the mystery of all such transmutations of

personages into sidereal bodies and vice versa .The “wheel of Enoch ”is an archaic invention the most

ancient of all for it is found in China.Eliphas Levi says there was not a nation but had it its real meaning

being preserved in the greatest secrecy.It was a universal heirloom.

As we see neither the Book of Enoch (his “Wheel ”),nor the Zohar nor any other kabalistic volume

contains merely Jewish wisdom.

The Doctrine Belongs to All

(Page 97)The doctrine itself being the result of whole millenniums of thought is therefore the

joint property of Adepts of every nation under the sun.Nevertheless,the Zohar teaches

practical Occultism more than any other work on that subject;not as it is translated and

commented upon by its various critics though but with the secret signs on its margins.These

signs contain the hidden instructions,apart from the metaphysical interpretations and apparent

absurdities so fully credited by Josephus,who was never initiated and gave out the dead letter

as he had received it.[ Isis Unveiled,ii.350.]

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SECTION X

Various Occult Systems of Interpretations

-of Alphabets and Numerals

(Page 98)THE transcendental methods of the Kabalah must not be mentioned in a public work;but its

various systems of arithmetical and geometrical ways of unriddling certain symbols may be described.

The Zohar methods of calculation with their three sections,the Gematria Notaricon and Temura also

the Albath and Algath are extremely difficult to practice.We refer those who would learn more to

Cornelius Agrippa ’s works [ See Isis Unveiled ii.218-300.Gematria is formed by a metathesis from the

Greek word ćńįģģįōåéįNotaricon may be compared to stenography;Temura is permutation -a way of

dividing the alphabet and shifting letters.] But none of those systems can ever be understood unless a

Kabalist becomes a real Master in his Science.The Symbolism of Pythagoras requires still more arduous

labour.His symbols are very numerous,and to comprehend even the general gist of his abstruse

doctrines from his Symbology would necessitate years of study.His chief figures are the square (the

Tetraktys)the equilateral triangle the point within a circle the cube the triple triangle and finally the

forty-seventh proposition of Euclid ’s Elements of which proposition Pythagoras was the inventor.But

with the exception none of the foregoing symbols originated with him,as some believe.Millenniums

before his day they were well known in India whence the Samian Sage brought them not as a

speculation but as a demonstrated Science says Porphyry quoting from the Pythagorean Moderatus.

The numerals of Pythagoras were hieroglyphical symbols by means whereof he explains all

ideas concerning the nature of things.[ De Vita Pythag.]

Numbers and Magic -(Page 99)The fundamental geometrical figure of the Kabalah as given in the Book

of N mbers,[ We are not aware that a copy of this ancient work is embraced in the catalogue of any

European library;but it is one of the “Books of Hermes,” and it is referred to and quotations are made

from it in the works of a number of ancient and mediaeval philosophical authors.Among these authorities

are Arnoldo di Villanova ’s Rosari m Philosoph.,Francesco Arnuphi ’s Op s de Lapide Hermes

Trismegistus ’ Tractat s de Transm tatione Metallor m and Tab la Smaragdina and above all the treatise

of Raymond Lully Ab Angelis Op s Divin m de Q inta Essentia.] that figure which tradition and the

Esoteric Doctrines tell us was given by the Deity Itself to Moses on Mount Sinai [Exod s,xxv.40.]

contains the key to the universal problem in its grandiose because simple combinations.This figure

contains in itself all the others.

The Symbolism of numbers and their mathematical interrelations is also one of the branches of Magic,

especially of mental Magic,divination and correct perception in clairvoyance.Systems differ but the root

idea is everywhere the same.As shown in the Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia by Kenneth R.H.Mackenzie:

One system adopts unity another trinity a third quinquinity;again we have sexagons,

heptagons,novems,and so on until the mind is lost in the survey of the materials alone of a

science of numbers.[S b voce “Numbers.”]

The Devanāgarī characters in which Sanscrit is generally written have all that the Hermetic,Chaldaean

and Hebrew alphabets have and in addition the Occult significance of the “eternal sound ”and the

meaning given to every letter in its relation to spiritual as well as terrestrial things.As there are only

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twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet and ten fundamental numbers,while in the Devanāgarī there

are thirty-five consonants and sixteen vowels,making altogether fifty-one simple letters,with numberless

combinations in addition the margin for speculation and knowledge is in proportion considerably wider.

Every letter has is equivalent in other languages,and its equivalent in a figure or figures of the calculation

table.It has also numerous other significations,which depend upon the special idiosyncrasies and

characteristics of the person object or subject to be studied.As the Hindus claim to have received the

Devanagari characters from Sarasvati the inventress of Sanskrit the “language of the Devas ”or Gods

(in their exoteric pantheon),so most of the ancient nations claimed the same privilege for the origin of

their letters and tongue.The Kabalah (Page 100)calls the Hebrew alphabet the “letters of the Angels,”

which were communicated to the Patriarchs,just as the Devanagari was to the Rishis by the Devas.The

Chaldaeans found their letters traced in the sky by the “yet unsettled stars and comets,” says the Book of

N mbers ;while the Phoenicians had a sacred alphabet formed by the twistings of the sacred serpents.

The Natar Khari (hieratic alphabet)and secret (sacerdotal)speech of the Egyptians is closely related to

the oldest “Secret Doctrine Speech.”It is a Devanāgarī with mystical combinations and additions,into

which the Senzar largely enters.

The power and potency of numbers and characters are well known to many Western Occultists as being

compounded from all these systems,but are still unknown to Hindu students,if not to their Occultists.In

their turn European Kabalists are generally ignorant of the alphabetical secrets of Indian Esoterism.At

the same time the general reader in the West knows nothing of either;least of all how deep are the

traces left by the Esoteric numeral systems of the world in the Christian Churches.

Nevertheless this system of numerals solves the problem of cosmogony for whomsoever studies it while

the system of geometrical figures represents the numbers objectively.

To realise the full comprehension of the Deific and the Abstruse enjoyed by the Ancients,one has to

study the origin of the figurative representations of their primitive Philosophers.The Books of Hermes are

the oldest repositories of numerical Symbology in Western Occultism.In them we find that the number

ten [See Johannes Meursius,Denari s Pythagoricus.] is the Mother of the Soul Life and Light being

therein united.For as the sacred anagram Teruph shows in the Book of Keys (Numbers),the number 1

(one)is born from spirit and the number 10 (ten)from Matter:“the unity has made the ten the ten the

unity ”;and this is only the Pantheistic axiom in other words “God in Nature and Nature in God.”

The kabalistic Gematria is arithmetical not geometrical.It is one of the methods for extracting the hidden

meaning from letters,words and sentences.It consists in applying to the letters of a word the sense they

bear in numbers,in outward shape as well as in their individual sense.As illustrated by Ragon:

The figure I signified the living man (a body erect)man being the only living being enjoying

this faculty.A head being added to it the glyph (or letter)P was obtained meaning paternity

creative potency;the R signifying the walking man (with his foot forward)going iens,it rus

[ Ragon Maconnerie Occulte,p.426.note.]

Gods and Numbers -

(Page 101)The characters were also made supplementary to speech every letter being at once

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a figure representing a sound for the ear and idea to the mind;as,for instance the letter F

which is a cutting sound like that of air rushing quickly through space;fury fusee fugue all

words expressive of and depicting what they signify.[Ibid.,p.432 note.]

But the above pertains to another system that of the primitive and philosophical formation of the letters

and their outward glyphic form -not to Gematria.The Temura is another kabalistic method by which any

word could be made to yield its mystery out of its anagram.So in Sepher Jetzirah we read “One -the

spirit of the Alahim of Lives.” In the oldest kabalistic diagrams the Sephiroth (the seven and the three)are

represented as wheels or circles,and Adam Kadmon the primitive Man as an upright pillar.“Wheels and

seraphim and the holy creatures ”(Chioth)says Rabbi Akiba.In still another system of the symbolical

Kabalah called Albath -which arranges the letters of the alphabet by pairs in three rows -all the couples

in the first row bear the numerical value ten;and in the system of Simeon Ben Shetah (an Alexandrian

Neoplatonist under the first Ptolemy)the uppermost couple -the most sacred of all -is preceded by the

Pythagorean cypher:one and a nought -10.

All beings,from the first divine emanation or “God manifested ”down to the lowest atomic existence

“have their particular number which distinguishes each of them and becomes the source of their

attributes and qualities as of their destiny.”Chance as taught by Cornelius Agrippa is in reality only an

unknown progression;and time but a succession of numbers.Hence futurity being a compound of

chance and time these are made to serve Occult calculations in order to find the result of an event or

the future of one ’s destiny.Said Pythagoras:

There is a mysterious connection between the Gods and numbers,on which the science of

arithmancy is based.The soul is a world that is self-moving;the soul contains in itself and is,

the quaternary the tetraktys [the perfect cube ].

There are lucky and unlucky or beneficent and maleficent numbers.Thus while the ternary -the first of

the odd numbers (the one being the perfect and standing by itself in Occultism)-is the divine figure or

the triangle;the duad was disgraced by the Pythagoreans from the (Page 102)first.It represented Matter

the passive and evil principle -the number of Maya illusion.

While the number one symbolized harmony order or the good principle (the one God

expressed in Latin by Solus,from which the word Sol the Sun the symbol of the Deity),

number two expressed a contrary idea.The science of good and evil began with it.All that is

double false opposed to the only reality was depicted by the binary.It also expressed the

contrasts in Nature which are always double:night and day light and darkness,cold and heat

dampness and dryness,health and sickness,error and truth male and female etc....The

Romans dedicated to Pluto the second month of the year and the second day of that month to

expiations in honour of the Manes.Hence the same rite established by the Latin Church and

faithfully copied.Pope John XIX instituted in 1003 the Festival of the Dead which had to be

celebrated on the 2 nd of November the second month of autumn.[ Extracted from Ragon

Maconnerie Occulte.p.427 note .]

On the other hand the triangle a purely geometrical figure had great honour shewn it by every nation

and for this reason:

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In geometry a straight line cannot represent an absolutely perfect figure any more than two

straight lines.Three straight lines,on the other hand produce by their junction a triangle or

the first absolutely perfect figure.Therefore it symbolized from the first and to this day the

Eternal -the first perfection.The word for deity in Latin as in French begins with D in Greek

the delta or triangle Ä,whose three sides symbolize the trinity or the three kingdoms,or

again divine nature.In the middle is the Hebrew Yod the initial of Jehovah [see Eliphas Levi ’s

Dogme et Rit el,i.154 ] the animating spirit or fire the generating principle represented by the

letter G the initial of “God ”in the northern languages,whose philosophical significance is

generation.[ Summarised from Ragon ibid .p.428 note.]

As stated correctly by the famous Mason Ragon the Hindu Trimurti is personified in the world of ideas by

Creation Preservation and Destruction or Brahma Vishnu and Shiva;in the world of matter by Earth

Water and Fire or the Sun and symbolised by the Lotus,a flower that lives by earth water and the sun.

[ Ragon mentions the curious fact that the first four numbers in German are named after the elements.

“Ein or one means the air the element which ever in motion penetrates matter throughout and whose

continual ebb and tide is the universal vehicle of life.“

Zwei two is derived from the old German Zweig signifying germ fecundity;it stands for earth the fecund

mother of all.“

Drei three is the trienos of the Greeks,standing for water whence the Sea-gods,Tritons:and trident the

emblem of Neptune -the water or sea in general being called Amphitrite (surrounding water).“

Vier four a number meaning in Belgiam fire ...It is in the quaternary that the first solid figure is found

the universal symbol of immortality the Pyramid ‘whose first syllable means fire.’ Lysis and Timaeus of

Loeris claimed that there was not a thing one could name that had not the quaternary for its root...The

ingenious and mystical idea which led to the veneration of the ternary and the triangle was applied to

number four and its figure:it was said to express a living being I the vehicle of the triangle 4 vehicle of

God or man carrying in him the divine principle.”

Finally “the Ancients represented the world by the number five.Diodorus explains it by saying that the

number represents earth fire water air and ether or spiritus.Hence the origin of Pente (five)and of Pan

(the God)meaning in Greek all.”(Compare Ragon.op.cit.,pp.428-430.)It is left with the Hindu

Occultists to explain the relation this Sanskrit word Pancha (five)has to the elements the Greek Pente

having for its root the Sanskrit term.] The Lotus,sacred to Isis had the same significance in Egypt

whereas in the Christian symbol the Lotus,not being found in either Judaea or Europe was replaced by

the water-lily.

The Universal Language -(Page 103)In every Greek and Latin Church in all the pictures of the

Annunciation the Archangel Gabriel is depicted with this trinitarian symbol in his hand standing before

Mary while above the chief altar or under the dome the Eye of the Eternal is painted within a triangle

made to replace the Hebrew Yod or God.

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Truly says Ragon there was a time when numbers and alphabetical characters meant something more

than they do now -the images of a mere insignificant sound.

Their mission was nobler then.Each of them represented by its form a complete sense which

besides the meaning of the word had a double [ The system of the so-called Senzar

characters is still more wonderful and difficult since each letter is made to yield several

meanings,a sign placed at the commencement showing the true meaning .] interpretation

adapted to a dual doctrine.Thus when the sages desired to write something to be understood

only by the savants,they confabulated a story a dream or some other fictitious subject with

personal names of men and localities,that revealed by their lettered characters the true

meaning of the author by that narrative.Such were all their religious creations.[Ragon Op,

cit.,p.431 note.]

Every appellation and term had its raison d'źtre.The name of a plant or mineral denoted its nature to the

Initiate at the first glance.The essence of everything was easily perceived by him once that it was figured

by such characters.The Chinese characters have preserved much of this graphic and pictorial character

to this day though the secret of the full system is lost.Nevertheless,even now there are those among

that nation who can write a long narrative a volume on one page;and the symbols that are explained

historically allegorically and astronomically have survived until now.

Moreover there exists a universal language among the Initiates,which an Adept and even a disciple of

any nation may understand by reading it in his own language.We Europeans,on the contrary possess

only one graphic sign common to all &(and);there is a language richer in metaphysical terms than any

on earth whose every (Page 104)word is expressed by like common signs.The Litera Pythagorae so

called the Greek Y (the English capital Y)if traced alone in a message was as explicit as a whole page

filled with sentences,for it stood as a symbol for a number of things -for white and black Magic,for

instance.[The Y exoterically signifies only the two paths of virtue of vice and stands also for the

numeral 150 and with a dash over the letter Y for 150.000.]Suppose one man enquired of another:To

what School of Magic does so and so belong?And the answer came back with the letter traced with the

right branch thicker than the left then it meant “to right hand or divine Magic;”but if the letter was traced

in the usual way with the left branch thicker than the right then it meant the reverse the right or left

branch being the whole biography of a man.In Asia especially in the Devanāgarī characters,every letter

had several secret meanings.

Interpretations of the hidden sense of such apocalyptic writings are found in the keys given in the

Kabalah and they are among its more secret lore.St.Hieronymus assures us that they were known to

the School of the Prophets and taught therein which is very likely.Molitor the learned Hebraist in his

work on tradition says that:

The two and twenty letters of the Hebrew alphabet were regarded as an emanation or the

visible expression of the divine forces inherent in the ineffable name.

These letters find their equivalent in and are replaced by numbers,in the same way as in the other

systems.For instance the twelfth and the sixth letter of the alphabet yield eighteen in a name;the other

letter of that name added being always exchanged for that figure which corresponds to the alphabetical

letter;then all those figures are subjected to an algebraical process which transforms them again into

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letters;after which the latter yield to the enquirer “the most hidden secrets of divine Permanency (eternity

in its immutability)in the Futurity.”

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SECTION XI

The Hexagon with the Central Point or The Seventh Key

(Page 105)Arguing the virtue in names (Baalshem),Molitor thinks it impossible to deny that the Kabalah -

its present abuses notwithstanding -has some very profound and scientific basis to stand upon.And if it

is claimed he argues,

That before the Name of Jesus every other Name must bend why should not the

Tetragrammaton have the same power?[ Tradition chap on “Numbers.”]

This is good sense and logic.For if Pythagoras viewed the hexagon formed of two crossed triangles as

the symbol of creation and the Egyptians,as that of the union of fire and water (or of generation),the

Essenes saw in it the seal of Solomon the Jews the Shield of David the Hindus the sign of Vishnu (to

this day);and if even in Russia and Poland the double triangle is regarded as a powerful talisman -then

so widespread a use argues that there is something in it.It stands to reason indeed that such an

ancient and universally revered symbol should not be merely laid aside to be laughed at by those who

know nothing of its virtues or real Occult significance.To begin with even the known sign is merely a

substitute for the one used by the Initiates.In a Tāntrika work in the British Museum a terrible curse is

called down upon the head of him who shall ever divulge to the profane the real Occult hexagon known

as the “Sign of Vishnu ”“Solomon ’s Seal ”etc.

The great power of the hexagon -with its central mystic sign the T or the Svastika a septenary -is well

explained in the seventh key of Things Concealed for it says

(Page 106)The seventh key is the hieroglyph of the sacred septenary of royalty of the

priesthood [the Initiate ] of triumph and true result by struggle.It is magic power in all its force

the true “Holy Kingdom.”In the Hermetic Philosophy it is the quintessence resulting from the

union of the two forces of the great Magic Agent [Akāsha Astral Light.] ...It is equally Jakin

and Boaz bound by the will of the Adept and overcome by his omnipotence.

The force of this key is absolute in Magic.All religions have consecrated this sign in their rites.

We can only glance hurriedly at present at the long series of antediluvian works in their postdiluvian and

fragmentary often disfigured form.Although all of these are the inheritance from the Fourth Race -now

lying buried in the unfathomed depths of the ocean -still they are not to be rejected.As we have shown

there was but one Science at the dawn of mankind and it was entirely divine.If humanity on reaching its

adult period has abused it -especially the last Sub-Races of the Fourth Root-Race -it has been the fault

and sin of the practitioners who desecrated the divine knowledge not of those who remained true to its

pristine dogmas.It is not because the modern Roman Catholic Church faithful to her traditional

intolerance is now pleased to see in the Occultist and even in the innocent Spiritualist and Masons,the

descendants of “the Kischuph the Hamite the Kasdim,the Cephene the Ophite and the Khartumim ”-all

these being “the followers of Satan ”that they are such indeed.The State or National Religion of every

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country has ever and at all times very easily disposed of rival schools by professing to believe they were

dangerous heresies -the old Roman Catholic State Religion as much as the modern one.

The anathema however has not made the public any the wiser in the Mysteries of the Occult Sciences.

In some respects the world is all the better for such ignorance.The secrets of nature generally cut both

ways and in the hands of the undeserving they are more than likely to become murderous.Who in our

modern day knows anything of the real significance of and the powers contained in certain characters

and signs -talismans -whether for beneficent or evil purposes?Fragments of the Runes and the writing

of the Kischuph found scattered in old mediaeval libraries;copies from the Ephesian and Milesian letters

or characters;the thrice famous Book of Thoth,and the terrible treatises (still preserved)of Targes,the

Chaldaean and his disciple Tarchon the Etruscan -who flourished long before the Trojan War -are so

many names and appellations void of sense (though met with in classical literature)for the educated

modern scholar.Who in the nineteenth century believes in the art described in such treatises as those

of Targes,of evoking and directing thunderbolts?

Occult Weapons -

(Page 107)Yet the same is described in the Brāhmanical literature and Targes copied his “thunderbolts ”

from the Astra [This is a kind of magical bow and arrow calculated to destroy in one moment whole

armies;it is mentioned in the Ramayana,the P ranas and elsewhere.] those terrible engines of

destruction known to the Mahabharatan Aryans.A whole arsenal of dynamite bombs would pale before

this art -if it ever becomes understood by the Westerns.It is from an old fragment that was translated to

him that the late Lord Bulwer Lytton got his idea of Vril.It is a lucky thing indeed that in the face of the

virtues and philanthropy that grace our age of iniquitous wars,of anarchists and dynamiters,the secrets

contained in the books discovered in Numa ’s tomb should have been burnt.But the science of Circe and

Medea is not lost.One can discover it in the apparent gibberish of the Tantrika Sutras,the K ku-ma of

the Bhutani and the Sikhim Dugpas and “Red-caps ”of Tibet and even in the sorcery of the Nilgiri Mula

Kurumbas.Very luckily few outside the high practioners of the Left Path and of the Adepts of the Right -

in whose hands the weird secrets of the real meaning are safe -understand the “black ”evocations.

Otherwise the Western as much as the Eastern Dugpas might make short work of their enemies.The

name of the latter is legion for the direct descendants of the antediluvian sorcerers hate all those who

are not with them arguing that therefore they are against them.

As for the “Little Albert ”-though even this small half-esoteric volume has become a literary relic -and the

“Great Albert ”or the “Red Dragon ”together with the numberless old copies still in existence the sorry

remains of the mythical Mother Shiptons and the Merlins -we mean the false ones -all these are

vulgarised imitations of the original works of the same names.Thus the “Petite Albert ” is the disfigured

imitation of the great work written in Latin by Bishop Adalbert an Occultist of the eighth century

sentenced by the second Roman Concilium.His work was reprinted several centuries later and named

Alberti Parvi L cii Libell s de Mirabilib s Nat rae Arcanis.The severities of the Roman Church have ever

been spasmodic.While one learns of this condemnation which placed the Church as will be shown in

relation to the Seven Archangels,the Virtues or Thrones of God in the most embarrassing position for

long centuries,it remains a (Page 108)wonder indeed to find that the Jesuits have not destroyed the

archives with all their countless chronicles and annals,of the History of France and those of the Spanish

Escurial along with them.Both history and the chronicles of the former speak at length of the priceless

talisman received by Charles the Great from a Pope.It was a little volume on Magic -or Sorcery rather -

all full of kabalistic figures,signs mysterious sentences and invocations to the stars and planets.These

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were talismans against the enemies of the King (les ennemis de Charlemagne ),which talismans,the

chronicler tells us,proved of great help as “every one of them [the enemies ] died a violent death.”The

small volume Enchiridin m Leonis Papie,has disappeared and is very luckily out of print.Again the

Alphabet of Thoth can be dimly traced in the modern Tarot which can be had at almost every bookseller ’s

in Paris.As for its being understood or utilised the many fortune-tellers in Paris,who make a

professional living by it are sad specimens of failures of attempts at reading let alone correctly

interpreting the symbolism of the Tarot without a preliminary philosophical study of the Science.The real

Tarot in its complete symbology can be found only in the Babylonian cylinders,that any one can inspect

and study in the British Museum and elsewhere.Any one can see these Chaldaean antediluvian

rhombs,or revolving cylinders,covered with sacred signs;but the secrets of these divining “wheels,”or

as de Mirville calls them “the rotating globes of Hecate ”have to be left untold for some time to come.

Meanwhile there are the “turning-tables ”of the modern medium for the babes,and the Kabalah for the

strong.This may afford some consolation.

People are very apt to use terms which they do not understand and to pass judgments on prima facie

evidence.The difference between White and Black Magic is very difficult to realise fully as both have to

be judged by their motive upon which their ultimate though not their immediate effects depend even

though these may not come for years.Between the “right and the left hand [Magic ] there is but a cobweb

thread ”says an Eastern proverb.Let us abide by its wisdom and wait till we have learned more.

We shall have to return at greater length to the relation of the Kabalah to Gupta Vidya and to deal further

with esoteric and numerical systems,but we must first follow the line of Adepts in post Christian times.

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SECTION XII

The Duty of the True Occultist Toward Religions

(Page 109)HAVING disposed of pre-Christian Initiates and their Mysteries -though more has to be said

about the latter -a few words must be given to the earliest post-Christian Adepts irrespective of their

personal belief and doctrines,or their subsequent places in History whether sacred or profane.Our task

is to analyse this adeptship with its abnormal thaumaturgical or as now called psychological powers;to

give each of such Adepts his due by considering firstly what are the historical records about them that

have reached us at this late day and secondly to examine the laws of probability with regard to the said

powers.

And at the outset the writer must be allowed a few words in justification of what has to be said.It would

be most unfair to see in these pages,any defiance to or disrespect for the Christian religion -least of all

a desire to wound anyone ’s feelings.The Theosophist believes in neither Divine nor Satanic miracles.At

such a distance of time he can only obtain prima facie evidence and judge of it by the results claimed.

There is neither Saint nor Sorcerer Prophet nor Soothsayer for him;only Adepts,or proficients in the

production of feats of a phenomenal character to be judged by their words and deeds.The only

distinction he is now able to trace depends on the results achieved -on the evidence whether they were

beneficent or maleficent in their character as affecting those for or against whom the powers of the Adept

were used.With the division so arbitrarily made between proficients in “miraculous ”doings of this or that

Religion by their respective followers and advocates,the Occultist cannot and must not be concerned.

The Christian whose Religion commands (Page 110)him to regard Peter and Paul as Saints,and divinely

inspired and glorified Apostles,and to view Simon and Apollonius as Wizards and Necromancers,helped

by and serving the ends of supposed Evil Powers -is quite justified in thus doing if he be a sincere

orthodox Christian.But so also is the Occultist justified if he would serve truth and only truth in rejecting

such a one-sided view.The student of Occultism must belong to no special creed or sect yet he is bound

to show outward respect to every creed and faith if he would become an Adept of the Good Law.He

must not be bound by the prejudged and sectarian opinions of anyone and he has to form his own

opinions and to come to his own conclusions in accordance with the rules of evidence furnished to him

by the Science to which he is devoted.Thus,if the Occultist is,by way of illustration a Buddhist then

while regarding Gautama Buddha as the grandest of all the Adepts that lived and the incarnation of

unselfish love boundless charity and moral goodness,he will regard in the same light Jesus -

proclaiming Him another such incarnation of every divine virtue.He will reverence the memory of the

great Martyr even while refusing to recognise in Him the incarnation on earth of the One Supreme Deity

and the “Very God of Gods ”in Heaven.He will cherish the ideal man for his personal virtues,not for the

claims made on his behalf by fanatical dreamers of the early ages,or by a shrewd calculating Church

and Theology.He will even believe in most of the “assorted miracles,”only explaining them in

accordance with the rules of his own Science and by his psychic discernment.Refusing them the term

“miracle ”-in the theological sense of an event “contrary to the established laws of nature ’ -he will

nevertheless view them as a deviation from the laws known (so far)to Science quite another thing.

Moreover the Occultist will on the prima facie evidence of the Gospels -whether proven or not -class

most of such works as beneficent divine Magic,though he will be justified in regarding such events as

casting out devils into a herd of swine [ Matthew,viii.30-34.] as allegorical and as pernicious to true faith

in their dead-letter sense.This is the view a genuine impartial Occultist would take.And in this respect

even the fanatical Mussulmans who regard Jesus of Nazareth as a great Prophet and show respect to

Him are giving a wholesome lesson in charity to Christians,who teach and accept that “religious

tolerance is impious and absurd ” [ Dogmatic Theology,iii.345.] and who will never refer to the prophet

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of Islam by any other term but that of a “false prophet.”

Christian and Non-Christian Adepts -(Page 111)It is on the principles of Occultism then that Peter and

Simon Paul and Apollonius,will now be examined.

These four Adepts are chosen to appear in these pages with good reason.They are the first in post-

Christian Adeptship -as recorded in profane and sacred writings -to strike the key-note of “miracles,”

that is of psychic and physical phenomena.It is only theological bigotry and intolerance that could so

maliciously and arbitrarily separate the two harmonious parts into two distinct manifestations of Divine

and Satanic Magic,into “godly ” and “ungodly ” works.

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SECTION XIII

Post-Christian Adepts and Their Doctrines

(Page 112)WHAT does the world at large know of Peter and Simon for example?Profane history has no

record of these two while that which the so-called sacred literature tells us of them is scattered about

contained in a few sentences in the Acts .As to the Apocrypha their very name forbids critics to trust to

them for information.The Occultists,however claim that one-sided and prejudiced as they may be the

apocryphal Gospels contain far more historically true events and facts than does the New Testament the

Acts included.The former are crude tradition the latter [the official Gospels ] are an elaborately made up

legend.The sacredness of the New Testament is a question of private belief and of blind faith and while

one is bound to respect the private opinion of one ’s neighbour no one is forced to share it.

Who was Simon Magus,and what is known of him?One learns in the Acts simply that on account of his

remarkable magical Arts he was called “the Great Power of God.” Philip is said to have baptised this

Samaritan;and subsequently he is accused of having offered money to Peter and John to teach him the

power of working true “miracles,” false ones,it is asserted being of the Devil [ viii.9 10.] This is all if we

omit the words of abuse freely used against him for working “miracles ”of the latter kind.Origen mentions

him as having visited Rome during the reign of Nero [ Adv.Celsum.] and Mosheim places him along the

open enemies of Christianity;[ Eccles.Hist.,i.140.] but Occult tradition accuses him of nothing worse

than refusing to recognise “Simeon ” as Vicegerent of God whether that “Simeon ” was Peter or anyone

else being still left an open question with the critics.

Unfair Criticism -(Page 113)That which Irenaeus [Contra Haereses,1.xxiii.1-4.] and Epiphanius [

Comtra Haereses,ii 1-6.] say of Simon Magus -namely that he represented himself as the incarnated

trinity;that in Samaria he was the Father in Judaea the Son and had given himself out to the Gentiles as

the Holy Spirit -is simply backbiting.Times and events change;human nature remains the same and

unaltered under every sky and in every age.The charge is the result and product of the traditional and

now classical odi m theologic m.No Occultists -all of whom have experienced personally more or less,

the effects of theological rancour -will ever believe such things merely on the word of an Irenaeus,if

indeed he ever wrote the words himself.Further on it is narrated of Simon that he took about with him a

woman whom he introduced as Helen of Troy who had passed through a hundred reincarnations,and

who still earlier in the beginning of aeons,was Sophia Divine Wisdom an emanation of his own

(Simon ’s)Eternal Mind when he (Simon)was the “Father ” ;and finally that by her he had “begotten the

Archangels and Angels,by whom this world was created ”etc.

Now we all know to what a degree of transformation and luxuriant growth any bare statement can be

subjected and forced after passing through only half a dozen hands.Moreover all these claims may be

explained and even shown to be true at bottom Simon Magus was a Kabalist and a Mystic,who like so

many other reformers,endeavoured to found a new Religion based on the fundamental teachings of the

Secret Doctrine yet without divulging more than necessary of its mysteries.Why then should not Simon

a Mystic deeply imbued with the fact of serial incarnations (we may leave out the number “one hundred ”

as a very probable exaggeration of his disciples),speak of any one whom he knew psychically as an

incarnation of some heroine of that name and in the way he did -if he ever did so?Do we not find in our

own century some ladies and gentlemen not charlatans but intellectual persons highly honoured in

society whose inner conviction assures them that they were -one Queen Cleopatra another one

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Alexander the Great a third Joan of Arc,and who or what not?This is a matter of inner conviction and is

based on more or less familiarity with Occultism and belief in the modern theory of reincarnation.The

latter differs from the one genuine doctrine of old as will be shown but there is no rule without its

exception.

(Page 114)As to the Magus being “one with God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost ”this

again is quite reasonable if we admit that a Mystic and Seer has a right to use allegorical language;and

in this case moreover it is quite justified by the doctrine of Universal Unity taught in Esoteric Philosophy.

Every Occultist will say the same on (to him)scientific and logical grounds,in full accordance with the

doctrine he professes.Not a Vedantin but says the same thing daily:he is,of course Brahman and he is

Parabrahman once that he rejects the individuality of his personal spirit and recognizes the Divine Ray

which dwells in his Higher Self as only a reflection of the Universal Spirit.This is the echo in all times and

ages of the primitive doctrine of Emanations.The first Emanation from the Unknown is the “Father [Op

cit.,ii.337.] the second the “Son ”and all and everything proceeds from the One or that Divine Spirit

which is “unknowable.Hence the assertion that by her (Sophia or Minerva the Divine Wisdom)he

(Simon),when yet in the bosom of the Father himself the Father (or the first collective Emanation),begot

the Archangels -the “Son ”-who were the creators of this world.

The Roman Catholics themselves,driven to the wall by the irrefutable arguments of their opponents -the

learned Philologists and Symbologists who pick to shreds Church dogmas and their authorities,and point

out the plurality of the Elohim in the Bible -admit today that the first “creation ”of God the Tsaba or

Archangels,must have participated in the creation of the universe.Might not we suppose:

Although “God alone created the heaven and the earth ”...that however unconnected they

[the angels ] may have been with the primordial ex nihilo creation they may have received a

mission to achieve to continue and to sustain it?[ Op cit.,ii.337.]

exclaims De Mirville in answer to Renan Lacour Maury and the t tti q anti of the French Institute.With

certain alterations it is precisely this which is claimed by the Secret Doctrine.In truth there is not a single

doctrine preached by the many Reformers of the first and the subsequent centuries of our era that did

not base its initial teachings on this universal cosmogony.Consult Mosheim and see what he has to say

of the many “heresies ”he describes.Cerinthus,the Jew

Taught that the Creator of this world ...the Sovereign God of the Jewish people was a

Being ...who derived his birth from the Supreme God;

that this Being moreover

Fell by degrees from his native virtue and primitive dignity.

The Two Eternal Principles -(Page 115)Basildes,Carpocrates and Valentinus,the Egyptian Gnostics of

the second century held the same ideas with a few variations.Basilides preached seven Aeons (Hosts or

Archangels),who issued from the substance of the Supreme.Two of them Power and Wisdom begot

the heavenly hierarchy of the first class and dignity;this emanated a second;the latter a third and so on;

each subsequent evolution being of a nature less exalted than the precedent and each creating for itself

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a Heaven as a dwelling the nature of each of these respective Heavens decreasing in splendour and

purity as it approached nearer to the earth.Thus the number of these Dwellings amounted to 365;and

over all presided the Supreme Unknown called Abraxas,a name which in the Greek method of

numeration yields the number 365 which in its mystic and numerical meaning contains the number 355

or the man value [Ten is the perfect number of the Supreme God among the “manifested ”deities,for

number "I"is the symbol of the Universal Unit or male principle in Nature and a number "0"the feminine

symbol Chaos,the Deep the two forming thus the symbol of Androgyne nature as well as the full value

of the solar year which was also the value of Jehovah and Enoch.Ten with Pythagoras,was the symbol

of the Universe;also of Enos,the Son of Seth or the “Son of Man ” who stands as the symbol of the solar

year of 365 days and whose years are therefore given as 365 also.In the Egyptian Symbology Abraxas

was the Sun the “Lord of the Heavens.”The Circle is the symbol of the one Unmanifesting Principle the

plane of whose figure is infinitude eternally and this is crossed by a diameter only during Manvantaras.]

This was a Gnostic Mystery based upon that of primitive Evolution which ended with “man.”

Saturnilus of Antioch promulgated the same doctrine slightly modified.He taught two eternal principles,

Good and Evil which are simply Spirit and Matter.The seven Angels who preside over the seven Planets

are the Builders of our Universe -a purely Eastern doctrine as Saturnilus was an Asiatic Gnostic.These

Angels are the natural Guardians of the seven Regions of our Planetary System one of the most

powerful among these seven creating Angels of the third order being “Saturn ” the presiding genius of the

Planet and the God of the Hebrew people:namely Jehovah who was venerated among the Jews,and

to whom they dedicated the seventh day or Sabbath Saturday -“Saturn ’s day ” among the Scandinavians

and also among the Hindus.

Marcion who also held the doctrine of the two opposed principles of Good and Evil asserted that there

was a third Deity between the two -one of a “mixed nature ”-the God of the Jews,the Creator (with his

Host)of the lower or our World.Though ever at war with the Evil (Page 116)Principle this intermediate

Being was nevertheless also opposed to the Good Principle whose place and title he coveted.

Thus Simon was only the son of his time a religious Reformer like so many others,and an Adept among

the Kabalists.The Church to which a belief in his actual existence and great powers is a necessity -in

order the better to set off the “miracle ”performed by Peter and his triumph over Simon -extols

unstintingly his wonderful magic feats.On the other hand Scepticism represented by scholars and

learned critics,tries to make away with him altogether.Thus,after denying the very existence of Simon

they have finally thought fit to merge his individuality entirely in that of Paul.The anonymous author of

S pernat ral Religion assiduously endeavoured to prove that by Simon Magus we must understand the

Apostle Paul whose Epistles were secretly as well as openly calumniated and opposed by Peter and

charged with containing “dysnoetic learning.” Indeed this seems more than probable when we think of the

two Apostles and contrast their characters.

The Apostle of the Gentiles was brave outspoken sincere and very learned;the Apostle of

Circumcision cowardly cautious,insincere and very ignorant.That Paul had been partially at

least if not completely initiated into the theurgic mysteries,admits of little doubt.His

language the phraseology so peculiar to the Greek philosophers,certain expressions used

only by the Initiates,are so many sure earmarks to that supposition.Our suspicion has been

strengthened by an able article entitled “Paul and Plato ”by Dr.A.Wilder in which the author

puts forward one remarkable and for us,very precious observation.In the Epistles to the

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Corinthians he shows Paul abounding with “expressions suggested by the initiations of

Sabazius and Eleusis,and the lectures of the (Greek)philosophers.He (Paul)designates

himself as idiotes -a person unskilful in the Word but not in the gnosis or philosophical

learning.‘We speak wisdom among the perfect or initiated ’ he writes,even the hidden

wisdom ‘not the wisdom of this world nor of the Archons of this world but divine wisdom in a

mystery secret -which none of the Archons of this world knew.’”[I.Cor.,ii.6-8.]

What else can the Apostle mean by those unequivocal words,but that he himself as

belonging to the Mystae (Initiated),spoke of things shown and explained only in the

Mysteries?The “divine wisdom in a mystery which none of the Archons of this world knew,”

has evidently some direct reference to the Basileus of the Eleusinian Initiation who did know.

The Basileus belonged to the staff of the great Hierophant and was an Archon of Athens,and

as such was one of the chief Mystae belonging to the interior Mysteries,to which a very select

and small number obtained an entrance.[ Compare Taylor ’s Ele sinian and Bacchic

Mysteries.] The magistrates supervising the Eleusinia were called Archons.[ Isis Unveiled.ii.

89.]

We will deal however first with Simon the Magician.

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SECTION XIV

Simon and His Biographer Hippolytus

(Page 117)AS shown in our earlier volumes,Simon was a pupil of the Tanaim of Samaria and the

reputation he left behind him together with the title of “the Great Power of God ”testify in favour of the

ability and learning of his Masters.But the Tanaim were Kabalists of the same secret school as John of

the Apocalypse whose careful aim it was to conceal as much as possible the real meaning of the names

in the Mosiac Books.Still the calumnies so jealously disseminated against Simon Magus by the unknown

authors and compilers of the Acts and other writings,could not cripple the truth to such an extent as to

conceal the fact that no Christian could rival him in thaumaturgic deeds.The story told about his falling

during an aerial flight breaking both his legs and then committing suicide is ridiculous.Posterity has

heard but one side of the story.Were the disciples of Simon to have a chance we might perhaps find that

it was Peter who broke his legs.But as against this hypothesis we know that this Apostle was too prudent

ever to venture himself in Rome.On the confession of several ecclesiastical writers,no Apostle ever

performed such “supernatural wonders,” but of course pious people will say this only the more proves

that it was the Devil who worked through Simon.He was accused of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost

only because he introduced as the “Holy Spiritus ”the Men's (Intelligence)or “the Mother of all.” But we

find the same expression used in the Book of Enoch,in which in contradistinction to the “Son of Man ”

he speaks of the “Son of the Woman.”In the Codex of the Nazarenes,and in the Zohar as well as in the

Books of Hermes the same expression is used;and even in the apocryphal Evangeli m of the Hebrews

we read that Jesus admitted the female sex of the Holy Ghost by using the expression “My Mother the

Holy Pneuma.”

(Page 118)After long ages of denial however the actual existence of Simon Magus has been finally

demonstrated whether he was Saul Paul or Simon.A manuscript speaking of him under the last name

has been discovered in Greece and has put a stop to any further speculation.

In his Histoire des Trois Premiers Siecles de L ’Eglise,[ Op.cit.,ii.395.]M.de Pressensé gives his

opinion on this additional relic of early Christianity.Owing to the numerous myths with which the history

of Simon abounds -he says -many Theologians (among Protestants,he ought to have added)have

concluded that it was no better than a clever tissue of legends.But he adds:

It contains positive facts,it seems,now warranted by the unanimous testimony of the Fathers

of the Church and the narrative of Hippolytus recently discovered.[ Quoted by De Mirville.Op

cit.,vi.41 and 42.]

This MS.is very far from being complimentary to the alleged founder of Western Gnosticism.While

recognizing great powers in Simon it brands him as a priest of Satan -which is quite enough to show

that it was written by a Christian.It also shows that like another servant “of the Evil One ”-as Manes is

called by the Church -Simon was a baptised Christian;but that both being too well versed in the

mysteries of true primitive Christianity were persecuted for it.The secret of such persecution was then

as it is now quite transparent to those who study the question impartially.Seeking to preserve his

independence Simon could not submit to the leadership or authority of any of the Apostles,least of all to

that of either Peter or John the fanatical author of the Apocalypse.Hence charges of heresy followed by

“anathema maranatha.”The persecutions by the Church were never directed against Magic,when it was

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orthodox;for the new Theurgy established and regulated by the Fathers,now known to Christendom as

“grace ”and “miracles,”was and is still when it does happen only Magic -whether conscious or

unconscious.Such phenomena as have passed to posterity under the name of “divine miracles ”were

produced though powers acquired by great purity of life and ecstacy.Prayer and contemplation added to

asceticism are the best means of discipline in order to become a Theurgist where there is no regular

initiation.For intense prayer for the accomplishment of some object is only intense will and desire

resulting in unconscious Magic.In our own day George Muller of Bristol has proved it.But “divine

miracles ”are produced by the same causes that generate effects of Sorcery.

Uneven Balances -(Page 119)The whole difference rests on the good or evil effects aimed at and on the

actor who produces them.The thunders of the Church were directed only against those who dissented

from the formulae and attributed to themselves the production of certain marvellous effects,instead of

fathering them on a personal God;and thus while those Adepts in Magic Arts who acted under her direct

instructions and auspices were proclaimed to posterity and history as saints and friends of God all others

were hooted out of the Church and sentenced to eternal calumny and curses from their day to this.

Dogma and authority have ever been the curse of humanity the great extinguishers of light and truth.[

Mr.St.George Lane-Fox has admirably expressed the idea in his eloquent appeal to the many rival

schools and societies in India.“ I feel sure ”he said “that the prime motive however dimly perceived by

which you as the promoters of these movements,were actuated was a revolt against the tyrannical and

almost universal establishment throughout all existing social and so-called religious institutions of a

usurped authority in some external form supplanting and obscuring the only real and ultimate authority

the indwelling spirit of truth revealed to each individual soul true conscience in fact that supreme source

of all human wisdom and power which elevates man above the level of the brute.”(To the Members of

the Aryan Samāj,the Theosophical Society,Brahmo and Hind Samaj and other Religio s and

Progressive Societies in India.)]

It was perhaps the recognition of a germ of that which later on in the then nascent Church grew into the

virus of insatiate power and ambition culminating finally in the dogma of infallibility that forced Simon

and so many others,to break away from her at her very birth.Sects and dissensions began with the first

century.While Paul rebukes Peter to his face John slanders under the veil of vision the Nicolaitans,and

makes Jesus declare that he hates them.[Revelation,ii.6.] Therefore we pay little attention to the

accusations against Simon in the MS.found in Greece.

It is entitled Philosoph mena .Its author regarded as Saint Hippolytus by the Greek Church is referred to

as an “unknown heretic ”by the Papists only because he speaks in it “very slanderously ” of Pope

Callistus,also a Saint.Nevertheless,Greeks and Latins agree in declaring the Philosoph mena to be an

extraordinary and very erudite work.Its antiquity and genuineness have been vouched for by the best

authorities of Tubingen.

Whoever the author may have been he expresses himself about Simon in this wise:

Simon a man well versed in magic arts,deceived many persons partly by the (Page 120)art of

Thrasymedes,[This “art ”is not common jugglery as some define it now:it ’s a kind of

psychological jugglery if jugglery at all where fascination and glamour are used as means of

producing illusions.It is hypnotism on a large scale.] and partly with the help of demons.[ The

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author asserts in this his Christian persuasion.]...He determined to pass himself off as a

god...Aided by his wicked arts,he turned to profit not only the teachings of Moses,but those

of the poets ...His disciples use to this day his charms.Thanks to incantations,to philtres,to

their attractive caresses [ Magnetic passes,evidently followed by a trance and sleep.] and

what they call “sleeps,”they send demons to influence all those whom they would fascinate.

With this object they employ what they call “familiar demons.”[ “Elementals ”used by the

highest Adept to do mechanical not intellectual work as a physicist uses gases and other

compounds.]

Further on the MS.reads:

The Magus (Simon)made those who wished to enquire of the demon write what their

question was on a leaf of parchment;this,folded in four was thrown into a burning brazier in

order that the smoke should reveal the contents of the writing to the Spirit (demon)(Philos.,IV.

IV.)Incense was thrown by handfuls on the blazing coals,the Magus adding on pieces of

papyrus,the Hebrew names of the Spirits he was addressing and the flame devoured all.

Very soon the divine Spirit seemed to overwhelm the Magician who uttered unintelligible

invocations,and plunged in such a state he answered every question -phantasmal apparitions

being often raised over the flaming brazier (ibid .iii.);at other times fire descended from

heaven upon objects previously pointed out by the Magician (ibid.);or again the deity evoked

crossing the room would trace fiery orbs in its flight.(ibid .ix.).[Quoted from De Mirville.

op.cit.,vi.43.]

So far the above statements agree with those of Anastasius the Sinaļte:

People saw Simon causing statues to walk;precipitating himself into the flames without being

burnt;metamorphosing his body into that of various animals [lycanthropy ];raising at banquets

phantoms and spectres;ca sing the f rnit re in the rooms to move abo t,by invisible spirits .

He gave out that he was escorted by a number of shades to whom he gave the name of “souls

of the dead.”Finally he used to fly in the air ...(Anast.Patrol,Grecq e,vol.lxxxix.col.523

quaest.xx.).[ Ibid.,vi.45 .]

Suetonius says in his Nero,

In those days an Icarus fell at his first ascent near Nero ’s box and covered it with his blood.[

Ibid.,p.46.]

This sentence referring evidently to some unfortunate acrobat who missed his footing and tumbled is

brought forward as a proof that it was Simon who fell.[ Amédée Fleury.Rapports de St.Pa l avec

Sénčq e.ii.100.The whole of this is summarised from De Mirville.]

Stones as “Evidences.”-(Page 121)But the latter ’s name is surely too famous,if one must credit the

Church Fathers,for the historian to have mentioned him simply as “an Icarus.” The writer is quite aware

that there exists in Rome a locality names Simonium near the Church of SS.Cosmas and Daimanus

(Via Sacra),and the ruins of the ancient temple of Romulus,where the broken pieces of a stone on

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which it is alleged the two knees of the Apostle Peter were impressed in thanksgiving after his supposed

victory over Simon are shown to this day.But what does this exhibition amount to?For the broken

fragments of one stone the Buddhists of Ceylon show a whole rock on Adam ’s Peak with another imprint

upon it.A crag stands upon its platform a terrace of which supports a huge boulder and on the boulder

rests for nearly three thousand years the sacred footprint of a foot five feet long.Why not credit the

legend of the latter if we have to accept that of St.Peter?“Prince of Apostles,”or “Prince of Reformers,”

or even the “First-born of Satan ”as Simon is called all are entitled to legends and fictions.One may be

allowed to discriminate however.

That Simon could fly i.e.,raise himself in the air for a few minutes,is no impossibility.Modern mediums

have performed the same feat supported by a force that Spiritualists persist in calling “spirits.”But if

Simon did so it was with the help of a self-acquired blind power that heeds little the prayers and

commands of rival Adepts,let alone Saints.The fact is that logic is against the supposed fall of Simon at

the prayer of Peter.For had he been defeated publicly by the Apostle his disciples would have

abandoned him after such an evident sign of inferiority and would have become orthodox Christians.But

we find even the author of Philosoph mena,just such a Christian showing otherwise.Simon had lost so

little credit with his pupils and the masses,that he went on daily preaching in the Roman Campania after

his supposed fall from the clouds “far above the Capitolium ”in which fall he broke his legs only!Such a

lucky fall is in itself sufficiently miraculous,one would say.

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SECTION XV

St.Paul the Real Founder of Present Christianity

(Page 122)We may repeat with the author of Phallicism:

We are all for construction -even for Christian,although of course philosophical construction.

We have nothing to do with reality in man ’s limited mechanical scientific sense or with

realism .We have undertaken to show that mysticism is the very life and soul of religion;[ But

we can never agree with the author “that rites and ritual and formal worship and prayers are of

absolute necessity of things,”for the external can develop and grow and receive worship only

at the expense of and to the detriment of the internal the only real and true.]...that the

Bible is only misread and misrepresented when rejected as advancing supposed fab lo s and

contradictory things;that Moses did not make mistakes,but spoke to the “children of men ”in

the only way in which children in their nonage can be addressed;that the world is indeed a

very different place from that which it is assumed to be;that what is derided as superstition is

the only true and the only scientific knowledge and moreover that modern knowledge and

modern science are to a great extent not only superstition,but superstition of a very

destructive and deadly kind.[ H.Jennings,op.cit.,pp.37.38.]

All this is perfectly true and correct.But it is also true that the New Testament the Acts and the Epistles -

however much the historical figure of Jesus may be true -all are symbolical and allegorical sayings,and

that “it was not Jesus but Paul who was the real founder of Christianity;”[See Isis Unveiled ii.574.] but it

was not the official Church Christianity at any rate.“The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch ”

the Acts of the Apostles tell us,[ xi.26.] and they were not so called before nor for a long time after but

simply Nazarenes.

This view is found in more than one writer of the present and the past centuries.But hitherto it has

always been laid aside as an unproven hypothesis,a blasphemous assumption;though as the author of

Pa l,the Fo nder of Christianity [Art by Dr.A.Wilder in Evol tion .] truly says:

Abrogation of Law by Initiates -

(Page 123)Such men as Irenaeus,Epiphanius and Eusebius have transmitted to posterity a

reputation for such untruth and dishonest practices that the heart sickens at the story of the

crimes of that period.

The more so since the whole Christian scheme rests upon their sayings.But we find now another

corroboration and this time on the perfect reading of biblical glyphs.In The So rce of Measures we find

the following:

It must be borne in mind that our present Christianity is Pa line,not Jesus.Jesus,in his life

was a Jew conforming to the law;even more He says:“The scribes and pharisees sit in

Moses ’ seat;whatsoever therefore they command you to do that observe and do.”And again:

“ I did not come to destroy but to fulfil the law ”Therefore he was under the law to the day of

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his death and could not while in life abrogate one jot or title of it.He was circumcised and

commanded circumcision.But Paul said of circumcision that it availed nothing and he (Paul)

abrogated the law.Sa l and Pa l -that is,Saul under the law and Paul freed from the

obligations of the law -were in one man but parallelisms in the flesh of Jesus the man under

the law as observing it who thus died in Chrestos and arose freed from its obligations,in the

spirit world as Christos,or the triumphant Christ.It was the Christ who was freed but Christ

was the Spirit.Saul in the flesh was the function of and parallel of Chrestos.Paul in the flesh

was the function and parallel of Jesus become Christ in the spirit as an early reality to answer

to and act for the apotheosis;and so armed with all authority in the flesh to abrogate human

law.[ Op.cit.,p.262.]

The real reason why Paul is shown as “abrogating the law ” can be found only in India where to this day

the most ancient customs and privileges are preserved in all their purity notwithstanding the abuse

levelled at the same.There is only one class of persons who can disregard the law of Brāhmanical

institutions,caste included with impunity and that is the perfect “Svāmis,”the Yogis -who have reached

or are supposed to have reached the first step towards the Jivanmukta state -or the full Initiates.And

Paul was undeniably an Initiate.We will quote a passage or two from Iris Unveiled,for we can say now

nothing better than what was said then:

Take Paul read the little of original that is left of him in the writings attributed to this brave

honest sincere man and see whether anyone can find a word therein to show that Paul

meant by the word Christ anything more than the abstract ideal of the personal divinity

indwelling in man.For Paul Christ is not a person but (Page 124)an embodied idea.“If any

man is in Christ he is a new creation ”he is reborn,as after initiation for the Lord is spirit -the

spirit of man.Paul was the only one of the apostles who had understood the secret ideas

underlying the teachings of Jesus,although he had never met him.

But Paul himself was not infallible or perfect.

Bent upon inaugurating a new and broad reform one embracing the whole of humanity he

sincerely set his own doctrines far above the wisdom of the ages,above the ancient Mysteries

and final revelation to the Epoptae.

Another proof that Paul belonged to the circle of the “Initiates ”lies in the following fact.The

apostle had his head shorn at Cenchreae where Lucius (Ap lei s)was initiated because “he

had a vow.”The Nazars -or set apart -as we see in the Jewish Scriptures,had to cut their

hair which they wore long and which “no razor touched ”at any other time and sacrifice it on

the altar of initiation.And the Nazars were a class of Chaldaean Theurgists or Initiates.

It is shown in Isis Unveiled that Jesus belonged to this class.

Paul declares that:“According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master-

b ilder I have laid the foundation.”(1.Corinth.,iii.10.)

The expression master-builder used only once in the whole Bible,and by Paul may be

considered as a whole revelation.In the Mysteries,the third part of the sacred rites was called

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Epoteia or revelation reception into the secrets.In substance it means the highest stage of

clairvoyance -the diviner;...but the real significance of the word is “overseeing ”from

“óšōļģįé -“I see myself.” In Sanskrit the root āp had the same meaning originally though now

it is understood as meaning “to obtain.”[ In its most extensive meaning the Sanskrit word has

the same literal sense as the Greek term:both imply “revelation ” by no human agent but

through the “receiving of the sacred drink.”In India the initiated receive the “Soma ”sacred

drink,which helped to liberate his soul from the body:and in the Eleusinian Mysteries it was

the sacred drink offered at the Epopteia.The Grecian Mysteries are wholly derived from the

Brahmanical Vaidic rites,and the latter from the Ante-Vaidic religious Mysteries -primitive

Wisdom Philosophy.]

The word epopteia is compound from ‘åšé ’ “upon ”and “óšōļģįé-“”to look,” or an overseer an

inspector -also used for a master-builder.The title of master-mason in Freemasonry is

derived from this,in the sense used in the Mysteries.Therefore when Paul entitles himself a

“master-builder ”he is using a word pre-eminently kabalistic,theurgic,and masonic,and one

which no other apostle uses.He thus declares himself an adept having the right to initiate

others.

If we search in this direction with those sure guides,the Grecian Mysteries and the Kabalah,before us,it

will be easy to find the secret reason why Paul was so persecuted and hated by Peter John and James.

The author of the Revelation was a Jewish Kabalist p r sang,with all the hatred inherited by him from

his forefathers toward the Pagan Mysteries.[ It is needless to state that the Gospel according to John

was not written by John but by a Platonist or a Gnostic belonging to the Neoplatonic school.] His

jealousy during the life of Jesus extended even to Peter;and it is but after the death of their common

master that we see the two apostles -the former of whom wore the Mitre and the Petaloon of the Jewish

Rabbis -preach so zealously the rite of circumcision.

Paul Changed to Simon -(Page 125)In the eyes of Peter Paul who had humiliated him and whom he

felt so much his superior in “Greek learning ”and philosophy must have naturally appeared as a

magician a man polluted with the “Gnosis,”with the “wisdom ”of the Greek Mysteries -hence perhaps,

“Simon the Magician ”as a comparison not a nickname.[Ibid.,loc.cit.The fact that Peter persecuted the

“Apostle of the Gentiles ”under that name does not necessarily imply that there was no Simon Magus

individually distinct from Paul.It may have become a generic name of abuse.Theodoret and

Chrysostom the earliest and most prolific commentators on the Gnosticism of those days seem actually

to make of Simon a rival of Paul and to state that between them passed frequent messages.The former

as a diligent propagandist of what Paul terms the “antithesis of the Gnosis ”(I Epistle to Timothy ),must

have been a sore thorn in the side of the apostle.There are sufficient proofs of the actual existence of

Simon Magus.]

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SECTION XVI

Peter a Jewish Kabalist Not an Initiate

(Page 126)As to Peter biblical criticism has shown that in all probability he had no more to do with the

foundation of the Latin Church at Rome than to furnish the pretext so readily seized upon by the cunning

Irenaeus,of endowing the Church with a new name for the Apostle -Petra or Kiffa -a name which by an

easy play upon words,could be readily connected to Petroma.The Petroma was a pair of stone tablets

used by the Hierophants at the Initiations,during the final Mystery.In this lies concealed the secret of the

Vatican claim to the seat of Peter.As already quoted in Isis Unveiled,ii.92:

In the Oriental countries the designation Peter (in Phoenician and Chaldaic an interpreter),

appears to have been the title of this personage.[Taylor ’s Ele sinian and Bacchic Mysteries,

Wilder ’s ed.p.x.]

So far and as the “interpreters ”of Neo-Christianism,the Popes have most undeniably the right to call

themselves successors to the title of Peter but hardly the successors to least of all the interpreters of

the doctrines of Jesus,the Christ;for there is the Oriental Church older and far purer than the Roman

hierarchy which having ever faithfully held to the primitive teachings of the Apostles,is known

historically to have refused to follow the Latin seceders from the original Apostolic Church though

curiously enough she is still referred to by her Roman sister as the “Schismatic ”Church.It is useless to

repeat the reasons for the statements above made as they may all be found in Isis Unveiled [ ii.91-94.]

where the words,Peter Patar and Pitar are explained and the origin of the “Seat of Pitah ”is shown.

The reader will find upon referring to the above pages that an inscription was found on the coffin of

Queen Mentuhept of the Eleventh Dynasty (2250 B.C.according to Bunsen),which in its turn was shown

to have been transcribed from the Seventeenth Chapter of the Book of the Dead,dating certainly not

later than 4500 B.C.or 496 years before the World ’s Creation in the Genesiacal chronology.

The Seat of Peter -(Page 127)Nevertheless,Baron Bunsen shows the group of the hieroglyphics given

(Peter-ref-s ,the “Mystery Word ”)and the sacred formulary mixed up with a whole series of glosses and

various interpretations on a monument 4 000 years old.

This is identical with saying that the record (the true interpretation)was at that time no longer

intelligible ...We beg our readers to understand that a sacred text a hymn containing the

words of a departed spirit existed in such a state about 4.000 years ago as to be all but

unintelligible to royal scribes.[ Bunsen Egypt ’s Place in History.v.90.]

“Unintelligible ”to the non-initiated -this is certain;and it is so proved by the confused and contradictory

glosses.Yet there can be no doubt that it was -for it still is -a mystery word.The Baron further explains:

It appears to me that our PTR is literally the old Aramaic and Hebrew “Patar ”which occurs in

the history of Joseph as the specific word for interpreting whence also Pitrum is the term for

interpretation of a text a dream.

This word PTR was partially interpreted owing to another word similarly written in another group of

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hieroglyphics,on a stele the glyph used for it being an opened eye interpreted by De Rougé [ Stele,

p.44.] as “to appear ” and by Bunsen as “illuminator ”which is more correct.However it may be the word

Patar or Peter would locate both master and disciple in the circle of initiation and connect them with the

Secret Doctrine;while in the “Seat of Peter ” we can hardly help seeing a connection with Petroma the

double set of stone tablets used by the Hierophant at the Supreme Initiation during the final Mystery as

already stated also with the Pitha-sthāna (seat or the place of a seat),a term used in the Mysteries of

the Tantriks in India in which the limbs of the Satī are scattered and then united again as those of Osiris

by Isis.[ See Dowson ’s Hind Classical Dict.,sub voc.,“Pitha-sthānam.”] Pitha is a Sanskrit word and is

also used to designate the seat of the initiating Lama.

Whether all the above terms are due simply to “coincidences ”or otherwise is left to the decision of our

learned Symbologists and Philologists.We state facts -and nothing more.Many other writers far (Page

128)more learned and entitled to be heard than the author has ever claimed to be have sufficiently

demonstrated that Peter never had anything to do with the foundation of the Latin Church;that his

supposed name Petra or Kiffa also the whole story of his Apostleship at Rome are simply a play on the

term which meant in every country in one or another form the Hierophant or interpreter of the

Mysteries;and that finally far from dying a martyr at Rome where he had probably never been he died

at a good old age at Babylon.In Sepher Tolaoth Jesh ,a Hebrew manuscript of great antiquity -

evidently an original and very precious document if one may judge from the care the Jews took to hide it

from the Christians -Simon (Peter)is referred to as “a faithful servant of God ”who passed his life in

austerities and meditation a Kabalist and a Nazarene who lived at Babylon “at the top of a tower

composed hymns,preached charity ” and died there.

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SECTION XVII

Appollonius of Tyana

(Page 129)IT is said in Isis Unveiled that the greatest teachers of divinity agree that nearly all ancient

books were written symbolically and in a language intelligible only to the Initiated.The biographical

sketch of Apollonius of Tyana affords an example.As every Kabalist knows,it embraces the whole of the

Hermetic Philosophy being a counterpart in many respects of the traditions left us of King Solomon.It

reads like a fairy story but as in the case of the latter sometimes facts and historical events are

presented to the world under the colours of fiction.The journey to India represents in its every stage

though of course allegorically the trials of a Neophyte giving at the same time a geographical and

topographical idea of a certain country as it is even now if one knows where to look for it.The long

discourses of Apollonius with the Brāhmans,their sage advice and the dialogues with the Corinthian

Menippus would if interpreted give the Esoteric Catechism.His visit to the empire of the wise men his

interview with their king Hiarchas,the oracle of Amphiaraus,explain symbolically many of the secret

dogmas of Hermes -in the generic sense of the name -and of Occultism.Wonderful is this to relate and

were not the statement supported by numerous calculations already made and the secret already half

revealed the writer would never have dared to say it.The travels of the great Magus are correctly

though allegorically described -that is to say all that is related to Damis had actually taken place -but

the narrative is based upon the Zodiacal signs.As transliterated by Damis under the guidance of

Appollonius and translated by Philostratus,it is a marvel indeed.At the conclusion of what may now be

related of the wonderful Adept of Tyana our meaning will become clearer.Suffice it to say for the present

that the dialogues spoken of would disclose if correctly understood some of the most important secrets

of Nature.Eliphas Levi points out the great (Page 130)resemblance which exists between King Hiarchus

and the fabulous Hiram from whom Solomon procured the cedars of Lebanon and the gold of Ophir.But

he keeps silent as to another resemblance of which as a learned Kabalist he could not be ignorant.

Moreover according to his invariable custom he mystifies the reader more than he teaches him

divulging nothing and leading him off the right track.

Like most of the historical heroes of hoary antiquity whose lives and works strongly differ from those of

commonplace humanity Apollonius is to this day a riddle which has,so far found no Oedipus.His

existence is surrounded with such a veil of mystery that he is often mistaken for a myth.But according to

every law of logic and reason it is quite clear that Apollonius should never be regarded in such a light.If

the Tyanean Theurgist may be put down as a fabulous character then history has no right to her Caesars

and Alexanders.It is quite true that this Sage who stands unrivalled in his thaumaturgical powers to this

day -on evidence historically attested -came into the arena of public life no one seems to know whence

and disappeared from it no one seems to know whither.But the reasons for this are evident.Every

means was used -especially during the fourth and fifth centuries of our era -to sweep from people ’s

minds the remembrance of this great and holy man.The circulation of his biographies,which were many

and enthusiastic,was prevented by the Christians,and for a very good reason as we shall see.The

diary of Damis survived most miraculously and remained alone to tell the tale.But it must not be

forgotten that Justin Martyr often speaks of Apollonius,and the character and truthfulness of this good

man are unimpeachable the more in that he had good reason to feel bewildered.Nor can it be denied

that there is hardly a Church Father of the first six centuries that left Apollonius unnoticed.Only

according to invariable Christian customs of charity their pens were dipped as usual in the blackest ink of

odi m theologic m,intolerance and one-sidedness.St.Jerome (Hieronymus)gives at length the story of

St.John ’s alleged contest with the Sage of Tyana -a competition of “miracles ” -in which of course the

truthful saint [ See Preface to St.Matthew ’s Gospel.Baroni s i.752 quoted in De Mirville VI 63.

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Jerome is the Father who having found the authentic and original Evangel (the Hebrew text)by Matthew

the Apostle-publican in the library of Caesarea “written by the hand of Matthew ” (Hieronymus:De Viris,

Illus.Chap.III)-as he himself admits -set it down as heretical and substituted for it his own Greek text.

And it is also he who perverted the text in the Book of Job to enforce belief in the resurrection in flesh

(see Isis Unveiled .Vol.II pp.181 and 182 et seq.)quoting in support the most learned authorities.]

describes in glowing colours the defeat of Apollonius,and seeks corroboration in St.John ’s Apocrypha

proclaimed doubtful even by the Church.[ De Mirville gives the following thrilling account of the “contest.”

“John pressed as St.Jerome tells us,by all the churches of Asia to proclaim more solemnly [in the face

of the miracles of Apollonius ] the divinity of Jesus Christ after a long prayer with his disciples on the

Mount of Patmos and being in ecstasy by the divine Spirit made heard amid thunder and lightning his

famous In Principio erat Verb m.When that sublime extasis,that caused him to be named the ‘Son of

Thunder ’ had passed Apollonius was compelled to retire and to disappear.Such was his defeat less

bloody but as hard as that of Simon the Magician.(“The Magician Theurgist.” VI 63.)For our part we

have never heard of extasis producing thunder and lightning and we are at a loss to understand the

meaning.]

The Mysterious Teacher (Page 131)Therefore it is that nobody can say where or when Apollonius was

born and everyone is equally ignorant of the date at which and of the place where he died.Some think

he was eighty or ninety years old at the time of his death others that he was one hundred or even one

hundred and seventeen.But whether he ended his days at Ephesus in the year 96 A.D.as some say or

whether the event took place at Lindus in the temple of Pallas-Athene or whether again he disappeared

from the temple of Dictynna or whether as others maintain he did not die at all but when a hundred

years old renewed his life by Magic,and went on working for the benefit of humanity no one can tell.The

Secret Doctrine alone have noted his birth and subsequent career.But then -“Who hath believed in that

report?”

All that history knows is that Apollonius was the enthusiastic founder of a new school of contemplation.

Perhaps less metaphorical and more practical than Jesus,he nevertheless inculcated the same

quintessence of spirituality the same high moral truths.He is accused of having confined them to the

higher classes of society instead of doing what Buddha and Jesus did instead of preaching them to the

poor and the afflicted.Of his reasons for acting in such an exclusive way it is impossible to judge at so

late a date.But Karmic law seems to be mixed up with it.Born as we are told among the aristocracy it

is very likely that he desired to finish the work undone in this particular direction by his predecessor and

sought to offer “peace on earth and good will ” to all men and not alone to the outcast and the criminal.

Therefore he associated with the kings and mighty ones of the age.Nevertheless,the three “miracle-

workers ” exhibited striking similarity of purpose.Like Jesus and like Buddha Apollonius was the

uncompromising enemy of all outward show of piety all display of useless religious ceremonies,bigotry

and hypocrisy.That his “miracles ” were more wonderful more varied and far better attested in (Page 132)

History than any others,it is also true.Materialism denies;but evidence and the affirmations of even the

Church herself however much he is branded by her show this to be the fact.[ This is the old old story.

Who of us,Theosophists,but knows by bitter personal experiences what clerical hatred malice and

persecution can do in this direction;to what an extent of falsehood calumny and cruelty these feelings

can go even in our modern day and what exemplars of Christ like charity His alleged and self-

constituted servants have shown themselves to be!]

The calumnies set afloat against Apollonius were as numerous as they were false.So late as

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eighteen centuries after his death he was defamed by Bishop Douglas in his work against

miracles.In this the Right Reverend bishop crushed himself against historical facts.For it is

not in the miracles but in the identity of ideas and doctrines preached that we have to look for

a similarity between Buddha Jesus and Apollonius.If we study the question with a

dispassionate mind we shall soon perceive that the ethics of Gautama Plato Apollonius,

Jesus,Ammonius Sakkas,and his disciples,were all based on the same mystic philosophy -

that all worshipped one divine ideal whether they considered it as the “Father ”of humanity

who lives in man as man lives in Him or as the Incomprehensible Creative Principle.All led

God-like lives.Ammonius,speaking of his philosophy taught that their school dated from the

days of Hermes,who brought this wisdom from India.It was the same mystical contemplation

throughout as that of the Yogin:the communion of the Brahman with his own luminous Self -

the “Atman.” [ Isis Unveiled,ii.342 .]

The groundwork of the Eclectic School is thus shown to be identical with the doctrines of the Yogis -the

Hindu Mystics;it is proved that it has a common origin from the same source as the earlier Buddhism of

Gautama and of his Arhats.

The Ineffable Name in the search for which so many Kabalists -unacquainted with any

Oriental or even European Adepts -vainly consume their knowledge and lives,dwells latent in

the heart of every man.This mirific name which according to the most ancient oracles,

“rushes into the infinite worlds,įöļéōēōł ļōńļöįėéćįé ”can be obtained in a twofold way:by

regular initiation and through the “small voice ”which Elijah heard in the cave of Horeb the

mount of God.And “when Elijah heard it he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood in the

entering of the cave.And behold there came the voice.”

When Apollonius of Tyana desired to hear the “small voice ”he used to wrap himself up

entirely in a mantle of fine wool on which he placed both his feet after having performed

certain magnetic passes,and pronounced not the “name ”but an invocation well known to

every adept.Then he drew the mantle over his head and face and his translucid or astral

spirit was free.On ordinary occasions he no more wore wool than the priests of the temples.

The possession of the secret combination of the “name ”gave the Hierophant supreme power

over every being human or otherwise inferior to himself in soul-strength.[ Loc.cit.,ii 343

344.]

Apollonius Cannot Be Destroyed (Page 133)To whatever school he belonged this fact is certain that

Apollonius of Tyana left an imperishable name behind him.Hundreds of works were written upon this

wonderful man;historians have seriously discussed him;pretentious fools,unable to come to any

conclusion about the Sage have tried to deny his very existence.As to the Church although she

execrates his memory she has ever tried to present him in the light of a historical character.Her policy

now seems to be to direct the impression left by him into another channel -a well known and a very old

stratagem.The Jesuits,for instance while admitting his “miracles,” have set going a double current of

thought and they have succeeded as they succeed in all they undertake.Apollonius is represented by

one party as an obedient “medium of Satan ” surrounding his theurgical powers by a most wonderful and

dazzling light;while the other party professes to regard the whole matter as a clever romance written

with a predetermined object in view.

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In his voluminous Memoirs of Satan the Marquis de Mirville in the course of his pleading for the

recognition of the enemy of God as the producer of spiritual phenomena devotes a whole chapter to this

great Adept.The following translation of passages in his book unveils the whole plot.The reader is asked

to bear in mind that the Marquis wrote every one of his works under the auspices and authorisation of the

Holy See of Rome.

It would be to leave the first century incomplete and to offer an insult to the memory of St.

John to pass over in silence the name of one who had the honour of being his special

antagonist as Simon was that of St.Peter Elymas that of Paul etc.In the first years of the

Christian era ...there appeared at Tyana in Cappadocia one of those men of whom the

Pythagorean School was so very lavish.As great a traveller as was his master initiated in all

the secret doctrines of India Egypt and Chaldaea endowed therefore with all the theurgic

powers of the ancient Magi he bewildered each in its turn all the countries which he visited

and which all -we are obliged to admit -seem to have blessed his memory.We could not

doubt this fact without repudiating real historical records.The details of his life are transmitted

to us by a historian of the fourth century (Philostratus),himself the translator of a diary that

recorded day by day the life of the philosopher written by Damis,his disciple and intimate

friend.[ Pne matologie,vi.62.]

De Mirville admits the possibility of some exaggerations in both recorder and translator;but he “does not

believe they hold a very wide space in the narrative.” Therefore he regrets to find the Abbe (Page 134)

Freppel “in his eloquent Essays,[ Les Apologistes Chrétiens a Second Sičcle.p.106.] calling the diary

of Damis a romance.”Why?

[Because ] the orator bases his opinion on the prefect similitude calculated as he imagines,of

that legend with the life of the Saviour.But in studying the subject more profoundly he [Abbe

Freppel ] can convince himself that neither Apollonius nor Damis,nor again Philostratus ever

claimed a greater honour than a likeness to St.John.This programme was in itself sufficiently

fascinating and the travesty as sufficiently scandalous;for owing to magic arts Apollonius had

succeeded in counterbalancing in appearance several of the miracles at Ephesus [produced

by St.John ] etc.[ Pne matologie,vi.62.]

The ang is in herba has shown its head.It is the perfect the wonderful similitude of the life of Apollonius

with that of the Saviour that places the Church between Scylla and Charybdis.To deny the life and the

“miracles ”of the former would amount to denying the trustworthiness of the same Apostles and patristic

writers on whose evidence is built the life of Jesus himself.To father the Adept ’s beneficent deeds,his

raisings of the dead acts of charity healing powers,etc.on the “old enemy ” would be rather dangerous

at this time.Hence the stratagem to confuse the ideas of

those who rely upon authorities and criticisms.The Church is far more clear-sighted than any of our great

historians.The Church knows that to deny the existence of that Adept would lead her to denying the

Emperor Vespasian and his Historians,the Emperors Alexander Severus and Aurelianus and their

Historians,and finally to deny Jesus and every evidence about Him thus preparing the way to her flock

for finally denying herself .It becomes interesting to learn what she says in this emergency through her

chosen speaker De Mirville.It is as follows:

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What is there so new and so impossible in the narrative of Damis concerning their voyages to the

countries of the Chaldees and the Gymnosophists?-he asks.Try to recall before denying what were in

those days those countries of marvels par excellence as also the testimony of such men as Pythagoras,

Empedocles and Democritus,who ought to be allowed to have known what they were writing about.With

what have we finally to reproach Apollonius?Is it for having made as the Oracles did a series of

prophecies and predictions wonderfully verified?No:because better studied now we know what they

are.[ Many are they who do not know :hence they do not believe in them.] The Oracles have now

become to us,what they were to every one during the past century from Van Dale to Fontenelle.

De Mirville on Apollonius (Page 135)Is it for having been endowed with second sight and having had

visions at a distance?[ Just so.Apollonius,during a lecture he was delivering at Ephesus before an

audience of many thousands,perceived the murder of the Emperor Domitian in Rome and notified it at

the very moment it was taking place to the whole town:and Swedenborg in the same manner saw from

Gothenburg the great fire at Stockholm and told it to his friends,no telegraph being in use in those days.]

No;for such phenomena are at the present day endemical in half Europe.Is it for having boasted of his

knowledge of every existing language under the sun without having ever learned one of them?But who

can be ignorant of the fact that this is the best criterion [ No criterion at all.The Hindu Saddhus and

Adepts acquire the gift by the holiness of their lives.The Yoga-Vidya teaches it and no “spirits ” are

required.] of the presence and assistance of a spirit of whatever nature it may be?Or is it for having

believed in transmigration (reincarnation)?It is still believed in (by millions)in our day.No one has any

idea of the number of the men of Science who long for the re-establishment of the Druidical Religion and

of the Mysteries of Pythagoras.Or is it for having exorcised the demons and the plague?The Egyptians,

the Etruscans and all the Roman Pontiffs had done so long before.[ As to the Pontiffs,the matter is

rather doubtful.] For having conversed with the dead?We do the same today or believe we do so -which

is all the same.For having believed in the Empuses?Where is the Demonologist that does not know that

the Empuse is the “south demon ” referred to in David ’s Psalms,and dreaded then as it is feared even

now in all Northern Europe?[ But this alone is no reason why people should believe in this class of

spirits.There are better authorities for such belief.] For having made himself invisible at will?It is one of

the achievements of mesmerism.For having appeared after his (supposed)death to the Emperor

Aurelian above the city walls of Tyana and for having compelled him thereby to raise the siege of that

town?Such was the mission of every hero beyond the tomb and the reason of the worship vowed to the

Manes.[ De Mirville ’s aim is to show that all such apparitions of the Manes or disembodied Spirits are

the work of the Devil.“Satan ’s simulacra.”] For having descended into the famous den of Trophonius,

and taken from it an old book preserved for years after by the Emperor Adrian in his Antium library?The

trustworthy and sober Pausanias had descended into the same den before Apollonius,and came back

no less a believer.For having disappeared at his death?Yes like Romulus,like Votan like Lycurgus,like

Pythagoras,(Page 136)[ He might have added:like the great Shankaracharya Tsong-Kha-Pa and so

many other real Adepts -even his own Master Jesus:for this is indeed a criterion of true Adeptship

though “to disappear ” one need not fly up in the clouds .] always under the most mysterious

circumstances,ever attended by apparitions,revelations,etc.Let us stop here and repeat once more:

had the life of Apollonius been simple romance he would never have attained such a celebrity during his

lifetime or created such a numerous sect one so enthusiastic after his death.

And so to add to this,had all this been a romance never would a Caracalla have raised a haroon to his

memory [ See Dion Cassi s.XXVII XVIII 2 ] or Alexander Severus have placed his bust between those

of two Demi-Gods and of the true God [Lampridlius,Adrian,xxxix.2.] or an Empress have corresponded

with him.Hardly rested from the hardships of the siege at Jerusalem Titus would not have hastened to

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write to Apollonius a letter asking to meet him at Argos and adding that his father and himself (Titus)

owed all to him the great Apollonius,and that therefore his first thought was for their benefactor.Nor

would the Emperor Aurelian have built a temple and a shrine to that great Sage to thank him for his

apparition and communication at Tyana.That posth mo s conversation as all knew saved the city

inasmuch as Aurelian had in consequence raised the siege.Furthermore had it been a romance History

would not have had Vopiscus,[ The passage runs as follows:“Aurelian had determined to destroy Tyana

and the town owed its salvation only to a miracle of Apollonius;this man so famous and wise this great

friend of the Gods,appeared suddenly before the Emperor as he was returning to his tent in his own

figure and form and said to him in the Pannonian language:‘Aurelian if thou wouldst conquer abandon

these evil designs against my fellow-citizens:if thou wouldst command abstain from shedding innocent

blood;and if thou wouldst live abstain from injustice.’ Aurelian familiar with the face of Apollonius,whose

portraits he had seen in many temples,struck with wonder immediately vowed to him (Apollonius)

statue portrait and temple and returned completely to ideas of mercy.” And then Vopiscus adds:“If I

have believed more and more in the virtues of the majestic Apollonius,it is because after gathering my

information from the most serious men I have found all these facts corroborated in the Books of the

Ulpian Library.” (See Flavius Vopiscus,A relian s ).Vopiscus wrote in 250 and consequently preceded

Philostratus by a century.] one of the most trustworthy Pagan Historians,to certify to it.Finally Apollonius

would not have been the object of the admiration of such a noble character as Epictetus,and even of

several of the Fathers of the Church;Jerome for instance in his better moments,writing thus of

Apollonius:

This travelling philosopher found something to learn wherever he went;and profiting

everywhere thus improved with every day.[ Ep.ad Pa lin m.]

Apollonius No Fiction (Page 137)As to his prodigies,without wishing to fathom them Jerome most

undeniably admits them as such;which he would assuredly never have done had he not been

compelled to do so by facts.To end the subject had Apollonius been a simple hero of a romance

dramatised in the fourth century the Ephesians would not in their enthusiastic gratitude have raised to

him a golden statue for all the benefits he had conferred upon them.[ The above is mostly summarised

from De Mirville.loc cit.,pp.66-69 ]

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SECTION XVIII

Facts Underlying Adept Biographies

(Page 138)THE tree is known by its fruits;the nature of the Adept by his words and deeds.These words

of charity and mercy the noble advice put into the mouth of Apollonius (or of his sidereal phantom),as

given by Vopiscus,show the Occultists who Apollonius was.Why then call him the “Medium of Satan ”

seventeen centuries later?There must be a reason and a very potent reason to justify and explain the

secret of such a strong animus of the Church against one of the noblest men of his age.There is a

reason for it and we give it in the words of the author of the Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the

So rce of Measures,and of Professor Seyffarth.The latter analyses and explains the salient dates in the

life of Jesus,and thus throws light on the conclusions of the former.We quote both blending the two.

According to solar months (of thirty days,one of the calendars in use among the Hebrews)all

remarkable events of the Old Testament happened on the days of the equinoxes and the

solstices;for instance the foundations and dedications of the temples and alters [and

consecration of the tabernacle ].On the same cardinal days,the most remarkable events of

the New Testament happened;for instance the annunciation the birth the resurrection of

Christ and the birth of John the Baptist.And thus we learn that all remarkable epochs of the

New Testament were typically sanctified a long time before by the Old Testament,beginning at

the day succeeding the end of the Creation which was the day of the vernal equinox.During

the crucifixion on the 14 th day of Nisan Dionysius Areopagita saw in Ethopia an eclipse of

the sun and he said “Now the Lord (Jehovah)is suffering something.” Then Christ arose from

the dead on the 22d March 17 Nisan,Sunday the day of the vernal equinox (Seyf.quoting

Philo de Septen)-that is,on Easter or on the day when the sun gives new life to the earth.

The words of John the Baptist “He must increase but I must decrease ”serve to prove as is

affirmed by the fathers of the church that John was born on the longest day of the year and

Christ who was six months younger on the shortest 22d June and 22d December the

solstices.

Jesus and Apollonius-

(Page 139)This only goes to show that as to another phase John and Jesus were but

epitomisers of the history of the same sun under differences of aspect or condition;and one

condition following another of necessity the statement L ke ix.7 was not only not an empty

one but it was true that which “was said of some that (in Jesus)John was risen from the

dead.” (And this consideration serves to explain why it has been that the Life of Apolloni s of

Tyana,by Philostratus,has been so persistently kept back from translation and from popular

reading.Those who have studied it in the original have been forced to the comment that either

the Life of Apolloni s has been taken from the New Testament,or that the New Testament

narratives have been taken from the Life of Apolloni s,because of the manifest sameness of

the means of construction of the narratives.The explanation is simple enough when it is

considered that the names of Jes s Hebrew éł and Apollonius,or Apollo are alike names of

the sun in the heavens ;and necessarily the history of the one as to his travels through the

signs with the personifications of his sufferings,triumphs and miracles,could be but the

history of the other where there was a widespread common method of describing those

travels by personification.)It seems also that for long afterward all this was known to rest

upon an astronomical basis;for the secular church so to speak,was founded by Constantine

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and the objective condition of the worship established was that part of his decree in which it

was affirmed that the venerable day of the sun should be the day set apart for the worship of

Jesus Christ as S n -day.There is something weird and startling in some other facts about this

matter.The prophet Daniel (true prophet,as says Graetz).[ A “true prophet ”because an

Initiate one perfectly versed in Occult astronomy.] by use of the pyramid numbers,or

astrological numbers,foretold the cutting off of the Meshiac as it happened (which would go

to show the accuracy of his astronomical knowledge if there was an eclipse of the sun at that

time)....Now however the temple was destroyed in the year 71 in the month Virgo and 71

is the Dove number as shown or 71X5 =355 and with the fish a Jehovah number.

“Is it possible ”queries,further on the author thus answering the intimate thought of every Christian and

Occultist who reads and studies his work:

Is it possible that the events of humanity do run co-ordinately with these number forms?If so

while Jesus Christ as an astronomical figure was true to all that has been advanced and

more possibly.He may as a man have filled up under the numbers,answers in the sea of

life to predestined type.The personality of Jesus does not appear to have been destroyed

because as a condition he was answering to astronomical forms and relations.The Arabian

says “Your destiny is written in the stars.”[ Key to Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery.p.259 et seq.

Astronomy and physiology are the bodies,astrology and psychology their informing souls:the

former being studied by the eye of sensual perception the latter by the inner or “soul-eye ” :

and both are exact sciences .]

Nor is the “personality ” of Apollonius “destroyed ” for the same (Page 140)reason.The case of Jesus

covers the ground for the same possibility in the cases of all Adepts and Avataras -such as Buddha

Shankaracharya Krishna etc.-all of these as great and as historical for their respective followers and in

their countries,as Jesus of Nazareth is now for Christians and in this land.

But there is something more in the old literature of the early centuries.Iamblichus wrote a biography of

the great Pythagoras.

The latter so closely resembles the life of Jesus that it may be taken for a travesty.Diogenes

Laėrtius and Plutarch relate the history of Plato according to a similar style.[ New Platonism

and Alchemy .p.12 .]

Why then wonder at the doubts that assail every scholar who studies all these lives?The Church herself

knew all these doubts in her early stages;and though only one of her Popes has been known publicly

and openly as a Pagan how many more were there who were too ambitious to reveal the truth?

This “mystery ”for mystery indeed it is to those who not being Initiates,fail to find the key of the perfect

similitude between the lives of Pythagoras,Buddha Apollonius,etc,-is only a natural result for those

who know that all these great characters were Initiates of the same school.For them there is neither

“travesty ” nor “copy ” of one from the other;for them they are all “originals,”only painted to represent one

and the same subject:the mystic,and at the same time the public,life of the Initiates sent into the world

to save portions of humanity if they could not save the whole bulk.Hence the same programme for all.

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The assumed “immaculate origin ”for each referring to their “mystic birth ”during the Mystery of Initiation

and accepted literally by the multitudes,encouraged in this by the better informed but ambitious clergy.

Thus,the mother of each one of them was declared a virgin conceiving her son directly by the Holy Spirit

of God;and the Sons,in consequence were the “Sons of God ”though in truth none of them was any

more entitled to such recognition than were the rest of his brother Initiates,for they were all -so far as

their mystic lives were concerned -only “the epitomisers of the history of the same Sun ” which epitome

is another mystery within the Mystery.The biographies of the external personalities bearing the names of

such heroes have nothing to do with and are quite independent of the private lives of the heroes,being

only the mystic records of their public and parallel therewith of their inner lives,in their characters as

Neophytes and Initiates.

Biographies of Initiates-(Page 141)Hence the manifest sameness of the means of construction of their

respective biographies.From the beginning of Humanity the Cross,or Man with his arms stretched out

horizontally typifying his kosmic origin was connected with his psychic nature and with the struggles

which lead to Initiation.But if it is once shown that (a)every true Adept had and still has,to pass

through the seven and the twelve trials of Initiation symbolised by the twelve labours of Hercules;(b)that

the day of his real birth is regarded as that day when he is born into the world spiritually his very age

being counted from the hour of his second birth which makes of him a “twice-born ”a Dvija or Initiate on

which day he is indeed born of a God and from an immaculate Mother;and (c)that the trials of all these

personages are made to correspond with the Esoteric significance of initiatory rites -all of which

corresponded to the twelve zodiacal signs -then every one will see the meaning of the travels of all those

heroes through the signs of the Sun in Heaven;and that they are in each individual case a

personification of the “sufferings,triumphs and miracles ”of an Adept before and after his Initiation.When

to the world at large all this is explained then also the mystery of all those lives,so closely resembling

each other that the history of one seems to be the history of the other and vice versa,will like everything

else become plain.

Take an instance.The legends -for they are all legends for exoteric purposes,whatever may be the

denials in one case -of the lives of Krishna Hercules,Pythagoras,Buddha Jesus,Apollonius,

Chaitanya.On the worldly plane their biographies,if written by one outside the circle would differ greatly

from what we read of them in the narratives that are preserved of their mystic lives.Nevertheless,

however much masked and hidden from the profane gaze the chief features of such lives will all be

found there in common.Each of those characters is represented as a divinely begotten Soter (Saviour),a

title bestowed on deities,great kings and heroes;everyone of them whether at their birth or afterwards

is searched for and threatened with death (yet never killed)by an opposing power (the world of Matter

and Illusion),whether it be called a king Kansa king Herod or king Mara (the Evil Power).They are all

tempted persecuted and finally said to have been murdered at the end of the rite of Initiation i.e.in their

physical personalities,of which they are supposed to have been rid for ever after spirit al “resurrection ”

or “birth.” And having thus come (Page 142)to an end by this supposed violent death they all descend to

the Nether World the Pit or Hell -the Kingdom of Temptation Lust and Matter therefore of Darkness,

whence returning having overcome the “Chrest-condition ”they are glorified and become “Gods.”

It is not in the course of their everyday life then that the great similarity is to be sought but in their inner

state and in the most important events of their career as religious teachers.All this is connected with and

built upon an astronomical basis,which serves,at the same time as a foundation for the representation

of the degrees and trials of Initiation:descent into the Kingdom of Darkness and Matter for the last time

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to emerge therefrom as “Suns of Righteousness,”is the most important of these and therefore is found

in the history of all the Soters -from Orpheus and Hercules,down to Krishna and Christ.

Says Euripides:

Heracles,who has gone from the chambers of earth

Leaving the nether home of Pluto.[ Heracles 807 ]

And Virgil writes:

At Thee the Stygian lakes trembled;Thee the janitor of Orcus

Feared ...Thee not even Typhon frightened ...

Hail true son of Jove,glory added to the Gods.[ Aeneid,viii.274 ff.]

Orpheus seeks,in the kingdom of Pluto Eurydice his lost Soul;Krishna goes down into the infernal

regions and rescues therefrom his six brothers,he being the seventh Principle;a transparent allegory of

his becoming a “perfect Initiate ” the whole of the six Principles merging into the seventh.Jesus is made

to descend into the kingdom of Satan to save the soul of Adam or the symbol of material physical

humanity.

Have any of our learned Orientalists ever thought of searching for the origin of this allegory for the parent

“Seed ”of that “Tree of Life ”which bears such verdant boughs since it was first planted on earth by the

hand of its “Builders ” ?We fear not.Yet it is found as is now shown even in the exoteric,distorted

interpretations of the Vedas -of the Rig Veda the oldest the most trustworthy of all the four -this root

and seed of all future Initiate-Saviours being called in it the Visvakarmā the “Father ”Principle “beyond

the comprehension of mortals;”in the second stage Sūrya the “Son ”who offers Himself as a sacrifice to

Himself;in the third the Initiate who sacrifices His physical to His Spirit al Self.

Similarity of Legends-(Page 143)It is in Visvakarmā the “omnificent ”who becomes (mystically)

Vikkartana the “sun shorn of his beams,” who suffers for his too ardent nature and then becomes

glorified (by purification),that the keynote of the Initiation into the greatest Mystery of Nature was struck.

Hence the secret of the wonderful “similarity.”

All this is allegorical and mystical and yet perfectly comprehensible and plain to any student of Eastern

Occultism even superficially acquainted with the Mysteries of Initiation.In our objective Universe of

Matter and false appearances the Sun is the most fitting emblem of the life-giving beneficent Deity.In

the subjective boundless World of Spirit and Reality the bright luminary has another and a mystical

significance which cannot be fully given to the public.The so-called “idolatrous ”Parsis and Hindus are

certainly nearer the truth in their religious reverence for the Sun than the cold ever-analysing and as

ever-mistaken public is prepared to believe at present.The Theosophists,who will be alone able to take

in the meaning may be told that the Sun is the external manifestation of the Seventh Principle of our

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Planetary System while the Moon is its Fourth Principle shining in the borrowed robes of her master

saturated with and reflecting every passionate impulse and evil desire of her grossly material body Earth.

The whole cycle of Adeptship and Initiation and all its mysteries are connected with and subservient to

these two and the Seven Planets.Spiritual clairvoyance is derived from the Sun;all psychic states,

diseases,and even lunacy proceed from the Moon.

According even to the data of History -her conclusions being remarkably erroneous while her premises

are mostly correct -there is an extraordinary agreement between the “legends ”of every Founder of a

Religion (and also between the rites and dogmas of all)and the names and course of constellations

headed by the Sun.It does not follow however because of this,that both Founders and their Religions

should be the one myths and the other superstitions.They are one and all the different versions of the

same natural primeval Mystery on which the Wisdom-Religion was based and the development of its

Adepts subsequently framed

And now once more we have to beg the reader not to lend an ear to the charge -against Theosophy in

general and the writer in particular -of disrespect toward one of the greatest and noblest characters in

the History of Adeptship -Jesus of Nazareth -nor even of hatred to the Church.The expression of truth

and fact can hardly be regarded (Page 144)with any approximation to justice as blasphemy or hatred.

The whole question hangs upon the solution of that one point:Was Jesus as “Son of God ”and “Saviour ”

of Mankind unique in the World ’s annals?Was His case -among so many similar claims -the only

exceptional and unprecedented one;His birth the sole supernaturally immaculate;and were others as

maintained by the Church but blasphemous Satanic copies and plagiarisms by anticipation?Or was He

only the “son of his deeds,” a pre-eminently holy man and a reformer one of many who paid with His life

for the presumption of endeavouring in the face of ignorance and despotic power to enlighten mankind

and make its burden lighter by His Ethics and Philosophy?The first necessitates a blind all-resisting

faith;the latter is suggested to every one by reason and logic.Moreover had the Church always believed

as she does now -or rather as she pretends she does,in order to be thus justified in directing her

anathema against those who disagree with her -or has she passed through the same throes of doubt

nay of secret denial and belief suppressed only by the force of ambition and love of power?

The question must be answered in the affirmative as to the second alternative.It is an irrefutable

conclusion and a natural inference based on facts known from historical records.Leaving for the present

untouched the lives of many Popes and Saints that loudly belied their claims to infallibility and holiness,

let the reader turn to Ecclesiastical History the records of the growth and progress of the Christian

Church (not of Christianity)and he will find the answer on those pages.Says a writer:

The Church has known too well the suggestions of freethought created by enquiry as also all

those doubts that provoke her anger today;and the “sacred truths ” she would promulgate

have been in turn admitted and repudiated transformed and altered amplified and curtailed

by the dignitaries of the Church hierarchy even as regards the most fundamental dogmas.

Where is that God or Hero whose origin biography and genealogy were more hazy or more difficult to

define and finally agree upon than those of Jesus?How was the now irrevocable dogma with regard to

His true nature settled at last?By His mother according to the Evangelists,He was a man -a simple

mortal man;by His Father He is God!But how?Is He then man or God or is He both at the same time?

asks the perplexed writer.Truly the propositions offered on this point of the doctrine have caused floods

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of ink and blood to be shed in turn on poor Humanity and still the doubts are not at rest.In this as in

everything else the wise Church Councils have contradicted themselves and changed their minds a

number of times.

Nature of Christ-(Page 145)Let us recapitulate and throw a glance at the texts offered for our

inspection.This is History.

The Bishop Paul of Samosata denied the divinity of Christ at the first Council of Antioch;at the very origin

and birth of theological Christianity He was called “Son of God ”merely on account of His holiness and

good deeds.His blood was corruptible in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

At the Council of Nicaea held A.D.325 Arius came out with his premisses,which nearly broke asunder

the Catholic Union.

Seventeen bishops defended the doctrines of Arius,who was exiled for them.Nevertheless,thirty years

after A.D.355 at the Council of Milan three hundred bishops signed a letter of adherence to the Arian

views notwithstanding that ten years earlier A.D.345 at a new Council of Antioch the Eusebians had

proclaimed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and One with His Father.

At the Council of Sirmium A.D.357 the “Son ”had become no longer consubstantial.The Anomaeans,

who denied that consubstantiality and the Arians were triumphant.A year later at the second Council of

Ancyra it was decreed that the “Son was not consubstantial but only similar to the Father in his

substance.”Pope Liberius ratified the decision.During several centuries the Council fought and

quarrelled supporting the most contradictory and opposite views the fruit of their laborious travail being

the Holy Trinity which Minerva-like issued forth from the theological brain armed with all the thunders of

the Church.The new mystery was ushered into the world amid some terrible strifes,in which murder and

other crimes had a high hand.At the Council of Saragossa A.D.380 it was proclaimed that the Father

Son and Holy Spirit are one and the same Person Christ ’s human nature being merely an “illusion ”-an

echo of the Avatāric Hindu doctrine.“Once upon this slippery path the Fathers had to slide down ad

absurd m -which they did not fail of doing.” How deny human nature in him who was born of a woman?

The only wise remark made during one of the Councils of Constantinople came from Eutyches,who was

bold enough to say:“May God preserve me from reasoning on the nature of my God ”-for which he was

excommunicated by Pope Flavius.

At the Council of Ephesus,A.D.449 Eutyches had his revenge.As Eusibius,the veracious Bishop of

Caesarea was forcing him into the (Page 146)admission of two distinct natures in Jesus Christ the

Council rebelled against him and it was proposed that Eusebius should be burned alive.The bishops

arose like one man and with fists clenched foaming with rage demanded that Eusebius should be torn

into halves,and be dealt by as he would deal with Jesus,whose nature he divided.Eutyches was re-

established in his power and office Eusebius and Flavius deposed.Then the two parties attacked each

other most violently and fought.St.Flavius was so ill-treated by Bishop Diodorus,who assaulted and

kicked him that he died a few days from the injuries inflicted.

Every incongruity was courted in these Councils,and the result is the present living paradoxes called

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Church dogmas.For instance at the first Council of Ancyra A.D.314 it was asked “In baptising a

woman with child is the unborn baby also baptised by the fact?”The Council answered in the negative;

because as was alleged “the person thus receiving baptism must be a consenting party which is

impossible to the child in the mother ’s womb.”Thus then unconsciousness is a canonical obstacle to

baptism,and thus no child baptised nowadays is baptised at all in fact.And then what becomes of the

tens of thousands of starving heathen babies baptised by the missionaries during famines,and otherwise

surreptitiously “saved ”by the too zealous Padres?Follow one after another the debates and decisions of

the numberless Councils,and behold on what a jumble of contradictions the present infallible and

Apostolic Church is built!

And now we can see how greatly paradoxical when taken literally is the assertion in Genesis :“God

created man in his own image.” Besides the glaring fact that it is not the Adam of dust (of Chapter ii.)who

is thus made in the divine image but the Divine Androgyne (of Chapter i.),or Adam Kadmon one can

see for oneself that God -the God of the Christians at any rate -was created by man in his own image

amid the kicks,blows and murders of the early Councils.

A curious fact one that throws a flood of light on the claim that Jesus was an Initiate and a martyred

Adept is given in the work,(already so often referred to)which may be called “a mathematical revelation ”

-The So rce of Measures.

Attention is called to the part of the 46 th verse of the 27 th Chapter of Matthew as follows:“Eli Eli Lama

Sabachthani?-that is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me?”Of course our versions are

taken from the original Greek manuscripts (the reason why we have no original Hebrew manuscripts

concerning these occurrences being because the enigmas in Hebrew would betray themselves on

comparison with the sources of their derivation the Old Testament).

A Serious Mistranslation

(Page 147)The Greek manuscripts,without exception give these words as -

Hėé Hėé ėįģį .óįāį÷čįķé

They are Hebrew words,rendered into the Greek and in Hebrew are as follows:

.

The scripture of these words says “that is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken

me?”as their proper translation.Here then are the words beyond all dispute;and beyond all

question such is the interpretation given of them by Scripture.Now the words will not bear this

interpretation and it is a false rendering.The true meaning is j st the opposite of the one

given and is -

My God,My God,how tho dost glorify me!

But even more for while lama is why or how as a verbal it connected the idea of to dazzle or

adverbially it could run “how dazzlingly,” and so on.To the unwary reader this interpretation is

enforced and made to answer as it were to the fulfilment of a prophetic utterance by a

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marginal reference to the first verse of the twenty-second Psalm which reads:

“My God my God why hast thou forsaken me?”

The Hebrew of this verse for these words is -

as to which the reference is correct and the interpretation sound and good but with an utterly

different word.The words are -

Eli,Eli,lamah azabvtha-ni?

No wit of man however scholarly can save this passage from falseness of rendering on its

face;and as so it becomes a most terrible blow upon the proper first-face sacredness of the

recital.[ App.vii.p.301.]

For ten years or more sat the revisers (?)of the Bible a most imposing and solemn array of the learned

of the land the greatest Hebrew and Greek scholars of England purporting to correct the mistakes and

blunders,the sins of omission and of commission of their less learned predecessors,the translators of

the Bible.Are we going to be told that none of them saw the glaring difference between the Hebrew

words in Psalm xxii.Azabbvtha-ni and sabachthani in Matthew ;that they were not aware of the

deliberate falsification?

For “falsification ”it was.And if we are asked the reason why the early Church Fathers resorted to it the

answer is plain:Because the Sacramental words belonged in their true rendering to Pagan temple rites.

(Page 148)They were pronounced after the terrible trials of Initiation and were still fresh in the memory of

some of the “Fathers ”when the Gospel of Matthew was edited into the Greek language.Because finally

many of the Hierophants of the Mysteries,and many more of the Initiates were still living in those days,

and the sentence rendered in its true words would class Jesus directly with the simple Initiates.The

words “My God my Sun thou hast poured thy radiance upon me?”were the final words that concluded

the thanksgiving prayer of the Initiate “the Son and the glorified Elect of the Sun.” In Egypt we find to this

day carvings and paintings that represent the rite.The candidate is between two divine sponsors;one

“Osiris-Sun ”with the head of a hawk,representing life the other Mercury -the ibis-headed

psychopompic genius,who guides the Souls after death to their new abode Hades -standing for the

death of the physical body figuratively.Both are shown pouring the “stream of life ”the water of

purification on the head of the Initiate the two streams of which interlacing form a cross.The better to

conceal the truth this basso-relievo has also been explained as a “Pagan presentment of a Christian

truth.”The Chevalier des Mousseaux calls this Mercury:

The assessor of Osiris-Sol as St.Michael is the assessor Ferouer of the Word.

The monogram of Chrestos and the Labarum the standard of Constantine -who by the by died a

Pagan and was never baptised -is a symbol derived from the above rite and also denotes “life and

death.”Long before the sign of the Cross was adopted as a Christian symbol it was employed as a

secret sign of recognition among Neophytes and Adepts.Says Eliphas Levi:

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The sign of the cross adopted by the Christians does not belong exclusively to them.It is

kabalistic,and represents the oppositions and quaternary equilibrium of the elements.We see

by the occult verse of the Pater to which we have called attention in another work,that there

were originally two ways of making it or at least two very different formulas to express its

meaning;one reserved for priests and initiates;the other given to neophyte and the profane.

[Dogme et Rit el de la Ha te Magie,ii 88.]

One can understand now why the Gospel of Matthew,the Evangel of the Ebionites,has been for ever

excluded in its Hebrew form from the world ’s curious grace.

Jerome found the authentic and original Evangel written in Hebrew by Matthew the Publican

at the library collected at Caesarea by the martyr Pamphilius,“I received permission from the

Nazaraeans,who at Beroea of Syria used this (gospel to translate it “he writes toward the

end of the fourth century.[ (Hieronymus,Des Viris Ill st.,III)“It is remarkable that while all

Church Fathers say that Matthew wrote in Hebrew the whole of them use the Greek text as

the genuine apostolic writing without mentioning what relation the Hebrew Matthew has to our

Greek one!It had many peculiar additions which are wanting in our (Greek )Evangel ”

(Olshausen Nachweis der Echtheit der Sammtlichen Schriften des Ne en Test.,p.32;Dunlap

Sod,the Son of Man,p.44.)]

Secret Doctrine of Jesus

(Page 149)“In the Evangel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use ”said Jerome “which

recently I translated from Hebrew into Greek,and which is called by most persons the gen ine

gospel of Matthew ” etc.[Comment to Matthew (XII 13)Book 11.Jerome adds that it was

written in the Chaldaic language but with Hebrew letters.]

That the apostles had received a “secret doctrine ”from Jesus,who confessed it in an

unguarded moment.Writing to the Bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus,he complains that “a

difficult work is enjoined since this (translation)has been commanded me by your Felicities,

which St Matthew himself the Apostle and Evangelist did not wish to be openly written.For if

this had not been secret he (Matthew)would have added to the Evangel that what he gave

forth was his ;but he made up this book sealed p in the Hebrew characters,which he put

forth even in such way that the book,written in Hebrew letters and by the hand of himself

might be possessed by the men most religio s ;who also in the course of time received it

from those who preceded them.But this very book they never gave to any one to be

transcribed and its text they related some one way and another.” [“St.Jerome.”v.445:

Dunlap Sod,the Son of Man,p.46.] And he adds further on the same page:“And it happened

that this book,having been published by a disciple of Manichaeus,named Seleucus,who also

wrote falsely The Acts of the Apostles exhibited matter not for edification but for destruction;

and that this (book)was approved in a synod which the ears of the Church properly refused to

listen to.”[This accounts also for the rejection of the works of Justin Martyr who used only this

“Gospel according to the Hebrews ”as also did most probably Tatian his disciple.At what a

later period the divinity of Christ was fully established we can judge by the mere fact that even

in the fourth century Eusebius did not denounce this book as spurious,but only classed it with

such as the Apocalypse of John:and Credner (Z r Gesch.des Kan,p.129)shows

Nicephorus inserting it together with the Revelation in his Stichometry,among the

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Antilegomena.The Ebionites,the gen ine primitive Christians,rejecting the rest of the

Apostolic writings,make use only of this Gospel (Adv Hev.,i.26)and the Ebionites,as

Epiphanius declares,firmly believed with the Nazarenes,that Jesus was but a man “of the

seed of a man.”]

Jerome admits,himself that the book which he authenticates as being written “by the hand of

Matthew ” was nevertheless a book which notwithstanding that he translated it twice was

nearly unintelligible to him for it was arcane.Nevertheless,Jerome coolly sets down every

commentary upon it but his own as heretical.More than that Jerome knew that this Gospel

was the only original one yet he becomes more zealous than ever in his persecution of the

“Heretics.” Why?Because to accept it was equivalent to reading the death sentence of the

established Church.The Gospel according to the Hebrews was well known to have been the

(Page 150)only one accepted for four centuries by the Jewish Christians,the Nazarenes and

the Ebionites.And neither of the latter accepted the divinity of Christ.[ Isis Unveiled.II,182-3 .]

The Ebionites were the first the earliest Christians,whose representative was the Gnostic

author of the Clementine Homilies,and as the author of S pernat ral Religion shows 8 [Op.

cit.,II 5 ] Ebionitic Gnosticism had once been the purest form of Christianity.They were the

pupils and followers of the early Nazarenes -the kabalistic Gnostics.They believed in the

Aeons,as the Cerinthians did and that “the world was put together by Angels ”(Dhyan

Chohans),as Epiphanius complains (Contra Ebionitas ):“Ebion had the opinion of the

Nazarenes,the form of Cerinthians.”“They decided that Christ was of the seed of a man ” he

laments.[ See also Isis Unveiled,ii.180 to end of chapter.] Thus again:

The badge of Dan-Scorpio is death-life,in the symbol .as crossbones and skull ..

or life-death ...the standard of Constantine the Roman Emperor.Abel has been shown to be

Jesus,and Cain-Vulcain or Mars,pierced him.Constantine was the Roman Emperor whose

warlike god was Mars,and a Roman soldier pierced Jesus on the cross ....

But the piercing of Abel was the consummation of his marriage with Cain and this was proper

under the form of Mars Generator;hence the double glyph one of Mars-Generator [Osiris-

Sun ] and Mars-Destroyer [Mercury the God of Death in the Egyptian basso-relievo ] in one;

significant again of the primal idea of the living cosmos,or of birth and death as necessary to

the continuation of the stream of life.[So rce of Measure,p.299.This “stream of life ”being

emblematised in the Philloc basso-relievo just mentioned by the water poured in the shape of

a Cross on the initiated candidate by Osiris -Life and the Sun -and Mercury -Death.It was

the finale of the rite of Initiation after the seven and the twelve tortures in the Crypts of Egypt

were passed through successfully.]

To quote once more from Isis Unveiled :

A Latin cross of a perfect Christian shape was found hewn upon the granite slabs of the

Adytum of the Serapeum;and the monks did not fail to claim that the cross had been hallowed

by the Pagans in a “spirit of prophecy.”At least Sozomen with an air of triumph records the

fact.[ Another untrustworthy untruthful and ignorant writer an ecclesiastical historian of the

fifth century.His alleged history of the strife between the Pagans,Neoplatonists,and the

Christians of Alexandria and Constantinople which extends from the year 324 to 439

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dedicated by him to Theodosius,the younger is full of deliberate falsifications.] But

archaeology and symbolism,those tireless and implacable enemies of clerical false pretences,

have found in the hieroglyphics of the legend running round the design at least a partial

interpretation of its meaning.

According to King and other numismatists and archaeologists,the cross was placed there as

the symbol of eternal life.

The Cross and Crucifix

(Page 151)Such a Tau or Egyptian cross,was used in the Bacchic and Eleusinian Mysteries.

Symbol of the dual generative power it was laid upon the breast of the Initiate after his “new

birth ”was accomplished and the Mystae had returned from their baptism in the sea.It was a

mystic sign that his spiritual birth had regenerated and united his astral soul with his divine

spirit and that he was ready to ascend in spirit to the blessed abodes of light and glory -the

Eleusinia.The Tau was a magic talisman at the same time as a religious emblem.It was

adopted by the Christians through the Gnostics and Kabalists,who used it largely as their

numerous gems testify.These in turn had the Tau (or handled cross)from the Egyptians,and

the Latin Cross from the Buddhist missionaries,who brought it from India (where it can be

found even now)two or three centuries B.C.The Assyrians,Egyptians,ancient Americans,

Hindus and Romans had it in various,but very slight modifications of shape.Till very late in

the middle ages,it was considered a potent spell against epilepsy and demoniacal

possession and the “signet of the living God ”brought down in St.John ’s vision by the angel

ascending from the east to “seal the servants of our God in the foreheads,”was but the same

mystic Tau -the Egyptian Cross.In the painted glass of St.Denis (France)this angel is

represented as stamping this sign on the forehead of the elect;the legend reads,SIGNUM

TAY.In King ’s Gnostics the author reminds us that “this mark is commonly borne by St.

Anthony an Egyptian recluse.”[ Gems of the Orthodox Christians.Vol.1.p.135 .] What the

real meaning of the Tau was,is explained to us by the Christian St.John the Egyptian

Hermes,and the Hindu Brahmans.It is but too evident that with the Apostle at least it meant

the “Ineffable Name ”as he calls this “signet of the living God ”a few chapters further on [

Revelation,XIV 1 ] “Father ’s name written in their foreheads.”

The Brahmātmā the chief of the Hindu Initiates,had on his headgear two keys symbol of the

revealed mystery of life and death placed cross-like;and in some Buddhist pagodas of Tartary

and Mongolia the entrance of a chamber within the temple generally containing the staircase

which leads to the inner dagoba.[ A Dagoba is a small temple of globular form in which are

preserved the relics of Gautama.] and the porticos of some Prachidas [ Prachidas are

buildings of all sizes and forms,like our mausoleums,and are sacred to votive offerings to the

dead.] are ornamented with a cross formed of two fishes,as found on some of the zodiacs of

the Buddhists.We should not wonder at all at learning that the sacred device in the tombs in

the catacombs at Rome the “Vesica Piscis,”was derived from the said Buddhist zodiacal sign.

How general must have been that geometrical figure in the world-symbols,may be inferred

from the fact that there is a Masonic tradition that Solomon ’s temple was built on three

foundations,forming the “triple Tau ”or three crosses.

In its mystical sense the Egyptian cross owes its origin as an emblem to the realisation by

the earliest philosophy of an androgyno s d alism of every manifestation in nat re which

proceeds from the abstract ideal of a likewise androgynous deity while the Christian emblem

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is simply due to chance.Had the Mosaic law (Page 152)prevailed Jesus should have been

lapidated.[The Talmudistic records claim that after having been hanged he was lapidated

and buried under the water at the junction of two streams.Mishna Sanhedrin Vol.V1.p.4:

Talm d,of Babylon same article 43a 67a.] The crucifix was an instrument of torture and

utterly common among Romans as it was unknown among Semitic nations.It was called the

“Tree of Infamy.”It is but later that it was adopted as a Christian symbol;but during the first

two decades the apostles looked upon it with horror .[ Coptic Legends of the Crucifixion.MSS.

XI ].It is certainly not the Christian Cross that John had in mind when speaking of the “signet

of the living God ”but the mystic Tau -the Tetragrammaton or mighty name which on the

most ancient Kabalistic talismans,was represented by the four Hebrew letters composing the

Holy Word.

The famous Lady Ellenborough known among the Arabs of Damascus,and in the desert

after her last marriage as Hano m Medjo ye had a talisman in her possession presented to

her by a Druse from Mount Lebanon.It was recognised by a certain sign on its left corner as

belonging to that class of gems which is known in Palestine as a “Messianic ”amulet of the

second or third century B.C.It is a green stone of a pentagonal form;at the bottom is

engraved a fish higher Solomon ’s Seal;[ We are at a loss to understand why King in his

Gnostic Gems represents Solomon ’s Seal as a five-pointed star whereas it is six-pointed and

is the signet of Vishnu in India .] and still higher the four Chaldaic letters -Jod He Vau He

IAHO which form the name of the Deity.These are arranged in quite an unusual way running

from below upward in reversed order and forming the Egyptian Tau.Around these there is a

legend which as the gem is not our property we are not at liberty to give.The Tau in its

mystical sense as well as the Crux ansata,is the Tree of Life.

It is well known that the earliest Christian emblems -before it was ever attempted to represent

the bodily appearance of Jesus -were the Lamb the Good Shepherd and The Fish .The

origin of the latter emblem which has so puzzled the archaeologists thus becomes

comprehensible.The whole secret lies in the easily ascertained fact that while in the Kabalah

the King Messiah is called “Interpreter ” or Revealer of the Mystery and shown to be the fifth

emanation in the Talm d -for reasons we will now explain -the Messiah is very often

designated as “DAG ”or the Fish.This is an inheritance from the Chaldees,and relates -as

the very name indicates -to the Babylonian Dagon the man-fish who was the instructor and

interpreter of the people to whom he appeared.Abarbanel explains the name by stating that

the sign of his (Messiah ’s)coming is the conjuction of Saturn and Jupiter in the sign Pisces.

[ King (Gnostics )gives the figure of a Christian symbol very common during the middle ages

of three fishes,interlaced into a triangle and having the FIVE letters (a most sacred

Pythagorean number)É×ČÕ× engraved on it.The number five relates to the same kabalistic

computation .] Therefore as the Christians were intent upon identifying their Christos with the

Messiah of the Old Testament they adopted it so readily as to forget that its true origin might

be traced still further back than the Babylonian Dagon.How eagerly and closely the ideal of

Jesus was united by the early Christians,with every imaginable kabalistic and pagan tenet

may be inferred from the language of Clemens,of Alexandria addressed to his co-religionists.

The Story of Jesus

(Page 153)When they were debating upon the choice of the most appropriate symbol to

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remind them of Jesus,Clemens advised them in the following words.Let the engraving upon

the gem of your ring be either a dove or a ship running before the wind (the Argha),or a fish

Was the good father when writing this sentence labouring under the recollection of Joshua

son of Nun (called Jes s in the Greek and Slavonian versions);or had he forgotten the real

interpretation of these pagan symbols?[Op.cit.,II 253-256.]

And now with the help of all these passages scattered hither and thither in Isis and other works of this

kind the reader will see and judge for himself which of the two explanations -the Christian or that of the

Occultist -is the nearer to truth.If Jesus were not an Initiate why should all these allegorical incidents of

his life be given?Why should such extreme trouble be taken so much time wasted trying to make the

above:(a)answer and dovetail with purposely picked out sentences in the Old Testament to show them

as prophecies ;and (b)to preserve in them the initiatory symbols,the emblems so pregnant with Occult

meaning and all of these belonging to Pagan mystic Philosophy?The author of the So rce of Measures

gives out that mystical intent;but only once now and again in its one-sided numerical and kabalistic

meaning without paying any attention to or having concern with the primeval and more spiritual origin

and he deals with it only so far as it related to the Old Testament.He attributes the p rposed change in

the sentence “Eli Eli lama sabachthani ”to the principle already mentioned of the crossed bones and

skull in the Labarum.

As an emblem of death being placed over the door of life and signifying birth or of the

intercontainment of two opposite principles in one just as,mystically the Saviour was held to

be man-woman.[ Op.cit.,301.All this connects Jesus with great Initiates and solar heroes:all

this is purely Pagan under a newly-evolved variation the Christian scheme.] .

The author's idea is to show the mystic blending by the Gospel writers of Jehovah Cain Abel etc.with

Jesus (in accordance with Jewish kabalistic numeration);the better he succeeds,the more clearly he

shows that it was a forced blending and that we have not a record of the real events of the life of Jesus,

narrated by eyewitnesses or the Apostles.The narrative is all based on the signs of the Zodiac:

Each a double sign or male-female [ in ancient astrological Magic ] -viz.:it was Taurus-Eve

and Scorpio was Mars-Lupa or Mars with the female wolf [ in relation to Romulus ] .(Page 154)

So as these signs were opposites of each other yet met in the centre they were connected;

and so in fact it was,and in a double sense the conception of the year was in Taurus,as the

conception of Eve by Mars,her opposite in Scorpio.The birth would be at the winter solstice

or Christmas.On the contrary by conception in Scorpio -viz.,of Lupa by Taurus -birth would

be in Leo.Scorpio was Chrestos in h miliation,while Leo was Christos in tri mph.While

Taurus-Eve fulfilled astronomical functions,Mars-Lupa fulfilled spiritual ones by type.[ Op.

cit.,296.]

The author bases all this on Egyptian correlations and meanings of Gods and Goddesses,but ignores

the Aryan which are far earlier.

Mooth or Mo th was the Egyptian cognomen of Venus,(Eve mother of all living)[as Vach

mother of all living a permutation of Aditi as Eve was one of Sephira ] or the moon.Plutarch

(Isis,374)hands it down that Isis was sometimes called Muth,which word means mother ...

(Issa ąłē woman).(Isis,p.372).Isis,he says is that part of Nature which as feminine

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contains in herself as (nutrix)nurse all things to be born...“Certainly the moon “speaking

astronomically “chiefly exercises this function in Taurus,Venus being the house (in opposition

to Mars,generator,in Scorpio),because the sign is luna hypsoma.Since...Isis Metheur

differs from Isis Muth and that in the vocable Muth the notion of bringing forth may be

concealed and since fructification must take place Sol being joined with L na in Libra,it is not

improbable that Muth first indeed signifies Venus in Libra;hence Luna in Libra.(Beiträge zur

Kenntniss,pars 11 S.9 under Muth.)[ Pp.294.295 .]

Then Fuerst under Boh is quoted to show

The double play upon the word Muth by help of which the real intent is produced in the occult

way ...sin,death,and woman are one in the glyph and correlatively connected with

interco rse and death.[ P.295.]

All this is applied by the author only to the exoteric and Jewish euhemerised symbols,whereas they

were meant first of all to conceal cosmogonical mysteries,and then those of anthropological evolution

with reference to the Seven Races,already evoluted and to come and especially as regards the last

branch races of the third Root-Race.However the word void [primeval Chaos ] is shown to be taken for

Eve-Venus-Naamah agreeably with Fuerst ’s definition;for as he says:

In this primitive signification [ of void ] was (bohu)taken in the Biblical cosmogony and used in

establishing the dogma [Jes(us)m ’aven,Jes-us from nothing ] respecting creation.(Which

shows the writers of the New Testament considerably skilled in the Kabalah and Occult Sciences,and

corroborates still more our assertion.)Hence Aquila translates ļõäåķ vulg.vacua (hence vacca,cow )

[hence also the horns of Isis -Nature Earth and the Moon -taken from Vąch the Hindu “Mother of all

that lives,” identified with Virąj and called in Atharvaveda the daughter of Kąma the first desires:“That

daughter of thine O kąma is called the cow,she whom Sages name Vach-Viraj,” who was milked by

Brihaspati the Rishi which is another mystery ] Onkelos and Samarit

The Primitive Woman-(Page 155)The Phoenician cosmogony has connected Boh āįįķBaav

into a personified expression denoting the primitive substance,and as a deity the mother of races of the

Gods [ which is Aditi and Vach ].The Aramean name āįöóņ

Buto for the mother of the gods,which passed over to the Gnostics,Babylonians and Egyptians,is

identical then with Mōt (.our Muth)properly (āłč oriiginated in Phoenician from an

interchange of b with m.[ Pp.295.296 ]

Rather one would say go to the origin.The mystic euhemerisation of Wisdom and Intelligence operating

in the work of cosmic evolution or B ddhi under the names of Brahma Purusha etc.as male power

and Aditi-Vąch etc.as female whence Sarasvati Goddess of Wisdom who became under the veils of

Esoteric concealment Butos,Bythos -Depth the grossly material personal female called Eve the

“primitive woman ”of Irenaeus,and the world springing out of Nothing.

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The workings out of this glyph of 4 th Genesis help to the comprehension of the division of one character

into the forms of two persons;as Adam and Eve Cain and Abel Abram and Isaac,Jacob and Esau and

so on [all male and female ] ...Now as linking together several great salient points in the Biblical

structure:(1)as to the Old and New Testament;with also (2)as to the Roman Empire;(3)as to

confirming the meaning and uses of symbols;and (4)as to confirming the entire explanation and reading

of the glyphs;as (5)recognizing and laying down the base of the great pyramid as the fo ndation sq are

of the Bible construction;(6)as well as the new Roman adoption under Constantine -the following given:

[ Had we known the learned author before his book was printed he might have been perchance

prevailed upon to add a seventh link from which all others,far preceding those enumerated in point of

time and surpassing them in universally philosophical meaning have been derived aye even to the

great pyramid whose foundation square was,in its turn the great Aryan Mysteries.]

Cain has been shown to be ...the 360 circle of the Zodiac,the perfect and exact standard b a squared

division;hence his name of Melchizadik ...[The geometrical and numerical demonstrations here follow.]

It has been repeatedly stated that the object of the Great Pyramid construction was to measure the

heavens and the earth ...(the objective spheres as evoluting from the subjective purely spiritual

Kosmos,we beg leave to add);therefore its measuring containment would indicate all the substance of

measure of the heaven and the earth,or agreeably to ancient recognition Earth,Air,Water and Fire.[ We

would say cosmic Matter Spirit Chaos,and Divine Light for the Egyptians idea was identical in this with

the Aryan.However the author is right with regard to the Occult Symbology of the Jews.They were a

remarkably matter of fact unspiritual people at all times,yet even with them “Ruach ”was Divine Spirit

not “air.”] (The base side of this pyramid was diameter to a circumference in feet of 2400.The

characteristic of this is 24 feet or 6 X 4 =24 or this very Cain-Adam square.)Now by the restoration of

the encampment of the Israelites,as initiated by Moses,by the great scholar (Page 156)Father

Athanasius Kircher the Jesuit priest the above is precisely by Biblical record and traditionary sources,

the method of laying off this encampment.The fo r interior sq ares were devoted to (1)Moses and

Aaron;(2)Kohath;(3)Gershom;and (4)Merari -the last three being the head of the Levites.The

attributes of these squares were the primal attributes of Adam-Mars and were concreted of the elements,

Earth,Air,Fire,Water,or =Iam =Water .Nour =Fire,=Rouach =Air,and

=Iabeshah =Earth.The initial letters of these words are INRI.[The words translated as Iesus

Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum -“Jesus,King of the Jews.”]This square of INRI is the Adam sq are,which

was extended from as a foundation into four others of 145 X 2 =288 to the side of the large square of

288 X 4 =115 -2 =the whole circumference.But this square is the display of also circular elements and

115-2 can denote this.Put INRI into a circle or read it as the letters stand in the square as to its value of

1521 and we have which reads 115-2 of this fact.

But as seen Cain denotes this as,or in the 115 of his name:which 115 was the very complement to

make up the 360 day year to agree with the balances of the standard circle which were Cain.The

corner squares of the larger square are A =Leo and B =Dan Scorpio;and it is seen that Cain pierces

Abel at the intersection of the equinoctial with the solstice cross lines,referred to from Dan-Scorpio on

the celestial circle.But Dan-Scorpio borders on Libra the scales,whose sign is (which sign is

that of the ancient pillow on which the back of the head to the ears [Mr Ralston Skinner shows that the

symbol the crossed bones and skull has the letter P Koph,the half of the head behind the ears.]

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rested the pillow of Jacob),and is represented for one symbol as Also the badge of Dan-

Scorpio is death-life in the symbol Now the cross is the emblem of the origin of measures in the

Jehovah form of a straight line ONE of a denomination of 20612,the perfect circumference;hence Cain

was this as Jehovah for the text says that he was Jehovah.But the attachment of a man to this cross

was that of 113:355 to 6561:5153 X 4 =20612 as shown.Now over the head of Jesus crucified was

placed the inscription of which the initial letters of the words have always been retained as symbolic,and

handed down and used as a monogram of Jesus Chrestos -viz .INRI or Jes s Nazaren s Rex

Judaeor m;but they are located on the Cross or the cubed form of the circular origin of measures which

measure the substance of Earth,Air,Fire and Water,or INRI =1152 as shown.Here is the man on the

cross or 113;355 combined with 6561:5153 X 4 =20612.These are the pyramid-base numbers as

coming from 113:355 as the Hebrew source;whence the Adam-square which is the pyramid base and

the centre one to the larger square of the encampment .Bend INRI into a circle and we have 1152 or the

circumference of the latter.But Jesus dying (or Abel married)made use of the very words needed to set

forth all.He says,Eli,Eli,Lama Sabachthani ...Read them by their power values,in circular form,as

produced from the Adam form as shown and we have ..=113 =113 or 113-311:

=345 or Moses in the Cain-Adam pyramid circle:=710 equals Dove or Jonah and 710

divided by 2 =355 or 355 -553:and finally as determinative of all or ni .........where =n n

fish =565 and =1 or 10;together 565 .=or the Christ value.

Kabalistic Reading of Gospels-(Page 157)[All of the above ] throws light on the transfiguration scene on

the mount.There were present there Peter and James and John with Jesus;or Iami James,

Water ;Peter Earth John Spirit Air,and Jesus,Fire,Life -together

INRI.But behold Eli and Moses met them there or .and or Eli and Lamah,or 113

and 345.And this shows that the scene of transfiguration was connected with the one above set forth.

[ Pp.296 -302 .By these numbers,explains the author.“Eli is 113 (by placing the word in a circle):amah

being 345 is by change of letters to suit the same value (in a circle)or Moses,while Sabachth

is John or the dove or Holy Spirit because (in a circle)it is 710 (or 355 X 2).The termination ni as meni

or 5651 becomes Jehovah.]

This kabalistical reading of the Gospel narratives -hitherto supposed to record the most important the

most mystically awful yet most real events of the life of Jesus -must fall with terrible weight upon some

Christians.Every honest trusting believer who has shed tears of reverential emotion over the events of

the short period of the public life of Jesus of Nazareth has to choose one of the two ways opening before

him after reading the aforesaid:either his faith has to render him quite impervious to any light coming

from human reasoning and evident fact;or he must confess that he has lost his Saviour.The One whom

he had hitherto considered as the unique incarnation on this earth of the One Living God in heaven

fades into thin air on the authority of the properly read and correctly interpreted Bible itself.Moreover

since on the authority of Jerome himself and his accepted and authentic confession the book written by

the hand of Matthew “exhibits matter not for edification but for destruction ” (of Church and h man

Christianity and only that)what truth can be expected from his famous V lgate ?H man mysteries,

concocted by generations of Church Fathers bent upon evolving a religion of their own invention are

seen instead of a divine Revelation;and that this was so is corroborated by a prelate of the Latin Church.

Saint Gregory Nazianzen wrote to his friend and confidant St.Jerome:

Nothing can impose better on a people than verbiage;the less they understand the more they

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admire ...Our fathers and doctors have often said not what they thought but that to which

circumstances and necessity forced them.

(Page 158)Which then of the two -clergy or the Occultists and Theosophists -are the more blasphemous

and dangerous?Is it those who would impose upon the world ’s acceptance a Saviour of their own

fashioning a God with human shortcomings,and who therefore is certainly not a perfect divine Being;or

those others who say:Jesus of Nazareth was in Initiate a holy grand and noble character but withal

human though truly “ a Son of God ”?

If Humanity is to accept a so-called supernatural Religion how far more logical to the Occultist and the

Psychologist seems the transparent allegory given of Jesus by the Gnostics.They as Occultists and

with Initiates for their Chiefs differed only in their renderings of the story and in their symbols,and not at

all in substance.What say the Ophites,the Nazarenes,and other “heretics ”?Sophia “the Celestial

Virgin ” is prevailed upon to send Christos,her emanation to the help of perishing humanity from whom

Ilda-Baoth (the Jehovah of the Jews)and his six Sons of Matter (the lower terrestrial Angels)are shutting

out the divine light.Therefore Christos,the perfect [ The Western personification of that power which

the Hindus call the Vija the “one seed ”or Maha Vishn -a power not the God -or that mysterious

Principle that contains in itself the Seed of Avatārism .]

Uniting himself with Sophia [divine wisdom ] descended through the seven planetary regions,

assuming in each an analogous form ...[and ] entered into the man Jesus at the moment of

his baptism in the Jordan.From this time forth Jesus began to work miracles;before that he

had been entirely ignorant of his own mission.

Ilda-Baoth discovering that Christos was bringing to an end his kingdom of Matter stirred up the Jews,

his own people against Him and Jesus was put to death.When Jesus was on the Cross Christos and

Sophia left His body and returned to Their own sphere.The material body of Jesus was abandoned to

the earth but He Himself the Inner Man was clothed with a body made up of aether.[ Arise into Nervi

from this decrepit body into which thou hast been sent.Ascend into thy former abode O blessed

Avatār!”]

Thenceforth he consisted merely of soul and spirit ...During his sojourn upon earth of

eighteen months after he had risen he received from Sophia that perfect knowledge that true

Gnosis,which he communicated to the small portion of the Apostles who were capable of

receiving the same.[ The Gnostics and their Remains.King.pp.100 101.]

The above is transparently Eastern and Hindu;it is the Esoteric Doctrine pure and simple save for the

names and the allegory.It is,more or less,the history of every Adept who obtains Initiation.

Universal Teachings-(Page 159)The Baptism in the Jordan is the Rite of Initiation the final purification

whether in sacred pagoda tank,river or temple lake in Egypt or Mexico.The perfect Christos and

Sophia -divine Wisdom and Intelligence -enter the Initiate at the moment of the mystic rite by

transference from Guru to Chela and leave the physical body at the moment of the death of the latter to

re-enter the Nirmānakāya or the astral Ego of the Adept.

The spirit of Buddha [collectively ] overshadows the Bodhisattvas of his Church says the

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Buddhist Ritual of Aryasangha.

Says the Gnostic teaching:

When he [ the spirit of Christos ] shall have collected all the Spiritual all the Light [ that exists

in matter ] out of Ildabaoth ’s empire Redemption is accomplished and the end of the world

arrived.[Loc.Cit .]

Say the Buddhists;

When Buddha [the Spirit of the Church ] hears the hour strike he will send Maitreya Buddha -

after whom the old world will be destroyed.

That which is said of Basilides by King may be applied as truthfully to every innovator so called whether

of a Buddhist or of a Christian Church.In the eyes of Clemens Alexandrinus,he says the Gnostics

taught very little that was blameable in their mystical transcendental views.

In his eyes the latter (Basilides),was not a heretic that is an innovator upon the accepted

doctrines of the Catholic Church but only a theosophic speculator who sought to express old

truths by new formulae.[ Op.cit.,p.258 .]

There was a Secret Doctrine preached by Jesus;and “secrecy ” in those days meant Secrets,or

Mysteries of Initiation all of which have been either rejected or disfigured by the Church.In the

Clementine Homilics we read:

And Peter said:“We remember that our Lord and Teacher commanding us,said ‘Guard the

mysteries for me and the sons of my house.’”Wherefore also he explained to His disciples

privately the Mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens.[Homilies XIX.XX I ]

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SECTION XIX

St.Cyprian of Antioch

(Page 160)THE Aeons (Stellar Spirits)-emanated from the Unknown of the Gnostics,and identical with

the Dhyan Chohans of the Esoteric Doctrine -and their Pleroma having been transformed into

Archangels and the “Spirits of the Presence ” by the Greek and Latin Churches,the prototypes have lost

caste.The Pleroma [ The Pleroma constituted the synthesis or entirety of all the spiritual entities.St.Paul

still used the name in his Epistles.] was now called the “Heavenly Host ” and therefore the old name had

to become identified with Satan and his “Host.” Might is right in every age and History is full of contrasts.

Manes has been called the “Paraclete ” [ The “Comforter ” second Messiah intercessor.“ A term applied

to the Holy Ghost.” Manes was the disciple of Terebinthus,an Egyptian Philosopher who according to

the Christian Socrates (1.i.cited by Tillemont iv.584).“while invoking one day the demons of the air fell

from the roof of his house and was killed.”] by his followers.He was an Occultist but passed to posterity

owing to the kind exertions of the Church as a Sorcerer so a match had to be found for him by way of

contrast.We recognise this match in St.Cyprianus of Antioch a self-confessed if not a real “Black

Magician ” it seems,whom the Church -as a reward for his contrition and humility -subsequently raised

to the high rank of Saint and Bishop.

What history knows of him is not much and it is mostly based on his own confession the truthfulness of

which is warranted we are told by St.Gregory the Empress Eudoxia Photius and the Holy Church.This

curious document was ferreted out by the Marquis de Mirville [Cy.Op.cit.,vi 169-183 .] in the Vatican

and by him translated into French for the first time as he assures the reader.We beg his permission to

retranslate a few pages,not for the sake of the penitent Sorcerer but for that of some students of

Occultism who will thus have an opportunity of comparing the methods of ancient Magic (or as the

Church calls it Demonism)with those of modern Theurgy and Occultism.

Magic in Antioch-(Page 161)The scenes described took place at Antioch about the middle of the third

century 252 A.D.says the translator.This Confession was written by the penitent Sorcerer after his

conversion;therefore we are not surprised to find how much room he gives in his lamentations to reviling

his Initiator “Satan ” or the “Serpent Dragon ” as he calls him.There are other and more modern

instances of the same trait in human nature.Converted Hindus,Parsis and other “heathen ” of India are

apt to denounce their forefathers ’ religions at every opportunity.Thus runs the Confession:

O all of you who reject the real mysteries of Christ see my tears!...You who wallow in your

demoniacal practices,learn by my sad example all the vanity of their [the demons ’] baits ...I

am that Cyprianus,who vowed to Apollo from his infancy was early initiated into all the arts of

the dragon.[“The great serpent placed to watch the temple,” comments de Mirville.“How often

have we repeated that it was no symbol no personification but really a serpent occupied by a

god!” -he exclaims;and we answer that at Cairo in a Mussulman not a heathen temple we

have seen as thousands of other visitors have also seen a huge serpent that lived there for

centuries,we were told and was held in great respect.Was it also “occupied by a God ” or

possessed in other words?] Even before the age of seven I had already been introduced into

the temple of Mithra:three years later my parents taking me to Athens to be received as

citizen I was permitted likewise to penetrate the mysteries of Ceres lamenting her daughter

[ The Mysteries of Demeter or the "afflicted mother".] and I also became the guardian of the

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Dragon in the Temple of Pallas.

Ascending after that to the summit of Mount Olympus,the Seat of the Gods,as it is called

there too I was initiated into the sense and the real meaning of their [the Gods ’] speeches and

their clamorous manifestations (strepit m ).It is there that I was made to see in imagination

(phantasia )[or mayā ] those trees and all those herbs that operate such prodigies with the help

of demons;...and I saw their dances,their warfares,their snares,illusions and promiscuities.

I heard their singing.[ By the satyrs.]I saw finally for forty consecutive days,the phalanx of

the Gods and Goddesses,sending from Olympus,as though they were Kings,spirits to

represent them on earth and act in their name among all the nations.[This looks rather

suspicious and seems interpolated.De Mirville tries to have what he says of Satan and his

Court sending their imps on earth to tempt humanity and masquerade at seances

corroborated by the ex-sorcerer.]

At that time I lived entirely on fruit eaten only after sunset the virtues of which were explained

to me by the seven priests of the sacrifices.[This does not look like sinful food.It is the diet of

Chelas to this day.]

When I was fifteen my parents desired that I should be made acquainted not only with all the

natural laws in connection with the generation and corruption of (Page 162)bodies on earth in

the air and in the seas,but also with all the other forces grafted [“Grafted ”is the correct

expression.“The seven Builders graft the divine and the beneficent forces on to the gross

material nature of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms every Second Round -says the

Catechism of Lanoos.] (insitas )on these by the Prince of the World in order to counteract their

primal and divine constitution.[ Only the Prince of the World is not Satan as the translator

would make us believe but the collective Host of the Planetary.This is a little theological

backbiting.] At twenty I went to Memphis,where penetrating into the Sanctuaries,I was taught

to discern all that pertains to the communications of demons [Daimones or Spirits ] with

terrestrial matters,their aversion for certain places,they sympathy and attraction for others,

their expulsion from certain planets,certain objects and laws,their persistence in preferring

darkness and their resistance to light.[ Here the Elemental and Elementary Spirits are

evidently meant.] There I learned the number of the fallen Princes,[ The reader has already

learned the truth about them in the course of the present work.] that which takes place in

human souls and the bodies they enter into communication with.

I learnt the analogy that exists between earthquakes and the rains,between the motion of the

earth [ Pity the penitent Saint had not imparted his knowledge of the rotation of the earth and

heliocentric system earlier to his Church.That might have saved more than one human life -

that of Bruno for one.] and the motion of the seas;I saw the spirits of the Giants plunged in

subterranean darkness and seemingly supporting the earth like a man carrying a burden on is

shoulders.[ Chelas in their trials of initiation also see in trances artificially generated for them

the vision of the Earth supported by an elephant on the top of a tortoise standing on nothing -

and this,to teach them to discern the true from the false.].

When thirty I travelled to Chaldaea to study there the true power of the air placed by some in the fire and

by the more learned in light [Akāsha ].I was taught to see that the planets were in their variety as

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dissimilar as the plants on earth and the stars were like armies ranged in battle order.I knew the

Chaldaean division of Ether into 365 parts,[ Relating to the days of the year also to 7X7 divisions of the

earth ’s sublunary sphere divided into seven upper and seven lower spheres with their respective

Planetary Hosts or “armies.”] and I perceived that everyone of the demons who divide it among

themselves [ Daimon is not “demon ” as translated by De Mirville but Spirit.] was endowed with that

material force that permitted him to execute the orders of the Prince and guide all the movements therein

[in the Ether ].[All this is to corroborate his dogmatic assertions that Pater Aether or Jupiter is Satan!and

that pestilential diseases,cataclysms,and even thunderstorms that prove disastrous,come from the

Satanic Host dwelling in Ether -a good warning to the men of Science!] They [the Chaldees ] explained

to me how those Princes had become participants in the Council of Darkness,ever in opposition to the

Council of Light.

I got acquainted with the Mediatores [surely not mediums as De Mirville explains!] [ The translator

replaces the word Mediators by mediums,excusing himself in a footnote by saying that Cyprian m st

have meant modern mediums!] and upon seeing the covenants they were mutually bound by I was

struck with wonder upon learning the nature of their oaths and observances.[ Cypriannus simply meant

to hint at the rites and mysteries of Initiation and the pledge of secrecy and oaths that bound the Initiates

together.His translator however has made a Witches Sabbath of it instead.]

Sorcerer Become Saint

(Page 163)Believe me I saw the Devil;believe me I have embraced him [“Twelve centuries

later in full renaissance and reform the world saw Luther do the same [embrace the Devil he

means?]-according to his own confession and in the same conditions,”explains De Mirville

in a footnote showing thereby the brotherly love that binds Christians.Now Cyprianus meant

by the Devil (if the word is really in the original text)his Initiator and Hierophant.No Saint -

even a penitent Sorcerer -would be so silly as to speak of his (the Devil ’s )rising from his seat

to see him to the door were it otherwise.][like the witches at the Sabbath (?)] when I was yet

young and he saluted me by the title of the new Jambres,declaring me worthy of my ministry

(initiation).He promised me continual help during life and a principality after death.[ Every

Adept has a “principality after his death.”] Having become in great honour (an Adept)under his

tuition he placed under my orders a phalanx of demons,and when I bid him goodbye

“Courage good success,excellent Cyprian ” he exclaimed rising up from his seat to see me

to the door plunging thereby those present into a profound admiration.[ Which shows that it

was the Hierophant and his disciples.Cyprianus shows himself as grateful as most of the

other converts (the modern included)to his Teachers and Instructors.

Having bidden farewell to his Chaldaean Initiator the future Sorcerer and Saint went to Antioch.His tale

of “iniquity ” and subsequent repentance is long but we will make it short.He became “an accomplished

Magician ”surrounded by a host of disciples and “candidates to the perilous and sacrilegious art.”He

shows himself distributing love-philtres and dealing in deathly charms “to rid young wives of old

husbands,and to ruin Christian virgins.” Unfortunately Cyprianus was not above love himself.He fell in

love with the beautiful Justine a converted maiden after having vainly tried to make her share the

passion one named Aglaides,a profligate had for her.His “demons failed ”he tells us,and he got

disgusted with them.This disgust brings on a quarrel between him and his Hierophant whom he insists

on indentifying with the Demon;and the dispute is followed by a tournament between the latter and some

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Christian converts,in which the “Evil One ”is,of course worsted.The Sorcerer is finally baptised and

gets rid of his enemy.Having laid at the feet of Anthimes,Bishop of Antioch all his books on Magic,he

became a Saint in company with the beautiful Justine who had converted him;both suffered martyrdom

under the Emperor Diocletian;and both are buried side by side in Rome in the Basilica of St.John

Lateran near the Baptistery.

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SECTION XX

The Eastern Gupta Vidya &The Kabalah

(Page 164)WE now return to the consideration of the essential identity between the Eastern Gupta Vidya

and the Kabalah as a system while we must also show the dissimilarity in their philosophical

interpretations since the Middle Ages.

It must be confessed that the views of the Kabalists -meaning by the word those students of Occultism

who study the Jewish Kabalah and who know little if anything of any other Esoteric literature or of its

teachings -are as varied in their synthetic conclusions upon the nature of the mysteries taught even in

the Zohar alone and are as wide of the true mark,as are the dicta upon it of exact Science itself.Like

the mediaeval Rosicrucian and the Alchemist -like the Abbot Trithemius,John Reuchlin Agrippa

Paracelsus,Robert Fludd Philalethes,etc.-by whom they swear the continental Occultists see in the

Jewish Kabalah alone the universal well of wisdom;they find in it the secret lore of nearly all the

mysteries of Nature -metaphysical and divine -some of them including herein as did Reuchlin those of

the Christian Bible .For them the Zohar is an Esoteric Thesaurus of all the mysteries of the Christian

Gospel;and the Sephyr Yetsirah is the light that shines in every darkness,and the container of the keys

to open every secret in Nature.Whether many of our modern followers of the mediaeval Kabalists have

an idea of the real meaning of the symbology of their chosen Masters is another question.Most of them

have probably never given even a passing thought to the fact that the Esoteric language used by the

Alchemists was their own and that it was given out as a blind necessitated by the dangers of the epoch

they lived in and not as the Mystery-language used by the Pagan Initiates,which the Alchemists had

retranslated and re-veiled once more.

A Mystery Within a Mystery-(Page 165)And now the situation stands thus:as the old Alchemists have

not left a key to their writings,the latter have become a mystery within an older mystery.The Kabalah is

interpreted and checked only by the light which mediaeval Mystics have thrown upon it and they in their

forced Christology had to put a theological dogmatic mask on every ancient teaching the result being

that each Mystic among our modern European and American Kabalists interprets the old symbols in his

own way and each refers his opponents to the Rosicrucian and the Alchemist of three and four hundred

years ago.Mystic Christian dogma is the central maelstrom that engulfs every old Pagan symbol and

Christianity -Anti-Gnostic Christianity the modern retort that has replaced the alembic of the Alchemists -

has distilled out of all recognition the Kabalah,i.e.,the Hebrew Zohar and other rabbinical mystic works.

And now it has come to this:The student interested in the Secret Sciences has to believe that the whole

cycle of the symbolical “Ancient of Days ” every hair of the mighty beard of Macroprosopos,refers only to

the history of the earthly career of Jesus of Nazareth!And we are told that the Kabalah “was first taught

to a select company of angels ”by Jehovah himself -who out of modesty one must think,made himself

only the third Sephiroth in it and a female one into the bargain.So many Kabalists so many

explanations.Some believe -perchance with more reason than the rest -that the substance of the

Kabalah is the basis upon which masonry is built since modern Masonry is undeniable the dim and hazy

reflection of primeval Occult Masonry of the teaching of those divine Masons who established the

Mysteries of the prehistoric and prediluvian Temples of Initiation raised by truly superhuman Builders.

Others declare that the tenets expounded in the Zohar relate merely to mysteries terrestrial and profane

having no more concern with metaphysical speculations -such as the soul or the post-mortem life of

man -than have the Mosaic books.Others,again -and these are the real genuine Kabalists,who had

their instructions from initiated Jewish Rabbis -affirm that if the two most learned Kabalists of the

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mediaeval period John Reuchlin and Paracelsus,differed in their religious professions -the former being

the Father of the Reformation and the latter a Roman Catholic,at least in appearance -the Zohar cannot

contain much of Christian dogma or tenet one way or the other.In other words,they maintain that the

numerical language of the Kabalistic works teaches universal truths -and not any one Religion in

particular.Those who make this (Page 166)statement are perfectly right in saying that the Mystery-

language used in the Zohar and in other Kabalistic literature was once in a time of unfathomable

antiquity the universal language of Humanity.But they become entirely wrong if to this fact they add the

untenable theory that this lang age was invented by,or was the original property of,the Hebrews,from

whom all the other nations borrowed it.

They are wrong because although the Zohar (.)The Book of Splendo r of Rabbi

Simeon Ben Iochai did indeed originate with him -his son Rabbi Eleazar helped by his secretary Rabbi

Abba compiling the Kabalistic teachings of his deceased father into a work called the Zohar -those

teachings were not Rabbi Simeon ’s,as the Gupta Vidya shows.They are as old as the Jewish nation

itself.and far older.In short the writings which pass at present under the title of the Zohar of Rabbi

Simeon are about as original as were the Egyptian synchronistic Tables after being handled by Eusebius,

or as St.Paul ’s Epistles after their revision and correction by the “Holy Church.”[This is proved if we

take but a single recorded instance.J.Picus de Mirandola finding that there was more Christianity than

Judaism in the Kabalah and discovering in it the doctrines of the Trinity the Incarnation the Divinity of

Jesus,etc.wound up his proofs of this with a challenge to the world at large from Rome.As Ginsburg

shows:“In 1486 when only twenty-four years old he [Pieus ] published nine hundred [Kabalistic ] theses

which were placarded in Rome and undertook to defend them in the presence of all European scholars

whom he invited to the Eternal City promising to defray their travelling expenses .]

Let us throw a rapid retrospective glance at the history and the tribulations of that very same Zohar as

we know of them from trustworthy tradition and documents.We need not stop to discuss whether it was

written in the first century B.C.or in the first century A.D.Suffice it for us to know that there was at all

times a Kabalistic literature among the Jews;that though historically it can be traced only from the time of

the Captivity yet from the Pentate ch down to the Talm d the documents of that literature were ever

written in a kind of Mystery-language were in fact a series of a symbolical records which the Jews had

copied from the Egyptian and the Chaldaean Sanctuaries,only adapting them to their own national

history -if history it can be called.Now that which we claim -and it is not denied even by the most

prejudiced Kabalist is that although Kabalistic lore had passed orally through long ages down to the

latest Pre-Christian Tanaim and although David and Solomon may have been great Adepts in it as is

claimed yet no one dared to write it down till the days of Simeon Ben Iochai.

Authorship of the Zohar-(Page 167)In short the lore found in Kabalistic literature was never recorded in

writing before the first century of the modern era.

This brings the critic to the following reflection:While in India we find the Vedas and the Brahmanical

literature written down and edited ages before the Christian era -the Orientalists themselves being

obliged to concede a couple of millenniums of antiquity to the older manuscripts;while the most

important allegories in Genesis are found recorded on Babylonian tiles centuries B.C.;while the Egyptian

sarcophagi yearly yield proofs of the origin of the doctrines borrowed and copied by the Jews;yet the

Monotheism of the Jews is exalted and thrown into the teeth of all the Pagan nations,and the so-called

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Christian Revelation is placed above all others,like the sun above a row of street gas lamps.Yet it is

perfectly well known having been ascertained beyond doubt or cavil that no manuscript whether

Kabalistic,Talmudistic,or Christian which has reached our present generation is of earlier date than the

first centuries of our era whereas this can certainly never be said of the Egyptian papyri or the

Chaldaean tiles,or even of some Eastern writings.

But let us limit our present research to the Kabalah,and chiefly to the Zohar -called also the Midrash .

This book,whose teachings were edited for the first time between 70 and 110 A.D.is known to have

been lost and its contents to have been scattered throughout a number of minor manuscripts,until the

thirteenth century.The idea that it was the composition of Moses de Leon of Valladolid in Spain who

passed it off as a pseudograph of Simeon Ben Iochai is ridiculous,and was well disposed of by Munk -

though he does point to more than one modern interpolation in the Zohar .At the same time it is more

than certain that the present Book of Zohar was written by Moses de Leon and owing to joint editorship

is more Christian in its colouring than is many a genuine Christian volume.Munk gives the reason why

saying that it appears evident that the author made use of ancient documents,and among these of

certain Midraschim,or collections of traditions and Biblical expositions,which we do not now possess.

As a proof also that the knowledge of the Esoteric system taught in the Zohar came to the Jews very

late indeed -at any rate that they had so far forgotten it that the innovations and additions made by de

Leon provoked no criticism but were thankfully received -Munk quotes from Tholuck,a Jewish authority

the following information:Haya Gaon who died in 1038 is to our knowledge the first author who

developed (Page 168)(and perfected)the theory of the Sephiroth and he gave them names which we find

again among the Kabalistic names used by Dr.Jellinek.Moses Ben Schem-Tob de Leon who held

intimate intercourse with the Syrian and Chaldaean Christian learned scribes was enabled through the

latter to acquire a knowledge of some of the Gnostic writings.[ This account is summarised from Isaac

Myer ’s Qabbalah p.10 et seq.]

Again the Sepher Jetzirah (Book of Creation)-though attributed to Abraham and though very archaic as

to its contents -is first mentioned in the eleventh century by Jehuda Ho Levi (Chazari).And these two

the Zohar and Jetzirah are the storehouse of all the subsequent Kabalistic works.Now let us see how far

the Hebrew sacred canon itself is to be trusted.

The word “Kabalah ”comes from the root “to receive ”and has a meaning identical with the Sanskrit

“Smriti ”(“received by tradition ”)-a system of oral teaching passing from one generation of priests to

another as was the case with the Brahmanical books before they were embodied in manuscript.The

Kabalistic tenets came to the Jews from the Chaldaeans;and if Moses knew the primitive and universal

language of the Initiates,as did every Egyptian priest and was thus acquainted with the numerical

system on which it was based he may have -and we say he has -written Genesis and other “scrolls.”

The five books that now pass current under his name the Pentate ch,are not withal the original Mosaic

Records.[ There is not in the decalogue one idea that is not the counterpart or the paraphrase of the

dogmas and ethics among the Egyptians long before the time of Moses and Aaron.(The Mosaic Law a

transcript from the Egyptian Sources:vide Geometry in Religion,1890)] Nor were they written in the old

Hebrew square letters,nor even in the Samaritan characters,for both alphabets belong to a date later

than that of Moses,and Hebrew -as it is now known -did not exist in the days of the great lawgiver

either as a language or as an alphabet.

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As no statements contained in the records of the Secret Doctrine of the East are regarded as of any

value by the world in general and since to be understood by and convince the reader one has to quote

names familiar to him and use arguments and proofs out of documents which are accessible to all the

following facts may perhaps demonstrate that our assertions are not merely based on the teachings of

Occult Records.

Chaldaic and Hebrew (Page 169)(1)The great Orientalist and scholar Klaproth denied positively the

antiquity of the so-called Hebrew alphabet on the ground that the square Hebrew characters in which the

Biblical manuscripts are written and which we use in printing were probably derived from the Palmyrene

writing or some other Semitic alphabet so that the Hebrew Bible is written merely in the Chaldaic

phonographs of Hebrew words.

The late Dr.Kenealy pertinently remarked that the Jews and Christians rely on

A phonograph of a dead and almost unknown language as abstruse as the cuneiform letters

on the mountains of Assyria [ Book of God.Kenealy p.383.The reference to Klaproth is also

from this page.]

(2)The attempts made to carry back the square Hebrew character to the time of Esdras (B.C.458)have

all failed.

(3)It is asserted that the Jews took their alphabet from the Babylonians during their captivity.But there

are scholars who do not carry the now-known Hebrew square letters beyond the late period of the fourth

century A.D.[ See Asiat.Jo r.,N.S.vii.p.275 quoted by Kenealy.]

The Hebrew Bible is precisely as if Homer were printed not in Greek,but in English letters;or

as if Shakespeare ’s works were phonographed in Burmese.[Book of God,loc.cit.]

(4)Those who maintain that the ancient Hebrew is the same as the Syraic or Chaldaic have to see what

is said in Jeremiah wherein the Lord is made to threaten the house of Israel with bringing against it the

mighty and ancient nation of the Chaldaeans:

A nation whose language thou knowest not neither understandest what they say.[ Op.cit.,

v.15.]

This is quoted by Bishop Walton [ Prolegomena.iii 13 quoted by Kenealy.p.385.] against the

assumption of the identity of Chaldaic and Hebrew and ought to settle the question.

(5)The real Hebrew of Moses was lost after the seventy years ’ captivity when the Israelites brought back

Chaldaic with them and grafted it on their own language the fusion resulting in a dialectical variety of

Chaldaic,the Hebrew tincturing it very slightly and ceasing from that time to be a spoken language.[See

Book of God.p.385.Care should be taken “says Butler (quoted by Kenealy.p489),“to distinguish

between the Pentateuch in the Hebrew language but in the letters of the Samaritan alphabet and the

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version of the Pentateuch in the Samaritan language.One of the most important differences between the

Samaritan and the Hebrew text respects the duration of the period between the deluge and the birth of

Abraham.The Samaritan text makes it longer by some centuries than the Hebrew text;and the

Septuagint makes it longer by some centuries than the Samaritan.”It is observable that in the authentic

translation of the Latin Vulgate the Roman Church follows the computation expressed in the Hebrew

text;and in her Martyrology follows that of the Seventy both texts being inspired as she claims.]

(Page 170)As to our statement that the present Old Testament does not contain the original Books of

Moses,this is proven by the facts that:

(1)The Samaritans repudiated the Jewish canonical books and their “Law of Moses.”They will have

neither the Psalms of David nor the Prophets,nor the Talm d and Mishna :nothing but the real Books of

Moses,and in quite a different edition.[ See Rev.Joseph Wolff ’s Jo rnal.p.200.]The Books of Moses

and of Joshua are disfigured out of recognition by the Talmudists they say

(2)The “black Jews ” of Cochin Southern India -who know nothing of the Babylonian Captivity or of the

ten “lost tribes ”(the latter a pure invention of the Rabbis),proving that these Jews must have come to

India before the year 600 B.C.-have their Books of Moses which they will show to no one.And these

Books of Laws differ greatly from the present scrolls.Nor are they written in the square Hebrew

characters (semi-Chaldaic and semi-Palmyrean)but in the archaic letters,as we were assured by one of

them -letters entirely unknown to all but themselves and a few Samaritans.

(3)The Karaim Jews of the Crimea -who call themselves the descendants of the true children of Israel

i.e.of the Sadducees -reject the Torah and the Pentate ch of the Synagogue reject the Sabbath of the

Jews (keeping Friday),will have neither the Books of the Prophets nor the Psalms -nothing but their own

Books of Moses and what they call his one and real Law.

This makes it plain that the Kabalah of the Jews is but the distorted echo of the Secret Doctrine of the

Chaldaeans,and that the real Kabalah is found only in the Chaldaean Book of N mbers now in the

possession of some Persian Sufis.Every nation in antiquity had its traditions based on those of the Aryan

Secret Doctrine;and each nation points to this day to a Sage of its own race who had received the

primordial revelation from and had recorded it under the orders of a more or less divine Being.Thus it

was with the Jews,as with all others.They had received their Occult Cosmogony and Laws from their

Initiate Moses,and they have now entirely mutilated them.

Adi is the generic name in our Doctrine of all the first men i.e..the first speaking races,in each of the

seven zones -hence probably “Ad-am.”

The First Men (Page 171)And such first men in every nation are credited with having been taught the

divine mysteries of creation.Thus,the Sabaeans (according to a tradition preserved in the Sufi works)

say that when the “Third First Man ” left the country adjacent to India for Babel a tree [ A tree is

symbolically a book -as “pillar ”is another synonym of the same.]was given to him,then another and a

third tree whose leaves recorded the history of all the races;the “Third First Man ”meant one who

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belonged to the Third Root-Race and yet the Sabaeans call him Adam.The Arabs of Upper Egypt and

the Mohammedans generally have recorded a tradition that the Angel Azaz-el brings a message from the

Wisdom-Word of God to Adam whenever he is reborn;this the Sufis explain by adding that this book is

given to every Seli-Allah (“the chosen one of God ”)for his wise men.The story narrated by the Kabalists

-namely that the book given to Adam before his Fall (a book full of mysteries and signs and events

which either had been were or were to be)was taken away by the Angel Raziel after Adam's Fall but

again restored to him lest men might lose its wisdom and instruction;that this book was delivered by

Adam to Seth who passed it to Enoch and the latter to Abraham and so on in succession to the most

wise of every generation -relates to all nations,and not to the Jews alone.For Berosus narrates in his

turn that Xisuthrus compiled a book,writing it at the command of his deity which book was buried in

Zipara [ The wife of Moses,one of the seven daughters of a Midian priest is called Zipora.It was Jethro

the priest of Midian who initiated Moses,Zipora one of the seven daughters,being simply one of the

seven Occult powers that the Hierophant was and is supposed to pass to the initiated novice.] or

Sippara the City of the Sun in Ba-bel-on-ya and was dug up long afterwards and deposited in the

temple of Belos;it is from this book that Berosus took his history of the antediluvian dynasties of Gods

and Heroes.Aelian (in Nimrod )speaks of a Hawk (emblem of the Sun),who in the days of the

beginnings brought to the Egyptians a book containing the wisdom of their religion.The Sam-Sam of the

Sabaeans is also a Kabalah,as is the Arabic Zem-Zem (Well of Wisdom).[ See for these details the

Book of God,pp.244 250 ]

We are told by a very learned Kabalist that Seyffarth assets that the old Egyptian tongue was only old

Hebrew or a Semitic dialect;and he proves this,our correspondent thinks,by sending him “some 500

words in common ”in the two languages.This proves very little to our mind.It only shows that the two

nations lived together for centuries,and that before adopting the Chaldaean for their phonetic (Page 172)

tongue the Jews had adopted the old Coptic or Egyptian.The Israelitish Scriptures drew their hidden

wisdom from the primeval Wisdom-Religion that was the source of other Scriptures,only it was sadly

degraded by being applied to things and mysteries of this Earth instead of to those in the higher and

ever-present though invisible spheres.Their national history if they can claim any autonomy before their

return from the Babylonian captivity cannot be carried back one day earlier than the time of Moses.The

language of Abraham -if Zeruan (Saturn the emblem of time -the “Sar ”“Saros,”a “cycle ”)can be said

to have any language -was not Hebrew but Chaldaic,perhaps Arabic,and still more likely some old

Indian dialect.This is shown by numerous proofs,some of which we give here;and unless,indeed to

please the tenacious and stubborn believers in Bible chronology we cripple the years of our globe to the

Procrustean bed of 7 000 years,it becomes self-evident that the Hebrew cannot be called an old

language merely because Adam is supposed to have used it in the Garden of Eden.Bunsen says in

Egypt ’s Place in Universal History that in the

Chaldean tribe immediately connected with Abraham we find reminiscences of dates

disfigured and misunderstood as genealogies of single men or figures of epochs.The

Abrahamic recollections go back at least three millennia beyond the grandfather of Jacob [

Op.cit.V.85 .]

The Bible of the Jews has ever been an Esoteric Book in its hidden meaning but this meaning has not

remained one and the same throughout since the days of Moses.It is useless,considering the limited

space we can give to this subject to attempt anything like the detailed history of the vicissitudes of the

so-called Pentate ch and besides,the history is too well known to need lengthy disquisitions.Whatever

was,or was not the Mosaic Book of Creation -from Genesis down to the Prophets -the Pentate ch of

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today is not the same.It is sufficient to read the criticisms of Erasmus,and even of Sir Isaac Newton to

see clearly that the Hebrew Scriptures had been tampered with and re -modelled had been lost and

rewritten a dozen times before the days of Ezra.This Ezra himself may yet one day turn out to have

been Azara;the Chaldaean priest of the Fire and Sun-God a renegade who through his desire of

becoming a ruler and in order to create an Ethnarchy restored that old lost Jewish Books in his own way.

Many Events Not Historical-(Page 173)It was an easy thing for one versed in the secret system of

Esoteric numerals,or Symbology to put together events from the stray books that had been preserved

by various tribes,and make of them an apparently harmonious narrative of creation and of the evolution

of the Judaean race.But in its hidden meaning from Genesis to the last word of De teronomy the

Pentateuch is the symbolical narrative of the sexes,and is an apotheosos of Phallicism under

astronomical and physiological personations.[ As is fully shown in the So rce of Measures and other

works.] Its co-ordination however is only apparent;and the human hand appears at every moment is

found everywhere in the “Book of God.”Hence the Kings of Edom discuss in Genesis before any king

had reigned in Israel;Moses records his own death and Aaron dies twice and is buried in two different

places,to say nothing of other trifles.For the Kabalist they are trifles,for he knows that all these events

are not history but are simply the cloak designed to envelope and hide various physiological

peculiarities;but for the sincere Christian who accepts all these “dark sayings ”in good faith it matters a

good deal.Solomon may very well be regarded as a myth [ Surely even Masons would never claim the

act al existence of Solomon?As Kenealy shows,he is not noticed by Herodotus,nor by Plato nor by

any writer of standing.It is most extraordinary he says “that the Jewish nation over whom but a few

years before the mighty Solomon had reigned in all his glory with a magnificence scarcely equalled by

the greatest monarchs,spending nearly eight tho sand millions of gold on a temple was overlooked by

the historian Herodotus,writing of Egypt on the one hand and of Babylon on the other -visiting both

places,and of course passing almost necessarily within a few miles of the splendid capital of the national

Jerusalem?How can this be accounted for?“he asks (p.457).Nay not only are there no proofs of the

twelve tribes of Israel having ever existed but Herodotus,the most accurate of historians,who was in

Assyria when Ezra flourished never mentions the Israelites at all:and Herodotus was born in 484 B.C.

How is this?] by the Masons,as they lose nothing by it for all their secrets are Kabalistic and allegorical -

for those few at any rate who understand them.For the Christian however to give up Solomon the son

of David -from whom Jesus is made to descend -involves a real loss.But how even the Kabalists can

claim great antiquity for the Hebrew texts of the old Biblical scrolls now possessed by the scholars is not

made at all apparent.For it is certainly a fact of history based on the confessions of the Jews

themselves,and of Christians likewise that:

The Scriptures having perished in the captivity of Nabuchodonozar Esdras,the Levite the

priest in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians,having become inspired in the exercise

of prophecy restored again the whole of the ancient Scriptures.[ Clement Stromateis.XXII.]

(Page 174)One must have a strong belief in “Esdras,”and especially in his good faith to accept the now-

existing copies as genuine Mosaic Books;for:

Assuming that the copies,or rather phonographs which had been made by Hilkiah and

Esdras,and the various anonymous editors,were really true and genuine they must have

been wholly exterminated by Antiochus;and the versions of the Old Testament which now

subsist must have been made by Judas,or by some unknown compilers,probably from the

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Greek of the Seventy long after the appearance and death of Jesus.[ Book of God .p.408 .]

The Bible therefore as it is now (the Hebrew texts that is),depends for its accuracy on the genuineness

of the Sept agint ;this,we are again told was written miraculously by the Seventy in Greek,and the

original copy having been lost since that time our texts are retranslated back into Hebrew from that

language.But in this vicious circle of proofs we once more have to rely upon the good faith of two Jews -

Josephus and Philo Judaeus of Alexandria -these two Historians being the only witnesses that the

Septuagint was written under the circumstances narrated.And yet it is just these circumstances that are

very little calculated to inspire one with confidence.For what does Josephus tell us?He says that

Ptolemy Philadelphus,desiring to read the Hebrew Law in Greek,wrote to Eleazar the high-priest of the

Jews,begging him to send him six men from each of the twelve tribes who should make a translation for

him.Then follows a truly miraculous story vouchsafed by Aristeas,of these seventy-two men from the

twelve tribes of Israel who shut up in an island compiled their translation in exactly seventy-two days,

etc.

All this is very edifying and one might have had very little reason to doubt the story had not the “ten lost

tribes ”been made to play their part in it.How could these tribes,lost between 700 and 900 B.C.each

send six men some centuries later to satisfy the whim of Ptolemy and to disappear once more

immediately afterwards from the horizon?A miracle verily.

We are expected nevertheless,to regard such documents as the Sept agint as containing direct divine

revelation:Documents originally written in a tongue about which nobody now knows anything;written by

authors that are practically mythical and at dates as to which no one is able even to make a defensible

surmise;documents of the original copies of which there does not now remain a shred.

The Real Hebrew Characters Lost -(Page 175)Yet people will persist in talking of the ancient Hebrew

as if there were any man left in the world who knows one word of it .So little indeed was Hebrew known

that both the Septuagint and the New Testament had to be written in a heathen language (the Greek),

and no better reasons for it given than what Hutchinson says,namely that the Holy Ghost chose to write

the New Testament in Greek.

The Hebrew language is considered to be very old and yet there exists no trace of it anywhere on the

old monuments,not even in Chaldaea.Among the great number of inscriptions of various kinds found in

the ruins of that country:

One in the Hebrew Chaldee letter and language has never been fo nd;nor has a single

authentic medal or gem in this newfangled character been ever discovered which could carry

it even to the days of Jesus.[ Book of God.p.453 .]

The original Book of Daniel is written in a dialect which is a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic;it is not even

in Chaldaic,with the exception of a few verses interpolated later on.According to Sir.W.Jones and other

Orientalists,the oldest discoverable languages of Persia are the Chaldaic and Sanskrit and there is no

trace of the “Hebrew ”in these.It would be very surprising if there were since the Hebrew known to the

Philologists does not date earlier than 500 B.C.and its characters belong to a far later period still.Thus,

while the real Hebrew characters,if not altogether lost are nevertheless so hopelessly transformed -

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A mere inspection of the alphabet showing that it has been shaped and made regular in doing

which the characteristic marks of some of the letters have been retrenched in order to make

them more square and uniform -[Asiatic Jo rnal VII.p.275 quoted by Kenealy.]

That no one but an initiated Rabbi of Samaria or a “Jain ”could read them the new system of the

masoretic points has made them a sphinx-riddle for all.Punctuation is now to be found everywhere in all

the later manuscripts,and by means of it anything can be made of a text;a Hebrew scholar can put on

the texts any interpretation he likes.Two instances given by Kenealy will suffice:

In Genesis,x1ix.21 we read:

Naphtali is a hind let loose ;he giveth goodly words.

By only a slight alternation of the points Bochart changes this into:

Napthali is a spreading tree,shooting forth bea tif l branches.

So again in Psalms (xxix.9),instead of:(Page 176)

The voice of the Lord maketh the hind to calve and discovereth the forests;

Bishop Lowth gives:

The voice of the Lord striketh the oak,and discovereth the forests.

The same word in Hebrew signifies “God ”and “nothing ”etc.[ Book of God.p.385.]

With regard to the claim made by some Kabalists that there was in antiquity one knowledge and one

language this claim is also our own and it is very just.Only it must be added to make the thing clear

that this knowledge and language have both been esoteric every since the submersion of the Atlanteans.

The Tower of Babel myth relates to that enforced secrecy.Men falling into sin were regarded as no longer

trustworthy for the reception of such knowledge and from being universal it became limited to the few.

Thus,the “one-lip ”-or the Mystery-language -being gradually denied to subsequent generations,all the

nations became severally restricted to their own national tongue;and forgetting the primeval Wisdom-

language they stated that the Lord -one of the chief Lords or Hierophants of the Mysteries of the Java

Aleim -had confounded the languages of all the earth so that the sinners could understand one

another ’s speech no longer.But Initiates remained in every land and nation and the Israelites,like all

others,had their learned Adepts.One of the keys to this Universal Knowledge is a pure geometrical and

numerical system the alphabet of every great nation having a numerical value for every letter [ Speaking

of the hidden meaning of the Sanskrit words,Mr.T.Subba Row in his able article on “The Twelve Signs

of the Zodiac.”gives some advice as to the way in which one should proceed to find out “the deep

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significance of ancient Sanskrit nomenclature in the old Aryan myths.1.Find out the synonyms of the

word used which have other meanings.2.Find out the numerical value of the letters composing of the

word according to the methods of the ancient Tāntrik works [Tāntrika Shastra -works on Incantation and

Magic ].3.Examine the ancient myths or allegories if there are any which have any special connection

with the word in question.4.Permute the different syllables composing the word and examine the new

combinations that will thus be formed and their meanings.”etc.But he does not give the principal rule.

And no doubt he is quite right.The Tāntrika Shāstras are as old as Magic itself.Have they also borrowed

their Esotericism from the Hebrews?] and moreover a system of permutation of syllables and synonyms

which is carried to perfection in the Indian Occult methods,and which the Hebrew certainly has not.This

one system containing the elements of Geometry and Numeration was used by the Jews for the

purpose of concealing their Esoteric creed under the mask of a popular and national monotheistic

Religion.The last who knew the system to perfection were the learned and “atheistical ”Sadducees,the

greatest enemies of the pretensions of the Pharisees and of their confused notions brought from

Babylon.

Hebrew Esotericism Not Primitive-(Page 177)Yes the Sadducees,the Illusionists who maintained that

the Soul the Angels,and all similar Beings,were illusions because they were temporary -thus showing

themselves at one with Eastern Esotericism.And since they rejected every book and Scripture with the

exception of the Law of Moses,it seems that the latter must have been very different from what it is now.

[Their founder Sadoc,was the pupil through Antigonus Saccho of Simon the Just.They had their own

secret Book of the Law ever since the foundation of their sect (about 400 B.C.)and this volume was

unknown to the masses.At the same time of the Separation the Samaritans recognized only the Book of

the Law of Moses and the Book of Josh a,and their Pentate ch is far older and is different from the

Septuagint.In 168 B.C.Jerusalem had its temple plundered and its Sacred Books -namely the Bible

made up by Ezra and finished by Judas Maccabeus -were lost (see Burder ’s Joseph s vol.ii.pp.

331-335):after which the Massorah completed the work of destruction (even of Ezra ’s once-more

adjusted Bible )begun by the change into square from horned letters.Therefore the later Pentate ch

accepted by the Pharisees was rejected and laughed at by the Sadducees.They are generally called

atheists;yet since those learned men who made no secret of their freethought furnished from among

their number the most eminent of the Jewish high-priests,this seems impossible.How could the

Pharisees and the other two believing and pious sects allow notorious atheists to be selected for such

posts?The answer is difficult to find for bigotry and for believers in a personal anthropomorphic God but

very easy for those who accept facts.The Sadducees were called atheists because they believed as the

initiated Moses believed thus differing very widely from the latter made-up Jewish legislator and hero of

Mount Sinai.]

The whole of the foregoing is written with an eye to our Kabalists.Great scholars as some of them

undoubtedly are they are nevertheless wrong to hang the harps of their faith on the willows of Talmudic

growth -on the Hebrew scrolls,whether in square or pointed characters,now in our public libraries,

museums,or even in the collections of Paleographers.There do not remain half-a-dozen copies from the

true Mosaic Hebrew scrolls in the whole world.And those who are in possession of these -as we

indicated a few pages back -would not part with them or even allow them to be examined on any

consideration whatever.How then can any Kabalist claim priority for Hebrew Esotericism and say as

does one of our correspondents,that “the Hebrew has come down from a far remoter antiquity than any

of them [whether Egyptian or even Sanskrit!] and that it was the source or nearer to the old original

source than any of them ” ?[ The measurements of the Great Pyramid being those of the temple of

Solomon of the Ark of the Covenant etc.according to Piazzi Smythe and the author of the So rce of

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Measures and the Pyramid of Gizeh being shown on astronomical calculations to have been built 4950

B.C.and Moses having written his books -for the sake of argument -not even half that time before our

era how can this be?Surely if any one borrowed from the other it is not the Pharaohs from Moses.Even

philology shows not only the Egyptian but even the Mongolian older than the Hebrew.]

As our correspondent says:“It becomes more convincing to me every day that in a far past time there

was a mighty civilization with (Page 178)enormo s learning,which had a common lang age over the

earth,as to which its essence can be recovered from the fragments which now exist.”

Aye there existed indeed a mighty civilization and a still mightier secret learning and knowledge the

entire scope of which can never be discovered by Geometry and the Kabalah alone:for there are seven

keys to the large entrance-door and not one nor even two keys can ever open it sufficiently to allow

more than glimpses of what lies within.

Every scholar must be aware that there are two distinct styles -two schools,so to speak -plainly

traceable in the Hebrew Scriptures:the Elohistic and the Jehovistic.The portions belonging to these

respectively are so blended together so completely mixed up by later hands,that often all external

characteristics are lost.Yet it is also known that the two schools were antagonistic;that the one taught

esoteric,the other exoteric,or theological doctrines;that the one the Elohists,were Seers (Roch),

whereas the other the Jehovists were prophets (Nabhi)[This alone shows how the Books of Moses

were tampered with.In Sam el (ix.9),it is said:“He that is now a prophet [Nabhi ]was beforetime called a

Seer [Roch ].”Now since before Sam el the word “Roch ”is met nowhere in the Pentate ch but its place

is always taken by that of “Nabhi ” this proves clearly that the Mosaic text has been replaced by that of

the later Levites.(See for fuller details Jewish Antiq ities,by the Rev.D.Jennings.D.D.)] and that the

latter -who later became Rabbis -were generally only nominally prophets by virtue of their official

position as the Pope is called the infallible and inspired vicegerent of God.That again the Elohists

meant by “Elohim ”“forces,”identifying their Deity as in the Secret Doctrine with Nature;while the

Jehovists made of Jehovah a personal God externally and used the term simply as a phallic symbol -a

number of them secretly disbelieving even in metaphysical abstract Nature and synthesizing all on the

terrestrial scale.Finally the Elohists made of man the divine incarnate image of the Elohim emanated

first in all Creation;and the Jehovists show him as the last the crowning glory of the animal creation

instead of his being the head of all the sensible beings on earth.(This is reversed by some Kabalists,but

the reversion is due to the designedly-produced confusion in the texts,especially in the first four chapters

of Genesis .)

Take the Zohar and find in it the description relating to Ain-Suph the Western or Semitic Parabrahman.

What passages have come so nearly up to the Vedantic ideal as the following:

The creation [the evolved Universe ] is the garment of that which has no name the garment

woven from the Deity ’s own substance.[Zohar.i.2a.]

The Concealed of all the Concealed-(Page 179)Between that which is Ain or “nothing ”and the

Heavenly Man there is an Impersonal First Cause however of which it is said:

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Before It gave any shape to this world before It produced any form It was alone without form

or similitude to anything else.Who can comprehend It how It was before the creation since It

was formless?Hence it is forbidden to represent It by any form similitude or even by Its

sacred name by a single letter or a single point.[Zohar 42b .]

The sentence that follows,however is an evident later interpolation;for it draws attention to a complete

contradiction:

And to this the words (De t.iv.15),refer -“Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord

spake unto you.”

But this reference to Chapter iv.of De teronomy,when in Chapter v God is mentioned as speaking “face

to face ”with the people is very clumsy.

Not one of the names given to Jehovah in the Bible has any reference whatever to either Ain-Suph or the

Impersonal First-Cause (which is the Logos)of the Kabalah ;but they all refer to the Emanations.

It says;

For although to reveal itself to us,the concealed of all the concealed sent forth the Ten

Emanations [Sephiroth ]called the Form of God Form of the Heavenly Man yet since even

this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision it had to assume another form or had to put

on another garment which is the Universe .The Universe therefore or the visible world is a

farther expansion of the Divine Substance and is called in the Kabalah “The Garment of God.”

[Zohar i.2a.See Dr.Ch.Ginsburg ’s essay on The Cabbalah,its Doctrines,Developments and

Literat re.]

This is the doctrine of all the Hindu Puranas,especially that of the Vishn P rāna .Vishnu pervades the

Universe and is that Universe;Brahmā enters the Mundane Egg and issues from it as the Universe;

Brahmā even dies with it and there remains only Brahman the impersonal the eternal the unborn and

the unqualifiable.The Ain-Suph of the Chaldeans and later of the Jews is assuredly a copy of the Vaidic

Deity;while the “Heavenly Adam ”the Macrocosm which unites in itself the totality of beings and is the

Esse of the visible Universe finds his original in the Puranic Brahmā.In Sod,“the Secret of the Law ”one

recognizes the expressions used in the oldest fragments of the Gupta Vidyā the Secret Knowledge.And

it is not venturing too much to say that even a Rabbi quite familiar with his own special Rabbinical

Hebrew would only comprehend its secrets thoroughly if he added to (Page 180)his learning a serious

knowledge of the Hindu philosophies.Let us turn to Stanza I.of the Book of Dzyan for an example.

The Zohar premises,as does the Secret Doctrine a universal eternal Essence passive -because

absolute -in all that men call attributes.The pregenetic or pre-cosmical Triad is a pure metaphysical

abstraction.The notion of a triple hypostasis in one Unknown Divine Essence is as old as speech and

thought.Hiranyagarbha Hari and Shankara -the Creator the Preserver and the Destroyer -are the

three manifested attributes of it appearing and disappearing with Kosmos;the visible Triangle so to

speak,on the plane of the ever-invisible Circle.This is the primeval root-thought of thinking Humanity;

the Pythagorean Triangle emanation from the ever-concealed Monad or the Central Point.

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Plato speaks of it and Plotinus calls it an ancient doctrine on which Cudworth remarks that:

Since Orpheus,Pythagoras,and Plato who all of them asserted a Trinity of divine hypostases,

unquestionably derived their doctrine from the Egyptians,it may be reasonably suspected that

the Egyptians did the like before them.[ Cudworth I.iii.quoted by Wilson.Vishn P rana,i.

14 note.]

The Egyptians certainly derived their Trinity from the Indians.Wilson justly observes:

As,however the Grecian accounts and those of the Egyptians are much more perplexed and

unsatisfactory than those of the Hindus,it is most probable that we find amongst them the

doctrine in its most original as well as most methodical and significant form.[Vishn P rana.

I 14 ]

This,then is the meaning:

“Darkness alone filled the Bo ndless All,for Father,Mother and Son were once more One.”[

Stanza i.4.]

Space was and is ever as it is between the Manvantara.The Universe in its pre-kosmic state was once

more homogeneous and one -outside its aspects.This was a Kabalistic,and is now a Christian teaching.

As is constantly shown in the Zohar the Infinite Unity or Ain-Suph is ever placed outside human thought

and appreciation;and in Sepher Jetzirah we see the Spirit of God -the Logos,not the Deity itself -

One is the Spirit of the Living God ..Who liveth forever.Voice Spirit [of the spirit ] and Word:

this is the Holy Spirit [Mishna,i.9 .]

Three-in-one and Four -(Page 181)-and the Quaternary.From this Cube emanates the whole Kosmos.

Says the Secret Doctrine:

“It is called to life.The mystic C be in which rests the Creative Idea,the manifesting Mantra [or articulate

speech -Vāch ] and the holy Pūrusha [both radiations of prima material ] exist in the Eternity in the Divine

S bstance in their latent state.

-during Pralaya.

And in the Sepher Jetzirah,when the Three-in-One are to be called into being -by the manifestation of

Shekinah the first effulgency or radiation in the manifesting Kosmos -the “Spirit of God ” or Number

One [ In its manifested state it becomes Ten the Universe.In the Chaldaean Kabalah it is sexless.In the

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Jewish Shekinah is female and the early Christians and Gnostics regarded the Holy Ghost as a female

potency.In the Book of N mbers “Shekina ”is made to drop the final “h ”that makes it a female potency.

Nārāyana the Mover on the Waters,is also sexless:but it is our firm belief that Shekinah and

Daiviprakriti the “Light of the Logos,”are one and the same thing philosophically.] fructifies and awakens

the dual Potency Number Two Air and Number Three Water;in these “are darkness and emptiness,

slime and dung ”-which is Chaos,the Tohu-Vah-Bohu.The Air and Water emanate Number Four Ether

or Fire the Son.This is the Kabalistic Quaternary.This Fourth Number which in the manifested Kosmos

is the One or the Creative God is with the Hindus the “Ancient ” Sanat the Prajāpati of the Vedas and

the Brahmā of the Brāhmans -the heavenly Androgyne as he becomes the male only after separating

himself into two bodies,Vāch and Virāj.With the Kabalists,he is at first the Jah-Havah only later

becoming Jehovah like Virāj his prototype;after separating himself as Adam-Kadmon into Adam and

Eve in the formless,and into Cain-Abel in the semi-objective world he became finally the Jah-Havah or

man and woman in Enoch the son of Seth.

For the true meaning of the compound name of Jehovah -of which unvoweled you can make almost

anything -is:men and women or humanity composed of its two sexes.From the first chapter to the end

of the fourth chapter of Genesis every name is a permutation of another name and every personage is at

the same time somebody else.A Kabalist traces Jehovah from the Adam of earth to Seth the third son -

or rather race -of Adam.[ The Elohim create the Adam of dust and in him Jehovah-Binah separates

himself into Eve after which the male portion of God becomes the Serpent tempts himself in Eve then

creates himself in her as Cain passes into Seth and scatters from Enoch the Son of Man or Humanity

as Jodheva .] Thus Seth is Jehovah male;and Enos,(Page 182)being a permutation of Cain and Abel is

Jehovah male and female or our mankind.The Hindu Brahmā-Virāj Virāj-Manu and Manu-Vaivasvata

with his daughter and wife Vāch present the greatest analogy with these personages -for anyone who

will take the trouble of studying the subject in both the Bible and the P rānas.It is said of Brahma that he

created himself as Manu and that he was born of and was identical with his original self while he

constituted the female portion Shāta-rupa ”(hundred-formed)In this Hindu Eve “the mother of all living

beings,” Brahmā created Virāj who is himself but on a lower scale as Cain is Jehovah on an inferior

scale:both are the first males of the Third Race.The same idea is illustrated in the Hebrew name of God

(ēē)Read from right to left “Jod ”(")is the father.“He ”(ē)the mother “Vau ”(ź)the son and “He ”(ē),

repeated at the end of the word is generation the act of birth materiality.This is surely a sufficient

reason why the God of the Jews and Christians should be personal as much as the male Brahma

Vishnu or Shiva of the orthodox exoteric Hindu.

Thus the term of Jhvh alone -now accepted as the name of “One living [male ] God ”-will yield if

seriously studied not only the whole mystery of Being (in the Biblical sense )but also that of the Occult

Theogony from the highest divine Being the third in order down to man.As shown by the best

Hebraists:

The verbal or Hāyāh or E-y-e means to be,to exist,while or Chayah or H-

y-e means to live,as motion of existence.[The So rce of Measures.p.5 ]

Hence Eve stands as the evolution and the never-ceasing “becoming ”of Nature.Now if we take the

almost untranslatable Sanskrit word Sat which means the quintessence of absolute immutable Being or

Be-ness -as it has been rendered by an able Hindu Occultist -we shall find no equivalent for it in any

language;but it may be regarded as most closely resembling “Ain ” or “En-Suph ”Boundless Being.Then

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the term Hāyāh “to be ”as passive changeless,yet manifested existence may perhaps be rendered by

the Sanskrit Jivatma universal life or soul in its secondary or cosmic meaning;while “Chāyāh ”“to live ”

as “motion of existence ”is simply Prāna the ever-changing life in its objective sense.It is at the head of

this third category that the Occultist finds Jehovah -the Mother Binah and the Father Arelim.

The Septenary Sephira-(Page 183)This is made plain in the Zohar,when the emanation and evolution of

the Sephiroth are explained:First Ain-Suph then Shekinah the Garment or Veil of Infinite Light then

Sephira or the Kadmon and thus making the fourth the spiritual Substance sent forth from the Infinite

Light.This Sephira is called the Crown Kether and has besides,six other names -in all seven.These

names are:1.Kether;2.the Aged;3.the Primordial Point;4.the White Head;5.the Long Face;6.the

Inscrutable Height;and 7.Ehejeh (“ I am ”.)[ This identifies Sephira the third potency with Jehovah the

Lord who says to Moses out of the burning bush:“(Here)I am.”(Exod s iii.4).At this time the “Lord ”has

not yet become Jehovah.It was not the one male God who spoke but the Elohim manifested or the

Sephiroth in their manifested collectivity of seven contained in the triple Sephira.] This Septenary

Sephira is said to contain in itself the nine Sephiroth.But before showing how she brought them forth let

us read an explanation about the Sephiroth in the Talm d which gives it as an archaic tradition or

Kabalah.

There are three groups (or orders)of Sephiroth:1.The Sephiroth called “divine attributes ”(the Triad in

the Holy Quaternary);2.the sidereal (personal)Sephiroth;3.the metaphysical Sephiroth or a

periphrasis of Jehovah who are the first three Sephiroth (Kether Chokmah and Binah),the rest of the

seven being the personal “Seven Spirits of the Presence ”(also of the planets,therefore).Speaking of

these the angels are meant though not because they are seven but because they represent the seven

Sephiroth which contain in them the universality of the Angels.

This shows (a)that when the first four Sephiroth are separated as a Triad-Quaternary -Sephira being

its synthesis -there remain only seven Sephiroth as there are seven Rishis;these become ten when the

Quaternary or the first divine Cube is scattered into units;and (b)that while Jehovah might have been

viewed as the Deity if he be included in the three divine groups or orders of the Sephiroth the collective

Elohim or the quaternary indivisible Kether once that he becomes a male God he is not more than one

of the Builders of the lower group -a Jewish Brahmā.[ The Brahmans were wise in their generation

when they gradually for no other reason than this,abandoned Brahmā and paid less attention to him

individually than to any other deity.As an abstract synthesis they worshipped him collectively and in

every God each of which represents him.As Brāhma the male he is far lower than Shiva the Lingam

who personates universal generation or Vishnu the preserver -both Shiva and Vishnu being the

regenerators of life after destruction.The Christians might do worse than follow their example and

worship God in Spirit and not in the male Creator.] A demonstration is now attempted.

The first Sephira containing the other nine brought them forth in (Page 184)this order:(2)Hokmah

(Chokmah or Wisdom),a masculine active potency represented among the divine names as Jah;and

as a permutation or an evolution into lower forms in this instance -becoming the Auphanim (or the

Wheels -cosmic rotation of matter)among the army or the angelic hosts.From this Chokmah emanated

a feminine passive potency called (3)Intelligence Binah whose divine name is Jehovah and whose

angelic name among the Builders and Hosts,is Arelim.[ A plural word signifying a collective host

generically:literally the “strong lion.”]It is from the union of these two potencies,male and female (or

Chokmah and Binah)that emanated all the other Sephiroth the seven orders of the Builders.Now if we

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call Jehovah by his divine name then he becomes at best and forthwith “ a female passive ”potency in

Chaos.And if we view him as a male God he is no more than one of many an Angel Arelim.But

straining the analysis to its highest point and if his male name Jah that of Wisdom be allowed to him,

still he is not the “Highest and the one Living God;”for he is contained with many others within Sephira

and Sephira herself is a third Potency in Occultism though regarded as the first in the exoteric Kabalah -

and is one moreover of lesser importance than the Vaidic Aditi or the Primordial Water of Space which

becomes after many a permutation of the Astral Light of the Kabalist.

Thus the Kabalah as we have it now is shown to be of the greatest importance in explaining the

allegories and “dark sayings ”of the Bible .As an Esoteric work upon the mysteries of creation however it

is almost worthless as it is now disfigured unless checked by the Chaldaean Book of N mbers or by the

tenets of the Easter Secret Science or Esoteric Wisdom.The Western nations have neither the original

Kabalah nor yet the Mosaic Bible.

Finally it is demonstrated by internal as well as by external evidence on the testimony of the best

European Hebraists,and the confessions of the learned Jewish Rabbis themselves,that “an ancient

document forms the essential basis of the Bible,which received very considerable insertions and

supplements;” and that “the Pentateuch arose out of the primitive or older document by means of a

supplementary one.”Therefore in the absence of the Book of N mbers,[ The writer possesses only a

few extracts some dozen pages in all verbatim quotations from that priceless work of which but two or

three copies,perhaps,are still extant .] the Kabalists of the West are only entitled to come to definite

conclusions,when they have at hand some data at least from that “ancient document ” -(Page 185)data

now found scattered throughout Egyptian papyri Assyrian tiles,and the traditions preserved by the

descendants of the disciples of the last Nazars.Instead of that most of them accept as their authorities

and infallible guides Fabre d ’Olivet -who was a man of immense erudition and of speculative mind but

neither a Kabalist nor an Occultist either Western or Eastern -and the Mason Ragon the greatest of the

“Widow ’s sons,” who was even less of an Orientalist than d ’Olivet for Sanskrit learning was almost

unknown in the days of both these eminent scholars.

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SECTION XXI

Hebrew Allegories

(Page 186)How can any Kabalist acquainted with the foregoing deduce his conclusions with regard to

the true Esoteric beliefs of the primitive Jews,from only that which he now finds in the Jewish scrolls?

How can any scholar -even though one of the keys to the universal language be now positively

discovered the true key to the numerical reading of a pure geometrical system -give out anything as his

final conclusion?Modern Kabalistic speculation is on a par now with modern “speculative Masonry;” for

as the latter tries vainly to link itself with the ancient -or rather the archaic -Masonry;”of the Temples,

failing to make the link because all its claims have been shown to be inaccurate from an archaeological

standpoint so fares it also with Kabalistic speculation.As no mystery of Nature worth running after can

be revealed to humanity by settling whether Hiram Abif was a living Sidonian Builder or a solar myth so

no fresh information will be added to Occult Lore by the details of the exoteric privileges conferred on the

Collegia Fabrorum by Numa Pompilius.Rather must the symbols used in it be studies in the Aryan light

since all the Symbolism of the ancient Initiations came to the West with the light of the Eastern Sun.

Nevertheless,we find the most learned Masons and Symboligists declaring that all these weird symbols

and glyphs,that run back to a common origin of immense antiquity were nothing more than a display of

cunning natural phallicism or emblems of primitive typology.How much nearer the truth is the author of

The So rce of Measures,who declares that the elements of human and numerical construction in the

Bible do not shut out the spiritual elements in it albeit so few now understand them.The words we quote

are as suggestive as they are true:

How desperately blinding becomes a superstitious use through ignorance of such emblems

when they are made to possess the power of bloodshed and torture through orders of

propaganda of any species of religious cultus.

The Hebrew Bible does not Exist

(Page 187)When one thinks of the horrors of a Moloch,or Baal,or Dagon worship;of the

correlated blood deluges under the Cross baptized in gore by Constantine at the initiative of

he secular Church;...when one thinks of all this and then that the cause of all has been

simply ignorance of the real radical reading of the Moloch and Baal and Dagon,and the

Cross and the Tphillin,all running back to a common origin and after all being nothing more

than a display of pure and natural mathematics,...one is apt to feel like cursing ignorance

and to lose confidence in what are called int itions of religion;one is apt to wish for a return of

the day when all the world was of one lip and of one knowledge ....But while these elements

[of the construction of the pyramid ] are rational and scientific,....let no man consider that

with this discovery comes a cutting off of the spirit ality [ Aye:but that spirit ality can never be

discovered far less proved unless we turn to the Aryan Scriptures and Symbology.For the

Jews it was lost save for the Sadducees,from the day that the “chosen people ”reached the

Promised Land the national Karma preventing Moses from reaching it .] of the Bible intention

or of man ’s relation to this spiritual foundation.Does one wish to build a house?No house was

ever actually built with tangible material ntil first the architect ral design of b ilding had been

accomplished no matter whether the structure was palace or hovel.So with these elements

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and numbers.They are not of man nor are they of his invention.They have been revealed to

him to the extent of his ability to realize a system which is the creative system of the eternal

God....But spirit ally,to man the value of this matter is that he can actually in contemplation

bridge over all material construction of the cosmos,and pass into the very tho ght and mind of

God to the extent of recognizing this system of design for cosmic creation -yea even before

the words went forth:“Let there be.” [ Op.cit.,pp.317-319 ]

But true as above words may be when coming from one who has rediscovered more completely than

anyone else has done during the past centuries,one of the keys to the universal Mystery Language it is

impossible for an Eastern Occultist to agree with the conclusion of the able author of The So rce of

Measures .He “has set out to find the truth ”and yet he still believes that:

The best and most authentic vehicle of communication from [the creative ]God to man ...is to

be found in the Hebrew Bible.

To this we must and shall demur giving our reasons for it in a few words.The “Hebrew Bible ”exists no

more as has been shown in the foregoing pages,and the garbled accounts the falsified and pale copies

we have of the real Mosaic Bible of the Initiates,warrant the making of no such sweeping assertion and

claim.All that the scholar can fairly claim is that the Jewish Bible,as now extant -in its latest and final

interpretation and according to the newly-discovered key -may give (Page 188)a partial presentment of

the truths it contained before it was mangled.But how can he tell what the Pentate ch contained before it

has been recomposed by Esdras;then corrupted still more by the ambitious Rabbis in later times,and

otherwise remodelled and interfered with?Leaving aside the opinion of the declared enemies of the

Jewish Scripture one may quote simply what their most devoted followers say.

Two of these are Horne and Prideaux.The avowels of the former will be sufficient to show how much

now remains of the original Mosaic books,unless indeed we accept his sublimely blind faith in the

inspiration and editorship of the Holy Ghost.He writes that when a Hebrew scribe found a writing of any

author he was entitled if he thought fit being “conscious of the aid of the Holy Spirit ”to do exactly as he

pleased with it -to cut it up or copy it or use as much of it as he deemed right and so to incorporate it

with his own manuscript.Dr.Kenealy aptly remarks of Horne that it is almost impossible to get any

admission from him.

That makes against his church so remarkably guarded is he [Horne ] in his phraseology and

so wonderfully discreet in the use of words that his language like a diplomatic letter

perpetually suggests to the mind ideas other than those which he really means;I defy any

unlearned person to read his chapter on “Hebrew characters ”and to derive any knowledge

from it whatever on the subject on which he professes to treat.[ The Book of God.pp.388

389 ]

And yet this same Horne writes:

We are persuaded that the things to which reference is made proceeded from the original writers or

compilers of the books [Old Testament ].Sometimes they took other writings,annals,genealogies,and

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such like with which they incorporated additional matter,or which they put together with greater or less

condensation.The Old Testament authors used the sources they employed (that is,the writing of other

people)with freedom and independence.Conscious of the aid of the Divine Spirit they adapted their own

productions,or the productions of others,to the wants of the times.But in these respects they cannot be

said to have corrupted the text of Scriptures.They made the text.

But of what did they make it?Why of the writings of other persons,justly observes Kenealy:

And this is Horne ’s notion of what the Old Testament is -a cento from the writings of unknown persons

collected and put together by those who he says,were divinely inspired.No infidel that I know of has

ever made so damaging a charge as this against the authenticity of the Old Testament.[ See Horne ’s

Introd ction (10th edition),vol.ii.p.33.as quoted by Dr.Kenealy.p.389.]

Some Hebrews Were Initiates-(Page 189)This is quite sufficient we think,to show that no key to the

universal language-system can ever open the mysteries of Creation in a work in which whether through

design or carelessness,nearly every sentence has been made to apply to the latest outcome of religious

views -to Phallicism,and to nothing else.There are a sufficient number of stray bits in the Elohistic

portions of the Bible to warrant the inference that the Hebrews who wrote it were Initiates;hence the

mathematical coordinations and the perfect harmony between the measures of the Great Pyramid and

the numerals of the Biblical glyphs.But surely if one borrowed from the other it cannot be the architects

of the Pyramid who borrowed from Solomon ’s Temple if only because the former exists to this day as a

stupendous living monument of Esoteric records,while the famous temple has never existed outside of

the far later Hebrew scrolls.[The author says that Parker ’s q adrat re is “that identical measure which

was used anciently as the perfect measure by the Egyptians,in the construction of the Great Pyramid

which was built to mon ment it and its ses.”and that “from it the sacred cubit-val e was derived,which

was the cubit-value used in the construction of the Temple of Solomon the Ark of Noah and the Ark of

the Covenant ” (p.22).This is a grand discovery no doubt but it only shows that the Jews profited well by

their captivity in Egypt and that Moses was a great Initiate.] Hence there is a great distance between the

admission that some Hebrew Bible must be the best standard as being the highest representative of the

archaic Esoteric System.

Nowhere does the Bible say moreover that the Hebrew is the language of God;of this boast at any

rate the authors are not guilty.Perhaps because in the days when the Bible was last edited the claim

would have been too preposterous -hence dangerous.The compilers of the Old Testament,as it exists

in the Hebrew canon knew well that the language of the Initiates in the days of Moses was identical with

that of the Egyptian Hierophants;and that none of the dialects that had sprung from the old Syriac and

the pure old Arabic of Yarab -the father and progenitor of the primitive Arabians,long before the time of

Abraham in whose days the ancient Arabic had already become vitiated -that none of those languages

was the one sacerdotal universal tongue.Nevertheless all of them included a number of words which

could be traced to common roots.And to do this is the business of modern Philology though to this day

with all the respect due to the labours of the eminent Philologists of Oxford and Berlin that Science

seems to be hopelessly floundering in the Cimmerian darkness of mere hypothesis.

(Page 190)Ahrens,when speaking of the letters as arranged in the Hebrew sacred scrolls,and remaking

that they were musical notes,had probably never studied Aryan Hindu music.In the Sanskrit language

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letters are continually arranged in the sacred Ollas so that they may become musical notes.For the

whole Sanskrit alphabet and the Vedas from the first word to the last are musical notations reduced to

writing;the two are inseparable.[ See Theosophist .1879.art.“Hindu Music,”p.47.] As Homer

distinguished between the “language of Gods ”and the “language of men.”[ The Sanskrit letters are far

more numerous than the poor twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.They are all musical and they

are read -or rather chanted -according to a system given in very old Tāntrika works,and are called

Devanāgari the speech or language of the Gods.And since each letter answers to a numeral the

Sanskrit affords a far larger scope for expression and it must necessarily be far more perfect than the

Hebrew which followed the same system but could apply it only in a very limited way.If either of these

two languages were taught to humanity by the Gods,surely it would more likely be the Sanskrit the

perfect form of the most perfect language on earth than the Hebrew the roughest and the poorest.For

once anyone believes in a language of divine origin he can hardly believe at the same time that Angels

or Gods or any divine Messengers have had to develop it from a rough monosyllable form into a perfect

one as we see in terrestrial linguistic evolution.] so did the Hindus.The Devanagari the Sanskrit

characters,are the “speech of the Gods,”and Sanskrit is the divine language.

It is argued in defence of the present version of the Mosaic Books that the mode of language adopted

was an “accommodation ”to the ignorance of the Jewish people.But the said “mode of language ”drags

down the “sacred text ”of Esdras and his colleagues to the level of the most unspiritual and gross phallic

religions.This plea confirms the suspicions entertained by some Christian Mystics and many

philosophical critics,that;

(a)Divine Power as an Absolute Unity had never anything more to do with the Biblical Jehovah and the

“Lord God ”than with any other Sephiroth or number.The Ain-Suph of the Kabalah of Moses is as

independent of any relation with the created Gods as is Parabrahman Itself.

(b)The teachings veiled in the Old Testament under allegorical expressions are all copied from the

Magical Texts of Babylonia by Esdras and others,while the earlier Mosaic Text had its source in Egypt.

A few instances known to almost all Symbologists of note and especially to the French Egyptologists

may help to prove the statement.Furthermore no ancient Hebrew Philosopher Philo no more than the

Sadducees,claimed as do now the ignorant Christians,that the events in the Bible should be taken

literally.Philo says most explicitly:

The verbal statements are fabulous [in the Book of Law ]:it is in the allegory that we shall find

the truth.

The Seven Creative Gods-(Page 191)Let us give a few instances,beginning with the latest narrative the

Hebrew and thus if possible trace the allegories to their origin.

1.Whence the Creation in six days the seventh day as day of rest the seven Elohim [In the first

chapter of Genesis the word “God ”represents the Elohim -Gods in the plural not one God.This is a

cunning and dishonest translation.For the whole Kabalah explains sufficiently that the Alhim (Elohim)are

seven:each creates one of the seven things enumerated in the first chapter and these answer

allegorically to the seven creations.To make this clear count the verses in which it is said “And God saw

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that it was good ” and you will find that this is said seven times -in verses 4 10 12 18 21 25 and 31.

And though the compilers cunningly represent the creation of man as occurring on the sixth day yet

having made man “male and female in the image of God ”the Seven Elohim repeat the sacramental

sentence.“It was good “for the seventh time thus making of man the seventh creation and showing the

origin of this bit of cosmogony to be in the Hindu creations.The Elohim are of course the seven

Egyptian Khnūmū the “assistant-architects ” :the seven Amshaspends of the Zoroastrians:the Seven

Spirits subordinate to Ildabaoth of the Nazareans;the seven Prajāpati of the Hindus,etc.] and the

division of space into heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis ?

The division of the vault above from the Abyss,or Chaos,below is one of the first acts of creation or

rather of evolution in every cosmogony.Hermes in Pymander speaks of a heaven seen in seven circles

with seven Gods in them.We examine the Assyrian tiles and find the same on them -the seven creative

Gods busy each in his own sphere.The cuneiform legends narrate how Bel prepared the seven

mansions of the Gods;how heaven was separated from the earth.In the Brahmanical allegory everything

is septenary from the seven zones,or envelopes,of the Mundane Egg down to the seven continents,

islands,seas,etc.The six days of the week and the seventh the Sabbath are based primarily on the

seven creations of the Hindu Brahma the seventh being that of man;and secondarily on the number of

generation.It is pre-eminently and most conspicuously phallic.In the Babylonian system the seventh day

or period was that in which man and the animals were created.

2.The Elohim make a woman out of Adam ’s rib.[Gen.ii.21 22.] This process is found in the Magical

Texts translated by G.Smith.

The seven Spirits bring forth the woman from the loins of the man

explains Mr.Sayce in his Hibbert Lect res.[ Op.cit.p.395 note.]

(Page 192)The mystery of the woman who was made from the man is repeated in every national religion

and in Scriptures far antedating the Jewish.You find it in the Avestan fragments,in the Egyptian Book of

the Dead and finally in Brahmā the male separating from himself as a female self Vāch in whom he

creates Virāj.

3.The two Adams of the first and second chapters in Genesis originated from garbled exoteric accounts

coming from the Chaldaeans and the Egyptian Gnostics,revised later from the Persian traditions,most of

which are old Aryan allegories.As Adam Kadmon is the seventh creation [ The seventh esoterically

exoterically the sixth.] so the Adam of dust is the eighth;and in the Purānas one finds an eighth the

Anugraha creation and the Egyptian Gnostics had it.Irenaeus,complaining of the heretics says of the

Gnostics:

Sometimes they will have him [man ] to have been made on the sixth day and sometimes on

the eighth.[ Contra Hereses.1.xviii.2.]

The author of The Hebrew and Other Creations writes:

These two creations of man on the sixth day and on the eighth were those of the Adamic,or

fleshly man and of the spiritual man who were known to Paul and the Gnostics as the first

and second Adam the man of earth and the man of Heaven.Irenaeus also says they insisted

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that Moses began with the Ogdoad of the Seven Powers and their mother Sophia (the old

Kefa of Egypt who is the Living Word at Ombos).Op.cit,by Gerald Massey.p.19 ]

Sophia is also Aditi with her seven sons.

One might go on enumerating and tracing the Jewish “revelations ”ad infinit m to their original sources,

were it not that the task is superfluous,since so much is already done in that direction by others -and

done thoroughly well as in the case of Gerald Massey who has sifted the subject to the very bottom.

Hundreds of volumes,treatises,and pamphlets are being written yearly in defence of the “divine-

inspiration ”claim for the Bible ;but symbolical and archaeological research is coming to the rescue of

truth and fact -therefore of the Esoteric Doctrine -upsetting every argument based on faith and breaking

it as an idol with feet of clay.A curious and learned book,The Approaching End of the Age,by H.Gratton

Guinness,professes to solve the mysteries of the Bible chronology and to prove thereby God ’s direct

revelation to man.Among other things its author thinks that:

It is impossible to deny that a septiform chronology was divinely appointed in the elaborate

ritual of Judaism.

Seven Keys to all Allegories-(Page 193)This statement is innocently accepted and firmly believed in by

thousands and tens of thousands,only because they are ignorant of the Bibles of other nations.Two

pages from a small pamphlet a lecture by Mr.Gerald Massey [Op cit.,p.278 ]so upset the arguments

and proofs of the enthusiastic Mr.Grattan Guinness,spread over 760 pages of small print as to prevent

them from ever raising their heads any more.Mr.Massey treats of the Fall and says:

Here as before the genesis does not begin at the beginning.There was an earlier Fall than

that of the Primal Pair.In this the number of those who failed and fell was seven.We meet

with those seven in Egypt -eight with the mother -where they are called the “Children of

Inertness,”who were cast out from Am-Smen the Paradise of the Eight;also in a Babylonian

legend of Creation as the Seven Brethren who were Seven Kings,like the Seven Kings in the

Book of Revelation ;and the Seven Non-Sentient Powers who became the Seven Rebel

Angels that made war in heaven.The Seven Kronidae described as the Seven Watchers,who

in the beginning were formed in the interior of heaven.The heaven like a vault they extended

or hollowed out;that which was not visible they raised and that which had no exit they

opened;their work of creation being exactly identical with that of the Elohim in the Book of

Genesis.These are the Seven elemental Powers of space who were continued as Seven

Timekeepers.It is said of them:“In watching was their office but among the stars of heaven

their watch they kept not ”and their failure was the Fall.In the Book of Enoch the same Seven

Watchers in heaven are stars which transgressed the commandment of God before their time

arrived for they came not in their proper season therefore was he offended with them and

bound them until the period of the consummation of their crimes,at the end of the secret or

great year of the World i.e.,the Period of Precession when there was to be restoration and

rebeginning.The Seven deposed constellations are seen by Enoch looking like seven great

blazing mountains overthrown -the seven mountains in Revelation,on which the Scarlet Lady

sits.[ The Hebrew and other Creations;with a reply to Prof.A.H.Sayce,p.19.]

There are seven keys to this,as to every other allegory whether in the Bible or in pagan religions.While

Mr.Massey has hit upon the key in the mysteries of cosmogony John Bentley in his Hind Astronomy

claims that the Fall of the Angels,or War in Heaven as given by the Hindus,is but a figure of the

calculations of time-periods,and goes on to show that among the Western nations the same war with

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like results took the form of the war of the Titans.

In short he makes it astronomical.So does the author of The So rce of Measures:

(Page 194)The celestial sphere with the earth was divided into twelve compartments

[astronomically ] and these compartments were esteemed as sexed the lords or h sbands

being respectively the planets presiding over them.This being the settled scheme want of

proper correction would bring it to pass,after a time that error and confusion would ensue by

the compartments coming under the lordship of the wrong planets.Instead of lawful wedlock,

there would be illegal intercourse as between the planets “sons of Elohim.” and these

compartments,“daughters of H-Adam ”or the earth-man:and in fact the fourth verse of sixth

Genesis will bear this interpretation for the usual one viz.,“In the same days,or periods,there

were untimely births in the earth;and also behind that when the sons of Elohim came to the

daughters of H-Adam,they begat to them the offspring of harlotry ” etc.astronomically

indicating this confusion.[ Op.cit.,p.243 .]

Do any of these learned explanations explain anything except a possible ingenious allegory and a

personification of the celestial bodies,by the ancient Mythologists and Priests?Carried to their last word

they would undeniably explain much and would thus furnish one of the right seven keys fitting a great

many of the Biblical puzzles yet opening none naturally and entirely instead of being scientific and

cunning master-keys.But they prove one thing -that neither the septiform chronology nor the septiform

theogony and evolution of all things is of divine origin in the Bible .For let us see the sources at which the

Bible sipped its divine inspiration with regard to the sacred number seven.Says Mr.Massey in the same

lecture:

The Book of Genesis tells us nothing about the nature of these Elohim erroneously rendered

“God ”who are creators of the Hebrew beginning and who are themselves preextant and

seated when the theatre opens and the curtain ascends.It says that in the beginning the

Elohim created the heaven and the earth.In thousands of books the Elohim have been

discussed but ...with no conclusive result ...The Elohim are Seven in number whether as

nature-powers,gods of constellations,or planetary gods,...as the Pitris and Patriarchs,

Manus and Fathers of earlier times.The Gnostics,however and the Jewish Kabalah preserve

an account of the Elohim of Genesis by which we are able to identify them with other forms of

the seven primordial powers ...Their names are Ildabaoth Jehovah (or Jao),Sabaoth

Adonai Eloeus,Orfus,and astanphaeus.Ildabaoth signifies the Lord God of the fathers,that

is the fathers who preceded the Father;and thus the seven are identical with the seven Pitris

or Fathers of India (Irenaeus,B.L.xxx.5).Moreover the Hebrew Elohim were preextant by

name and nature as Phoenician divinities or powers.Sanchoniathon mentions them by name

and describes them as Auxiliaris of Kronos or Time.In this phase then the Elohim are

timekeepers in heaven!In the Phoenician mythology the Elohim are the Seven sons of Sydik

[Melchizedek ] identical with the Seven Kabiri who in Egypt are the Seven sons of Ptah and

the Seven Spirits of Ra in The Book of the Dead;...in America with the seven Hohgates,...

in Assyria with the seven Lumazi ...

Gerald Massey on the Seven Creators-(Page 195)They are always seven in number ...who Kab -that

is,turn round together whence the “Kab-iri.” ...They are also the Ili or Gods,in Assyrian who were

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seven in number!...They were first born of the Mother in Space [ When they are the Anupādakas

(Parentless)of the Secret Doctrine.See Stanzas,i.9 Vol.i.56.] and then the Seven Companions passed

into the sphere of time as auxiliaries of Kronus,or Sons of the Male Parent.As Damascius says in his

Primitive Principles,the Magi consider that space and time were the source of all;and from being powers

of the air the gods were promoted to become timekeepers for men.Seven constellations were assigned

to them ....As the seven turned round in the ark of the sphere they were designated the Seven Sailors ’

Companions,Rishis,or Elohim.The first “Seven Stars ”are not planetary.They are the leading stars of

seven constellations which turned round with the Great Bear in describing the circle of the year.[These

originated with the Aryans,who placed therein their “bright-crested ”(Chitra-Shikhandan)Seven Rishis.

But all this is far more Occult than appears on the surface.] These the Assyrians called the seven

Lumazi or leaders of the flocks of stars,designated sheep.On the Hebrew line of descent or

development these Elohim are identified for us by the Kabalists and Gnostics,who retained the hidden

wisdom or gnosis,the clue of which is absolutely essential to any proper understanding of mythology or

theology....There were two constellations with seven stars each.We call them the Two Bears.But the

seven stars of the Lesser Bear were once considered to be the seven heads of the Polar Dragon which

we meet with -as the beast with seven heads -in the Akkadian Hymns and in Revelation.The mythical

dragon originated in the crocodile which is the dragon of Egypt....Now in one particular cult the Sut-

Typhonian the first god was Sevekh [the sevenfold ] who wears the crocodile ’s head as well as the

Serpent and who is the Dragon or whose constellation was the Dragon....In Egypt the Great Bear was

the constellation of Typhon or Kepha,the old genetrix,called the Mother of Revolutions;and the Dragon

with seven heads was assigned to her son Sevekh-Kronus,or Saturn called the Dragon of Life.That is,

the typical dragon or serpent with seven heads was female at first and then the type was continued as

male in her son Sevekh the Sevenfold Serpent in Ea the Sevenfold ....Iao Chnubis,and others.We

find these two in The Book of Revelation.One is the Scarlet Lady the mother of mystery the great harlot

who sat on a scarlet-coloured beast with seven heads,which is the Red Dragon of the Pole.She held in

her hand the unclean things of her fornication.That means the emblems of the male and female imaged

by the Egyptians at the Polar Centre the very uterus of creation as was indicated by the Thigh

constellation called the Khepsh of Typhon the old Dragon in the northern birthplace of Time in heaven.

The two revolved about the pole of heaven or the Tree as it was called which was figured at the centre

of the starry motion.In The Book of Enoch these two constellations are identified as Leviathan and

Behemoth-Bekhmut or the Dragon and Hippopotamus=Great Bear and they are the primal pair that

were first created in the Garden of Eden.So that the Egyptian first (Page 196)mother Kefa [or Kepha ]

whose name signifies “mystery ” was the original of the Hebrew Chavah our Eve;and therefore Adam is

one with Sevekh the sevenfold one the solar dragon in whom the powers of light and darkness were

combined and the sevenfold nature was shown in the seven rays worn by the Gnostic Iao-Chnubis,god

of the number seven who is Sevekh by name and a form of the first father as head of the Seven.[

Op.cit.,pp.19-22 ]

All this gives the key to the astronomical prototype of the allegory in Genesis but it furnishes no other

key to the mystery involved in the sevenfold glyph.The able Egyptologist shows also that Adam himself

according to Rabbinical and Gnostic tradition was the chief of the Seven who fell from Heaven and he

connects these with the Patriarchs,thus agreeing with the Esoteric Teaching.For by mystic permutation

and the mystery of primeval rebirths and adjustment the Seven Rishis are in reality identical with the

seven Prajāpatis,the fathers and creators of mankind and also with the Kumāras,the first sons of

Brahmā who refused to procreate and multiply.This apparent contradiction is explained by the sevenfold

nature -make it fourfold on metaphysical principles and it will come to the same thing -of the celestial

men the Dhyan Chohans.This nature is made to divide and separate;and while the higher principles

(Atma-Buddhi)of the “Creators of Men ”are said to be the Spirits of the seven constellations,their middle

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and lower principles are connected with the earth and are shown.

Without desire or passion inspired with holy wisdom estranged from the Universe and

undesirous of progeny [Vishn P rana,Wilson ’s Translation I 101.The period of these

Kumaras is Pre-Adamic.i.e.before the separation of the sexes,and before humanity had

received the creative or sacred fire of Prometheus.]

remaining Kaumāric (virgin and undefiled):therefore it is said they refuse to create.For this they are

cursed and sentenced to be born and reborn “Adams,” as the Semites would say.

Meanwhile let me quote a few lines more from Mr.G.Massey ’s lecture the fruit of his long researches in

Egyptology and other ancient lore as it shows that the septenary division was at one time a universal

doctrine:

Adam as the father among the Seven is identical with the Egyptians Atum ...whose other

name of Adon is identical with the Hebrew Adonai.In this way the second Creation in Genesis

reflects and continues the later creation in the mythos which explains it.The Fall of Adam to

the lower world led to his being humanised on earth by which process the celestial was turned

into the mortal and this,which belongs to the astronomical allegory got literalised as the Fall

of Man or descent of the soul into matter and the conversion of the angelic into an earthly

being ....

The Father and Mother-

(Page 197)It is found in the [Babylonian ] texts,when Ea the first father is said to “grant

forgiveness to the conspiring gods,”for whose “redemption did he create mankind.”(Sayce;

Hib.Lec.,p.140)...The Elohim,then are the Egyptian Akkadian Hebrew and Phoenician

form of the universal Seven Powers who are Seven in Egypt Seven in Akkad Babylon

Persia India Britain and Seven among the Gnostics and Kabalists.They were the Seven

fathers who preceded the Father in Heaven because they were earlier than the individualised

fatherhood on earth ...

When the Elohim said:“Let us make man in our image after our likeness.”there were seven

of them who represented the seven elements,powers,or souls that went to the making of the

human being who came into existence before the Creator was represented

anthropomorphically or could have conferred the human likeness on the Adamic man.It was

in the sevenfold image of the Elohim that was first created with his seven elements,

principles,or souls,[The Secret Doctrine says that this was the second creation nor the first

and that it took place during the Third Race when men separated i.e.,began to be born as

distinct men and women.See Vol.ii.of this work,Stanzas and Commentaries.] and therefore

he could not have been formed in the image of the one God.The seven Gnostic Elohim tried

to make a man in their own image but could not for lack of virile power.[This is a Western

mangling of the Indian doctrine of the Kumaras.] Thus their creation in earth and heaven was

a failure ...because they themselves were lacking in the soul of the fatherhood!When the

Gnostic Ildabaoth [He was regarded by several Gnostic sects as one with Jehovah.See Isis

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Unveiled vol ii.p.184.] chief of the Seven cried:“ I am the father and God ” his mother Sophia

[Achamoth ] replied:“Do not tell lies,Ildabaoth for the first man (Anthropos,son of Anthropos [

Or “man son of man.”The Church found in this a prophecy and a confession of Christ the

“Son of Man!”] )is above thee.”That is,man who had now been created in the image of the

fatherhood was superior to the gods who were derived from the Mother-Parent alone![ See

Stanza ii.Secret Doctrine.ii.16.] For as it had been first on earth so was it afterwards in

heaven [the Secret Doctrine reaches the reverse ];and thus the primary gods were held to be

soulless like the earliest races of men ....The Gnostics taught that the Spirits of Wickedness,

the inferior Seven derived their origin from the great Mother alone who produced without the

fatherhood!It was in the image then of the sevenfold Elohim that the seven races were

formed which we sometimes hear of as the Pre-Adamite races of men because they were

earlier than the fatherhood which was individualised only in the second Hebrew Creation.[

See Stanza ii.5 Secret Doctrine.ii.16 ]

This shows sufficiently how the echo of the Secret Doctrine -of the Third and Fourth Races of men

made complete by the incarnation in humanity of the Manasa Putra Sons of Intelligence or Wisdom -

reached every corner of the globe.The Jews,however although they borrowed of the older nations the

groundwork on which to build their (Page 198)revelation never had more than three keys out of the seven

in their mind while composing their national allegories -the astronomical or numerical (metrology)and

above all the purely anthropological or rather physiological key.This resulted in the most phallic religion

of all and has now passed part and parcel into Christian theology as is proved by the lengthy

quotations made from a lecture of an able Egyptologist who can make naught of it save astronomical

myths and phallicism as is implied by his explanations of “fatherhood ”in the allegories.

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SECTION XXII

The “Zohar ”on Creation and the Elohim

(Page 199)THE opening sentence in Genesis,as every Hebrew scholar knows,is:

Now there are two well-known ways of rendering this line as any other Hebrew writing:one exoteric,as

read by the orthodox Bible interpreters (Christian),and the other Kabalistic,the latter moreover being

divided into the Rabbinical and the purely Kabalistic or Occult method.As in Sanskrit writing the words

are not separated in the Hebrew but are made to run together -especially in the old systems.For

instance the above divided would read:“B ’rashith bara Elohim eth hashamayim v ’eth h ’areths;” and it

can be made to read thus:“B ’rash ithbara Elohim ethhashamayim v ’eth ’arets,” thus changing the

meaning entirely.The latter means,“In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth ” whereas the

former precluding the idea of any beginning would simply read that “out of the ever-existing Essence

[divine ] [or out of the womb -also head -thereof ] the dual [or androgyne ] Force [Gods ] shaped the

double heaven;” the upper and the lower heaven being generally explained as heaven and earth.The

latter word means Esoterically the “Vehicle ” as it gives the idea of an empty globe within which the

manifestation of the world takes place.Now according to the rules of Occult symbolical reading as

established in the old Sepher Jetzirah (in the Chaldaean Book of N mbers )[ The Sepher Jetzirah now

known is but a portion of the original one incorporated in the Chaldean Book of N mbers .The fragment

now in possession of the Western Kabalists is one greatly tampered with by the Rabbis of the Middle

Ages,as its masoretic points show.The “Masorah ” scheme is a modern blind dating after our era and

perfected in Tiberias.(See Isis Unveiled.vol.ii.pp.430-431.)] the initial fourteen letters (or “B ’rasitb ’

raalaim ” )are in themselves quite sufficient to explain the theory of “creation ” without any further

explanation (Page 200)or qualification.Every letter of them is a sentence;and placed side by side with

the hieroglyphic or pictorial initial version of “creation ” in the Book of Dzyan the origin of the Phoenician

and Jewish letters would soon be found out.A whole volume of explanations would give no more to the

student of primitive Occult Symbology than this:the head of a bull within a circle a straight horizontal

line a circle or sphere then another one with three dots in it a triangle then the Svastika (or Jaina

cross);after these come an equilateral triangle within a circle seven small bulls ’ heads standing in three

rows,one over the other;a black round dot (an opening),and then seven lines,meaning Chaos or Water

(feminine).

Anyone acquainted with the symbolical and numerical value of the Hebrew letters will see at a glance

that this glyph and the letters of “B ’rasitb ’ raalaim ” are identical in meaning.“Beth ” is “abode ” or “region;”

“Resh ” a “circle ” of “head;” “Aleph ” “bull ” (the symbol of generative or creative power);[ In the oldest

symbolism -that used in the Egyptian hieroglyphics -when the bull ’s head only is found it means the

Deity the Perfect Circle with the procreative power latent in it.When the whole bull is represented a

solar God a personal deity is meant for it is then the symbol of the acting generative power.] “Shin ” a

“tooth ”(300 exoterically -a trident or three in one in its Occult meaning);“Jodh ”the perfect unity or “one ”

;[ It took three Root-Races to degrade the symbol of the One Abstract Unity manifested in Nature as a

Ray emanating from infinity (the Circle)into a phallic symbol of generation as it was even in the

Kabalah.This degradation began with the Fourth Race and had its raison d ’etre in Polytheism as the

latter was invented to screen the One Universal Deity from profanation.The Christians may plead

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ignorance of its meaning as an excuse for its acceptance.But why sing never-ceasing laudations to the

Mosaic Jews who repudiated all the other Gods,preserved the most phallic,and then most impudently

proclaimed themselves Monotheists?Jesus ever steadily ignored Jehovah.He went against the Mosaic

commandments.He recognized his Heavenly Father alone and prohibited public worship.] “Tau ” the

“root ” or “foundation ” (the same as the cross with the Egyptians and Aryans):again “Beth ” “Resh ” and

“Aleph.” Then “Aleph ” or seven bulls for the seven Alaim:an ox-goad “Lamedh ” active procreation;

“He ” the “opening ” or “matrix:” “Yodh ” the organ of procreation;and “Mem ” “water ” or “chaos,” the

female Power near the male that precedes it.

The most satisfactory and scientific exoteric rendering of the opening sentence of Genesis -on which

was hung in blind faith the whole Christian religion synthesized by its fundamental dogmas -is

undeniably the one given in the Appendix to The So rce of Measures by Mr.Ralston Skinner.He gives,

and we must admit in the ablest clearest and most scientific way the numerical reading of this first

sentence and chapter in Genesis.

Angels as Builders-(Page 201)By the means of number 31 or the word “El ” (1 for Aleph ” and 30 for

“Lamedh ”),and other numerical Bible symbols,compared with the measures used in the great pyramid of

Egypt he shows the perfect identity between its measurements -inches,cubits,and plan -and the

numerical values of the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve and the Patriarchs.In short the author shows

that the pyramid contains in itself architecturally the whole of Genesis and discloses the astronomical

and even the physiological secrets in its symbols and glyphs;yet he will not admit it would seem the

psycho-cosmical and spiritual mysteries involved in these.Nor does the author apparently see that the

root of all this has to be sought in the archaic legends and the Pantheon of India.[ Is it everything to have

found out that the celestial circle of 360 degrees is determined by “the full word-form of Elohim ” and that

this yields,when the word is placed in a circle “3'1415 or the relation of circumference to a diameter of

one .” This is only its astronomical or mathematical aspect.To know the full septenary significance of the

“Primordial Circle ” the pyramid and the Kabalistic Bible must be read in the light of the figure on which

the temples of India are built.The mathematical squaring of the circle is only the terrestrial résumé of the

problem.The Jews were content with the six days of activity and the seventh of rest.The progenitors of

mankind solved the greatest problem of the Universe with their seven Rays or Rishis.] Failing this,

whither does his great and admirable labour lead him?Not further than to find out that Adam the earth

and Moses of Jehovah “are the same ” -or to the a-b-c of comparative Occult Symbology -and that the

days in Genesis being “circles ” “displayed by the Hebrews as squares,” the result of the sixth-day ’s

labour culminates in the fructifying principle.Thus the Bible is made to yield Phallicism,and that alone.

Nor -read in this light and as its Hebrew texts are interpreted by Western scholars -can it ever yield

anything higher or more sublime than such phallic elements,the root and the corner-stone of its dead-

letter meaning.Anthropomorphism and Revelation dig the impassable chasm between the material world

and the ultimate spiritual truths.That creation is not thus described in the Esoteric Doctrine is easily

shown.The Roman Catholics give a reading far more approaching the true Esoteric meaning than that of

the Protestant.For several of their saints and doctors admit that the formation of heaven and earth of the

celestial bodies,etc.belongs to the work of the “Seven Angels of the Presence.” St.Denys calls the

“Builders ” “the coöperators of God ” and St.Augustine goes even farther and credits the Angels with the

possession of the divine thought the prototype as he says,of everything created.[ Genesis begins with

the third stage of “creation ” skipping the preliminary two.] And finally St.Thomas Aquinas has a long

(Page 202)dissertation upon this topic,calling God the primary and the Angels the secondary cause of all

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visible effects.In this,with some dogmatic differences of form the “Angelic Doctor ” approaches very

nearly the Gnostic ideas.Basilides speaks of the lowest order of Angels as the Builders of our material

world and Saturnilus held as did the Sabaeans,that the Seven Angels who preside over the planets are

the real creators of the world;the Kabalist-monk,Trithemius,in his De Secundis Deis,taught the same.

The eternal Kosmos the Macrocosm is divided in the Secret Doctrine,like man the Microcosm into

three Principles and four Vehicles,[ The three root-principles are exoterically:Man Soul and Spirit

(meaning by “man ” the intelligent personality)and esoterically:Life Soul and Spirit:the four vehicles

are Body Astral double Animal (or human)Soul and Divine Soul (Sthula-Sharira Linga-Sharira Kāma-

rūpa and Buddhi the vehicle of Atma or Spirit).Or to make it still clearer:(1)the seventh Principle has

for its vehicle the Sixth (Buddhi):(2)the vehicle of Manas is Kāma-rūpa;(3)that of Jiva or Prana (life)is

the Linga-Sharira (the “double ” of man:the Linga-Sharira proper can never leave the body till death;that

which appears is an astral body reflecting the physical body and serving as a vehicle for the human soul

or intelligence);and (4)the Body the physical vehicle of all the above collectively.The Occultist

recognizes the same order as existing for the cosmical totality the psycho-cosmical Universe.] which in

their collectivity are the seven Principles.In the Chaldaean of Jewish Kabalah,the Kosmos is divided into

seven worlds:the Original the Intelligible the Celestial the Elementary the Lesser (Astral),the Infernal

(Kāma-loka or Hades),and the Temporal (of man).In the Chaldaean system it is in the Intelligible World

the second that appear the “Seven Angels of the Presence ” or the Sephiroth (the three higher ones

being in fact one and also the sum total of all).They are also the “Builders ”of the Eastern Doctrine:and

it is only in the third the celestial world that the seven planets and our solar system are built by the

seven Planetary Angels,the planets becoming their visible bodies.Hence -as correctly stated -if the

universe as a whole is formed out of the Eternal One Substance or Essence it is not that everlasting

Essence the Absolute Deity that builds it into shape;this is done by the first Rays the Angels or Dhyān

Chohans,that emanate from the One Element which becoming periodically Light and Darkness,remains

eternally in its Root-Principle the one unknown yet existing Reality.

A learned Western Kabalist.Mr.S.L.MacGregor Mathers,whose reasoning and conclusions will be the

more above suspicion since he is untrained in Eastern Philosophy and unacquainted with its Secret

Teachings,writes on the first verse of Genesis in an unpublished essay:

Berashith Bara Elohim -“in the beginning the Elohim created!” Who are these Elohim of

Genesis ?

Who are the Elohim?

(Page 203)Va-Vivra Elohim Ath Ha-Adam Be-Tzalmo,Be-Tzelem Elohim Bara Otho.Zakhar

Vingebah Bara Otham -“And the Elohim created the Adam in Their own Image in the Image

of the Elohim created They them Male and Female created They them!” Who are they the

Elohim?The ordinary English translation of the Bible renders the word Elohim by “God:” it

translates a pl ral noun by a sing lar one.The only excuse brought forward for this is the

somewhat lame one that the word is certainly plural but is not to be used in a plural sense:

that it is “ a plural denoting excellence.”But this is only an assumption whose value may be

justly gauged by Genesis i.26 translated in the orthodox Biblical version thus:“And God

[Elohim ] said ‘Let us make man in our own image after our likeness.’”Here is a distinct

admission of the fact that “Elohim ”is not a “plural of excellence ”but a plural noun denoting

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more than one being.[ St.Denys,the Areopagite the supposed contemporary of St.Paul his

co-disciple and first Bishop of St.Denis,near Paris,teaches that the bulk of the “work of

creation ”was performed by the “Seven Spirits of the Presence ”-God ’s co-operators,owing to

a participation of the divinity in them.(Hierarch.,p.196)And St.Augustine also thinks that

“things were rather created in the angelic minds than in Nature that is to say that the angels

perceived and knew them (all things)in their thoughts before they could spring forth into actual

existence.” (Vid De Genesis ad Litteram p.11.)(Summarized from De Mirville.Vol.II.pp.

337-338.)Thus the early Christian Fathers,even a non-initiate like St-Augustine ascribed the

creation of the visible world to Angels,or Secondary Powers while St.Denys not only

specifies these as the “Seven Spirits of the Presence ”but shows them owing their power to

the informing divine energy -Fohat in the Secret Doctrine.But the egotistical darkness which

caused the Western races to cling so desperately to the Geo-centric System made them also

neglect and despise all those fragments of the true Religion which would have deprived them

and the little globe they took for the centre of the Universe of the signal honour of having been

expressly “created ”by the One Secondless,Infinite God!]

What then is the proper translation of “Elohim ”and to whom is it referable?“Elohim ”is not

only a plural but a feminine pl ral!And yet the translators of the Bible have rendered it by a

masculine sing lar!Elohim is the plural of the feminine noun El-h for the final letter -h marks

the gender.It however instead of forming the plural in -oth takes the usual termination of the

masculine plural which is -im.

Although in the great majority of cases the nouns of both genders take the terminations

appropriated to them respectively there are yet many masculines which form the plural in -oth

as well as feminine which form it in -im while some nouns of each gender take alternately

both.It must be observed however that the termination of the plural does not affect its

gender which remains the same as in the singular ...

To find the real meaning of the symbolism involved in this word Elohim we must go to that key

of Jewish Esoteric Doctrine the little-known and less-understood Kabalah.There we shall find

that this word represents two united masculine and feminine Potencies,co-equal and co-

eternal conjoined in everlasting union for the maintenance of the Universe -the great Father

and Mother of Nature into whom the Eternal One conforms himself before the Universe can

subsist.For the teaching of the Kabalah is that before the Deity conformed himself thus -i.e.

as (Page 204)male and female -the Worlds of the Universe could not subsist;or in the words of

Genesis that “the earth was formless and void.” Thus,then is the conformation of the Elohim

the end of the Formless and the Void and the Darkness,for only after conformation can the

R ach Elohim -the “Spirit of the Elohim ”-vibrate upon the countenance of the Waters.But

this is a very small part of the information which the Initiate can derive from the Kabalah

concerning this word Elohim.

Attention must here be called to the confusion -if not worse -which reigns in the Western interpretations

of the Kabalah.The eternal One is said to conform himself into two:the Great Father and Mother of

Nature.To begin with it is a horribly anthropomorphic conception to apply terms implying sexual

distinction to the earliest and first differentiations of the One.And it is even more erroneous to identify

these first differentiations -the Purusha and Prakriti of Indian Philosophy -with the Elohim the creative

powers here spoken of;and to ascribe to these (to our intellects)unimaginable abstractions,the

formation and construction of this visible world full of pain sin and sorrow.In truth the “creation by the

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Elohim ”spoken of here is but a much later “creation ” and the Elohim far from being supreme or even

exalted powers in Nature are only lower Angels.This was the teaching of the Gnostics,the most

philosophical of all the early Christian Churches.They taught that the imperfections of the world were

due to the imperfection of its Architects or Builders -the imperfect and therefore inferior Angels.The

Hebrew Elohim correspond to the Prajāpati of the Hindus,and it is shown elsewhere from the Esoteric

interpretation of the Purānas that the Prajāpati were the fashioners of man ’s material and astral form

only :that they could not give him intelligence or reason and therefore in symbolical language they “failed

to create man.”But not to repeat what the reader can find elsewhere in this work his attention needs

only to be called to the fact that “creation ”in this passage is not the Primary Creation and that the

Elohim are not “God ” nor even the higher Planetary Spirits,but the Architects of this visible physical

planet and of man ’s material body or encasement.

A fundamental doctrine of the Kabalah is that the gradual development of the Deity from

negative to positive Existence is symbolized by the gradual development of the Ten Numbers

of the denary scale of numeration from the Zero through the Unity into the plurality.This is

the doctrine of the Sephiroth or Emanations.

For the inward and concealed Negative Form concentrates a centre which is the primal Unity.

But the Unity is one and indivisible:it can neither be increased by multiplication nor decreased

by division for 1x1=1 and no more;and 1 divided by1 =1 and no less.And it is this

changelessness of the Unity or Monad which makes it a fitting type of the One and

Changeless Deity.It answers thus to the Christian idea of God the Father for as the Unity is

the parent of the other numbers,so is the Deity the Father of All.

Monad Duad and Triad-(Page 205)The philosophical Eastern mind would never fall into the error which

the connotation of these words implies.With them the “One and Changeless ” -Parabrahman -the

Absolute All and One cannot be conceived as standing in any relation to things finite and conditioned

and hence they would never use such terms as these which in their very essence imply such a relation.

Do they then absolutely sever man from God?On the contrary.They feel a closer union than the

Western mind has done in calling God the “Father of All ” for they know that in his immortal essence man

is himself the Changeless,Secondless One.

But we have just said that the Unity is one and changeless by either multiplication or division;

how then is two the Duad formed?By reflection.For unlike Zero the Unity is partly definable

-that is,in its positive aspect;and the definition creates an Eikon or Eidolon of itself which

together with itself forms a Duad;and thus the number two is to a certain extent analogous to

the Christian idea of the Son as the Second Person.And as the Monad vibrates,and recoils

into the Darkness of the Primary Thought so is the Duad left as its vice-gerent and

representative and thus co-equal and co-eternal with the Duad in the bosom of the Unity yet

as it were proceeding therefrom in the numerical conception of its sequence.

This explanation would seem to imply that Mr.Mathers is aware that this “creation ” is not the truly divine

or primary one since the Monad -the first manifestation on o r plane of objectivity -“recoils into the

Darkness of the Primal Thought ” i.e.,into the subjectivity of the first divine Creation.

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And this,again also partly answers to the Christian idea of the Holy Ghost and of the whole

three forming a Trinity in unity.This also explains the fact in geometry of the three right lines

being the smallest number which will make a plane rectilineal figure while two can never

enclose a space being powerless and without effect till completed by the number Three.

These three first numbers of the decimal scale the Qabalists call by the names of Kether the

Crown Chokmah Wisdom and Binah Understanding;and they furthermore associate with

them these divine names:with the Unity Eheich “ I exist;” with the Duad Yah;and with the

Triad Elohim;they especially also call the Duad Abba -the Father and the Triad Aima -the

Mother whose eternal conjunction is symbolized in the word Elohim.

But what especially strikes the student of the Kabalah is the malicious persistency (Page 206)

with which the translators of the Bible have jealously crowded out of sight and suppressed

every reference to the feminine form of the Deity.They have as we have just seen translated

the feminine plural “Elohim ”by the masculine singular “God.” But they have done more than

this:they have carefully hidden the fact that the word Ruach -the “Spirit ” -is feminine and

that consequently the Holy Ghost of the New Testament is a feminine Potency.How many

Christians are cognizant of the fact that in the account of the Incarnation in L ke (i.35)two

divine Potencies are mentioned?

“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.”

The Holy Ghost (the feminine Potency)descends,and the Power of the Highest (the

masculine Potency)is united therewith.“Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of

thee shall be called the Son of God ”-of the Elohim namely seeing that these two Potencies

descend.

In the Sepher Yetzirah,or Book of Formation,we read:

“One is She the Ruach Elohim Chum -(Spirit of the Living Elohim)....Voice Spirit and

Word;and this is She the Spirit of the Holy One.” Here again we see the intimate connection

which exists between the Holy Spirit and the Elohim.Furthermore farther on in this same

Book of Formation -which is be it remembered one of the oldest of the Kabalistical Books,

and whose authorship is ascribed to Abraham the Patriarch -we shall find the idea of a

Feminine Trinity in the first place from whom a masculine Trinity proceeds;or as it is said in

the text:“Three Mothers whence proceed three Fathers.”And yet this double Triad forms,as it

were but one complete Trinity.Again it is worthy of note that the Second and Third Sephiroth

(Wisdom and Understanding)are both distinguished by feminine names,Chokmah and Binah

notwithstanding that to the former more particularly the masculine idea and to the latter the

feminine are attributed under the titles of Abba and Aima (or Father and Mother).This Aima

(the Great Mother)is magnificently symbolized in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse which

is undoubtedly one of the most Kabalistical books in the Bible .In fact without the Kabalistical

keys its meaning is utterly unintelligible.

Now in the Hebrew as in the Greek,alphabet there are no distinct numeral characters,and

consequently each letter has a certain numerical value attached to it.From this circumstance

results the important fact that every Hebrew word constitutes a number and every number a

word.This is referred to in the Revelations (xiii.18)in mentioning the “number of the beast ”!In

the Kabalah words of equal numerical values are supposed to have a certain explanatory

connection with each other.This forms the science of Gematria which is the first division of

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the Literal Kabalah.Furthermore each letter of the Hebrew alphabet had for the Initiates of the

Kabalah a certain hieroglyphical value and meaning which rightly applied gave to each word

the value of a mystical sentence;and this again was variable according to the relative

positions of the letters with regard to each other.From these various Kabalistical points of view

let us now examine this word Elohim.

First then we can divide the word into the two words,which signify “The Feminine Divinity of

the Waters;” compare with the Greek Aphrodite “sprung from the foam of the sea.”

The Creative Gods

(Page 207)Again it is divisive into the “Mighty One Star of the Sea ”or “the Mighty One

breathing forth the Spirit upon the Waters.”Also by combination of the letters we get “the Silent

Power of Iah.”And again “My God the Former of the Universe ”for Mah is a secret

Kabalistical name applied to the idea of Formation.Also we obtain “Who is my God.”

Furthermore “the Mother in Iah.”

The total number is 1+30+5+10+40=86 “Violent heat ”or “the Power of Fire.” If we add

together the three middle letters we obtain 45 and the first the last letter yield 41 making thus

“the Mother of Formation.” Lastly we shall find the two divine names “El ”and “Yah ”together

with the letter m which signifies “Water ”for Mem the name of this letter means “water.”

If we divide it into its component letters and take them as hieroglyphical signs we shall have:

“Will perfected through Sacrifice progressing through successive Transformation by

Inspiration.”

The last few paragraphs of the above in which the word “Elohim ”is Kabalistically analysed show

conclusively enough that the Elohim are not one nor two nor even a trinity but a Host -the army of the

creative powers.

The Christian Church in making of Jehovah -one of these very Elohim -the one Supreme God has

introduced hopeless confusion into the celestial hierarchy in spite of the volumes written by Thomas

Aquinas and his school on the subject.The only explanation to be found in all their treatises on the

nature and essence of the numberless classes of celestial beings mentioned in the Bible -Archangels,

Thrones,Seraphim Cherubim Messengers,etc.-is that “The angelic host is God ’s militia.” They are

“Gods the creat res,”while he is “God the Creator ” but of their true functions -of their actual place in the

economy of Nature -not one word is said.They are

More brilliant than the flames,more rapid than the wind and they live in love and harmony

mutually enlightening each other feeding on bread and a mystic beverage -the communion

wine and water?-surrounding as with a river of fire the throne of the Lamb and veiling their

faces with their wings.This throne of love and glory they leave only to carry to the stars,the

earth the kingdoms and all the sons of God their brothers and pupils,in short to all creatures

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like themselves the divine influence....As to their number it is that of the great army of

Heaven (Sabaoth),more numerous than the stars ....Theology shows us these rational

luminaries,each constituting a species,and containing in their natures such or another

position of Nature covering immense space though of a determined area;residing -

incorporeal though they are -within circumscribed limits;....more rapid than light or

thunderbolt disposing of all the elements of Nature providing at will inexplicable mirages

[illusions?] objective and subjective (Page 208)in turn speaking to men a language at one time

articulate at another purely spiritual.[ De Mirville ii.295 .]

We learn farther on in the same work that it is these Angels and their hosts who are referred to in the

sentence of verse I chapter ii.of Genesis :Igitur perfecti sunt coeli et terra et omnis ornatus eorum:”and

that the Vulgate has peremptorily substituted for the Hebrew word “tsaba ”(“host ”that of “ornament;”

Munck shows the mistake of substitution and the derivation of the compound title “Tsabaoth-Elohim ”

from “tsaba.”Moreover Cornelius a Lapide “the master of all Biblical commentators,” says de Mirville

shows us that such was the real meaning.Those Angels are stars.

All this,however teaches us very little as to the true functions of this celestial army and nothing at all as

to its place in evolution and its relation to the earth we live on.For an answer to the question.“Who are

the true Creators?” we must go to the Esoteric Doctrine since there only can the key be found which will

render intelligible the Theogonies of the various world-religions.

There we find that the real creator of the Kosmos,as of all visible Nature -if not of all the invisible hosts

of Spirits not yet drawn into the “Cycle of Necessity ” or evolution -is “the Lord -the Gods,” or the

“Working Host ”the “Army ” collectively taken the “One in many.”

The One is infinite and unconditioned.It cannot create for It can have to relation to the finite and

conditioned.If everything we see from the glorious suns and planets down to the blades of grass and the

specks of dust had been created by the Absolute Perfection and were the direct work of even the First

Energy that proceeded from It [ To the Occultists and Chela the difference made between Energy and

Emanation need not be explained.The Sanskrit word “Sakti ” is untranslatable.It may be Energy but it is

one that proceeds through itself not being due to the active or conscious will of the one that produces it.

The “First-Born ” or Logos,is not an Emanation but an Energy inherent in and co-eternal with

Parabrahman the One.The Zohar speaks of emanations,but reserves the word for the seven Sephiroth

emanated from the first three -which form one triad -Kether Chokmah and Binah.As for these three it

explains the difference by calling them “immanations,” something inherent to and coeval with the subject

postulated or in other words,”“Energies.”

It is these “Auxiliaries,” the Auphanim the half human Prajāpatis,the Angels,the Architects under the

leadership of the “Angel of the Great Council ” with the rest of the Kosmos-Builders of other nations,that

can alone explain the imperfection of the Universe.This imperfection is one of the arguments of the

Secret Science in favour of the existence and activity of these “Powers.” And who know better than the

few philosophers of our civilised lands how near the truth Philo was in ascribing the origin of evil to the

admixture of inferior potencies in the arrangement of matter and even in the formation of man -a task

entrusted to the divine Logos.] then every such thing would have been perfect eternal and

unconditioned like its author.

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God the Host-(Page 209)The millions upon millions of imperfect works found in Nature testify loudly that

they are the products of finite conditioned beings -though the latter were and are Dhyān Chohans,

Archangels,or whatever else they may be named.In short these imperfect works are the unfinished

production of evolution under the guidance of the imperfect Gods.The Zohar gives us this assurance as

well as the Secret Doctrine.It speaks of the auxiliaries of the “Ancient of Days,”the “Sacred Aged ”and

calls them Auphanim or the living Wheels of the celestial orbs,who participate in the work of the creation

of the Universe.

Thus it is not the “Principle ” One and Unconditioned nor even Its reflection that creates,but only the

“Seven Gods ” who fashion the Universe out of the eternal Matter vivified into objective life by the

reflection into it of the One Reality.

The Creator is they -“God the Host ” -called in the Secret Doctrine the Dhyan Chohans;with the Hindus

the Prajāpatis;with the Western Kabalists the Sephiroth;and with the Buddhist the Devas -impersonal

because blind forces.They are the Amshaspends with the Zoroastrians,and while with the Christian

Mystic the “Creator ” is the “Gods of the God ” with the dogmatic Churchman he is the “God of the Gods,”

the “Lord of lords,”etc.

“Jehovah ”is only the God who is greater than all Gods in the eyes of Israel.

I know that the lord [of Israel ] is great and that our Lord is above all gods.[ Psalms cxxxv.5.]

And again:

For all the gods of the nations are idols,but the Lord made the heavens.[Psalms xcvi.5.]

The Egyptian Neteroo translated by Champollion “the other Gods,” are the Elohim of the Biblical writers,

behind which stands concealed the One God considered in the diversity of his powers.[ Rather as

Ormazd or Ahura-Mazda Vit-nam-Ahmi and all the unmanifested Logoi.Jehovah is the manifested Virāj

corresponding to Binah the third Sephira in the Kabalah,a female Power which would find its prototype

rather in the Prajāpati than in Brahma the Creator .] This One is not Parabrahman but the Unmanifested

Logos,the Demiurgos,the real Creator or Fashioner that follows him standing for the Demiurgi

collectively taken.Further on the great Egyptologist adds:

We see Egypt concealing and hiding so to say the God of Gods behind the agents she

surrounds him with ;she gives the precedence to her great gods before the one (Page 210)and

sole Deity so that the attributes of that God become their property.Those great Gods proclaim

themselves uncreate ....Neith is ‘that which is ”as Jehovah;[Neith is Aditi evidently .]

Thoth is self-created [ The Self-created Logos,Narāyana Purushottama and others.] without

having been begotten etc.Judaism annihilating these potencies before the grandeur of its

God they cease to be simply Powers,like Philo ’s Archangels,like the Sephiroth of the

Kabalah like the Ogdoades of the Gnostics -they merge together and become transformed

into God himself.[ Mčre d'Apis.pp.32-35.Quoted by De Mirville.]

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Jehovah is thus,as the Kabalah teaches,at best but the “Heavenly Man ”Adam Kadmon used by the

self-created Spirit the Logos,as a chariot a vehicle in His descent towards manifestation in the

phenomenal world.

Such are the teachings of the Archaic Wisdom nor can they be repudiated even by the orthodox

Christian if he be sincere and open-minded in the study of his own Scripture.For if he reads St.Paul ’s

Epistles carefully he will find that the Secret Doctrine and the Kabalah are fully admitted by the “Apostle

of the Gentiles.” The Gnosis which he appears to condemn is no less for him than for Plato “the supreme

knowledge of the truth and of the One Being;” [ See Rep blic .I.vi.] for what St.Paul condemns is not

the true but only the false Gnosis and its abuses:otherwise how could he use the language of a

Platonist p r sang ?The Ideas,types (Archai),of the Greek Philosopher;the Intelligences of Pythagoras;

the Aeons or Emanations of the Pantheist;the Logos or Word Chief of these intelligences;the Sophia or

Wisdom;the Demiurgos,the Builder of the world under the direction of the Father the Unmanifested

Logos,from which He emanates;Ain-Suph the Unknown of the Infinite;the angelic Periods;the Seven

Spirits who are the representatives of the Seven of all the older cosmogonies -are all to be found in his

writings,recognized by the Church as canonical and divinely inspired.Therein too may be recognized

the Depths of Ahriman Rector of this our World the “God of this World;” the Pleroma of the Intelligences;

the Archontes of the air;the Principalities,the Kabalistic Metatron;and they can easily be identified again

in the Roman Catholic writers when read in the original Greek and Latin texts,English translations giving

but a very poor idea of the real contents of these.

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SECTION XXIII

What the Occultists and Kabalists Have to Say

(Page 211)THE Zohar an unfathomable store of hidden wisdom and mystery is very often appealed to by

Roman Catholic writers.A very learned Rabbi now the Chevalier Drach having been converted to

Roman Catholicism and being a great Hebraist thought fit to step into the shoes of Picus de Mirando

and John Reuchlin and to assure his new co-religionists that the Zohar contained in it pretty nearly all

the dogmas of Catholicism.It is not our province to show here how far he has succeeded or failed;only

to bring one instance of his explanations and preface it with the following.

The Zohar is already shown is not a genuine production of the Hebrew mind.It is the repository and

compendium of the oldest doctrine of the East transmitted orally at first and then written down in

independent treatises during the Captivity at Babylon and finally brought together by Rabbi Simeon Ben

Iochai toward the beginning of the Christian era.As Mosaic cosmogony was born under a new form in

Mesopotamian countries,so the Zohar was a vehicle in which were focussed rays from the light of

Universal Wisdom.Whatever likenesses are found between it and the Christian teachings,the compilers

of the Zohar never had Christ in their minds.Were it otherwise there would not be one single Jew of the

Mosaic law left in the world by this time.Again if one is to accept literally what the Zohar says,then any

religion under the sun may find corroboration in its symbols and allegorical sayings;and this,simply

because this work is the echo of the primitive truths,and every creed is founded on some of these;the

Zohar being but a veil of the Secret Doctrine.This is so evident that we have only to point to the said ex-

Rabbi the Chevalier Drach to prove the fact.

(Page 212)In Part III fol.87 (col.346 th )the Zohar treats of the Spirit guiding the Sun its Rector

explaining that it is not the Sun itself that is meant thereby but the Spirit “on or nder ” the Sun.Drach is

anxious to show that it was Christ who was meant by that “Sun ” or the Solar Spirit therein.In his

comment upon that passage which refers to the Solar Spirit as “that stone which the builders rejected ”

he asserts most positively that this

Sun-stone (pierre soleil )is identical with Christ who was that stone

and that therefore

The sun is undeniably (sans contredit )the second hypostasis of the Deity [Harmonie entre

l ’Eglise et la Synagog e.t.11.p.427 by the Chevalier Drach.See de Mirville.]or Christ.

If this be true then the Vaidic or pre-Vaidic Aryans Chaldaeans and Egyptians,like all Occultists past

present and future Jews included have been Christians from all eternity.If this be not so then modern

Church Christianity is Paganism pure and simple exoterically and transcendental and practical Magic or

Occultism Esoterically.

For this “stone ” has a manifold significance a dual existence with gradations,a regular progression and

retrogression.It is a “mystery ” indeed.

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The Occultists are quite ready to agree with St.Chrystostom that the infidels -the profane rather -

Being blinded by sun-light thus lose sight of the true Sun in the contemplation of the false

one.

But if that Saint and along with him now the Hebraist Drach chose to see in the Zohar and the Kabalistic

Sun “ the second hypostasis,” this is no reason why all others should be blinded by them.The mystery of

the Sun is the grandest perhaps,of all the innumerable mysteries of Occultism.A Gordian knot truly but

one that cannot be severed with the double-edged sword of scholastic casuistry.It is a true deo dign s

vindice nod s and can be untied only by the Gods .The meaning of this is plain and every Kabalist will

understand it.

Contra solem ne loq aris was not said by Pythagoras with regard to the visible Sun.It was the “Sun of

Initiation ”that was meant in its triple form -two of which are the “Day-Sun ”and the “Night-Sun.”

If behind the physical luminary there were no mystery that people sensed instinctively why should every

nation from the primitive peoples down to the Parsis of today have turned towards the Sun during

prayers?

The Mystery of the Sun-(Page 213)The Solar Trinity is not Mazdean but is universal and is as old as

man .All the temples in Antiquity were invariably made to face the Sun their portals to open to the East.

See the old temples of Memphis and Baalbec,the Pyramids of the Old and of the New (?)Worlds,the

Round Towers of Ireland and the Serapeum of Egypt.The Initiates alone could give a philosophical

explanation of this,and a reason for it -its mysticism notwithstanding -were only the world ready to

receive it which alas!it is not.The last of the Solar Priests in Europe was the Imperial Initiate Julian

now called the Apostate.[ Julian died for the same crime as Socrates.Both divulged a portion of the

solar mystery the heliocentric system being only a part of what was given during Initiation -one

consciously the other unconsciously the Greek Sage never having been initiated.It was not the real

solar system that was preserved in such secrecy but the mysteries connected with the Sun ’s

constitution.Socrates was sentenced to death by earthly and worldly judges:Julian died a violent death

because the hitherto protecting hand was withdrawn from him and no longer shielded by it he was

simply left to his destiny or Karma.For the student of Occultism there is a suggestive difference between

the two kinds of death.Another memorable instance of the unconscious divulging of secrets pertain to

mysteries is that of the poet P.Ovidius Naso who like Socrates,had not been initiated.In his case the

Emperor Augustus,who was an Initiate mercifully changed the penalty of death into banishment to

Tomos on the Euxine.This sudden change from unbounded royal favour to banishment has been a

fruitful scheme of speculation to classical scholars not initiated into the Mysteries.They have quoted

Ovid ’s own lines to show that it was some great and heinous immorality of the Emperor of which Ovid

had become unwillingly cognizant.The inexorable law of the death penalty always following upon the

revelation of any portion of the Mysteries to the profane was unknown to them.Instead of seeing the

amiable and merciful act of the Emperor in its true light they have made it an occasion for traducing his

moral character.The poet ’s own words can be no evidence because as he was not an Initiate it could

not be explained to him in what his offence consisted.There have been comparatively modern instances

of poets unconsciously revealing in their verses so much of the hidden knowledge as to make even

Initiates suppose them to be fellow-Initiates,and come to talk to them on the subject.This only shows

that the sensitive poetic temperament is sometimes so far transported beyond the bounds of ordinary

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sense as to get glimpses into what has been impressed on the Astral Light.In the Light of Asia there are

two passages that might make an Initiate of the first degree think that Mr.Edwin Arnold had been initiated

himself in the Himalyan ashrams,but this is not so.] He tried to benefit the world by revealing at least a

portion of the great mystery of the ōńåšėįóļņ and -he died.“There are three in one ” he said of the Sun -

the central Sun [ A proof that Julian was acquainted with the heliocentric system.] being a precaution of

Nature:the first is the universal cause of all Sovereign Good and perfection;the Second Power is

paramount Intelligence having dominion over all reasonable beings,ķļåńļéņ;the third is the visible Sun.

The pure energy of solar intelligence proceeds from the luminous seat occupied by our Sun in the centre

of heaven that pure energy being the Logos of our system;the “Mysterious Word Spirit produces all

through the Sun and never operates through any other medium ” says Hermes Trismegistus.For it is in

the Sun more than in any other heavenly body that the [unknown ] Power placed the (Page 214)seat of its

habitation.Only neither Hermes Trismegistus nor Julian an initiated Occultist nor any other meant by

this Unknown Cause Jehovah or Jupiter.They referred to the cause that produced all the manifested

“great Gods ” or Demiurgi (the Hebrew God included)of our system.Nor was our visible material Sun

meant for the latter was only the manifested symbol.Philolaus the Pythagorean explains and completes

Trismegistus by saying:

The Sun is a mirror of fire the splendour of whose flames by their reflection in that mirror [the

Sun ] is poured upon us,and that splendour we call image.

It is evident that Philolaus referred to the central spiritual Sun whose beams and effulgence are only

mirrored by our central Star the Sun.This is as clear to the Occultists as it was to the Pythagoreans.As

for the profane of pagan antiquity it was of course the physical Sun that was the “highest God ”for them

as it seems -if Chevalier Drach ’s view be accepted -to have now virtually become for the modern

Roman Catholics.If words mean anything the statements made by the Chevalier Drach that “this sun is,

undeniably the second hypostasis of the Deity ”imply what we say;as “this Sun ”refers to the Kabalistic

Sun and “hypostasis ”means substance or subsistence of the Godhead or Trinity -distinctly personal.As

the author being an ex-Rabbi thoroughly versed in Hebrew and in the mysteries of the Zohar ought to

know the value of words;and as,moreover in writing this,he was bent upon reconciling “the seeming

contradictions,” as he puts it between Judaism and Christianity -the fact becomes quite evident.

But all this pertains to questions and problems which will be solved naturally and in the course of the

development of the doctrine.The Roman Catholic Church stands accused not of worshipping under

other names the Divine Beings worshipped by all nations in Antiquity but of declaring idolatrous,not only

the Pagans ancient and modern but every Christian nation that has freed itself from the Roman yoke.

The accusation brought against herself by more than one man of Science of worshipping the stars like

true Sabaeans of old stands to this day uncontradicted yet no star-worshipper has ever addressed his

adoration to the material stars and planets,as will be shown before the last page of this work is written;

none the less it is true that those Philosophers alone who studied Astrology and Magic knew that the last

word of those sciences was to be sought in and expected from the Occult forces emanating from those

constellations.

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SECTION XXIV

Modern Kabalists in Science and Occult Astronomy

(Page 215)THERE is a physical an astral and a super-astral Universe in the three chief divisions of the

Kabalah ;as there are terrestrial super-terrestrial and spiritual Beings.The “Seven Planetary Spirits ”

may be ridiculed by Scientists to their hearts ’ content yet the need of intelligent ruling and guiding Forces

in so much felt to this day that scientific men and specialists,who will not hear of Occultism or of ancient

systems,find themselves obliged to generate in their inner consciousness some kind of semi-mystical

system.Metcalf ’s “sun-force ” theory and that of Zaliwsky a learned Pole which made Electricity the

Universal Force and placed its storehouse in the Sun [ La Gravitation par l ’Electricité,p.7.quoted by De

Mirville iv.156 ] were revivals of the Kabalistic teachings.Zaliwsky tried to prove that Electricity

producing “the most powerful attractive calorific,and luminous effects,” was present in the physical

constitution of the Sun and explained its peculiarities.This is very near the Occult teaching.It is only by

admitting the gaseous nature of the Sun-reflector and the powerful Magnetism and Electricity of the solar

attraction and repulsion that one can explain (a)the evident absence of any waste of power and

luminosity in the Sun -inexplicable by the ordinary laws of combustion;and (b)the behaviour of the

planets so often contradicting every accepted rule of weight and gravity.And Zaliwsky makes this “solar

electricity ” “differ from anything known on earth.”

Father Secchi may be suspected of having sought to introduce

Forces of q ite a new order and quite foreign to gravitation which he had discovered in

Space.[ De Mirville.iv.157.](Page 216)

in order to reconcile Astronomy with theological Astronomy.But Nagy a member of the Hungarian

Academy of Sciences,was no clerical and yet he develops a theory on the necessity of intelligent

Forces whose complacency “would lent itself to all the whims of the comets.” He suspects that:

Notwithstanding all the actual researches on the rapidity of light -that dazzling prod ct of an nknown

force ....which we see too frequently to understand – that light is motionless in reality.

[ C.E.Love the well-known railway builder and engineer in France tired of blind forces,made all the

(then)“imponderable agents ” -now called “forces ” -subordinates of Electricity and declares the latter to

be

an Intelligence -albeit molecular in nature and material.[ Essai sur l'Identité des Agents

Prod cte rs d Son,de la L miere,etc.p.15 ibid .]

In the author ’s opinion these Forces are atomistic agents,endowed with intelligence spontaneous will

and motion [Ibid.,p.218 .] and he thus,like the Kabalists,makes the cousal Forces substantial while the

Forces that act on this plane are only the effects of the former as with him matter is eternal and the

Gods also;[ Summarised from Ibid.,p.213.De Mirville iv.158 .] so is the Soul likewise though it has

inherent in itself a still higher Soul [Spirit ] preėxistent endowed with memory and superior to Electric

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Force;the latter is subservient to the higher Souls,those superior Souls forcing it to act according to the

eternal laws.The concept is rather hazy but is evidently on the Occult lines.Moreover the system

proposed is entirely pantheistic,and is worked out in a purely scientific volume.Monotheists and Roman

Catholics fall foul of it of course;but one who believes in the Planetary Spirits and who endows Nature

with living Intelligences,must always expect this.

In this connection however it is curious that after the moderns have so laughed at the ignorance of the

ancients

Who knowing only of seven planets [yet having an ogdoad which did not include the earth!]

invented therefore seven Spirits to fit in with the number

Babinet should have vindicated the “superstition ”unconsciously to himself.In the Rev e des De x

Mondes this eminent French Astronomer writes:

The Place of Neptune -

(Page 217)The ogdoad of the Ancients included the earth [which is an error ] i.e.,eight or seven

according to whether or not the earth was comprised in the number.[ May.1855.Ibid.,p.139 .]

De Mirville assures his readers that:

M.Babinet was telling me but a few days ago that we had in reality only eight big planets,

including the earth and so many small ones between Mars and Jupiter ....Herschell offering

to call all those beyond the seven primary planets asteroids![ La Terre et notre Systieme

solaire.De Mirville iv.139.]

There is a problem to be solved in this connection.How do Astronomers know that Neptune is a planet

or even that it is a body belonging to our system?Being found on the very confines of our Planetary

World so called the latter was arbitrarily expanded to receive it;but what really mathematical and

infallible proof have Astronomers that it is (a)a planet and (b)one of o r planets?None at all!It is as

such an immeasurable distance from us,

the apparent diameter of the sun being to Neptune but one-fortieth of the sun ’s apparent

diameter to us,

and it is so dim and hazy when seen through the best telescope that it looks like an astronomical

romance to call it one of our planets.Neptune ’s heat and light are reduced to 1/900th part of the heat and

light received by the earth.His motion and that of his satellites have always looked suspicious.They do

not agree -in appearance at least -with those of the other planets.His system is retrograde etc.But

even the latter abnormal fact resulted only in the creation of new hypotheses by our Astronomers,who

forthwith suggested a probable overturn of Neptune his collision with another body etc.Was Adams ’ and

Leverrier ’s discovery so welcomed because Neptune was as necessary as was Ether to throw a new

glory upon astronomical prevision upon the certitude of modern scientific data and principally upon the

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power of mathematical analysis?It would so appear.A new planet that widens our planetary domain by

more than four hundred million leagues is worthy of annexation.Yet as in the case of terrestrial

annexation scientific authority may be proved “right ” only because it has “might.” Neptune ’s motion

happens to be dimly perceived:Eureka!it is a planet!A mere motion however proves very little.It is now

an ascertained fact in Astronomy that there are no absolutely fixed stars in Nature [ If as Sir W.

Herschel thought the so-called fixed stars have resulted from and owe their origin to nebular

combustion they cannot be fixed any more than is our sun which was believed to be motionless and is

now found to rotate around its axis every twenty-five days.As the fixed star nearest to the sun however

is eight-thousand times farther away from him than is Neptune the illusions furnished by the telescopes

must be also eight-thousand times as great.We will therefore leave the question at rest repeating only

what A.Maury said in his work (La Terre et l ’Homme,published in 1858):“It is utterly impossible so far

to decide anything concerning Neptune ’s constitution analogy alone authorising us to ascribe to him a

rotary motion like that of other planets.”(De Mirville iv.140).] even though such stars should (Page 218)

continue to exist in astronomical parlance while they have passed from the scientific imagination.

Occultism however has a strange theory of its own with regard to Neptune.

Occultism says that if several hypotheses resting on mere assumption -which have been accepted only

because they have been taught by eminent men of learning -are taken away from the Science of Modern

Astronomy to which they serve as props,then even the presumably universal law of gravitation will be

found to be contrary to the most ordinary truths of mechanics.And really one can hardly blame Christians

-foremost of all the Roman Catholics -however scientific some of these may themselves be for refusing

to quarrel with their Church for the sake of scientific beliefs.Nor can we even blame them for accepting in

the secresy of their hearts -as some of them do -the theological “Virtues ” and “Archons ” of Darkness,

instead of all the blind forces offered them by Science.

Never can there be intervention of any sort in the marshalling and the regular precession of

the celestial bodies!The law of gravitation is the law of laws;who ever witnessed a stone

rising in the air against gravitation?The permanence of the universal law is shown in the

behaviour of the sidereal worlds and globes eternally faithful to their primitive orbits;never

wandering beyond their respective paths.Nor is there any intervention needed as it could only

be disastrous.Whether the first sidereal incipient rotation took place owing to an intercosmic

chance or to the spontaneous development of latent primordial forces;or again whether that

impulse was given once for all by God or Gods -it does not make the slightest difference.At

this stage of cosmic evolution no intervention superior or inferior is admissible.Were any to

take place the universal clock-work would stop and Kosmos would fall into pieces.

Such are stray sentences,pearls of wisdom,fallen from time to time from scientific lips,and now chosen

at random to illustrate a query.We lift our diminished heads and look heavenward.Such seems to be the

fact:worlds,suns,and stars,the shining myriads of the heavenly hosts,remind the Poet of an infinite

shoreless ocean whereon move swiftly numberless squadrons of ships,millions upon millions of

cruisers,large and small crossing each other whirling and gyrating in every direction;and Science

teaches us,that though they be without rudder or compass or any beacon to guide them they are

nevertheless secure from collision -almost secure at any rate save in chance accidents -as the whole

celestial machine is built upon and guided by an immutable albeit blind law and by constant and

accelerating force or forces.

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Self-Generation Ex-Niholo?-(Page 219)“Built upon ” by whom?“By self-evolution ” is the answer.

Moreover as dynamics teach that

A body in motion tends to continue in the same state of relative rest or motion unless acted

upon by some external force

this force has to be regarded as self-generated -even if not eternal since this would amount to the

recognition of perpetual motion -and so well self-calculated and self-adjusted as to last from the

beginning to the end of Kosmos.But “self-generation ” has still to generate from something generation

ex-nihilo being as contrary to reason as it is to Science.Thus we are placed once more between the

horns of a dilemma:are we to believe in perpetual motion or in self-generation ex-nihilo ?And if in neither

who or what is that something which first produced that force or those forces?

There are such things in mechanics as superior levers,which give the impulse and act upon secondary

or inferior levers.The former however need an impulse and occasional renovation otherwise they would

themselves very soon stop and fall back into their original status.What is the external force which puts

and retains them in motion?Another dilemma!

As to the law of cosmical non-intervention,it could be justified only in one case namely if the celestial

mechanism were perfect;but it is not.The so-called unalterable motions of celestial bodies alter and

change incessantly;they are very often disturbed and the wheels of even the sidereal locomotive itself

occasionally jump off their invisible rails,as may be easily proved.Otherwise why should Laplace speak

of the probable occurrence at some future time of an out-and-out reform in the arrangements of the

planets;[ Exposition d vrai System d Monde .p.282.] or Lagrange maintain the gradual narrowing of

the orbits;or our modern Astronomers,again declare that the fuel in the sun is slowly disappearing?If

the laws and forces which govern the behaviour of the celestial bodies are immutable such modifications

and wearing-out of substance or fuel of force and fluids,would be impossible;yet they are not denied.

Therefore (Page 220)one has to suppose that such modifications will have to rely upon the laws of forces,

which will have to self-regenerate themselves once more on such occasions,thus producing an astral

antinomy and a kind of physical palinomy since as Laplace says,one would then see fluids disobeying

themselves and reacting in a way contrary to all their attributes and properties.

Newton felt very uncomfortable about the moon.Her behaviour in progressively narrowing the

circumference of her orbit around the earth made him nervous,lest it should end one day in our satellite

falling upon the earth.The world he confessed needed repairing and that very often.[ See the passage

quoted by Herschel in Nat ral Philosophy,p.165.De Mirville.iv.165 .] In this he was corroborated by

Herschel.[ l,oc.cit .] He speaks of real and quite considerable deviations,besides those which are only

apparent but gets some consolation from his conviction that somebody or something will probably see to

things.

We may be answered that the personal beliefs of some pious Astronomers,however great they may be

as scientific characters,are no proofs of the actual existence and presence in space of intelligent

supramundane Beings,of either Gods or Angels.It is the behaviour of the stars and planets themselves

that has to be analysed and inferences must be drawn therefrom.Renan asserts that nothing that we

know of the sidereal bodies warrants the idea of the presence of any Intelligence whether internal or

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external to them.

Let us see says Reynaud if this is a fact or only one more empty scientific assumption.

The orbits traversed by the planets are far from being immutable.They are on the contrary

subject to perpetual mutation in position as in form.Elongations,contractions,and orbital

widenings,oscillations from right to left slackening and quickening of speed ....And all this

on a plane which seems to vacillate.[ Terre et Ciel.p.28.Ibid .]

As is very pertinently observed by des Mousseux:

Here is a path having little of the mathematical and mechanical precision claimed for it;for we

know of no clock which having gone slow for several minutes should catch up the right time of

itself and witho t the t rn of a key.

So much for blind law and force.As for the physical impossibility -a miracle indeed in the sight of

Science -of a stone raised in the air against the law of gravitation this is what Babinet -the deadliest

enemy and opponent of the phenomena of levitation -(cited by Arago)says:

Are There Angels in Stars?-

(Page 221)Everyone knows the theory of bolides [meteors ] and aerolithes ....In Connecticut

an immense aerolith was seen [a mass of eighteen hundred feet in diameter ] bombarding a

whole American zone and returning to the spot [in mid-air ] from which it had started.[ Oe vres

d'Arago.vol.i.219:quoted by De Mirville iii.462.]

Thus we find in both of the cases above cited -that of self-correcting planets and meteors of gigantic size

flying back into the air -a “blind force ” regulating and resisting the natural tendencies of “blind matter ”

and even occasionally repairing its mistakes and correcting its failures.This is far more miraculous and

even “extravagant ” one would say than any “Angel-guided ”Element.

Bold is he who laughs at the idea of Von Haller who declares that:

The stars are perhaps an abode of glorious Spirits;as here Vice reigns,there is Virtue master.

[“Die Sterne sind vielleicht ein Sitz Verklarter Geister;

Wie hier das Laster herrscht,ist dort die T gend Meister.]

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SECTION XXV

Eastern and Western Occultism

(Page 222)IN The Theosophist for March 1886 [ Op.cit.,p.411 ] in an answer to the “Solar Sphinx,” a

member of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society wrote as follows:

We hold and believe that the revival of Occult Knowledge now in progress will some day demonstrate

that the Western system represents ranges of perceptions which the Eastern -at least as expounded in

the pages of The Theosophist —has yet to attain .[ Whenever Occult doctrines were expounded in the

pages of The Theosophist care was taken each time to declare a subject incomplete when the whole

could not be given in its fullness,and no writer has ever tried to mislead the reader.As to the Western

“ranges of perception ” concerning doctrines really Occult the Eastern Occultists have been made

acquainted with them for some time past.Thus they are enabled to assert with confidence that the West

may be in possession of Hermetic philosophy as a speculative system of dialectics,the latter being used

in the West admirably well but it lacks entirely the knowledge of Occultism.The genuine Eastern

Occultist keeps silent and unknown never publishes what he knows,and rarely even speaks of it as he

knows too well the penalty of indiscretion.]

The writer is not the only person labouring under this erroneous impression.Greater Kabalists than he

had said the same in the United States.This only proves that the knowledge possessed by Western

Occultists of the true Philosophy and the “ranges of perceptions ” and thought of the Eastern doctrines,is

very superficial.This assertion will be easily demonstrated by giving a few instances,instituting

comparisons between the two interpretations of one and the same doctrine---the Hermetic Universal

Doctrine.It is the more needed since were we to neglect bringing forward such comparisons,our work

would be left incomplete.

Primordial Matter-(Page 223)We may take the late Éliphas Lévi rightly referred to by another Western

Mystic Mr.Kenneth Mackenzie as “one of the greatest representatives of modern Occult Philosophy ” [

See The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia,art.“Sepher Jetzirah.”] as presumably the best and most learned

expounder of the Chaldaean Kabalah,and compare his teaching with that of Eastern Occultists.In his

unpublished manuscripts and letters,lent to us by a Theosophist who was for fifteen years his pupil we

had hoped to find that which he was unwilling to publish.What we do find however disappoints us

greatly.We will take these teachings,then as containing the essence of Western or Kabalistic Occultism

analyzing and comparing them with the Eastern interpretation as we go on.

Éliphas Lévi teaches correctly though in language rather too rhapsodically rhetorical to be sufficiently

clear to the beginner that

Eternal life is Motion equilibrated by the alternate manifestations of force.

But why does he not add that this perpetual motion is independent of the manifested Forces at work?He

says:

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Chaos is the Tohu-vah-bohu of perpetual motion and the sum total of primordial matter;

and he fails to add that Matter is “primordial ” only at the beginning of every new reconstruction of the

Universe:matter in abscondito,as it is called by the Alchemists,is eternal indestructible without

beginning or end.It is regarded by Eastern Occultists as the eternal Root of all the Mūlaprakriti of the

Vedāntin and the Svabhāvat of the Buddhist;the Divine Essence in short or Substance;the radiations

from This are periodically aggregated into graduated forms,from pure Spirit to gross Matter;the Root or

Space is in its abstract presence the Deity Itself the Ineffable and Unknown One Cause.

Ain-Suph with him also is the Boundless,the infinite and One Unity secondless and causeless as

Parabrahman.Ain-Suph is the indivisible point and therefore as “being everywhere and nowhere ” is the

absolute All.It is also “Darkness ” because it is absolute Light and the Root of the seven fundamental

Cosmic Principles.Yet Éliphas Lévi by simply stating that “Darkness was upon the face of the Earth ”

fails to show (a)that “Darkness ” in this sense is Deity Itself and he is (Page 224)therefore withholding the

only philosophical solution of this problem for the human mind;and (b)he allows the unwary student to

believe that by “Earth ” our own little globe —an atom in the Universe —is meant.In short this teaching

does not embrace the Occult Cosmogony but deals simply with Occult Geology and the formation of our

cosmic speck.This is further shown by his making a resume of the Sephirothal Tree in this wise:

God is harmony the astronomy of Powers and Unity outside of the World.

This seems to suggest (a)that he teaches the existence of an extra-cosmic God thus limiting and

conditioning both the Kosmos and the divine Infinity and Omnipresence which cannot be extraneous to or

outside of one single atom;and (b)that by skipping the whole of the pre-cosmic period —the manifested

Kosmos here being meant —the very root of Occult teaching he explains only the Kabalistic meaning of

the dead-letter of the Bible and Genesis leaving its spirit and essence untouched.Surely the “ranges of

perception ”of the Western mind will not be greatly enlarged by such a limited teaching.

Having said a few words on Tohu-vah-bohu —the meaning of which Wordsworth rendered graphically as

“higgledy-piggledy ”—and having explained that this term denoted Cosmos,he teaches that:

Above the dark abyss [ Chaos ]were the Waters ....the earth [la terre!] was Tohu-vah-bohu

i.e.,in confusion and darkness covered the face of the Deep and vehement Breath moved on

the Waters when the Spirit exclaimed [?] “Let there be light ”and there was light.Thus the

earth [our globe of course ] was in a state of cataclysm;thick vapours veiled the immensity of

the sky the earth was covered with waters and a violent wind was agitating this dark ocean

when at a given moment the equilibrium revealed itself and light reappeared;the letters that

compose the Hebrew word “Bereshith ”(the first word of Genesis )are “Beth ”the binary the

verb manifested by the act a feminine letter;then “Resch ”the Verbum and Life number 20

the disc multiplied by 2;and “Aleph ”the spiritual principle the Unit a masculine letter.

Place these letters in a triangle and you have the absolute Unity that without being included

into numbers creates the number the first manifestation which is 2 and these two united by

harmony resulting from the analogy of contraries [opposites ] make I only.This is why God is

called Elohim (plural).

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All this is very ingenious,but is very puzzling besides being incorrect.For owing to the first sentence

“Above the dark abyss were the Waters,”the French Kabalist leads the student away from the right track.

This an Eastern Chela will see at a glance and even one of the profane may see it.For if the Tohu-vah-

bohu is “under ” and the Waters are “above ” then these two are quite distinct from each other and this is

not the case.

The Great Deep -(Page 225)This statement is a very important one inasmuch as it entirely changes the

spirit and nature of Cosmogony and brings it down to a level with exoteric Genesis —gerhaps it was so

stated with an eye to this result.The Tohu-vah-bohu is the “Great Deep ” and is identical with “the Waters

of Chaos,” or the primordial Darkness.By stating the fact otherwise it makes both “the Great Deep ” and

the “Waters ”—which cannot be separated except in the phenomenal world ---limited as to space and

conditioned as to their nature.Thus Éliphas in his desire to conceal the last word of Esoteric Philosophy

fails —whether intentionally or otherwise does not matter —to point out the fundamental principle of the

one true Occult Philosophy namely the unity and absolute homogeneity of the One Eternal Divine

Element and he makes of the Deity a male God.Then he says:

Above the Waters was the powerful Breath of the Elohim [the creative Dhyan Chohans ].

Above the Breath appeared the Light and above the Light the Word ...that created it.

Now the fact is quite the reverse of this:it is the Primeval Light that creates the Word or Logos,Who in

His turn creates physical light.To prove and illustrate what he says he gives the following figure:

Now any Eastern Occultist upon seeing this would not hesitate to pronounce it a “left hand ”magic figure.

It is entirely reversed and it represents the third stage of religious thought that

current in Dvapara Yuga when the one principle is already separated into male

and female and humanity is approaching the fall into materiality (Page 226)

which brings the Kali Yuga.A student of Eastern Occultism would draw it thus:

For the Secret Doctrine teaches us that the reconstruction of the Universe

takes place in this wise:At

the periods of new

generation perpetual

Motion becomes Breath;

from the Breath comes

forth primordial Light

through whose radiance

manifest the Eternal

Thought concealed in

darkness,and this

becomes the Word

(Mantra).[ In the exoteric sense the Mantra (or that psychic faculty or power that conveys perception or

thought)is the older portion of the Vedas the second part of which is composed of the Brāhmanas.In

Esoteric phraseology Mantra is the Word made flesh or rendered objective through divine magic.] It is

That (the Mantra or Word)from which all This (the Universe)sprang into being.

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Further on Éliphas Lévi says:

This [ the concealed Deity ]radiated a ray into the Eternal Essence [ Waters of Space ] and

fructifying thereby the primordial germ the Essence expanded.[The secret meaning of the

word “Brahmā ”is “expansion ”“increase ”or “growth.”]giving birth to the Heavenly Man from

whose mind were born all forms.

The Kabalah states very nearly the same.To learn what it really teaches one has to reverse the order in

which Éliphas Lévi gives it replacing the word “above by that of "in"as there cannot surely be any

"above"or "under"”in the Absolute.This is what he says:

Above the waters the powerful breath of the Elohim;above the Breath the Light;above Light

the Word or the Speech that created it.We see here the spheres of evolution:the soul [?]

driven from the dark centre (Darkness)toward the luminous circumference.At the bottom of

the lowest circle is the Tohu-vah-bohu or the chaos which precedes all manifestation [

Naissances —g eneration ];then the region of Water;then Breath;then Light;and lastly the

Word.

The Chaos of Genesis -(Page 227)The construction of the above sentences shows that the learned

Abbé had a decided tendency to anthropomorphize creation even though the latter has to be shaped out

of preėxisting material as the Zohar shows plainly enough.

This is how the “great ” Western Kabalist gets out of the difficulty:he keeps silent on the first stage of

evolution and imagines a second Chaos.Thus he says:

The Tohu-vah-bohu is the Latin Limbus,or twilight of the morning and evening of life [ Why not

give at once its theological meaning as we find it in Webster?With the Roman Catholics it

means simply “purgatory ” the borderland between heaven and hell (Limb s patrum and

Limb s infant m ),the one for all men whether good bad or indifferent:the other for the souls

of unbaptized children!With the ancients it meant simply that which in Esoteric B ddhism is

called the Kāma Loka between Devachan and Avitchi.] It is in perpetual motion [As Chaos,

the eternal Element not as the Kāma Loka surely?] it decomposes continually [A proof that

by this word Éliphas Lévi means the lowest region of the terrestrial Akasha.] and the work of

putrefaction accelerates,because the world is advancing towards regeneration [Evidently he

is concerned only wiht our periodical world or the terrestrial globe.] .The Tohu-vah-bohu of

the Hebrews is not exactly the confusion of things called Chaos by the Greeks,and which is

found described in the commencement of the Metamorphosis of Ovid;it is something greater

and more profound;it is the foundation of religion it is the philosophical affirmation of the

immateriality of God.

Rather an affirmation of the materiality of a personal God.If a man has to seek his Deity in the Hades of

the ancients —for the Tohu-vah bohu or the Limbus of the Greeks,is the Hall of Hades —then one can

wonder no longer at the accusations brought forward by the Church against the “witches ”and sorcerers

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versed in Western Kabalism that they adored the goat Mendes,or the devil personified by certain

spooks and Elementals.But in face of the task Éliphas Lévi had set before himself —that of reconciling

Jewish Magic with Roman ecclesiasticism —he could say nothing else.

Then he explains the first sentence in Genesis :

Let us put on one side the vulgar translation of the sacred texts and see what is hidden in the

first chapter of Genesis.

He then gives the Hebrew text quite correctly but transliterates it:

Bereschith Bara Eloim uth aschamam ouatti aares ouares ayete Tohu-vah-bohu....Ouimas

Eloim rai avur ouiai aour.

And he then explains:

The first word “Bereschith ”signifies “genesis,”a word equivalent to “nature.” (Page 228)“The

act of generation or production ” we maintain;not “nature.”He then continues:

The phase then is incorrectly translated in the Bible .It is not “in the beginning ”for it should

be at the stage of the generating force .[ In the “reawakening ”of the Forces would be more

correct.]which would thus exclude every idea of the ex-nihilo ....as nothing cannot produce

something.The word “Eloim ”or “Elohim ”signifies the generating Powers and such is the

Occult sense of the first verse ....“Bereschith ”(“nature ”or “genesis ’),“Bara ”(“created ’)

“Eloim ”(“the forces ”)“Athat-ashamaim ”(“heavens ”)“ouath ”and “oaris ”(“the earth ”);that is to

say “The generative potencies created indefinitely (eternally)[ An action which is incessant in

eternity cannot be called “creation;”it is evolution and the eternally or ever —becoming of the

Greek Philosopher and the Hindu Vedantin:it is the Sat and the one Beingness of

Parmenides,or the Being identical with Thought.Now how can the Potencies be said to

“create movement once it is seen movement never had any beginning but existed in the

Eternity?Why not say that the reawakened Potencies transferred motion from the eternal to

the temporal plane of being?Surely this is not Creation.] those forces that are the equilibrated

opposites that we call heaven and earth meaning the space and the bodies,the volatile and

the fixed the movement and the weight.

Now this,if it be correct is too vague to be understood by any one ignorant of the Kabalistic teaching.

Not only are his explanations unsatisfactory and misleading —in his published works they are still worse

—but his Hebrew transliteration is entirely wrong;it precludes the student who would compare it for

himself with the equivalent symbols and numerals of the words and letters of the Hebrew alphabet from

finding anything of that he might have found were the words correctly spelt in the French transliteration.

Compared even with exoteric Hindu Cosmogony the philosophy which Éliphas Lévi gives out as

Kabalistic is simply mystical Roman Catholicism adapted to the Christian Kabalah.His Histoire de la

Magie shows it plainly and reveals also his object which he does not even care to conceal.For while

stating with his Church that

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The Christian religion has imposed silence on the lying oracles of the Gentiles and put an end

to the prestige of the false gods,[ Histoire de la Magie.Int.p.1.]

he promises to prove in his work that the real Sanctum Regnum the great Magic Art is in that Star of

Bethlehem which led the three Magi to adore the Savior of this World.He says:

We will prove that the study of the sacred Pentagram had to lead all the Magi to know the new

name which should be raised above all names,and before which every being capable of

worship has to bend his knees.[ Histoire de la Magic.Int.p.2.]

The Bible of Humanity -(Page 229)This shows that Lévi ’s Kabalah is mystic Christianity and not

Occultism;for Occultism is universal and knows no difference between the “Saviours ” (or great Avatāras)

of the several old nations.Éliphas Lévi was not an exception in preaching Christianity under a disguise of

Kabalism.He was undeniably “the greatest representative of modern Occult Philosophy ” as it is studied

in Roman Catholic countries generally where it is fitted to the preconceptions of Christian students.But

he never taught the real universal Kabalah and least of all did he teach Eastern Occultism.Let the

student compare the Eastern and Western teaching and see whether the philosophy of the Upanishads ”

has yet to attain the ranges of perception ” of this Western system.Everyone has the right to defend the

system he prefers,but in doing this,there is no need to throw slurs upon the system of one ’s brother.

In view of the great resemblance between many of the fundamental “truths ” of Christianity and the

“myths ” of Brāhmanism there have been serious attempts made lately to prove that the Bhagavad Gita

and most of the Brāhamanas and the P rānas are of a far later date than the Mosaic Books and even

than the Gospels.But were it possible that an enforced success should be obtained in this direction such

argument cannot achieve its object since the Rig Veda remains.Brought down to the most modern limits

of the age assigned to it its date cannot be made to overlap that of the Pentate ch which is admittedly

later.

The Orientalists know well that they cannot make away with the landmarks,followed by all subsequent

religions,set up in that “Bible of Humanity ” called the Rig Veda .It is there that at the very dawn of

intellectual humanity were laid the foundation-stones of all the faiths and creeds,of every fane and

church built from first to last;and they are still there.Universal “myths,” personifications of Powers divine

and cosmic,primary and secondary and historical personages of all the now-existing as well as of extinct

religions are to be found in the seven chief Deities and their 330 000 000 correlations of the Rig Veda

and those Seven with the odd millions,are the Rays of the one boundless Unity.

But to THIS can never be offered profane worship.It can only be the “object of the most abstract

meditation which Hindus practice in order to obtain absorption in it.” At the beginning of every “dawn ” of

“Creation ” eternal Light —which is darkness —assumes the aspect of so-called Chaos ” chaos to the

human intellect;the eternal Root to the superhuman or spiritual sense.

(Page 230)“Osiris is a black God.” These were the words pronounced at “low breath ” at Initiation in Egypt

because Osiris Noumenon is darkness to the mortal.In this Chaos are formed the “Waters,” Mother Isis,

Aditi etc.They are the “Waters of Life ” in which primordial germs are created —or rather reawakened —

by the primordial Light.It is Purushottama or the Divine Spirit which in its capacity of Nārāyna the

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Mover on the Waters of Space fructifies and infuses the Breath of life into that germ which becomes the

“Golden Mundane Egg ” in which the male Brahmā is created;[ The Vaishnavas,who regard Vishnu as

the Supreme God and the fashioner of the Universe claim that Brahmā sprang from the navel of Vishnu

the “imperishable ”or rather from the lotus that grew from it.But the word “navel ”here means the Central

point the mathematical symbol of infinitude or Parabrahman the One and the Secondless.] and from

this the first Prajapāti the Lord of Beings,emerges,and becomes the progenitor of mankind.And though

it is not he but the Absolute that is said to contain the Universe in Itself yet it is the duty of the male

Brahmā to manifest it in a visible form.Hence he has to be connected with the procreation of species,

and assumes,like Jehovah and other male Gods in subsequent anthropomorphism a phallic symbol.At

best every such male God the “Father ” of all becomes the “Archetypal Man.” Between him and the

Infinite Deity stretches an abyss.In the theistic religions of personal Gods the latter are degraded from

abstract Forces into physical potencies.The Water of Life —the “Deep ”of Mother Nature —is viewed in its

terrestrial aspect in anthropomorphic religions.Behold how holy it has become by theological magic!It is

held sacred and is deified now as of old in almost every religion.But if Christians use it as a means of

spiritual purification in baptism and prayer;if Hindus pay reverence to their sacred streams,tanks and

rivers;if Pārsi Mahommedan and Christian alike believe in its efficacy surely that element must have

some great and Occult significance.In Occultism it stands for the Fifth Principle of Kosmos,in the lower

septenary:for the whole visible Universe was built by Water say the Kabalists who know the difference

between the two waters —the “Waters of Life ” and those of Salvation —so confused together in dogmatic

religions.The “King-Preacher ”says of himself:

I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem and I gave my heart to seek and search out

by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven.[ Ecclesiastes.i.12.13.]

Speaking of the great work and glory of the Elohim [ It is probably needless to say here what everyone

knows.The translation of the Protestant Bible is not a word for word rendering of the earlier Greek and

Latin Bibles :the sense is very often disfigured and “God ”is put where “Jahve ”and “Elohim ”stand.]—

unified into the “Lord God ”in the English Bible whose garment he tells us,is light and heaven the

curtain —he refers to the builder

Chaos is Theos or Kosmos -

(Page 231)Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters,[ Psalms.civ.2.3.]

that is,the divine Host of the Sephiroth who have constructed the Universe out of the Deep the Waters

of Chaos.Moses and Thales were right in saying that only earth and water can bring forth a living Soul

water being on this plane the principle of all things.Moses was an Initiate Thales a Philosopher -i.e.,a

Scientist for the words were synonymous in his day.

The secret meaning of this is that water and earth stand in the Mosaic Books for the prima materia and

the creative (feminine)Principle on our plane.In Egypt Osiris was Fire and Isis was the Earth or its

synonym Water;the two opposing elements —just because of their opposite properties —being necessary

to each other for a common object;that of procreation.The earth needs solar heat and rain to make her

throw out her germs.But these procreative properties of Fire and Water or Spirit and Matter are symbols

but of physical generation.While the Jewish Kabalists symbolized these elements only in their

application to manifested things,and reverenced them as the emblems for the production of terrestrial

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life the Eastern Philosophy noticed them only as an illusive emanation from their spiritual prototypes,

and no unclean or unholy thought marred its Esoteric religious symbology.

Chaos,as shown elsewhere is Theos,which becomes Kosmos:it is Space the container of everything

in the Universe.As Occult Teachings assert it is called by the Chaldaeans,Egyptians,and every other

nation Tohu-vah-bohu or Chaos,Confusion because Space is the great storehouse of Creation whence

proceed not forms alone but also ideas,which could receive their expression only through the Logos,the

Word Verbum or Sound.

The n mbers 1,2,3,4 are the successive emanations from Mother [Space ] as she forms running

downward her garment,spreading it pon the seven steps of Creation.[ To avoid misunderstanding of the

word “creation ” so often used by us,the remarks of the author of Thro gh the Gates of Gold may be

quoted owing to their clearness and simplicity.“The words ‘to create ’ are often understood by the

ordinary mind to convey the idea of evolving something out of nothing.This is clearly not its meaning.We

are mentally obliged to provide our Creator with chaos from which to produce the worlds.The tiller of the

soil who is the typical producer of social life must have his material:his earth his sky rain and sun and

the seeds to place within the earth.Out of nothing he can produce nothing.Out of a void nature cannot

arise:there is that material beyond behind or within from which she is shaped by our desire for a

Universe.” (P.72)] The roller ret rns pon itself,as one end joins the other (Page 232)in infinit de,and

the n mbers 4,3,and 2 are displayed,as it is the only side of the veil that we can perceive,the first

n mber being lost in its inaccessible solit de.

....Father,which is Bo ndless Time,generates Mother,which is infinite Space,in Eternity;and Mother

generates Father in Manvantaras,which are divisions of d rations,that Day when that world becomes

one ocean.Then the Mother becomes Nārā [Waters —the Great Deep ] for Nara [ the S preme Spirit ] to

rest —or move —upon,when,it is said,that 1,2,3,4 descend and abide in the world of the nseen,while

the 4,3,2,become the limits in the visible world to deal with the manifestations of Father [Time ].

[ Commentary on Stanza ix.on Cycles .]

This relates to the Mahāyugas which in figures become 432 and with the addition of noughts,4 320.000.

Now it is surpassingly strange if it be a mere coincidence that the numerical value of Tohu-vah-bohu or

“Chaos ” in the Bible —which Chaos,of course is the “Mother ” Deep or the Waters of Space —should

yield the same figures.For this is what is found in a Kabalist manuscript:

It is said of the Heavens and the Earth in the second verse of Genesis that they were “Chaos

and Confusion ”—that is,they were “Tohu-vah-bohu;” “and darkness was upon the face of the

deep.” i.e.,“the perfect material out of which construction was to be made lacked

organization.” The order of the digits of these words as they stand —i .e.,[ Or read from right to

left the letters and their corresponding numerals stand thus:“t ” 4:“h.” 5:“bh ”2:“v ” 6:“v ”6:

“h ”5:“”v ”or “w ”6:which yields “thuvbhu ” 4566256 or “Tohu-vah-bohu.”]the letters

rendered by their numerical value —is 6 526 654 and 2 386.By art speech these are key-

working numbers loosely shuffled together the germs and keys of construction but to be

recognized one by one as used and required.They follow symmetrically in the work as

immediately following the first sentence of grand enunciation:“In Rash developed itself Gods,

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the heavens and the earth.”

Multiply the numbers of the letters of “Tohu-vah-bohu ”together continuously from right to left

placing the consecutive single products as we go and we will have the following series of

values,viz.,(a)30 60 360 2 160 10 800 43 200 or as by the characterizing digits;3 6 36

216 108 and 432;(b)20 120 720 1 440 7 200 or 2 12 72 144 72 432 the series

closing in 432 one of the most famous numbers of antiquity and which though obscured

crops out in the chronology up to the Flood.[ Mr.Ralston Skinner ’s MSS.]

One Hundred and Eight -(Page 233)This shows that the Hebrew usage of play upon the numbers must

have come to the Jews from India.As we have seen the final series yields,besides many another

combination the figures 108 and 1008 —the number of the names of Vishnu whence the 108 grains of

the Yogi ’s rosary —and close with 432 the truly “famous ” number in Indian and Chaldaean antiquity

appearing in the cycle of 4 320 000 years in the former and in the 432 000 years,the duration of the

Chaldaean divine dynasties.

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SECTION XXVI

The Idols and the Teraphim

(Page 234)THE meaning of the “fairy-tale ”told by the Chaldaean Qū-Tāmy is easily understood.His

mod s operandi with the “idol of the moon ”was that of all the Semites before Terah Abraham ’s father

made images —the Teraphim,called after him —or the “chosen people ”of Israel ceased divining by them.

These teraphim were just as much “idols ”as in any pagan image or statue.[ That the teraphim was a

statue and no small article either is shown in Sam el xix.where Michal takes a teraphim (“image ” as it

is translated)and puts it in bed to represent David her husband who ran away from Saul (see verse 13

et seq.)It was thus of the size and shape of a human figure — a statue or real idol .] The injunction “Thou

shalt not bow to a graven image ”or teraphim must have either come at a later date or have been

disregarded since the bowing-down to and the divining by the teraphim seems to have been so orthodox

and general that the “Lord ”actually threatens the Israelites,through Hosea to deprive them of their

teraphim.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king ...without a sacrifice and

without an image.

Matzebah or statue or pillar is explained in the Bible to mean “without an ephod and without teraphim.”

[ Op.cit.,iii..4.]

Father Kircher supports very strongly the idea that the statue of the Egyptian Serapis was identical in

every way with those of the seraphim or teraphim in the temple of Solomon.Says Louis de Dieu:

They were perhaps,images of angels,or statues dedicated to the angels,the presence of

one of these spirits being thus attracted into a teraphim and answering the inquirers

[consultants ] ;and even in this hypothesis the word “teraphim ”would become the equivalent of

“seraphim ”by changing the “t ”into “s ”in the manner of the Syrians.[Louis de Dieu Genesis,

XXI.19.See de Mirville iii.257 .]

Divining By Teraphim -(Page 235)What says the Sept agint?The teraphim are translated successively

by åéäłėį —forms in someone ’s likeness;eidolon an “astral body;”ćėõšōį —the sculptured;źåķļōįöéį —

sculptures in the sense of containing something hidden or receptacles;öēėļõņ.—

manifestations;įėēöåéįņ.truths or realities;ģóńöłģįōį.or öłōéóģļéņ.—luminous,shining likenesses.

The latter expression shows plainly what the teraphim were.The V lgate translates the term by

“annuntientes,”the “messengers who announce ”and it thus becomes certain that the teraphim were the

oracles.They were the animated statues,the Gods who revealed themselves to the masses through the

Initiated Priests and Adepts in the Egyptian Chaldaean Greek,and other temples.

As to the way of divining or learning one ’s fate and of being instructed by the teraphim [“The teraphim

of Abram ’s father Terah the ‘maker of images,’ were the Kabeiri Gods,and we see them worshipped by

Micah by the Danites,and others.(Judges xvii.xviii etc)Teraphim were identical with seraphim and

these were serpent images,the origin of which is in the Sanskrit ‘Sarpa ’ (the ‘serpent ’)a symbol sacred

to all the deities as a symbol of immortality.Kiyun or the God Kivan worshipped by the Hebrews in the

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wilderness,is Shiva the Hindu Saturn.(The Zendic ‘h ’ is ‘s ’ in India;thus,‘Hapta ’ is ‘Sapta:’ ‘Hindu ’ is

‘Sindhaya.’ (A.Wilder).“The “s ”continually softens to “h ”from Greece to Calcutta from the Caucasus to

Egypt ’ says Dunlap.Therefore the letters ‘k ’ ‘h ’ and ‘s ’ are interchangeable.The Greek story shows that

Dardanus,the Arcadian having received them as a dowry carried them to Samothrace and thence to

Troy:and they were worshipped long before the days of glory of Tyre or Sidon though the former had

been built 2760 B.C.From where did Dardanus derive them?”Isis Unveiled.1.570.] it is explained quite

plainly by Maimonides and Seldenus.The former says:

The worshippers of the teraphim claimed that the light of the principal stars [planets ]

penetrating into and filling the carved statue through and through the angelic virtue [of the

regents,or animating principle in the planets ]conversed with them teaching them many most

useful arts and sciences.[ Maimon.More Nevochim,III.xxx .]

In his turn Seldenus explains the same adding that the teraphim [ Those dedicated to the sun were

made in gold and those to the moon in silver.] were built and fashioned in accordance with the position

of their respective planets,each of the teraphim being consecrated to a special “star-angel ”those that

the Greeks called stoichae as also according to figures located in the sky and called the “tutelary Gods ” :

Those who traced out the óōļé÷åéį.were called óōļé÷åéłģįōéźļé.[ or the diviners by the planets ]

and the óōļé÷åéį.[ De Diis Syriis,Teraph,11.Syat.p.31.]

Ammianus Marcellinus states that the ancient divinations were always (Page 236)accomplished with the

help of the “spirits ”of the elements (spiritus elementorum),or as they were called in Greek ēķåķģįōį ōłķ

ļōļé÷åéłķ.Now the latter are not the “spirits ” of the stars (planets),nor are they divine Beings;they are

simply the creatures inhabiting their respective elements,called by the Kabalists elementary spirits,and

by the Theosophists elementals.[ Those that the Kabalists call elementary spirits are sylphs,gnomes,

undines and salamanders,nature-spirits in short.The spirits of the angels formed a distinct class.]

Father Kircher the Jesuit tells the reader:

Every god had such instruments of divination to speak through.Each had his speciality.

Serapis gave instruction on agriculture;Anubis taught sciences;Horus advised upon psychic and spiritual

matters;Isis was consulted on the rising of the Nile and so on.[OEdip s.ii.444 ].

This historical fact furnished by one of the ablest and most erudite among the Jesuits,is unfortunate for

the prestige of the “Lord God of Israel ”with regard to his claims to priority and to his being the one living

God.Jehovah on the admission of the Old Testament itself conversed with his elect in no other way

and this places him on a par with every other Pagan God even of the inferior classes.In Judges xvii.

we read of Micah having an ephod and a teraphim fabricated and consecrating them to Jehovah (see

the Sept agint and the V lgate );these objects were made by a founder from the two hundred shekels of

silver given to him by his mother.True King James ’ “Holy Bible ”explains this little bit of idolatry by

saying:

In those days there was no king in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own

eyes.

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Yet the act must have been orthodox since Micah after hiring a priest a diviner for his ephod and

teraphim declares:“Now know I that the Lord will do me good.” And if Micah ’s act —who

Had an house of Gods,and made an ephod and teraphim and consecrated one of his sons

to their service as also to that of the “graven image ”dedicated “unto the Lord ”by his mother —now

seems prejudicial it was not so in those days of one religion and one lip.How can the Latin Church

blame the act since Kircher one of her best writers,calls the teraphim “the holy instruments of primitive

revelations;” since Genesis shows us Rebecca going “to enquire of the Lord ”[ Op.cit.,xxv.22 et seq.]

and the Lord answering her (certainly through his teraphim),and delivering to her several prophecies?

Jehovah and Teraphim -(Page 237)And if this be not sufficient there is Saul who deplores the silence

of the ephod [The ephod was a linen garment worn by the high priest but as the thummim was

attached to it the entire paraphernalia of divination was often comprised in that single word ephod.See I

Sam .xxviii.6 and xxx.7.8.] and David who consults the thummim and receives oral advice from the

Lord as to the best way of killing his enemies.

The thumim and urim however —the object in our days of so much conjecture and speculation —was not

an invention of the Jews,nor had it originated with them despite the minute instruction given about it by

Jehovah to Moses.For the priest-hierophant of the Egyptian temples wore a breastplate of precious

stones,in every way similar to that of the high priest of the Israelites.

The high-priests of Egypt wore suspended on their necks an image of saphire called Truth

the manifestation of truth becoming evident in it.

Seldenus is not the only Christian writer who assimilates the Jewish to the Pagan teraphim and

expressed a conviction that the former had borrowed them from the Egyptians.Moreover we are told by

Döllinger a preeminently Roman Catholic writer:

The teraphim were used and remained in many Jewish families to the days of Josiah.

[Paganism and Judaism,iv.I 97 ] .

As to the personal opinion of Döllinger a papist and of Seldenus,a Protestant —both of whom trace

Jehovah in the teraphim of the Jews and “evil spirits ”in those of the Pagans —it is the usual one-sided

judgment of odi m theologicum and sectarianism.Seldenus is right however in arguing that in the days

of old all such modes of communication had been primarily established for purposes of divine and

angelic communications only.But

The holy Spirit [spirits,rather ]spake [not ] to the children of Israel [alone ] by urim and

thummim,while the tabernacle remained

as Dr.A.Cruden would have people believe.Nor had the Jews alone need of a “tabernacle ”for such a

kind of theophanic,or divine communication;for no Bath-Kol (or “Daughter of the divine Voice ”),called

thummim could be heard whether by Jew Pagan or Christian were there not a fit tabernacle for it.The

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“tabernacle ”was simply the archaic telephone of those days of Magic when Occult powers were acquired

by Initiation just as they are now.The nineteenth century (Page 238)has replaced with an electric

telephone the “tabernacle ”of specified metals,wood and special arrangements and has natural

mediums instead of high priests and hierophants.Why should people wonder then that instead of

reaching Planetary Spirits and Gods,believers should now communicate with no greater beings than

elementals and animated shells -the demons of Porphyry?Who these were he tells us candidly in his

work On the Good and Bad Demons :

They whose ambition is to be taken for Gods,and whose leader demands to be recognized as

the Supreme God.

Mmost decidedly —and it is not the Theosophists who will ever deny the fact —there are good as well as

bad spirits beneficent and malevolent “Gods ”in all ages.The whole trouble was and still is,to know

which is which.And this,we maintain the Christian Church knows no more than her profane flock.If

anything proves this,it is,most decidedly the numberless theological blunders made in this direction.It is

idle to call the Gods of the heathen “devils,”and then to copy their symbols in such a servile manner

enforcing the distinction between the good and the bad with no weightier proof than that they are

respectively Christian and Pagan.The planets —the elements of the Zodiac —have not figured only at

Heliopolis as the twelve stones called the “mysteries of the elements ” (elementorum arcana).On the

authority of many an orthodox Christian writer they were found also in Solomon ’s temple and may be

seen to this day in several old Italian churches,and even in Notre Dame of Paris.

One would really say that the warning in Clement ’s Stromateis has been given in vain though he is

supposed to quote words pronounced by St.Peter.He says:

Do not adore God as the Jews do who think they are the only ones to know Deity and fail to

perceive that instead of God they are worshipping angels,the lunar months,and the moon.

[Op cit.,I.vi.5.]

Who after reading the above can fail to feel surprise that notwithstanding such understanding of the

Jewish mistake the Christians are still worshipping the Jewish Jehovah the Spirit who spoke through his

teraphim!That this is so and that Jehovah was simply the “tutelary genius,” or spirit of the people of

Israel -only one of the pneuma ton stoicheion (or “great spirits of the elements ”),not even a high

“Planetary ”—is demonstrated on the authority of St.Paul and of Clemens Alexandrinus,if the words they

use have any meaning.

Idol of the Moon -(Page 239 )With the latter the word óōļé÷åéį signifies not only elements,but also

Generative cosmological principles,and notably the signs [or constellations ] of the Zodiac,of

the months,days the sun and the moon.[Disco rse to the Gentiles,p.I46.]

The expression is used by Aristotle in the same sense.He says,ōłķ įóōńłķ óōļé÷åéį.[De Gener.,III.iv .]

while Diogenes Laertius calls äłäåźį óōļé÷åéį.the twelve signs of the Zodiac.[See Cosmos by Ménage

I.vi.p 101.] Now having the positive evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus to the effect that

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Ancient divination was always accompanied with the help of the spirits of the elements,

or the same šķåįģįōį ōłķ óōļé÷åéłķ.and seeing in the Bible numerous passages that (a)the Israelites,

including Saul and David resorted to the same divination and used the same means;and (b)that it was

their “Lord ”—namely Jehovah —who answered them what else can we believe Jehovah to be than a

“spiritus elementorum ”?

Hence one sees no great difference between the “idol of the moon ”—the Chaldaean teraphim through

which spoke Saturn —and the idol or urim and thummim the organ of Jehovah.Occult rites,scientific at

the beginning —and forming the most solemn and sacred of sciences —have fallen through the

degeneration of mankind into Sorcery now called “superstition.”As Diogenes explains in his History :

The Kaldhi having made long observations on the planets and knowing better than anyone

else the meaning of their motions and their influences,predict to people their futurity.They

regard their doctrine of the five great orbs —which they call interpreters,and we planets —as

the most important.And though they allege that it is the sun that furnishes them with most of

the predictions for great forthcoming events,yet they worship more particularly Saturn.Such

predictions made to a number of kings,especially to Alexander Antigonus,Seleucus,Nicanor

etc....have been so marvellously realised that people were struck with admiration.[Op Cit.,

I .ii.]

It follows from the above that the declaration made by Qū-tāmy the Chaldean Adept —to the effect that all

that he means to impart in his work to the profane had been told by Saturn to the moon by the latter to

her idol and by that idol or teraphim to himself the scribe —no more implied idolatry than did the

practice of the same method by King (Page 240)David.One fails to perceive in it therefore either an

apocrypha or a “fairy-tale.”The above-named Chaldaean Initiate lived at a period far anterior to that

ascribed to Moses in whose day the Sacred Science of the sanctuary was still in a flourishing condition.

It began to decline only when such scoffers as Lucian had been admitted and the pearls of the Occult

Science had been too often thrown to the hungry dogs of criticism and ignorance.

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SECTION XXVII

Egyptian Magic

(Page 241)FEW of our students of Occultism have had the opportunity of examining Egyptian papyri —

those living or rather re-arisen witnesses that Magic,good and bad was practised many thousands of

years back into the night of time.The use of the papyrus prevailed up to the eighth century of our era

when it was given up and its fabrication fell into disuse.The most curious of the exhumed documents

were immediately purchased and taken away from the country.Yet there are a number of beautifully-

preserved papyri at Bulak,Cairo though the greater number have never been yet properly read.[ “The

characters employed on those parchments,” writes De Mirville “ are sometimes hieroglyphics,placed

perpendicularly a kind of lineary tachygraphy (abridged characters),where the image is often reduced to

a single stroke;at other times placed in horizontal lines;then the hieratic or sacred writing going from

right to left as in all Semitic languages;lastly the characters of the country used for official documents,

mostly contracts,etc.but which since the Ptolemies has been also adopted for the monuments.” [v.81.

80.A copy of the Harris papyrus translated by Chabas-Papyrus Magiq e -may be studied at the British

Museum.]

Others —those that have been carried away and may be found in the museums and public libraries of

Europe —have fared no better.In the days of the Vicomte de Rougé some twenty-five years ago only a

few of them “were two-thirds deciphered;” and among those some most interesting legends,inserted

parenthetically and for purposes of explaining royal expenses,are in the Register of the Sacred

Accounts.

This may be verified in the so-called “Harris ” and Anastasi collections,and in some papyri recently

exhumed;one of these gives an account of a whole series of magic feats performed before the Pharaohs

Ramses II and III.A curious document the first-mentioned truly.It is a papyrus of the fifteenth century

B.C.written during the reign of Ramses V.the last king of the eighteenth dynasty and is the work of the

scribe Thoutmes,who notes down some of the events with (Page 242)regard to defaulters occurring on

the twelfth and thirteenth days of the month of Paophs.The document shows that in those days of

“miracles ” in Egypt the taxpayers were not found among the living alone but every mummy was

included.All and everything was taxed;and the Khou of the mummy in default was punished “by the

priest-exorciser who deprived it of the liberty of action.”Now what was the Khou?Simply the astral body

or the aerial simulacrum of the corpse or the mummy —that which in China is called the Hauen and in

India the Bhūt.

Upon reading this papyrus today an Orientalist is pretty sure to fling it aside in disgust attributing the

whole affair to the crass superstition of the ancients.Truly phenomenal and inexplicable must have been

the dullness and credulity of that otherwise highly philosophical and civilized nation if it could carry on for

so many consecutive ages,for thousands of years such a system of mutual deception!A system

whereby the people were deceived by the priests,the priests by their King-Hierophants,and the latter

themselves were cheated by the ghosts,which were in their turn but “the fruits of hallucination.” The

whole of antiquity from Menes to Cleopatra from Manu to Vikramaditya from Orpheus down to the last

Roman augur were hysterical we are told.This must have been so if the whole were not a system of

fraud.Life and death were guided by and were under the sway of sacred “conjuring.” For there is hardly

a papyrus,though it be a simple document of purchase and sale a deed belonging to daily transactions

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of the most ordinary kind and that has not Magic,white or black,mixed up in it.It looks as though the

sacred scribes of the Nile had purposely and in a prophetic spirit of race-hatred carried out the (to them)

most unprofitable task of deceiving and puzzling the generations of a future white race of unbelievers yet

unborn!Anyhow the papyri are full of Magic,as are likewise the stelae.We learn moreover that the

papyrus was not merely a smooth-surfaced parchment a fabric made of

Ligneous matter from a shrub the pellicles of which superposed one over the other formed a

kind of writing paper;

but that the shrub itself the implements and tools for fabricating the parchment etc.were all previously

subjected to a process of magical preparation —according to the ordinance of the Gods,who had taught

that art as they had all others,to their Priest-Hierophants.

There are however some modern Orientalists who seem to have an inkling of the true nature of such

things,and especially of the analogy and the relations that exist between the Magic of old and our

modern-day phenomena.

Evidence of Papyri -

(Page 243)Chabas is one of these for he indulges,in his translation of the “Harris ” papyrus,in the

following reflections:

Without having recourse to the imposing ceremonies of the wand of Hermes,or to the obscure

formulae of an unfathomable mysticism a mesmeriser in our own day will by means of a few

passes,disturb the organic faculties of a subject inculcate the knowledge of a foreign

language transport him to a far-distant country or into secret places,make him guess the

thoughts of those absent read in closed letters,etc....The antre of the modern sybil is a

modest-looking room the tripod has made room for a small round table a hat a plate a piece

of furniture of the most vulgar kind;only the latter is even superior to the oracle of antiquity

[how does M.Chabas know?] ,inasmuch as the latter only spoke [ And what of the “Mene

mene tekel upharsin ”the words that “the fingers of a man ’s hand ” whose body and arm

remained invisible wrote on the walls of Belshazzar ’s palace?(Daniel.v.)What of the writings

of Simon the Magician and the magic characters on the walls and in the air of the crypts of

Initiation without mentioning the tables of stone on which the finger of God wrote the

commandments?Between the writing of one God and other Gods the difference if any lies

only in their respective natures;and if the tree is to be known by its fruits,then preference

would have to be given always to the Pagan Gods.It is the immortal “To be or not to be.”

Either all of them are -or at any rate may be -true or all are surely pious frauds and the

result of credulity.] while the oracle of our day writes its answers.At the command of the

medium the spirits of the dead descend to make the furniture creak,and the authors of bygone

centuries deliver to us works written by them beyond the grave.Human credulity has no

narrower limits today than it had at the dawn of historical times ....As teratology is an

essential part of general physiology now so the pretended Occult Sciences occupy in the

annals of humanity a place which is not without its importance and deserve for more than one

reason the attention of the philosopher and the historian.[ Papyrus Magiq e.p.186.]

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Selecting the two Champollions,Lenormand Bunsen Victomte de Rougé and several other

Egyptologists to serve as our witnesses,let us see what they say of Egyptian Magic and Sorcery.They

may get out of the difficulty by accounting for each “superstitious belief ” and practice by attributing them

to a chronic psychological and physiological derangement and to collective hysteria if they like;still facts

are there staring us in the face from the hundreds of these mysterious papyri exhumed after a rest of

four five and more thousands of years with their magical containments and evidence of antediluvian

Magic.

A small library found in Thebes,has furnished fragments of every kind of ancient literature many of

which are dated and several of which have thus been assigned to the accepted age of Moses.Books or

manuscripts on ethics,history religion and medicine calendars and (Page 244)registers,poems and

novels —everything —may be had in that precious collection;and old legends -traditions of long forgotten

ages (please to remark this:legends recorded during the Mosaic period)—are already referred to therein

as belonging to an immense antiquity to the period of the dynasties of Gods and Giants.Their chief

contents,however are formulae of exorcisms against black Magic,and funeral rituals:true breviaries,or

the vade mecum of every pilgrim-traveller in eternity.These funeral texts are generally written in hieratic

characters.At the head of the papyrus is invariably placed a series of scenes,showing the defunct

appearing before a host of Deities successively who have to examine him.Then comes the judgement of

the Soul while the third act begins with the launching of that Soul into the divine light.Such papyri are

often forty feet long.[ See Maspero ’s G ide to the B lah Muse m,among others.]

The following is extracted from general descriptions.It will show how the moderns understand and

interpret Egyptian (and other)Symbology.

The papyrus of the priest Nevo-loo (or Nevolen),at the Louvre may be selected for one case.First of all

there is the bark carrying the coffin a black chest containing the defunct ’s mummy.His mother

Ammenbem-Heb and his sister Hooissanoob are near;at the head and feet of the corpse stand

Nephtys and Isis clothed in red and near them a priest of Osiris clad in his panther ’s skin his censer in

his right hand and four assistants carrying the mummy ’s intestines.The coffin is received by the God

Anubis (of the jackal ’s head),from the hands of female weepers.Then the Soul rises from its mummy

and the Khou (astral body)of the defunct.The former begins its worship of the four genii of the East of

the sacred birds,and of Ammon as a ram.Brought into the “Palace of Truth ” the defunct is before his

judges.While the Soul a scarabaeus,stands in the presence of Osiris,his astral Khou is at the door.

Much laughter is provoked in the West by the invocations to various Deities,presiding over each of the

limbs of the mummy and of the living human body.Only judge:in the papyrus of the mummy

Petamenoph “the anatomy becomes theographical ” “astrology is applied to physiology ” or rather “to the

anatomy of the human body the heart and the soul.” The defunct ’s “hair belongs to the Nile his eyes to

Venus (Isis),his ears to Macedo the guardian of the tropics;his nose to Anubis,his left temple to the

Spirit dwelling in the sun ....What a series of intolerable absurdities and ignoble prayers ....to Osiris,

imploring him to give the defunct in the other world geese eggs,pork,etc.” [ De Mirville (from whom

much of the preceding is taken).v 8I 85 ]

Symbols and Their Reading -(Page 245)It might have been prudent perhaps,to have waited to

ascertain whether all these terms of “geese eggs,and pork ”had not some other Occult meaning.The

Indian Yogi who in an exoteric work is invited to drink a certain intoxicating liquor till he loses his senses,

was also regarded as a drunkard representing his sect and class,until it was found that the Esoteric

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sense of that “spirit ” was quite different;that it meant divine light and stood for the ambrosia of Secret

Wisdom.

The symbols of the dove and the lamb which abound now in Eastern and Western Christian Churches

may also be exhumed long ages hence and speculated upon as objects of present-day worship.And

then some “Occidentalist ” in the forthcoming ages of high Asiatic civilization and learning may write

karmically upon the same as follows:“The ignorant and superstitious Gnostics and Agnostics of the sects

of ‘Pope ’ and ‘Calvin ’ (the two monster Gods of the Dynamite-Christian period)adored a pigeon and a

sheep!” There will be portable hand-fetishes in all and every age for the satisfaction and reverence of the

rabble and the Gods of one race will always be degraded into devils by the next one.The cycles revolve

within the depths of Lethe and Karma shall reach Europe as it has Asia and her religions.

Nevertheless,

This grand and dignified language [in the Book of the Dead ] these pictures full of majesty this

orthodoxy of the whole evidently proving a very precise doctrine concerning the immortality of

the soul and its personal survival

as shown by De Rougé and Abbe Van Drival have charmed some Orientalists.The psychostasy (or

judgment of the Soul)is certainly a whole poem to him who can read it correctly and interpret the images

therein.In that picture we see Osiris,the horned with his sceptre hooked at the end —the original of the

pastoral bishop ’s crook or crosier —the Soul hovering above encouraged by Tmei daughter of the Sun of

Righteousness and Goddess of Mercy and Justice;Horus and Anubis,weighing the deeds of the soul.

One of these papyri shows the Soul found guilty of gluttony sentenced to be re-born on earth as a hog;

forthwith comes the learned conclusion of an Orientalist (Page 246)“This is an indisputable proof of belief

in metempsychosis of transmigration into animals ” etc.

Perchance the Occult law of Karma might explain the sentence otherwise.It may for all our Orientalists

know refer to the physiological vice in store for the Soul when re-incarnated — a vice that will lead that

personality into a thousand and one scrapes and mis-adventures.

Tortures to begin with then metempsychosis d ring 3 000 years as a hawk,an angel a lotus-

flower a heron a stork,a swallow a serpent and a crocodile:one sees that the consolation of

such a progress was far from being satisfactory.

argues De Mirville in his work on the Satanic character of the Gods of Egypt.[See De Mirville.v.84 85 .]

Again a simple suggestion may throw on this a great light.Are the Orientalists quite sure they have read

correctly the “metempsychosis during 3 000 years ” ?The Occult Doctrine teaches that Karma waits at the

threshold of Devachan (the Amenti of the Egyptians)for 3 000 years;that then the eternal Ego is

reincarnated de novo to be punished in its new temporary personality for sins committed in the

preceding birth and the suffering for which in one shape or another will atone for past misdeeds.And the

hawk the lotus-flower the heron serpent or bird —every object in Nature in short —had its symbolical

and manifold meaning in ancient religious emblems.The man who all his life acted hypocritically and

passed for a good man but had been in sober reality watching like a bird of prey his chance to pounce

upon his fellow creatures,and had deprived them of their property will be sentenced by Karma to bear

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the punishment for hypocrisy and covetousness in a future life.What will it be?Since every human unit

has ultimately to progress in its evolution and since that “man ”will be reborn at some future time as a

good sincere well-meaning man his sentence to be re-incarnated as a hawk may simply mean that he

will be regarded metaphorically as such.That notwithstanding his real good intrinsic qualities,he will

perhaps during a long life be unjustly and falsely charged with and suspected of greed and hypocrisy

and of secret exactions,all of which will make him suffer more than he can bear.The law of retribution

can never err and yet how many such innocent victims of false appearance and human malice do we not

meet in this world of incessant illusion of mistakes and deliberate wickedness.We see them every day

and they may be found within the personal experience of each of us.

Rebirth and Transmigration -(Page 247)What Orientalist can say with any degree of assurance that he

has understood the religions of old?The metaphorical language of the priests has never been more than

superficially revealed and the hieroglyphics have been very poorly mastered to this day.[ One sees this

difficulty arise even with a perfectly known language like Sanskrit the meaning of which is far easier to

comprehend than the hieratic writings of Egypt.Everyone knows how hopelessly the Sanskritists are

often puzzled over the real meaning and how they fail in rendering the meaning correctly in their

respective translations,in which one Orientalist contradicts the other.

What says Isis Unveiled on this question of Egyptian rebirth and transmigration and does it clash with

anything that we say now?

It will be observed that this philosophy of cycles which was allegorized by the Egyptian

Hierophants in the “cycle of necessity ” explains at the same time the allegory of the “Fall of

Man ”According to the Arabian descriptions,each of the seven chambers of the pyramids —

those grandest of all cosmic symbols —was known by the name of a planet.The peculiar

architecture of the pyramids shows in itself the drift of the metaphysical thought of their

builders.The apex is lost in the clear blue sky of the land of the Pharaohs,and typifies the

primordial point lost in the unseen Universe from whence started the first race of the spiritual

prototypes of man.Each mummy from the moment that it was embalmed lost its physical

individuality in one sense:it symbolised the human race.Placed in such a way as was best

calculated to aid the exit of the “Soul ”the latter had to pass through the seven planetary

chambers before it made its exit through the symbolical apex.Each chamber typified at the

same time one of the seven spheres [ of our Chain ] and one of the seven higher types of

physico-spiritual humanity alleged to be above our own.Every 3000 years the soul

representative of its race had to return to its primal point of departure before it underwent

another evolution into a more perfected spiritual and physical transformation.We must go

deep indeed into the abstruse metaphysics of Oriental mysticism before we can realise fully

the infinitude of the subjects that were embraced at one sweep by the majestic thought of its

exponents.[Op.cit.,i.297.]

This is all Magic when once the details are given;and it relates at the same time to the evolution of our

seven Root-Races,each with the characteristics of its special guardian or “God ”and his Planet.The

astral body of each Initiate after death had to reenact in its funeral mystery the drama of the birth and

death of each Race —the past and the future —and pass through the seven “planetary chambers,” which

as said above typified also the seven spheres of our Chain.

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The mystic doctrine of Eastern Occultism teaches that

“The Spirit al Ego [not the astral Kho ] has to revisit,before it incarnates into a new body,the scenes it

left at its last disincarnation.It (Page 248)has to see for itself and take cognizance of all the effects

prod ced by the ca ses [the Nidānas ] generated by its actions in a previo s life;that,seeing,it sho ld

recognize the j stice of the decree,and help the law of Retrib tion [Karma ] instead of impeding it.[ Book

II.Commentary.]

The translations by Vicomte de Rougé of several Egyptian papyri imperfect as they may be give us one

advantage:they show undeniably the presence in them of white divine Magic,as well as of Sorcery and

the practice of both throughout all the dynasties.The Book of the Dead,far older than Genesis [Bunsen

and Champollion so declare and Dr.Carpenter says that the Book of the Dead,sculptured on the oldest

monuments,with “the very phrases we find in the New Testament in connection with the Day of

Judgment ...was engraved probably 2 000 years before the time of Christ.”(See Isis Unveiled i.518.)]

or any other book of the Old Testament shows it in every line.It is full of incessant prayers and

exorcisms against the Black Art.Therein Osiris is the conquerer of the “aerial demons.”The worshipper

implores his help against Matat “from whose eye proceeds the invisible arrow.” This “invisible arrow ”that

proceeds from the eye of the Sorcerer (whether living or dead)and that “circulates throughout the world ”

is the evil eye —cosmic in its origin terrestrial in its effects on the microcosmical plane.It is not the Latin

Christians whom it behoves to view this as a superstition.Their Church indulges in the same belief and

had even a prayer against the “arrow circulating in darkness.”

The most interesting of all those documents,however is the “Harris ”papyrus,called in France “le

papyrus magiq e de Chabas,”as it was first translated by the latter.It is a manuscript written in hieratic

characters,translated commented upon and published in 1860 by M.Chabas,but purchased at Thebes

in 1855 by Mr.Harris.Its age is given at between twenty-eight and thirty centuries.We quote a few

extracts from these translations:

Calendar of lucky and unlucky days ...He who makes a bull work on the 20 th of the month of

Pharmuths will surely die;he who on the 24 th day of the same month pronounces the name of

Seth aloud will see trouble reigning in his house from that day;....he who on the 5 th day of

Patchous leaves his house falls sick and dies.

Exclaims the translator whose cultured instincts are revolted:

If one had not these words under our eyes,one could never believe in such servitude at the

epoch of the Ramessides.[ De Mirville v.88.Just such a calendar and horoscope interdictions

exist in India in our day as well as in China and all the Buddhist countries.]

The Egyptian Khous -(Page 249)We belong to the nineteenth century of the Christian era and are

therefore at the height of civilization and under the benign sway and enlightening influence of the

Christian Church instead of being subject to Pagan Gods of old.Nevertheless we personally know

dozens,and have heard of hundreds,of educated highly-intellectual persons who would as soon think of

committing suicide as of starting on any business on a Friday of dining at a table where thirteen sit down

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or of beginning a long journey on a Monday.Napoleon the Great became pale when he saw three

candles lit on a table.Moreover we may gladly concur with De Mirville in this,at any rate that such

“superstitions ” are “the outcome of observation and experience.” If the former had never agreed with

facts,the authority of the Calendar,he thinks,would not have lasted for a week.But to resume:

Genethliacal infl ences :The child born on the 5 th day of Paophi will be killed by a bull;on the

27 th by a serpent.Born on the 4 th of the month of Athyr he will succumb to blows.

This is a question of horoscopic predictions;judiciary astrology is firmly believed in in our own age and

has been proven to be scientifically possible by Kepler.

Of the Khous two kinds were distinguished:first the justified Khous,i.e.,those who had been absolved

from sin by Osiris when they were brought before his tribunal;these lived a second life.Secondly here

were the guilty Khous,“the Khous dead a second time;” these were the damned.Second death did not

annihilate them but they were doomed to wander about and to torture people.Their existence had

phases analogous to those of the living man a bond so intimate between the dead and the living that one

sees how the observation of religious funeral rites and exorcisms and prayers (or rather magic

incantations)should have become necessary.[See De Mirville.iii.65 ] .Says one prayer:

Do not permit that the venom should master his limbs [of the defunct ] ,...that he should be

penetrated by any male dead or any female dead;or that the shadow of any spirit should

haunt him (or her).”

M.Chabas adds:

These Khous were beings of that kind to which human beings belong after their death;they

were exorcised in the name of the god Chons ....The Manes then could enter the bodies of

the living haunt and obsess the formulae and talismans,and especially statues or divine

fig res were used against such formidable invasions.[ Ibid.p.168 ].They were combatted by

the help of the divine power the god (Page 250)Chons being famed for such deliverances.The

Khou in obeying the order of the god none the less preserved the precious faculty inherent in

him of accommodating himself in any other body at will.

The most frequent formula of exorcism is as follows.It is very suggestive;

Men gods,elect dead spirits,amous,negroes,menti-u do not look at this soul to show

cruelty toward it.

This is addressed to all who were acquainted with Magic.

“Amulets and mystic names.” This chapter is called “very mysterious,” and contains invocations to

Penhakahakaherher and Uranaokarsankrobite and other such easy names.Says Chabas:

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We have proofs that mystic names similar to these were in common use during the stay of the

Israelites in Egypt.

And we may add that whether got from the Egyptians or the Hebrews,these are sorcery names.The

student can consult the works of Éliphas Lévi such as his Grimoire des Sorciers.In these exorcisms

Osiris is called Mamuram-Kahab and is implored to prevent the twice-dead Khou from attacking the

justified Khou and his next of kin since the accursed (astral spook)

Can take any form he likes and penetrate at will into any locality or body.

In studying Egyptian papyri one begins to find that the subjects of the Pharaohs were not very much

inclined to the Spiritism or Spiritualism of their day.They dreaded the “blessed spirit ” of the dead more

than a Roman Catholic dreads the devil!

But how uncalled-for and unjust is the charge against the Gods of Egypt that they are these “devils,” and

against the priests of exercising their magic powers with the help of “the fallen angels,” may be seen in

more than one papyrus.For one often finds in them records of Sorcerers sentenced to the death penalty

as though they had been living under the protection of the holy Christian Inquisition.Here is one case

during the reign of Ramses III quoted by De Mirville from Chabas.

The first page begins with these words:“From the place where I am to the people of my

country.”There is reason to suppose as one will see that the person who wrote this,in the

first personal pronoun is a magistrate making a report and attesting it before men after an

accustomed formula for here is the main part of this accusation:“This Hai a bad man was an

overseer [or perhaps keeper ] of sheep:he said:“Can I have a book that will give me great

power?’ ....And a book was given him with the formulae of Ramses-Meri-Amen the great

God his royal master;and he succeeded in getting a divine power enabling him to fascinate

men.

Obsession in Egypt -

(Page 251)He also succeeded in building a place and in finding a very deep place,and

produced men of Menh [magical homunculi?] and ...love-writings ..stealing them from the

Khen [ the occult library of the palace ] by the hand of the stonemason Atirma ...by forcing

one of the supervisors to go aside and acting magically on the others.Then he sought to read

futurity by them and succeeded.All the horrors and abominations he had conceived in his

heart he did them really he practised them all and other great crimes as well such as the

horror [?] of all the Gods and Goddesses.Likewise let the prescriptions great [severe?] nto

death be done unto him such as the divine words order to be done to him.”The accusation

does not stop there it specifies the crimes.The first line speaks of a hand paralysed by means

of the men of Menh,to whom it is simply said “Let such an effect be prod ced,” and it is

produced.Then come the great abominations,such as deserve death....The judges who

had examined him (the culprit)reported saying “Let him die according to the order of

Pharaoh and according to what is written in the lines of the divine language.”

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M.Chabas remarks:

Documents of this kind abound but the task of analysing them all cannot be attempted with

the limited means we possess.[ Maimonides in his Treatise on Idolatry says,speaking of

Jewish teraphim:“They talked with men.”To this day Christian Sorcerers in Italy and negro

Voodoos at New Orleans fabricate small wax figures in the likeness of their victims,and

transpierce them with needles,the wo nd as on the teraphim or Menh being repercussed on

the living often killing them.Mysterious deaths are still many and not all are traced to the

guilty hand.

Then there is an inscription taken in the temple of Khous,the God who had power over the elementaries,

at Thebes.It was presented by M.Prisse d ’Avenue to the Imperial —now National —Library of Paris,and

was translated first by Mr.S.Birch.There is in it a whole romance of Magic.It dates from the day of

Ramses XII.[The Ramses of Lepsius,who reigned some 1300 years before our era.] of the twentieth

dynasty;it is from the rendering of Mr.de Rougé as quoted by De Mirville that we now translate it.

This monument tells us that one of the Ramses of the twentieth dynasty while collecting at

Naharain the tributes paid to Egypt by the Asiatic nations,fell in love with a daughter of the

chief of Bakhten one of his tributaries,married her and bringing her to Egypt with him,raised

her to the dignity of Queen under the royal name of Ranefrou.Soon afterwards the chief of

Bakhten dispatched a messenger to Ramses,praying the assistance of Egyptian science for

Bent-Rosh a young sister of the queen attacked with illness in all her limbs.

The messenger asked expressly that a “wise-man ”(an Initiate -Reh-Het)should be sent.The

king gave orders that all the hierogrammatists of the palace and the guardians of the secret

books of the Khen should be sent for and choosing from among them the royal scribe Thoth-

em-Hebi an intelligent man well versed in writing charged him to examine the sickness.(Page

252)Arrived at Bakhten Thoth-em-Hebi found that Bent-Rosh was possessed by a Khou (Em-

seh-‘eru ker h ’ou),but declared himself too weak to engage in a struggle with him.[ One may

judge how trustworthy are the translations of such Egyptian documents when the sentence is

rendered in three different ways by three Egyptologists.Rougé says:“He found her in a state

to fall nder the power of spirits ” or “with her limbs quite stiff.”(?)another version:and

Chabas translates:“And the Scribe found the Khou too wicked.”Between her being in

possession of an evil Khou and “with her limbs quite stiff.”there is a difference.]

Eleven years elapsed and the young girl ’s state did not improve.The chief of Bakhten again

sent his messenger and on his formal demand Khons-peiri-Seklerem-Zam one of the divine

forms of Chons -God the Son of the Theban Trinity -was dispatched to Bakhten....

The God [incarnate ] having saluted (besa )the patient she felt immediately relieved and the

Khou who was in her manifested forthwith with his intention of obeying the orders of the God.

“ O great God who forces:the phantom to vanish ” said the Khou “ I am thy slave and I will

return whence I came!” [De Mirville v.247 248 ].

Evidently Khons-peiri-Seklerem-Zam was a real Hierophant of the class named the “Sons of God ” since

he is said to be one of the forms of the God Khons;which means either that he was considered as an

incarnation of that God —an Avatāra —or that he was a full Initiate.The same text shows that the temple

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to which he belonged was one of those to which a School of Magic was attached.There was a Khen in it

or that portion of the temple which was inaccessible to all but the highest priest the library or depository

of sacred works,to the study and care of which special priests were appointed (those whom all the

Pharaohs consulted in cases of great importance),and wherein they communicated with the Gods and

obtained advice from them.Does not Lucian tell his readers in his description of the temple of Hierapolis,

of “Gods who manifest their presence independently?” [ Some translators would have Lucian speak of

the inhabitants of the city but they fail to show that this view is maintainable .] And further on that he once

travelled with a priest from Memphis,who told him he had passed twenty-three years in the subterranean

crypts of his temple receiving instructions on Magic from the Goddess Isis herself.Again we read that it

was by Mercury himself that the great Sesostris (Ramses II.)was instructed in the Sacred Sciences.On

which Jablonsky remarks that we have here the reason why Amun (Ammon)—whence he thinks our

“Amen ”is derived —was the real evocation to the light.[ De Mirville v.256 257 .]

In the Papyrus Anastasi which teems with various formulae for the evocation of Gods,and with

exorcisms against Khous and the elementary demons,the seventh paragraph shows plainly the

difference made between the real Gods,the Planetary Angels,and those shells of mortals which are left

behind in Kama-loka as though to tempt mankind and to puzzle it the more hopelessly in its vain search

after the truth outside the Occult Sciences and the veil of Initiation.

Two Rituals of Magic -(Page 253)This seventh verse says with regard to such divine evocation or

theomantic consultations:

One must invoke that divine and great name [ How can De Mirville see Satan in the Egyptian

God of the great divine Name when he himself admits that nothing was greater than the name

of the oracle of Dodona as it was that of the God of the Jews IAO or Jehovah?That oracle

had been brought by the Pelasgians to Dodona more then fourteen centuries B.C.and left with

the forefathers of the Hellenes,and its history is well-known and may be read in Herodotus.

Jupiter who loved the fair nymph of the ocean.Dodona had ordered Pelasgus to carry his cult

to Thessaly.The name of the God of that oracle at the temple of Dodona was Zeus

Pelasgicos,the Zeuspater (God the Father),or as De Mirville explains:“It was the name par

excellence the name that the Jews held as the ineffable the unpronounceable Name —in

short Jaoh-pater,i.e.,‘he who was who is,and who will be ’ otherwise the Eternal.”And the

author admits that Maury is right “in discovering in the name of the Vaidic Indra the Biblical

Jehovah ”and does not even attempt to deny the etymological connection between the two

names -“the great and the lost name with the sun and the thunder-bolts.”Strange

confessions,and still stranger contradictions .] only in cases of absolute necessity and when

one feels absolutely pure and irreproachable.

Not so in the formula of black Magic.Reuvens,speaking of the two rituals of Magic of the Anastasi

collection remarks that they

Undeniably form the most instructive commentary upon the Egyptian Mysteries attributed to

Jamblichus,and the best pendant to that classical work,for understanding the thaumaturgy of

the philosophical sects thaumaturgy based on ancient Egyptian religion.According to

Jamblichus,thaumaturgy was exercised by the ministry of secondary genii.[Reuvens ”Letter

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to Letronne on the 75 th n mber of the Papyri A nastasi.”See De Mirville v.255 .]

Reuvens closes with a remark which is very suggestive and is very important to the Occultists who

defend the antiquity and genuineness of their documents for he says:

All that he [Jamblichus ] gives out as theology we find as history in our papyri.

But then how deny the authenticity the credibility and beyond all the trustworthiness of those classical

writers,who all wrote about Magic and its Mysteries in a most worshipful spirit of admiration and

reverence?Listen to Pindarus,who exclaims:

Happy he who descends into the grave thus initiated for he knows the end of his life and the

kingdom [The Eleusinian Fields .] given by Jupiter.[ Fragments.ix.]

(Page 254)Or to Cicero:

Initiation not only teaches us to feel happy in this life but also to die with better hope.[ De

Legib s.11.iv.]

Plato Pausanias,Strabo Diodorus and dozens of others bring their evidence as to the great boon of

Initiation;all the great as well as the partially-initiated Adepts,share the enthusiasm of Cicero.

Does not Plutarch thinking of what he had learned in his initiation console himself for the loss

of his wife?Had he not obtained the certitude at the Mysteries of Bacchus that “the soul

[ spirit ] remains incorruptible and that there is a hereafter ” ?...Aristophanes went even

further:“All those who participated in the Myseries,”he says “led an innocent calm and holy

life;they died looking for the light of the Eleusinian Fields [Devachan ] while the rest could

never expect anything but eternal darkness [ ignorance?].

...And when one thinks about the importance attached by the States to the principle and the

correct celebration of the Mysteries,to the stipulations made in their treaties for the security of

their celebration one sees to what degree those Mysteries had so long occupied their first and

their last thought.

It was the greatest among public as well as private preoccupations,and this is only natural

since according to Döllinger “the Eleusinian Mysteries were viewed as the efflorescence of all

the Greek religion as the purest essence of all its conceptions.[Judaism and Paganism.i.

184.]

Not only conspirators were refused admittance therein but those who had not denounced

them;traitors,perjurers,debauchees,[Frag of Styg.,ap.Stob .]...so that Porphyry could say

that:“Our soul has to be at the moment of death as it was during the Mysteries.i.e.,exempt

from any blemishes,passion envy hatred or anger.”[De Special.Legi.]

Truly

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Magic was considered a Divine Science which led to a participation in the attributes of the

Divinity itself.[ De Mirville.v.278 279.]

Herodotus,Thales,Parmenides,Empedocles,Orpheus,Pythagoras,all went each in his day in search

of the wisdom of Egypt ’s great Hierophants in the hope of solving the problems of the universe.

Says Philo:

The Mysteries were known to unveil the secret operations of Nature.[Isis Unveiled.i.25 ] The prodigies

accomplished by the priests of theurgic magic are so well authenticated and the evidence —if human

testimony is worth anything at all —is so overwhelming that rather than confess that the pagan theurgists

far outrivalled the Christians in miracles,Sir David Brewster conceded to the former the greatest

proficiency in physics and everything that pertains to natural philosophy.Science finds herself in a very

disagreeable dilemma ....

Magical Statues

(Page 255)“Magic,”says Psellus,“formed the last part of the sacerdotal science.It investigated

the nature power and quality of everything sublunary:of the elements and their parts,of

animals,of various plants and their fruits,of stones and herbs.In short it explored the

essence and power of everything.From hence therefore it produced its effects.And it formed

stat es [magnetized ]which procure health and made all various figures and things

[talismans ] which could equally become the instruments of disease as well as of health.

Often too celestial fire is made to appear through magic,and then statues laugh and lamps

are spontaneously enkindled.[ Isis Unveiled.I.282.283.]

This assertion of Psellus that Magic “made statues which procure health ” is now proven to the world to

be no dream no vain boast of a hallucinated Theurgist.As Reuvens says it becomes “history.” For it is

found in the Papyrus Magiq e of Harris and on the votive stele just mentioned.Both Chabas and De

Rougé state that:

On the eighteenth line of this very mutilated monument is found the formula with regard to the

acquiescence of the God (Chons)who made his consent known by a motion he imparted to

his statue.[ De Mirville.v.248 ]

There was even a dispute over it between the two Orientalists.While M.de Rougé wanted to translate

the word “Han ” by “favour ” or “grace ” M.Chabas insisted that “Han ” meant a “movement ” or “a sign ”

made by the statue.

Excesses of power abuse of knowledge and personal ambition very often led selfish and unscrupulous

Initiates to black Magic,just as the same causes led to precisely the same thing among Christian popes

and cardinals;and it was black Magic that led finally to the abolition of the Mysteries,and not Christianity

as is often erroneously thought.Read Mommsen ’s Roman History vol.i.and you will find that it was the

Pagans themselves who put an end to the desecration of the Divine Science.As early as 560 B.C.the

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Romans had discovered an Occult association a school of black Magic of the most revolting kind;it

celebrated mysteries brought from Etruria and very soon the moral pestilence had spread all over Italy.

More than seven thousand Initiates were prosecuted and most of them were sentenced to

death ...

Later on Titus-Livius shows us another three thousand Initiates sentenced during a single

year for the crime of poisoning.[ De Mirville.v.281.]

(Page 256)And yet black Magic is derided and denied!

Paulthier may or may not be too enthusiastic in saying that India appears to him as

The grand and primitive hearth of human thought that has ended by embracing the whole

ancient world

but he was right in his idea.That primitive thought led to Occult knowledge which is our Fifth Race is

reflected from the earliest days of the Egyptian Pharaohs down to our modern times.Hardly a hieratic

papyrus is exhumed with the tightly swathed-up mummies of kings and high priests that does not contain

some interesting information for the modern students of Occultism.

All that is,of course derided Magic,the outcome of primitive knowledge and of revelation though it was

practised in such ungodly ways by the Atlantean Sorceres that it has since become necessary for the

subsequent Race to draw a thick veil over the practices which were used to obtain so-called magical

effects on the psychic and on the physical planes.In the letter no one in our century will believe the

statements,with the exception of the Roman Catholics,and these will give the acts a satanic origin.

Nevertheless,Magic is so mixed up with the history of the world that if the latter is ever to be written it

has to rely upon the discoveries of Archaeology Egyptology and hieratic writings and inscriptions;if it

insists that they must be free from that “superstition of the ages ” it will never see the light.One can well

imagine the embarrassing position in which serious Egyptologists,Assyriologists savants and

academicians find themselves.Forced to translate and interpret the old papyri and the archaic

inscriptions on stelae and Babylonian cylinders,they find themselves compelled from first to last to face

the distasteful and to them repulsive subject of Magic,with its incantations and paraphernalia.Here they

find sober and grave narratives from the pens of learned scribes,made up under the direct supervision of

Chaldaean or Egyptian Hierophants the most learned among the Philosophers of antiquity.These

statements were written at the solemn hour of the death and burial of Pharaohs,High Priests,and other

mighty ones of the land of Chemi;their purpose was the introduction of the newly-born Osirified Soul

before the awful tribunal of the “Great Judge ” in the region of Amenti —there where a lie was said to

outweigh the greatest crimes.Were the Scribes and Hierophants,Pharaohs,and King —Priests all fools

or frauds to have either believed in or tried to make others believe in such “cock-and-bull stories ” as are

found in the most respectable papyri?Yet there is no help for it.

Romances -But True -(Page 257)Corroborated by Plato and Herodotus,by Manetho and Syncellus,as

by all the greatest and most trustworthy authors and philosophers who wrote upon the subject those

papyri note down —as seriously as they note any history or any fact well known and accepted as to need

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no commentary —whole royal dynasties of Manes,to wit of shadows and phantoms (astral bodies),and

such feats of magic skill and such Occult phenomena that the most credulous Occultist of our own times

would hesitate to believe them to be true.

The orientalists have found a plank of salvation while yet publishing and delivering the papyri to the

criticism of literary Sadducees:they generally call them “romances of the days of Pharaoh So-and-So.”

The idea is ingenious,if not absolutely fair.

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SECTION XXVIII

The Origin of the Mysteries

(Page 258)ALL that is explained in the preceding Sections and a hundredfold more was taught in the

Mysteries from time immemorial.If the first appearance of those institutions is a matter of historical

tradition with regard to some of the later nations,their origin must certainly be assigned to the time of the

Fourth Root Race.The Mysteries were imparted to the elect of that Race when the average Atlantean

had begun to fall too deeply into sin to be trusted with the secrets of Nature.Their establishment is

attributed in the Secret Works to the King-Initiates of the divine dynasties,when the “Sons of God ”had

gradually allowed their country to become Kookarma-des (land of vice).

The antiquity of the Mysteries may be inferred from the history of the worship of Hercules in Egypt.This

Hercules,according to what the priests told Herodotus,was not Grecian for he says:

Of the Grecian Hercules I could not in no part of Egypt procure any knowledge:...the name

was never borrowed by Egypt from Greece ....Hercules,....as they [the priests ] affirm is

one of the twelve (great Gods,)who were reproduced from the earlier eight Gods 17 000 years

before the year of Amasis.

Hercules is of Indian origin and —his Biblical chronology put aside —Colonel Tod was quite right in his

suggestion that he was Balarāma or Baladeva.Now one must read the P rānas with the Esoteric key in

one ’s hand in order to find out how on almost every page they corroborate the Secret Doctrine.The

ancient classical writers so well understood this truth that they unanimously attributed to Asia the origin of

Hercules.

A section of the Mahābhārata is devoted to the history of the Hercūla of which race was

Vyasa....Diodorus has the same legend with some variety.

An Instant in Heaven -(Page 259)He says:“Hercules was born amongst the Indians and like the

Greeks,they furnish him with a club and lion ’s hide.” Both [Krishna and Baladeva ] are (lords)of the race

(cūla)of Heri (Heri-cul-es)of which the Greeks might have made the compound Hercules.[Tod ’s

Rajasthań i.28.]

The Occult Doctrine explains that Hercules was the last incarnation of one of the seven “Lords of the

Flame ”as Krishna ’s brother Baladeva.That his incarnations occurred during the Third Fourth and Fifth

Root-Races,and that his worship was brought into Egypt from Lanka and India by the later immigrants.

That he was borrowed by the Greeks from the Egyptians is certain the more so as the Greeks place his

birth at Thebes,and only his twelve labours at Argos.Now we find in the Vishn P rāna a complete

corroboration of the statement made in the Secret Teachings,of which Purānic allegory the following is a

short summary:

Raivata a grandson of Sharyāti Manu ’s fourth son finding no man worthy of his lovely daughter

repaired with her to Brahmā ’s region to consult the God in this emergency.Upon his arrival Hā Hā Hāhū

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and other Gandharvas were singing before the throne and Raivata waiting till they had done imagined

that but one Muhūrta (instant)had passed whereas long ages had elapsed.When they had finished

Raivata prostrated himself and explained his perplexity.Then Brahmā asked him whom he wished for a

son-in-law and upon hearing a few personages named the Father of the World smiled and said:“Of

those whom you have named the third and fourth generation [Root-Races ] no longer survive for many

successions of ages [Chatur-Yuga or the four Yuga cycles ] have passed away while you were listening

to our songsters.Now on earth the twenty-eighth great age of the present Manu is nearly finished and

the Kali period is at hand.You must therefore bestow this virgin-gem upon some other husband.For you

are now alone.”

Then the Rāja Raivata is told to proceed to Kushasthaī his ancient capital which was now Dvārakā and

where reigned in his stead a portion of the divine being (Vishnu)in the person of Baladeva the brother of

Krishna regarded as the seventh incarnation of Vishnu whenever Krishna is taken as a full divinity.

“Being thus instructed by the Lotus-born [Brahmā ] Raivata returned with his daughter to earth where he

found the race of men dwindled in stature [see what is said in the Stanzas and Commentaries of the

races of mankind gradually decreasing in stature ];...(Page 260)reduced in vigour and enfeebled in

intellect.Repairing to the city of Kushasthalī he found it much altered ” “Krishna had reclaimed from the

sea a portion of the country ” which means in plain language that the continents had all been changed

meanwhile –-and “had renovated the city ”–-or rather built a new one Dvārakā;for one reads in the

Bhagavad P rāna [Op.cit.,ix.iii.28.] that Kushasthalī was founded and built by Raivata within the sea;

and subsequent discoveries showed that it was the same or on the same spot as Dvārakā.Therefore it

was on an island before.The allegory in Vishn P rāna shows King Raivata giving his daughter to “the

wielder of the ploughshare ”–or rather “the plough-bannered ”–Baladeva who “beholding the damsel of

excessively lofty height ....shortened her with the end of his ploughshare and she became his wife.”

[Vishn P rāna.iv.i.Wilson ’s translation iii.248-254.]

This is a plain allusion to the Third and Fourth Races –-to the Atlantean giants and the successive

incarnations of the “Sons of the Flame ”and other orders of Dhyān Chohans in the heroes and kings of

mankind down to the Kali Yuga or Black Age the beginning of which is within historical times.Another

coincidence :Thebes is the city of a hundred gates,and Dvārakā is so called from its many gateways or

doors,from the word “Dvāra ”“gateway.” Both Hercules and Baladeva are of a passionate hot temper

and both are renowned for the fairness of their white skins.There is not the slightest doubt that Hercules

is Baladeva in Greek dress.Arrian notices the great similarity between the Theban and the Hindu

Hercules,the latter being worshipped by the Suraseni who built Methorea or Mathūrā Krishna ’s

birthplace.The same writer places Sandracottus (Chandragupta the grandfather of King Asoka of the

clan of Morya)in the direct line of the descendants of Baladeva.

There were no Mysteries in the beginning we are taught.Knowledge (Vidyā)was common property and

it reigned universally throughout the Golden Age (Satya Yuga).As says the Commentary:

Men had not created evil yet in those days of bliss and p rity,for they were of God-like more

than of h man nat re.

But when mankind rapidly increasing in numbers,increased also in variety of idiosyncrasies of body and

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mind then incarnated Spirit showed its weakness.Natural exaggerations,and along with these

superstitions,arose in the less cultured and healthy minds.

Growth of Popular Beliefs -(Page 261)Selfishness was born out of desires and passions hitherto

unknown and but too often knowledge and power were abused until finally it became necessary to limit

the number of those who knew.Thus arose Initiation.

Every separate nation now arranged for itself a religious system according to its enlightenment and

spiritual wants.Worship of mere form being discarded by the wise men these confined true knowledge

to the very few.The need of veiling truth to protect it from desecration becoming more apparent with

every generation a thin veil was used at first which had to be gradually thickened according to the

spread of personality and selfishness,and this led to the Mysteries.They came to be established in

every country and among every people while to avoid strife and misunderstanding exoteric beliefs were

allowed to grow up in the minds of the profane masses.Inoffensive and innocent in their incipient stage —

like a historical event arranged in the form of a fairy tale adapted for and comprehensible to the child ’s

mind —in those distant ages such beliefs could be allowed to grow and make the popular faith without

any danger to the more philosophical and abstruse truths taught in the sanctuaries.Logical and scientific

observation of the phenomena in Nature which alone leads man to the knowledge of eternal truths —

provided he approaches the threshold of observation unbiassed by preconception and sees with his

spiritual eye before he looks at things from their physical aspect —does not lie within the province of the

masses.The marvels of the One Spirit of Truth the ever-concealed and inaccessible Deity can be

unravelled and assimilated only through Its manifestations by the secondary “Gods,”Its acting powers.

While the One and Universal Cause has to remain for ever in abscondito Its manifold action may be

traced through the effects in Nature.The latter alone being comprehensible and manifest to average

mankind the Powers causing those effects were allowed to grow in the imagination of the populace.

Ages later in the Fifth the Aryan Race some unscrupulous priests began to take advantage of the too-

easy beliefs of the people in every country and finally raised those secondary Powers to the rank of God

and Gods,thus succeeding in isolating them altogether from the One Universal Cause of all causes.

[There were no Brāhmans as a hereditary caste in days of old.In those long-departed ages a man

became a Brāhman through personal merit and Initiation.Gradually however despotism crept in and

the son of a Brāhman was created a Brāhman by right of protection first then by that of heredity.The

rights of blood replaced those of real merit and thus arose the body of Brāhmans which was soon

changed into a powerful caste.]

(Page 262)Henceforward the knowledge of the primeval truths remained entirely in the hands of the

Initiates.

The Mysteries had their weak points and their defects,as every institution welded with the human

element must necessarily have.Yet Voltaire has characterised their benefits in a few words:

In the chaos of popular superstitions there existed an institution which has ever prevented

man from falling into absolute brutality:it was that of the Mysteries.

Verily as Ragon puts it of Masonry;

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Its temple has Time for duration the Universe for space ....”Let us divide that we may rule ”have said

the crafty;“Let us unite to resist ”have said the first Masons.[Des Initiations Anciennes et Modernes.

“The mysteries,” says Ragon “were the gift of India.” In this he is mistaken for the Āryan race had

brought the mysteries of Initiation from Atlantis.Nevertheless he is right in saying that the mysteries

preceded all civilisations,and that by polishing the mind and morals of the peoples they served as a base

for all the laws —civil political and religious.]

Or rather the Initiates whom the Masons have never ceased to claim as their primitive and direct

Masters.The first and fundamental principle of moral strength and power is association and solidarity of

thought and purpose.“The Sons of Will and Yoga ”united in the beginning to resist the terrible and ever-

growing iniquities of the left-hand Adepts the Atlanteans.This led to the foundation of still more Secret

Schools,temples of learning and of Mysteries inaccessible to all except after the most terrible trials and

probations.

Anything that might be said of the earliest Adepts and their divine Masters would be regarded as fiction.It

is necessary therefore if we would know something of the primitive Initiates to judge of the tree by its

fruits;to examine the bearing and the work of their successors in the Fifth Race as reflected in the works

of the classic writers and the great philosophers.How were Initiation and the Initiates regarded during

some 2 000 years by the Greek and Roman writers?Cicero informs his readers in very clear terms.He

says:

An Initiate must practise all the virtues in his power:justice fidelity liberality modesty

temperance;these virtues cause men to forget the talents that he may lack.[De Off.,i.e.33 .]

Ragon says"

When the Egyptian priests said:“All for the people nothing through the people ”they were

right:in an ignorant nation truth must be revealed only to trustworthy persons ....We have

seen in our days,“all through the people nothing for the people ”a false and dangerous

system.The real axiom ought to be:“All for the people and with the people.” [ Des Initiations,

p22.]

A True Priesthood -(Page 263)But in order to achieve this reform the masses have to pass through a

dual transformation:(a)to become divorced from every element of exoteric superstition and priestcraft

and (b)to become educated men free from every danger of being enslaved whether by a man or an

idea.

This,in view of the preceding may seem paradoxical.The Initiates were “priests,” we may be told —at

any rate all the Hindu Egyptian Chaldaean Greek,Phoenician and other Hierophants and Adepts were

priests in the temples,and it was they who invented their respective exoteric creeds.To this the answer

is possible:“The cowl does not make the friar.” If one may believe tradition and the unanimous opinion of

ancient writers,added to the examples we have in the “priests ” of India the most conservative nation in

the world it becomes quite certain that the Egyptian priests were no more priests in the sense we give to

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the word than are the temple Brāhmans.They could never be regarded as such if we take as our

standard the European clergy.Laurens observes very correctly that:

The priests of Egypt were not strictly speaking ministers of religion.The word “priest ”which translation

has been badly interpreted had an acceptation very different from the one that is applied to it among us.

In the language of antiquity and especially in the sense of the initiation of the priests of ancient Egypt

the word “priest ”is synonymous with that of “philosopher.”....The institution of the Egyptian priests

seems to have been really a confederation of sages gathered to study the art of ruling men to centre the

domain of truth modulate its propagation and arrest its too dangerous dispersion.[ Essais Historiq es

sur la Franc-Maēonnerie,pp.142.143.]

The Egyptian Priests,like the Brāhmans of old held the reins of the governing powers a system that

descended to them by direct inheritance from the Initiates of the great Atlantis.The pure cult of Nature in

the earliest patriarchal days —the word “patriarch ”applying in its first original sense to the Progenitors of

the human race [The word “patriarch ”is composed of the Greek word “Patria ”(“family.” “tribe ”or

“nation ”)and “Archos ”(a “chief ” ,the paternal principle.The Jewish Patriarchs who were pastors,passed

their name to the Christian Patriarchs,yet they were no priests,but were simply the heads of their tribes,

like the Indian Rishis.] the Fathers,Chiefs,and Instructors of primitive men —became the heirloom of

those (Page 264)alone who could discern the noumenon beneath the phenomenon.Later the Initiates

transmitted their knowledge to the human kings,as their divine Masters had passed it to their forefathers.

It was their prerogative and duty to reveal the secrets of Nature that were useful to mankind —the hidden

virtues of plants,the art of healing the sick,and of bringing about brotherly love and mutual help among

mankind.No Initiate was one if he could not heal —aye recall to life from apparent death (coma)those

who too long neglected would have indeed died during their lethargy.[There is no need to observe here

that the resurrection of a really dead body is an impossibility in Nature.] Those who showed such powers

were forthwith set above the crowds,and were regarded as Kings and Initiates .Gautama Buddha was a

King-Initiate a healer and recalled to life those who were in the hands of death.Jesus and Apollonius

were healers,and were both addressed as Kings by their followers.Had they failed to raise those who

were to all intents and purposes the dead none of their names would have passed down to posterity;for

this was the first and crucial test the certain sign that the Adept had upon Him the invisible hand of a

primordial divine Master or was an incarnation of one of the “Gods.”

The later royal privilege descended to our Fifth Race kings through the kings of Egypt.The latter were all

initiated into the mysteries of medicine and they healed the sick,even when owing to the terrible trials

and labours of final Initiation they were unable to become full Hierophants.They were healers by

privilege and by tradition and were assisted in the healing art by the Hierophants of the temples,when

they themselves were ignorant of Occult curative Science.So also in far later historical times we find

Pyrrhus curing the sick by simply touching them with his foot;Vespasian and Hadrian needed only to

pronounce a few words taught to them by their Hierophants,in order to restore sight to the blind and

health to the cripple.From that time onward history has recorded cases of the same privilege conferred

on the emperors and kings of almost every nation.[The kings of Hungary claimed that they could cure

the jaundice;the Dukes of Burgandy were credited with preserving people from the plague;the kings of

Spain delivered those possessed by the devil.The prerogative of curing the king ’s evil was given to the

kings of France in reward for the virtues of good King Robert.Francis the First during a short stay at

Marseilles for his son ’s wedding touched and cured of that disease upwards of 500 persons.The kings

of England had the same privilege.]

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The Egyptian Priests -(Page 265)That which is known of the Priests of Egypt and of the ancient

Brāmans,corroborated as it is by all the ancient classics and historical writers,gives us the right to

believe in that which is only traditional in the opinion of sceptics.Whence the wonderful knowledge of the

Egyptian Priests in every department of Science unless they had it from a still more ancient source?The

famous “Four ”the seats of learning in old Egypt are more historically certain than the beginnings of

modern England.It was in the great Theban sanctuary that Pythagoras upon his arrival from India

studied the Science of Occult numbers.It was in Memphis that Orpheus popularized his too-abstruse

Indian metaphysics for the use of Magna Grecia;and thence Thales,and ages later Democritus,

obtained all they knew.It is to Saļs that all the honour must be given of the wonderful legislation and the

art of ruling people imparted by its Priests to Lycurgus and Solon who will both remain objects of

admiration for generations to come.And had Plato and Eudoxus never gone to worship at the shrine of

Heliopolis,most probably the one would have never astonished future generations with his ethics,nor the

other with his wonderful knowledge of mathematics.[ See Laurens ’ Essais Historiq es for further

information as to the world-wide universal knowledge of the Egyptian Priests .]

The great modern writer on the Mysteries of Egyptian Initiation —one however who knew nothing of

those in India —the late Ragon has not exaggerated in maintaining that:

All the notions possessed by Hindustan Persia Syria Arabia Chaldaea Sydonia and the

priests of Babylonia [on the secrets of Nature ] was known to the Egyptian priests.It is thus

Indian philosophy without mysteries,which having penetrated into Chaldaea and ancient

Persia gave rise to the doctrine of Egyptian Mysteries.[Des Initiations.p.24 .]

The Mysteries preceded the hieroglyphics.[The word comes from the Greek ‘hieros ’ (“sacred ”)and

“glupho ”(“ I grave ”).The Egyptian characters were sacred to the Gods,as the Indian Devanāgarī is the

language of the Gods.]They gave birth to the latter as permanent records were needed to preserve and

commemorate their secrets.It is primitive Philosophy [The same author had (as Occultists have)a very

reasonable objection to the modern etymology of the word “philosophy ”which is interpreted “love of

wisdom ”and is nothing of the kind.The philosophers were scientists,and philosophy was a real science

—not simply verbiage as it is in our day.The term is composed of two Greek words whose meaning is

intended to convey its secret sense and ought to be interpreted as “wisdom of love.” Now it is in the last

word “love ”that lies hidden the esoteric significance:for “love ”does not stand here as a noun nor does

it mean “affection ”or “fondness.”but is the term used for Eros,that primordial principle in divine creation

synonymous with ÷óöļę the abstract desire in Nature for procreation resulting in an everlasting series of

phenomena.It means “divine love ” that universal element of divine omnipresence spread throughout

Nature and which is at once the chief cause and effect.The “wisdom of love ”(or “philosophia ’)meant

attraction to and love of everything hidden beneath objective phenomena and the knowledge thereof.

Philosophy meant the highest Adeptship —love of and assimilation with Deity.In his modesty Pythagoras

even refused to be called a Philosopher (or one who knows every hidden thing in things visible:cause

and effect or absolute truth),and called himself simply a Sage an aspirant to philosophy or to Wisdom

of Love —love in its exoteric meaning being as degraded by men then as it is now by its purely terrestrial

application.] that has served as the (Page 266)foundation-stone for modern philosophy;only the progeny

while perpetuating the features of the external body has lost on its way the Soul and Spirit of its parent.

Initiation though it contained neither rules and principles,nor any special teaching of Science —as now

understood —was nevertheless Science and the Science of sciences.And though devoid of dogma of

physical discipline and of exclusive ritual it was yet the one true Religion —that of eternal truth.

Outwardly it was a school a college wherein were taught sciences,arts ethics,legislation philanthropy

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the cult of the true and real nature of cosmic phenomena;secretly during the mysteries,practical proofs

of the latter were given.Those who could learn on all things —i.e.,those who could look the great Isis in

her unveiled face and bear the awful majesty of the Goddess —became Initiates.But the children of the

Fifth Race had fallen too deeply into matter always to do so with impunity.Those who failed disappeared

from the world without leaving a trace behind.Which of the highest kings would have dared to claim any

individual however high his social standing from the stern priests once that the victim had crossed the

threshold of their sacred Adytum?

The noble precepts taught by the Initiates of the early races passed to India Egypt and Greece to China

and Chaldaea and thus spread all over the world.All that is good noble and grand in human nature

every divine faculty and aspiration were cultured by the Priest-Philosophers who sought to develop them

in their Initiates.Their code of ethics,based on altruism has become universal.It is found in Confucius,

the “atheist ” who taught that “he who loves not his brother has no virtue in him ”and in the Old

Testament precept “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”[Lev.,xix.18.] The greater Initiates

became like unto Gods,and Socrates,in Plato ’s Phaedo is represented as saying:

The Initiates are sure to come into the company of the Gods.

Revealing and Reveiling -(Page 267)In the same work the great Athenian Sage is made to say:

It is quite apparent that those who have established the Mysteries,or the secret assemblies of

the Initiates,were no mean persons,but powerful genii who from the first ages had

endeavoured to make us understand under those enigmas that he who will reach the invisible

regions unpurified will be hurled into the abyss [the Eighth Sphere of the Occult Doctrine;that

is,he will lose his personality for ever ] while he who will attain them purged of the

maculations of this world and accomplished in virtues,will be received in the abode of the

Gods.

Said Clemens Alexandrinus,referring to the Mysteries:

Here ends all teaching.One sees Nature and all things.

A Christian Father of the Church speaks then as did the Pagan Pretextatus,the pro-consul of Achaia

(fourth century A.D.)“ a man of eminent virtues,”who remarked that to deprive the Greeks of “the sacred

Mysteries which bind in one the whole of mankind ” was to render their very lives worthless to them.

Would the Mysteries have ever obtained the highest praise from the noblest men of antiquity had they

not been of more than human origin?Read all that is said of this unparalleled institution as much by

those who had never been initiated as by the Initiates themselves.Consult Plato Euripides,Socrates,

Aristophanes,Pindar Plutarch Isocrates,Diodorus,Cicero Epictetus,Marcus Aurelius,not to name

dozens of other famous Sages and writers.That which the Gods and Angels had revealed exoteric

religions,beginning with that moses,reveiled and hid for ages from the sight of the world.Joseph the

son of Jacob was an Initiate otherwise he would not have married Aseneth the daughter of Petephre

(“Potiphar ”—“he who belongs to Phre ”the Sun-God),priest of Heliopolis and governor of On.[“On ” the

“Sun ” the Egyptian name of Heliopolis (the “City of the Sun ”)].Every truth revealed by Jesus,and which

even the Jews and early Christians understood was reviled by the Church that pretends to serve Him.

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Read what Seneca says,as quoted by Dr.Kenealy:

“"The world being melted and having reėntered the bosom of Jupiter [or Parabrahman ] ,this

God continues for some time totally concentred in himself and remains concealed as it were

wholly immersed in the contemplation of his own ideas.Afterwards we see a new world spring

from him ....An innocent race of men is formed.”And again speaking of mundane dissolution

as involving the destruction or death of all he [Seneca ] teaches us that when the laws of

Nature shall be buried in ruin and the last day of the world shall come the Southern Pole shall

crush as it falls,all the regions of Africa;and the North Pole shall overwhelm all the countries

beneath its axis.The affrighted s n shall be deprived of its light:(Page 268)the palace of

heaven falling to decay shall produce at once both life and death and some kind of

dissolution shall equally seize upon all the deities,who thus shall return to their original chaos.

[Book of God,p.160.]

One might fancy oneself reading the Purānic account by Parąshara of the great Pralaya.It is nearly the

same thing idea for idea.Has Christianity nothing of the kind?Let the reader open any English Bible and

read chapter iii of the Second Epistle of Peter and he will find there the same ideas.

There shall come in the last days scoffers,....saying Where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the

creation.For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of

old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:whereby the world that then was

being overflowed with water perished.But the heavens and the earth which are now by the

same word are ....reserved unto fire ....in the which the heavens shall pass away with a

great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat...Nevertheless we ....look for

new heavens and a new earth.

If the interpreters chose to see in this a reference to a creation a deluge and a promised coming of

Christ when they will live in a New Jerusalem in heaven that is no fault of Peter.What he meant was the

destruction of the Fifth Race and the appearance of a new continent for the Sixth Race.

The Druids understood the meaning of the Sun in Taurus,therefore when all the fires were extinguished

on the 1 st of November their sacred and inextinguishable fire remained alone to illumine the horizon like

those of the Magi and the modern Zoroastrian.And like the early Fifth Race and the later Chaldaeans

and Greeks,and again like the Christians (who do it to this day without suspecting the real meaning),

they greeted the “Morning-Star ”the beautiful Venus-Lucifer.[Mr Kenealy quotes,in his Book of God

Vallancey who says:“ I had not been a week landed in Ireland from Gibraltar where I had studied

Hebrew and Chaldaic under Jews of various countries,when I heard a peasant girl say to a boor

standing by her ‘Feach an Maddin Nag ’(Behold the morning star)pointing to the planet Venus,the

Maddena Nag of the Chaldeans.”] Strabo speaks of an island near Britannia where Ceres and

Persephone were worshipped with the same rites as in Samothrace and this was the sacred Ierna

where a perpetual fire was lit.The Druids believed in the rebirth of man not as Lucian explains,

That the same Spirit shall animate a new body not here but in a different world

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but in a series of reļncarnations in this same world;for as Diodorus says,they declared that the souls of

men after a determinate period would pass into other bodies.[There was a time when the whole world

the totality of mankind had one religion as they were of “one lip.”“All the religions of the earth were at

first one and emanated from one centre.”says Faber.]

Atlanteans Degenerating -(Page 269)These tenets came to the Fifth Race Aryans from their ancestors

of the Fourth Race the Atlanteans.They piously preserved the teachings,while their parent Root-Race

becoming with every generation more arrogant owing to the acquisition of superhuman powers,were

gradually approaching their end.

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SECTION XXIX

The Trial of the Sun Initiate

(Page 270)WE will begin with the ancient Mysteries —those received from the Atlanteans by the primitive

Äryans —whose mental and intellectual state Professor Max Müller has described with such a masterly

hand yet left so incomplete withal.

He says:We have in it [ in the Rig Veda ] a period of the intellectual life of man to which there is no

parallel in any other part of the world.In the hymns of the Veda we see man left to himself to solve the

riddle of this world....He invokes the gods around him he praises,he worships them.But still with all

these gods ....beneath him and above him the early poet seems ill at rest within himself.There too in

his own breast he has discovered a power that is never mute when he prays,never absent when he

fears and trembles.It seems to inspire his prayers and yet to listen to them;it seems to live in him and

yet to support him and all around him.The only name he can find for this mysterious power is “Brahman;”

for brahman meant originally force will wish and the propulsive power of creation.But this impersonal

brahman too as soon as it is named grows into something strange and divine.It ends by being one of

many gods,one of the great triad worshipped to the present day.And still the thought within him has no

real name;that power which is nothing but itself which supports the gods,the heavens,and every living

being floats before his mind conceived but not expressed.At last he calls it Ćtman ” for ātman originally

breath or spirit comes to mean Self and Self alone whether divine or human;Self whether creating of

suffering;Self whether One or All;but always Self independent and free.“Who has seen the first-born?”

says the poet “when he who has no bones (i.e.,form)bore him that had bones?Where was the life the

blood the Self of the world?Who went to ask this from any one who knew it?” (Rig Veda I 164 4.)This

idea of a divine Self once expressed everything else must acknowledge its supremacy;Self is the Lord

of all things;it is the King of all things;as all the spokes of a wheel are contained in the nave and

circumference all things are contained in this Self;all selves are contained in this Self .” (Brihadāranyaka

IV.v.15).[Chips from a German Workshop i.69.70.]

Vishvakarma and Vikarttana -(Page 271)This Self the highest the one and the universal was

symbolised on the plane of mortals by the Sun its life-giving effulgence being in its turn the emblem of

the Soul —killing the terrestrial passions which have ever been an impediment to the re-union of the Unit

Self (the Spirit)with the All-Self.Hence the allegorical mystery only the broad features of which may be

given here.It was enacted by the “Sons of the Fire-Mist ”and of “Light.”The second Sun (the “second

hypostasis ”of Rabbi Drach)appeared as put on his trial Vishvakarma the Hierophant cutting off seven

of his beams,and replacing them with a crown of brambles,when the “Sun ”became Vikarttana shorn of

his beams or rays.After that the Sun —enacted by a neophyte ready to be initiated —was made to

descend into Pātāla the nether regions,on a trial of Tantalus.Coming out of it triumphant he emerged

from this region of lust and iniquity to re-become Karmasākshin witness of the Karma of men [Sūrya

the Sun is one of the nine divinities that witness all human actions.] and arose once more triumphant in

all the glory of his regeneration as the Graha-Rājah King of the Constellations,and was addressed as

Gabhastiman “re-possessed of his rays.”

The “fable ” in the popular Pantheon of India founded upon and born out of the poetical mysticism of the

Rig-Veda —the sayings of which were mostly all dramatised during the religious Mysteries —grew in the

course of its exoteric evolution into the following allegory.It may be found now in several of the P rānas

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and in other Scriptures.In the Rig-Veda and its Hymns,Vishvakarma a Mystery-God is the Logos,the

Demiurgos,one of the greatest Gods,and spoken of in two of the hymns as the highest.He is the

Omnificent (Vishvakarma)called the “Great Architect of the Universe ”the

All seeing God ....the father the generator the disposer who gives the gods their names,

and is beyond the comprehension of mortals,

as is every Mystery-God.Esoterically He is the personification of the creative manifested Power;and

mystically He is the seventh principle in man in its collectivity.For He is the son of Bhuvana the self-

created luminous Essence and of the virtuous,chaste and lovely Yoga-Siddhā the virgin Goddess,

whose name speaks for itself since it personified Yoga-power the “chaste mother ” that creates the

Adepts.In the Rig-Vaidic Hymns,Vishvakarma performs the “great sacrifice ” i.e.,sacrifices himself for

the world;or as the Nir kta is made to say translated by the Orientalists:

(Page 272)Vishvakarma first of all offers up all the world in a sacrifice and then ends by

sacrificing himself

In the mystical representations of his character Vishvakarma is often called Vittoba and is pictured as

the “Victim ”the “Man-God ”or the Avatąra crucified in space.

[Of the true Mysteries,the real Initiations,nothing of course can be said in public:they can be known

only to those who are able to experience them.But a few hints can be given of the great ceremonial

Mysteries of Antiquity which stood to the public as the real Mysteries,and into which candidates were

initiated with much ceremony and display of Occult Arts.Behind these in silence and darkness,were the

true Mysteries,as they have always existed and continue to exist.In Egypt as in Chaldaea and later in

Greece the Mysteries were celebrated at stated times,and the first day was a public holiday on which

with much pomp the candidates were escorted to the Great Pyramid and passed thereinto out of sight.

The second day was devoted to ceremonies of purification at the close of which the candidate was

presented with a white robe;on the third day ] [There is a gap in H.P.B ’s MS.and the paragraph in

brackets supplies what was missing.—A.B .] he was tried and examined as to his proficiency in Occult

learning.On the fourth day after another ceremony symbolical of purification he was sent alone to pass

through various trials,finally becoming entranced in a subterranean crypt in utter darkness,for two days

and two nights.In Egypt the entranced neophyte was placed in an empty sarcophagus in the Pyramid

where the initiatory rites took place.In India and Central Asia he was bound on a lathe and when his

body had become like that of one dead (entranced),he was carried into the crypt.Then the Hierophant

kept watch over him “guiding the apparitional soul (astral body)from this world of Samsąra (or delusion)

to the nether kingdoms,from which if successful he had the right of releasing seven suffering so ls ”

(Elementaries).Clothed with his Anandamayakosha the body of bliss —the Srotāpanna remained there

where we have no right to follow him and upon returning —received the Word with or without the “heart ’s

blood ”of the Hierophant.[ In Isis Unveiled Vol.II.pp.41 42 a portion of this rite is referred to.Speaking

of the dogma of Atonement it is traced to ancient “heathendom ” again.We say:“This cornerstone of a

church which had believed herself built on a firm rock for long centuries,is now excavated by science

and proved to come from the Gnostics.Professor Draper shows it as hardly known in the days of

Tertullian and as having originated among the Gnostic heretics ’ (see Conflict Between Religion and

Science,p.224)....But there are sufficient proofs to show that it originated among them no more than

did their anointed Christos and Sophia.The former they modelled on the original of the King Messiah the

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male principle of wisdom and the latter on the third Sephiroth from the Chaldaean Kabalah,and even

from the Hindu Brahmā and Sarasvati and the Pagan Dionysius and Demeter.And here we are on firm

ground if it were only because it is now proved that the New Testament never appeared in its complete

form such as we find it now till 300 years after the period of the apostles,and the Zohar and other

Kabalistic books are found to belong to the first century before our era if not to be far older still.

“The Gnostics entertained many of the Essenean ideas;and the Essenes had their greater and minor

Mysteries at least two centuries before our era.They were the Isarim or Initiates,the descendants of the

Egyptian Hierophants in whose country they had been settled for several centuries before they were

converted to Buddhistic monasticism by the missionaries of King Asoka and amalgamated later with the

earliest Christians;and they existed probably before the old Egyptian temples were desecrated and

ruined in the incessant invasions of Persians,Greeks and other conquering hordes.The hierophants had

their atonement enacted in the Mystery of Initiation ages before the Gnostics,or even the Essenes,had

appeared.It was known among hierophants as the Baptism of Blood and was considered not as an

atonement for the ‘fall of man ’ in Eden but simply as an expiation for the past present and future sins of

ignorant but nevertheless polluted mankind.The hierophant had the option of either offering his pure and

sinless life as a sacrifice for his race to the gods whom he hoped to rejoin or an animal victim.The

former depended entirely on their own will.At the last moment of the solemn ‘new birth ’ the Initiator

passed ‘the word ’ to the initiated and immediately after the latter had a weapon placed in his right hand

and was ordered to strike .This is the true origin of the Christian dogma of atonement.”

As Ballanche says quoted by Ragon:“Destruction is the great God of the World justifying therefore the

philosophical conception of the Hindu Shiva.According to this immutable and sacred law the Initiate was

compelled to kill the Initiator:otherwise initiation remained incomplete ....It is death that generates life.”

Orthodoxie maēonniq e,p.104.All that however was emblematic and exoteric.Weapon and killing

must be understood in their allegorical sense.]

The Transmission of Light -(Page 273)Only in truth the Hierophant was never killed —neither in India

nor elsewhere the murder being simply feigned —unless the Initiator had chosen the Initiate for his

successor and had decided to pass to him the last and supreme WORD after which he had to die —only

one man in a nation having the right to know that word.Many are those grand Initiates who have thus

passed out of the world ’s sight disappearing.

As mysteriously from the sight of men as Moses from the top of Mount Pisgah (Nebo oracular

Wisdom),after he had laid his hands upon Joshua who thus became “full of the spirit of

wisdom;”i.e.,initiated.

But he died he was not killed.For killing if really done would belong to black,not to divine Magic.It is

the transmission of light rather than a transfer of life of life spiritual and divine and it is the shedding of

Wisdom not of blood.But the initiated inventors of theological Christianity took the allegorical language ą

la lettre ;and instituted a dogma the crude misunderstood expression of which horrifies and repels the

spiritual “heathen.”

All these Hierophants and Initiates were types of the Sun and of the Creative Principle (spiritual potency)

as were Vishvakarma and Vikarttana (Page 274)from the origin of the Mysteries.Ragon the famous

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Mason gives curious details and explanations with regard to the Sun rites.He shows that the biblical

Hiram the great hero of Masonry (the “widow ’s son ” )a type taken from Osiris,is the Sun-God the

inventor of arts,and the “architect ” the name Hiram meaning the elevated ” a title belonging to the Sun.

Every Occultist knows how closely related to Osiris and the Pyramids are the narratives in Kings

concerning Solomon his Temple and its construction;he knows also that the whole of the Masonic rite of

Initiation is based upon the Biblical allegory of the construction of that Temple Masons conveniently

forgetting or perhaps ignoring the fact that the latter narrative is modelled upon Egyptian and still earlier

symbolisms.Ragon explains it by showing that the three companions of Hiram the “three murderers,”

typify the three last months of the year;and that Hiram stands for the Sun —from its summer solstice

downwards when it begins decreasing —the whole rite being an astronomical allegory.

During the summer solstice the Sun provokes songs of gratitude from all that breathes;hence

Hiram who represents it can give to whomsoever has the right to it the sacred Word that is

to say life.When the Sun descends to the inferior signs all Nature becomes mute and Hiram

can no longer give the sacred Word to the companions,who represent the three inert months

of the year.The first companion strikes Hiram feebly with a rule twenty-four inches long

symbol of the twenty-four hours which make up each diurnal revolution;it is the first

distribution of time which afer the exaltation of the mighty star feebly assails his existence

giving him the first blow.The second companion strikes him with an iron sq are symbol of the

last season figured by the intersections of two right lines,which would divide into four equal

parts the Zodiacal circle whose centre symbolises Hiram ’s heart where it touches the point of

the four squares representing the four seasons;second distribution of time which at that

period strikes a heavier blow at the solar existence.The third companion strikes him mortally

on his forehead with a heavy blow of his mallet whose cylindrical form symbolises the year

the ring or circle:third distribution of time the accomplishment of which deals the last blow to

the existence of the expiring Sun.From this interpretation it has been inferred that Hiram,a

fo nder of metals,the hero of the new legend with the title of architect is Osiris (the Sun)of

modern initiation;that Isis his widow is the Lodge,the emblem of the Earth (loka in Sanskrit

the world)and that Horus,son of Osiris (or of light)and the widow ’s son is the free Mason,

that is to say the Initiate who inhabits the terrestrial lodge (the child of the Widow,and of

Light.)[Orthodoxie maēonniq e.pp.102-104 ]

And here again our friend the Jesuits have to be mentioned for the above rite is of their making.To give

one instance of their success in throwing dust into the eyes of ordinary individuals to prevent their seeing

the truths of Occultism we will point out what they did in what is now called Freemasonry.

Masonry and the Jesuits -(Page 275)This Brotherhood does possess a considerable portion of the

symbolism formulae and ritual of Occultism handed down from time immemorial from the primeval

Initiations.To render this Brotherhood a mere harmless negation the Jesuits sent some of their most

able emissaries into the Order who first made the simple brethren believe that the true secret was lost

with Hiram Abiff;and then induced them to put this belief into their formularies.They then invented

specious but spurious higher degrees,pretending to give further light upon this lost secret to lead the

candidate on and amuse him with forms borrowed from the real thing but containing no substance and

all artfully contrived to lead the aspiring Neophyte to nowhere.And yet men of good sense and abilities,

in other respects,will meet at intervals,and with solemn face zeal and earnestness,go through the

mockery of revealing “substituted secrets ”instead of the real thing.

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If the reader turns to a very remarkable and very useful work called The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia Art

“Rosicrucianism ”he will find its author a high and learned Mason showing what the Jesuits have done

to destroy Masonry.Speaking of the period when the existence of this mysterious Brotherhood (of which

many pretend to know “something ”if not a good deal and know in fact nothing)was first made known

he says:

There was a dread among the great masses of society in byegone days of the unseen —a

dread as recent events and phenomena show very clearly not yet overcome in its entirety.

Hence students of Nature and mind were forced into an obscurity not altogether

unwelcome....The Kabalistic reveries of a Johann Reuchlin led to the fiery action of a Luther

and the patient labours of Trittenheim produced the modern system of diplomatic cipher

writing.....It is very worthy of remark,that one particular century and that in which the

Rosicrucians first showed themselves,is distinguished in history as the era in which most of

these efforts at throwing off the trammels of the past [Popery and Ecclesiasticism ] occurred.

Hence the opposition of the losing party and their virulence against anything mysterious or

unknown.They freely organised pseudo-Rosicrucian and Masonic societies in return;and

these societies were instructed to irregularly entrap the weaker brethren of the True and

Invisible Order and then triumphantly betray anything they may be so inconsiderate as to

communicate to the superiors of these transitory and unmeaning associations.Every wile was

adopted to the authorities,fighting in self-defence against the progress of truth to engage by

persuasion interest or terror such as might be cajoled into receiving the Pope as Master —

when (Page 276)gained as many converts to that faith know but dare not own they are treated

with neglect and left to battle of life as best they may not even being admitted to the

knowledge of such miserable aporrheta as the Romish faith considers itself entitled to

withhold.

But if Masonry has been spoiled none is able to crush the real invisible Rosicrucian and the Eastern

Initiate.The symbolism of Vishvakarma and Sūrya Vikarttana has survived where Hiram Abiff was

indeed murdered and we will now return to it.It is not simply an astronomical but is the most solemn

rite an inheritance from the Archaic Mysteries that has crossed the ages and is used to this day.It

typifies a whole drama of the Cycle of Life of progressive incarnations,and of psychic as well as of

physiological secrets,of which neither the Church nor Science knows anything though it is this rite that

has led the former to the greatest of its Christian Mysteries.

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SECTION XXX

The Mystery “Sun of Initiation ”

(Page 277)THE antiquity of the Secret Doctrine may be better realised when it is shown at what point of

history its Mysteries had already been desecrated by being made subservient to the personal ambition

of despot-ruler and crafty priest.These profoundly philosophical and scientifically composed religious

dramas,in which were enacted the grandest truths of the Occult or Spiritual Universe and the hidden lore

of learning and become subject to persecution long before the days when Plato and even Pythagoras

flourished.Withal primal revelations given to Mankind have not died with the Mysteries;they are still

preserved as heirlooms for future and more spiritual generations.

It has been already stated in Isis Unveiled,[Op.cit.,i.15.] that so far back in the days of Aristotle the

great Mysteries had already lost their primitive grandeur and solemnity.Their rites had fallen into

desuetude and they had to a great degree degenerated into mere priestly speculations and had become

religious shams.It is useless to state when they first appeared in Europe and Greece since recognised

history may almost be said to begin with Aristotle everything before him appearing to be in an

inextricable chronological confusion.Suffice it to say that in Egypt the Mysteries had been known since

the days of Menes,and that the Greeks received them only when Orpheus introduced them from India.In

an article “Was writing known before Pānini?” [Five Years of Theosophy p.258.A curious question to

start and to deny when it is well-known even to the Orientalists that to take but one case there is Yaska

who was a predecessor of Pānini and his work still exists;there are seventeen writers of Nirukta

(glossary)known to have prescribed Yaska.] it is stated that the Pāndus had acquired universal dominion

and had taught the “sacrificial ”Mysteries to other races as far back as 3 300 B.C.Indeed when Orpheus,

the son of Apollo or Helios,received from his father the phorminx —the seven-stringed lyre symbolical of

the sevenfold mystery (Page 278)of Initiation —these Mysteries were already hoary with age in Central.

Asia and India.According to Herodotus it was Orpheus who brought them from India and Orpheus is far

anterior to Homer and Hesiod.Thus even in the days of Aristotle few were the true Adepts left in Europe

and even in Egypt.The heirs of those who had been dispersed by the conquering swords of various

invaders of old Egypt had been dispersed in their turn.As 8 000 or 9 000 years earlier the stream of

knowledge had been slowly running down from the tablelands of Central Asia into India and towards

Europe and Northern Africa so about 500 years B.C.it had begun to flow backward to its old home and

birthplace.During the two thousand subsequent years the knowledge of the existence of great Adepts

nearly died out in Europe.Nevertheless,in some secret places the Mysteries were still enacted in all their

primitive purity.The “Sun of Righteousness ” still blazed high on the midnight sky ;and while darkness

was upon the face of the profane world there was the eternal light in the Adyta on the nights of Initiation.

The true Mysteries were never made public.Eleusinia and Agrae for the multitudes;the God Åõāļõėē

“of the good counsel ” the great Orphic Deity for the neophyte.

This mystery God —mistaken by our Symbologists for the Sun —who was He?Everyone who has any

idea of the ancient Egyptian exoteric faith is quite aware that for the multitudes Osiris was the Sun in

Heaven “the heavenly King ” Ro-Imphab;that by the Greeks the Sun was called the “Eye of Jupiter ” as

for the modern orthodox Pārsi he is “the eye of Ormuzd:” that the Sun moreover was addressed as the

“All-seeing God ” (šļėõļöčįėģļņ )as the “God Saviour ” and the “saving God ” (Įéōéļķ ōēņ ółōēńéįņ).

Read the papyrus of Papheronmes at Berlin and the stela as rendered by Mariette Bey;[La Mére d ’Apis

p.47.]and see what they say:

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Glory to thee O Sun divine child!....thy rays carry life to the pure and to those ready....The Gods

[the “Sons of God ”] who approach thee tremble with delight and awe....Thou art the first born the Son

of God the Word.[One just initiated is called the “first-born ” and in India he becomes dwija “twice-born ”

only after his final and supreme Initiation.Every Adept is a “Son of God ”and a “Son of Light ” after

receiving the “Word ” when he becomes the “Word ”himself after receiving the seven divine attributes or

the “lyre of Apollo.”]

The Church has now seized upon these terms and sees presentments of the coming Christ in these

expressions in the initiatory rites and prophetic utterances of the Pagan Oracles.

The Sun as God -(Page 279)They are nothing of the kind for they were applied to every worthy Initiate.If

the expressions that were used in hieratic writings and glyphs thousands of years before our era are now

found in the laudatory hymns and prayers of Christian Churches,it is simply because they have been

unblushingly appropriated by the Latin Christians,in the full hope of never being detected by posterity.

Everything that could be done had been done to destroy the original Pagan manuscripts and the Church

felt secure.Christianity has undeniably had her great Seers and Prophets,like every other religion;but

their claims are not strengthened by denying their predecessors.

Listen to Plato:

Know then Glaucus,that when I speak of the production of good it is the Sun I mean.The

Son has a perfect analogy with his Father.

Iamblichus calls the Sun “the image of divine intelligence or Wisdom.” Eusebius,repeating the words of

Philo calls the rising Sun (įķįōļėē )the chief Angel the most ancient adding that the Archangel who is

polyonymo s (of many names)is the Verbum of Christ.The word Sol (Sun)being derived from sol s the

One or the “He alone.” and its Greek name Helios meaning the “Most High ” the emblem becomes

comprehensible.Nevertheless,the Ancients made a difference between the Sun and its prototype.

Socrates saluted the rising Sun as does a true Pārsī or Zoroastrian in our own day;and Homer and

Euripides,as Plato did after them several times,mention the Jupiter-Logos,the “Word ” or the Sun.

Nevertheless,the Christians maintain that since the oracle consulted on the God Iao answered:“It is the

Sun ” therefore

The Jehovah of the Jews was well known to the Pagans and Greeks;[See De Mirville iv.15 ]

and “Iao is our Jehovah.” The first part of the proposition has nothing it seems to do with the second

part and least of all can the conclusion be regarded as correct.But if the Christians are so anxious to

prove the identity Occultists have nothing against it.Only in such case Jehovah is also Bacchus.It is

very strange that the people of civilised Christendom should until now hold on so desperately to the skirts

of the idolatrous Jews —Sabaeans and Sun worshippers as they were [ II.Kings,xxiii 4-13.] like the

rabble of Chaldaea —and that they should fail to see that the later Jehovah is but a Jewish development

of the Ja-va or the (Page 280)Iao of the Phoenicians;that this name in short was the secret name of a

Mystery-God one of the many Kabiri.“Highest God ” as He was for one little nation he never was so

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regarded by the Initiates who conducted the Mysteries;for them he was but a Planetary Spirit attached to

the visible Sun;and the visible Sun is only the central Star not the central spiritual Sun.

And the Angel of the Lord said unto him [Manoah ] “Why askest thou thus after my name

seeing it is secret.” [Judges,xiii 18.Samson Manoah ’s son was an Initiate of that “Mystery ”

Lord Ja-va:he was consecrated before his birth to become a “Nazarite ”(a chela),an Adept.

His sin with Delilah and the cropping of his long hair that “no razor was to touch ”shows how

well he kept his sacred vow.The allegory of Samson proves the Esotericism of the Bible as

also the character of the “Mystery Gods ”of the Jews.True Mōvers gives a definition of the

Phoenician idea of the ideal sunlight as a spiritual influence issuing from the highest God Iao

“the light conceivable only by intellect —the physical and spiritual Principle of all things:out of

which the soul emanates.” It was the male Essence or Wisdom while the primitive matter or

Chaos was the female.Thus the first two principles,co-eternal and infinite were already with

the primitive Phoenicians,spirit and matter.But this is the echo of Jewish thought not the

opinion of Pagan Philosophers .]

However this may be the identity of the Jehovah of Mount Sinai with the God Bacchus is hardly

disputable and he is surely —as already shown in Isis Unveiled —Dionysos.[See Isis Unveiled.ii.526 ]

Wherever Bacchus was worshipped there was a tradition of Nyssa [Beth-San or Scythopolis in Palestine

had that designation:so had a spot on Mount Parnassus.But Diodorus declares that Nyssa was between

Phoenicia and Egypt:Euripides states that Dionysos came to Greece from India:and Diodorus adds his

testimony:“Osiris was brought up in Nyssa in Arabia the Happy:he was the son of Zeus,and was

named from his father (nominative Zeus,genitive Dios )and the place Dio-Nysos ”—the Zeus or Jove of

Nyssa.This identity of name or title is very significant.In Greece Dionysos was second only to Zeus,and

Pindar says:“So Father Zeus governs all things,and Bacchus he governs also.”] and a cave where he

was reared.Outside Greece Bacchus was the all-powerful “Zagreus,the highest of Gods,” in whose

service was Orpheus,the founder of the Mysteries.Now unless it be conceded that Moses was an

initiated Priest an Adept whose actions are all narrated allegorically then it must be admitted that he

personally together with his hosts of Israelites,worshipped Bacchus.

And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi [or Iao-nisi or again

Dionisi ].[Ex.,xvii.15.]

To strengthen the statement we have further to remember that the place where Osiris,the Egyptian

Zagreus or Bacchus,was born was Mount Sinai which is called by the Egyptians Mount Nissa.The

brazen serpent was a nis,and the month of the Jewish Passover is Nisan.

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SECTION XXXI

The Objects of the Mysteries

(Page 281)THE earliest Mysteries recorded in history are those of Samothrace.After the distribution of

pure Fire a new life began.This was the new birth of the Initiate after which like the Brāhmans of old in

India he became a dwija — a “twice born ”

Initiated into that which may be rightly called the most blessed of all Mysteries ...being

ourselves pure [Phaedrus,Cary ’s translation p.326.]

says Plato.Diodorus Siculus,Herodotus and Sanchoniathon the Phoenician —the oldest of Historians —

say that these Mysteries originated in the night of time thousands of years probably before the historical

period.Iamblichus informs us that Pythagoras

Was initiated in all the Mysteries of Byblus and Tyre in the sacred operations of the Syrians,

and in the Mysteries of the Phœnicians.[Life of Pythagoras p.297.“Since Pythagoras,“he

adds,”“also spent two and twenty years in the adyta of the temples in Egypt associated with

the Magians in Babylon and was instructed by them in their venerable knowledge it is not at

all wonderful that he was skilled in Magic or Theurgy and was therefore able to perform things

which surpass merely human power and which appear to be perfectly incredible to the vulgar.”

(p.298).]

As was said in Isis Unveiled:

When men like Pythagoras,Plato and Iamblichus,renowned for their severe morality took

part in the mysteries and spoke of them with veneration it ill behoves our modern critics to

judge them [and their Initiates ] upon their merely external aspect.

Yet this is what has been done until now especially by the Christian Fathers.Clement Alexandrinus

stigmatises the Mysteries as “indecent and diabolical ”though his words,showing that the Eleusinian

Mysteries were identical with and even as he would allege borrowed from those of the Jews,are

quoted elsewhere in this work.The Mysteries were composed of two parts,of which the Lesser were

performed at Agrae (Page 282)and the Greater at Eleusis,and Clement had been himself initiated.But

the Katharsis,or trials of purification have ever been misunderstood.Iamblichus explains the worst;and

his explanation ought to be perfectly satisfactory at any rate for every unprejudiced mind.

He says:--

Exhibitions of this kind in the Mysteries were designed to free us from licentious passions,by

gratifying the sight and at the same time vanquishing all evil thought through the awful

sanctity with which these rites were accompanied.

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Dr.Warburton remarks:

The wisest and best men in the Pagan world are unanimous in this,that the Mysteries were

instituted pure and proposed the noblest ends by the worthiest means.

Although persons of both sexes and all classes were allowed to take part in the Mysteries,and a

participation in them was even obligatory very few indeed attained the higher and final Initiation in these

celebrated rites.The gradation of the Mysteries is given us by Proclus in the fourth book of his Theology

of Plato.

The perfective rite precedes in order the initiation Telete Muesis,and the initiation Epopteia,

or the final apocalypse [revelation ].

Theon of Smyrna in Mathematica,also divides the mystic rites into five parts:

The first of which is the previous purification;for neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are

willing to receive them;but there are certain persons who are prevented by the voice of the crier......

since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the mysteries should first be refined by certain

purifications;but after purification the reception of the sacred rites succeeds.The third part is

denominated epopteia or reception.And the fourth which is the end and design of the revelation is (the

investiture)the binding of the head and fixing of the crowns [This expression must not be understood

simply literally:for as in the initiation of certain Brotherhoods,it has a secret meaning that we have just

explained;it was hinted at by Pythagoras,when he describes his feelings after the Initiation and says

that he was crowned by the Gods in whose presence he had drunk “the waters of life ”—in the Hindu

Mysteries there was the fount of life and soma the sacred drink.]...whether after this he [the initiated

person ] becomes a torchbearer or an hierophant of the Mysteries,or sustains some other part of the

sacerdotal office.But the fifth which is produced from all these is friendship and interior communion with

God.And this was the last and most awful of all the Mysteries.[Ele sinian and Bacchic Mysteries,

T.Taylor p.46 47.]

The chief objects of the Mysteries,represented as diabolical by the Christian Fathers and ridiculed by

modern writers,were instituted with the highest and most moral purpose in view.

Mysteries and Theophany (Page 283)There is no need to repeat here that which has been already

described in Isis Unveiled [ii.III 113 ]that whether through temple Initiation or the private study of

Theurgy every student obtained the proof of the immortality of his Spirit and the survival of his Soul.

What the last epopteia was is alluded to by Plato in Phaedrus:

Being initiated in those Mysteries which it is lawful to call the most blessed of all mysteries....

we were freed from the molestations of evils,which otherwise await us in a future period of

time.Likewise in consequence of this divine initiation we become spectators of entire simple

immovable and blessed visions,resident in a pure light.[Ele sinian and Bacchic Mysteries,

p.63.]

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This veiled confession shows that the Initiates enjoyed Theophany —saw visions of Gods and of real

immortal spirits.As Taylor correctly infers:

The most sublime part of the epopteia or final revealing consisted in beholding the Gods [the

high Planetary Spirits ] themselves,invested with a resplendent light.[Op.cit p.65 ]

The statement of Proclus upon the subject is unequivocal:

In all the Initiations and Mysteries,the Gods exhibit many forms of themselves,and appear in

a variety of shapes;and sometimes indeed a formless light of themselves if held forth to the

view;sometimes this light is according to a h man form and sometimes it proceeds into a

different shape.[Quoted by Taylor.p.66.]

Again we have

Whatever is on earth is the resemblance and shadow of something that is in the sphere while

that resplendent thing [the prototype of the Soul-Spirit ] remaineth in nchangeable condition it

is well also with its shadow.When that resplendent one removeth far from its shadow life

removeth [from the latter ] to a distance.Again that light is the shadow of something more

resplendent than itself.[Verses 35-38 ]

Thus speaks the Desatir,in the Book of Shet (the prophet Zirtusht),thereby showing the identity of its

Esoteric doctrines with those of the Greek Philosophers.

The second statement of Plato confirms the view that the Mysteries of the Ancients were identical with

the Initiations practised even now among the Buddhist and the Hindu Adepts.The higher (Page 284)

visions,the most truthful were produced through a regular discipline of gradual Initiations,and the

development of psychical powers.In Europe and Egypt the Mystę were brought into close union with

those whom Proclus calls “mystical natures,” resplendent Gods,” because as Plato says:

[We ] were ourselves pure and immaculate being liberated from this surrounding vestment

which we denominate body and to which we are now bound like an oyster to its shell.

[Phaedrus 64 quoted by Taylor p.64.]

As to the East

The doctrine of planetary and terrestrial Pitris was revealed entirely in ancient India as well as

now only at the last moment of initiation and to the adepts of superior degrees.[Isis Unveiled

ii 114.]

The word Pitris may now be explained and something else added.In India the chela of the third degree

of Inititation has two Gurus:One the living Adept;the other the disembodied and glorified Mahātmā Who

remains the adviser or instructor or even the high Adepts.Few are the accepted chelas who even see

their living Master their Guru till the day and hour of their final and for ever binding vow.It is this that

was meant in Isis Unveiled when it was stated that few of the fakirs (the word chela being unknown to

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Europe and America in those days)however

Pure and honest and self-devoted have yet ever seen the astral form of a purely h man

pitar (an ancestor or father),otherwise than at the solemn moment of their first and last

initiation.It is in the presence of his instructor the Guru and just before the vato -fakir [the

just initiated chela ] is despatched into the world of the living with his seven-knotted bamboo

wand for all protection that he is suddenly placed face to face with the unknown PRESENCE

[of his Pitar or Father the glorified invisible Master or disembodied Mahātmā ].He sees it and

falls prostrate at the feet of the evanescent form but is not entrusted with the great secret of

its evocation for it is the supreme mystery of the holy syllable.

The Initiate says Éliphas Lévi knows ;therefore “he dares all and keeps silent.” Says the great French

Kabalist:

You may see him often sad never discouraged or desperate;often poor never humbled or

wretched;often persecuted never cowed down or vanquished.For he remembers the

widowhood and the murder of Orpheus,the exile and solitary death of Moses,the martyrdom

of the prophets,the tortures of Apollonius,the Cross of the Savior.He knows in what forlorn

state died Agrippa whose memory is slandered to this day;he knows the trials that broke

down the great Paracelsus,and all that Raymond Lully had to suffer before he arrived at a

bloody death.

The Mysteries and Masonry -(Page 285)He remembers Swedenborg having to feign insanity and losing

even his reason before his knowledge was forgiven to him;St.Martin who had to hide himself all life;

Cagliostro who died forsaken in the cells of the inquisition;[This is false and the Abbé Constant (Éliphas

Lévy)knew it was so.Why did he promulgate the untruth?] Cazotte who perished on the guillotine.

Successor of so many victims,he dares,nevertheless,but understands the more the necessity to keep

silent.[Dogme de la Ha te Magie,i.219.220.]

Masonry —not the political institution known as the Scotch Lodge but real Masonry some rites of which

are still preserved in the Grand Orient of France and that Elias Ashmole a celebrated English Occult

Philospher of the XVIIth century tried in vain to remodel after the manner of the Indian and Egyptian

Mysteries —Masonry rests,according to Ragon the great authority upon the subject upon three

fundamental degrees:the triple duty of a Mason is to study whence he comes,what he is,and whither

he goes;the study that is,of God of himself and of the future transformation.[Orthodoxie Maconniq e,

p.99.] Masonic Initiation was modelled on that in the lesser mysteries.The third degree was one used in

both Egypt and India from time immemorial and the remembrance of it lingers to this day in every Lodge

under the name of the death and resurrection of Hiram Abiff the “Widow ’s Son.” In Egypt the latter was

called “Osiris;” in India “Loka-chakshu ”(Eye of the World),and “Dinakara ”(day-maker)or the Sun —and

the rite itself was everywhere named the “gate of death.”The coffin or sarcophagus,of Osiris,killed by

Typhon was brought in and placed in the middle of the Hall of the Dead with the Initiates all around it

and the candidate near by.The latter was asked whether he had participated in the murder and

notwithstanding his denial and after sundry and very hard trials,the Initiator feigned to strike him on the

head with a hatchet;he was thrown down swathed in bandages like a mummy and wept over.Then

came lightening and thunder the supposed corpse was surrounded with fire and was finally raised.

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Ragon speaks of a rumour that charged the Emperor Commodus —when he was at one time enacting

the part of the Initiator —with having played this part in the initiatory drama so seriously that he actually

killed the postulant when dealing him the blow with the hatchet.This shows that the lesser Mysteries had

not quite died out in the second century A.D.

(Page 286)The Mysteries were carried into South and Central America Northern Mexico and Peru by the

Atlanteans in those days when

A pedestrian from the North [of what was once upon a time also India ] might have reached —

hardly wetting his feet —the Alaskan Peninsula through Manchooria across the f t re Gulf of

Tartary the Kurile and Aleutian Islands;while another traveller furnished with a canoe and

starting from the South could have walked over from Siam crossed the Polynesian Islands

and trudged into any part of the continent of South America.[Five Years of Theosophy.p.214.]

They continued to exist down to the day of the Spanish invaders.These destroyed the Mexican and

Peruvian records,but were prevented from laying their desecrating hands upon the many Pyramids —the

lodges of an ancient Initiation —whose ruins are scattered over Puente Nacional Cholula and

Teotihuacan.The ruins of Palenque of Ococimgo in Chiapas,and others in Central America are known to

all.If the pyramids and temples of Guiengola and Mitla ever betray their secrets,the present Doctrine will

then be shown to have been a forerunner of the grandest truths in Nature.Meanwhile they have all a

claim to be called Mitla “the place of sadness ”and “the abode of the (desecrated)dead.”

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SECTION XXXII

Traces of the Mysteries

(Page 287)SAYS the Royal Masonic Cyclopędia,art “Sun:”

In all times,the Sun has necessarily played an important part as a symbol and especially in

Freemasonry.The W.M.represents the rising sun the J.W.the sun at the meridian and the

S.W.the setting sun.In the Druidical rites,the Arch-Druid represents the sun and was aided

by two other officers,one representing the Moon in the West and the other the Sun at the

South in its meridian.It is quite unnecessary to enter into any lengthened discussion on this

symbol.

It is the more “unnecessary ” since J.M.Ragon has discussed it very fully as one may find at the end of

Section XXIX.where part of his explanations have been quoted.Freemasonry derived her rights from

the East as we have said.And if it be true to say of the modern Rosicrucians that “they are invested with

a knowledge of chaos,not perhaps a very desirable acquisition ” the remark is still more true when

applied to all the other branches of Masonry since the knowledge of their members about the full

signification of their symbol is nil .Dozens of hypotheses are resorted to one more unlikely than the

other as to the “Round Towers ” of Ireland;one fact is enough to show the ignorance of the Masons,

namely that according to the Royal Masonic Encylopędia,the idea that they were connected with

Masonic Initiation may be at once dismissed as unworthy of notice.The “Towers,” which are found

throughout the East in Asia were connected with the Mystery-Initiations,namely with the Vishvakarma

and the Vikarttana rites.The candidates for Initiation were placed in them for three days and three nights

whenever there was no temple with a subterranean crypt close at hand.These round towers were built

for no other purposes.Discredited as are all such monuments of Pagan origin by the Christian clergy

who thus “soil their own nest ” they are still the living and indestructible relics of the Wisdom of old.(Page

288)Nothing exists in this objective and illusive world of ours that cannot be made to serve two purposes

— a good and a bad one.Thus in later ages,the Initiates of the Left Path and the anthropomorphists took

in hand most of those venerable ruins,then silent and deserted by their first wise inmates,and turned

them indeed into phallic monuments.But this was a deliberate wilful and vicious misinterpretation of

their real meaning a deflection from their first use.The Sun —though ever even for the multitudes,ģļķļņ

ļõńįķļõ öåļņ “the only and one King and God in heaven and the Åõāļõėē “the God of Good Counsel ”

of Orpheus —had in every exoteric popular religion a dual aspect which was anthropomorphised by the

profane.Thus the Sun was Osiris-Typhon,Ormuzd-Ahriman,Bel-Jupiter and Baal the life-giving and the

death -giving luminary.And thus one and the same monolith pillar pyramid tower or temple originally

built to glorify the first principle or aspect might become in time an idol-fane or worse a phallic emblem

in its crude and brutal form.The Lingam of the Hindus has a spiritual and highly philosophical meaning

while the missionaries see in it but an “indecent emblem;” it has just the meaning which is to be found in

all those baalim chammanim and the bamoth with the pillars of unhewn stone of the Bible set up for the

glorification of the male Jehovah.But this does not alter the fact that the pureia of the Greeks,the nur-

hags of Sardinia the teocalli of Mexico etc.were all in the beginning of the same character as the

“Round Towers ” of Ireland.They were sacred places of Initiation.

In 1877 the writer quoting the authority and opinions of some most eminent scholars,ventured to assert

that there was a great difference between the terms Chrestos and Christos ,a difference having a

profound and Esoteric meaning.Also that while Christos means “to live ”and “to be born into a new life ”

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Chrestos,in “Initiation ”phraseology signified the death of the inner lower or personal nature in man;

thus is given the key to the Brąhmanical title the twice-born;and finally

There were Chrestians long before the era of Christianity and the Essenes belonged to them.

[In I Peter .ii.3 Jesus is called “the Lord Chrestos.”]

For this epithets sufficiently opprobrious to characterise the writer could hardly be found.And yet then as

well as now the author never attempted a statement of such a serious nature without showing as many

learned authorities for it as could be mustered.

Christos and Chrestos -(Page 289)Thus on the next page it was said:

Lepsius shows that the word Nofre means Chrestos,“good ” and that one of the titles of Osiris,

“Onnofre ”must be translated “the goodness of God made manifest.” “The worship of Christ

was not universal at this early date ” explains Mackenzie “by which I mean that Christolatry

had not been introduced;but the worship of Chrestos —the Good Principle —had preceded it

by many centuries,and even survived the general adoption of Christianity as shown on

monuments still in existence ....Again we have an inscription which is pre-Christian on an

epitaphial tablet (Spon.Misc.Er d.,Ant.x xviii.2)..

.and de Rossi (Roma Sotteranea tome i.tav.xxi.)gives us

another example from the catacombs —“Ęlia Chreste in Pace.”[Isis Unveiled.ii.323.]

Today the writer is able to add to all those testimonies the corroboration of an erudite author who proves

whatever he undertakes to show on the authority of geometrical demonstration.There is a most curious

passage with remarks and explanations in the So rce of Measures,whose author has probably never

heard of the “Mystery-God ”Visvakarma of the early Āryans.Treating on the difference between the terms

Chrest and Christ he ends by saying that:

There were two Messiahs:one who went down into the pit for the salvation of this world;this

was the Sun shorn of his golden rays and crowned with blackened ones (symbolising this

loss),as the thorns:the other was the triumphant Messiah mounting up to the summit of the

arch of heaven and personified as the Lion of the Tribe of J dah .In both instances he had the

cross;once in humiliation and once holding it in his control as the law of creation He being

Jehovah.

And then the author proceeds to give “the fact ” that “there were two Messiahs,” etc.as quoted above.

And this —leaving the divine and mystic character and claim for Jesus entirely independent of this event

of His mortal life —shows Him beyond any doubt as an Initiate of the Egyptian Mysteries,where the

same rite of Death and of spiritual Resurrection for the neophyte or the suffering Chrestos on his trial

and new birth by Regeneration was enacted —for this was a universally adopted rite.

The “pit ” into which the Eastern Initiate was made to descend was,as shown before Pātāla one of the

seven regions of the nether world over which rules Vāsuki the great “snake God.” This pit Pātāla has

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(Page 290)in the Eastern Symbolism precisely the same manifold meaning as is found by Mr.Ralston

Skinner in the Hebrew word shiac in its application to the case in hand.For it was the synonym of

Scorpio —Pātāla ’s depths being “impregnated with the brightness of the new Sun ”—represented by the

“newly born ” into the glory;and Pātāla was and is in a sense “ a pit a grave the place of death and the

door of Hades or Sheol ” —as,the partially exoteric Initiations in India the candidate had to pass through

the matrix of the heifer before proceeding to Pātāla.In its non-mystic sense it is the Antipodes —America

being referred to in India as Pātāla.But in its symbolism it meant all that and much more.The fact alone

that Vāsuki the ruling Deity of Pātāla is represented in the Hindu Pantheon as the great Nāga (Serpent)

—who was used by the Gods and Asuras as a rope round the mountain Mandara at the churning of the

ocean for Amrita the water of immortality —connects him directly with Initiation

For he is Shesha Nāga also serving as a couch for Vishnu and upholding the seven worlds;and he is

also Ananta “the endless,” and the symbol of eternity —hence the “God of Secret Wisdom ” degraded by

the Church to the rōle of the tempting Serpent of Satan.That what is now said is correct may be verified

by the evidence of even the exoteric rendering of the attributes of various Gods and Sages both in the

Hindu and the Buddhist Pantheons.Two instances will suffice to show how little our best and most

erudite Orientalists are capable of dealing correctly and fairly with the symbolism of Eastern nations,

while remaining ignorant of the corresponding points to be found only in Occultism and the Secret

Doctrine.

(1)The learned Orientalist and Tibetan traveller Professor Emil Schlagintweit mentions in one of his

works on Tibet a national legend to the effect that

Nāgārjuna [a “mythological ”personage “without any real existence ”the learned German

scholar thinks ] received the book Paramārtha or according to others,the book Avatamsaka

from the Nāgas,fabulous creatures of the nature of serpents,who occupy a place among the

beings superior to man and are regarded as protectors of the law of Buddha.To these

spiritual beings Shākyamuni is said to have taught a more philosophical religious system than

to men who were not sufficiently advanced to understand it at the time of his appearance.

[B ddhism in Tibet,p.31.]

The Symbolism of Narada -(Page 291)Nor are men sufficiently advanced for it now;for “the more

philosophical religious system ”is the Secret Doctrine the Occult Eastern Philosophy which is the corner-

stone of all sciences rejected by the unwise builders even at this day and more today perhaps than ever

before in the great conceit of our age.The allegory means simply that Nāgārjuna having been initiated

by the “Serpents ”—the Adepts,“the wise ones ”—and driven out from India by the Brāhmans,who

dreaded to have their Mysteries and sacerdotal Science divulged (the real cause of their hatred of

Buddhism),went away to China and Tibet where he initiated many into the truths of the hidden Mysteries

taught by Gautama Buddha.

(2)The hidden symbolism of Nārada —the great Rishi and the author of some of the Rig-Vaidic hymns,

who incarnated again later on during Krishna ’s time —has never been understood.Yet in connection with

the Occult Sciences,Nārada the son of Brahmā is one of the most prominent characters;he is directly

connected in his first incarnation with the “Builders ”—hence with the seven “Rectors ” of the Christian

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Church who “helped God in the work of creation.” This grand personification is hardly noticed by our

Orientalists,who refer only to that which he is alleged to have said of Pātāla namely “that it is a place of

sexual and sensual gratifications.” This is thought to be amusing and the reflection is suggested that

Nārada no doubt “found the place delightful.” Yet this sentence simply shows him to have been an

Initiate connected directly with the Mysteries,and walking as all the other neophytes,before and after

him had to walk in “the pit among the thorns ” in the “sacrificial Chrest condition ” as the suffering victim

made to descend thereinto — a mystery truly!

Nārada is one of the seven Rishis,the “mind-born sons ” of Brahmā.The fact of his having been during

his incarnation a high Initiate —he like Orpheus,being the founder of the Mysteries —is corroborated and

made evident by his history.The Mahābhārata states that Nārada having frustrated the scheme formed

for peopling the universe in order to remain true to his vow of chastity was cursed by Daksha and

sentenced to be born once more.Again when born during Krishna ’s time he is accused of calling his

father Brahmā “a false teacher ” because the latter advised him to get married and he refused to do so.

This shows him to have been an Initiate going against the orthodox worship and religion.It is curious to

find this Rishi and leader among the “Builders ” and the “Heavenly Host ” as (Page 292)the prototype of the

Christian “leader ” of the same “Host ”—the Archangel Mikael.Both are the male “Virgins,” and both are

the only ones among their respective “Hosts ” who refuse to create.Nārada is said to have dissuaded the

Hari-ashvas,the five thousand sons of Daksha begotten by him for the purpose of peopling the Earth

from producing offspring.Since then the Hari-ashvas have “dispersed themselves through the regions,

and have never returned.”The Initiates are perhaps,the incarnations of these Hari-ashvas?

It was on the seventh day the third of his ultimate trial that the neophyte arose a regenerated man who

having passed through his second spiritual birth returned to earth a glorified and triumphant conqueror of

Death a Hierophant.

An Eastern neophyte in his Chrest condition may be seen in a certain engraving in Moor ’s Hind

Pantheon,whose author mistook another form of the crucified Sun or Vishnu Vittoba for Krishna and

calls it “Krishna crucified in space.”The engraving is also given in Dr.Lundy ’s Mon mental Christianity in

which work the reverend author has collected as many proofs as his ponderous volume could hold of

“Christian symbols before Christianity ” as he expresses it.Thus he shows us Krishna and Apollo as good

shepherds,Krishna holding the cruciform Conch and the Chakra and Krishna “crucified in Space ” as he

calls it.Of this figure it may be truly said as the author says of it himself:

This representation I believe to be anterior to Christianity ....It looks like a Christian crucifix

in many respects ....The drawing the attitude the nail marks in hands and feet indicate a

Christian origin while the Parthian coronet of seven points,the absence of the wood and of

the usual inscription and the rays of glory above would seem to point to some other than a

Christian origin.Can it be the victim-man or the priest and victim both in one of the Hindu

Mythology who offered himself a sacrifice before the worlds were?

It is surely so.

Can it be Plato ’s Second God who impressed himself on the universe in the form of the cross?

Or is it his divine man who would be scourged tormented fettered have his eyes burnt out;

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and lastly ...wo ld be crucified ?

It is all that and much more;archaic religious Philosophy was universal and its Mysteries are as old as

man.It is the eternal symbol of the personified Sun —astronomically purified —in its mystic meaning

regenerated and symbolised by all the Initiates in memory of a sinless Humanity when all were “Sons of

God.”

Egyptian Initiation -(Page 293)Now mankind has become the “Son of Evil ” truly.Does all this take

anything away from the dignity of Christ as an ideal or of Jesus as a divine man?Not at all.On the

contrary made to stand alone glorified above all other “Sons of God ” He can only forment evil feelings

in all those many millioned nations who do not believe in the Christian system provoking their hatred and

leading to iniquitous wars and strifes.If on the other hand we place Him among a long series of “Sons

of God ” and Sons of divine Light every man may then be left to choose for himself among those many

ideals,which he will choose as a God to call to his help and worship on earth as in Heaven.

Many among those called “Saviours ”were “good shepherds,” as was Krishna for one and all of them are

said to have “crushed the serpent ’s head ”—in other words to have conquered their sensual nature and to

have mastered divine and Occult Wisdom.Apollo killed Python a fact which exonerates him from the

charge of being himself the great dragon Satan:Krishna slew the snake Kalināga the Black Serpent;

and the Scandinavian Thor bruised the head of the symbolical reptile with his crucifixion mace.

In Egypt every city of importance was separated from its burial-place by a sacred lake.The same

ceremony of judgement as is described in The Book of the Dead —“that precious and mysterious book ”

(Bunsen)—as taking place in the world of Spirit took place on earth during the burial of the mummy.

Forty-two judges or assessors assembled on the shore and judged the departed “Soul ” according to its

actions when in the body.After that the priests returned within the sacred precincts and instructed the

neophytes upon the probable fate of the Soul and the solemn drama that was then taking place in the

invisible realm whither the Soul had fled.The immortality of the Spirit was strongly inculcated on the

neophytes by the Al-om-jalt —the name of the highest Egyptian Hierophant.In the Crata Nepoa —the

priestly Mysteries in Egypt —the following are described as four out of the seven degrees of Initiation.

After a preliminary trial at Thebes,where the neophyte had to pass through many probations,called the

“Twelve Tortures,” he was commanded in order that he might come out triumphant to govern his

passions and never lose for a moment the idea of his inner God or seventh Principle.Then as a symbol

of the wanderings of the unpurified Soul he had to ascend several ladders and wander in darkness in a

cave with many doors,all of which were locked.Having (Page 294)overcome all he received the degree

of Pastophoris,after which he became in the second and third degrees,the Neocoris and Melancphoris.

Brought into a vast subterranean chamber thickly furnished with mummies lying in state he was placed

in presence of the coffin which contained the mutilated body of Osiris.This was the hall called the “Gates

of Death ” whence the verse in Job:

Have the gates of Death been opened to thee

Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

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Thus asks the “Lord ” the Hierophant the Al-om-jah the Initiator of Job alluding to this third degree of

Initiation.For the Book of Job is the poem of Initiation par excellence.

When the neophyte had conquered the terrors of this trial he was conducted to the “Hall of Spirits ” to be

judged by them.Among the rules in which he was instructed he was commanded:

Never to either desire or seek revenge;to be always ready to help a brother in danger even

unto the risk of his own life;to bury every dead body;to honour his parents above all;to

respect old age and protect those weaker than himself;and finally to ever bear in mind the

hour of death and that of resurrection in a new and imperishable body.

Purity and chastity were highly recommended and adultery was threatened with death.Thus the

Egyptian neophyte was made a Kristophoros.In this degree the mystery-name of IAO was

communicated to him.

Let the reader compare the above sublime precepts with the precepts of Buddha and the noble

commandments in the “Rule of Life ” for the ascetics of India and he will understand the unity of the

Secret Doctrine everywhere.

It is impossible to deny the presence of a sexual element in many religious symbols,but this fact is not in

the least open to censure once it becomes generally known that —in the religious traditions of every

country —man was not born in the first “human ” race from father and mother.From the bright “mind-born

Sons of Brahmā ” the Rishis,and from Adam Kadmon with his Emanations,the Sephiroth down to the

“parentless,” the Anupādaka or the Dhyāni Buddhas,from whom sprang the Bodhisattvas and Manushi-

Buddhas,the earthly Initiates —men —the first race of men was with every nation held as being born

without father or mother.Man the “Manushi Buddha ” the Manu the “Enosh ” son of Seth or the “Son of

Man ” as he is called —is born in the present way only as the consequence the unavoidable fatality of the

law of natural evolution.

The Self-Sacrificing Victim -(Page 295)Mankind —having reached the last limit and that turning point

where its spiritual nature had to make room for mere physical organization —had to “fall into matter ” and

generation.But man ’s evolution and involution are cyclic.He will end as he began.Of course to our

grossly material minds even the sublime symbolism of Kosmos conceived in the matrix of Space after the

divine Unit had entered into and fructified it with Its holy fiat will no doubt suggest materiality.Not so with

primitive mankind.The initiatory rite in the Mysteries of the self-sacrificing Victim that dies a spiritual

death to save the world from destruction —really from depopulation —was established during the Fourth

Race to commemorate an event which physiologically has now become the Mystery of Mysteries

among the world-problems.In the Jewish script it is Cain and the female Abel who are the sacrificed and

sacrificing couple —both immolating themselves (as permutations of Adam and Eve or the dual Jehovah)

and shedding their blood “of separation and union ” for the sake of and to save mankind by inaugurating

a new physiological race.Later still when the neophyte as already mentioned in order to be re-born

once more into his lost spiritual state had to pass through the entrails (the womb)of a virgin heifer [The

Aryans replaced the living cow by one made of gold silver or any other metal and the rite is preserved to

this day when one desires to become a Brāhman a twice-born in India.] killed at the moment of the rite

it involved again a mystery and one as great for it referred to the process of birth or rather the first

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entrance of man on to this earth through Vāch —“the melodious cow who milks forth sustenance and

water ”—and who is the female Logos.It had also reference to the same self-sacrifice of the “divine

Hermaphrodite ”—of the third Root-Race —the transformation of Humanity into truly physical men after

the loss of spiritual potency.When the fruit of evil having been tested along with the fruit of good there

was as a result the gradual atrophy of spirituality and a strengthening of the materiality in man then he

was doomed to be born thenceforth through the present process.This is the Mystery of the

Hermaphrodite which the Ancients kept so secret and veiled.It was neither the absence of moral feeling

nor the presence of gross sensuality in them that made them imagine their Deities under a dual aspect;

but rather their knowledge of the mysteries and processes of primitive Nature.The Science of Physiology

was better known to them than it is to us now.It is in this (Page 296)that lies buried the key to the

Symbolism of old the true focus of national thought and the strange dual-sexed images of nearly every

God and Goddess in both pagan and monotheistic Pantheons.

Says Sir William Drummond in Œ dip s Judaļcus:

The truths of science were the arcana of the priests because these truths were the

foundations of religion.

But why should the missionaries so cruelly twit the Vaishnavas and Krishna worshippers for the

supposed grossly indecent meaning of their symbols,since it is made clear beyond the slightest doubt

and by the most unprejudiced writers,that Chrestos in the pit —whether the pit to be taken as meaning

the grave or hell —had likewise a sexual element in it from the very origin of the symbol.

This fact is no longer denied today.The “Brothers of the Rosy Cross of the Middle Ages were as good

Christians as any to be found in Europe nevertheless,all their rites were based on symbols whose

meaning was pre-eminently phallic and sexual.Their biographer Hargrave Jennings,the best modern

authority on Rosicrucianism speaking of this mystic Brotherhood describes how

The tortures and the sacrifice of Calvary the Passion of the Cross,were in their [the Rose-

Croix ’s ] glorious blessed magic and triumph the protest and appeal.

Protest —by whom?The answer is,the protest of the crucified Rose the greatest and the most unveiled

of all sexual symbols —the Yoni and Lingam the “victim ” and the “murderer ” the female and male

principles in Nature.Open the last work of that author Phallicism,and see in what glowing terms he

describes the sexual symbolism in that which is most sacred to the Christian:

The flowing blood streamed from the crown or the piercing circlet of the thorns of Hell.The

Rose is feminine.Its lustrous carmine petals are guarded with thorns.The Rose is the most

beautiful of flowers.The Rose is the Queen of God ’s Garden (Mary the Virgin).It is not the

Rose alone which is the magical idea or truth.But it is the “crucified rose ” or the “martyred

rose ”(by the grand mystic apocalyptic figure)which is the talisman the standard the object of

adoration of all the “Sons of Wisdom ”or the true Rosicrucians.[Op.cit.,p.141.]

Not of all the “Sons of Wisdom ”by any means,not even of the true Rosicrucian.For the latter would

never put in such sickening relievo in such a purely sensual and terrestrial not to say animal light the

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grandest the noblest of Nature ’s symbols.

Orpheus -(Page 297)To the Rosicrucian the “Rose ” was the symbol of Nature of the ever prolific and

virgin Earth or Isis,the mother and nourisher of man considered as feminine and represented as a

virgin woman by the Egyptian Initiates.Like every other personification of Nature and the Earth she is the

sister and wife of Osiris,as the two characters answer to the personified symbol of the Earth both she

and the Sun being the progeny of the same mysterious Father because the Earth is fecundated by the

Sun —according to the earliest Mysticism —by divine insufflation.It was the pure ideal of mystic Nature

that was personified in the “World Virgins,” the “Celestial Maidens,” and later on by the human Virgin

Mary the Mother of the Saviour the Salvator Mundi now chosen by the Christian World.And it was the

character of the Jewish maiden that was adopted by Theology to archaic Symbolism,[ In Ragon ’s

Orthodoxie Maconniq e p.105 note we find the following statement —borrowed from Albumazar the

Arabian probably:“The Virgin of the Magi and Chaldęans.The Chaldęan sphere [globe ] showed in its

heavens a newly-born babe called Christ and Jesus;it was placed in the arms of the Celestial Virgin.It

was to this Virgin that Eratosthenes,the Alexandrian Librarian born 276 years before our era gave the

name of Isis,mother of Horus.” This is only what Kircher gives (in Ędip s Ęgyptic s,iii.5),quoting

Albumazar:“In the first decan of the Virgin rises a maid called Aderenosa that is pure immaculate virgin

...sitting upon an embroidered throne nursing a boy ...a boy named Jesus ...which signifies Issa

whom they also call Christ in Greek.” (See Isis Unveiled,ii.491)] and not the Pagan symbol that was

modelled for the new occasion.

We know through Herodotus that the Mysteries were brought from India by Orpheus — a hero far anterior

to both Homer and Hesiod.Very little is really known of him,and till very lately Orphic literature and even

the Argonauts,were attributed to Onamacritus,a contemporary of Pisistratus,Solon and Pythagoras —

who was credited with their compilation in the present form toward the close of the sixth century B.C.or

800 years after the time of Orpheus.But we are told that in the days of Pausanias there was a sacerdotal

family who like the Brāhmans with the Vedas had committed to memory all the Orphic Hymns,and that

they were usually thus transmitted from one generation to another.By placing Orpheus so far back as

1200 B.C.official Science —so careful in her chronology to choose in each case as late a period as

possible —admits that the Mysteries,or in other words Occultism dramatised belong to a still earlier

epoch than the Chaldęans and Egyptians.

The downfall of the Mysteries in Europe may now be mentioned.

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SECTION XXXIII

The Last of the Mysteries in Europe

(Page 298)AS was predicted by the great Hermes in his dialogue with Ęsculapius,the time had indeed

come when impious foreigners accused Egypt of adoring monsters,and naught but the letters engraved

in stone upon her monuments survived —enigmas unintelligible to posterity.Her sacred Scribes and

Hierophants became wanderers upon the face of the earth.Those who remained in Egypt found

themselves obliged for fear of a profanation of the sacred Mysteries to seek refuge in deserts and

mountains,to form and establish secret societies and brotherhoods —such as the Essenes;those who

had crossed the oceans to India and even to the (now-called)New World bound themselves by solemn

oaths to keep silent and to preserve secret their Sacred Knowledge and Science;thus these were buried

deeper than ever out of human sight.In Central Asia and on the northern borderlands of India the

triumphant sword of Aristotle ’s pupil swept away from his path of conquest every vestige of a once pure

Religion:and its Adepts receded further and further from that path into the most hidden spots of the

globe.The cycle of****being at its close the first hour for the disappearance of the Mysteries struck on

the clock of the Races,with the Macedonian conqueror.The first strokes of its last hour sounded in the

year 47 B.C..Alesia [Now called St.Reine (Cote d ’Or)on the two streams,the Ose and the Oserain.Its

fall is a historical fact in Keltic Gaulish History.]the famous city in Gaul the Thebes of the Kelts,so

renowned for its ancient rites of Initiation and Mysteries,was,as J.M.Ragon well describes it:

The ancient metropolis and the tomb of Initiation of the religion of the Druids and of the

freedom of Gaul.[Orthodoxie Maconniq e,p.22.]

Alesia and Bibractis -(Page 299)It was during the first century before our era that the last and supreme

hour of the great Mysteries had struck.History shows the populations of Central Gaul revolting against

the Roman yoke.The country was subject to Cęsar and the revolt was crushed;the result was the

slaughter of the garrison at Alesia (or Alisa),and of all its inhabitants,including the Druids,the college-

priests and the neophytes;after this the whole city was plundered and razed to the ground.

Bibractis,a city as large and as famous,not far from Alesia perished a few years later.J.M.Ragon

describes her end as follows:

Bibractis,the mother of sciences,the soul of the early nations [in Europe ] a town equally

famous for its sacred college of Druids,its civilisation its schools,in which 40 000 students

were taught philosophy literature grammar jurisprudence medicine astrology occult

sciences,architecture etc.Rival of Thebes,of Memphis,of Athens and of Rome it possessed

an amphitheatre surrounded with colossal statues,and accommodating 100 000 spectators,

gladiators,a capital temples of Janus,Pluto Prosperpine Jupiter Apollo Minerva Cybele

Venus and Anubis;and in the midst of these sumptuous edifices the Naumachy with its vast

basin an incredible construction a gigantic work wherein floated boats and galleys devoted to

naval games;then a Champ de Mars an aqueduct fountains,public baths;finally fortifications

and walls,the construction of which dated from the heroic ages.[Op.cit.,p.22 .]

Such was the last city in Gaul wherein died for Europe the secrets of the Initiations of the Great

Mysteries,the Mysteries of Nature and of her forgotten Occult truths.The rolls and manuscripts of the

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famous Alexandrian Library were burned and destroyed by the same Cęsar [ The Christian mob in 389

of our era completed the work of destruction upon what remained:most of the priceless works were

saved for students of Occultism but lost to the world .] but while History deprecates the action of the Arab

general Amrus,who gave the final touch to this act of vandalism perpetrated by the great conqueror it

has not a word to say to the latter for his destruction of nearly the same amount of precious rolls in Alesia

nor to the destroyer of Bibractis.While Sacrovir —chief of the Gauls,who revolted against Roman

despotism under Tiberius,and was defeated by Silius in the year 21 of our era —was burning himself

alive with his fellow conspirators on a funeral pyre before the gates of the city as Ragon tells us,the

latter was sacked and plundered and all her treasures of literature on the Occult Sciences perished by

fire.The once majestic city Bibractis,has now become Autun Ragon explains.

(Page 300 )A few monuments of glorious antiquity are still there such as the temples of Janus

and Cybele.

Ragon goes on:

Arles,founded two thousand years before Christ was sacked in 270.This metropolis of Gaul

restored 40 years later by Constantine has preserved to this day a few remains of its ancient

splendour;amphitheatre capitol an obelisk,a block of granite 17 metres high a triumphal

arch catacombs,etc.Thus ended Kelto Gaulic civilisation.Cęsar as a barbarian worthy of

Rome had already accomplished the destruction of the ancient Mysteries by the sack of the

temples and their initiatory colleges,and by the massacre of the Initiates and the Druids.

Remained Rome;but she never had but the lesser Mysteries,shadows of the Secret

Sciences.The Great Initiation was extinct.[Op.cit.,p.23.J.M.Ragon a Belgian by birth and

a Mason knew more about Occultism than any other non-initiated writer.For fifty years he

studied the ancient mysteries wherever he could find accounts of them.In 1805 he founded at

Paris the Brotherhood of Les Trinosophes in which Lodge he delivered for years lectures on

Ancient and Modern Initiations (in 1818 and again in 1841),which were published and now

are lost.Then he became the writer in chief of Hermes a masonic paper.His best works were

La Maconnerie Occulte and the Fastes Initiatiq es.After his death in 1866 a number of his

MSS remained in the possession of the Grand Orient of France.A high Mason told the writer

that Ragon had corresponded for years with two Orientalists in Syria and Egypt one of whom

is a Kopt gentleman.]

A few further extracts may be given from his Occult Masonry,as they bear directly upon our subject.

However learned and erudite some of the chronological mistakes of that author are very great.He says:

After deified man (Hermes)came the King-Priest [the Hierophant ] Menes was the first

legislator and the founder of Thebes of the hundred palaces.He filled that city with magnificent

splendour;it is from his day that the sacerdotal epoch of Egypt dates.The priests reigned for

it is they who made the laws.It is said that there have been three hundred and twenty-nine

[Hierophants ] since his time —all of whom have remained unknown.

After that genuine Adepts having become scarce the author shows the Priests choosing false ones from

the midst of slaves whom they exhibited having crowned and deified them for the adoration of the

ignorant masses.

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Tired of reigning in such a servile way the kings rebelled and freed themselves.Then came

Sesostris,the founder of Memphis (1613 they say before our era).To the sacerdotal election

to the throne succeeded that of the warriors....Cheops who reigned from 1178 to 1122 built

the great Pyramid which bears his name.He is accused of having persecuted theocracy and

closed the temples.

This is utterly incorrect though Ragon repeats “History.” The Pyramid called by the name of Cheops is

the Great Pyramid the building of which even Baron Bunsen assigned to 5 000 B.C.He says in Egypt ’s

Place in Universal History :

The Learning of Egypt -

(Page 301)The Origins of Egypt go back to the ninth millennium before Christ.[Op.cit.,iv.462.]

And as the Mysteries were performed and the Initiations took place in that Pyramid —for indeed it was

built for that purpose —it looks strange and an utter contradiction with known facts in the history of the

Mysteries to suppose that Cheops,if the builder of that Pyramid ever turned against the initiated Priests

and their temples.Moreover as far as the Secret Doctrine teaches,it was not Cheops who built the

Pyramid of that name whatever else he might have done.

Yet it is quite true that

Owing to an Ethiopian invasion and the federated government of twelve chiefs,royalty fell into

the hands of Amasis,a man of low birth.

This was in 570 B.C.and it was Amasis who destroyed priestly power.And

Thus perished that ancient theocracy which showed its crowned priests for so many centuries

to Egypt and the whole world.

Egypt had gathered the students of all countries around her Priests and Hierophants before Alexandria

was founded.Ennemoser asks:

How comes it that so little has become known of the Mysteries and of their particular contents,

through so many ages,and amongst so many different times and people?The answer is that it

is again owing to the universally strict silence of the initiated.Another cause may be found in

the destruction and total loss of all the written memorials of the secret knowledge of the

remotest antiquity.

Numa's books,described by Livy consisting of natural philosophy were found in his tomb;but

they were not allowed to be made known lest they should reveal the most secret mysteries of

the state religion....The senate and the tribunes of the people determined ...that the books

themselves should be burned which was done.[History of Magic,ii II.]

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Cassain mentions a treatise well-known in the fourth and fifth centuries,which was accredited to Ham

the son of Noah who in his turn was reputed to have received it from Jared the fourth generation from

Seth the son of Adam.

Alchemy also was first taught in Egypt by her learned Priests,though the first appearance of this system

is as old as man.Many writers have declared that Adam was the first Adept;but that was a blind and a

pun upon the name which is “red earth ”in one of its meanings.The correct information —under its

allegorical veil —is found in the sixth chapter of Genesis,which speaks of the “Sons of God ”who took

wives of the daughters of men after which they communicated to (Page 302)these wives many a mystery

and secret of the phenomenal world.The cradle of Alchemy says Olaus Borrichius,is to be sought in the

most distant times.Democritus of Abdera was an Alchemist and a Hermetic Philosopher.Clement of

Alexandria wrote considerably upon the Science and Moses and Solomon are called proficients in it.We

are told by W.Godwin;

The first authentic record on this subject is an edict of Diocletian about 300 years A.D.

ordering a diligent search to be made in Egypt for all the ancient books which treated of the art

of making gold and silver that they might without distinction be consigned to the flames.

The Alchemy of the Chaldęans and the old Chinamen is not even the parent of that Alchemy which

revived among the Arabians many centuries later.There is a spiritual Alchemy and a physical

transmutation.The knowledge of both was imparted at the Initiations.

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SECTION XXXIV

The Post-Christian Successors to the Mysteries

(Page 303)THE Eleusinian Mysteries were no more.Yet it was these which gave their principle features to

the Neo-platonic school of Ammonius Saccas,for the Eclectic System was chiefly characterised by its

Theurgy and ecstasis.It was Iamblichus who added to it the Egyptian doctrine of Theurgy with its

practices,and Porphyry the Jew who opposed this new element.The school however with but few

exceptions,practised asceticism and contemplation its mystics passing through a discipline as rigorous

as that of the Hindu devotee.Their efforts never tended so much to develop the successful practice of

thaumaturgy necromancy or sorcery —such as they are now accused of —as to evolve the higher

faculties of the inner man the Spiritual Ego.The school held that a number of spiritual beings,denizens

of spheres quite independent of the earth and of the human cycle were mediators between the “Gods ”

and men and even between man and the Supreme Soul.To put it in plainer language the soul of man

became owing to the help of the Planetary Spirits,“recipient of the soul of the world ”as Emerson puts it.

Apollonius of Tyana asserted his possession of such a power in these words (quoted by Professor Wilder

in his Neo-Platonism ):

I can see the present and the future in a clear mirror.The sage [Adept ] need not wait for the

vapours of the earth and the corruption of the air to foresee plagues and fevers;he must know

them later than God but earlier than the people.The theoi or gods see the future;common

men the present;sages that which is about to take place.My peculiar abstemious mode of

living produces such an acuteness of the senses,or creates some other faculty so that the

greatest and most remarkable things may be performed.[Neo-Platonism and Alchemy.p.15 ]

(Page 304)Professor A.Wilder ’s comment thereupon is remarkable:

This is what may be termed Spirit al photography .The soul is the camera in which facts and

events,future past and present are alike fixed;and the mind becomes conscious of them.

Beyond our everyday world of limits,all is as one day or state —the past and future comprised

in the present.Probably this is the “great day ”the “last day ” the “day of the Lord.”of the Bible

writers —the day into which everyone passes by death or ecstasis.Then the soul is freed from

the constraint of the body and its nobler part is united to higher nature and becomes partaker

in the wisdom and foreknowledge of the higher beings.[ Loc.cit.]

How far the system practised by the Neo-Platonists was identical with that of the old and the modern

Vedāntins may be inferred from what Dr.A.Wilder says of the Alexandrian Theosophists.

The anterior idea of the New Platonists was that of a single Supreme Essence...All the old

philosophies contained the doctrine that öåļé,theoi,gods or disposers,angels,demons,and

other spiritual agencies,emanated from the Supreme Being.Ammonius accepted the doctrine

of the Books of Hermes,that from the divine All proceeded the Divine Wisdom or Amun;that

from Wisdom proceeded the Demiurge or Creator;and from the Creator the subordinate

spiritual beings;the world and its people being the last.The first is contained in the second

the first and second in the third and so on through the entire series.[Op.cit.,pp.9.10 ]

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This is a perfect echo of the belief of the Vedāntins,and it proceeds directly from the secret teachings of

the East.The same author says:

Akin to this is the doctrine of the Jewish Kabala which was taught by the Pharsi or Pharisees,

who probably borrowed it as their sectarian designation would seem to indicate from the

Magians of Persia.It is substantially embodied in the following synopsis.

The Divine Being is the All the source of all existence the Infinite;and He cannot be known.

The Universe reveals Him and subsists by Him.At the beginning His effulgence went forth

everywhere.[This Divine Effulgence and Essence is the light of the Logos:only the Vedāntin

would not use the pronoun “He ”but would say “It.”]Eventually He retired within Himself and

so formed around Him a vacant space.Into this He transmitted His first Emanation a Ray

containing in it the generative and conceptive power and hence the name IE or Jah.This in

turn produced the tikkun the pattern or idea or form;and in this emanation which also

contained the male and female or generative and conceptive potencies,were the three

primitive forces of Light Spirit and Life.This Tikkun is united to the Ray or first emanation and

pervaded by it;and by that union is also in perpetual communication with the infinite source.It

is the pattern the primitive man the Adam Kadmon the macrocosm of Pythagoras and other

philosophers.

The Root Races -

(Page 305)From it proceeded the Sephiroth ....From the Sephiroth in turn emanated the four

worlds,each proceeding out of the one immediately above it and the lower one enveloping its

superior.These worlds became less pure as they descended in the scale the lowest of all

being the material world.[Loc.cit.,note.p.10 ]

This veiled enunciation of the Secret Teaching will be clear to our readers by this time.These worlds are:

Azil th is peopled with the purest emanations [ the First almost spiritual Race of the human

beings that were to inhabit [the Fourth;] the second Beriah,by a lower order the servants of

the former [ the second Race ];the third Jesirah,by the cherubim and seraphim the Elohim

and B ’ni Elohim [“Sons of Gods ”or Elohim,our Third Race ] .The fourth world Asiah,is

inhabited by the Klipputh of whom Belial is chief [the Atlantean Sorcerers ] .[ Loc.cit.,note.]

These worlds are all the earthly duplicates of their heavenly prototypes the mortal and temporary

reflections and shadows of the more durable if not eternal races dwelling in other to us,invisible worlds.

The souls of the men of our Fifth Race derive their elements from these four worlds —Root Races —that

preceded ours:namely our intellect.Manas,the fifth principle our passions and mental and corporeal

appetites.A conflict having arisen called “war in heaven ” among our prototypical worlds,war came to

pass,ęons later between the Atlanteans [See Esoteric B ddhism,by A.P.Sinnett.Fifth Edition.] of

Asiah and those of the third Root Race the B ’ni Elohim or the “Sons of God ” [See Isis Unveiled .Vol.I .

pp.589-595.The “Sons of God ”and their war with the giants and magicians .]and then evil and

wickedness were intensified.Mankind (in the last sub-race of the third Root Race)having

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Sinned in their first parent [a physiological allegory truly!] from whose soul every human soul

is an emanation

says the Zohar men were “exiled ”into more material bodies to

Expiate that sin and become proficient in goodness.

To accomplish the cycle of necessity rather explains the doctrine;to progress on their task of evolution

from which task none of us can be freed neither by death nor suicide for each of us have to pass

through the “Valley of Thorns ”before he emerges into the plains of divine light and rest.And thus men

will continue to be born in new bodies.

Till they have become sufficiently pure to enter a higher form of existence.

(Page 306)This means only that Mankind from the First down to the last or Seventh Race is composed

of one and the same company of actors,who have descended from higher spheres to perform their

artistic tour on this our planet Earth.Starting as pure spirits on our downward journey around the world

(verily!)with the knowledge of truth —now feebly echoed in the Occult Doctrines —inherent in us,cyclic

law brings us down to the reversed apex of matter which is lost down here on earth and the bottom of

which we have already struck;and then the same law of spiritual gravity will make us slowly ascend to

still higher still purer spheres than those we started from.

Foresight prophecy oracular powers!Illusive fancies of man ’s dwarfed perceptions,which see actual

images in reflections and shadows,and mistakes past actualities for prophetic images of a future that

has no room in Eternity.Our macrocosm and its smallest microcosm man are both repeating the same

play of universal and individual events at each station as on every stage on which Karma leads them to

enact their respective dramas of life.False prophets could have no existence had there been no true

prophets.And so there were and many of both classes,and in all ages.Only none of these ever saw

anything but that which had already come to pass,and had been before prototypically enacted in higher

spheres —if the event foretold related to national or public weal or woe —or in some preceding life if it

concerned only an individual for every such event is stamped as an indelible record of the Past and

Future which are only after all the ever Present in Eternity.The “worlds ”and the purifications spoken of

in the Zohar and other Kabalistic books,relate to our globe and races no more and no less than they

relate to other globes and other races that have preceded our own in the great cycle.It was such

fundamental truths as these that were performed in allegorical plays and images during the Mysteries,

the last Act of which the Epilogue for the Mystę was the anastasis or “continued existence ”as also the

“Soul transformation.”

Hence the author of Neo-platonism and Alchemy shows us that all such Eclectic doctrines were strongly

reflected in the Epistles of Paul and were

Inculcated more or less among the Churches.Hence such passages as these “Ye were dead

in errors and sins;ye walked according to the ęon of this world according to the archon that

has the domination of the air.” “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the

dominations,against potencies,against the lords of darkness,and against the

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mischievousness of spirits and the empryrean regions.”

The “False Gnosis ”-(Page 307)But Paul was evidently hostile to the effort to blend his gospel

with the gnostic ideas of the Hebrew-Egyptian school as seems to have been attempted at

Ephesus;and accordingly wrote to Timothy his favorite disciple “Keep safe the precious

charge entrusted to thee;and reject the new doctrines and the antagonistic principles of the

gnosis,falsely so-called of which some have made profession and gone astray from the faith.”

[ Loc.cit.note.]

But as the Gnosis is the Science pertaining to our Higher Self as blind faith is a matter of temperament

and emotionalism and as Paul ’s doctrine was still newer and his interpretations far more thickly veiled to

keep the inner truths hidden far away from the Gnostic,preference has been given to the former by every

earnest seeker after truth.

Besides this,the great Teachers who professed the so-called “false Gnosis ”were very numerous in the

days of the Apostles,and were as great as any converted Rabbi could be.If Porphyry the Jew Malek,

went against Theurgy on account of old traditional recollections,there were other teachers who practised

it.Plotinius,Iamblichus,Proclus,were all thaumaturgists,and the latter:

Elaborated the entire theosophy and theurgy of his predecessors into a complete system.[Op.

cit.,p.18.]

As to Ammonius,

Countenanced by Clemens and Athenagoras,in the Church and by learned men of the

Synagogue the Academy and the Grove he fulfilled his labour by teaching a common

doctrine for all.[Op.cit.,p.8.]

Thus it is not Judaism and Christianity that re-modelled the ancient Pagan Wisdom but rather the latter

that put its heathen curb quietly and insensibly on the new faith;and this,moreover was still further

influenced by the Eclectic Theosophical system the direct emanation of the Wisdom Religion.All that is

grand and noble in Christian theology comes from Neo-Platonism.It is too well-known to now need much

repetition that Ammonius Saccas,the God-taught (theodidaktos )and the lover of truth (philalethes ),in

establishing his school made a direct attempt to benefit the world by teaching those portions of the

Secret Science that were permitted by its direct guardians to be revealed in those days.[No orthodox

Christian has ever equalled far less surpassed in the practice of true Christ-like virtues and ethics,or in

the beauty of his moral nature Ammonius,the Alexandrian pervert from Christianity (he was born from

Christian parents.)] The modern movement of our own Theosophical Society (Page 308)was begun on the

same principles;for the Neo-Platonic school of Ammonius aimed as we do at the reconcilement of all

sects and peoples,under the once common faith of the Golden Age trying to induce the nations to lay

aside their contentions —in religious matters at any rate —by proving to them that their various beliefs are

all the more or less legitimate children of one common parent the Wisdom Religion.

Nor was the Eclectic Theosophical system —as some writers inspired by Rome would make the world

believe —developed only during the third century of our era;but it belongs to a much earlier age as has

been shown by Diogenes Laertius.He traces it to the beginning of the dynasty of the Ptolemies;to the

great seer and prophet the Egyptian Priest Pot-Amun of the temple of the God of that name —for Amun

is the God of Wisdom.Unto that day the communication between the Adepts of Upper India and Bactria

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and the Philosophers of the West had never ceased.

Under Philadelphus ...the Hellenic teachers became rivals of the College of Rabbis of

Babylon.The Buddhistic,Vedāntic and Magian systems were expounded along with the

philosophies of Greece ....Aristobulus,the Jew declared that the ethics of Aristotle were

derived from the law of Moses (!);and Philo after him attempted to interpret the Pentateuch

in accordance with the doctrines of Pythagoras and the Academy.In Josephus it is said that in

the Book of the Genesis,Moses wrote philosophically —that is,in the figurative style;and the

Essenes of Carmel were reproduced in the Therapeutę of Egypt who in turn were declared

by Eusebius to be identical with the christians,though they actually existed long before the

Christian era.Indeed in its turn Christianity also was taught at Alexandria and underwent an

analogous metamorphosis.Pantęnus,Athenagoras and Clement were thoroughly instructed

in the Platonic philosophy and comprehended its essential unity with the oriental systems.

[Op.cit.,pp.3 4.]

Ammonius,though the son of Christian parents,was a lover of the truth a true Philaletheian foremost of

all.He set his heart upon the work of reconciling the different systems into a harmonious whole for he

had already perceived the tendency of Christianity to raise itself on the hecatomb which it had

constructed out of all other creeds and faiths.What says history?

The ecclesiastical historian Mosheim declares that

Ammonius,conceiving that not only the philosophers of Greece but also all those of the

different barbarous nations,were perfectly in unison with each other with regard to every

essential point made it his business so to temper and expound the tenets of all these various

sects,as to make it appear they had all of them originated from one and the same source and

all tended to one and the same end.

Teachers of Ammonius -(Page 309)Again Mosheim says that Ammonius taught that the

religion of the multitude went hand in hand with philosophy and with her had shared the fate

of being by degrees corrupted and obscured with mere human conceits,superstition and lies;

that it ought therefore to be brought back to its original purity by purging it of this dross and

expounding it upon philosophical principles;and that the whole which Christ had in view was

to reinstate and restore to its primitive integrity the Wisdom of the Ancients.[Quoted by Dr.

Wilder.p.5 ]

Now what was that “Wisdom of the Ancients ”that the Founder of Christianity “had in view ” ?The system

taught by Ammonius in his Eclectic Theosophical School was made of the crumbs permitted to be

gathered from the antediluvian lore;those Neo-Platonic teachings are described in the Edinb rgh

Encyclopœdia as follows:

He [ Ammonius ]adopted the doctrines which were received in Egypt concerning the Universe

and the Deity considered as constituting one great whole;concerning the eternity of the world

the nature of souls,the empire of Providence [Karma ]and the government of the world by

demons [daimons or spirits,archangels ].He also established a system of moral discipline

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which allowed the people in general to live according to the laws of their country and the

dictates of nature;but required the wise to exalt their minds by contemplation and to mortify

the body [ “Mortification ”is here meant in the moral not the physical sense:to restrain every

lust and passion and live on the simplest diet possible.] so that they might be capable of

enjoying the presence and assistance of the demons [including their own daimon or Seventh

Principle ]...and ascending after death to the presence of the Supreme [ Soul ]Parent.In

order to reconcile the popular religions,and particularly the Christian with this new system he

made the whole history of the heathen gods an allegory maintaining that they were only

celestial ministers [ This is a Neo-Platonic teaching adopted as a doctrine in the Roman

Catholic Church with its worship of the Seven Spirits.] entitled to an inferior kind of worship;

and he acknowledged that Jesus Christ was an excellent man and the friend of God but

alleged that it was not his design entirely to abolish the worship of demons,[The Church has

made of it the worship of devils,“Daimon ”is Spirit and relates to our divine Spirit the seventh

Principle and to the Dhyān Chohans.Jesus prohibited going to the temple or church ”as

Pharisees do “but commanded that man should retire for prayer (communion with his God)

into a private closet.Is it Jesus who would have countenanced in the face of the starving

millions,the building of the most gorgeous churches?] and that his only intention was to purify

the ancient religion.

No more could be declared except for those Philaletheians who were initiated “persons duly instructed

and disciplined ”to whom Ammonius communicated his more important doctrines,

Imposing on them the obligations of secrecy as was done before him by Zoroaster and

Pythagoras,and in the Mysteries [where an oath was required from the (Page 310)neophytes

or catechumens not to divulge what they had learned ].The great Pythagoras divided his

teachings into exoteric and esoteric.[Op.cit.,p.7.]

Has not Jesus done the same since He declared to His disciples that to them it was given to know the

mysteries of the kingdom of heaven whereas to the multitudes it was not given and therefore he spoke

in parables which has a two-fold meaning?

Dr.A.Wilder proceeds:

Thus Ammonius found his work ready to his hand.His deep spiritual intuition his extensive

learning and his familiarity with the Christian fathers,Pantęnus,Clement and Athenagoras,

and with the most erudite philosophers of the time all fitted him for the labour he performed so

thoroughly ....The results of his ministration are perceptible at the present day in every

country of the Christian world;every prominent system of doctrine now bearing the marks of

his plastic hand.Every ancient philosophy has had its votaries among the moderns;and even

Judaism oldest of them all has taken upon itself changes which were suggested by the “God-

taught ”Alexandrian.[Op.cit.,p.7.]

The Neo-Platonic School of Alexandria founded by Ammonius —the prototype proposed for the

Theosophical Society —taught Theurgy and Magic,as much as they were taught in the days of

Pythagoras,and by others far earlier than his period.For Proclus says that the doctrines of Orpheus,

who was an Indian and came from India were the origin of the systems afterwards promulgated.

What Orpheus delivered in hidden allegories,Pythagoras learned when he was initiated into

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the Orphic Mysteries;and Plato next received a perfect knowledge of them from Orphic and

Pythagorean writings.[Op.cit.,p.18.]

The Philaletheians had their division into neophytes (chelas )and Initiates,or Masters;and the eclectic

system was characterised by three distinct features,which are purely Vedāntic;a Supreme Essence

One and Universal;the eternity and indivisibility of the human spirit;and Theurgy which is Mantricism.

So also as we have seen they had their secret or Esoteric teachings like any other mystic school.Nor

were they allowed to reveal anything of their secret tenets any more than were the Initiates of the

Mysteries.Only the penalties incurred by the revealers of the secrets of the latter were far more terrible

and this prohibition has survived to this day not only in India but even among the Jewish Kabalists in

Asia.

[The Talm d gives the story of the four Tanaim who are made in allegorical terms,to enter into the

garden of delights,i.e.,to be initiated into the occult and final science.

“According to the teaching of our holy masters the names of the four who entered the garden

of delight are:Ben Asai Ben Zoma Acher and Rabbi Akiba ....

“Ben Asai looked and —lost his sight.“Ben Zoma looked and —lost his reason.“Acher made

depredations in the plantation ”(mixed up the whole and failed).But Akiba who had entered in

peace came out of it in peace;for the saint whose name he blessed had said “This old man

is worthy of serving us with glory.’ “

“The learned commentators of the Talm d the Rabbis of the synagogue explain that the

garden of delight in which those four personages are made to enter is but that mysterious

science the most terrible of sciences for weak intellects,which it leads directly to insanity ”

says A.Franck,in his Kabbalah.It is not the pure at heart and he who studies but with a view

to perfecting himself and so more easily acquiring the promised immortality who need have

any fear:but rather he who makes of the science of sciences a sinful pretext for worldly

motives,who should tremble.The latter will never understand the kabalistic evocations of the

supreme initiation.—Isis Unveiled.ii.119.]

Difficulties and Dangers -(Page 311)One of the reasons for such secrecy may be the undoubtedly

serious difficulties and hardships of chelaship and the dangers attending Initiation.The modern

candidate has,like his predecessor of old to either conquer or die;when which is still worse he does

not lose his reason.There is no danger to him who is true and sincere and especially unselfish.For he

is thus prepared beforehand to meet any temptation.

He who fully recognised the power of his immortal spirit and never doubted for one moment

its omnipotent protection had naught to fear.But woe to the candidate in whom the slightest

physical fear —sickly child of matter —made him lose sight and faith in his own invulnerability.

He who was not wholly confident of his moral fitness to accept the burden of these

tremendous secrets was doomed.[ Isis Unveiled.ii.119.]

There were no such dangers in Neo-Platonic Initiations.The selfish and unworthy failed in their object

and in the failure was the punishment.The chief aim was “reunion of the part with the all.”This All was

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One with numberless names.Whether called D i the “bright Lord of Heaven ”by the Aryan;Iao by the

Chaldęan and Kabalist;Iabe by the Samaritan;the Ti or T isco by the Northman;D w by the Briton;

Ze s,by the Thracian or Jupiter by the Roman —it was the Being the Facit.One and Supreme [See

Neo-Platonism.p.9.]the unborn and the inexhaustible source of every emanation the fountain of life and

light eternal a Ray of which every one of us carries in him on this earth.The knowledge of this Mystery

had reached the Neo-Platonists from India through Pythagoras,and still later through Apollonius of Tyana

and the rules and methods for producing ecstasy had come from the same lore of the divine Vidyā the

Gnosis.For Āryavarta the bright focus into which has been poured in the beginning of time the flames

(Page 312)of Divine Wisdom had become the centre from which radiated the “tongues of fire ”into every

portion of the globe.What was Samādhi but that

Sublime ecstasy in which state things divine and the mysteries of Nature are revealed to us,

of which Porphyry speaks?

The efflux from the divine soul is imparted to the human spirit in unreserved abundance

accomplishing for the soul a union with the divine and enabling it while in the body to be

partaker of the life which is not in the body

he explains elsewhere.

Thus under the title of Magic was taught every Science physical and metaphysical natural or deemed

supernatural by those who are ignorant of the omnipresence and universality of Nature.

Divine Magic makes of man a God;human magic creates a new friend.

We wrote in Isis Unveiled :

In the oldest documents now in the possession of the World —the Vedas and the older laws of

Manu —we find many magical rites practised and permitted by the Brāhmans.[See the Code

published by Sir William Jones,Chapter ix.p.11.] Tibet Japan and China teach in the

present age that which was taught by the oldest Chaldęns.The clergy of these respective

countries prove moreover what they teach —namely that the practice of moral and physical

purity and of certain austerities,develops the vital soul-power of self-illumination.Affording to

man the control over his own immortal spirit it gives him truly magical powers over the

elementary spirits inferior to himself.In the West we find magic of as high an antiquity as in the

East.The Druids of Great Britain practised it in the silent crypts of their deep caves;and Pliny

devotes many a chapter to the “wisdom ”[Pliny:Hist.Nat.,xxx.i :ib.xvi.14:xxv.9.etc.]of the

leaders of the Celts.The Semothees —the Druids of the Gauls —expounded the physical as

well as the spiritual sciences.They taught the secrets of the universe the harmonious

progress of the heavenly bodies,the formation of the earth and above all —the immortality of

the Soul.[Pomponius ascribes to them the knowledge of the highest sciences.] In their sacred

groves —natural academies built by the hand of the Invisible architect —the initiates

assembled at the still hour of midnight to learn about what man once was and what he will

be.[Cęsar iii.14 ] They needed no artificial illumination nor life-drawing gas,to light up their

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temples,for the chaste goddess of night beamed her most silvery rays on their oak-crowned

heads;and their white-robed sacred bards knew how to converse with the solitary queen of

the starry vault.[Pliny.xxx.Isis Unveiled.i.18.]

During the palmy days of Neo-Platonism these Bards were no more for their cycle had run its course

and the last of the Druids had perished at Bibractis and Alesia.

The Neo-Platonic School -(Page 313)But the Neo-Platonic school was for a long time successful

powerful and prosperous.Still while adopting Āryan Wisdom in its Doctrines,the school failed to follow

the wisdom of the Brāhmans in practice.It showed its moral and intellectual superiority too openly caring

too much for the great and powerful of this earth.While the Brāhmans and their great Yogis —experts in

matters of philosophy metaphysics,astronomy morals and religion —preserved their dignity under the

sway of the most powerful princes,remained aloof from the world and would not condescend to visit

them or to ask for the slightest favour [“The care which they took in educating youth in familiarizing it

with generous and virtuous sentiments,did them peculiar honour and their maxims and discourses,as

recorded by historians,prove that they were expert in matters of philosophy metaphysics,astronomy

morality and religion ”says a modern writer.“If kings or princes desired the advice or the blessings of the

holy men they were either obliged to go themselves,or to send messengers.To these men no secret

power of either plant or mineral was unknown.They had fathomed nature to its depths,while psychology

and physiology were to them open books,and the result was that science that is now termed so

superciliously magic.”] the Emperors Alexander Severus,and Julian and the greatest among the

aristocracy of the land embraced the tenets of the Neo-Platonists,who mixed freely with the world.The

system flourished for several centuries and comprised within the ranks of its followers the ablest and

most learned among the men of the time;Hypatia the teacher of the Bishop Synesius,was one of the

ornaments of the School until the fatal and shameful day when she was murdered by the Christian mob

at the instigation of Bishop Cyril of Alexandria.The school was finally removed to Athens,and closed by

order of the Emperor Justinian.

How accurate is Dr.Wilder ’s remark that

Modern writers have commentated upon the peculiar views of the Neo-Platonists upon these

[metaphysical ] subjects,seldom representing them correctly even if this was desired or

intended.[Op.cit.,p.9 .]

The few speculations on the sublunary material and spiritual universes that they did put into writing —

Ammonius never having himself written a line after the wont of reformers —could not enable posterity to

judge them rightly even had not the early Christian Vandals,the later crusaders,and the fanatics of the

Middle Ages,destroyed three parts of that which remained of the Alexandrian Library and its later

schools.

Professor Draper shows that Cardinal Ximenes alone

(Page 314)Delivered to the flames in the squares of Granada eighty thousand Arabic

manuscripts,many of them translations of classical authors.

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In the Vatican Library whole passages in the most rare and precious treatises of the Ancients were found

erased and blotted out “for the sake of interlining them with absurd psalmodies!” Moreover it is well

known that over thirty-six volumes written by Porphyry were burnt and otherwise destroyed by the

“Fathers.”Most of the little that is known of the doctrines of the Eclectics is found in the writings of

Plotinus and of those same Church Fathers.

Says the author of Neo-Platonism :

What Plato was to Socrates,and the Apostle John to the head of the Christian faith Plotinus became to

the God-taught Ammonius.To Plotinus,Origenes,and Longinus we are indebted for what is known of the

Philaletheian system.They were duly instructed initiated and entrusted with the interior doctrines.[Op.

cit.,p.11.]

This accounts marvellously for Origen ’s calling people “idiots ”who believe in the Garden of Eden and

Adam and Eve fables;as also for the fact that so few of the writings of that Church Father have passed

to posterity.Between the secrecy imposed the vows of silence and that which was maliciously destroyed

by every foul means,it is indeed miraculous that even so much of the Philaletheian tenets has reached

the world.

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SECTION XXXV

Symbolism of Sun and Stars

(Page 315)And the Heaven was visible in Seven Circles and the planets appeared with all their signs,in

star-form and the stars were divided and numbered with the rulers that were in them and their revolving

course through the agency of the divine Spirit.[ Hermes,iv.6 ]

Here Spirit denotes Pneuma collective Deity manifested in its “Builders,” or as the Church has it “the

seven Spirits of the Presence ”the mediantib s angelis of whom Thomas Aquinas says that “God never

works but through them.”

These seven “rulers ”or mediating Angels were the Kabiri Gods of the Ancients.This was so evident that

it forced from the Church together with the admission of the fact an explanation and a theory whose

clumsiness and evident sophistry are such that it must fail to impress.The world is asked to believe that

while the Planetary Angels of the Church are divine Beings,the genuine “Seraphim “[From Saraph

fiery burning ” plural (see Isaiah,vi.2-6).They are regarded as the personal attendants of the

Almighty “his messengers,” angels or metratons.In Revelation they are the “seven burning lamps ”in

attendance before the throne.] these very same angels,under identical names and planets,were and are

“false ”—as Gods of the ancients.They are no better than pretenders;the cunning copies of the real

Angels,produced beforehand through the craft and power of Lucifer and of the fallen Angels.Now what

are the Kabiri?

Kabiri as a name is derived from Habir great and also from Venus,this Goddess being called

to the present day Kabar as in also her star.The Kabiri were worshipped at Hebron the city of the

Anakim or anakas (kings,princes).They are the highest Planetary Spirits,the “greatest Gods ”and “the

powerful.” Varro following Orpheus,(Page 316 )calls these Gods åõäõķįōļé “divine Powers.”The word

Kabirim when applied to men and the words Heber Gheber (with reference to Nimrod or the “giants ” of

Genesis vi.)and Kabir are all derived from the “mysterious Word ”—the Ineffable and the

“Unprounceable.’ Thus it is they who represent tsaba the “host of heaven.”The Church however

bowing before the angel Anael (the regent of Venus).[ Venus with the Chaldęans and Egyptians was the

wife of Prote s and is regarded as the mother of the Kabiri the sons of Phta or Emepth —the divine light

or the Sun.The angels answer to the stars in the following order:The Sun the Moon Mars,Venus,

Mercury Jupiter and Saturn:Michael Gabriel Samael Anael Raphael Zachariel and Orifiel:this is in

religion and Christian Kabalism;astrologically and esoterically the places of the “regents ” stand

otherwise as also in the Jewish or rather the real Chaldęan Kabalah.] connects the planet Venus with

Lucifer the chief of the rebels under Satan —so poetically apostrophized by the prophet Isaiah as “ O

Lucifer son of the morning.” [ Loc.cit.,xiv.12.] All the Mystery Gods were Kabiri.As these “seven lictors ”

relate directly to the Secret Doctrine their real status is of the greatest importance.

Suidas defines the Kabiri as the Gods who command all the other dęmons (Spirits),

Macrobius introduces them as

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Those Penates and tutelary deities,through whom we live and learn and know (Sat rn,I.iii.

ch.iv.).

The teraphim through which the Hebrews consulted the oracles of the Urim and the Thummim were the

symbolical hieroglyphics of the Kabiri.Nevertheless,the good Fathers have made of Kibir the synonym

of devil and of daimon (spirit)a demon.

The Mysteries of the Kabiri at Hebron (Pagan and Jewish)were presided over by the seven Planetary

Gods,among the rest by Jupiter and Saturn under their mystery names,and they are referred to as

and and by Euripides as Creuzer moreover

shows that whether in Phœnicia or in Egypt the Kabiri were always the seven planets as known in

antiquity who together with their Father the Sun —referred to elsewhere as their “elder brother ”—

composed a powerful ogdoad;[This is one more proof that the Ancients knew of seven planets besides

the Sun:for otherwise which is the eighth in such a case?The seventh with two others,as stated were

“mystery ” planets,whether Uranus or any other.] the eight superior powers as .or solar

assessors,danced around him the sacred circular dance the symbol of the rotation of the planets around

the Sun.Jehovah and Saturn moreover are one.

It is quite natural therefore to find a French writer D ’Anselme applying the same terms of

to Jehovah and his word and they are correctly so applied.

The Circle Dance -(Page 317)For if the “circle dance ”prescribed by the Amazons for the Mysteries —

being the “circle dance ”of the planets,and characterised as “the motion of the divine Spirit carried on the

waves of the great Deep ”—can now be called “infernal ”and “lascivious ”when performed by the Pagans,

then the same epithets ought to be applied to David ’s dance;[ II.Sam.,vi.20-22.] and to the dance of

the daughters of Shiloh [Judges.xxi.21 et seq.] and to the leaping of the prophets of Baal;[ I.Kings.

xviii.26 ] they were all identical and all belonged to Sabęan worship.King David ’s dance during which

he uncovered himself before his maid-servants in a public thoroughfare saying:

I will play (act wantonly)before .(Jehovah),and I will yet be more vile than this,

was certainly more reprehensible than any “circle dance ”during the Mysteries,or even than the modern

Rāsa Mandala in India.[This dance —Rāsa Mandala enacted by the Gopis or shepherdesses of Krishna

the Sun-God is enacted to this day in Rājputāna in India and is undeniably the same theo-astronomical

and symbolical dance of the planets and the Zodiacal signs,that was danced thousands of years before

our era.] which is the same thing.It was David who introduced Jehovistic worship into Judea after

sojourning so long among the Tyrians and Philistines,where these rites were common.

David knew nothing of Moses;and if he introduced the Jehovah-worship it was not in its monotheistic

character but simply as that of one of the many (Kabirean )gods of the neighbouring nations,a tutelary

deity of his own to whom he had given the preference —whom he had chosen among all

“other (Kabeiri)gods,”[ Isis Unveiled.ii.45 .]

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and who was one of the “associates,”Chabir of the Sun.The Shakers dance the “circle dance ”to this

day when turning round for the Holy Ghost to move them.In India it is Nārā-yana who is “the mover on

the waters;” and Nārāyana is Vishnu in his secondary form and Vishnu has Krishna for an Avatāra in

whose honour the “circle dance ”is still enacted by the Nautch-girls of the temples,he being the Sun-God

and they the planets as symbolised by the gopis.

Let the reader turn to the works of De Mirville a Roman Catholic writer or to Mon mental Christianity,by

Dr.Lundy a Protestant (Page 318)divine if he wants to appreciate to any degree the subtlety and

casuistry of their reasonings.No one ignorant of the occult version can fail to be impressed with the

proofs brought forward to show how cleverly and perseveringly “Satan has worked for long millenniums

to tempt a humanity ” unblessed with an infallible Church in order to have himself recognized as the “One

living God ” and his fiends as holy Angels.The reader must be patient and study with attention what the

author says on behalf of his Church.To compare it the better with the versions of the Occultists,a few

points may be quoted here verbatim.

St.Peter tells us:“May the divine Lucifer arise in your hearts ”[ II Epistle.i.19.The English

text says:“Until the day-star arise in your heart ” a trifling alteration which does not really

matter —as L cifer is the day as well as the “morning ”star —and it is less shocking to pious

ears.There are a number of such alterations in the Protestant bibles .] [ Now the Sun is Christ

]....“ I will send my Son from the Sun ”said the Eternal through the voice of prophetic

traditions;and prophecy having become history the Evangelists repeated in their turn:The

S n rising from on high visited us.[Again the English translation changes the world “Sun ”into

“day-spring.”The Roman Catholics are decidedly braver and more sincere than the Protestant

theologians.De Mirville.iv.34.38.]

Now God says through Malachi that the Sun shall arise for those who fear his name What Malachi

meant by “the Sun of Righteousness ”the Kabalists alone can tell;but what the Greek,and even the

Protestant theologians understood by the term is of course Christ referred to metaphorically.Only as

the sentence “ I will send my Son from the Sun ” is borrowed verbatim from a Sibylline Book,it becomes

very hard to understand how it can be attributed to or classed with any prophecy relating to the Christian

Savior unless,indeed the latter is to be identified with Apollo.Virgil again says,“Here comes the

Virgin ’s and Apollo ’s reign ”and Apollo or Apollyon is to this day viewed as a form of Satan and is taken

to mean the Antichrist.If the Sibylline promise “He will send his Son from the Sun ”applies to Christ then

either Christ and Apollo are one —and then why call the latter a demon?—or the prophecy had nothing to

do with the Christian Savior and in such a case why appropriate it at all?

But De Mirville goes further.He shows us St.Denys,the Areopagite affirming that

The Sun is the special signification and the statue of God.[Thus said the Egyptians and the

Sabęans in days of old the symbol of whose manifested gods,Osiris and Bel was the sun.

But they had a higher deity.]....It is by the Eastern door that the glory of the Lord penetrated

into the temples [of the Jews and Christians,that divine glory being Sun-light.]..“We build

our churches towards the east ”says in his turn St.Ambrose “for during the Mysteries we

begin by renouncing him who is in the west.”

Christian Astrolatry -(Page 319)“He who is in the west ” is Typhon the Egyptian god of darkness —the

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west having been held by them as the “Typhonic Gate of Death.”Thus,having borrowed Osiris from the

Egyptians,the Church Fathers thought little of helping themselves to his brother Typhon.Then again:

The prophet Baruch [ Exiled from the Protestant bible but left in the Apocrypha which

according to Article VI of the Church of England “she doth read for example of life and

instruction of manners ”(?),but not to establish any doctrine.] speaks of the stars that rejoice

in their vessels and citadels (Chap.iii.);and Ecclesiastes applies the same terms to the sun

which is said to be “the admirable vessel of the most High ” and the “citadel of the Lord ”

öõėį÷ē [ Corneli s a Lapide.v.248 ]

In every case there is no doubt about one thing for the sacred writer says.It is a Spirit who

rules the sun ’s course.Hear what he says (in Eccles .i.6),“The sun also ariseth —and its spirit

lighting all in its circular path (gyrat gyrans)returneth according to his circuits.” [Ecclesiastes.

xIiii.The above quotations are taken from Dr Mirville ’s chapter “On Christian and Jewish Solar

Theology ”iv.35-38.]

De Mirville seems to quote from texts either rejected by or unknown to Protestants in whose bible there

is no forty-third chapter of Ecclesiastes ;nor is the sun made to go “in circuits ”in the latter but the wind.

This is a question to be settled between the Roman and the Protestant Churches.Our point is the strong

element of Sabęanism or Heliolatry present in Christianity.

An Œcumenical Council having authoritatively put a stop to Christian Astrolatry by declaring that there

was no sidereal Souls in sun moon or planets,St.Thomas took upon himself to settle the point in

dispute.The “angelic doctor ”announced that such expressions did not mean a “soul ”but only an

Intelligence not resident in the sun or stars,but one that assisted them “ a guiding and directing

intelligence.” [ Nevertheless the Church has preserved in her most sacred rites the “star-rites ”of the

Pagan Initiates.In the pre-Christian Mithraic Mysteries,the candidate who overcame successfully the

“twelve Tortures ”which preceded the final Initiation received a small round cake or wafer of unleavened

bread symbolising in one of its meanings,the solar disc,and known as the manna (heavenly bread)....

A lamb or a bull even was killed and with the blood the candidate had to be sprinkled as in the case of

the Emperor Julian ’s initiation.The seven rules or mysteries that are represented in the Revelation as the

seven seals which are opened in order were then delivered to the newly born.]

(Page 320)Thereupon the author comforted by the explanation quotes Clement the Alexandrian and

reminds the reader of the opinion of that philosopher the inter-relation that exists “between the seven

branches of the candlestick —the seven stars of the Revelation ”and the sun:

The six branches (says Clement)fixed to the central candlestick have lamps,but the sun

placed in the midst of the wandering ones (šėįķēōłķ)pours his beams on them all;this

golden candlestick hides one more mystery:it is the sign of Christ not only in shape but

because he sheds his light through the ministry of the seven spirits primarily created and who

are the Seven Eyes of the Lord.Therefore the principal planets are to the seven primeval

spirits according to St.Clement that which the candlestick-sun is to Christ Himself namely —

their vessels,their öõėį÷įé

Plain enough to be sure;though one fails to see that this explanation even helps the situation.The

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seven-branched chandelier of the Israelites,as well as the “wanderers ”of the Greeks,had a far more

natural meaning a purely astrological one to begin with.In fact from Magi and Chaldęans down to the

much-laughed-at Zadkiel every astrological work will tell its reader that the Sun placed in the midst of the

planets with Saturn Jupiter and Mars on one side and Venus,Mercury and the Moon on the other the

planets ’ line crossing through the whole Earth has always meant what Hermes tells us,namely the

thread of destiny or that whose action (influence)is called destiny.[Truly says S.T.Coleridge:

“Instinctively the reason has always pointed out to men the ultimate end of various sciences ....There

is no doubt but that astrology of some sort or other will be the last achievement of astronomy:there must

be chemical relations between the planets ....the difference of their magnitude compared with that of

their distances is not explicable otherwise.”Between planets and our earth with its mankind we may

add.] But symbol for symbol we prefer the sun to a candlestick.One can understand how the latter came

to represent the sun and planets,but no one can admire the chosen symbol.There is poetry and

grandeur in the sun when it is made to symbolise the “Eye of Ormuzd ”or of Osiris,and is regarded as

the Vąhan (vehicle)of the highest Deity.But one must for ever fail to perceive that any particular glory is

rendered to Christ by assigning to him the trunk of a candlestick.[ “Christ then ” .the author says (p 40),

“is represented by the trunk of the candlestick.”] in a Jewish synagogue as mystical seat of honour.

There are then positively two suns,a sun adored and a sun adoring.The Apocalypse proves it.

The Word is found in Chap.vii.in the angel who ascends with the rising of the sun having the

seal of the living God....While commentators differ on the personality of this angel St.

Ambrose and many other theologians see in him Christ himself ....He is the S n adored.

Michael the Conqueror -(Page 321)But in Chap.xix.we find an angel standing in the sun

inviting all the nations to gather to the great supper of the Lamb.This time it is literally and

simply the angel of the sun —who cannot be mistaken for the “Word ”since the prophet

distinguishes him from the Word the King of Kings and Lord of Lords....The angel in the sun

seems to be an adoring sun.Who may be the latter?And who else can he be but the Morning

Star the guardian angel of the Word his fero er,or angel of the face,as the Word is the angel

of the Face (presence)of his Father his principal attribute and strength as his name itself

implies (Mikael),powerful rector glorified by the Church the Rector potens who will fell the

Antichrist the Vice-Word in short who represents his master and seems to be one with him.[

De Mirville.iv.41 42.]

Yes,Mikael is the alleged conqueror of Ormuzd Osiris,Apollo Krishna Mithra etc.of all the Solar

Gods,in short known and unknown now treated as demons and as “Satan.” Nevertheless,the

“Conqueror ”has not disdained to don the war-spoils of the vanquished foes —their personalities,

attributes,even their names —to become the alter ego of these demons.

Thus the Sun-God here is Honover or the Eternal.The prince is Ormuzd since he is the first

of the seven Amshaspends [ the demon copies of the seven original angels ] (cap t

angelor m);the lamb (hamal ),the Shepherd of the Zodiac and the antagonist of the snake.

But the Sun (the Eye of Ormuzd)has also his rector Korshid or the Mitraton,who is the

Fero er of the face of Ormuzd his Ized or the morning star.The Mazdeans had a triple Sun..

..For us this Korshid-Mitraton is the first of the psychopompian genii and the guide of the

sun the immolator of the terrestrial Bull [or lamb ] whose wounds are licked by the serpent [

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on the famous Mithraic monument ] .[De Mirville.iv.42 ]

St.Paul in speaking of the rulers of this world the Cosmocratores,only said what was said by all the

primitive Philosophers of the ten centuries before the Christian era only he was scarcely understood

and was often wilfully misinterpreted.Damascius repeats the teachings of the Pagan writers when he

explains that

There are seven series of cosmocratores or cosmic forces,which are double:the higher ones

commissioned to support and guide the superior world;the lower ones,the inferior world [our

own ].

And he is but saying what the ancients taught.Iamblichus gives this dogma of the duality of all the

planets and celestial bodies,of gods and daimons (spirits).He also divides the Archontes into two

classes —the more and the less spiritual;the latter more connected with and clothed with matter as

having a form,while the former are bodiless (Page 322)(arūpa ).But what have Satan and his angels to do

with all this?Perhaps only that the identity of the Zoroastrian dogma with the Christian and of Mithra

Ormuzd and Ahriman with the Christian Father Son and Devil might be accounted for.And when we

say “Zoroastrian dogmas ”we mean the exoteric teaching.How explain the same relations between

Mithra and Ormuzd as those between the Archangel Mikael and Christ?

Ahura Mazda says to holy Zaratushta:“When I created [ emanated ] Mithra ...I created him

that he should be invoked and adored equally with myself.”

For the sake of necessary reforms,the Zoroastrian Āryans transformed the Devas,the bright Gods of

India into devs or devils.It was their Karma that in their turn the Christians should vindicate on this point

the Hindus.Now Ormuzd and Mithra have become the devs of Christ and Mikael the dark lining and

aspect of the Saviour and Angel.The day of the Karma of Christian theology will come in its turn.Already

the Protestants have begun the first chapter of the religion that will seek to transform the “Seven Spirits ”

and the host of the Roman Catholics into demons and idols.Every religion has its Karma as has every

individual.That which is due to human conception and is built on the abasement of our brothers who

disagree with us,must have its day.“There is no religion higher than truth.”

The Zoroastrians,Mazdeans,and Persians borrowed their conceptions from India:the Jews borrowed

their theory of angels from Persia;the Christians borrowed from the Jews.

Hence the latest interpretation by Christian theology —to the great disgust of the synagogue forced to

share the symbolical candlestick with the hereditary enemy —that the seven-branched candlestick

represents the seven Churches of Asia and the seven planets which are the angels of those Churches.

Hence also the conviction that the Mosaic Jews,the investors of that symbol for their tabernacle were a

kind of Sabęans,who blended their planets and the spirits thereof into one and called them —only far

later —Jehovah.For this we have the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus,St.Hieronymus and others.

And Clement as an Initiate of the Mysteries —at which the secret of the heliocentric system was taught

several thousands of years before Galileo and Copernicus —proves it by explaining that

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By these various symbols connected with (sidereal)phenomena the totality of all the creatures

which bind heaven with earth are figured....The chandelier represented the motion of the

seven luminaries,describing their astral revolution.To the right and left of that candelabrum

projected the six branches,each of which has its lamp because the Sun placed as a

candelabrum in the middle of other planets distributes light to them.[ Notwithstanding the

above written in the earliest Christian period by the renegade Neo-Platonist:the Church

persists to this day in her wilful error.Helpless against Galileo she now tries to throw a doubt

even on the heliocentric system!].....As to the cherubs having twelve wings between the

two they represent to us the sensuous world in the twelve zodiacal signs.[Stromateis.V.vi.]

The Christian Sun-God -(Page 323)And yet in the face of all this evidence sun moon planets all are

shown as being demoniacal before and divine only after the appearance of Christ.All know the Orphic

verse:“It is Zeus,it is Adas,it is the Sun it is Bacchus,”these names having been all synonymous for

classic poets and writers.Thus for Democritus “Deity is but a soul in an orbicular fire ”and that fire is the

Sun.For Iamblichus the sun was “the image of divine intelligence ” ;for Plato “an immortal living Being.”

Hence the oracle of Claros when asked to say who was the Jehovah of the Jews answered “It is the

Sun.” We may add the words in Psalm xix.4:

In the sun hath he placed a tabernacle for himself [The English bible has:“In them (the

Heavens)hath he set a tabernacle for the sun ” which is incorrect and has no sense in view of

the verse that follows,for there are things “hid from the heat thereof ”if the latter word is to be

applied to the sun.]....his going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the

ends of it;and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Jehovah then is the sun and thence also the Christ of the Roman Church.And now the criticism of

Dupuis on that verse becomes comprehensible as also the despair of the Abbé Foucher.“Nothing is

more favorable to Sabęism than this text of the Vulgate!” he exclaims.And however disfigured may be

the words and sense in the English authorised bible the Vulgate and the Septuagint both give the correct

text of the original and translate the latter:“In the sun he established his abode ” ;while the vulgate

regards the “heat ”as coming direct from God and not from the sun alone since it is God who issues forth

from and dwells in the sun and performs the circuit:in sole pos it ....et ipse exultavit.From these facts

it will be seen that the Protestants were right in charging St.Justin with saying that

God has permitted us to worship the sun.

(Page 324)And this,notwithstanding the lame excuses that what was really meant was that

God permitted himself to be worshipped in or within the sun

which is all the same.

It will be seen from the above that while the Pagans located in the sun and planets only the inferior

powers of Nature the representative Spirits so to say of Apollo Bacchus,Osiris,and other solar gods

the Christians,in their hatred of Philosophy appropriated the sidereal localities,and now limit them to the

use of their anthropomorphic deity and his angels —new transformations of the old old gods.Something

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had to be done in order to dispose of the ancient tenants,so they were disgraced into “demons,” wicked

devils.

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SECTION XXXVI

Pagan Sidereal Worship or Astrology

(Page 325)THE Teraphim of Abram ’s father Terah,the “maker of images,”and the Kabiri Gods are directly

connected with ancient Sabęan worship or Astrolatry.Kiyun or the God Kivan worshipped by the Jews

in the wilderness,is Saturn and Shiva later on called Jehovah.Astrology existed before astronomy and

Astronom s was the title of the highest hierophant in Egypt.[ When the hierophant took his last degree

he emerged from the sacred recess called Manneras and was given the golden Ta the Egyptian Cross,

which was subsequently placed upon his breast and buried with him.] One of the names of the Jewish

Jehovah “Saboath ” or the “Lord of Hosts ”(tsabaoth ),belongs to the Chaldęan Sabęans (or

Tsabęans ),and has for its root the word tsab meaning a “car ”a “ship ”and “an army ” ;sabaoth thus

meaning literally the army of the ship,the crew,or a naval host,the sky being metaphorically referred to

as the “upper ocean ”in the doctrine.

In his interesting volumes,The God of Moses,Lacour explains that all such words as

The celestial armies or the hosts of heaven signify not only the totality of the heavenly

constellations,but also the Aleim on whom they are dependent;the aleitzbao t are the forces

or so ls of the constellations,the potencies that maintain and guide the planets in this order

and procession;....the Jae-va Tzbaout signifies Him the supreme chief of those celestial

bodies.

In his collectivity as the chief “Order of Spirits,” not a chief Spirit.

The Sabęans having worshipped in the graven images only the celestial hosts —angels and gods whose

habitation were the planets,never in truth worshipped the stars.For on Plato ’s authority we know that

among the stars and constellations,the (Page 326)planets alone had a right to the title of theoi (Gods),as

that name was derived from the verb öåéķ to run or to circulate.Seldenus also tells us that they were

likewise called

öåļ āļõėįéóé (God-Councillors)and ńįāļóļńļé(lictors )as they (the planets)were present at

the sun ’s consistory solis consistoris adstantes.

Says the learned Kircher:

The sceptres the seven presiding angels were armed with explain these names of

Rhabdophores and lictors given to them.

Reduced to its simplest expression and popular meaning this is of course fetish worship.Yet esoteric

astrolatry was not at all the worship of idols,since under the names of “Councillors ”and “Lictors,” present

at the “Sun ’s consistory ”it was not the planets in their material bodies that were meant but their Regents

or “Souls ”(Spirits).If the prayer “Our Father in heaven ” or “Saint ” so-and-so in “Heaven ”is not an

idolatrous invocation then “Our Father in Mercury.”or “Our Lady in Venus,”“Queen of Heaven ” etc.is

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no more so;for it is precisely the same thing the name making no difference in the act.The word used in

the Christian prayers,“in heaven ”cannot mean anything abstract.A dwelling —whether of Gods,angels

or Saints (every one of these being anthropomorphic individualities and beings)—must necessarily mean

a locality some defined spot in that “heaven ” ;hence it is quite immaterial for purposes of worship

whether that spot be considered as “heaven ”in general meaning nowhere in particular or in the Sun

Moon or Jupiter.

The argument is futile that there were

Two deities,and two distinct hierarchies or tsabas in heaven in the ancient world as in our

modern times ...the one the living God and his host and the other Sat rn Lucifer with his

councillors and lictors,or the fallen angels.

Our opponents say that it is the latter which Plato with the whole of antiquity worshipped and which two-

thirds of humanity worship to this day.“The whole question is to know how to discern between the two.”

Protestant Christians fail to find any mention of angels in the Pentateuch we may therefore leave them

aside.The Roman Catholics and the Kabalists find such mention ;the former because they have

accepted Jewish angelology without suspecting that the “tsabęan Hosts ”were colonists and settlers on

Judęan territory from the lands of the Gentiles;the latter because they accepted the bulk of the Secret

Doctrine keeping the kernel for themselves and leaving the husks to the unwary.

The Planetary Angels -(Page 327)Cornelius a Lapide points out and proves the meaning of the word

tsaba in the first verse of Chapter ii.of Genesis ;and he does so correctly guided as he probably was by

learned Kabalists.The Protestants are certainly wrong in their contention for angels are mentioned in the

Peutateuch under the word tsaba which means “hosts ”of angels.In the Vulgate the word is translated

ornat s meaning the “sidereal army ” the ornament also of the sky —kabalistically.The biblical scholars

of the Protestant Church and the savants among the materialists who failed to find “angels ”mentioned

by Moses,have thus committed a serious error.For the verse reads:

Thus the heaven and the earth were finished and all the host of them

the “host ” meaning “the army of stars and angels ” ;the last two words being it seems,convertible terms

in Church phraseology.A Lapide is cited as an authority for this;he says that

Tsaba does not mean either one or the other but “the one and the other,” or both siderum ae

angelor m

If the Roman Catholics are right on this point so are the Occultists when they claim that the angels

worshipped in the Church of Rome are none else than their “Seven Planets,” the Dhyān Chohans of

Buddhistic Esoteric Philosophy or the Kumarās,“the mind-born sons of Brahmā ” known under the

patronymic of Vaidhātra.The identity between the Kumarās,the Builders or cosmic Dhyān Chohans,and

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the Seven Angels of the Stars,will be found without one single flaw if their respective biographies are

studied and especially the characteristics of their chiefs,Sanat-Kumāra (Sanat Sujāta),and Michael the

Archangel.Together with the Kabirim (Planets),the name of the above in Chaldęa they were all “divine

Powers ” (Forces).Fuerot says that the name Kabiri was used to denote the seven sons of

meaning Pater Sadic,Cain or Jupiter or again of Jehovah.There are seven Kumāras —four exoteric and

three secret —the names of the latter being found in the Sānkhya Bhāshya by Gaudapādāchārya.[ The

three secret names are “Sana Sanat Sujāta and Kapila:“while the four exoteric Gods are called Sanat

Kumāra Sananda Sanaka and Sanātana.] They are all “Virgin Gods,”who remain eternally pure and

innocent and decline to create progeny.In their primitive aspect these Āryan seven “mind-born sons ”of

God are not the regents of (Page 328)the planets,but dwell far beyond the planetary region.But the same

mysterious transference from one character or dignity to another is found in the Christian Angel-scheme.

The “Seven Spirits of the Presence ”attend perpetually on God and yet we find them under the same

names of Mikael Gabriel Raphael etc.as “Star-regents ”or the informing deities of the seven planets.

Suffice it is to say that the Archangel Michael is called “the invincible virgin combatant ”as he “refused to

create ” which would connect him with both Sana Sujāta and the Kumāra who is the God of War.

[ Another Kumāra the “God of War ”is called in the Hindu the “eternal celibate ”—“the virgin warrior.” He is

the Ćryan St.Michael.]

The above has to be demonstrated by a few questions.Commenting upon St.John ’s “Seven Golden

Candlesticks,”Cornelius a Lapide says:

These seven lights relate to the seven branches of the candlestick by which were represented

the seven [principal ] planets in the temples of Moses and Solomon ...or better still to the

seven principal Spirits,commissioned to watch over the salvation of men and churches.

St.Jerome says:

In truth the candlestick with the seven branches was the type of the world and its planets.

St.Thomas Aquinas,the great Roman Catholic doctor writes:

I do not remember having ever met in the works of saints or philosophers a denial that the

planets are guided by spiritual beings ....It seems to me that it may be proved to

demonstration that the celestial bodies are guided by some intelligence either directly by God

or by the mediation of angels.But the latter opinion seems to be far more consonant with the

order of things asserted by St.Denys to be without exception that everything on earth is,as a

rule governed by God through intermediary agencies.[ We give the original:“Coelestia

corpora moveri a spiritual creatura a nemine Sanctorum vel philosophorum negatum legisse

me memini.(Op se.X.art.iiil)...Mihi autam videtur quod Demonstrative probari posset quod

ab aliquo intellectu corpora coelestia moveantur vel a Deo immediate vel a mediantibus

angelis.Sed quod mediantibus angelis ca moveat congruit rerum ordine quem Dionysius

infallibilem asserit ut inferiora a Deo per Media secundum cursum communem administrentur ”

(Op sc.II.art .ii.)and if so and God never meddles with the once for ever established laws of

Nature leaving it to his administrators,why should their being called Gods by the “heathen ”to

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be deemed idolatrous?]

And now let the reader recall what the Pagans say of this.All the classical authors and philosophers who

have treated the subject repeat with Hermes Trismegistus,that the seven Rectors —the planets including

the sun —were the associates,or the co-workers,of the Unknown All represented by the Demiurgos —

commissioned to contain the Cosmos —our Planetary world —within seven circles.

Celestial Wheels -(Page 329)Plutarch shows them representing “the circle of the celestial worlds.”Again

Denys of Thracia and the learned Clemens of Alexandria both describe the Rectors as being shown in

the Egyptian temples in the shape of mysterious wheels or spheres always in motion which made the

Initiates affirm that the problem of perpetual motion had been solved by the celestial wheels in the

Initiation Adyta.[ In one of Des Mousseaux's volumes on Demonology (Πvres des Demons )if we do

not mistake.)the statement of the Abbé Huc is found and the author testifies to having heard the

following story repeatedly from the Abbé himself.In a lamasery of Tibet the missionary found the

following:

It is a simple canvas without the slightest mechanical apparatus attached as the visitor may prove by

examining it at his leisure.It represents a moonlit landscape but the moon is not at all motionless or

dead:quite the reverse for according to the Abbé one would say that our moon herself or at least her

living double lighted the picture.Each phase each aspect each movement of our satellite is repeated in

her facsimile in the movement and progress of the moon in the sacred picture.“You see this planet in the

painting ride as a crescent or full shine brightly pass behind the clouds,peep out or set in a manner

corresponding in the most extraordinary way with the real luminary.It is,in a word a most perfect and

resplendent reproduction of the pale queen of the night which received the adoration of so many people

in the days of old.”We know from the most reliable sources and numerous eye-witnesses,that such

“machines ”—not canvas paintings —do exist in certain temples of Tibet:as also the “sidereal wheels ”

representing the planets,and kept for the same purposes —astrological and magical.Huc ’s statement

was translated in Isis Unveiled from Des Mousseaux ’s volume.]This doctrine of Hermes was that of

Pythagoras and of Orpheus before him.It is called by Proclus “the God-given ”doctrine.Iamblichus

speaks of it with greatest reverence.Philostratus tell his readers that the whole sidereal court of the

Babylonian heaven was represented in the temples.

In globes made of sapphires and supporting the golden images of their respective gods.

The temples of Persia were especially famous for these representations.If Cedrenus can be credited

The Emperor Heraclius on his entry into the city of Bazaeum was struck with admiration and

wonder before the immense machine fabricated for King Chosroes,which represented the

night-sky with the planets and all their revolutions,with the angels presiding over them.

[ Cedrenus,p.338.Whether produced by clockwork or magic power such machines —whole

celestial spheres with planets rotating —were found in the Sanctuaries,and some exist to this

day in Japan in a secret subterranean temple of the old Mikados,as well as in two other

places.]

It was on such “spheres ”that Pythagoras studied Astronomy in the adyta arcana of the temples to which

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he had access.And it was there on his Initiation that the eternal rotation of those spheres —“the

mysterious wheels ”as they are called by Clemens and Denys and which Plutarch calls “world-wheels ”—

demonstrated to him the verity (Page 330)of what had been divulged to him namely the heliocentric

system the great secret of the Adyta.All the discoveries of modern astronomy like all the secrets that

can be revealed to it in future ages,were contained in the secret observatories and Initiation Halls of the

temples of old India and Egypt.It is in them that the Chaldęan made his calculations revealing to the

world of the profane no more than it was fit to receive.

We may and shall be told no doubt that Uranus was unknown to the ancients,and that they were forced

to reckon the sun amongst the planets and as their chief.How does anyone know?Uranus is a modern

name ;but one thing is certain:the ancients had a planet “a mystery planet ” that they never named and

that the highest Astronomus,the Hierophant alone could “confabulate with.”But this seventh planet was

not the sun but the hidden Divine Hierophant who was said to have a crown and to embrace within its

wheel “seventy-seven smaller wheels.”In the archaic secret system of the Hindus,the sun is the visible

Logos “Sūrya ” ,over him there is another the divine or heavenly Man —who after having established the

system of the world of matter on the archetype of the Unseen Universe or Macrocosm conducted during

the Mysteries the heavenly Rąsa Mandala;when he was said:

To give with his right foot the impulse to Tyam or Bhūmi [ Earth ] that makes her rotate in a

double revolution.

What says Hermes again?When explaining Egyptian Cosmology he explains:

Listen O my son ...the Power has also formed seven agents,who contain within their circles

the material world and whose action is called destiny ....When all became subject to man

the Seven willing to favour human intelligence communicated to him their powers.But as

soon as man knew their true essence and his own nature he desired to penetrate within and

beyond the circles and thus break their circumference by usurping the power of him who has

dominion over the Fire [ Sun ]itself;after which having robbed one of the Wheels of the Sun

of the sacred fire he fell into slavery.[Champollion ’s Egypte Moderne.p.42 .]

It is not Prometheus who is meant here.Prometheus is a symbol and a personification of the whole of

mankind in relation to an event which occurred during its childhood so to say —the “Baptism by Fire ”—

which is a mystery within the great Promethean Mystery one that may be at present mentioned only in its

broad general features.

The Promethean Mystery -(Page 331)By reason of the extraordinary growth of human intellect and the

development in our age of the fifth principle (Manas)in man its rapid progress has paralysed spiritual

perceptions.It is at the expense of wisdom that intellect generally lives,and mankind is quite unprepared

in its present condition to comprehend the awful drama of human disobedience to the laws of Nature and

the subsequent Fall as a result.It can only be hinted at in its place.

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SECTION XXXVII

The Souls of the Stars —Universal Heliolatry

(Page 332)IN order to show that the Ancients have never “mistaken stars for Gods,” or Angels and the sun

for the highest Gods and God but have worshipped only the Spirit of all and have reverenced the minor

Gods supposed to reside in the sun and planets —the difference between these two worships has to be

pointed out.Saturn “the Father of Gods ”must not be confused with his namesake —the planet of the

same name with its eight moons and three rings.The two —though in one sense identical as are for

instance physical man and his soul —must be separated in the question of worship.This has to be done

the more carefully in the case of the seven planets and their Spirits,as the whole formation of the

universe is attributed to them in the Secret Teachings.The same difference has to be shown again

between the stars of the Great Bear the Riksha and the Chitra Shikhandina “the bright-crested ”and the

Rishis —the mortal Sages who appeared on earth during the Satya Yuga.If all of these have been so far

closely united in the visions of the seers of every age —the bible seers included —there must have been a

reason for it.Nor need one go back so far as into the periods of “superstition ”and “unscientific fancies ”to

find great men in our epoch sharing in them.It is well known that Kepler the eminent astronomer in

common with many other great men who believed that the heavenly bodies ruled favourably or adversely

the fates of men and nations —fully credited besides this the fact that all heavenly bodies,even our own

earth are endowed with living and thinking souls.

Le Couturier ’s opinion is worthy of notice in this relation:

Christian Star-Worship -(Page 333)We are too inclined to criticize unsparingly everything

concerning astrology and its ideas;nevertheless our criticism to be one ought at least to

know lest it should be proved aimless,what those ideas in truth are.And when among the

men we thus criticize we find such names as those of Regiomontanus,Tycho Brahe Kepler

etc.there is reason why we should be careful.Kepler was an astrologer by profession and

became an astronomer in consequence.He was earning his livelihood by genethliac figures,

which indicating his state of the heavens at the moment of the birth of individuals,were a

means to which everyone resorted for horoscopes.That great man was a believer in the

principles of astrology without accepting all its foolish results.[Musée des Sciences.p.230.]

But astrology is nevertheless proclaimed as a sinful science and together with Occultism is tabooed by

the Churches.It is very doubtful however whether mystic “star-worship ”can be so easily laughed down

as people imagine —at any rate by Christians.The hosts of Angels,Cherubs and Planetary Archangels

are identical with the minor Gods of the Pagans.As to their “great Gods,”if Mars has been shown —on

the admission of even the enemies of the Pagan astrologers —to have been regarded by the latter simply

as the personified strength of the one highest impersonal Deity Mercury being personified as its

omniscience Jupiter as its omnipotency and so on then the “superstition ”of the Pagan has indeed

become the “religion ”of the masses of the civilized nations.For with the latter Jehovah is the synthesis

of the seven Elohim the eternal centre of all those attributes and forces,the Alei of the Aleim and the

Adonai of the Adonim.And if with them Mars is now called St.Michael the “strength of God ”Mercury

Gabriel the “omniscience and fortitude of the Lord ” and Raphael “the blessing or healing power of God ”

this is simply a change of names,the characters behind the masks remaining the same.

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The Dalai-lama ’s mitre has seven ridges in honour of the seven chief Dhyāni Buddhas.In the funeral

ritual of the Egyptians the defunct is made to exclaim:

Salutation to you O Princes,who stand in the presence of Osiris ....Send me the grace to

have my sins destroyed as you have done for the seven spirits who follow the Lord!

[ Translated by the Vicomte de Rougemont.See Les Annales de Philosophie Chrétienne,7 th

year.1861 ]

Brahmā ’s head is ornamented with seven rays and he is followed by the seven Rishis,in the seven

Svargas.China has her seven Pagodas;(Page 334)the Greeks had their seven Cyclopes,seven

Demiurgi and the Mystery Gods,the seven Kabiri whose chief was Jupiter-Saturn and with the Jews,

Jehovah.Now the latter Deity has become chief of all by Mikael (Michael).He is the “Chief of the Host ”

(tsaba );the “Archistrategus of the Lord ’s army ”;the “Conqueror of the Devil ”—Victor diaboli —and the

“Archisatrap of the Sacred Militia “he who slew the “Great Dragon.”Unfortunately astrology and

symbology having no inducement to veil old things with new masks,have preserved the real name of

Mikael —“that was Jehovah ”—Mikael being the Angel of the face of the Lord [ Isaiah,IXIII.9.] “the

guardian of the planets,”and the living image of God.He represents the Deity in his visits to earth for as

it is well expressed in Hebrew he is one who is as God or who is like unto God.It is he who

cast out the serpent.[ Chap xii of Revelation :“There was war in heaven Mikael and his angels fought

against the Dragon ”etc.(7)and the great dragon was cast out (9).]

Mikael being the regent of the planet Saturn is —Sat rn .[ He is also the informing Spirit of the Sun and

Jupiter and even of Venus.] His mystery-name is Sabbathiel because he presides over the Jewish

Sabbath as also over the astrological Saturday.Once identified the reputation of the Christian

conqueror of the devil is in still greater danger from further identifications.Biblical angels are called

Malachim the messengers between God (or rather the gods )and men.In Hebrew .Malach is

also “ a King ”and Malech or Melech was likewise Moloch or again Saturn the Seb of Egypt to whom

Dies Sat rni,or the Sabbath was dedicated.The Sabęans separated and distinguished the planet

Saturn from its God far more than the Roman Catholics do their angels from their stars;and the Kabalists

make of the Archangel Mikael the patron of the seventh work of magic.

In theological symbolism....Jupiter [the Sun ]is the risen and glorious Saviour and Saturn God the

Father or the Jehovah of Moses,[ Dogme et Rit el.ii.116 ]says Éliphas Lévi who o ght to know.

Jehovah and the Saviour Saturn and Jupiter being thus one and Mikael being called the living image of

God it does seem dangerous for the Church to call Saturn Satan —le die ma vais .However Rome is

strong in casuistry and will get out of this as she got out of every other identification with glory to herself

and to her own full satisfaction.

A Singular Confession -(Page 335)Nevertheless all her dogmas and rituals seem like so many pages

torn out from the history of Occultism and then distorted.The extremely thin partition that separates the

Kabalistic and Chaldęan Theogony from the Roman Catholic Angelology and Theodicy is now confessed

by at least one Roman Catholic writer.One can hardly believe one ’s eyes in finding the following (the

passages italicized by us should be carefully noticed):

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One of the most characteristic features of our Holy Scriptures is the calculated discretion sed

in the en nciation of the mysteries less directly sef l to salvation.....Thus,beyond those

“myriads of myriads ”of angelic creatures just noticed [If enumerated they will be found to be

the Hindu “divisions ”and choirs of Devas,and the Dhyān Chohans of Esoteric Buddhism.] and

all these prudently elementary divisions,there are certainly many others,whose very names

have not yet reached us.[ But this fact has not prevented the Roman Church from adopting

them all the same accepting them from ignorant though perchance sincere Church Fathers,

who had borrowed them from Kabalists —Jews and Pagans.] “For ” excellently says St.John

Chrysostom “there are doubtless,(sine d bio,)many other Virt es [celestial beings ] whose

denominations we are yet far from knowing ....The nine orders are not by any means the

only populations in heaven where on the contrary are to be fo nd n mberless tribes of

inhabitants infinitely varied and of which it would be impossible to give the slightest idea

through human tongue ....Paul who had learned their names,reveals to us their existence.”

(De Incomprehensibili Nat ra Dei,Bk.IV.)...

It would thus amount to a gross mistake to see merely errors in the Angelology of the Kabalists

and Gnostics,so severely treated by the Apostle of the Gentiles,for his imposing censure

reached only their exaggerations and vicio s interpretations,and still more the application of

those noble titles to the miserable personalities of demoniacal surpers.[To call “usurpers ”

those who preceded the Christian Beings for whose benefit these same titles were borrowed

is carrying paradoxical anachronism a little too far!]Often nothing so resemble each other as

the lang age of the j dges and that of the convicts [of saints and Occultists ].One has to

penetrate deeply into this d al study [of creed and profession ] and what is still better to trust

blindly to the a thority of the trib nal [ the Church of Rome of course ] to enable oneself to

seize precisely the point of the error.The Gnosis condemned by St.Paul remains,

nevertheless,for him as for Plato the supreme knowledge of the truths,and of the Being par

excellence,ó óķōłņ (Rep bl.Bk.VI).The Ideas,types įń÷įé of the Greek philosopher the

Intelligences of Pythagoras,the aeons or emanations,the occasion of so much reproach to

the first heretics,the Logos or Word Chief of these Intelligences,the Demi rgos the architect

of the world under his father ’s direction [ of the Pagans ] the unknown God the En-soph or

the It of the Infinite [ of the Kabalists ] the angelical periods,[ Or the divine ages the “days

and years of Brahmā.”] the seven spirits,the Depths of Ahriman,the World ’s Rectors,the

Archontes of the air the God of this world,the pleroma of the (Page 336)intelligences,down to

Metatron the angel of the Jews all this is fo nd word for word,as so many truths,in the works

of o r greatest doctors,and in St.Pa l.[ De Mirville.ii.325 326.So we say too.And this

shows that it is to the Kabalists and Magicians that the Church is indebted for her dogmas and

names.Paul never condemned real Gnosis,but the false one now accepted by the Church.]

If an Occultist eager to charge the Church with a numberless series of plagiarisms were to write the

above could he have written more strongly?And have we or have we not the right after such a

complete confession to reverse the tables and to say of Roman Catholics and others what is said of the

Gnostics and Occultists.“They used our expressions and rejected our doctrines.” For it is not the

“promoters of the false Gnosis ”—who had all those expressions from their archaic ancestors —who

helped themselves to Christian expressions,but verily the Christian Fathers and Theologians,who

helped themselves to our nest and have tried ever since to soil it.

The words above quoted will explain much to those who are searching for truth and for truth only.They

will show the origin of certain rites in the Church inexplicable hitherto to the simple-minded and will give

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the reasons why such words as “Our Lord the Sun ”were used in prayer by Christians up to the fifth and

even sixth century of our era and embodied in the Liturgy until altered into “Our Lord the God.”Let us

remember that the early Christians painted Christ on the walls of their subterranean necropolis,as a

shepherd in the guise of and invested with all the attributes of Apollo driving away the wolf.Fenris,who

seeks to devour the Sun and his Satellites.

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SECTION XXXVIII

Astrology and Astrolatry

(Page 337)The books of Hermes Trismegistus contain the exoteric meaning still veiled for all but the

Occultist of the Astrology and Astrolatry of the Khaldi.The two subjects are closely connected.Astrolatry

or the adoration of the heavenly host is the natural result of only half-revealed Astrology whose Adepts

carefully concealed from the non-initiated masses its Occult principles and the wisdom imparted to them

by the Regents of the Planets —the “Angels.” Hence divine Astrology for the Initiates;superstitious

Astrolatry for the profane.St.Justin asserts it:

From the first invention of the hieroglyphics it was not the vulgar but the distinguished and

select men who became initiated in the secrecy of the temples into the science of every kind of

Astrology —even into its most abject kind:that Astrology which later on found itself prostituted

in the public thoroughfares.

There was a vast difference between the Sacred Science taught by Petosiris Necepso —the first

Astrologers mentioned in the Egyptian manuscripts,believed to have lived during the reign of Ramses II.

(Sesostris)[Sesostris,or Pharaoh Ramses II.whose mummy was unswathed in 1886 by Maspero of

the Bulak Museum and recognised as that of the greatest king of Egypt whose grandson Ramses III.

was the last king of an ancient kingdom.] —and the miserable charlatanry of the quacks called

Chaldęans,who degraded the Divine Knowledge under the last Emperors of Rome.Indeed one may

fairly describe the two as the “high ceremonial Astrology ” and “astrological Astrolatry.”The first depended

on the knowledge by the Initiates of those (to us)immaterial Forces or Spiritual Entities that effect matter

and guide it.Called by the ancient Philosophers the Archontes and the Cosmocratores,they were the

types or paradigms on the higher planes of the lower and more material beings on the scale of evolution

whom we call Elementals and Nature-Spirits to whom the Sabęans bowed and whom they worshipped

without suspecting the essential difference.Hence (Page 338)the latter kind when not a mere pretence

degenerated but too often into Black Magic.It was the favourite form of popular or exoteric Astrology

entirely ignorant of the apotelesmatic principles of the primitive Science the doctrines of which were

imparted only at initiation.Thus,while the real Hierophants soared like Demi-Gods to the very summit of

spiritual knowledge the hoi polloi among the Sabęans crouched steeped in superstition —ten

millenniums back,as they do now —in the cold and lethal shadow of the valleys of matter.Sidereal

influence is dual.There is the physical and physiological influence that of exotericism;and the high

spiritual intellectual and moral influence imparted by the knowledge of the former called Astrology so

far back as the eighteenth century “The very foolish mother of a very wise daughter ”—Astronomy.On the

other hand Arago a luminary of the nineteenth century supports the reality of the sidereal influence of

the Sun Moon and Planets.He asks:

Where do we find lunar influences refuted by arguments that science would dare to avow?

But even Bailly having as he thought put down Astrology as publicly practised dares not to do the

same with the real Astrology.He says:

Judiciary Astrology was at its origin the result of a profound system the work of an enlightened

nation that would wander too far into the mysteries of God and Nature.

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A Scientist of a more recent date a member of the Institute of France and a professor of history Ph.

Lebas,discovers (unconsciously to himself)the very root of Astrology in his able article on the subject in

the Dictionnaire Encyclopédiq e de France .He well understands,he tells his readers,that the adhesion

to that Science of such a number of highly intellectual men should be in itself a sufficient motive for

believing that all Astrology is not folly:

While proclaiming in politics the sovereignty of the people and of public opinion can we admit

as heretofore that mankind allowed itself to be radically deceived in this only:that an absolute

and gross absurdity reigned in the minds of whole nations for so many centuries without being

based on anything save —on one hand human imbecility and on the other charlatanry?How

for fifty centuries and more can most men have been either dupes or knaves?....Even

though we may find it impossible to decide between and separate the realities of Astrology

from the elements of invention and empty dreaming in it ...let us,nevertheless,repeat with

Bossuet and all modern philosophers,that “nothing that has been dominant could be

absolutely false.”Is it not true at all events,that there is a physical reaction on one another

among the planets.

The Defence of Astrology -(Page 339)It is not again true that the planets have an influence on the

atmosphere and consequently at any rate a mediate action on vegetation and animals?Has not modern

science demonstrated now these two points beyond any doubt?...Is it any less true that human liberty

of action is not absolute;that all is bound that all weighs,planets as the rest on each individual will;that

Providence [ or Karma ] acts on us and directs men through those relations that it has established

between them and the visible objects and the whole universe?...Astrolatry in its essence is nothing

but that;we are bound to recognise that an instinct superior to the age they lived in guided the efforts of

the ancient Magi.As to the materialism and annihilation of human moral freedom with which Bailly

charges their theory (Astrology)the reprobate has no sense whatever.All the great astrologers admitted

without one single exception that man could reäct against the influence of the stars.This principle is

established in the Ptolemœian Tetrabiblos,the true astrological Scriptures,in chapters ii and iii of book

i.[Op.cit.,p.422.]

Thomas Aquinas had corroborated Lebas in anticipation;he says:

The celestial bodies are the ca se of all that happens in this subl nary world,they act

indirectly on human actions;but not all the effects produced by them are unavoidable.[

S mma.Quest.xv.Art v.upon Astrologers,and Vol.III.pp.2-29.]

The Occultists and Theosophists are the first to confess that there is white and black Astrology.

Nevertheless,Astrology has to be studied in both aspects by those who wish to become proficient in it;

and the good or bad results obtained do not depend upon the principles,which are the same in both

kinds,but in the Astrologer himself.Thus Pythagoras,who established the whole Copernican system by

the Book of Hermes,2 000 years before Galileo ’s predecessor was born found and studied in them the

whole Science of divine Theogony of the communication with and the evocation of the world ’s Rectors

—the Princes of the “Principalities ”of St.Paul —the nativity of each Planet and of the Universes itself the

formulę of incantations and the consecretation of each portion of the human body to the respective

Zodiacal sign corresponding to it.All this cannot be regarded as childish and absurd —still less

“devilish ”—save by those who are and wish to remain tyros in the Philosophy of the Occult Sciences.

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No true thinker —no one who recognises the presence of a common bond between man and visible as

well as invisible Nature —would see in the old relics of Archaic Wisdom —such as the Petemenoph

Papyrus,for instance —“childish nonsense and absurdity ”as many Academicians (Page 340)and

Scientists have done.But upon finding in such ancient documents the application of the Hermetic rules

and laws,such as

The consecration of one ’s hair to the celestial Nile;of the left temple to the living Spirit in the

sun and the right one to the spirit of Ammon

he will endeavour to study and comprehend better the “laws of correspondences.”Nor will he disbelieve

in the antiquity of Astrology on the plea that some Orientalists have thought fit to declare that the Zodiac

was not very ancient being only the invention of the Greeks of the Macedonian period.For this

statement besides having been shown to be entirely erroneous by a number of other reasons,may be

entirely disproved by facts relating to the latest discoveries in Egypt and by the more accurate readings

of hieroglyphics and inscriptions of the earliest dynasties.The published polemics on the contents of the

so-called “Magic ”Papyri of the Anastasi collection indicate the antiquity of the Zodiac.As the Lettres ą

Lettrone say:The papyri discourse at length upon the four bases or

Foundations of the world the identity of which it is impossible according to Champollion to

mistake as one is forced to recognise in them the Pillars of the World of St.Paul.It is they

who are invoked with the gods of all the celestial zones,quite analogous,once more to the

Spirit alia neq itiaœ in cœlestib s of the same apostle.[“The principalities and powers [ born

] in heavenly places.”(Ephes.,iii.10).The verse.“For though there be that are called Gods,

whether in heaven or on earth as there be Gods many and lords many ” (I.Corinth.viii.5),

shows at any rate the recognition by Paul of a plurality of “Gods ”whom he calls “dęmons ”

(“spirits ”—never devils ).Principalities,Thrones,Dominions.Rectors,etc.are all Jewish and

Christian names for the Gods of the ancients —the Archangels and Angels of the former being

in every case the Devas and the Dhyān Chohans of the more ancient religions.]

That invocation was made in the proper terms ....of the formula reproduced far too faithfully

by Jamblichus for it to be possible to refuse him any longer the merit of having transmitted to

posterity the ancient and primitive spirit of the Egyptian Astrologers.[ Answer by Reuvens to

Letronne with regard to his mistake notion about the Zodiac of Dendera.]

As Letronne had tried to prove that all the genuine Egyptian Zodiacs had been manufactured during the

Roman period the Sensaos mummy is brought forward to show that:

All the Zodiacal monuments in Egypt were chiefly astronomical.Royal tombs and funereal

rituals are so many tables of constellations and of their influences for all the hours of every

month.

Thus the genethliac tables themselves prove that they are far older than the period assigned to their

origin;all the Zodiacs of the sarcophagi of later epochs being simple reminiscences of the Zodiacs

belonging to the mythological [ archaic ]period.

Its Later Deterioration -(Page 341)Primitive Astrology was as far above modern judiciary Astrology so-

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called as the guides (the Planets and Zodiacal signs)are above the lamp-posts.Berosus shows the

sidereal sovereignty of Bel and Mylitta (Sun and Moon),and only “the twelve lords of the Zodiacal Gods,”

the “thirty-six Gods Counsellors ”and the “twenty-four Stars,judges of this world ”which support and

guide the Universe (our solar system),watch over mortals and reveal to mankind its fate and their own

decrees.Judiciary Astrology as it is now known is correctly denominated by the Latin Church the

Materialistic and pantheistic prophesying by the objective planet itself independently of its

Rector [ the Mlac of the Jews,the ministers of the Eternal commissioned by him to announce

his will to mortals ];the ascension or conjunction of the planet at the moment of the birth of an

individual deciding his fortune and the moment and mode of his death.[ St.Ausgustine (De

Gen .I.iii.)and Delrio (Disq isit.,Vol.IV.chap iii.)are quoted by De Mirville to show that “the

more astrologers speak the truth and the better they prophesy it the more one has to feel

diffident seeing that their agreement with the devil becomes thereby the more apparent.”The

famous statement made by Juvenal (Satires,vi.)to the effect that “not one single astrologer

could be found who did not pay dearly for the help he received from his genius ”—no more

proves the latter to be a devil than the death of Socrates proves his daimon to have been a

native from the nether world —if such there be.Such argument only demonstrates human

stupidity and wickedness,once reason is made subservient to prejudice and fanaticism of

every sort.“Most of the great writers of antiquity Cicero and Tacitus among them believed in

Astrology and the realization of its prophecies:and “the penalty of death decreed nearly

everywhere against those mathematicians [astrologers ] who happened to predict falsely

diminished neither their number nor their tranquility of mind.”]

Every student of Occultism knows that the heavenly bodies are closely related during each Manvantara

with the mankind of that special cycle;and there are some who believe that each great character born

during that period has —as every other mortal has,only in a far stronger degree —his destiny outlined

within his proper constellation or star traced as a self-prophecy an anticipated autobiography by the

indwelling Spirit of that particular star.The human Monad in its first beginning is that Spirit or the Soul of

that star (Planet)itself.As our Sun radiates its light and beams on every body in space within the

boundaries of its system so the Regent of every Planet-star the Parent-monad shoots out from itself the

Monad of every “pilgrim ”Soul born under its house within its own group.The Regents are esoterically

seven whether in the Sephiroth the “Angels of the Presence ” the Rishis,or the Amshaspends.“The

One is no number ”is said in all the esoteric works.

(Page 342)From the Kasdim and Gazzim (Astrologers)the noble primitive science passed to the

Khartumim Asaphim (or Theologians)and the Hakamin (or scientists the Magicians of the lower class),

and from these to the Jews during their captivity.The Books of Moses had been buried in oblivion for

centuries,and when rediscovered by Hilkiah had lost their true sense for the people of Israel.Primitive

Occult Astrology was on the decline when Daniel the last of the Jewish Initiates of the old school

became the chief of the Magi and Astrologers of Chaldęa.In those days even Egypt who had her

wisdom from the same source as Babyon had degenerated from her former grandeur and her glory had

begun to fade out.Still the science of old habit left her eternal imprint on the world and the seven great

Primitive Gods reigned for ever in the Astrology and the division of time of every nation upon the face of

the earth.The names of the days of our (Christian)week are those of the Gods of the Chaldęans,who

translated them from those of the Āryans;the uniformity of these antediluvian names in every nation

from the Goths back to the Indians,would remain inexplicable as Sir W.Jones thought had not the

riddle been explained to us by the invitation made by the Chaldęan oracles,recorded by Porphyry and

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quoted by Eusebius:

To carry those names first to the Egyptian and Phœnician colonies,then to the Greeks,with

the express recommendation that each God should be invoked only on that day that had been

called by his name.....

Thus Apollo says in those oracles:“ I must be invoked on the day of the sun ;Mercury after his

directions,then Chronos [Saturn ] then Venus,and do not fail to call seven times each of

those gods.” [Preparatio Evangelica.I.xiv.]

This is slightly erroneous.Greece did not get her astrological instruction from Egypt or from Chaldęa but

direct from Orpheus,as Lucian tells us.[ Ast .iv.60 ] It was Orpheus,as he says,who imparted the

Indian Sciences to nearly all the great monarchs of antiquity;and it was they the ancient kings favoured

by the Planetary Gods,who recorded the principles of Astrology —as did Ptolemus,for instance.Thus

Lucian writes:

The Bœotian Tiresias acquired the greatest reputation in the art of predicting futurity ....In

those days divination was not as slightly treated as it is now;and nothing was ever undertaken

without previous consultation with diviners,whose oracles were all directed by astrology ....

At Delphos the virgin commissioned to announce futurity was the symbol of the Heavenly

Virgin ....and Our Lady.

Its Prominent Disciples -(Page 343)On the sarcophagus of an Egyptian Pharaoh Neith mother of Ra

the heifer that brings forth the Sun her body spangled with stars,and wearing the solar and lunar discs,

is equally referred to as the “Heavenly Virgin ”and “Our Lady of the Starry Vault.”

Modern judiciary Astrology in its present form began only during the time of Diodorus,as he apprises the

world.[Hist.,I.ii.] But Chaldęan Astrology was believed in by most of the great men in History such as

Cęsar Pliny Cicero —whose best friends,Nigidius Figulus and Lucius Tarrutius,were themselves

Astrologers,the former being famous as a prophet.Marcus Antonius never travelled without an

Astrologer recommended to him by Cleopatra.Augustus,when ascending the throne had his horoscope

drawn by Theagenes.Tiberius discovered pretenders to his throne by means of Astrology and divination.

Vitellius dared not exile the Chaldęans,as they had announced the day of their banishment as that of

his death.Vespasian consulted them daily;Domitian would not move without being advised by the

prophets;Adrian was a learned Astrologer himself;and all of them ending with Julian (called the

Apostate because he would not become one),believed in and addressed their prayers to the Planetary

“Gods.”The Emperor Adrian moreover “predicted from the January calends up to December 31 st every

event that happened to him daily.”Under the wisest emperors Rome had a School of Astrology wherein

were secretly taught the occult influences of the Sun Moon and Saturn.[All these particulars may be

found more fully and far more completely in Champollion Figeac ’s Egypte.] Jndiciary Astrology is used to

this day by the Kabalists;and Éliphas Lévi the modern French Magus,teaches its rudiments in his

Dogme et Rit el de la Ha te Magic.But the key to ceremonial or ritualistic Astrology with the teraphim

and the urim and thummim of Magic,is lost to Europe.Hence our century of Materialism shrugs it

shoulders and sees in Astrology —a pretender.

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Not all scientists scoff at it however and one may rejoice in reading in the Musée des Sciences [ Op.

cit.,p.230.]the suggestive and fair remarks made by Le Couturier a man of science of no mean

reputation.He thinks it curious (Page 344)to notice that while the bold speculations of Democritus are

found vindicated by Dalton

The reveries of the alchemists are also on their way to a certain rehabilitation.They receive

renewed life from the minute investigations of their successors,the chemists;a very

remarkable thing indeed is to see how much modern discoveries have served to vindicate of

late the theories of the Middle Ages from the charge of absurdity laid at their door.Thus,if as

demonstrated by Col.Sabine the direction of a piece of steel hung a few feet above the soil

may be influenced by the position of the moon whose body is at a distance of 240 000 miles

from our planet who then could accuse of extravagance the belief of the ancient astrologers

[ or the modern either ]in the influence of the stars on human destiny.[ Op.cit.,p.230.]

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SECTION XXXIX

Cycles of Avatāras

(Page 345)We have already drawn attention to the facts that the record of the life of a World-Savior is

emblematical and must be read by its mystic meaning and that the figures 432 have a cosmic

evolutionary significance.We find these two facts throwing light on the origin of the exoteric Christian

religion and clearing away much of the obscurity surrounding its beginnings.For is it not clear that the

names and characters in the Synoptical Gospels and in that of St.John are not historical?Is it not

evident that the compilers of the life of Christ desirous to show that the birth of their Master was a

cosmic,astronomical and divinely-preördained event attempted to coördinate the same with the end of

the secret cycle 4 320?When facts are collated this answers to them as little as does the other cycle of

“thirty-three solar years seven months,and seven days ”which has also been brought forward as

supporting the same claim the soli-lunar cycle in which the Sun gains on the Moon one solar year.The

combination of the three figures,4 3 2 with cyphers according to the cycle and Manvantara concerned

was,and is,preėminently Hindu.It will remain a secret even though several of its significant features are

revealed.It relates,for instance to the Pralaya of the races in their periodical dissolution before which

events a special Avatāra has always to descend and incarnate on earth.These figures were adopted by

all the older nations,such as those of Egypt and Chaldęa and before them were current among the

Atlanteans.Evidently some of the more learned among the early Church Fathers who had dabbled

whilst Pagans,in temple secrets,knew them to relate to the Avatāric or Messianic Mystery ,and tried to

apply this cycle to the birth of their Messiah;they failed because the figures relate to the respective ends

of the Root-Races and not to any individual.In their badly-directed efforts,moreover an error of five

years occurred.Is it possible if their claims as to the (Page 346)importance and universality of the event

were correct that such a vital mistake should have been allowed to creep into a chronological

computation preördained and traced in the heavens by the finger of God?Again what were the Pagan

and even Jewish Initiates doing if this claim as to Jesus be correct?Could they the custodians of the

key to the secret cycles and Avatāras,the heirs of the Āryan Egyptian and Chaldęan wisdom have

failed to recognize their great “God-Incarnate ” one with Jehovah [In the 1 326 places in the New

Testament where the word “God ”is mentioned nothing signifies that in God are included more beings

than God.On the contrary in 17 places God is called the only God.The places where the Father is so-

called amount to 320.In 105 places God is addressed with high-sounding titles.In 90 places all prayers

and thanks are addressed to the Father:300 times in the New Testament is the Son declared to be

inferior to the Father;85 times is Jesus called the “Son of Man;70 times is he called a man.In not one

single place in the Bible is it said that God holds within him three different Beings or Persons,and yet is

one Being or Person —Dr.Karl Von Bergen ’s Lect res in Sweden.] their Saviour of the latter days,him

whom all the nations of Asia still expect as their Kalki Avatāra Maitreya Buddha Sosiosh Messiah etc.?

The simple secret is this:There are cycles within greater cycles,which are all contained in the one Kalpa

of 4 320 000 years.It is at the end of this cycle that the Kalki Avatāra is expected —the Avatāra Whose

name and characteristics are secret Who will come forth from Shamballa the “City of Gods,”which is in

the West for some nations,in the East for others,in the North or South for yet others.And this is the

reason why from the Indian Rishi to Virgil and from Zoroaster down to the latest Sibyl all have since the

beginning of the Fifth Race prophesied sung and promised the cyclic return of the Virgin —Virgo the

constellation —and the birth of a divine child who should bring back to our earth the Golden Age.

No one however fanatical would have sufficient hardihood to maintain that the Christian era has ever

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been a return to the Golden Age —Virgo having actually entered into Libra since then.Let us trace as

briefly as possible the Christian traditions to their true origin.

First of all they discover in a few lines from Virgil a direct prophecy of the birth of Christ.Yet it is

impossible to detect in this prophecy any feature of the present age.It is in the famous fourth Eclogue in

which half a century before our era Pollio is made to ask the Muses of Sicily to sing to him about greater

events.

The last era of Cumęan song is now arrived and the grand series of ages [ that series which

recurs again and again in the course of our mundane revolution ] begins afresh.Now the

Virgin Astęa returns,and the reign of Saturn recommences

An Unfulfilled Prophecy -(Page 347)Now a new progeny descends from the celestial realms.

Do thou chaste Lucina smile propitious to the infant Boy who will bring to a close the present

Age of Iron [ Kali Yuga the Black or Iron Age.] and introduce throughout the whole world the

Age of Gold.....He shall share the life of Gods and shall see heroes mingled in society with

Gods,himself to be seen by them and all the peaceful world....Then shall the herds no

longer dread the huge lion the serpent also shall die:and the poison ’s deceptive plant shall

perish.Come then dear child of the Gods,great descendant of Jupiter!....The time is near.

See the world is shaken with its globe saluting thee:the earth the regions of the sea and the

heavens sublime.[ Virgil Eclog e.iv.]

It is in these few lines,called the “Sibylline prophecy about the coming of Christ ” that his followers now

see a direct foretelling of the event.Now who will presume to maintain that either at the birth of Jesus or

since the establishment of the so-called Christian religion any portion of the above-quoted sentences

can be shown as prophetic?Has the “last age ”—the Age of Iron or Kali Yuga —closed since then?Quite

the reverse since it is shown to be in full sway just now not only because the Hindus use the name but

by universal personal experience.Where is that “new race that has descended from the celestial

realms ” ?Was it the race that emerged from Paganism into Christianity?Or is it our present race with

nations ever red-hot for fight jealous and envious,ready to pounce upon each other showing mutual

hatred that would put to blush cats and dogs,ever lying and deceiving one another?Is it this age of ours

that is the promised “Golden Age ”—in which neither the venom of the serpent nor of any plant is any

longer lethal and in which we are all secure under the mild sway of God-chosen sovereigns?The wildest

fancy of an opium-eater could hardly suggest a more inappropriate description if it is to be applied to our

age or to any age since the year one of our era.What of the mutual slaughter of sects,of Christians by

Pagans,and of Pagans and Heretics by Christians;the horrors of the Middle Ages and of the Inquisition;

Napoleon and since his day an “armed peace ”at best —at the worst torrents of blood shed for

supremacy over acres of land and a handful of heathen :millions of soldiers under arms,ready for

battle;a diplomatic body playing at Cains and Judases;and instead of the “mild sway of a divine

sovereign ”the universal though unrecognised sway of Cęsarism of “might ”in lieu of “right ” and the

breeding therefrom of anarchists socialists,pétroleuses,and destroyers of every description?

(Page 348)The Sibylline prophecy and Virgil ’s inspirational poetry remain unfulfilled in every point as we

see.

The fields are yellow with soft ears of corn;

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but so they were before our era:

The blushing grapes shall hang from the rude brambles,and dewy honey shall [ or may ] distil

from the rugged oak;

but they have not thus done so far.We must look for another interpretation.What is it?The Sibylline

Prophetess spoke as thousands of other Prophets and Seers have spoken though even the few such

records that have survived are rejected by Christian and infidel and their interpretations are only allowed

and accepted among the Initiated.The Sibyl alluded to cycles in general and to the great cycle especially.

Let us remember how the Purānas corroborate the above among others the Vishn P rāna:

When the practices taught by the Vedas,and the Institutes of Law shall have nearly ceased

and the close of the Kali Yuga [the “Iron Age ”of Virgil ] shall be nigh an aspect of that divine

Being who exists of his own spiritual nature in the character of Brahmā and even is the

beginning of the end [ Alpha and Omega ] ...shall descend upon earth:he will be born in the

family of Vishnuyashas,an eminent Brāhman of Shamballah ....endowed with the eight

superhuman powers.By his irresistible might he will destroy ...all whose minds are devoted

to iniquity.He will then reėstablish righteousness upon earth;and the minds of those who live

at the end of the [ Kali ] Age shall be awakened and shall be as pellucid as crystal.[ At the

close of our Race people it is said through suffering and discontent will become more

spiritual.Clairvoyance will become a general faculty.We shall be approaching the spiritual

state of the Third and Second Races.] The men who are thus changed by virtue of that

peculiar time shall be as the seeds of human beings [ the Shistha the survivors of the future

cataclysm ] and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws of the Krita [ or Satya ]

Yuga [the age of purity or the “Golden Age ”] For it is said:“When the sun and moon and

Tishya [asterisms ] and the planet Jupiter are in one mansion the Krita Age [the Golden ]shall

return.[Vishn P rāna.IV.228.Wilson ’s translation.]

The astronomical cycles of the Hindus —those taught publicly —have been sufficiently well understood

but the esoteric meaning thereof in its application to transcendental subjects connected with them has

ever remained a dead-letter.The number of cycles was enormous;it ranged from the Mahā Yuga cycle of

4 320 000 years down to the small septenary and quinquennial cycles,the latter being composed of the

five years called respectively the Samvatsara Parivatsara Idvatsara Anuvatsara and Vatsara each

having secret attributes or qualities attached to them.

Secret Cycles -(Page 349)Vriddhagarga gives these in a treatise now the property of a Trans-

Himālayan Matham (or temple);and describes the relation between this quinquennial and the Brihaspati

cycle based on the conjunction of the Sun and Moon every sixtieth year:a cycle as mysterious —for

national events in general and those of the Āryan Hindu nation especially —as it is important.

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SECTION XL

Secret Cycles

(Page 350)THE former five-year cycle comprehends sixty solar-sidereal months or 1800 days sixty-one

solar months (or 1830);sixty-two lunar months (or 1860 lunations),and sixty-seven lunar-asterismal

months (or 1809 such days).

In his Kāla Sankalita,Col.Warren very properly regards these years as cycles;this they are for each

year has its own special importance as having some bearing upon and connection with specified events

in individual horoscopes.He writes that in the cycle of sixty there.

Are contained five cycles of twelve years,each supposed equal to one year of the planet

(Brihaspati or Jupiter)...I mention this cycle because I found it mentioned in some books,

but I know of no nation or tribe that reckons time after that account.[ Op.cit.,p.212.]

The ignorance is very natural since Col.Warren could know nothing of the secret cycles and their

meanings.He adds:

The names of the five cycles of Yugas are:....(1)Samvatsara (2)Parivatsara (3)Idvatsara

(4)Anuvatsara (5)Udravatsara.

The learned Colonel might however have assured himself that there were “other nations ”which had the

same secret cycle if he had but remembered that the Romans also had their l strum of five years (from

the Hindus undeniably)which represented the same period if multiplied by 12.[ At any rate the temple

secret meaning was the same.] Near Benares there are still the relics of all these cycle-records,and of

astronomical instruments cut out of solid rock,the everlasting records of Archaic Initiation called by Sir

W.Jones (as suggested by the prudent Brāhmans who surrounded him)old “back records ”or

reckonings.

The Naros -(Page 351)But in Stonehenge they exist to this day.Higgins says that Waltire found the

barrows of tumuli surrounding this giant-temple represented accurately the situation and magnitude of

the fixed stars,forming a complete orrery or planisphere.As Colebrook found out it is the cycle of the

Vedas recorded in the Jyotisha,one of the Vedąngas,a treatise on Astronomy which is the basis of

calculation for all other cycles,larger or smaller;[ Aiat.Res.,vol.viii p.470.et seq ] and the Vedas were

written in characters,archaic though they be long after those natural observations,made by the aid of

their gigantic mathematical and astronomical instruments had been recorded by the men of the Third

Race who had received their instruction from the Dhyān Chohans.Maurice speaks truly when he

observes that all such

Circular stone monuments were intended as durable symbols of astronomical cycles by a race

who not having or for political reasons,forbidding the use of letters,had no other permanent

method of instructing their disciples or handing down their knowledge to posterity.

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He errs only in the last idea.It was to conceal their knowledge from profane posterity leaving it as an

heirloom only to the Initiates,that such monuments,at once rock observatories and astronomical

treatises,were cut out.

It is no news that as the Hindus divided the earth into seven zones,so the more western peoples —

Chaldęans,Phœnicians,and even the Jews,who got their learning either directly or indirectly from the

Brąhmans —made all their secret and sacred numerations by 6 and 12 though using the number 7

whenever this would not lend itself to handling.Thus the numerical base of 6 the exoteric figure given by

Ćrya Bhatta was made good use of.From the first secret cycle of 600 —the Naros,transformed

successively into 60 000 and 60 and 6 and with other noughts added into other secret cycles —down to

the smallest an Archęologist and Mathamatician can easily find it repeated in every country known to

every nation.Hence the globe was divided into 60 degrees,which multiplied by 60 become 3 600 the

“great year.” Hence also the hour with its 60 minutes of 60 seconds each.The Asķatic people count a

cycle of 60 years also after which comes the lucky seventh decad and the Chinese have their small

cycle of 60 days the Jews of 6 days,the Greeks of 6 centuries —the Naros again.

(Page 352)The Babylonians had a great year of 3 600 being the Naros multiplied by 6.The Tartar cycle

called Van was 180 years,or three sixties;this multiplied by 12 times 12=144 makes 25 920 years,the

exact period of revolution of the heavens.

India is the birthplace of arithmetic and mathematics;as “Our Figures,”in Chips from a German

Workshop,by Prof.Max Müller shows beyond a doubt.As well explained by Krishna Shāstra Godbole in

The Theosophist :

The Jews ...represented the units (1-9)by the first nine letters of our alphabet;the tens (10-90)by the

next nine letters;the first four hundreds (100-400)by the last four letters and the remaining ones

(500-900)by the second forms of the letters “kāf ” (11 th ),“mīm ”(13 th ),“nūn ”(13 th ),“pe ”(17 th ),and “sād ”

(18 th );and they represented other numbers by combining these letters according to their value ....The

Jews of the present period still adhere to this practice of notation in their Hebrew books.The Greeks had

a numerical system similar to that used by the Jews,but they carried it a little farther by using letters of

the alphabet with a dash or slant-line behind to represent thousands (1000-9000),tens of thousands

(10 000-90 000)and one hundred of thousands (100 000)the last for instance being represented by

“rho ”with a dash behind while “rho ”singly represented 100.The Romans represented all numerical

values by the combination (additive when the second letter is of equal or less value)of six letters of their

alphabet:i (=I),v (=5),x (=10),c (for “centum ”=100),d (=500),and m (=1000):thus 20=xx 15=xv and

9=ix.These are called the Roman numerals,and are adopted by all European nations when using the

Roman alphabet.The Arabs at first followed their neighbours,the Jews,in their method of computation

so much so that they called it Abjad from the first four Hebrew letters —“alif ”“beth ” “gimel ”—or rather

“jimel ”that is “jim ”(Arabic being wanting in “g ” ,and “daleth ”representing the first four units.But when in

the early part of the Christian era they came to India as traders,they found the country already using for

computation the decimal scale of notation which they forthwith borrowed literally;viz.,without altering its

method of writing from left to right at variance with their own mode of writing which is from right to left.

They introduced this system into Europe through Spain and other European countries lying along the

coast of the Mediterranean and under their sway during the dark ages of European history.It has thus

become evident that the Äryas knew well mathematics or the science of computation at a time when all

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other nations knew but little if anything of it.It has also been admitted that the knowledge of arithmetic

and algebra was first introduced from the Hindus by the Arabs,and then taught by them to the Western

nations.This fact convincingly proves that the Āryan civilisation is older than that of any other nation in

the world:and as the Vedas are avowedly proved the oldest work of that civilisation a presumption is

raised in favour of their great antiquity.[Theosophist,August.1881 .]

Age of the Vedas -(Page 353)But while the Jewish nation for instance —regarded so long as the first

and oldest in the order of creation —knew nothing of arithmetic and remained utterly ignorant of the

decimal scale of notation —the latter existed for ages in India before the actual era.

To become certain of the immense antiquity of the Āryan Asiatic nations and of their astronomical records

one has to study more than the Vedas .The secret meaning of the latter will never be understood by the

present generation of Orientalists;and the astronomical works which give openly the real dates and

prove the antiquity of both the nation and its science elude the grasp of the collectors of ollas and old

manuscripts in India the reason being too obvious to need explanation.Yet there are Astronomers and

Mathematicians to this day in India humble Shāstris and Pandits,unknown and lost in the midst of that

population of phenomenal memories and metaphysical brains,who have undertaken the task and have

proved to the satisfaction of many that the Vedas are the oldest works in the world.One of such is the

Shāstri just quoted who published in The Theosophist [ Aug.1881x to Feb.1882.] an able treatise

proving astronomically and mathematically that:

If the Post-Vaidika works alone the Upanishads,the Brāhmanas,etc.down to the Purānas,

when examined critically carry us back to 20 000 B.C.then the time of the composition of the

Vedas themselves cannot be less than 30 000 B.C.in round numbers,a date which we may

take at present as the age of that Book of books.[Loc.cit.,iv.127 ]

And what are his proofs?

Cycles and the evidence yielded by the asterisms.Here are a few extracts from his rather lengthy

treatise selected to give an idea of his demonstrations and bearing directly on the quinquennial cycle

spoken of just now.Those who feel interested in the demonstrations and are advanced mathematicians

can turn to the article itself “The Antiquity of the Vedas ”[Theosophist vol.iii.p.22.] and judge for

themselves.

10.Somākara in his commentary on the Shesha Jyotisha quotes a passage from the

Satapatha Brāhmana,which contains an observation on the change of the topics,and which is

also found in the Sākhāyana Brāhmana,as has been noticed by Prof.Max Müller in his

preface to Rigveda Samhitā (p.xx.foot-note vol.iv.).The passage is this:...“The full-moon

night in Phālguna is the first night of Samvatsara the first year of the quinquennial age.”This

passage clearly shows that the quinquennial age which according to the sixth verse of the

Jyotisha,begins on the 1 st of Māgha (January-February),once began on the 15 th of Phālguna

(February-March).(Page 354)Now when the 15 th of Phālguna of the first year called

Samvatsara of the quinquennial age begins,the moon according to the Jyotisha is in

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position of the four principal points on the ecliptic was then as follows:

The winter solstice in 3 .29 of Purva Bhādrapadā.

The vernal equinox in the beginning of Mrigashīrsha.

The summer solstice in 10 of Purva Phālgunī.

The autumnal equinox in the middle of Jyeshtha.

The vernal equinoctial point we have seen coincided with the beginning of Krittikā in 1421

B.C.;and from the beginning of Krittikā to that of Mrigashīrsha was,consequence 1421+26

2/3x72=1421+1920=3341 B.C.supposing the rate of precession to be 50 a year.When we

take the rate to be 3 .20"in 247 years,the time comes up to 1516+1960.7=3476.7 B.C.

When the winter solstice by its retrograde motion coincided after that with the beginning of

Pūrva Bhādrapadā then the commencement of the quinquennial age was changed from the

15 th to the 1 st of Phālguna (February-March).This change took place 240 years after the date

of the above observation that is,in 3101 B.C.This date is most important as from it an era

was reckoned in after times.The commencement of the Kali or Kali Yuga (derived from “kal ”

“to reckon ”),though said by European scholars to be an imaginary date becomes thus an

astronomical fact.

Interchange for Krititkā and Ashvinī

[The impartial study of Vaidic and Post-Vaidic works shows that the ancient Ćryans knew well

the precession of the equinoxes,and “that they changed their position from a certain asterism

to two (occasionally three)asterisms back whenever the precession amounted to two properly

speaking to 2 11/61 asterisms or about 29 . being the motion of the sun in a lunar month and

so caused the seasons to fall back a complete lunar month....It appears certain that at the

date of Sūrya Siddhānta,Brahmā Siddānta,and other ancient treatises on astronomy the

vernal equinoctial point had not actually reached the beginning of Ashvini but was a few

degrees east of it...The astronomers of Europe change westward the beginning of Aries and

of all other signs of the Zodiac every year by about 50"25 and thus make the names of the

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signs meaningless.But these signs are as much fixed as the asterisms themselves,and

hence the Western astronomers of the present day appear to us in this respect less wary and

scientific in their observations than their very ancient brethren —the Ćryas.”—Theosophist,iii.

23.

We thus see that the asterisms,twenty-seven in number were counted from the Mrigashīrsha

when the vernal equinox retrograded was in its beginning and that the practice of thus

counting was adhered to till the vernal equinox retrograded to the beginning of Krittikā when it

became the first of the asterisms.For then the winter solstice had changed receding from

Phālguna (February-March)to Māgha (January-February)one complete lunar month.

Testimony of the Song Celestial -(Page 355)And in like manner the place of Krittikā was

occupied by Ashvini that is,the latter became the first of the asterisms,heading all others,

when its beginning coincided with the vernal equinoctial point or in other words,when the

winter solstice was in Pansha (December-February).Now from the beginning of Krittikā to that

of Ashvinī there are two asterisms,or 26 Øų. and the time the equinox takes to retrograde this

distance at the rate of 1 in 72 years is 1920 years;and hence the date at which the vernal

equinox coincided with the commencement of Ashvinī or with the end of Revatī is

1920-1421=499 A.D.

Bentley ’s Opinion

12.The next and equally-important observation we have to record here is one discussed by

Mr.Bentley in his researches into his researches into the Indian antiquities.“The first lunar

asterism ”he says “in the division of twenty-eight was called Mūla that is to say the root or

origin.In the division of twenty-seven the first lunar asterism was called Jyestha that is to say

the eldest at first and consequently of the same import as the former ”(vide his View of the

Hind Astronomy,p.4).From this it becomes manifest that the vernal equinox was once in the

beginning of Mūla and Mūla was reckoned the first of the asterisms when they were twenty-

eight in number including Abhijit.Now there are fourteen asterisms,of 180 . from the

beginning of Mrigashīrsha to that of Mūla and hence the date at which the vernal equinox

coincided with the beginning of Mūla was at least 3341+180x72=16 301 B.C.The position of

the four principal points on the ecliptic was then as given below:

The winter solstice in the beginning of Uttara Phālgunī in the month of Shrāvana.

The vernal equinox in the beginning of Mūla in Kārittka

The summer solstice in the beginning of Pūrva Bhādrapadā in Māgha

The autumnal equinox in the beginning of Mrigashīrsha in Vaishākha.

A Proof from the Bhagavad Gītā

13.The Bhagavad Gītā as well as the Bhāgavata,makes mention of an observation which

points to a still more remote antiquity than the one discovered by Mr.Bentley.The passages

are given in order below:

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“ I am the Mārgashīrsha [ viz.the first morning for months ] and the spring [viz .the first among

the seasons ]

This shows that at one time the first month of spring was Mārgashīrsha.A season includes two

months,and the mention of a month suggests the season.

“ I am the Samvatsara among the years [ which are five in number ] and the spring among the

seasons,and the Mārgashīrsha among the months and the Abhijitamong the asterisms

[ which are twenty-eight in number ]

This clearly points out that at one time in the first year called Samvatsara of the quinquennial

age the Madhu that is the first month of spring was Mārgashīrsha and Abhijit was the first of

the asterisms.It then concided with the vernal equinoctial point and thence from it the

asterisms were counted.To find the date of this observation:There are three asterisms from

the beginning of Mūla to the beginning of Abhijit and hence the date in question is at least

16 301+3/7 x 90 x 72 =19 078 (Page 356)or about 20 000 B.C.The Samvatsara at this time

began in Bhādrapadā the winter solstitial month.

So far then 20 000 years are mathematically proven for the antiquity of the Vedas .And this is simply

exoteric.Any mathematician provided he be not blinded by preconception and prejudice can see this,

and an unknown but very clever amateur Astronomer S.A.Mackey has proved it some sixty years back.

His theory about the Hindu Yugas and their length is curious —as being so very near the correct doctrine.

It is said in volume ii.p.131 of Asiatic Researches that:“The great ancestor of Yudhister

reigned 27 000 years ...at the end of the brazen age.”In volume ix.p.364 we read:

“In the beginning of the Cali Y ga,in the reign of Yudhister.And Yudhister ...began his reign

immediately after the flood called Pralaya.”

Here we find three different statements concerning Yudhister ...to explain these seeming differences we

must have recourse to their books of science where we find the heavens and the earth divided into five

parts of unequal dimensions,by circles parallel to the equator.Attention to these divisions will be found to

be of the utmost importance ...as it will be found that from them arose the division of their Maha-Yuga

into its four component parts.Every astronomer knows that there is a point in the heavens called the

pole round which the whole seems to turn in twenty-four hours;and that at ninety degrees from it they

imagine a circle called the eq ator which divides the heavens and the earth into two equal parts,the

north and the south.Between this circle and the pole there is another imaginary circle called the circle of

perpet al apparition :between which and the equator there is a point in the heavens called the zenith

through which let another imaginary circle pass,parallel to the other two;and then there wants but the

circle of perpetual occultation to complete the round....No astronomer of Europe besides myself has

ever applied them to the development of the Hindu mysterious numbers.We are told in the Asiatic

Researches that Yudhister brought Vicramāditya to reign in Cassimer which is in the latitude of 36

degrees.And in that latitude the circle of perpetual apparition would extend up to 72 degrees altitude

and from that to the zenith there are but 18 degrees,but from the zenith to the equator in that latitude

there are 36 degrees,and from the equator to the circle of perpetual occultation there are 54 degrees.

Here we find the semi-circle of 180 degrees divided into four parts,in the proportion of 1 2 3 4 i.e.,18

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36 54 72.Whether the Hindu astronomers were acquainted with the motion of the earth or not is of no

consequence since the appearances are the same;and if it will give those gentlemen of tender

consciences any pleasure I am willing to admit that they imagined the heavens rolled round the earth but

they had observed the stars in the path of the sun to move forward through the equinoctial points,at the

rate of fifty-four seconds of a degree in a year which carried the whole zodiac round in 24 000 years;in

which time they also observed that the angle of obliquity varied so as to extend or contract the width of

the tropics 4 degrees on each side which rate of motion would carry the tropics from the equator to the

poles in 540 000 years:in which time the Zodiac would have made twenty-two and a half revolutions,

which are expressed by the parallel circles from the equator to the poles ..or what amounts to the same

thing the north pole of the ecliptic would have moved from the north pole of the earth to the equator ....

Mackey's Arguments -(Page 357)Thus the poles become inverted in 1 080 000 years,which is their

Maha Yuga and which they had divided into four unequal parts,in the proportions of 1 2 3 4 for the

reasons mentioned above;which are 108 000 216 000 324 000 and 432 000.Here we have the most

positive proofs that the above numbers originated in ancient astronomical observations and

consequently are not deserving of those epithets which have been bestowed upon them by the Essayist

echoing the voice of Bentley Wilford Dupuis,etc.

I have now to show that the reign of Yudhister for 27 000 years is neither absurd nor disg sting,but

perhaps the Essayist is not aware that there were several Yudhisters or Judhisters.In volume ii.p.131

Asiatic Researches :“The great ancestor of Yudhister reigned 27 000 years at the end of the brazen or

third age.” Here I must again beg your attention to this projection.This is a plane of that machine which

the second gentleman thought so very clumsy;it is that of a prolong spheroid,called by the ancients an

atroscope.Let the longest axis represent the poles of the earth making an angle of 28 degrees with the

horizon;then will the seven divisions above the horizon to the North Pole the temple of Buddha and the

seven from the North Pole to the circle of perpetual apparition represent the fourteen Manvantaras,or

very long periods of time each of which according to the third volume of Asiatic Researches,p.258 or

259 was the reign of a Manu.But Capt.Wilford in volume v.p.243 gives us the following information:

“The Egyptians had fourteen dynasties,and the Hindus had fourteen dynasties,the rulers of which are

called Menus.”...

Who can here mistake the fourteen very long periods of time for those which constituted the Cali Yuga of

Delhi or any other place in the latitude of 28 degrees,where the blank space from the foot of Meru to the

seventh circle from the equator constitutes the part passed over by the tropic in the next age;which

proportions differ considerably from those in the latitude of 36;and because the numbers in the Hindu

books differ Mr.Bentley asserts that:“This shows what little dependence is to be put in them.” But on

the contrary it shows with what accuracy the Hindus had observed the motions of the heavens in

different latitudes.

Some of the Hindus inform us that “the earth has two spindles which are surrounded by seven tiers of

heavens and hells at the distance of one Raj each.” This needs but little explanation when it is

understood that the seven divisions from the equator to their zenith are called Rishis or Rashas .But what

is most to our present purpose to know is that they had given names to each of those divisions which the

tropics passed over during each revolution of the Zodiac.In the latitude of 36 degrees where the Pole or

Meru was nine steps high at Cassimere they were called Shastras;in latitude 28 degrees at Delhi

where the Pole of Meru was seven steps high they were called Menus;but in 24 degrees at Cacha

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where the Pole or Meru was but six steps high they were called Sacas.But in the ninth volume (Asiatic

Researches )Yudhister the son of Dherma or Justice was the first of the six Sacas;(Page 358)the name

implies the end and as everything has two ends.Yudhister is as applicable to the first as to the last.And

as the division on the north of the circle of perpetual apparition is the first of the Cali Yuga supposing the

tropics to be ascending it was called the division or reign of Yudhister.But the division which immediately

precedes the circle of perpetual apparition is the last of the third or brazen age,and was therefore called

Yudhister and his reign preceded the reign of the other as the tropic ascended to the Pole or Meru he

was called the father of the other —“the great ancestor of Yudhister who reigned twenty-seven tho sand

years,at the end of the brazen age.” (Vol.ii.Asiatic Researches.)

The ancient Hindus observed that the Zodiac went forward at the rate of fifty-four seconds a year and to

avoid greater fractions,stated it at that which would make a complete round in 24 000 years;and

observing the angle of the poles to vary nearly 4 degrees each round stated the three numbers as such

which would have given forty-five ro nds of the Zodiac to half a revolution of the poles;but finding that

forty-five rounds would not bring the northern topic to coincide with the circle of perpetual apparition by

thirty minutes of a degree which required the Zodiac to move one sign and a half more which we all

know it could not do in less that 3 000 years,they were in the case before us,added to the end of the

brazen age ;which lengthen the reign of that Yudhister to 27 000 years instead of 24 000 but at another

time they did not alter the regular order of 24 000 years to the reign of each of these long-winded

monarchs,but rounded up the time by allowing a regency to continue three or four thousand years.In

volume ii.p.134 Asiatic Researches we are told that:“Paricshit the great nephew and successor of

Yudhister is allowed without controversy to have reigned in the interval between the brazen and earthen

or Cali Ages,and to have died at the setting-in of the Cali Yug.” Here we find an interregn m at the end

of the brazen age and before the setting-in of the Cali Yug:and as there can be but one brazen or Treta

Yug i.e.,the third age in a Maha Yuga of 1 080 000 years:the reign of this Paricshit must have been in

the second Maha Yuga when the pole had returned to its original position which must have taken

2 160 000 years:and this is what the Hindus call the Prajanatha Yuga.Analogous to this custom is that of

some nations more modern who fond of even numbers,have made the common year to consist of

twelve months of thirty days each and the five days and odd measure have been represented as the

reign of a little serpent biting his tail and divided into five parts,etc.

But “Yudhister began his reign immediately after the flood called Pralaya,” i.e.,at the end of the Cali Yug

(or age of heat),when the tropic had passed from the pole to the other side of the circle of perpetual

apparition which coincides with the northern horizon;here the tropics of summer solstice would be again

in the same parallel of north declination at the commencement of their first age as he was at the end of

their third age or Treta Yug called the brazen age.

Enough has been said to prove that the Hindu books of science are not disgusting absurdities,originated

in ignorance vanity and credulity;but books containing the most profound knowledge of astronomy and

geography.

What therefore can induce these gentlemen of tender consciences to insist that Yudhister was a real

mortal man I have no guess;unless it be that they fear for the fate of Jared and his grandfather

Methuselah?

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The "Mystery of the Buddha"(Pages 359-360)Note

It is with some hesitation that I include the following Sections in the Secret Doctrine.Together with some

most suggestive thought they contain very numerous errors of fact and many statements based on

exoteric writings,not on esoteric knowledge.They were given into my hands to publish as part of the

Third Volume of the Secret Doctrine,and I therefore do not feel justified in coming between the author

and the public,either by altering the statements,to make them consistent with fact or by suppressing the

Sections.She says she is acting entirely on her own authority and it will be obvious to any instructed

reader that she makes —possibly deliberately —many statements so confused that they are merely blinds,

and other statements —probably inadvertently —that are nothing more than the exoteric

misunderstandings of esoteric truths.The reader must here as everywhere use his own judgment but

feeling bound to publish these Sections,I cannot let them go to the public without a warning that much in

them is certainly erroneous.

Annie Besant

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SECTION XLI

The Doctrine of Avatāras

(Page 361)A STRANGE STORY —a legend rather —is persistently current among the disciples of some

great Himālayan Gurus,and even among laymen to the effect that Gautama the Prince of Kapilavastu

has never left the Terrestrial regions,though his body died and was burnt and its relics preserved to this

day.There is an oral tradition among the Chinese Buddhists,and a written statement among the secret

books of the Lamaists of Tibet as well as a tradition among the Ćryans,that Gautama BUDDHA has two

doctrines:one for the masses and His lay disciples,the other for His “elect ”the Arhats.His policy and

after Him that of His Arhats was,it appears,to refuse no one admission into the ranks of candidates for

Arhatship but never to divulge the final mysteries except to those who had proved themselves,during

long years of probation to be worthy of Initiation.These once accepted were consecrated and initiated

without distinction of race caste or wealth as in case of His western successor.It is the Arhats who have

set forth and allowed this tradition to take root in the people ’s mind and it is the basis,also of the later

dogma of Lamaic reincarnation or the succession of human Buddhas.

The little that can be said here upon the subject may or may not help to guide the psychic student in the

right direction.It being left to the option and responsibility of the writer to tell the facts as she personally

understood them the blame for possible misconceptions created must fall only upon her.She has been

taught the doctrine but it was left to her sole intuition —as it is now left to the sagacity of the reader —to

group the mysterious and perplexing facts together.The incomplete statements herein given are

fragments of what is contained in certain secret volumes,but it is not lawful to divulge the details.

The esoteric version of the mystery given in the secret volumes may (Page 362)be told briefly.The

Buddhists have always stoutly denied that their BUDDHA was as alleged by the Brāhmans,an Avatāra

of Vishnu in the same sense as a man is an incarnation of his Karmic ancestor.They deny it partly

perhaps,because the esoteric meaning of the term “Mahā Vishnu ”is not known to them in its full

impersonal and general meaning.There is a mysterious Principle in Nature called “Mahā Vishnu ”which

is not the God of that name but a principle which contains Bīja the seed of Avatārism or in other words,

is the potency and cause of such divine incarnations.All the World Saviours,the Bodhisattvas and the

Avatāras,are the trees of salvation grown out from the one seed the Bija or “Maha Vishnu.”Whether it

be called Adi-Buddha (Primeval Wisdom)or Mahā Vishnu it is all the same.Understood esoterically

Vishnu is both Saguna and Nirguna (with and without attributes).In the first aspect Vishnu is the object

of exoteric worship and devotion;in the second as Nirguna he is the culmination of the totality of

spiritual wisdom in the Universe —Nirvanā [A great deal if misconception is raised by a confusion of

planes of being and misuse of expressions.For instance certain spiritual states have been confounded

with the Nirvāna of BUDDHA.The Nirvāna of BUDDHA is totally different from any other spiritual state of

Samādhi or even the highest Theophania enjoyed by lesser Adepts.After physical death the kinds of

spiritual states reached by Adepts differ greatly.] in short —and has as worshippers all philosophical

minds.In this esoteric sense the Lord BUDDHA was an incarnation of Mahā Vishnu.

This is from the philosophical and purely spiritual standpoint.From the plane of illusion however as one

would say or from the terrestrial standpoint those initiated know that He was a direct incarnation of one

of the primeval “Seven Sons of Light ”who are to be found in every Theogony —the Dhyān Chohans

whose mission it is,from one eternity (ęon)to the other to watch over the spiritual welfare of the regions

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under their care.This has been already enunciated in Esoteric B ddhism.

One of the greatest mysteries of speculative and philosophical Mysticism —and it is one of the mysteries

now to be disclosed —is the mod s operandi in the degrees of such hypostatic transferences.As a matter

of course divine as well as human incarnations must remain a closed book to the theologian as much as

to the physiologist unless the esoteric teachings be accepted and become the religion of the world.This

teaching may never be fully explained to an unprepared public;but one thing is certain and may be said

now:that between the dogma of a newly created soul for each new birth and the physiological

assumption of a temporary animal soul there lies the vast region of Occult teaching [This region is the

one possible point of conciliation between the two diametrically opposed poles of religion and science

the one with its barren fields of dogmas on faith the other over-running with empty hypotheses,both

overgrown with the weeds of error.They will never meet.The two are at feud at an everlasting warfare

with each other but this does not prevent them from uniting against Esoteric Philosophy which for two

millenniums has had to fight against infallibility in both directions,or “mere vanity and pretence ”as

Antoninus defined it and now finds the materialism of Modern Science arrayed against its truths .] with its

logical and reasonable demonstrations,the links of which may all be traced in logical and philosophical

sequence in nature.

All Avatāras Identical -(Page 363)This “Mystery ” is found for him who understands its right meaning in

the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gītā,chapter iv.Says the Avatāra:

Many births of mine have passed as also of yours O Arjuna!All those I know but you do not

know yours,O harasser of your enemies.

Although I am unborn with exhaustless Ćtmā and am the Lord of all that is,yet taking up the

domination of my nature I am born by the power of illusion.[ Whence some of the Gnostic

ideas?Cerinthus taught that the world and Jehovah having fallen off from virtue and primitive

dignity the Supreme permitted one of his glorious Ęons,whose name was the “Anointed ”

(Christ)to incarnate in the man Jesus.Basildes denied the reality of the body of Jesus,and

calling it an “illusion ”held that it was Simon of Cyrene who suffered on the Cross in his stead.

All such teachings are echoes of the Eastern Doctrines.]

Whenever O son of Bhārata there is decline of Dharma [the right law ] and the rise of

Adharma [ the opposite of Dharma ] here I manifest myself.

For the salvation of the good and the destruction of wickedness,for the establishment of the

law I am born in every yuga.

Whoever comprehends truly my divine birth and action he O Arjuna having abandoned the

body does not receive re-birth;he comes to me.

Thus,all the Avatāras are one and the same:the Sons of their “Father ”in a direct descent and line the

“Father ”or one of the seven Flames becoming for the time being the Son and these two being one —in

Eternity.What is the Father?Is it the absolute Cause of all?—the fathomless Eternal?No;most

decidedly.It is Kāranātma the “Causal Soul ”which in its general sense is called by the Hindus Īshvara

the Lord and by Christians.“God ”the One and Only.From the standpoint of unity it is so;but then the

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lowest of the Elementals could equally be viewed in such case as the “One and Only.”Each human being

has,moreover his own divine Spirit or personal God.That divine Entity or Flame from which Buddhi

emanates stands in the same relation to man though on a lower plane (Page 364)as the Dhyāni-Buddha

to his human Buddha.Hence monotheism and polytheism are not irreconcilable;they exist in Nature.

Truly “for the salvation of the good and the destruction of wickedness,”the personalities known as

Gautama Shankara Jesus and a few others were born each in his age as declared —“ I am born in every

Yuga ”—and they were all born through the same Power.

There is a great mystery in such incarnations and they are outside and beyond the cycle of general re-

births.Rebirths may be divided into three classes:the divine incarnations called Avatāras;those of

Adepts who give up Nirvana for the sake of helping on humanity —the Nirmānakāyas;and the natural

succession of rebirths for all —the common law.The Avatāra is an appearance one which may be termed

a special illusion within the natural illusion that reigns on the planes under the sway of that power Māyā;

the Adept is re-born consciously at his will and pleasure;[ A genuine initiated Adept will retain his

Adeptship though there may be for our world of illusion numberless incarnations of him.The propelling

power that lies at the root of a series of such incarnations is not Karma as ordinarily understood but a

still more inscrutable power.During the period of his lives the Adept does not lose his Adeptship though

he cannot rise in it to a higher degree.]the units of the common herd unconsciously follow the great law

of dual evolution.

What is an Avatāra?for the term before being used ought to be well understood.It is a descent of the

manifested Deity —whether under the specific name of Shiva Vishnu or Ādi-Buddha —into an illusive

form of individuality an appearance which to men on this illusive plane is objective but it is not so in

sober fact.That illusive form having neither past nor future because it has neither previous incarnation

nor will have subsequent rebirths,had naught to do with Karma which has therefore no hold on it.

Gautama BUDDHA was born an Avatāra in one sense.But this,in view of unavoidable objections on

dogmatic grounds,necessitates explanation.There is a great difference between an Avatāra and a

Jīvanmukta:one as already stated is an illusive appearance Karmaless,and having never before

incarnated;and the other the Jīvanmukta is one who obtains Nirvāna by his individual merits.To this

expression again an uncompromising philosophical Vedāntin would object.He might say that as the

condition of the Avatāra and the Jivanmukta are one and the same state no amount of personal merit in

howsoever many incarnations,can lead its possessor to Nirvāna.Nirvāna he would say is actionless;

how can then any action lead to it?

Voluntary Incarnation -(Page 365)It is neither a result nor a cause but an ever-present eternal Is as

Nāgasena defined it.Hence it can have no relation to or concern with action merit or demerit since

these are subject to Karma.All this is very true but still to our mind there is an important difference

between the two.An Avatātara is ;a Jīvanmukta becomes one.If the state of the two is identical not so

are the causes which lead to it.An Avatāra is a descent of a God into an illusive form;a Jīvanmukta who

may have passed through numberless incarnations and may have accumulated merit in them certainly

does not become a Nirvāni because of that merit but only because of the Karma generated by it which

leads and guides him in the direction of the Guru who will initiate him into the mystery of Nirvāna and

who alone can help him to reach this abode.

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The Shāstras say that from our works alone we obtain Moksha and if we take no pains there will be no

gain and we shall be neither assisted nor benefited by Deity [the Mahā-Guru ] .Therefore it is maintained

that Gautama though an Avatāra in one sense is a true human Jīvanmukta owing his position to

personal merit and thus more than an Avatāra.It was personal merit that enabled him to achieve

Nirvāna.

On the voluntary and conscious incarnations of Adepts there are two types —those of Nirmānakāyas,and

those undertaken by the probationary chelās who are on their trial.

The greatest as the most puzzling mystery of the first type lies in the fact that such re-birth in a human

body of the personal Ego of some particular Adept —when it has been dwelling in the Māyāvi or the Kāma

Rūpa and remaining in the Kāma Loka —may happen even when his “Higher Principles ”are in the state

of Nirvāna.[ From the so-called Brahmā Loka —the seventh and higher world beyond which all is arūpa

formless,purely spiritual —to the lowest world and insect or even to an object such as a leaf there is

perpetual revolution of the condition of existence evolution and re-birth.Some human beings attain

states or spheres from which there is only a return in a new Kalpa (a day of Brahmā):there are other

states or spheres from which there is only return after 100 years of Brahmā (Mahā Kalpa a period

covering 311 040.000.000.000 years).Nirvāna it is said is a state from which there is no return.Yet it is

maintained that there may be as exceptional cases,re-incarnation from that state:only such

incarnations are illusion like everything else on this plane as will be shown.] Let it be understood that

the above expressions are used for popular purposes,and therefore that what is written does not deal

with this deep and mysterious question from the highest plane that of absolute spirituality nor again from

the highest philosophical point of view comprehensible but to the very few.It must not be supposed that

anything can go (Page 366)into Nirvāna which is not eternally there;but human intellect in conceiving the

Absolute must put It as the highest term in an indefinite series.If this be borne in mind a great deal of

misconception will be avoided.The content of this spiritual evolution is the material on various planes

with which the Nirvānī was in contact prior to his attainment of Nirvāna.The plane on which this is true

being in the series of illusive planes,is undoubtedly the highest.Those who search for that must go to

the right source of study the teachings of the Upanishads and must go in the right spirit.Here we

attempt only to indicate the direction in which the search is to be made and in showing a few of the

mysterious Occult possibilities we do not bring our readers actually to the goal.The ultimate truth can be

communicated only from Guru to initiated pupil.

Having said so much the statement still will and must appear incomprehensible if not absurd to many.

Firstly to all those who are unfamiliar with the doctrine of the manifold nature and various aspects of the

human Monad;and secondly to those who view the septenary division of the human entity from a too

materialistic standpoint.Yet the intuitional Occultist who has studied thoroughly the mysteries of Nirvāna

—who knows it to be identical with Parabrahman and hence unchangeable eternal and no Thing but the

Absolute All —will seize the possibility of the fact.They know that while a Dharmakāya — a Nirvāni “without

remains,”as our Orientalists have translated it being absorbed into that Nothingness,which is the one

real because Absolute Consciousness —cannot be said to return to incarnation on Earth the Nirvānī

being no longer a he a she or even an it the Nirmānakāya —or he who has obtained Nirvāna “with

remains,”i.e.,who is clothed in a subtle body which makes him impervious to all outward impressions

and to every mental feeling and in whom the notion of his Ego has not entirely ceased —can do so.

Again every Eastern Occultist is aware of the fact that there are two kinds of Nirmānakāyas —the natural

and the assumed;that the former is the name or epithet given to the condition of a high ascetic,or

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Initiate who has reached a stage of bliss second only to Nirvāna;while the latter means the self-sacrifice

of one who voluntary gives up the absolute Nirvāna in order to help humanity and be still doing it good

or in other words,to save his fellow-creatures by guiding them.It may be objected that the Dharmakāya

being a Nirvānī or Jīvanmukta can have no “remains ”left behind him after death for having attained that

state from which no further incarnations are possible there is no need for him of a subtle body or of the

individual Ego that reincarnates from one birth to another and that therefore the latter disappears of

logical necessity;to this it is answered:it is so for all exoteric purposes and a general law.

Cardinal De Cusa -(Page 367)But the case with which we are dealing is an exceptional one and its

realization lies within the Occult powers of the high Initiate who before entering into the state of Nirvāna

can cause his “remains ”(sometimes,though not very well called his Māyāvi Rūpa),to remain behind

[This fact of the disappearance of the vehicle of Egotism in the fully developed Yogi who is supposed to

have reached Nirvāna on earth years before his corporeal death has led to the law in Manu sanctioned

by millenniums of Brāhmanical authority that such a Paramātmā should be held as absolutely blameless

and free from sin or responsibility do whatever he may (see last chapter of the Laws of Man ).Indeed

caste itself —that most despotic,uncompromising and autocratic tyrant in India —can be broken with

impunity by the Yogi who is above caste.This will give the key to our statements.] whether he is to

become a Nirvānī or to find himself in a lower state of bliss.

Next there are cases —rare yet more frequent than one would be disposed to expect —which are the

voluntary and conscious reincarnations of Adepts [The word “Adept ”is very loosely used by H.P.B who

often seems to have implied by it no more than the possession of special knowledge of some kind.Here

it seems to mean first as uninitiated disciple and then an initiated one.—Eds .] on their trial.Every man

has an Inner a “Higher Self ”and also an Astral Body.But few are those who outside the higher degrees

of Adeptship can guide the latter or any of the principles that animate it when once death has closed

their short terrestrial life.Yet such guidance or their transference from the dead to a living body is not

only possible but is of frequent occurrence according to Occult and Kabalistic teachings.The degrees of

such power of course vary greatly.To mention but three:the lowest of these degrees would allow an

Adept who has been greatly trammelled during life in his study and in the use of his powers,to choose

after death another body in which he could go on with his interrupted studies,though ordinarily he would

lose in it every remembrance of his previous incarnation.The next degree permits him in addition to this,

to transfer the memory of his past life to his new body;while the highest has hardly any limits in the

exercise of that wonderful faculty.

As an instance of an Adept who enjoyed the first mentioned power some medięval Kabalists cite a well-

known personage of the fifteenth century —Cardinal de Cusa;Karma due to his wonderful devotion to

(Page 368)Esoteric study and the Kabalah led the suffering Adept to seek intellectual recuperation and

rest from ecclesiastical tyranny in the body of Copernicus.Si non e vero e ben trovato ;and the perusal of

the lives of the two men might easily lead a believer in such powers to a ready acceptance of the alleged

fact.The reader having at his command the means to do so is asked to turn to the formidable folio in

Latin of the fifteenth century called De Docta Ignorantia written by the Cardinal de Cusa in which all the

theories and hypotheses —all the ideas —of Copernicus are found as the key-notes to the discoveries of

the great astronomer.[About fifty years before the birth of Copernicus,De Cusa wrote as follows:

“Though the world may not be absolutely finite no one can represent it to himself as finite since human

reason is incapable of assigning to it any term ...For in the same way that our earth cannot be in the

centre of the Universe as thought no more could the sphere of the fixed stars be in it....Thus this

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world is like a vast machine having its centre [Deity ] everywhere and its circumference nowhere [

machina m ndi,q asi habens biq e centrum,et n llibi circ mferenti m ] ....Hence the earth not being

in the centre cannot therefore be motionless ...and though it is far smaller than the sun one must not

conclude for all that that she is worse [vilior —more vile ]....One cannot see whether its inhabitants are

superior to those who dwell nearer to the sun or in other stars,as sidereal space cannot be deprived of

inhabitants....The earth very likely [fortasse ] one of the smallest globes,is nevertheless the cradle of

intelligent beings,most noble and perfect.” One cannot fail to agree with the biographer of Cardinal de

Cusa who having no suspicion of the Occult truth and the reason of such erudition in a writer of the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,simply marvels at such a miraculous foreknowledge and attributes it to

God saying of him that he was a man incomparable in every kind of philosophy by whom many a

theological mystery inaccessible to the human mind (!),veiled and neglected for centuries (velata et

neglecta)were once more brought to light.“Pascal might have read De Cusa ’s works:but whence could

the Cardinal have borrowed his ideas?asks Moreri.Evidently from Hermes and the works of Pythagoras,

even if the mystery of his incarnation and re-incarnation be dismissed.] Who was this extraordinary

learned Cardinal?The son of a poor boatman owing all his career his Cardinal ’s hat and the reverential

awe rather than friendship of the Popes Eugenius IV.Nicholas V.and Pius II.to the extraordinary

learning which seemed innate in him since he had studied nowhere till comparatively late in life.De

Cusa died in 1473;moreover his best works were written before he was forced to enter orders —to

escape persecution.Nor did the Adept escape it.

In the voluminous work of the Cardinal above-quoted is found a very suggestive sentence the authorship

of which has been variously attributed to Pascal to Cusa himself and to the Zohar and which belongs

by right to the Books of Hermes:

The world is an infinite sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is

nowhere.

This is changed by some into:“The centre being nowhere and the circumference everywhere ”a rather

heretical idea for a Cardinal though perfectly orthodox from a Kabalistic standpoint.

The Seven Rays -(Page 369)The theory of rebirth must be set forth by Occultists,and then applied to

special cases.The right comprehension of this psychic fact is based upon a correct view of that group of

celestial Beings who are universally called the seven Primeval Gods or Angels —our Dhyān Chohans —

the “Seven Primeval Rays ”or Powers adopted later on by the Christian Religion as the “Seven Angels of

the Presence.”Arūpa formless,at the upper rung of the ladder of Being materializing more and more as

they descend in the scale of objectivity and form ending in the grossest and most imperfect of the

Hierachy man —it is the former purely spiritual group that is pointed out to us,in our Occult teaching as

the nursery and fountain-head of human beings.Therein germinates that consciousness which is the

earliest manifestation from causal Consciousness —the Alpha and Omega of divine being and life for

ever.And as it proceeds downward through every phase of existence descending through man through

animal and plant it ends its descent only in the mineral.It is represented by the double triangle —the

most mysterious and the most suggestive of all mystic signs,for it is a double glyph embracing spiritual

and physical consciousness and life the former triangle running upwards,and the lower downwards,

both interlaced and showing the various planes of the twice-seven modes of consciousness,the

fourteen spheres of existence the Lokas of the Brāhmans.

The reader may now be able to obtain a clearer comprehension of the whole thing.He will also see what

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is meant by the “Watchers,”there being one placed as the Guardian or Regent over each of the seven

divisions or regions of the earth according to old traditions,as there is one to watch over and guide

every one of the fourteen worlds or Lokas.[This is the secret meaning of the statements about the

Hierarchy of Prajāpatis or Rishis.First seven are mentioned then ten then twenty-one and so on.They

are “Gods ”and creators of men —many of them the “Lords of Beings ” :they are the “Mind-born Sons ”of

Brahmā and then they become mortal heroes,and are often shown as of a very sinful character.The

Occult meaning of the Biblical Patriarchs,their genealogy and their descendants dividing among

themselves the earth is the same.Again Jacob ’s dream has the same significance.] But it is not with

any of these that we are at present concerned but with the “Seven Breaths,” so-called that furnish man

with his immortal Monad in his cyclic pilgrimage.

The Commentary on the Book of Dzyan says:

Descending on his region first as Lord of Glory,the Flame (or Breath),having called into

conscio s being the highest of the Emanations of that special region,ascends from it again to

Its primeval seat,whence It watches (Page 370)over and g ides Its co ntless Beams

(Monads).It chooses as Its Avatāras only those who had the Seven Virt es in them [He “of the

Seven Virtues ”is one who without the benefit of Initiation becomes as pure as any Adept by

the simple exertion of his own merit.Being so holy his body at his next incarnation becomes

the Avatāra of his “Watcher ”or Guardian Angel as the Christian would put it.] in their previo s

incarnation.As for the rest,It overshadows each with one of Its co ntless beams....Yet even

the “beam ”is a part of the Lord of Lords.[The title of the highest Dhyān Chohans.]

The septenary principle in man —who can be regarded as dual only as concerns psychic manifestation

on this gross earthly plane —was known to all antiquity and may be found in every ancient Scripture.The

Egyptians knew and taught it and their division of principles is in every point a counterpart of the Āryan

Secret Teaching.It is thus given in Isis Unveiled :

In the Egyptian notions,as in those of all other faiths founded on philosophy man was not

merely ...a union of soul and body:he was a trinity when Spirit was added to it.Besides,that

doctrine made him consist of Kha (body)Khaba (astral form or shadow),Ka (animal soul or

life-principle )Ba (the higher soul),and Akh (terrestrial intelligence).They had also a sixth

principle named Sah (or mummy)but the functions of this one commenced after the death of

the body.[Op.cit.,ii.367 ]

The seventh principle being of course the highest uncreated Spirit was generically called Osiris,

therefore every deceased person became Osirified —or an Osiris —after death.

But in addition to reiterating the old ever-present fact of reincarnation and Karma —not as taught by the

Spiritists,but as by the most Ancient Science in the world —Occultists must teach cyclic and evolutionary

reincarnation:that kind of re-birth mysterious and still incomprehensible to many who are ignorant of the

world ’s history which was cautiously mentioned in Isis Unveiled .A general re-birth for every individual

with interlude of Kāma Loka and Devachan and a cyclic concious reincarnation with a grand and divine

object for the few.Those great characters who tower like giants in the history of mankind like Siddārtha

BUDDHA and Jesus in the realm of the spiritual and Alexander the Macedonian and Napolean the Great

in the realm of physical conquests are but the reflected images of human types which had existed —not

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ten thousand years before as cautiously put forward in Isis Unveiled,but for millions of consecutive

years from the beginning of the Manvantara.

Special Cases -(Page 371)For —with the exception of real Avatāras,as above explained —they are the

same unbroken Rays (Monads),each respectively of its own special Parent-Flame —called Devas,

Dhyān Chohans,or Dhyāni-Buddhas,or again Planetary Angels,etc.—shining in ęonic eternity as their

prototypes.It is in their image that some men are born and when some specific humanitarian object is in

view the latter are hypostatically animated by their divine prototypes reproduced again and again by the

mysterious Powers that control and guide the destinies of our world.

No more could be said at the time when Isis Unveiled was written;hence the statement was limited to the

single remark that

There is no prominent character in all the annals of sacred or profane history whose prototype

we cannot find in the half fictitious and half real traditions of bygone religions and mythologies.

As the star glimmering at an immeasurable distance above our heads,in the boundless

immensity of the sky reflects itself in the smooth waters of a lake so does the imagery of men

of the antediluvian ages reflect itself in the periods we can embrace in a historical retrospect.

But now that so many publications have been brought out stating much of the doctrine and several of

them giving many an erroneous view this vague allusion may be amplified and explained.Not only does

this statement apply to prominent characters in history in general but also to men of genius,to every

remarkable man of the age who soars beyond the common herd with some abnormally developed

special capacity in him leading to the progress and good of mankind.Each is a reincarnation of an

individuality that has gone before him with capacities in the same line bringing thus as a dowry to his

new form that strong and easily re-awakened capacity or quality which had been fully developed in him in

his preceding birth.Very often they are ordinary mortals,the Egos of natural men in the course of their

cyclic development.

But it is with “special cases ”that we are now concerned.Let us suppose that a person during his cycle of

incarnations is thus selected for special purposes —the vessel being sufficiently clean —by his personal

God the Fountain-head (on the plane of the manifested)of his Monad who thus becomes his in-dweller.

That God his own prototype or “Father in Heaven ” is,in one sense not only the image in which he the

spiritual man is made but in the case we are considering it is that spiritual individual Ego himself.This

is a case of permanent life-long Theophania.Let us bear in mind that this is neither Avatārism as it is

understood in Brāhmanical Philosophy nor is the (Page 372)man thus selected a Jīvanmukta or Nirvānī

but that it is a wholly exceptional case in the realm of Mysticism.The man may or may not have been an

Adept in his previous lives;he is so far and simply an extremely pure and spiritual individual —or one

who was all that in his preceding birth if the vessel thus selected is that of a newly-born infant.In this

case after the physical translation of such a saint or Bodhisattva his astral principles cannot be

subjected to a natural dissolution like those of any common mortal.They remain in our sphere and within

human attraction and reach;and thus it is that not only a Buddha a Shankarāchārya or a Jesus can be

said to animate several persons at one and the same time but even the principles of a high Adept may

be animating the outward tabernacles of common mortals.

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A certain Ray (principle)from Sanat Kumāra spiritualized (animated)Pradvumna the son of Krishna

during the great Mahābhārata period while at the same time he Sanat Kumāra gave spiritual

instruction to King Dhritarāshtra.Moreover it is to be remembered that Sanat Kumāra is “an eternal

youth of sixteen ” dwelling in Jana Loka his own sphere or spiritual state.

Even in ordinary medi mistic life so-called it is pretty well ascertained that while the body is acting —

even though only mechanically —or resting in one place its astral double may be appearing and acting

independently in another and very often distant place.This is quite a common occurrence in mystic life

and history and if this be so with ecstatics,Seers and Mystics of every description why cannot the same

thing happen on a higher and more spiritually developed plane of existence?Admit the possibility on the

lower psychic plane then why not on a higher plane?In the cases of Higher Adeptship when the body is

entirely at the command of the Inner Man when the Spiritual Ego is completely reünited with its seventh

principle even during the life-time of the personality and the Astral Man or personal Ego has become so

purified that he has gradually assimilated all the qualities and attributes of the middle nature (Buddhi and

Manas in their terrestrial aspect)that personal Ego substitutes itself so to say for the spiritual Higher

Self and is thenceforth capable of living an independent life on earth;when corporeal death takes place

the following mysterious event often happens.As a Dharmakāya a Nirvāni “without remains ”entirely free

from terrestrial admixture the Spiritual Ego cannot return to reincarnate on earth.But in such cases,it is

affirmed the personal Ego of even a Dharmakāya can remain in our sphere as a whole and return to

incarnation on earth if need be.

The Higher Astral -(Page 373)For now it can no longer be subject like the astral remains of any ordinary

man to gradual dissolution in the Kāma Loka (the limb s or purgatory of the Roman Catholic,and the

“Summer-land ”of the Spiritualist);it cannot die a second death as such disintegration is called by

Proclus.[“After death the soul continueth in the aerial (astral)body till it is entirely purified from all angry

sensual passion:then doth it put off by a second death [when arising to Devachan ] the aerial body as it

did the earthly one.Wherefore the ancients say that there is a celestial body always joined with the soul

which is immortal luminous and star-like.” It becomes natural then that the “aerial body ” of an Adept

should have no such second dying since it has been cleansed of all its natural impurity before its

separation from the physical body.The high Initiate is a “Son of the Resurrection ” “being equal unto the

angels,” and cannot die any more (see L ke xx.36).It has become too holy and pure no longer by

reflected but its own natural light and spirituality either to sleep in the unconscious slumber of a lower

Nirvānic state or to be dissolved like any ordinary astral shell and disappear in its entirety.

But in that condition known as the Nirmānakāya [the Nirvānī “with remains,”] he can still help humanity.

“Let me suffer and bear the sins of all [be reincarnated unto new misery ] but let the world be saved!” was

said by Gautama BUDDHA:an exclamation the real meaning of which is little understood now by his

followers.“If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee?”[St.John,xxi.21.] asks the astral Jesus

of Peter.“Till I come ”means “till I am reincarnated again ”in a physical body.Yet the Christ of the old

crucified body could truly say:“ I am with my Father and one with Him ”which did not prevent the astral

from taking a form again nor John from tarrying indeed till his Master had come;nor hinder John from

failing to recognize him when he did come or from then opposing him.But in the Church that remark

generated the absurd idea of the millennium or chiliasm in its physical sense.

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Since then the “Man of Sorrows ” has returned perchance more than once unknown to and undiscovered

by his blind followers.Since then also this grand “Son of God ”has been incessantly and most cruelly

crucified daily and hourly by the Churches founded in his name.But the Apostles,only half-initiated

failed to tarry for their Master and not recognizing him spurned him every time he returned.[See the

extract made in the Theosophist from a glorious novel by Dostoievsky — a fragment entitled “The Great

Inquisitor.” It is a fiction naturally still a sublime fiction of Christ returning in Spain during the palmy days

of the Inquisition and being imprisoned and put to death by the Inquisitor who fears lest Christ should

ruin the work of Jesuit hands.]

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SECTION XLII

The Seven Principles

(Page 374)THE “Mystery of Buddha ” is that of several other Adepts —perhaps of many.The whole trouble

is to understand correctly that other mystery:that of the real fact so abstruse and transcendental at first

sight about the “Seven Principles ” in man the reflections in man of the seven powers in Nature

physically and of the seven Hierarchies of Being intellectually and spiritually.Whether a man —material

ethereal and spiritual —is for the clearer comprehension of his (broadly speaking)triple nature divided

into groups according to one or another system the foundation and the apex of that division will be

always the same.There being only three Upādhis (basics)in man any number of Koshas (sheaths)and

their aspects may be built on these without destroying the harmony of the whole.Thus,while the Esoteric

System accepts the septenary division the Vedāntic classification gives five Koshas,and the Tāraka

Rāja Yoga simplifies them into four —the three Upādhis synthesized by the highest principle.Ätmā.

THE SEPTENARY DIVISION IN DIFFERENT INDIAN SYSTEMS

Esoteric Buddhism Vedānta Tāraka Rāja Yoga

1 Sthūla Sharira

Annamayakosha

(Kosha is "sheath"literally

the sheath of every principle)

2 Prāna (Life)

3 The Vehicle of Prāna

(The Astral Body or Linga Sharira)

Prānamayakosha

Sthūlopādhi (Sthūla-

upādhi or basis of the

principle)

4 Kāma Rūpa

5 Mind (a)Volitions and feelings

etc.

Mānomayakosha

(b)Vijnāgam Vijnāmayakosha

Sūkshmopādhi

6 Spiritual Soul (Buddhi)Anandamayakosha Kāranopādhi

7 Atmā Atmā Atmā

That which has just been stated will of course suggest the question:“How can a spiritual (or semi-spiritual)

personality lead a triple or even a dual life shifting respective ‘Higher Selves ’ ad libit m and be

still the one eternal Monad in the infinity of a Manvantara?”The answer to this is easy for the true

Occultist while for the uninitiated profane it must appear absurd.The “Seven Principles ”are of course

the manifestation of one indivisible Spirit but only at the end of the Manvantara and when they come to

be re-united on the plane of the One Reality does the unity appear;during the “Pilgrim ’s ”journey the

reflections of that indivisible One Flame the aspects of the one eternal Spirit have each the power of

action on one of the manifested planes of existence —the gradual differentiations from the one

unmanifested plane —on that plane namely to which it properly belongs.

The Purified Self -(Page 375)Our earth affording every Māyāvic condition it follows that the purified

Egotistical Principle the astral and personal Self of an Adept though forming in reality one integral whole

with its Highest Self (Ātmā and Buddhi)may nevertheless,for purposes of universal mercy and

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benevolence so separate itself from its divine Monad as to lead on this plane of illusion and temporary

being a distinct independent conscious life of its own under a borrowed illusive shape thus serving at

once and the same time a double purpose:the exhaustion of its own individual Karma and the saving of

millions of human beings less favoured than itself from the effects of mental blindness.If asked:“When

the change described as the passage of a Buddha or a Jīvanmukta into Nirvāna takes place where does

the original consciousness which animated the body continue to reside —in the Nirvānī or in the

subsequent reincarnations of the latter ’s ‘remains ’ (the Nirmānakāya)?”the answer is that imprisoned

consciousness may be a “certain knowledge from observation and experience ”as Gibbon puts it but

disembodied consciousness is not an effect but a cause.It is a part of the whole or rather a Ray on the

graduated scale of its manifested activity of the one all-pervading limitless Flame the reflections of

which alone can differentiate;and as such consciousness is ubiquitous,and can be neither localized

nor centered on or in any particular subject nor can it be limited.Its effects alone pertain to the region of

matter for thought is an energy that affects matter in various ways,but consciousness per se,as

understood and explained by Occult philosophy is the highest quality of the sentient spiritual principle in

us,the Divide Soul (or Buddhi)and our Higher Ego and does not belong to the plane of materiality.After

the death of the physical man if he be an Initiate it becomes transformed from a human quality into the

independent principle itself;the conscious Ego becoming Consciousness per se without any Ego in the

sense that the latter can no longer be limited or conditioned by the senses,or even by space or time.

Therefore it is capable without separating itself from or abandoning its possessor Buddhi of reflecting

itself at the same time in its astral man that was without being under any necessity for localizing itself.

This is shown at a far lower stage in our dreams.For if consciousness can display activity during our

visions,and while the body and its material brain are fast asleep —and if even during those visions it is all

but ubiquitous —how much greater must be its power when entirely free from and having no more

connection with our physical brain.

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SECTION XLIII

The Mystery of Buddha

(Page 376)NOW the mystery of Buddha lies in this:Gautama an incarnation of pure Wisdom had yet to

learn in His human body and to be initiated into the world ’s secrets like any other mortal until the day

when He emerged from His secret recess in the Himālayas and preached for the first time in the grove of

Benares.The same with Jesus:from the age of twelve to thirty years,when He was found preaching the

sermon on the Mount nothing is positively said or known of Him.Gautama had sworn inviolable secrecy

as to the Esoteric Doctrines imparted to Him.In His immense pity for the ignorance —and as its

consequence the sufferings —of mankind desirous though He was to keep inviolate His sacred vows,He

failed to keep within the prescribed limits.While constructing His Esoteric Philosophy (the “Eye-Doctrine ” )

on the foundations of eternal Truth He failed to conceal certain dogmas,and trespassing beyond the

lawful lines,caused those dogmas to be misunderstood.In His anxiety to make away with the false

Gods,He revealed in the “Seven Paths to Nirvāna ”some of the mysteries of the Seven Lights of the

Arūpa (formless)World.A little of the truth is often worse than no truth at all.

Truth and fiction are like oil and water:they will never mix.

His new doctrine which represented the outward dead body of the Esoteric Teaching without its vivifying

Soul had disastrous effects:it was never correctly understood and the doctrine itself was rejected by the

Southern Buddhists.Immense philanthropy a boundless love and charity for all creatures,were at the

bottom of His unintentional mistake;but Karma little heeds intentions,whether good or bad if they

remain fruitless.If the “Good Law ”as preached resulted in the most sublime code of ethics and the

unparalleled philosophy of things external in the visible Kosmos,it biassed and misguided immature

minds into believing there was nothing more under the outward mantle of the system and its dead-letter

only was accepted.Moreover the new teaching unsettled many great minds which had previously

followed the orthodox Brāhmanical lead.

Shankarāchārya -(Page 377)Thus,fifty odd years after his death “the great Teacher ”[ When we say the

“great Teacher ”we do not mean His Buddhic Ego but that principle in Him which was the vehicle of His

personal or terrestrial Ego.]having refused full Dharmakāya and Nirvāna was pleased for purposes of

Karma and philanthropy to be reborn.For Him death has been no death but as expressed in the “Elixir

of Life [ Five Years of Theosophy,New Edition p.3 .] He changed

A sudden plunge into darkness to a transition into a brighter light.

The shock of death was broken and like many other Adepts,He threw off the mortal coil and left it to be

burnt and its ashes to serve as relics,and began interplanetary life clothed in His subtle body.He was

reborn as Shankara the greatest Vedāntic teacher of India whose philosophy —based as it is entirely on

the fundamental axioms of the eternal Revelation the Shruti or the primitive Wisdom-Religion as

Buddha from a different point of view had before based His —finds itself in the middle ground between

the too exuberantly veiled metaphysics of the orthodox Brāhmans and those of Gautama which stripped

in their exoteric garb of every soul-vivifying hope transcendental aspiration and symbol appear in their

cold wisdom like crystalline icicles,the skeletons of the primeval truths of Esoteric Philosophy.

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Was Shankarāchārya Gautama The Buddha then under a new personal form?It may perhaps only

puzzle the reader the more if he be told that there was the “astral ”Gautama inside the outward

Shankara whose higher principle or Ätman was,nevertheless,his own divine prototype —the “Son of

Light ”indeed —the heavenly mind-born son of Aditi.

This fact is again based on that mysterious transference of the divine ex-personality merged in the

impersonal Individuality —now in its full trinitarian form of the Monad as Ātma-Buddhi-Manas —to a new

body whether visible or subjective.In the first case it is a Manushya-Buddha;in the second it is a

Nirmānakāya.The Buddha is in Nirvāna it is said though this once mortal vehicle —the subtle body —of

Gautama is still present among the Initiates:nor will it leave the realm of conscious Being so long as

suffering mankind needs its divine help —not to the end of this Root Race at any rate.From time to time

He the “astral ”Gautama associates Himself in some most mysterious —to (Page 378)us quite

incomprehensible —manner with Avatāras and great saints,and works through them.And several such

are named.

Thus it is averred that Gautama Buddha was reincarnated in Shankarāchāya —that as is said in Esoteric

B ddhism :

Shankarāchārya simply was Buddha in all respects in a new body.[Op.cit .p.175 Fifth

Edition.] While the expression in its mystic sense is true the way of putting it may be

misleading until explained.Shankara was a Buddha most assuredly but he never was a

reincarnation of the Buddha though Gautama ’s “Astral ”Ego —or rather his Bodhisattva —may

have been associated in some mysterious way with Shankarāchārya.Yes it was perhaps the

Ego Gautama under a new and better adapted casket —that of a Brāhman of Southern India.

But the Ātman the Higher Self that overshadowed both was distinct from the Higher Self of

the translated Buddha which was now in Its own sphere in Kosmos.

Shankara was an Avatāra in the full sense of the term.According to Sayanāchārya the great

commentator on the Vedas he is to be held as an Avatāra or direct incarnation of Shiva —the Logos,the

Seventh Principle in Nature —Himself.In the Secret Doctrine Shri Shankarāchārya is regarded as the

abode —for the thirty-two years of his mortal life —of a Flame the highest of the manifested Spiritual

Beings,one of the Primordial Seven Rays.

And now what is meant by a “Bodhisattva ” ?Buddhists of the Mahāyana mystic system teach that each

BUDDHA manifests Himself (hypostatically or otherwise)simultaneously in three worlds of Being

namely in the world of Kāma (concupiscence or desire —the sensuous universe or our earth)in the

shape of a man;in the world of Rūpa (form yet supersensuous)as a Bodhisattva;and in the highest

Spiritual World (that of purely incorporeal existences)as a Dhyāni Buddha.The latter prevails eternally in

space and time i.e.from one Mahā-Kalpa to the other —the synthetic culmination of the three being Ädi-

Buddha [ It would be useless to raise objections from exoteric works to statements in this,which aims to

expound however superficially the Esoteric Teachings alone.It is because they are misled by the

exoteric doctrine that Bishop Bigandet and others aver that the notion of a supreme eternal Ädi-Buddha

is to be found only in the writings of comparatively recent date.What is given here is taken from the

secret portions of Dus Kyi Khorlo (Kāla Chakra in Sanskrit or the “Wheel of Time ”or duration).] the

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Wisdom-Principle which is Absolute and therefore out of space and time.Their inter-relation is the

following:

The Buddha Cannot Reincarnate -(Page 379)The Dhyāni-Buddha when the world needs a human

Buddha “creates ”through the power of Dhyāna (meditation omnipotent devotion),a mind-born son — a

Bodhisattva —whose mission it is after the physical death of his human or Manushya-Buddha to

continue his work on earth till the appearance of the subsequent Buddha.The Esoteric meaning of this

teaching is clear.In the case of a simple mortal the principles in him are only the more or less bright

reflections of the seven cosmic,and the seven celestial Principles,the Hierarchy of supersensual Beings.

In the case of a Buddha they are almost the principles in esse themselves.The Bodhisattva replaces in

him the Kārana Sharira the Ego principle and the rest correspondingly;and it is in this way that Esoteric

Philosophy explains the meaning of the sentence that “by virtue of Dhyāna [or abstract meditation ]the

Dhyāni-Buddha [the Buddha ’s Spirit or Monad ] creates a Bodhisattva “or the astrally clothed Ego within

the Manushya-Buddha.Thus,while the Buddha merges back into Nirvāna whence it proceeded the

Bodhisattva remains behind to continue the Buddha ’s work upon earth.It is then this Bodhisattva that

may have afforded the lower principles in the apparitional body of Shankarāchārya the Avatāra.

Now to say that Buddha after having reached Nirvāna returned thence to reļncarnate in a new body

would be uttering a heresy from the Brāhmanical as well as from the Buddhisic standpoint.Even in the

Mahāyāna exoteric School in the teaching as to the three “Buddhic ”bodies,[ The three bodies are (1)

the Nirmānakāya (Pru-lpai-Ku in Tibetan),in which the Bodhisattva after entering the six Pāramitās the

Path to Nirvāna appears to men in order to teach them:(2)Sambhogakāya (Dzog-pai-Ku),the body of

bliss impervious to all physical sensations,received by one who has fulfilled the three conditions of moral

perfection:and (3)Dharmakāya (in Tibetan Chos-Ku),the Nirvānic body.] it is said of the Dharmakāya —

the formless Being —that once it is taken the Buddha in it abandons the world of sensuous perceptions

for ever and has not nor can he have any more connection with it.To say as the Esoteric or Mystic

School teaches,that though Buddha is in Nirvāna he has left behind him the Nirmānakāya (the

Bodhisattva)to work after him is quite orthodox and in accordance with both the Esoteric Mahāyāna and

the Prasanga Mādhyāmika Schools,the latter an anti-esoteric and most rationalistic system.For in the

Kāla Chakra Commentary it is shown that there is:(1)Ädi-Buddha eternal and conditionless;then (2)

come Sambhogakāya-Buddhas,or Dhyāni-Buddhas,existing from (ęonic)eternity and never

disappearing —the Ca sal Buddhas so to say;and (3)the Manushya (Page 380)Bodhisattvas.The

relation between them is determined by the definition given.Ädi-Buddha is Vajradhara and the Dhyāni-

Buddhas are Vajrasattva;yet though these two are different Beings on their respective planes.They are

identical in fact one acting through the other as a Dhyāni through a human Buddha.One is “Endless

Intelligence;”the other only “Supreme Intelligence.”It is said of Phra Bodhisattva —who was

subsequently on earth Buddha Gautama:

Having fulfilled all the conditions for the immediate attainment of perfect Buddhaship the Holy

One preferred from unlimited charity towards living beings,once more to reincarnate for the

benefit of man.

The Nirvāna of the Buddhists is only the threshold of Paranirvāna according to the Esoteric Teaching:

while with the Brāhmans,it is the summ m bon m that final state from which there is no more return —

not till the next Mahā-Kalpa at all events.And even this last view will be opposed by some too orthodox

and dogmatic Philosophers who will not accept the Esoteric Doctrine.With them Nirvāna is absolute

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nothingness,in which there is nothing and no one:only an unconditioned All.To understand the full

characteristics of that Abstract Principle one must sense it intuitionally and comprehend fully the “one

permanent condition in the Universe ” which the Hindūs define so truly as

The state of perfect unconsciousness —bare Chidākāsham (field of consciousness)in fact.

however paradoxical it may seem to the profane reader.[ Five Years of Theosophy,art.“Personal and

Impersonal God p.129 .]

Shankarāchārya was reputed to be an Avatāra an assertion the writer implicitly believes in but which

other people are of course at liberty to reject.And as such he took the body of a southern Indian newly-

born Brāhman baby;that body for reasons as important as they are mysterious to us,is said to have

been animated by Gautama ’s astral personal remains.This divine Non-Ego chose as its own Upādhi

(physical basis),the ethereal human Ego of a great Sage in this world of forms,as the fittest vehicle for

Spirit to descend into.

Said Shankarāchārya:

Parabrahman is Kartā [Purusha ] as there is no other Adhishtāthā [ Adhishtāthā the active or

working agent in Prakriti (or matter).] and Parabrahman is Prakriti there being no other

substance.[Vedānta-Sūtras.Ad.I.Pāda iv.ShI.23 Commentary.The passage is given as

follows in Thibaut's translation (Sacred Books of the East xxxiv.)p.286:“The Self is thus the

operative cause because there is no other ruling principle and the material cause because

there is no other substance from which the world could originate.”]

A Fuller Explanation -(Page 381)Now what is true of the Macrocosmical is also true of the

Microcosmical plane.It is therefore nearer the truth to say —when once we accept such a possibility —

that the “astral ”Gautama or the Nirmānakāya was the Upādhi of Shankarāchāya ’s spirit rather than the

latter was a reincarnation of the former.

When a Shankarāchārya has to be born naturally every one of the principles in the manifested mortal

man must be the purest and finest that exist on earth.Consequently those principles that were once

attached to Gautama who was the direct great predecessor of Shankara were naturally attracted to him

the economy of Nature forbidding the re-evolution of similar principles from the crude state.But it must

be remembered that the higher ethereal principles are not like the lower more natural ones,visible

sometimes to man (as astral bodies),and they have to be regarded in the light of separate or

independent Powers or Gods,rather than at material objects.Hence the right way of representing the

truth would be to say that the various principles,the Bodhisattva of Gautama Buddha which did not go

to Nirvāna reunited to form the middle principles of Shankarāchārya the earthly Entity.[In Five Years of

Theosophy (art.“Shākya Muni ’s Place in History ” p.234 note)it is stated that one day when our Lord

sat in the Sattapanni Cave (Saptaparna)he compared man to a Saptaparna (seven leaved)plant.

“Mendicants,” he said “there are seven Buddhas in every Buddha and there are six Bhikshus and but

one Buddha in each mendicant.What are the seven ?The seven branches of complete knowledge.What

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are the six ?The six organs of sense.What are the five?The five elements of illusive being.And the One

which is also ten?He is a true Buddha who develops in him the ten forms of holiness and subjects them

all to the One.”Which means that every principle in the Buddha was the highest that could be evolved on

this earth;whereas in the case of other men who attain to Nirvāna this is not necessarily the case.Even

as a mere human (Manushya)Buddha Gautama was a pattern for all men.But his Arhats were not

necessarily so.

It is absolutely necessary to study the doctrine of the Buddhas esoterically and understand the subtle

differences between the various planes of existence to be able to comprehend correctly the above.Put

more clearly Gautama the human Buddha who had exoterically Amitābha for his Bodhisattva and

Avolokiteshvara for his Dhyāni-Buddha —the triad emanating directly from Ädi-Buddha —assimilated

these by his “Dhyāna ”(meditation)and thus become a Buddha (“enlightened ”).In another manner this is

the case with all men;every one of us has his Bodhisattva —the middle principle if we hold for a moment

to the trinitarian division of the septenary group —and his Dhyāni-Buddha or Chohan the “Father of the

Son.” Our connecting link with the higher Hierarchy of Celestial Beings lies here in a nutshell only we are

too sinful to assimilate them.

(Page 382)Six centuries after the translation of the human Buddha (Gautama)another Reformer as noble

and as loving though less favoured by opportunity arose in another part of the world among another and

a less spiritual race.There is a great similarity between the subsequent opinions of the world about the

two Saviours,the Eastern and the Western.While millions became converted to the doctrines of the two

Masters,the enemies of both —sectarian opponents,the most dangerous of all —tore both to shreds by

insinuating maliciously-distorted statements based on Occult truths,and therefore doubly dangerous.

While of Buddha it is said by the Brāhmans that He was truly an Avatāra of Vishnu but that He had come

to tempt the Brāhmans from their faith and was therefore the evil aspect of the God:of Jesus the

Bardesanian Gnostics and others asserted that He was Nebu the false Messiah the destroyer and the

old orthodox religion.“He is the founder of a new sect of Nazars,”said other sectarians.In Hebrew the

word “Naba ”means “to speak by inspiration.” ()is Nebo the God of wisdom).But Nebo is also

Mercury who is Buddha in the Hindu monogram of planets.And this is shown by the fact that the

Talmudists hold that Jesus was inspired by the Genius (or Regent)of Mercury confounded by Sir William

Jones with Gautama Buddha.There are many other strange points of similarity between Gautama and

Jesus,which cannot be noticed here.[ See Isis Unveiled ii.132.]

If both the Initiates,aware of the danger of furnishing the uncultured masses with the powers acquired by

ultimate knowledge left the innermost corner of the sanctuary in profound darkness,who acquainted

with human nature can blame either of them for this?Yet although Gautama actuated by prudence left

the Esoteric and most dangerous portions of the Secret Knowledge untold and lived to the ripe old age

of eighty —the Esoteric Doctrine says one hundred —years,dying with the certainty of having taught its

essential truths,and of having sown the seeds for the conversion of one-third of the world He yet

perhaps revealed more than was strictly good for posterity.But Jesus,who had promised His disciples

the knowledge which confers upon man the power of producing “miracles ”far greater than He had ever

produced Himself died leaving but a few faithful disciples —men only half-way to knowledge.They had

therefore to struggle with a world to which they could impart only what they but half-knew themselves,

and —no more.In later ages the exoteric followers of both mangled the truths given out often out of

recognition.

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Sacrifice -(Page 383)With regard to the adherents of the Western Master the proof of this lies in the very

fact that none of them can now produce the promised “miracles.”They have to choose:either it is they

who have blundered or it is their Master who must stand arraigned for an empty promise an uncalled-for

boast.Before one becomes a Buddha he must be a Bodhisattva:before evolving into a Bodhisattva he

must be a Dhyāni-Buddha....A bodhisattva is the way and Path to his Father and thence to the One

Supreme Essence ”(Descent of B ddhas .p.17.from Äryāsanga).“ I am the Way the Truth and the Life:

no man cometh unto the Father but by me “(St.John,xiv.6).The “way ” is not the goal.Nowhere

throughout the New Testament is Jesus found calling himself God or anything higher than “ a son of

God ”the son of a “Father ”common to all synthetically.Paul never said (I.Tim .iii.10).“God was

manifest in the flesh ” but “He who was manifested in the flesh ”(Revised Edition).While the common

herd among the Buddhists —the Burmese especially —regard Jesus as an incarnation of Devadatta a

relative who opposed the teachings of the Buddha the students of Esoteric Philosophy see in the

Nazarene Sage a Bodhisattva with the spirit of Buddha Himself in Him.] Why such a difference in the

destiny of the two?For the Occultist this enigma of the unequal favour of Karma or Providence is

unriddled by the Secret Doctrine.

It is “not lawful ”to speak of such things publicly as St.Paul tells us.One more explanation only may be

given in reference to this subject.It was said a few pages back that an Adept who thus sacrifices himself

to live giving up full Nirvāna though he can never lose the knowledge acquired by him in previous

existences,yet can never rise higher in such borrowed bodies.Why?Because he becomes simply the

vehicle of a “Son of Light ” from a still higher sphere Who being Arūpa has no personal astral body of His

own fit for this world.Such “Sons of Light ”or Dhyāni-Buddhas,are the Dharmakāyas of preceding

Manvantaras,who have closed their cycles of incarnations in the ordinary sense and who being thus

Karmaless,have long ago dropped their individual Rūpas,and have become identified with the first

Principle.Hence the necessity of a sacrificial Nirmānakāya ready to suffer for the misdeeds or mistakes

of the new body in its earth-pilgrimage without any future reward on the plane of progression and rebirth

since there are no rebirths for him in the ordinary sense.The higher Self or Divine Monad is not in such

a case attached to the lower Ego;its connection is only temporary and in most cases it acts through

decrees of Karma.This is a real genuine sacrifice the explanation of which pertains to the highest

Initiation of Gńāna (Occult Knowledge).It is closely linked by a direct evolution of Spirit and involution of

Matter with the primeval and great Sacrifice at the foundation of the manifested Worlds,the gradual

smothering and (Page 384)death of the spiritual in the material.The seed “is not quickened except it die.”[

I.Corinth .xv.36 ]Hence in the Purusha Sūkta of the Rig Veda,[ Op.cit.,Mandala x.hymn 90.] the

mother-fount and source of all subsequent religions,it is stated allegorically that “the thousand-headed

Purusha ”was slaughtered at the foundation of the World that from his remains the Universe might arise.

This is nothing more or less than the foundation —the seed truly —of the later many-formed symbol in

various religions,including Christianity of the sacrificial lamb.For it is a play upon the words “Aja ”

(Purusha),“the unborn ” or eternal Spirit means also “lamb ”in Sanskrit.Spirit disappears —dies,

metaphorically —the more it gets involved in matter and hence the sacrifice of the “unborn ”or the

“lamb.”

Why the BUDDHA chose to make this sacrifice will be plain only to those who to the minute knowledge

of His earthly life add that of a thorough comprehension of the laws of Karma.Such occurrences,

however belong to the most exceptional cases.

As tradition goes,the Brāhmans had committed a heavy sin by persecuting Gautama BUDDHA and His

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teachings instead of blending and reconciling them with the tenets of pure Vaidic Brāhmanism as was

done later by Shankarāchārya.Gautama had never gone against the Vedas only against the exoteric

growth of preconceived interpretations.The Shruti —divine oral revelation the outcome of which was the

Veda —is eternal.It reached the ear of Gautama Siddartha as it had those of the Rishis who had written it

down.He accepted the revelation while rejecting the later overgrowth of Brāhmanical thought and fancy

and built His doctrines on one and the same basis of imperishable truth.As in the case of His Western

successor Gautama the “Merciful ”the “Pure ” and the “Just ”was the first found in the Eastern

Hierarchy of historical Adepts,if not in the world-annals of divine mortals,who was moved by that

generous feeling which locks the whole of mankind within one embrace with no petty differences of race

birth or caste.It was He who first enunciated that grand and noble principle and He again who first put it

into practice.For the sake of the poor and the reviled the outcast and the hapless,invited by Him to the

king ’s festival table He had excluded those who had hitherto sat along in haughty seclusion and

selfishness,believing that they would be defiled by the very shadow of the disinherited ones of the land —

and these non-spiritual Brāhmans turned against Him for that preference.

Shankarāchārya Still Living -(Page 385)Since then such as these have never forgiven the prince-

beggar the son of a king who forgetting His rank and station had flung widely open the doors of the

forbidden sanctuary to the pariah and the man of low estate thus giving precedence to personal merit

over hereditary rank or fortune.The sin was theirs —the cause nevertheless Himself:hence the “Merciful

and the Blessed One ”could not go out entirely from this world of illusion and created causes without

atoning for the sin of all —therefore of these Brāhmans also.If “man afflicted by man ”found safe refuge

with the Tathāgata “man afflicting man ”had also his share in His self-sacrificing all embracing and

forgiving love.It is stated that He desired to atone for the sin of His enemies.Then only was he willing to

become a full Dharmakāya a Jīvanmukta “without remains.”

The close of Shankarāchārya ’s life brings us face to face with a fresh mystery Shankarāchārya retires to

a cave in the Himālayas permitting none of his disciples to follow him,and disappears therein forever

from the sight of the profane.Is he dead?Tradition and popular belief answer in the negative and some

of the local Gurus,if they do not emphatically corroborate do not deny the rumour.The truth with its

mysterious details as given in the Secret Doctrine is known but to them;it can be given out fully only to

the direct followers of the great Dravidian Guru and it is for them alone to reveal of it as much as they

think fit.Still it is maintained that this Adept of Adepts lives to this day in his spiritual entity as a

mysterious,unseen yet overpowering presence among the Brotherhood of Shamballa beyond far

beyond the snowy-capped Himālayas.

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SECTION XLIV

“Reincarnations ”of Buddha

(Page 386)EVERY section in the chapter on “Dezhin Shegpa ”[ Literally “he who walks [or follows ] in the

way [or path ] of his predecessors.”] (Tathāgata)in the Commentaries represents one year of that great

Philosopher ’s life in its dual aspect of public and private teacher the two being contrasted and

commented upon.It shows the Sage reaching Buddhahood through a long course of study meditation

and Initiations,as any other Adept would have to do not one rung of the ladder up to the arduous “Path

of Perfection ”being missed.The Bodhisattva became a Buddha and a Nirvānī through personal effort

and merit after having had to undergo all the hardships of every other neophyte —not by virtue of a divine

birth as thought by some.It was only the reaching of Nirvāna while still living in the body and on this

earth that was due to His having been in previous births high on the “Path of Dzyan ”(knowledge

wisdom).Mental or intellectual gifts and abstract knowledge follow an Initiate in his new birth but he has

to acquire phenomenal powers anew passing through all the successive stages.He has to acquire

Rinchen-na-dun (“the seven precious gifts ”)[ Schmidt in Slanong Seetsen .p.471 and Schlagintweit in

B ddhism in Tibet p.53 accept these precious things literally enumurating them as “the wheel the

precious stone the royal consort the best treasurer the best horse the elephant the best leader.”After

this one can little wonder if “besides a Dhyāni-Buddhi and a Dhyāni-Bodhisattva ”each human Buddha is

furnished with “a female companion a Shakti ”—when in truth “Shakti ”is simply the Soul-power the

psychic energy of the God as of the Adept.The “royal consort ”the third of the “seven precious gifts,”

very likely led the learned Orientalist into this ludicrous error.] one after the other.During the period of

meditation no worldly phenomena on the physical plane must be allowed to enter into his mind or cross

his thoughts.Zhine-lhagthong (Sanskrit:Vipashya religious abstract meditation)will develop in him most

wonderful faculties independently of himself.

Vajradhara -(Page 387)The four degrees of contemplation or Sam-tan (Sanskrit:Dhyāna),once

acquired everything becomes easy.For once that man has entirely got rid of the idea of individuality

merging his Self in the Universal Self becoming so to say the bar of steel to which the properties

inherent in the loadstone (Ädi Buddha or Anima Mundi)are imparted powers hitherto dormant in him are

awakened mysteries in invisible Nature are unveiled and becoming a Thonglam-pa (a Seer)he

becomes a Dhyāni-Buddha.Every Zung (Dhāranī a mystic word or mantra)of the Lokottaradharma (the

highest world of causes)will be known to him.

Thus,after His outward death twenty years later Tathāgata in His immense love and “pitiful mercy ” for

erring and ignorant humanity refused Paranirvāna [A Bodhisattva can reach Nirvāna and live as Buddha

did and after death he can either refuse objective incarnation or accept and use it at his convenience for

the benefit of mankind whom he can instruct in various ways while he remains in the Devachanic regions

within the attraction of our earth.But having once reached Paranirvāna or “Nirvāna without remains ”—the

highest Dharmakāya condition in which state he remains entirely outside of every earthly condition —he

will return no more until the commencement of a new Manvantara since he has crossed beyond the

cycle of birth.] in order that He might continue to help men.

Says a Commentary:

Having reached the Path of Deliverance [Thar-lam ] from transmigration,one cannot perform T lpa [Tulpa

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is the voluntary incarnation of an Adept into a living body whether of an adult child or new-born babe.]

any longer,for to become a Paranirvānī is to close the circle of the Septenary K -S m.[Ku-sum is the

triple form of the Nirvanā state and its respective duration in the “cycle of Non Being.”The number seven

here refers to the seven Rounds of our septenary System.] He has merged his borrowed Dorjesempa

[Vagrasattva ] into the Universal and become one with it.

Vajradhara also Vajrasattva (Tibetan:Dorjechang and Dorjedzin or Dorjosampa),is the regent or

President of all the Dhyān Chohans or Dhyāni Buddhas,the highest the Supreme Buddha;personal yet

never manifested objectively;the “Supreme Conqueror ”the “Lord of all Mysteries,”the “One without

Beginning or End ”—in short the Logos of Buddhism.For as Vajrasattva He is simply the Tsovo (Chief)

of the Dhyāni Buddhas or Dhyān Chohans,and the Supreme Intelligence in the Second World;while as

Vajradhara (Dorjechang),He is all that which was enumerated above.“These two are one and yet two ”

and over them is “Chang the Supreme Unmanifested and (Page 388)Universal Wisdom that has no

name.”As two in one He (They)is the Power that subdued and conquered Evil from the beginning

allowing it to reign only over willing subjects on earth and having no power over those who despise and

hate it.Esoterically the allegory is easily understood;exoterically Vajradhara (Vajrasattva)is the God to

whom all the evil spirits swore that they would not impede the propagation of the Good Law (Buddhism),

and before whom all the demons tremble.Therefore we say this dual personage has the same rōle

assigned to it in canonical and dogmatic Tibetan Buddhism as have Jehovah and the Archangel Mikael

the Metatron of the Jewish Kabalists.This is easily shown.Mikael is “the angel of the face of God ”or he

who represents his Master.“My face shall go with thee ”(in English “presence ”),before the Israelites,

says God to Moses (Exod s,xxxiii.141).“The angel of my presence ”(Hebrew:“of my face ”)(Isaiah

Ixiii.9).etc.The Roman Catholics identify Christ with Mikael who is also his ferouer or “face ”mystically.

This is precisely the position of Vajradhara or Vajrasattva in Northern Buddhism.For the latter in His

Higher Self as Vajradhara (Dorjechang),is never manifested except to the seven Dhyān Chohans,the

primeval Builders.Esoterically it is the Spirit of the “Seven ”collectively their seventh principle or Ćtman.

Exoterically any amount of fables may be found in Kāla Chakra the most important work in the Gyut [or

(D)guy ] division of the Kanjur the division of mystic knowledge [(D)gyu ] .Dorjechang (wisdom)

Vajradhara is said to live in the second Arūpa World which connects him with Metatron in the first world

of pure Spirits,the Briatic world of the Kabalists,who call this angel El-Shaddai the Omnipotent and

Might One.Metatron is in Greek į åėļņ(Messenger),or the Great Teacher.Mikael fights Satan the ..

Dragon and conquers him and his Angels.Vajrasattva who is one with Vajrapāni the Subduer of the Evil

Spirits,conquers Rāhu the Great Dragon who is always trying to devour the sun and moon (eclipses).

“War in Heaven ”in the Christian legend is based upon the bad angels having discovered the secrets

(magical wisdom)of the good ones (Enoch),and the mystery of the “Tree of Life.”Let anyone read

simply the exoteric accounts in the Hindu and Buddhist Pantheons —the latter version being taken from

the former —and he will find both resting on the same primeval archaic allegory from the Secret Doctrine.

In the exoteric texts (Hindu and Buddhist),the Gods churn the ocean to extract from it the Water of Life —

Amrita —or the Elixir of Knowledge.

Living Buddhas -(Page 389)In both the Dragon steals some of this,and is exiled from heaven by

Vishnu or Vajradhara or the chief God whatever may be his name.We find the same in the Book of

Enoch and it is poetized in St.John ’s Revelation .And now the allegory with all its fanciful

ornamentations,has become a dogma!

As will be found mentioned later the Tibetan Lamaseries contain many secrets and semi-secret volumes,

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detailing the lives of great Sages.Many of the statements in them are purposely confused and in others

the reader becomes bewildered unless a clue be given him by the use of one name to cover many

individuals who follow the same line of teaching.Thus there is a succession of “living Buddhas,”and the

name Buddha is given to teacher after teacher.Schlagintweit writes:

To each human being Buddha belongs a Dhyāni-Buddha and a Dhyāni-Bodhisattva and the

unlimited number of the former also involves equally unlimited number of the latter.[B ddhism

in Tibet.p.52.This same generic use of a name is found among Hindus with that of

Shankarāchārya to take but one instance.All His successors bear his name but are not

reincarnations of Him.So with the “Buddhas.”]

[But if this be so —and the exoteric and semi-exoteric use of the name justify the statement —the reader

must depend on his own intuition to distinguish between the Dhyāni Buddhas and the human Buddhas,

and must not apply to the great BUDDHA of the Fifth Race all that is ascribed to “the Buddha ”in books

where as said blinds are constantly introduced.

In one of these books some strange and obscure statements are made which the writer gives,as before

entirely on her own responsibility since a few may sense a meaning hidden under words misleading in

their surface meaning.][The words within brackets are supplied to introduce the statements following

that are confused and contradictory as they stand and which H.P.B had probably intended to elucidate to

some slight extent as they are written two or three times with different sentences following them.The

MS.is exceedingly confused and everything H.P.B said is here pieced together the addition above

made being marked in brackets to distinguish it from hers.] It is stated that at the age of thirty-three

Shankarāchārya tired of his mortal body “put it off ”in the cave he had entered and that the Bodhisattva

that served as his lower personality was freed.

With the burden of a sin upon him which he had not committed.

At the same time it is added:

At whatever age one puts off his outward body by free will at that age will he be made to die a

violent death against his will in his next rebirth.

(Page 390)Now Karma could have no hold on “Mahā Shankara ”(as Shankara is called in the secret

work),as he had as Avatāra no Ego of his own but a Bodhisattva — a willing sacrificial victim.Neither

had the latter any responsibility for the deed whether sinful or otherwise.Therefore we do not see the

point since Karma cannot act unjustly.There is some terrible mystery involved in all this story one that

no uninitiated intellect can ever unravel.Still there it is,suggesting the natural query “Who then was

punished by Karma?”and leaving it to be answered.

A few centuries later Buddha tried one more incarnation it is said in ****and again fifty years

subsequent to the death of this Adept in one whose name is given as Tiani-Tsang.[King Suddhodana.]

No details,no further information or explanation is given.It is simply stated that the last Buddha had to

work out the remains of his Karma which none of the Gods themselves can escape forced as he was to

bury still deeper certain mysteries have revealed by him —hence misinterpreted.The words used would

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stand when translated:[There are several names marked simply by asterisks.]

Born fifty-two years too early as Shramana Gautama the son of King Zastang;then retiring

fifty-seven years too soon as Mahā Shankara who got tired of his outward form.This wilful act

aroused and attracted King Karma who killed the new form of ***at thirty-three

[Shankarāchārya died also at thirty-two years of age or rather disappeared from the sight of

his disciples,as the legend goes.] the age of the body was put off.[ At whatever age one puts

off his outward body by free will at that age will he be made to die in his next incarnation

against his will —Commentary.] He died in his next (body)at thirty-two and a little over and

again in his next at eighty — a Māyā and at one hundred in reality.The Bodhisatva chose

Tiani-Tsang [Does “Tiani-Tsang ”stand for Apollonius of Tyana?This is a simple surmise.

Some things in the life of that Adept would seem to tally with the hypothesis —others to go

against it.] then again the Sugata became Tsong-Kha-pa who became thus Dezhin-Shegpa

[Tathāgata —“one who follows in the way and manner of his predecessors.”].The Blessed One

could do good to his generation as ***but none to posterity and so as Tiani-Tsang he

became incarnated only for the “remains ”[of his precedent Karma as we understand it ].The

Seven Ways and the Four Truths were once more hidden out of sight.The Merciful One

confined since then his attention and fatherly care to the heart of Bodyul the nursery grounds

of the seeds of truth.The blessed “remains ”since then have overshadowed and rested in

many a holy body of human Bodhisattvas.

No further information is given least of all are there any details or explanations to be found in the secret

volume.

An Obscure Passage -(Page 391)All is darkness and mystery in it for it is evidently written but for those

who are already instructed.Several flaming red asterisks are placed instead of names,and the few facts

given are abruptly broken off.The key of the riddle is left to the intuition of the disciple unless the “direct

followers ”of Gautama the Buddha —“those who are to be denied by His Church for the next cycle ”—and

of Shankarāchārya are pleased to add more.

The final section gives a kind of summary of the seventy sections —covering seventy-three years of

Buddha ’s life [According to Esoteric teaching Buddha lived one hundred years in reality though having

reached Nirvana in his eightieth year he was regarded as one dead to the world of the living.See article

“Shākyamuni ’s Place in History ” in Five Years of Theosophy.]—from which the last paragraph is

summarized as follows:

Emerging from —,the most excellent seat of the three secrets [Sang-Sum ] the Master of

incomparable mercy after having performed on all the anchorites the rite of — .and each of

these having been cut off [It is a secret rite pertaining to high Initiation and has the same

significance as the one to which Clement of Alexandria alludes when he speaks of “the token

of recognition being in common with us,as by cutting off Christ ”(Strom.13).Schlagintweit

wonders what it may be.“The typical representation of a hermit.”he says “is always that of a

man with long uncut hair and beard ...A rite very often selected though I am unable to state

for what reason is that of Chod (‘to cut ’ or ‘to destroy ’)the meaning of which is anxiously kept

a profound secret by the Lamas.” (B ddhism in Tibet.p.163).] perceived through [the power

of ] Hlun-Chub [ Hlun-Chub is the divining spirit in man the highest degree of seership.] what

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was his next duty.The Most-Illustrious meditated and asked himself whether this would help

[the future ]generations.What they needed was the sight of Māyā in a body of illusion.Which?

...The great conqueror of pains and sorrows arose and proceeded back to his birthplace.

There Sugata was welcomed by the few for they did now know Shramana Gautama.“Shākva

[the Mighty ] is in Nirvāna ...He has given the Science to the Shuddhas [Shūdra ]”said they

of Damze Yul [the country of Brāhmans:India ]....It was for that born of pity that the All-

Glorious One had to retire to — ,and then appear [karmically ] as Mahā Shankara;and out of

pity as — ,and again as — ,and again as Tsong-Kha-pa....For he who chooses in humiliation

must go down and he who loves not allows Karma to raise him.[ The secret meaning of this

sentence is that Karma exercises its way over the Adept as much as over any other man:

“Gods ”can escape it as little as simple mortals.The Adept who having reached the Path and

won His Dharmakāya —the Nirvāna from which there is no return until the new grand Kalpa —

prefers to use His right of choosing a condition inferior to that which belongs to Him but that

will leave him free to return whenever he thinks it advisable and under whatever personality

He may select must be prepared to take all the chances of failure —possibly —and a lower

condition than was His lot —for a certainty —as it is an occult law.Karma alone is absolute

justice and infallible in its selections.He who uses his right with it (Karma)must bear the

consequences —if any.Thus Buddha's first reincarnation was produced by Karma —and it led

Him higher than ever:the two following were “out of pity ” and ***]

This passage is confessedly obscure and written for the few.It is not lawful to say any more for the time

has not yet come when nations are (Page 392)prepared to hear the whole truth.The old religions are full

of mysteries,and to demonstrate some of them would surely lead to an explosion of hatred followed

perhaps,by bloodshed and worse.It will be sufficient to know that while Gautama Buddha is merged in

Nirvāna ever since his death Gautama Shākyamuni may have had to reincarnate —this dual inner

personality being one of the greatest mysteries of Esoteric psychism.

“The seat of the three secrets ”refers to a place inhabited by high Initiates and their disciples.The

“secrets ” are the three mystic powers known as Gopa Yasodhara and Uptala Varna that Csomo de

Köros mistook for Buddha ’s three wives,as other Orientalists have mistaken Shakti (Yoga power)

personified by a female deity for His wife;or the Draupadī —also a spiritual power —for the wife in

common of the five brothers Pāndava.

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SECTION XLV

An Unpublished Discourse of Buddha

(Page 393)(IT is found in the second Book of Commentaries and is addressed to the Arhats.)

Said the All-Merciful:Blessed are ye O Bhikshus,happy are ye who have understood the mystery of

Being and Non-Being explained in Bas-pa [Dharma Doctrine ] and have given preference to the latter

for ye are verily my Arhats....The elephant who sees his form mirrored in the lake looks at it and then

goes away taking it for the real body of another elephant is wiser than the man who beholds his face in

the stream and looking at it says,“Here I am ...I am I ” :for the “I ”his Self is not in the world of the

twelve Nidānas and mutability but in that of Non-Being the only world beyond the snares of Māyā.....

That alone which has neither cause nor author which is self-existing eternal far beyond the reach of

mutability is the true “I ”[Ego ] the Self of the Universe.The Universe of Nam-Kha says:“ I am the world

of Sien-Chan ” ;[The Universe of Brahmā (Sien-Chan;Nam-Kha)is Universal illusion or our phenomenal

world.] the four illusions laugh and reply “Verily so.”But the truly wise man knows that neither man nor

the Universe that he passes through like a flitting shadow is any more a real Universe than the dewdrop

that reflects a spark of the morning sun is that sun....There are three things,Bhikshus,that are

everlastingly the same upon which no vicissitude no modification can ever act:these are the Law

Nirvāna and Space [ Ākasha.It is next to impossible to render the mystic word “Tho-og ”by any other

term than ”Space ”and yet unless coined on purpose no new appellation can render it so well to the

mind of the Occultist.The term “Aditi ”is also translated “Space ”and there is a world of meaning in it.]

and those three are One since the first two are within the last and that last one a Māyā so long as man

keeps within the whirlpool of sensuous existences.One need not have his mortal body die to avoid the

(Page 394)clutches of concupiscence and other passions.The Arhat who observes the seven hidden

precepts of Bas-pa may become Dang-ma and Lha.[Dang-ma a purified soul and Lha a freed spirit

within a living body:an Adept or Arhat.In the popular opinion in Tibet a Lha is a disembodied spirit

something similar to the Burmese Nat —only higher.] He may hear the “holy voice ”of ...[Kwan-yin ] ,

[Kwan-yin is a synonym for in the original another term is used but the meaning is identical.It is the

divine voice of Self or the “Spirit-voice ”in man and the same as Vāchishvara (the “Voice-deity ” )of the

Brāhmans.In China the Buddhist ritualists have degraded its meaning by anthropomorphizing it into a

Goddess of the same name with one thousand hands and eyes and they call it Kwan-shai-yin-Bodhisat.

It is the Buddhist “daimon ”-voice of Socrates.] and find himself within the quiet precincts of his

Sangharama [Sanharama is the sanct m sanctorum of an ascetic,a cave or any place he chooses for

his meditation.] transferred into Amitābha Buddha.[ Amitābha Buddha is in this connection the

“boundless light ”by which things of the subjective world are perceived.] Becoming one with Anuttara

Samyak Sambodhi [ Esoterically “the unsurpassingly merciful and enlightened heart ” said of the

“Perfect Ones,”the Jīvan-muktas,collectively.] he may pass through all the six worlds of Being (Rūpa-

loka)and get into the first three worlds of Arūpa.[These six worlds —seven with us —are the worlds of

Nats or Spirits,with the Burmese Buddhists,and the seven higher worlds of the Vedāntins.]...He who

listens to my secret law preached to my select Arhats,will arrive with its help at the knowledge of Self

and thence at perfection.

It is due to entirely erroneous conceptions of Eastern thought and to ignorance of the existence of an

Esoteric key to the outward Buddhist phrases that Burnouf and other great scholars have inferred from

such propositions —held also by the Vedāntins —as “my body is not body ” and “myself is no self of mine ”

that Eastern psychology was based upon non-permanency.Cousin for instance lecturing upon the

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subject brings the two following propositions to prove on Burnouf ’s authority that unlike Brāhmanism

Buddhism rejects the perpetuity of the thinking principle.These are:

1.Thought or Spirit [Two things entirely distinct from each other.The “faculty is not

distinguished from the subject ”only on this material plane while thought generated by our

physical brain one that has never impressed itself at the same time on the spiritual

counterpart whether through the atrophy of the latter or the intrinsic weakness of that thought

can never survive our body:this much is sure.]—for the faculty is not distinguished from the

subject —appears only with sensation and does not survive it.

2.The Spirit cannot itself lay hold of itself and in directing attention to itself it draws from it

only the conviction of its powerlessness to see itself otherwise than as successive and

transitory.

This all refers to Spirit embodied not to the freed Spiritual Self on whom Māya has no more hold.

A Mistaken View -(Page 395)Spirit is no body;therefore have the Orientalists made of it “nobody ” and

nothing.Hence they proclaim Buddhists to be Nihilists,and Vedāntins to be the followers of a creed in

which the “Impersonal [God ]turns out on examination to be a myth;”their goal is described as

The complete extinction of all spiritual mental and bodily powers by absorption into the

Impersonal.[Vedānta Sāra,translated by Major Jacob.p.123.]

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SECTION XLVI

Nirvana-Moksha

(Page 396)THE few sentences given in the text from one of Gautama Buddha ’s secret teachings show

how uncalled for is the epithet of “Materialist ”when applied to One Whom two-thirds of those who are

looked upon as great Adepts and Occultists in Asia recognize as their Master whether under the name of

Buddha or that of Shankarāchārya.The reader will remember the just-quoted words are what Buddha

Sanggyas (or Pho)is alleged by the Tibetan Occultists to have taught:there are three eternal things in

the Universe —the Law Nirvāna and Space.The Buddhists of the Southern Church claim on the other

hand that Buddha held only two things as eternal —Åkāsha and Nirvāna.But Ākāsha being the same as

Aditi [Aditi is,according to the Rig Veda,“the Father and Mother of all the Gods:”and Ćkāsha is held by

Southern Buddhism as the Root of all whence everything in the Universe came out in obedience to a

law of motion inherent in it :and this is the Tibetan “Space ”(Tho-og).]and both being translated “Space ”

there is no discrepancy so far since Nirvāna as well as Moksha is a state.Then in both cases the great

Kapilavastu Sage unifies the two as well as the three into one eternal Element and ends by saying that

even “that One is a Māyā ” to one who is not a Damg-ma a perfectly purified Soul.

The whole question hangs upon materialistic misconceptions and ignorance of Occult Metaphysics.To

the man of Science who regards Space as simply a mental representation a conception of something

existing pro formā and having no real being outside our mind Space per se is verily an illusion.He may

fill the boundless interstellar space with an “imaginary ” ether nevertheless Space for him is an

abstraction.Most of the Metaphysicians of Europe are so wide of the mark,from the purely Occult

standpoint of a correct comprehension of “Space ”as are the Materialists,though the erroneous

conceptions of both of course differ widely.

The Ćkāsha -(Page 397)If bearing in mind the philosophical views of the Ancients upon this question we

compare them with what is now termed exact physical Science it will be found that the two disagree only

in inferences and names,and that their postulates are the same when reduced to their most simple

expression.From the beginning of the human Ęons,from the very dawn of Occult Wisdom the regions

that the men of Science fill with ether have been explored by the Seers of every age.That which the

world regards simply as cosmic Space an abstract representation the Hindu Rishi the Chaldęan

Magus,the Egyptian Hierophant held each and all as the one eternal Root of all the playground of all

the Forces in Nature.It is the fountain-head of all terrestrial life and the abode of those (to us)invisible

swarms of existences —of real beings,as of the shadows only thereof conscious and unconscious,

intelligent and senseless —that surround us on all sides,that interpenetrate the atoms of our Kosmos,

and see us not as we do not either see or sense them through our physical organisms.For the Occultist

“Space ”and “Universe ”are synonyms.In Space there is not Matter Force nor Spirit but all that and

much more.It is the One Element and that one the Anima Mundi —Space Ćkāsha Astral Light —the

Root of Life which in its eternal ceaseless motion like the out-and in-breathing of one boundless ocean

evolves but to reabsorb all that lives and feels and thinks and has its being in it.As said of the Universe

in Isis Unveiled it is.

The combination of a thousand elements and yet the expression of a single Spirit — a chaos to

the sense a Kosmos to the reason.

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Such were the views upon the subject of all the great ancient Philosophers,from Manu down to

Pythagoras,from Plato to Paul.

When the dissolution [Pralaya ] had arrived as its term the great Being [Para-Ćtmā or Para-

Purusha ] the Lord existing through himself out of whom and through whom all things were

and are and will be ...resolved to emanate from his own substance the various creatures.

[Mānava-Dharma-Shāstra.i.6 7.]

The mystic Decad [of Pythagoras ](1 +2 +3 +4 =10)is a way of expressing this idea.The

One is God;[The “God ”of Pythagoras,the disciple of the Ćryan Sages,is no personal God.

Let it be remembered that he taught as a cardinal tenet that there exists a permanent Principle

of Unity beneath all forms,changes,and other phenomena of the Universe.]the Two Matter;

the Three combining Monad and Duad and partaking of the nature of both is the phenomenal

world;the Tetrad or form of perfection expresses the emptiness of all;and the Decad or sum

of all involves the entire cosmos.[Isis Unveiled.i.xvi.]

(Page 398)Plato's “God ”is the “Universal Ideation ”and Paul saying “Out of him and through him and in

him all things are ” had surely a Principle —never a Jehovah —in his profound mind.The key to the

Pythagorean dogmas is the key to every great Philosophy.It is the general formula of unity in multiplicity

the One evolving the many and pervading the All.It is the archaic doctrine of Emanation in a few words.

Speusippus and Xenocrates held like their Master Plato that;

The Amima Mundi (or world-soul ”)was not the Deity but a manifestation.Those philosophers

never conceived of the One as an animate nat re .The original One did not exist as we

understand the term.Not till he (it)had united with the many emanated existences (the Monad

and Duad),was a being produced.The ōéģéļķ(“honoured ”),the something manifested dwells

in the centre as in the circumference but it is only the reflection of the Deity —the World-Soul.

In this doctrine we find the spirit of Esoteric Buddhism.[ Isis Unveiled,i xviii.]

And it is that of Esoteric Brāhminism and of the Vedāntin Adwaitis.The two modern philosophers,

Schopenhauer and von Hartmann teach the same ideas.The Occultists say that:

The psychic and ectenic forces,the “ideo-motor ”and “electro-biological powers,” “latent

thought ”and even “unconscious cerebration ”theories can be condensed in two words:the

Kabalistic Astral Light.[Isis Unveiled,i 58 .]

Schopenhauer only synthesized all this by calling it Will and contradicted the men of Science in their

materialistic views as von Hartmann did later on.The author of the Philosophy of the Unconscio s calls

their views “an instinctual prejudice.”

Furthermore he demonstrates that no experimenter can have anything to do with matter

properly so termed but only with the forces into which he divides it.The visible effects of

matter are but the effects of force.He concludes thereby that that which is now called matter is

nothing but the aggregation of atomic forces,to express which the word “matter ”is used;

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outside of that for science matter is but a word void of sense.[Isis Unveiled,i.59.]

As much it is to be feared as those other terms with which we are now concerned “Space ” “Nirvāna ”

and so on.

The bold theories and opinions expressed in Schopenhauer ’s works differ widely from those of

the majority of our orthodox scientists.[While they are to a great extent identical with those of

Esoteric B ddhism the Secret Doctrine of the East.] “In reality ” remarks this daring

speculator “there is neither Matter nor Spirit.

Matter is Ever Giving -(Page 399)The tendency to gravitation in a stone is as unexplainable

as thought in the human brain ...If matter can —no one knows why —fall to the ground then it

can also —no one knows why —think....As soon even in mechanics,as we trespass beyond

the purely mathematical as soon as we reach the inscrutable adhesion gravitation and so

on we are faced by phenomena which are to our senses as mysterious as the will and

tho ght in man :we find ourselves facing the incomprehensible for such is every force in

nature.Where is,then that matter which you all pretend to know so well and from which —

being so familiar with it —you draw all your conclusions and explanations,and attribute to it all

things?...That which can be fully realized by our reason and senses is but the superficial:

they can never reach the true inner substance of things.Such was the opinion of Kant.If you

consider that there is in a human head some sort of a spirit then you are obliged to concede

the same to a stone.If your dead and utterly-passive matter can manifest a tendency toward

gravitation or like electricity attract and repel and send out sparks,then as well as the brain it

can also think.In short every particle of the so-called spirit we can replace with an equivalent

of matter and every particle of matter replace with spirit ...Thus,it is not the Christian

division of all things into matter and spirit that can ever be found philosophically exact;but only

if we divide them into will and manifestation,which form of division has naught to do with the

former for it spiritualizes everything;all that which is in the first instance real and objective —

body and matter —it transforms into a representation and every manifestation into will.”

[Parerga,II.iii 112:quoted in Isis Unveiled.i.58 .]

The matter of science may be for all objective purposes a “dead and utterly passive matter;”to the

Occultist not an atom of it can be dead —“Life is ever present in it.”We send the reader who would know

more about it to our article “Transmigration of Life-Atoms.” [ Five Years of Theosophy.p.338.et seq.]

What we are now concerned with is the doctrine of Nirvāna.

A “system of atheism ”it may be justly called since it recognizes neither God nor Gods —least of all a

Creator as it entirely rejects creation.The Fecit ex nihilo is as incomprehensible to the Occult

metaphysical Scientist as it is to the scientific Materialist.It is at this point that all agreement stops

between the two.But if such be the sin of the Buddhist and Brāhman Occultist then Pantheists and

Atheists,and also theistical Jews —the Kabalists —must also plead “guilty ” to it;yet no one would ever

think of calling the Hebrews of the Kabalah “Atheists.”Except the Talmudistic and Christian exoteric

systems there never was a religious Philosophy whether in the ancient or modern world but rejected a

priori the ex nihilo hypothesis,simply because Matter was always co-eternalized with Spirit.

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(Page 400)Nirvāna as well as the Moksha of the Vedāntins,is regarded by most of the Orientalists as a

synonym of annihilation;yet no more glaring injustice could be done and this capital error must be

pointed out and disproved.On this most important tenet of the Brāhmo-Buddhistic system —the Alpha

and Omega of “Being ”or “Non-Being ”—rests the whole edifice of Occult Metaphysics.Now the

rectification of the great error concerning Nirvāna may be very easily accomplished with relation to the

philosophically inclined to those who

In the glass of things temporal see the image of things spiritual.

On the other hand to that reader who could never soar beyond the details of tangible material form our

explanation will appear meaningless.He may comprehend and even accept the logical inferences from

the reasons given —the true spirit will ever escape his intuitions.The word “nihil ”having been

misconceived from the first it is continually used as a sledge-hammer in the matter of Esoteric

Philosophy.Nevertheless it is the duty of the Occultist to try and explain it.

Nirvāna and Moksha then as said before have their being in non-being if such a paradox be permitted

to illustrate the meaning the better.Nirvāna as some illustrious Orientalists have attempted to prove

does mean the “blowing-out ”[Prof.Max Mūller in a letter to The Times (April.1857),maintained most

vehemently that Nirvāna meant annihilation in the fullest sense of the word.(Chips from a German

Workshop i.287)But in 1869 in a lecture before the General Meeting of the Association of German

Philologists at Kiel.“he distinctly declares his belief that the Nihilism attributed to Buddha ’s teaching

forms no part of his doctrine and that it is wholly wrong to suppose that Nirvāna means annihiliation.”

(Trubner ’s Amer-and Oriental Lit.Rec .Oct.16 th 1869.)] of all sentient existence.It is like the flame of a

candle burnt out to its last atom and then suddenly extinguished.Quite so.Nevertheless,as the old

Arhat Nāgasena affirmed before the king who taunted him:“Nirvāna is “—and Nirvāna is eternal.But the

Orientalists deny this,and say it is not so.In their opinion Nirvāna is not a re-absorption in the Universal

Force not eternal bliss and rest but it means literally “the blowing-out the extinction complete

annihilation and not absorption.”The Lankāvatāra quoted in support of their arguments by some

Sanskritists,and which gives the different interpretations of Nirvāna by the Tīrthika Brāhmans,is no

authority to one who goes to primeval sources for information namely to the Buddha who taught the

doctrine.As well quote the Chārvāka Materialists in their support.

Blind Faith Not Expected -(Page 401)If we bring as an argument the sacred Jaina books,wherein the

dying Gautama Buddha is thus addressed:“Arise into Nirvi [Nirvāna ] from this decrepit body into which

thou hast been sent....Ascend into thy former abode O blessed Avatāra;”and if we add that this

seems to us the very opposite of nihilism we may be told that so far it may only prove a contradiction

one more discrepancy in the Buddhist faith.If again we remind the reader that since Gautama is believed

to appear occasionally re-descending from his “former abode ”for the good of humanity and His faithful

congregation thus making it incontestable that Buddhism does not teach final annihilation we shall be

referred to authorities to whom such teaching is ascribed.And let us say at once:Men are no authority

for us in questions of conscience nor ought they to be for anyone else.If anyone holds to Buddha ’s

Philosophy let him do and say as Buddha did and said;if a man calls himself a Christian let him follow

the commandments of Christ —not the interpretations of His many dissenting priests and sects.

In A B ddhist Catechism the question is asked:

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Are there any dogmas in Buddhism which we are required to accept on faith?

A.No.We are earnestly enjoined to accept nothing whatsoever on faith whether it be written

in books,handed down from our ancestors,or taught by sages.Our Lord Buddha has said

that we must not believe in a thing said merely because it is said;nor traditions because they

have been handed down from antiquity;nor rumours,as such;nor writings by sages,because

sages wrote them;nor fancies that we may suspect to have been inspired in us by a Deva

(that is,in presumed spiritual inspiration);nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard

assumption we may have made;nor because of what seems an analogical necessity;nor on

the mere authority of our teachers of masters.But we are to believe when the writing doctrine

or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness.“For this,”says he in

concluding “I taught you not to believe merely because you have heard but when you

believed of your consciousness,then to act accordingly and abundantly.”[See the Kalama

S tta of the Ang ttaranikayo,as quoted in A B ddhist Catechism by H.S.Olcott President of

the Theosophical Society.pp.55.56 .]

That Nirvāna or rather that state in which we are in Nirvāna is quite the reverse of annihilation is

suggested to us by our “reason and consciousness,’ and that is sufficient for us personally.At the same

time this fact being inadequate and very ill-adapted for the general reader something more efficient may

be added.

(Page 402)Without resorting to sources unsympathetic to Occultism the Kabalah furnishes us with the

most luminous and clear proofs that the term “nihil ”in the minds of the Ancient Philosophers had a

meaning quite different from that it has now received at the hands of Materialists.It means certainly

“nothing ”—or “no-thing.” F.Kircher in his work on the Kabalah and the Egyptian Mysteries [Œdip s

Ęgypt.,II.I 291.] explains the term admirably.He tells his readers that in the Zohar the first of the

Sephiroth [Sephir or Aditi (mystic Space).The Sephiroth be it understood are identical with the Hindu

Prajāpatis,the Dhyān Chohans of Esoteric Buddhism the Zoroastrian Amshaspends,and finally with the

Elohim —the “Seven Angels of the Presence ”of the Roman Catholic Church.] has a name the

significance of which is “the Infinite,”but which was translated indifferently by the Kabalists as “Ens ”and

“Non-Ens ”(“Being and “Non-Being ”);a Being inasmuch as it is the root and source of all other beings;

Non-Being because Ain Soph —the Boundless and the Causeless,the Unconscious and the Passive

Principle —resembles nought else in the Universe.

The author adds:

This is the reason why St.Denys did not hesitate to call it Nihil.

“Nihil ”therefore stands —even with some Christian theologians and thinkers,especially with the earlier

ones who lived but a few removes from the profound Philosophy of the initiated Pagans —as a synonym

for the impersonal divine Principle the Infinite All which is no Being or thing —the En or Ain Soph the

Parabrahman of the Vedānta.Now St.Denys was a pupil of St.Paul —an Initiate —and this fact makes

everything clear.

The “Nihil ”is in esse the Absolute Deity itself the hidden Power or Omnipresence degraded by

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Monotheism into an anthropomorphic Being with all the passions of a mortal on a grand scale.Union

with That is not annihilation in the sense understood in Europe.[According to the Eastern idea the All

comes out from the One and returns to it again.Absolute annihilation is simply unthinkable.Nor can

eternal Matter be annihilated.Form may be annihilated:co-relations may change.That is all.There can

be no such thing as annihilation —in the European sense —in the Universe.]In the East annihilation in

Nirvāna refers but to matter:that of the visible as well as the invisible body for the astral body the

personal double is still matter however sublimated.Buddha taught that the primitive Substance is

eternal and unchangeable.Its vehicle is the pure liminous ether the boundless,infinite Space.

Not a void resulting from the absence of forms,but on the contrary the foundations of all

forms ....

What Annihilation Means -(Page 403)[This ]denotes it to be the creation of Māyā all the

works of which are as nothing before the uncreated Form [Spirit ] ,in whose profound and

sacred depths all motion must cease for ever.[Isis Unveiled .i 289.]

Motion here refers only to illusive objects to their change as opposed to perpetuity rest —perpetual

motion being the Eternal Law the ceaseless Breath of the Absolute.

The mastery of Buddhistic dogmas can be attained only according to the Platonic method :from

universals to particulars.The key to it lies in the refined and mystical tenets of spiritual influx and divine

life.

Saith Buddha:

Whosoever is nacq ainted with my Law,[The Secret Law the “Doctrine of the Heart ” so called in

contrast to the “Doctrine of the Eye.” or exoteric Buddhism.] and dies in that state must ret rn to earth

ntil he becomes a perfect Samano [ascetic ].To achieve this object he must destroy within himself the

trinity of Māyā.[“Illusive matter in its triple manifestation in the earthly and the astral or fontal Soul (the

body)and the Platonian dual Soul —the rational and the irrational one.”] He m st exting ish his passions,

nite and identify himself with the Law [the teaching of the Secret Doctrine ],and comprehend the

philosophy of annihilation.[Isis Unveiled .i.289.]

No it is not in the dead-letter of Buddhistical literature that scholars may ever hope to find the true

solution of its metaphysical subtleties.Alone in all antiquity the Pythagoreans understood them perfectly

and it is on the (to the average Orientalist and the Materialist)incomprehensible abstractions of

Buddhism that Pythagoras grounded the principal tenets of his Philosophy.

Annihilation means with the Buddhistical Philosophy only a dispersion of matter in whatever form or

semblance of form it may be for everything that bears a shape was created and thus must sooner or

later perish i.e.,change that shape;therefore as something temporal though seeming to be permanent

it is but an illusion Māyā;for as eternity has neither beginning nor end the more or less prolonged

duration of some particular form passes,as it were like an instantaneous flash of lightning.Before we

have the time to realize that we have seen it it is gone and passed for ever;hence even our astral

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bodies,pure ether are but illusions of matter so long as they retain their terrestrial outline.The latter

changes,says the Buddhist according to the merits or demerits of the person during his lifetime and this

is (Page 404)metempsychosis.When the spiritual Entity breaks loose for ever from every particle of

matter then only it enters upon the eternal and unchangeable Nirvāna.He exists in Spirit in nothing;as

a form a shape a semblance he is completely annihilated and thus will die no more for Spirit alone is

no Māyā but the only Reality in an illusionary universe of ever-passing forms.

It is upon this Buddhist doctrine that the Pythagoreans grounded the principal tenets of their

philosophy.“Can that Spirit which gives life and motion and partakes of the nature of light be

reduced to nonentity?” they ask.“Can that sensitive Spirit in brutes which exercises memory

one of the rational faculties,die and become nothing?”And Whitelock Bulstrode in his able

defence of Pythagoras expounds this doctrine by adding:

“If you say they [the brutes ] breathe their Spirits into the air and there vanish that is all that I

contend for.The air indeed is the proper place to receive them being according to Laertius full

of souls;and according to Epicurus full of atoms,the principles of all things;for even this place

wherein we walk and birds fly has so much of a spiritual nature that it is invisible and therefore

may well be the receiver of forms,since the forms of all bodies are so;we can only see and

hear its effects;the air itself is too fine and above the capacity of the age.What then is the

ether to the region above and what are the influences of forms that descend from thence?”

The Spirits of creatures,the Pythagoreans hold who are emanations of the most sublimated

portions of ether —emanations,breaths,b t not forms.Ether is corruptible —all philosophers

agree in that:—and what is incorruptible is so far from being annihilated when it gets rid of the

form that it lays a good claim to immortality.

“But what is that which has no body no form;which is imponderable invisible and indivisible

—that which exists,and yet is not ?”ask the Buddhists.“It is Nirvāna ”is the answer.It is

nothing —not a region but rather a state.[Isis Unveiled.i.290.]

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SECTION XLVII

The Secret Books of “Lam-Rin ”and Dzyan

(Page 405)THE Book of Dzyan —from the Sanskrit word “Dhyān ” (mystic meditation)—is the first volume

of the Commentaries upon the seven secret folios of Kiu-te and a Glossary of the public works of the

same name.Thirty-five volumes of Kiu-te for exoteric purposes and the use of the laymen may be found

in the possession of the Tibetan Gelugpa Lamas,in the library of any monastery;and also fourteen

books of Commentaries and Annotations on the same by the initiated Teachers.

Strictly speaking those thirty-five books ought to be termed “The Popularized Version ” of the Secret

Doctrine full of myths,blinds,and errors;the fourteen volumes of Commentaries,on the other hand —

with their translations,annotations,and an ample glossary of occult terms,worked out from one small

archaic folio the Book of the Secret Wisdom of the World [It is from the texts of all these works that the

Secret Doctrine has been given.The original matter would not make a small pamphlet but the

explanations and notes from the Commentaries and Glossaries might be worked into ten volumes as

large as Isis Unveiled.]—contain a digest of all the Occult Sciences.These it appears,are kept secret

and apart in the charge of the Teshu Lama of Tji-gad-je.The Books of Kiu-te are comparatively modern

having been edited within the last millennium whereas the earliest volumes of the Commentaries are of

untold antiquity some fragments of the original cylinders having been preserved.With the exception that

they explain and correct some of the too fabulous,and to every appearance grossly exaggerated

accounts in the Books of Kiu-tet [The monk Della Penna makes considerable fun in his Memoirs (see

Markham ’s Tibet )of certain statements in the books of Kiu-te.He brings to the notice of the Christian

public “the great mountain 160.000 leagues high ” (a Tibetan league consisting of five miles)in the

Himālayan Range.“According to their law ” he says,“in the west of this world is an eternal world ...a

paradise and in it a Saint called Hopahma which means ‘Saint of Splendour and Infinite Light.’ This Saint

has many disciples who are all Chang-chub ” which means,he adds in a footnote.“the Spirits of those

who on account of their perfection do not care to become saints and train and instruct the bodies of the

reborn Lamas ...so that they may help the living.” Which means that the presumably “dead ” Yang-

Chhub (not “Chang-chub ” )are simply living Bodhisattvas,some of those known as Bhante (“the

Brothers ”).As to the “mountain 160.000 leagues high ” the Commentary which gives the key to such

statements explains that according to the code used by the writers,“to the west of the Snowy Mountain ”

160 leagues [the cyphers being a blind ] from a certain spot and by a direct road is the Bhante Yul [the

country of ‘Seat of the Brothers ’] the residence of Mahā-Chohan ..” etc.This is the real meaning.The

“Hopahma ” of Della Penna is —the Mahā-Chohan the Chief.]—properly so called —the Commentaries

have little to do with these.They stand in relation to them (Page 406)as the Chaldęo-Jewish Kabalah

stands to the Mosaic Books.In the work known as the Avat msaka Sūtra,in section:“The Supreme

Ćtman [ Soul ] as manifested in the character of the Arhats and Pratyeka Buddhas,”it is stated that:

Because from the beginning all sentient creatures have confused the truth and embraced the

false therefore there came into existence a hidden knowledge called Alaya Vijńāna.

“Who is in possession of the true knowledge?”is asked.“The great Teachers of the Snowy Mountain ”is

the response.

These “great Teachers ” have been known to live in the “Snowy Range ” of the Himālayas for countless

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ages.To deny in the face of millions of Hindus the existence of their great Gurus,living in the Ćshrams

scattered all over the Trans-or the Cis-Himālayan slopes is to make oneself ridiculous in their eyes.

When the Buddhist Saviour appeared in India their Ćshrams —for it is rarely that these great Men are

found in Lamaseries,unless on a short visit —were on the spots they now occupy and that even before

the Brāhmans themselves came from Central Asia to settle on the Indus.And before that more than one

Ćryan Dvija of fame and historical renown had sat at their feet learning that which culminated later on in

one or another of the great philosophical schools.Most of these Himālayan Bhante were Aryan

Brāhmans and ascetics.

No student unless very advanced would be benefited by the perusal of those exoteric volumes.[ In

some MSS notes before us,written by Gelung (priest)Thango-pa Chhe-go-mo it is said:“The few

Roman Catholic missionaries who have visited our land (under protest)in the last century and have

repaid our hospitality by turning our sacred literature into ridicule have shown little discretion and still

less knowledge.It is true that the Sacred Canon of the Tibetans,the Kahgyur and Bstanhgyur,comprises

1707 distinct works —1083 public and 624 secret volumes,the former being composed of 350 and the

latter of 77 volumes folio.May we humbly invite the good missionaries,however to tell us when they

ever succeeded in getting a glimpse of the last-named secret folios?Had they even by chance seen

them I can assure the Western Pandits that these manuscripts and folios could never be understood

even by a born Tibetan without a key (a )to their peculiar characters,and (b )to their hidden meaning.In

our system every description of locality is figurative every name and word purposely veiled:and one has

first to study the mode of deciphering and then to learn the equivalent secret terms and symbols for

nearly every word of the religious heritage.The Egyptian enchorial or hieractic system is child ’s play to

our sacerdotal puzzles.”] They must be read with a key to their meaning and that key can only be found

in the Commentaries .Moreover there are some comparatively modern works that are positively injurious

so far as fair comprehension of even exoteric Buddhism is concerned.Such are the B ddhist Cosmos,

by Bonze Jin-ch ’on of Pekin;the Shing-Ta -ki (or The Records of the Enlightenment of Tathāgata ),by

Wang Puk —seventh century;Hisai Sūtra (or Book of Creation ),and some others.

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SECTION XLVIII

Amita Buddha Kwan-Shai-Yin and Kwan-Yin

—What the “Book of Dzyan ”and the Lamaseries of Tsong-Kha-Pa Say

(Page 407)AS a supplement to the Commentaries there are many secret folios on the lives of the

Bhuddhas and Bodhisattvas,and among these there is one on Prince Gautama and another on His

reincarnation in Tsong-Kha-pa.This great Tibetan Reformer of the fourteenth century said to be a direct

incarnation of Amita Buddha is the founder of the secret School near Tji-gad-je attached to the private

retreat of the Teshu Lama.It is with Him that began the regular system of Lamaic incarnations of

Buddhas (Sang-gyas),or of Shākya-Thub-pa (Shakyamuni).Amida or Amita Buddha is called by the

author of Chinese B ddhism,a mythical being.He speaks of

Amida Buddha (Ami-to Fo )a fabulous personage worshipped assiduously —like Kwan-yin —

by the Northern Buddhists,but unknown in Siam Burmah and Ceylon.[Chinese B ddhism .

p.171.]

Very likely.Yet Amida Buddha is not a “fabulous ”personage since (a )“Amida ”is the Senzar form of “Ćdi ”

;“Ćdi-Buddhi ”and “Ćdi-Buddha “[“Buddhi ”is a Sanskrit term for “discrimination ”or intellect (the sixth

principle),and “Buddha ”is “wise ”“wisdom ”and also the planet Mercury.] as already shown existed

ages ago as a Sanskrit term for “Primeval Soul ”and “Wisdom ”;and (b )the name was applied to

Gautama Shākyamuni the last Buddha in India from the seventh century when Buddhism was

introduced into Tibet.“Amitābha ”(in Chinese “Wu-lian-sheu ”)means literally “Boundless Age ”a (Page

408)synonym of “En ”or “Ain-Suph ”the “Ancient of Days ” and is an epithet that connects Him directly

with the Boundless Ādi-Buddhi (primeval and Universal Soul)of the Hindus,as well as with the Anima

Mundi of all the ancient nations of Europe and the Boundless and Infinite of the Kabalists.If Amitābha be

a fiction of the Tibetans,or a new form of Wu-liang-sheu “a fabulous personage ”as the author-compiler

of Chinese B ddhism tells his readers,then the “fable ”must be a very ancient one.For on another page

he says himself that the addition to the canon of the books containing the Legends of Kwan-yin and of

the Western heaven with its Buddha Amitābha was also previous to the Council of Kashmere a little

before the beginning of our era [This curious contradiction may be found in Chinese B ddhism .pp.171.

273.The reverend author assures his readers that “to the philosophic Buddhists ...Amitābha Yoshi Fo

and the others are nothing but the signs of ideas ”(p 236).Very true.But so should be all other deific

names,such as Jehovah Allah etc.and if they are not simply “signs of ideas ”this would only show that

minds that receive them otherwise are not “philosophic ”:it would not at all afford serious proof that there

are personal living Gods of these names in reality .]

and he places

the origin of the primitive Buddhist books which are common to the Northern and Southern Buddhists

before 246.B.C.

Since Tibetans accepted Buddhism only in the seventh century A.D.how comes it that they are charged

with inventing Amita-Buddha?Besides which in Tibet Amitābha is called Odpag-med which shows that it

is not the name but the abstract idea that was first accepted of an unknown invisible and Impersonal

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Power —taken moreover from the Hindu “Adi-Buddhi ” and not from the Chinese “Amitābha.” [The

Chinese Amitābha (Wu-liang-sheu)and the Tibetan Amitābha (Odpag-med)have now become personal

Gods,ruling over and living in the celestial region of Sukhāvati or Tushita (Tibetan:Devachan):while Ądi-

Buddhi of the philosophic Hindu and Amita Buddha of the philosophic Chinaman and Tibetan are

names for universal primeval ideas.] There is a great difference between the popular Odpag-med

(Amitābha)who sits enthroned in Devachan (Sukhāvati),according to the Mani Kamb m Scriptures —the

oldest historical work in Tibet and the philosophical abstraction called Amita Buddha the name being

passed now to the earthly Buddha Gautama.

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SECTION XLIX

Tsong-Kha-Pa —Lohans in China

(Page 409)IN an article “Reincarnation in Tibet ”everything that could be said about Tsong-Kha-pa was

published.[See The Theosophist for March 1882.] It was stated that this reformer was not as is alleged

by Pārsi scholars,an incarnation of one of the celestial Dhyānis,or the five heavenly Buddhas,said to

have been created by Shākyamuni after he has risen to Nirvāna but that he was an incarnation of Amita

Buddha Himself.The records preserved in the Gon-pa the chief Lamasery of Tda-shi-Hlumpo show that

Sang-gyas left the regions of the “Western Paradise ”to incarnate Himself in Tsong-Kha-pa in

consequence of the great degradation into which His secret doctrines had fallen.

Whenever made too public,the Good Law of Cheu [magical powers ] fell invariably into

sorcery or “black magic.”The Dwijas,the Hoshang [Chinese monks ] and the Lamas could

alone be entrusted safely with the formulę.

Until the Tsong-Kha-pa period there had been no Sang-gyas (Buddha)incarnations in Tibet.

Tsong-Kha-pa gave the signs whereby the presence of one of the twenty-five Bodhisattvas [The intimate

relation of the twenty-five Buddhas (Bodhisattvas)with the twenty-five Tattvas (the Conditioned or

Limited)of the Hindus is interesting.] or of the Celestial Buddhas (Dhyān Chohans)in a human body

might be recognized and He strictly forbade necromancy.This led to a split amongst the Lamas,and the

malcontents allied themselves with the aboriginal Bhons against the reformed Lamaism.Even now they

form a powerful sect practising the most disgusting rites all over Sikkhim Bhutan Nepaul and even on

the borderlands of Tibet.It was worse then.With the permission of the Tda-shu or Teshu Lama [ It is

curious to note the great importance given by European Orientalists to the Dalai Lamas of Lhasa and

their utter ignorance as to the Tda-shu (or Teshu)Lamas,while it is the latter who began the hierarchical

series of Buddhi-incarnations,and are de facto the “popes ”in Tibet:the Dalai Lamas are the creations of

Nabang-lob-Sang the Tda-shu Lama who was Himself the sixth incarnation of Amita through Tsong-

Kha-pa though very few seem to be aware of that fact.] some hundred Lohans (Arhats)to avert strife

(Page 410)went to settle in China in the famous monastery near Tien-t ’-ai where they soon became

subjects for legendary lore and continue to be so to this day.They had been already preceded by other

Lohans.

The world-famous disciples of Tathāgata called the “sweet-voiced ”on account of their ability

to chant the Mantras with magical effect.[The chanting of a Mantra is not a prayer but rather

a magical sentence in which the law of Occult causation connects itself with and depends on

the will and acts of its singer.It is a succession of Sanskrit sounds and when its string of words

and sentences is pronounced according to the magical formulae in the Atharva Veda,but

understood by the few some Mantras produce an instantaneous and very wonderful effect.In

its esoteric sense it contains the Vāch (the “mystic speech ”)which resides in the Mantra or

rather in its sounds,since it is according to the vibrations,one way or the other of ether that

the effect is produced.The “sweet singers ”were called by that name because they were

experts in Mantras.Hence the legend in China that the singing and melody of the Lohans are

heard at dawn by the priests from their cells in the monastery of Fang-Kwang.(See Biography

of Chi-Kai in Tien-tai-nan-tchi.)]

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The first ones came from Kashmir in the year 3 000 lf Kali Yuga (about a century before the Christian

era).[The celebrated Lohan Mādhyantika who converted the king and whole country of Kashmir to

Buddhism sent a body of Lohans to preach the Good Law.He was the sculptor who raised to Buddha

the famous statue one hundred feet high which Hiuen-Tsang saw at Dardu to the north of the Punjab.

As the same Chinese traveller mentions a temple ten Li from Peshawur —350 feet round and 850 feet

high —which was at his time (A.D.550)already 850 years old.Koeppen thinks that so far back as 292

B.C.Buddhism was the prevalent religion in the Punjab.] while the last ones arrived at the end of the

fourteenth century 1 500 years later;and finding no room for themselves at the lamasery of Yihigching

they built for their own use the largest monastery of all on the sacred island of Pu-to (Buddha or Put in

Chinese),in the province of Chusan.There the Good Law the “Doctrine of the Heart ”flourished for

several centuries.But when the island was desecrated by a mass of Western foreigners,the chief

Lohans left for the mountains of ----------------.In the Pagoda of Pi-yun-ti near Pekin one can still see the

“Hall of the Five-hundred Lohans.”There the statues of the first-comers are arranged below while one

solitary Lohan is placed quite under the roof of the building which seems to have been built in

commemoration of their visit.

The works of the Orientalists are full of the direct landmarks of Arhats (Adepts),possessed of

thaumaturgic powers but these are spoken of —whenever the subject cannot be avoided —with

unconcealed scorn.Whether innocently ignorant of or purposely ignoring the importance of the Occult

element and symbology in the various Religions they undertake to explain short work is generally made

of such passages,and they are left untranslated.In simple justice however it should be allowed that

much as all such miracles may have been exaggerated by popular reverence and fancy they are neither

less credible nor less attested in “heathen ”annals than are those of the numerous Christian Saints in the

church chronicles.Both have an equal right to a place in their respective histories.

The Lost Word -(Page 411)If after the beginning of persecution against Buddhism the Arhats were no

more heard of in India it was because their vows prohibiting retaliation they had to leave the country

and seek solitude and security in China Tibet Japan and elsewhere.The sacerdotal powers of the

Brāhmans being at that time unlimited the Simons and Apolloniuses of Buddhism had as much chance

of recognition and appreciation by the Brāhmanical Irenęuses and Tertullians as had their successors in

the Judęan and Roman worlds.It was a historical rehearsal of the dramas that were enacted centuries

later in Christendom.As in the case of the so-called “Heresiarchs ”of Christianity it was not for rejecting

the Vedas or the sacred Syllable that the Buddhist Arhats were persecuted but for understanding too

well the secret meaning of both.It was simply because their knowledge was regarded as dangerous and

their presence in India unwelcome that they had to emigrate.

Nor were there a smaller number of Initiates among the Brāhmans themselves.Even today one meets

most wonderfully-gifted Sāddhus and Yogīs,obliged to keep themselves unnoticed and in the shadow

not only owing to the absolute secresy imposed upon them at their Initiation but also for fear of the Anglo-

Indian tribunals and courts of law wherein judges are determined to regard as charlatanry imposition

and fraud the exhibition of or claim to any abnormal powers and one may judge of the past by the

present.Centuries after our era the Initiates of the inner temples and the Mathams (monastic

communities)chose a superior council presided over by an all-powerful Brahm-Ćtmā the Supreme Chief

of all those Mahātmās.This pontificate could be exercised only by a Brāhman who had reached a certain

age and he it was who was the sole guardian of the mystic formula and he was the Hierophant who

created great Adepts.He alone could explain the meaning of the sacred word AUM,and of all the

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religious symbols and rites.And whosoever among those Initiates of the Supreme Degree revealed to a

profane a single one of the truths,even the smallest of the secrets entrusted to him had to die;and he

who received the confidence was put to death.

But there existed and still exists to this day a Word far surpassing the mysterious monosyllable and

which renders him who comes into possession of its key nearly the equal of Brahman.The Brahmātmās

alone possess this key and we know that to this day there are two (Page 412)great Initiates in Southern

India who possess it.It can be passed only at death for it is the “Lost Word.”No torture no human

power could force its disclosure by a Brāhman who knows it;and it is well guarded in Tibet.

Yet this secresy and this profound mystery are indeed disheartening since they alone —the Initiates of

India and Tibet —could thoroughly dissipate the thick mists hanging over the history of Occultism and

force its claims to be recognized.The Delphic injunction “Know thyself,” seems for the few in this age.

But the fault ought not to be laid at the door of the Adepts,who have done all that could be done and

have gone as far as Their rules permitted to open the eyes of the world.Only while the European

shrinks from public obloquy and the ridicule unsparingly thrown on Occultists,the Asiatic is being

discouraged by his own Pandits.These profess to labour under the gloomy impression that no Bīga

Vidyā no Arhatship (Adeptship),is possible during the Kali Yuga (the “Black Age ”)we are now passing

through.Even the Buddhists are taught that the Lord Buddha is alleged to have prophesied that the

power would die out in “one millennium after His death.” But this is an entire mistake.In the Dīgha

Nikāya the Buddha says:

Hear Subhadra!The world will never be without Rahats,if the ascetics in my congregations

well and truly keep my precepts.

A similar contradiction of the view brought forward by the Brāhmans is made by Krishna in the Bhagavad

Gītā,and there is further the actual appearance of many Sāddhus and miracle-workers in the past and

even in the present age.The same holds good for China and Tibet.Among the commandments of Tsong-

Kha-pa there is one that enjoins the Rahats (Arhats)to make an attempt to enlighten the world including

the “white barbarians,”every century at a certain specified period of the cycle.Up to the present day

none of these attempts has been very successful.Failure has followed failure.Have we to explain the

fact by the light of a certain prophecy?It is said that up to the time when Phan-chhen-rin-po-chhe (the

Great Jewel of Wisdom)[A title of the Tda-shu-Illum-po Lama.] condescends to be reborn in the land of

the P ’helings (Westerners),and appearing as the Spiritual Conqueror (Chom-den-da),destroys the

errors and ignorance of the ages,it will be of little use to try to uproot the misconceptions of P ’heling-pa

(Europe):her sons will listen to no one.

Tibetan Prophecies -(Page 413)Another prophecy declares that the Secret Doctrine shall remain in all its

purity in Bhod-yul (Tibet)only to the day that it is kept free from foreign invasion.The very visits of

Western natives,however friendly would be baneful to the Tibetan populations.This is the true key to

Tibetan exclusiveness.

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SECTION L

A Few More Misconceptions Corrected

(Page 414)NOTWITHSTANDING widespread misconceptions and errors —often most amusing to one who

has certain knowledge of the true doctrines —about Buddhism generally and especially about Buddhism

in Tibet all the Orientalists agree that the Buddha ’s foremost aim was to lead human beings to salvation

by teaching them to practise the greatest purity and virtue and by detaching them from the service of this

illusionary world and the love of one ’s still more illusionary —because so evanescent and unreal —body

and physical self.And what is the good of a virtuous life full of privations and suffering if the only result

of it is to be annihilation at the end?If even the attainment of that supreme perfection which leads the

Initiate to remember the whole series of his past lives,and to foresee that of the future ones,by the full

development of that inner divine eye in him and to acquire the knowledge that unfolds the causes [The

twelve Nidānas,called in Tibetan Tin-bred Chug-nyi which are based upon the “Four Truths.”] of the

ever-recurring cycles of existence brings him finally to non-being and nothing more —then the whole

system is idiotic,and Epicureanism is far more philosophical than such Buddhism.He who is unable to

comprehend the subtle and yet so potent difference between existence in a material or physical state

and a purely spiritual existence —Spirit or “Soul-life ”—will never appreciate at their full value the grand

teachings of the Buddha even in their exoteric form.Individual or personal existence is the cause of

pains and sorrows;collective and impersonal life-eternal is full of divine bliss and joy for ever with neither

causes nor effects to darken its light.And the hope for such a life-eternal is the keynote of the whole of

Buddhism.If we are told that impersonal existence is no existence at all but amounts to annihilation as

was maintained by some French reincarnationists,then we would ask:

Misrepresentations of Buddhism -(Page 415)What difference can it make in the spiritual perceptions of

an Ego whether he enter Nirvāna loaded with recollections only of his own personal lives —tens of

thousands according to the modern reincarnationists —or whether merged entirely in the Parabrāhmic

state it becomes one with the All with the absolute knowledge and the absolute feeling of representing

collective humanities?Once that an Ego lives only ten distinct individual lives he must necessarily lose

his one self and become mixed up —merged so to say —with these ten selves.It really seems that so

long as this great mystery remains a dead letter to the world of Western thinkers,and especially to the

Orientalists,the less the latter undertake to explain it the better for Truth.

Of all the existing religious Philosophies,Buddhism is the least understood.The Lassens,Webers,

Wassiljows the Burnoufs and Juliens,and even such “eye-witnesses ”of Tibetan Buddhism as Csoma de

Köros and the Schlagintweits,have hitherto only added perplexity to confusion.None of these has ever

received his information from a genuine Gelugpa source:all have judged Buddhism from the bits of

knowledge picked up at Tibetan frontier lamaseries,in countries thickly populated by Bhutanese and

Leptchas,Bhons,and red-capped Dugpas,along the line of the Himālayas.Hundreds of volumes

purchased from Burats,Shamans,and Chinese Buddhists,have been read and translated glossed and

misinterpreted according to invariable custom.Esoteric Schools would cease to be worthy of their name

were their literature and doctrines to become the property of even their profane co-religionists —still less

of the Western public.This is simple common-sense and logic.Nevertheless this is a fact which our

Orientalists have ever refused to recognize:hence they have gone on gravely discussing the relative

merits and absurdities of idols,“soothsaying tables,” and “magical figures of Phurbu ”on the “square

tortoise.” None of these have anything to do with the real philosophical Buddhism of the Gelugpa or

even of the most educated among the Sakyapa and Kadampa sects.All such “plates ”and sacrificial

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tables,Chinsreg magical circles,etc.were avowedly got from Sikkhim Bhutan and Eastern Tibet from

Bhons and Dugpas.Nevertheless,these are given as characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism!It would be as

fair to judge the unread Philosophy of Bishop Berkeley after studying Christianity in the clown-worship of

Neapolitan lazzaroni dancing a mystic jig before the idol of St.Pip or carrying the ex-voto in wax of the

phallus of SS Cosmo and Domiano at Tsernie.

(Page 416)It is quite true that the primitive Shrāvakas (listeners or hearers)and the Shramanas (the

“thought-restrainers ”and the “pure ”)have degenerated and that many Buddhist sects have fallen into

mere dogmatism and ritualism.Like every other Esoteric,half-suppressed teaching the words of the

Buddha convey a double meaning and every sect has gradually come to claim to be the only one

knowing the correct meaning and thus to assume supremacy over the rest.Schism has crept in and has

fastened like a hideous cancer on the fair body of early Buddhism.Nāgārjuna ’s Mahāyāna (“Great

Vehicle ”)School was opposed by the Hīnayāna (or “Little Vehicle ”)System and even the Yogāchārya of

Ćryāsanga became disfigured by the yearly pilgrimage from India to the shores of Mansarovara of hosts

of vagabonds with matted locks who play at being Yogis and Fakirs,preferring this to work.An affected

detestation of the world and the tedious and useless practice of the counting of inhalations and

exhalations as a means to produce absolute tranquillity of mind or meditation have brought this school

within the region of Hatha Yoga and have made it heir to the Brāhmanical Tīrthikas.And though its

Srotāpatti its Sakridāgāmin Anāgāmin and Arhats,[The Scrotāpatti is one who has attained the first

Path of comprehension in the real and the unreal:the Sakridāgāmin is the candidate for one of the higher

Initiations:“one who is to receive birth once more ”the Anāgāmin is he who has attained the “third path ”

or literally “he who will not be reborn again ”nless he so wishes it,having the options of being reborn in

any of the “worlds of the Gods,”or of remaining in Devachan or of choosing an earthly body with a

philanthropic object.An Arhat is one who has reached the higher Path:he may merge into Nirvāna at will

while here on earth.] bear the same names in almost every school yet the doctrines of each differ

greatly and none of these is likely to gain real Abhijńās (the supernatural abnormal five powers).

One of the chief mistakes of the Orientalists when judging on “internal (?)evidence ” as they express it

was that they assumed that the Pratyeka Buddhas,the Bodhisattvas and the “Perfect ”Buddhas were a

later development of Buddhism.For on these three chief degrees are based the seven and twelve

degrees of the Hierarchy of Adeptship.The first are those who have attained the Bodhi (wisdom)of the

Buddhas,but do not become Teachers.[The Pratyeka Buddha stands on the level of the Buddha but His

work for the world has nothing to do with its teaching and His office has always been surrounded with

mystery.The preposterous view that He at such superhuman height of power wisdom and love could be

selfish is found in the exoteric books,though it is hard to see how it can have arisen.H.P.B charged me

to correct the mistake as she had in a careless moment copied such a statement elsewhere.—A.B.]

The human Bodhisattvas are candidates,so to say for perfect Buddhaship (in Kalpas to come),and with

the option of using their powers now if need be.

A Mysterious Land -(Page 417)“Perfect ”Buddhas are simply “perfect ”Initiates.All these are men and

not disembodied Beings,as is given out in the Hinayāna exoteric books.Their correct character may be

found only in the secret volumes of Lugrub or Nāgārjuna the founder of the Mahāyāna system who is

said to have been initiated by the Nāgas (fabulous “Serpents,” the veiled name for an Initiate or

Mahātmā).The fabled report found in Chinese records that Nāgārjuna considered his doctrine to be in

opposition to that of Gautama Buddha until he discovered from the Nāgas that it was precisely the

doctrine that had been secretly taught by Shākyamuni Himself is an allegory and is based upon the

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reconciliation between the old Brāhmanical secret Schools in the Himālayas and Gautama ’s Esoteric

teachings,both parties having at first objected to the rival schools of the other.The former the parent of

all others,had been established beyond the Himālayas for ages before the appearance of Shākyamuni.

Gautama was a pupil of this;and it was with them those Indian Sages,that He has learned the truths of

the Sungata the emptiness and impermanence of every terrestrial evanescent thing and the mysteries

of Prajńā Pāramitā or “knowledge across the River ”which finally lands the “Perfect One ”in the regions

of the One Reality.But His Arhats were not Himself.Some of them were ambitious,and they modified

certain teachings after the great councils,and it is on account of these “heretics ”that the Mother-School

at first refused to allow them to blend their schools,when persecution began driving away the Esoteric

Brotherhood from India.But when finally most of them submitted to the guidance and control of the chief

Ćshrams,then the Yogāchārya of Ćryāsanga was merged into the oldest Lodge.For it is there from time

immemorial that has lain concealed the final hope and light of the world the salvation of mankind.Many

are the names of that School and land the name of the latter being now regarded by the Orientalists as

the mythic name of a fabulous country.It is from this mysterious land nevertheless,that the Hindu

expects his Kalki Avatāra the Buddhist his Maitreya the Pārsī his Sosiosh and the Jew his Messiah

and so would the Christian expect thence his Christ —if he only knew of it.

There and there alone reigns Paranishpanna (Gunggrub),the absolutely perfect comprehension of

Being and Non-Being the changeless true Existence in Spirit even while the latter is seemingly still in

the body every inhabitant thereof being a Non-Ego because he has become the Perfect Ego.Their

voidness is “self-existent and perfect ”(Page 418)—if there were profane eyes to sense and perceive it —

because it has become absolute;the unreal being transformed into conditionless Reality and the realities

of this,our world having vanished in their own nature into thin (non-existing)air.The “Absolute Truth ”

(Dondam-pay-den-pa;Sanskrit:Parmārthasatya)having conquered “relative truth ” (Kunza-bchi-den-pa;

Sanskrit:Samvritisatya),the inhabitants of the mysterious region are thus supposed to have reached the

state called in mystic phraseology Svasamvedanā (“self-analyzing reflection ”)and Paramārtha or that

absolute consciousness of the personal merged into the impersonal Ego which is above all hence

above illusion in every sense.Its “Perfect ”Buddhas and Bodhisattvas may be on every nimble Buddhist

tongue as celestial —therefore unreachable Beings,while these names may suggest and say nothing to

the dull perceptions of the European profane.What matters it to Those who being in this world yet live

outside and far beyond our illusive earth!Above Them there is but one class of Nirvānīs,namely the

Chos-ku (Dharmakāya),or the Nirvānīs “without remains ”—the pure Arūpa the formless Breaths.[ It is

an erroneous idea which makes the Orientalists take literally the teaching of the Mahāyāna School about

the three different kinds of bodies,namely the Prulpa-ku the Longehod-dzocpaig-ku and the Chos-ku

as all pertaining to the Nirvānic condition.There are two kinds of Nirvāna:the earthly and that of the

purely disembodied Spirits.These three “bodies ”are the three envelopes —all more or less physical —

which are at the disposal of the Adept who has entered and crossed the six Pāramitās,or “Paths ”of

Buddha.Once He enters upon the seventh He can return no more to earth.See Cosma Jo r.As.Soc.

Beng.,vii.142:and Schott B ddhism s,p.9 who give it otherwise.]

Thence emerge occasionally the Bodhisattvas in their Prul-pai-ka (or Nirmānakāya)body and assuming

an ordinary appearance they teach men.There are conscious,as well as unconscious,incarnations.

Most of the doctrines contained in the Yogāchārya or Mahāyāna systems are Esoteric,like the rest.One

day the profane Hindu and Buddhist may begin to pick the Bible to pieces,taking it literally.Education is

fast spreading in Asia and already there have been made some attempts in this direction so that the

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tables may then be cruelly turned on the Christians.Whatever conclusions the two may arrive at they will

never be half as absurd and unjust as some of the theories launched by Christians against their

respective Philosophies.Thus,according to Spence Hardy at death the Arhat enters Nirvāna:

That is,he ceases to exist.

And agreeably to Major Jacob the Jīvanmukta

Absorbed into Brahma enters upon an unconscious and stonelike existence.[Vedānta Sāra,

translated by Major Jacob p.119.]

Absurd Conclusions -(Page 419)Shankarāchārya is shown as saying in his prolegomena to the

Shvetāshvatara :

Gnosis,once arisen requires nothing farther for the realization of its result:it needs subsidia

only that it may arise.

The Theosophist it has been argued as long as he lives,may do good and evil as he chooses and incur

no stain such is the efficacy of gnosis.And it is further alleged that the doctrine of Nirvāna lends itself to

immoral inferences,and that the Quietists of all ages have been taxed with immortality.[Ibid.p.122.]

According to Wassilyew [Der B ddhism s,pp.327 357 et seq.,quoted by Schlagintweit.] and Csoma

de Köros,[B ddhism in Tibet,p.41.] the Prasanga School adopted a peculiar mode of

Deducing the absurdity and erroneousness of every esoteric opinion.[Jo r of As.Soc.

Bengal,vii 144 quoted as above.]

Correct interpretations of Buddhist Philosophy are crowned by that gloss on a thesis from the Prasanga

School that

Even an Arhat goes to hell in case he doubt anything [B ddhism in Tibet,p.44.]

thus making of the most free-thinking religion in the world a blind-faith system.The “threat ”refers simply

to the well-known law that even an Initiate may fail and thus have his object utterly ruined if he doubt for

one moment the efficacy of his psychic powers —the alphabet of Occultism as every Kabalist well knows.

The Tibetan sect of the Ngo-vo-nyid-med par Mraba (“they who deny existence ” or “regard nature as

Māyā ”)[They maintain also the existence of One Absolute pure Nature Parabrahman:the illusion of

everything outside of it;the leading of the individual Soul — a Ray of the “Universal ”—into the true nature

of existence and things by Yoga alone.] can never be contrasted for one moment with some of the

nihilistic or materialistic schools of India such as the Chārvāka.They are pure Vedāntins —if anything —in

their views.And if the Yogāchāryas may be compared with or called the Tibetan Vishishtadwaitīs,the

Prasanga School is surely the Adwaita Philosophy of the land.It was divided into two:one was originally

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founded by Bhavya the Svantatra Madhyamika School and the other by Buddhapālita;both have their

exoteric and esoteric divisions.It is necessary to belong to the latter to know anything of the (Page 420)

esoteric doctrines of that sect the most metaphysical and philosophical of all.Chandrakirti (Dava Dagpa)

wrote his commentaries on the Prasanga doctrines and taught publicly;and he expressly states that

there are two ways of entering the “Path ”to Nirvāna.Any virtuous man can reach by Naljorngonsum

(“meditation by self-perception ”),the intuitive comprehension of the four Truths,without either belonging

to a monastic order or having been initiated.In this case it was considered as a heresy to maintain that

the visions which may arise in consequence of such meditation or Vishnā (internal knowledge),are not

susceptible of errors (Namtog or false visions),for they are.Alaya alone having an absolute and eternal

existence can alone have absolute knowledge;and even the Initiate in his Nirmānakāya [Nirmānakāya

(also Nirvānakāya vulg.)is the body or Self “with remains,” or the influence of terrestrial attributes,

however spiritualized clinging yet to that Self.An initiate in Dharmakāya or in Nirvāna “without remains,”

is the Jīvanmukta the Perfect Initiate who separates his Higher Self entirely from his body during

Samādhi.[It will be noticed that these two words are here used in a sense other than that previously

given.—A.B.] body may commit an occasional mistake in accepting the false for the true in his

explorations of the “Causeless ”World.The Dharmakāya Bodhisattva is alone infallible when in real

Samādhi.Ćlaya or Nying-po being the root and basis of all invisible and incomprehensible to human

eye and intellect it can reflect only its reflection —not Itself.Thus that reflection will be mirrored like the

moon in tranquil and clear water only in the passionless Dharmakāya intellect and will be distorted by

the flitting image of everything perceived in a mind that is itself liable to be disturbed.

In short this doctrine is that of the Rāj-Yoga in its practice of the two kinds of the Samādhi state;one of

the “Paths ”leading to the sphere of bliss (Sukhāvatī or Devachan),where man enjoys perfect unalloyed

happiness,but is yet still connected with personal existence;and the other Path that leads to entire

emancipation from the worlds of illusion self and unreality.The first one is open to all and is reached by

merit simply;the second — a hundredfold more rapid —is reached through knowledge (Initiation).Thus the

followers of the Prasanga School are nearer to Esoteric Buddhism than are the Yogāchāryas;for their

views are those of the most secret Schools,and only the echo of these doctrines is heard in the

Yamyangshapda and other works in public circulation and use.For instance the unreality of two out of

the three divisions of time is given in public works,namely (a )that there is neither past nor future both of

these divisions being correlative to the present;and (b )that the reality of things can never be sensed or

perceived except by him who has obtained the Dharmakāya body;here again is a difficulty since this

body “without remains ”carries the Initiate to full Paranirvāna if we accept the exoteric explanation

verbally and can therefore neither sense nor perceive.

Materialistic Orientalists -(Page 421)But evidently our Orientalists do not feel the caveat in such

incongruities,and they proceed to speculate without pausing to reflect over it.Literature on Mysticism

being enormous,and Russia owing to the free intercourse with the Burats Shamans,and Mongolians,

having alone purchased whole libraries on Tibet scholars ought to know better by this time.It suffices to

read however what Csoma wrote on the origin of the Kāla Chakra System [The “Secret ” Books of Dus-

Kyi Khorio (“Time Circle ”).See Jo r.As.Soc .ii.57.These works were abandoned to the Sikkhim

Dugpas,from the time of Tsong-Kha-pa ’s reform.] or Wassilyew on Buddhism to make one give up every

hope of seeing them go below the rind of the “forbidden fruit.” When Schlagintweit is found saying that

Tibetan Mysticism is not Yoga —

That abstract devotion by which supernatural powers are acquired [ Glossary of J dicial and

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Reven e Terms,art.“Yoga ”quoted in B ddhism in Tibet.p.47.]

as Yoga is defined by Wilson but that it is closely related to Siberian Shamanism and is “almost identical

with the Tāntrika ritual ” ;and that the Tibetan Z ng is the “Dhāranīs,”and the Gynt only the Tantras —pre-

Christian Tantra being judged by the ritual of the modern Tāntrikas —one seems almost justified in

suspecting our materialistic Orientalists of acting as the best friends and allies of the missionaries.

Whatever is not known to our geographers seems to be a non-existent locality.Thus:

Mysticism is reported to have originated in the fabulous country Sambhala.....Csoma from

caref l investigations,places this [ fabulous?] country beyond the Sir Daria [Yaxartes ]

between 45 . and 50 . north latitude.It was first known in India in the year 965 A.D and was

introduced ...into Tibet from India via Kashmir in the year 1025 A.D.[B ddhism in Tibet.pp.

47 48.]

“It ”meaning the “Dus-kyi Khorlo ”or Tibetan Mysteries.A system as old as man known in India and

practised before Europe had become a continent “was first known ”we are told only nine or ten

centuries ago!The text of its books in its present form may have “originated ”even later for there are

numerous such texts that have been tampered with by sects to suit the fancies of each.But who has

read (Page 422)the original book on Dus-Kyi Khorlo re-written by Tsong-Kha-pa with his Commentaries?

Considering that this grand Reformer burnt every book on Sorcery on which he could lay his hands in

1387 and that he has left a whole library of his own works —not a tenth part of which has ever been

made known —such statements as those above quoted are to say the least premature.The idea is also

cherished —from a happy hypothesis offered by Abbé Huc —that Tsong-Kha-pa derived his wisdom and

acquired his extraordinary powers from his intercourse with a stranger from the West “remarkable for a

long nose.” This stranger is believed by the good Abbé “to have been a European missionary;” hence the

remarkable resemblance of the religious ritual in Tibet to the Roman Catholic service.The sanguine

“Lama of Jehovah ”does not say however who were the five foreigners who appeared in Tibet in the

year 371 of our era to disappear as suddenly and mysteriously as they came after leaving with King

Thothori-Nyang-tsan instructions how to use certain things in a casket that “had fallen from heaven ”in his

presence precisely fifty years before or in the year A.D.331.[B ddhism in Tibet,pp.63 64.The objects

found in the casket as enumerated in the exoteric legend are of course symbolical.They may be found

mentioned in the Kanj r .They were said to be:(1)two hands joined (2)a miniature Choten (Stūpa or

reliquary);(3)a talisman with “Om mani padme hum ”inscribed on it:(4)a religious book,Zamatog (“ a

constructed vehicle ”).]

There is generally a hopeless confusion about Eastern dates among European scholars,but nowhere is

this so great as in the case of Tibetan Buddhism.Thus,while some correctly enough accept the seventh

century as the date of the introduction of Buddhism there are others —such as Lassen and Koeppung

for instance —who show on good authority the one the construction of a Buddhist monastery on the

slopes of the Kailas Range so far back as the year 137 B.C.[Alterth mskunde ii 1072.] and the other

Buddhism established in and north of the Punjab as early as the year 292 B.C.The difference though

trifling —only just one thousand years —is nevertheless puzzling.But even this is easily explained on

Esoteric grounds.Buddhism —the veiled Esotericism of Buddha —was established and took root in the

seventh century of the Christian era;while true Esoteric Buddhism or the kernel the very spirit of

Tathāgata ’s doctrines,was brought to the place of its birth the cradle of humanity by the chosen Arhats

of Buddha who were sent to find for it a secure refuge as

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Introduction of Buddhism into Tibet -(Page 423)The Sage had perceived the dangers ever since he

had entered upon Thonglam (“the Path of seeing ” or clairvoyance).

Amidst populations deeply steeped in Sorcery the attempt proved a failure;and it was not until the

School of the “Doctrine of the Heart ”had merged with its predecessor established ages earlier on the

slope facing Western Tibet that Buddhism was finally engrafted with its two distinct Schools —the

Esoteric and the exoteric divisions —in the land of the Bhon-pa.

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SECTION LI

The 'Doctrine of the Eye'and The 'Doctrine of the Heart'or the 'Heart's Seal'.

(Page 424)PROF.ALBRECHT WEBER was right when he declared that the Northern Buddhists

Alone possess these [Buddhist ] Scriptures complete.

For while the Southern Buddhists have no idea of the existence of an esoteric doctrine enshrined like a

pearl within the shell of every religion —the Chinese and the Tibetans have preserved numerous records

of the fact.Degenerate fallen as is now the Doctrine publicly preached by Gautama it is yet preserved in

those monasteries in China that are placed beyond the reach of visitors.And though for over two

millennia every new “reformer ” taking something out of the original has replaced it by some speculation

of his own still truth lingers even now among the masses.But it is only in the Trans-Himālayan

fastnesses —loosely called Tibet —in the most inaccessible spots of desert and mountain that the

Esoteric “Good Law ”—the “Heart ’s Seal ”—lives to the present day in all its pristine purity.

Was Emanual Swedenborg wrong when he remarked of the forgotten long-lost Word:

Seek for it in China;peradventure you may find it in Great Tartary.

He had obtained this information he tells his readers,from certain “Spirits,”who told him that they

performed their worship according to this (lost)ancient Word.On this it was remarked in Isis Unveiled

that

Other students of Occult Sciences had more than the world of “spirits ”to rely upon in this

special case:they have seen the books

that contain the “Word.[Op.cit.,ii.470.]

Swedenborg Claims -(Page 425)Perchance the names of those “Spirits ”who visited the great Swedish

Theosophist were Eastern.The word of a man of such undeniable and recognised integrity of one whose

learning in Mathematics,Astronomy the natural Sciences and Philosophy was far in advance of his age

cannot be trifled with or rejected as unceremoniously as if it were the statement of a modern

Theosophist:further he claimed to pass at will into that state when the Inner Self frees itself entirely from

every physical sense and lives and breathes in a world where every secret of Nature is an open book to

the Soul-eye.[Unless one obtains exact information and the right method one ’s visions,however correct

and true in Soul-life will ever fail to get photographed in our human memory and certain cells of the

brain are sure to play havoc with our remembrances.]Unfortunately two-thirds of his public writings are

also allegorical in one sense:and as they have been accepted literally criticism has not spared the great

Swedish Seer any more than other Seers.

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Having taken a panoramic view of the hidden Sciences and Magic with their Adepts in Europe Eastern

Initiates must now be mentioned.If the presence of Esotericism in the Sacred Scriptures of the West only

now begins to be suspected after nearly two thousand years of blind faith in their verbatim wisdom the

same may well be granted as to the Sacred Books of the East.Therefore neither the Indian nor the

Buddhist system can be understood without a key nor can the study of comparative religion become a

“Science ”until the symbols of every Religion yield their final secrets.At the best such a study will remain

a loss of time a playing at hide-and-seek.

On the authority of a Japanese Encyclopędia,Remusat shows the Buddha before His death

committing the secrets of His system to His disciple Kāsyapa to whom alone was entrusted the sacred

keeping of the Esoteric interpretation.It is called in China Ching-fa-yin-Tsang (“the Mystery of the Eye of

the Good Doctrine ”).To any student of Buddhist Esotericism the term “the Mystery of the Eye ” would

show the absence of any Esotericism.Had the word “Heart ”stood in its place then it would have meant

what it now only professes to convey.The “Eye Doctrine ”means dogma and dead-letter form church

ritualism intended for those who are content with exoteric formulę.The “Heart Doctrine ” or the “Heart ’s

Seal ”(the Sin Yin)is the only real one.This may be found corroborated by Hiuen Tsang.(Page 426)In his

translation of Mahā-Prajnā-Pāramitā (Ta-poh-je-King ),in one hundred and twenty volumes,it is stated

that it was Buddha ’s “favourite disciple Ćnanda ”who after his great Master had gone into Nirvāna was

commissioned by Kāsyapa to promulgate “the Eye of the Doctrine ”the “Heart ”of the Law having been

left with the Arhats alone.

The essential difference that exists between the two —the “Eye ”and the “Heart ”or the outward form and

the hidden meaning the cold metaphysics and the Divine Wisdom —is clearly demonstrated in several

volumes on “Chinese Buddhism ”written by sundry missionaries.Having lived for years in China they

still know no more than they have learned from pretentious schools calling themselves esoteric,yet freely

supplying the open enemies of their faith with professedly ancient manuscripts and esoteric works!This

ludicrous contradiction between profession and practice has never as it seems,struck any of the western

and reverend historians of other people ’s secret tenets.Thus many esoteric schools are mentioned in

Chinese B ddhism by the Rev.Joseph Edkins,who believes quite sincerely that he has made “a minute

examination ”of the secret tenets of Buddhists whose works “were until lately inaccessible in their original

form.”It really will not be saying too much to state at once that the genuine Esoteric literature is

“inaccessible ”to this day and that the respectable gentleman who was inspired to state that

It does not appear that there was any secret doctrine which those who knew it would not

divulge

made a great mistake if he ever believed in what he says on page 161 of his work.Let him know at once

that all those Yū-luh (“Records of the Sayings ”)of celebrated teachers are simply blinds,as complete —if

not more so —than those in the Purānas of the Brāhmans.It is useless to enumerate an endless string of

the finest Oriental scholars or to bring forward the researches of Remusat Burnouf Koeppen St.Hilaire

and St.Julian who are credited with having exposed to view the ancient Hindu world by revealing the

sacred and secret books of Buddhism:the world that they reveal has never been veiled.The mistakes of

all the Orientalists may be judged by the mistake of one of the most popular if not the greatest among

them all —Prof.Max Müller.It is made with reference to what he laughingly translates as the “god Who ”

(Ka).

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The God 'Who'-(Page 427)The authors of the Brāhmanas had so completely broken with the

past that forgetful of the poetical character of the hymns and the yearning of the poets after

the Unknown God they exalted the interrogative pronoun itself into a deity and acknowledged

a god Ka (or Who?)...Wherever interrogative verses occur the author states that Ka is

Prajāpati or the Lord of Creatures.Nor did they stop here.Some of the hymns in which the

interrogative pronoun occurred were called Kadvat i.e.,having Kad or Quid.But soon a new

adjective was formed and not only the hymns but the sacrifice also offered to the god were

called Kaya or “Who ”-ish ....At the time of Pānini this word acquired such legitimacy as to

call for a separate rule explaining its formation.The Commentator here explains Ka by

Brahman.

Had the commentator explained It even by Parabrahman he would have been still more in the right than

he was by rendering It as “Brahman.”One fails to see why the secret and sacred Mystery-Name of the

highest sexless,formless Spirit the Absolute —Whom no one would have dared to classify with the rest

of the manifested Deities,or even to name during the primitive nomenclature of the symbolical

Panthenon should not be expressed by an interrogative pronoun.Is it those who belong to the most

anthropomorphic Religion in the world who have a right to take ancient Philosophers to task for even an

exaggerated religious awe and veneration?

But we are now concerned with Buddhism.Its Esotericism and oral instruction which is written down and

preserved in single copies by the highest chiefs in genuine Esoteric Schools,is shown by the author San-

Kian-yi-su.Contrasting Bodhidharma with Buddha he exclaims:

“Julai ”(Tathāgata)taught great truths and the causes of things.He became the instructor of

men and Devas.He saved multitudes,and spoke the contents of more than five hundred

works.Hence arose the Kiau-men or exoteric branch of the system and it was believed to be

the tradition of the words of Buddha.Bodhidharma brought from the Western Heaven

[Shamballa ] the “Seal of Truth ”(true seal)and opened the fountain of contemplation in the

East.He pointed directly to Buddha ’s heart and nature swept away the parasitic and alien

growth of book-instruction and thus established the Tsung-men or Esoteric branch of the

system containing the tradition of the heart of Buddha.[ Chinese B ddhism,p.158.The Rev.

Joseph Edkins either ignores or —which is more probable —is utterly ignorant of the real

existence of such Schools,and judges by the Chinese travesties of these calling such

Esotericism “heterodox Buddhism.”And so it is,in one sense.]

A few remarks made by the author of Chinese B ddhism throw a flood of light on the universal

misconceptions of Orientalists in general and (Page 428)of the missionaries in the “lands of the Gentiles ”

in particular.They appeal very forcibly to the intuition of Theosophists —more particularly those in India.

The sentences to be noticed are italicized.

The common [Chinese ]word for the Esoteric Schools is dan the Sanskrit Dhyāna ....Orthodox

Buddhism has in China slowly but steadily become heterodox.The Buddhism of books and ancient

traditions has become the B ddhism of mystic contemplation ....The history of ancient schools

springing up long ago in the Buddhist communities of India can now be only very partially recovered.

Possibly some light may be thrown back by China upon the religious history of the country from which

Buddhism came.[That country —India —has lost the records of such Schools and their teaching only so

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far as the general public,and especially the inappreciative Western Orientalists are concerned.It has

preserved them in full in some Mathams,(refuges for mystic contemplation).But it may perhaps be better

to seek them with and from their rightful owners,the so-called “mythical ”Adepts or Mahātmās.] In no

part of the story is aid to the recovery of the lost knowledge more likely to be found than in the accounts

of the patriarchs,the line of whom was completed by Bodhidharma.In seeking the best explanation of

the Chinese and Japanese narrative of the patriarchs,and the seven B ddhas terminating in Gautama

or Shākyamuni it is important to know the Jain traditions as they were early in the sixth century of our

era when the Patriarch Bodhidharma removed to China ....

In tracing the rise of the various schools of esoteric Buddhism it must be kept in mind that a principle

somewhat similar to the dogma of apostolical succession belongs to them all.They all profess to derive

their doctrines thro gh a succession of teachers,each instructed personally by his predecessor,till the

time of Bodhidharma,and so f rther p in the series to Shākyam ni himself and the earlier B ddhas.

[Chinese B ddhism.pp.155-159.]

It is complained further on and is mentioned as a falling away from strict orthodox Buddhism that the

Lamas of Tibet are received in Pekin with the tmost respect by the Emperor.

The following passages,taken from different parts of the book,summarise Mr.Edkin ’s views:

Hermits are not uncommonly met with in the vicinity of large Buddhist temples ...their hair

being allowed to grow unshorn....The doctrine of metempsychosis is rejected.Buddhism is

one form of Pantheism on the ground that the doctrine of metempsychosis makes all nature

instinct with life and that that life is the Deity assuming different forms of personality that Deity

not being a self-conscious,free-acting Self-Cause but an all-pervading Spirit.The esoteric

Buddhists of China keeping rigidly to their one doctrine [They certainly reject most

emphatically the popular theory of the transmigration of human entities or Souls into animals,

but not the evolution of men from animals —so far at least as their lower principles are

concerned.] say nothing of the metempsychosis,....or any other of the more material parts

of the Buddhist system ......The Western paradise promised to the worshippers of Amida

Buddha is ...inconsistent with the doctrine of Nirvana [?].[It is quite consistent on the

contrary when explained in the light of the Esoteric Doctrine.The “Western paradise ”or

Western heaven is no fiction located in transcendental space.It is a bona-fide locality in the

mountain or to be more correct one encircled in a desert within mountains.Hence it is

assigned for the residence of those students of Esoteric Wisdom —disciples of Buddha —who

have attained the rank of Lohans and Anāgāmins (Adepts).It is called “Western ”simply from

geographical considerations:and “the great iron mountain girdle ”that surrounds the Avitchi

and the seven Lokas that encircle the “Western paradise ”are a very exact representation of

well-known localities and things to the Eastern student of Occultism.]

More Misrepresentations -(Page 429)....It promises immortality instead of annihilation.

The great antiquity of this School is evident from the early date of the translation of the Amida

tra which came from the hands of Kumārajīva and Ku-lian-theu-King dating from the Han

dynasty its extent of influence is seen in the attachment of the Tibetans and Moguls to the

worship of this Buddha and in the fact that the name of this fictitious personage [?]is more

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commonly heard in China than that of the historical Shākyamuni.

We fear the learned writer is on a false track as to Nirvāna and Amita Buddha.However here we have

the evidence of a missionary to show that there are several schools of Esoteric Buddhism in the Celestial

Empire.When the misuse of dogmatical orthodox Buddhist Scriptures had reached its climax and the

true spirit of the Buddha ’s Philosophy was nearly lost several reformers appeared from India who

established an oral teaching.Such were Bodhidharma and Nāgārjuna the authors of the most important

works of the contemplative School in China during the first centuries of our era.It is known moreover as

is said in Chinese B ddhism that Bodhidharma became the chief founder of the Esoteric Schools,which

were divided into five principal branches.The data given are correct enough but every conclusion

without one single exception is wrong.It was said in Isis Unveiled that —

Budda teaches the doctrine of a new birth as plainly as Jesus does.Desiring to break with the

ancient Mysteries,to which it was impossible to admit the ignorant masses,the Hindu

reformer though generally silent upon more than one secret dogma clearly states his thought

in several passages.Thus,he says:“Some people are born again;evil-doers go to hell

[Avitchi ];righteous people go to heaven [Devachan ] ;those who are free from all worldly

desires enter Nirvāna ”(Precepts of the Dhammapada,v.126).Elsewhere Buddha states that

“it is better to believe in a future life in which happiness or misery can be felt:for if the heart

believes therein it will abandon sin and act virtuously;and even if there is no resurrection

[rebirth ] such a life will bring a good name and the reward of men.But those who believe in

extinction at death will not fail to commit any sin that they may choose because of their

disbelief in a future.”(See Wheel of the Law.)

How is immortality then “inconsistent with the doctrine of (Page 430)Nirvāna?”The above are only a few

of Buddha ’s openly-expressed thoughts to his chosen Arhats;the great Saint said much more.As a

comment upon the mistaken views held in our century by the Orientalists,“who vainly try to fathom

Tathāgata ’s thoughts,”and those of Brāhmans,“who repudiate the great Teacher to this day ”here are

some original thoughts expressed in relation to the Buddha and the study of the Secret Sciences.They

are from a work written in Chinese by a Tibetan and published in the monastery of Tientaļ for circulation

among the Buddhists

Who live in foreign lands,and are in danger of being spoiled by missionaries,

as the author truly says,every convert being not only “spoiled ”for his own creed but being also a sorry

acquisition for Christianity.A translation of a few passages,kindly made from that work for the present

volumes is now given.

No profane ears having heard the mighty Chau-yan [secret and enlightening precepts ] of Vu-

vei-Tchen-jen [Buddha within Buddha ] [The word is translated by the Orientalists as “true man

without a position ”(?)which is very misleading.It simply means the true inner man or Ego.

“Buddha within Buddha ”meaning that there was a Gautama inwardly as well as o twardly.] of

our beloved Lord and Bodhisattva how can one tell what his thoughts really were?The holy

Sang-gyas-Panchhen [One of the titles of Gautama Buddha in Tibet.] never offered an insight

into the One Reality to the unreformed [uninitiated ] Bhikkus.Few are those even among the

Tu-fon [Tibetans ] who knew it;as for the Tsung-men [The “Esoteric ”Schools,or sects,of

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which there are many in China.] Schools,they are going with every day more down hill ....

Not even the Fa-siong-Tsung [ A school of contemplation founded by Hiuen-Tsang the

traveller nearly extinct.Fa-siong-Tsung means “the School that unveils the inner nature of

things.”] can give one the wisdom taught in real Naljor-chod-pa [Sanskrit:[ Esoteric,or hidden

teaching of Yoga (Chinese:Yogi-mi-Kean).]Yogāchārya ]:....it is all “Eye ”Doctrine and no

more.The loss of a restraining guidance is felt;since the Tch ’-an-si [teachers ] of inward

meditation [self-contemplation or Tchung-kwan ] have become rare and the Good Law is

replaced by idol-worship [Siang-kyan ] .It is of this [idol-or image-worship ] that the Barbarians

[Western people ] have heard and know nothing of Bas-pa-Dharma [the secret Dharma or

doctrine ] .Why has truth to hide like a tortoise within its shell?Because it is now found to have

become like the Lama ’s tonsure knife [The “tonsure knife ” is made of meteoric iron and is

used for the purpose of cutting off the “vow-lock,” or hair from the novice ’s head during his first

ordination.It has a double-edged blade is sharp as a razor and lies concealed within a hollow

handle of horn.By touching a spring the blade jerks out like a flash of lightening and recedes

back with the same rapidity.A great dexterity is required in using it without wounding the head

of the young Gelung and Gelung-ma (candidates to become priests and nuns)during the

preliminary rites,which are public.] a weapon too dangerous to use even for the Lanoo.

Therefore no one can be entrusted with the knowledge [Secret Science ] before his time.

Āryāsanga -(Page 431)The Chagpa-Thog-mad have become rare and the best have retired

to Tushita the Blessed.[Chapa-Thog-mad is the Tibetan name of Ćryāsanga the founder of

the Yogāchārya or Naljorchodpa School.This Sage and Initiate is said to have been taught

“Wisdom ”by Maitreya Buddha Himself the Buddha of the Sixth Race at Tushita (a celestial

region presided over by Him),and as having received from Him the five books of

Champaitehos-nga .The Secret Doctrine teaches,however that he came from Dejung or

Shambballa called the “source of happiness ”(“wisdom-acquired ”)and declared by some

Orientaliss to be a “fabulous ”place.]

Further on a man seeking to master the mysteries of Esotericism before he had been declared by the

initiated Tch ’-an-si (teachers)to be ready to receive them is likened to

One who would;without a lantern and on a dark night proceed to a place full of scorpions,

determined to feel on the ground for a needle his neighbour has dropped.

Again:

He who would acquire the Sacred Knowledge should before he goes any farther “trim his

lamp of inner understanding ”and then “with the help of such good light ” use his meritorious

actions as a dust-cloth to remove every impurity from his mystic mirror [ It may not be

perhaps,amiss to remind the reader of the fact that the “mirror ”was a part of the symbolism of

the Thesmophoria a portion of the Eleusinian Mysteries;and that it was used in the search for

Atma the “Hidden One ”or “Self.” In his excellent paper on the above-named mysteries,Dr.

Alexander Wilder of New York says:“Despite the assertion of Herodotus and others that the

Bacchic Mysteries were Egyptian there exists strong probability that they came originally from

India and were Shaivitic or Buddhistical.Kore-Persep-honeia was but the goddess Parasu-

pani or Bhavani and Zagreus is from Chakra a country extending from ocean to ocean.If this

is a Turanian story we can easily recognise the ‘horns ’ as the crescent worn by Lama-priests

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and assume the whole legend [the fable of Dionysus-Zagreus ] to be based on Lama-

succession and transmigration ....The whole story of Orpheus ...has a Hindu ring all

through.” The tale of “Lama-succession and transmigration ”did not originate with the Lamas,

who date themselves only so far back as the seventh century but with the Chaldęans and the

Brāhmans still earlier.] so that he should be enabled to see in its lustre the faithful reflection of

Self ....First this;then Tong pa-nya [The state of absolute freedom from any sin or desire.]

lastly;Samma Sambuddha.[The state during which an Adept sees the long series of his past

births,and lives through all his previous incarnations in this and the other worlds.(See the

admirable description in the Light of Asia .p.166 1884 ed.)]

In Chinese B ddhism a corroboration of these statements is to be found in the aphorisms of Lin-tsi:

Within the body which admits sensations,acquires knowledge thinks,and acts,there is the

“true man without a position ”Wu-wei-chen-jen.He makes himself clearly visible;not the

thinnest separating film hides him.Why do you not recognise him?...If the mind does not

come to conscious existence there is deliverance everywhere .....What is Buddha?Ans.A

mind clear and at rest.What is the Law?Ans.A mind clear and enlightened.What is Ta ?

Ans.In every place absence of impediments and pure enlightenment.These three are one.

(Page 432)The reverend author of Chinese B ddhism makes merry over the symbolism of Buddhist

discipline.Yet the self-inflicted “slaps on the cheek ”and “blows under the ribs ”find their pendants in the

mortifications of the body and self-flagellation —“the discipline of the scourge ”—of the Christian monks,

from the first centuries of Christianity down to our own day..But then the said author is a Protestant who

substitutes for mortification and discipline —good living and comfort.The sentence in the Lin-tsi

The “true man without a position ”Wu-wei-chen-jen is wrapped in a prickly shell like the

chestnut.He cannot be approached.This is Buddha —the Buddha within you

is laughed at.Truly

An infant cannot understand the seven enigmas!

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SOME PAPERS ON THE BEARING OF OCCULT PHILOSOPHY ON LIFE

(Page 433-434)

Note

Papers I.II.III.of the following were written by H.P.B and were circulated privately during her lifetime but

they were written with the idea that they would be published after a time.They are papers intended for

students rather than for the ordinary reader and will repay careful study and thought.The “Notes of some

Oral Teaching ”were written down by some of her pupils and were partially corrected by her but no

attempt has been made to relieve them of their fragmentary character.She had intended to make them

the basis for written papers similar to the first three but her failing health rendered this impossible and

they are published with her consent the time for restricting them to a limited circle having expired.

Annie Besant

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PAPER 1

A Warning

(Page 435)THERE is a strange law in Occultism which has been ascertained and proven by thousands of

years of experience;nor has it failed to demonstrate itself almost in every case during the years that the

Theosophical Society has been in existence.As soon as anyone pledges himself as a “Probationer ”

certain Occult effects ensue.Of these the first is the throwing o tward of everything latent in the nature of

the man;his faults habits qualities or subdued desires,whether good bad or indifferent.

For instance if a man be vain or a sensualist or ambitious,whether by atavism or by karmic heirloom

those vices are sure to break out even if he has hitherto successfully concealed and repressed them.

They will come to the front irrepressibly and he will have to fight a hundred times harder than before

until he kills all such tendencies in himself.

On the other hand if he be good generous,chaste and abstemious,or has any virtue hitherto latent and

concealed in him it will work its way out as irrepressibly as the rest.Thus a civilized man who hates to be

considered a saint and therefore assumes a mask,will not be able to conceal his true nature whether

base or noble.

THIS IS AN IMMUTABLE LAW IN THE DOMAIN OF THE OCCULT .

Its action is the more marked the more earnest and sincere the desire of the candidate and the more

deeply he has felt the reality and importance of his pledge.

The ancient occult axiom “Know Thyself ” must be familiar to every student;but few if any have

apprehended the real meaning of this wise exhortation of the Delphic Oracle.You all know your earthly

pedigree but who of you has ever traced all the links of heredity (Page 436)astral psychic and spiritual

which go to make you what you are?Many have written and expressed their desire to unite themselves

with their Higher Ego yet none seem to know the indissoluble link connecting their “Higher Egos ” with

the One Universal SELF.

For all purposes of Occultism whether practical or purely metaphysical such knowledge is absolutely

requisite.It is proposed therefore to begin these papers by showing this connection in all directions with

the worlds:Absolute Archetypal Spiritual Mānasic,Psychic,Astral and Elemental.Before however we

can touch upon the higher worlds —Archetypal Spiritual and Mānasic —we must master the relations of

the seventh the terrestrial world the lower Prakriti or Malkuth as in the Kabalah to the worlds or planes

which immediately follow it.

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Om

“OM,”says the Ćryan 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.

“OM-MANI ”murmurs the Turanian Adept the descendant of the Fourth Race;and after pausing he

adds,“PADME-HUM.”

This famous invocation is very erroneously translated by the Orientalists as meaning “Oh the Jewel in

the Lotus.” For although literally OM is a syllable sacred to the Deity PADME means “in the Lotus,”and

MANI is any precious stone still neither the words themselves,nor their symbolical meaning are thus

really correctly rendered.

In this,the most sacred of all Eastern formulas,not only has every syllable a secret potency producing a

definite result but the whole invocation has seven different meanings and can produce seven distinct

results,each of which may differ from the others.

The seven meanings and the seven results depend upon the intonation which is given to the whole

formula and to each of its syllables;and even the numerical value of the letters is added to or diminished

according as such or another rhythm is made use of.Let the student remember that number underlies

form and number guides sound.Number lies at the root of the manifested Universe:numbers and

harmonious proportions guide the first differentiations of homogeneous substance into heterogeneous

elements;and number and numbers set limits to the formative hand of Nature.

The Jewel of the Lotus -(Page 437)Know the corresponding numbers of the fundamental principle of

every element and its sub-elements,learn their interaction and behaviour on the occult side of

manifesting Nature and the law of correspondences will lead you to the discovery of the greatest

mysteries of macrocosmical life.

But to arrive at the macrocosmical you must begin by the microcosmical i.e.,you must study MAN the

microcosm —in this case as physical science does —inductively proceeding from particulars to

universals.At the same time however since 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 H m,”when rightly understood instead of being composed

of the almost meaningless words,“Oh the Jewel of the Lotus,”contains a reference to this indissoluble

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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.

From whatever aspect we examine it it means:“ I am that I am;”“ I am in thee and thou art in me.”In this

conjunction and close union with the good and pure man becomes a God.Whether consciously or

unconsciously he will bring about or innocently cause to happen unavoidable results.In the first case if

an Initiate (of course an Adept of the Right-hand Path alone is meant),he can guide a beneficent or a

protecting current and thus benefit and protect individuals and even whole nations.In the second case

although quite unaware of what he is doing the good man becomes a shield to whomsoever he is with.

Such is the fact;but its how and why have to be explained and this can be done only when the actual

presence and potency of numbers in sounds,and hence in words and letters,have been rendered clear.

The formula “Om Mani Padme H m,” has been chosen as an illustration on account of its almost infinite

potency in the mouth of an Adept and (Page 438)of its potentiality when pronounced by any man.Be

careful all you who read this:do not use these words in vain or when in anger lest you become yourself

the first sacrificial victim or what is worse endanger those whom you love.

The profane Orientalist who all his life skims mere externals,will tell you flippantly and laughing at the

superstition that in Tibet this sentence is the most powerful six-syllabled incantation and is said to have

been delivered to the nations of Central Asia by Padmapāni the Tibetan Chenresi.[See supra.ii.188.

189.]

But who is Padmapāni in reality?Each of us must recognize him for himself whenever he is ready.Each

of us has within himself the “Jewel in the Lotus,” call it Padmapāni Krishna Buddha Christ or whatever

name we may give to our Divine Self.The exoteric story runs thus:

The supreme Buddha or Amitābha they say at the hour of the creation of man caused a rosy ray of

light to issue from his right eye.The ray emitted a sound and became Padmapāni Bodhisattva.Then the

Deity allowed to stream forth from his left eye a blue ray of light which becoming incarnate in the two

virgins Dolma acquired the power to enlighten the minds of living beings.Amhitābha then called the

combination which forthwith took up its abode in man.“Om Mani Padme H m,”“ I am the Jewel in the

Lotus and in it I will remain.”Then Padmapāni “the One in the Lotus,”vowed never to cease working

until he had made Humanity feel his presence in itself and had thus saved it from the misery of rebirth.

He vowed to perform the feat before the end of the Kalpa adding that in case of failure he wished that

his head should split into numberless fragments.The Kalpa closed;but Humanity felt him not within its

cold evil heart.Then Padmapāni ’s head split and was shattered into a thousand fragments.Moved with

compassion the Deity re-formed the pieces into ten heads,three white and seven of various colours.

And since that day man has become a perfect number or TEN.

In this allegory the potency of SOUND COLOUR and NUMBER is so ingeniously introduced as to veil

the real Esoteric meaning.To the outsider it reads like one of the many meaningless fairy-tales of

creation;but it is pregnant with spiritual and divine physical and magical meaning.From Amitābha —no

colo r or the white glory — are born the seven differentiated colours of the prism.

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The Pythagorean Tetrad -(Page 439)These each emit a corresponding sound forming the seven of the

m sical scale.As Geometry among the Mathematical Sciences,is specially related to Architecture and

also (proceeding to Universals)to Cosmogony so the ten Jods of the Pythagorean

Tetrad or Tetraktys being made to symbolize the Macrocosm the Microcosm or

man its image had also to be divided into ten points.For this Nature herself has

provided as will be seen.

But before this statement can be proved and the perfect correspondences between

the Macrocosm and Microcosm demonstrated a few words of explanation are

necessary.

To the learner who would study the Esoteric Sciences with their double object:(a )of proving Man to be

identical in spiritual and physical essence with both the Absolute Principle and with God in Nature;and

(b )of demonstrating the presence in him of the same potential powers as exist in the creative forces in

Nature —to such a one a perfect knowledge of the correspondences between Colours,Sounds,and

Numbers is the first requisite.As already said the sacred formula of the far East “Om Mani Padme

H m.”is the one best calculated to make these correspondential qualities and functions clear to the

learner.

In the allegory of Padmapāni the Jewel (or Spiritual Ego)in the Lotus,or the symbol of androgynous

man the numbers 3 4 7 10 as synthesizing the Unit Man are prominent as I have already said.It is

on the thorough knowledge and comprehension of the meaning and potency of these numbers,in their

various and multiform combinations,and in their mutual correspondence with sounds or words,and

colours or rates of motion (represented in physical science by vibrations),that the progress of a student

in Occultism depends.Therefore we must begin with the first initial word OM,or AUM.OM is a “blind.”

The sentence “Om Mani Padme H m,”is not a six-but a seven-syllabled phrase as the first syllable is

double in its right pronunciation and triple in its essence A-UM.It represents the for ever concealed

primeval triune differentiation not from but in the ONE Absolute and is therefore symbolized by the 4 or

the Tetraktys,in the metaphysical world.It is the Unit-ray or Ćtman.

It is the Ćtman this highest Spirit in man which in conjunction with Buddhi and Manas,is called the

upper Triad or Trinity.This (Page 440)Triad with its four lower human principles,is,moreover enveloped

with an auric atmosphere like the yolk of an egg (the future embryo)by the albumen and shell.This,to

the perceptions of higher Beings from other planes,makes of each individuality an oval sphere of more

or less radiancy.

To show the student the perfect correspondence between the birth of Kosmos,a World a Planetary

Being or a Child of Sin and Earth a more definite and clear description must be given.Those acquainted

with Physiology will understand it better than others.

Who having read say the Vishn or other P rāna,is not familiar with the exoteric allegory of the birth of

Brahmā (male-female)in the Egg of the World Hiranyagarbha surrounded by its seven zones,or rather

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planes,which in the world of form and matter become seven and fourteen Lokas;the numbers seven and

fourteen reäppearing as occasion requires.

Without giving out the secret analysis,the Hindus have from time immemorial compared the matrix of the

Universe and also the solar matrix to the female uterus.It is written of the former:“Its womb is vast as

the Meru ” and

The future mighty oceans lay asleep in the waters that filled its cavities,the continents,seas

and mountains,the stars,planets,the gods,demons and mankind.

The whole resembled in its inner and outer coverings,the cocoanut filled interiorly with pulp and

covered externally with husk and rind.“Vast as Meru ”say the texts.

Meru was its Amnion and the other mountains were its Chorion

adds a verse in Vishn P rāna.[ Wilson ’s translation as amended by Fitzedward Hall i.40.]

In the same way is man born in his mother ’s womb.As Brahmā is surrounded in exoteric traditions,by

seven layers within and seven without the Mundane Egg so is the embryo (the first or the seventh layer

according to the end from which we begin to count).Thus,just as Esotericism in its Cosmogony

enumerates seven inner and seven outer layers,so Physiology notes the contents of the uterus as seven

also although it is completely ignorant of this being a copy of what takes place in the Universal Matrix.

These contents are:

1.Embryo.2.Amniotic Fl id,immediately surrounding the Embryo.3.Amnion,a membrane derived from

the Fœtus,which contains the fluid.4.Umbilical l ’esicle,which serves to convey nourishment originally to

the Embryo and to nourish it.

Seven Correspondential Contents -(Page 441)5.Allantois a protrusion from the Embryo in the form of

a closed bag which spreads itself between 3 and 7 in the midst of 6 and which after being specialized

into the Placenta serves to conduct nourishment to the Embryo.6.Interspace between 3 and 7 (the

Amnion and Chorion),filled with an albuminous fluid.7.Chorion,or outer layer.

Now each of these seven contents severally corresponds with and is formed after an antetype one on

each of the seven planes of being with which in their turn correspond the seven states of Matter and all

other forces,sensational or functional in Nature.

(Page 442)

The following is a bird ’s-eye view of the seven correspondential contents of the wombs of Nature and of

Woman.We may contrast them thus:

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Cosmic Process (Upper Pole)Human Process (Lower Pole)

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1

The mathematical Point called the "Cosmic

See"the Monad of Leibnix;which contians

the whole Universe as the acorn the oak.

This is the first bubble on the surface of

boundless homogeneous Substance or

Space the buble of differentiation in its

incipient stage.It is the beginning of the

Orphic or Brahmā's Egg.It corresponds in

Astrology and Astronomy to the Sun

The terrestrial Embryo which contains in it the

future man with all his potentialities.In the

series of principles of the human system it is the

Atman or the super-spiritual principle just as in

the physical Solar System it is the Sun

2

The vis vitae of our solar system exudes from

the Sun.

(a)It is called when referred to the higher

planes,Akāsha

(b)It proceeds from the ten "divinities"the ten

numbers of the Sun which is itself the

"Perfect Number".These are called Dis -in

reality Space -the forces spread in Space

three of which are contained in the Sun's

Atman or seventh principle and seven are

the rays shot out by the Sun.

The Amniotic Fluid exudes from the Embryo.

(a)It is called on the plane of matter Prāna

[ Prāna is in reality the universal Life Principle.]

(b)It proceeds,taking its source in the universal

One Life from the heart of man and Buddhi

over which the Seven Solar Rays (Gods)

preside.

3

The Ether of Space which in its external

aspect is the plastic crust which is supposed

to envelope the Sun.On the higher plane it is

the whole Universe as the third differentiation

of evolving Substance Mulaprakriti becoming

Prakriti.

(a)It corresponds mystically to the

manifested Mahat or the Intellect or Soul of

the World

The Amnion the membrane containing the

Amniotic Frluid and enveloping the Embryo.

After the birth of man it becomes the third layer

so to say of his magneto-vital aura.

(a)Manas,the third principle (counting from

above),or the Human Soul in Man.

4 The sidereal contents of Ether the substantial

parts of it unknown to Modern Science

represented:

(a)In Occult and Kabalistic Mysteries,by

Elementals.

(b)In physical Astronomy by

meteors,comets,and all kinds of casual and

phenomenal cosmic bodies

Umbilical Vesicle serving as Science teaches,

to nourish the Embryo originally but as Occult

Science avers,to carry to the Foetus by

osmosis the cosmic influences extraneous to

the mother.

(a)In the grown man these become the feeders

of Kāma over which they preside.

(b)In the physical man his passions and

emotions,the moral meteors and comets of

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human nature.

5

Life currents in Ether having their origin in

the Sun:the canals through which the vital

principle of that Ether (the blood of the

Cosmic Body)passes to nourish everything

on the Earth and on the other Planets:from

the minerals,which are thus made to grow

and become specialized from the plants,

which are thus fed to animal and man to

whom life is thus imparted.

The Allantois,a protrusion from the Embryo

which spreads itself between the Amnion and

Chorion;it is supposed to conduct the

nourishment from the mother to the Embryo.It

corresponds to the life-principle Prāna or Jīva.

6

The double radiation psychic and physical

which radiates from the Cosmic Seed and

expands around the whole Kosmos,as well

as around the Solar System and every

Planet.In Occultism it is called the upper

divine and the lower material Astral Light.

The Allantois is divided into two layers.The

inter space between the Amnion and the

Chorion contains the Allantois and also an

albuminous fluid.[All the uterine contents,

having a direct spiritual connnection with their

cosmic antetypes,are on the physical plane

potent objects in Black Magic,and are therefore

considered unclean.]

7

The outer crust of every sidereal body the

Shell of the Mundane Egg or the sphere of

our Solar System of our Earth and of every

man and animal.In sidereal space Ether

proper;on the terrestrial plane Air which

again is built in seven layers.

(a)The primordial potential world-stuff

becomes (for the Manvantaric period)the

permanent globe or globes.

The Chorion or the Zona Pellucida the globular

object called Blastodermic Vesicle the outer

and the inner layers of the membrane of which

go to form the physical man.The outer or

ectoderm forms his epidermis;the inner or

endoderm his muscles,bones,etc..Man's skin

again is composed of seven layers.

(a)The "primitive"becomes the "permanent"

Chorion.

Correspondence Between Races and Man -(Page 443)Even in the evolution of the Races we see the

same order as in Nature and Man.[See supra,ii.Part I.] Placental animal-man became such only after

the separation of sexes in the Third Root-Race.In the physiological evolution the placenta is fully formed

and functional only after the third month of uterine life.

(Page 444)Let us put aside such human conceptions as a personal God and hold to the purely divine to

that which underlies all and everything in boundless Nature.It is called by its Sanskrit Esoteric name in

the Vedas TAT (or THAT),a term for the unknowable Rootless Root.If we do so we may answer these

seven questions of the Esoteric Catechism thus:

(1)Q.—What is the Eternal Absolute?

A.—THAT.

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(2)Q.—How came Kosmos into being?

A.—Through THAT.

(3)Q.—How or what will it be when it falls back into Pralaya?

A.—In THAT.

(4)Q.—Whence all the animate and suppositionally the “inanimate ”nature?

A.—From THAT.

(5)Q.—What is the Substance and Essence of which the Universe is formed?

A.—THAT.

(6)Q.—Into what has it been and will be again and again resolved?

A.—Into THAT.

(7)Q.—Is THAT then both the instrumental and material cause of the Universe?

A.—What else is it or can it be than THAT?

As the Universe the Macrocosm and the Microcosm [The Solar System or the Earth as the case may

be.] are ten why should we divide Man into seven “principles ” ?This is the reason why the perfect

number ten is divided into two:in their completeness,i.e.,super-spiritually and physically the forces are

TEN:to-wit three on the subjective and inconceivable and seven on the objective plane.Bear in mind

that I am now giving you the description of the two opposite poles:(a )the primordial Triangle which as

soon as it has reflected itself in the “Heavenly Man ” the highest of the lower seven —disappears,

returning into “Silence and Darkness ” ;and (b )the astral paradigmatic man whose Monad (Ćtmā)is also

represented by a triangle as it has to become a ternary in conscious Devachanic interludes.The purely

terrestrial man being reflected in the universe of Matter so to say upside down the upper Triangle

wherein the creative ideation and the subjective potentiality of the formative faculty resides,is shifted in

the man of clay below the seven.

DIAGRAM I (Page 444a)

Man and The Logos -(Page 445)Thus three of the ten containing in the archetypal world only ideative

and paradigmatical potentiality i.e.,existing in possibility not in action are in fact one.The potency of

formative creation resides in the Logos,the synthesis of the seven Forces or Rays,which becomes

forthwith the Quaternary the sacred Tetraktys.This process is repeated in man in whom the lower

physical triangle becomes,in conjunction with the female One the male-female creator or generator.

The same on a still lower plane in the animal world.A mystery above a mystery below truly.

This is how the upper and highest and the lower and most animal stand in mutual relation.

In this diagram No.-1-,we see that physical man (or his body)does not share in the direct pure waves of

the divine Essence which flows from the One in Three,the Unmanifested through the Manifested Logos

(the upper face in the diagram).Purusha the primeval Spirit touches the human head and stops there.

But the Spiritual Man (the synthesis of the seven principles)is directly connected with it.And here a few

words ought to be said about the usual exoteric enumeration of the principles.At first an approximate

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division only was made and given out.Esoteric B ddhism begins with Ćtmā the seventh and ends with

the Physical Body the first.Now neither Ćtmā which is no individual “principle ”but a radiation from and

one with the Unmanifested Logos,nor the Body which is the material rind or shell of the Spiritual Man

can be in strict truth referred to as “principles.” Moreover the chief “principle ”of all one not even

mentioned heretofore is the “Luminous Egg ”(Hiranyagarbha),or the invisible magnetic sphere in which

every man is enveloped.[ So are the animals,the plants,and even the minerals.Reichenbach never

understood what he learned through his sensitives and clairvoyants.It is the odic,or rather the auric or

magnetic fluid which emanates from man but it is also something more.] It is the direct emanation:(a )

from the Ćtmic Ray in its triple aspect of Creator Preserver and Destroyer (Regenerator);and (b )from

Buddhi-Manas.The seventh aspect of this individual Aura is the faculty of assuming the form of its body

and becoming the “Radiant ”the Luminous Augoeides.It is this,strictly speaking which at times

becomes the form called Māyāvi Rūpa.Therefore as explained in the second face of the diagram (the

astral man),the Spiritual Man consists of only five (Page 446)principles,as taught by the Vedāntins,[See

supra .i.181.for the Vedāntic exoteric enumeration.] who substitute tacitly for the physical this sixth or

Auric,Body and merge the dual Manas (dual mind or consciousness)into one.Thus they speak of the

five Koshas (sheaths or principles),and call Ćtmā the sixth yet no “principle.”This is the secret of the late

Subba Row ’s criticism of the division in Esoteric B ddhism .But let the student now learn the true

Esoteric enumeration.

The reason why public mention of the Auric body was not permitted was on account of its being so

sacred.It is this Body which at death assimilates the essence of Buddhi and Manas and becomes the

vehicle of these spiritual principles,which are not objective and then with the full radiation of Ćtmā upon

it ascends as Manas-Taijasi into the Devachanic state.Therefore it is called by many names.It is the

Sūtrātmā the silver “thread ”which “incarnates ” from the beginning of Manvantara to the end stringing

upon itself the pearls of human existence in other words,the spiritual aroma of every personality it

follows through the pilgrimage of life.[See L cifer January 1889 “Dialogue upon the Mysteries of After-

Life.”] It is also the material from which the Adept forms his Astral Bodies,from the Augoeides and the

Māyāvi Rūpa downwards.After the death of man when its most ethereal particles have drawn into

themselves the spiritual principles of Buddhi and the Upper Manas,and are illuminated with the radiance

of Ćtmā the Auric Body remains either in the Devachanic state of consciousness,or in the case of a full

Adept prefers the state of a Nirmānakāya that is,one who has so purified his whole system that he is

above even the divine illusion of a Devachanī.Such an Adept remains in the astral (invisible)plane

connected with our earth and henceforth moves and lives in the possession of all his principles except

the Kāma Rūpa and Physical Body.In the case of the Devachanī the Linga-Sharira —the alter ego of the

body which during life is within the physical envelope while the radiant aura is without —strengthened by

the material particles which this aura leaves behind remains close to the dead body and outside it and

soon fades away.In the case of the full Adept the body alone becomes subject to dissolution while the

centre of that force which was the seat of desires and passions,disappears with its cause —the animal

body.But during the life of the latter all these centres are more or less active and in constant

correspondence with their prototypes the cosmic centres,and their microcosms,the principles.

Cosmic Spiritual and Physical Centres -(Page 447)It is only through these cosmic and spiritual

centres that the physical centres (the upper seven orifices,and the lower triad)can benefit by their Occult

interaction for these orifices,or openings,are channels conducting into the body the influences that the

will of man attracts and uses,viz.,the cosmic forces.

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This will has,of course to act primarily through the spiritual principles.To make this clearer let us take

an example.In order to stop pain let us say in the right eye you have to attract to it the potent

magnetism from that cosmic principle which corresponds to this eye and also to Buddhi.Create by a

powerful will effort an imaginary line of communication between the right eye and Buddhi locating the

latter as a centre in the same part of the head.This line though you may call it “imaginary ” is,once you

succeed in seeing it with your mental eye and give it a shape and colour in truth as good as real.A rope

in a dream is not and yet is .Moreover according to the prismatic colour with which you endow your line

so will the influence act.Now Buddhi and Mercury correspond with each other and both are yellow or

radiant and golden coloured.In the human system the right eye corresponds with Buddhi and Mercury;

and the left with Manas and Venus or Lucifer.Thus,if your line is golden or silvery it will stop the pain;if

red it will increase it for red is the colour of Kāma and corresponds with Mars.Mental or Christian

Scientists have stumbled upon the effects without understanding the ca ses .Having found by chance

the secret of producing such results owing to mental abstraction they attribute them to their union with

God (whether a personal or impersonal God they know best),whereas it is simply the effect of one or

another principle.However it may be they are on the path of discovery although they must remain

wandering for a long time to come.

Let not Esoteric students commit the same mistake.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.

Remember that with our physical senses alone at our command none (Page 448)of us can hope to reach

beyond gross Matter.We can do so only through one or another of our seven spirit al senses,either by

training or if one is a born Seer.Yet even a clairvoyant possessed of such faculties,if not an Adept no

matter how honest and sincere he may be will through his ignorance of the truths of Occult Science be

led by the visions he sees in the Astral Light only to mistake for God or Angels the denizens of those

spheres of which he may occasionally catch a glimpse as witness Swedenborg and others.

These seven senses of ours correspond with every other septenate in nature and in ourselves.

Physically though invisibly the human Auric Envelope (the amnion of the physical man in every age of

life)has seven layers,just as Cosmic Space and our physical epidermis have.It is this Aura which

according to our mental and physical state of purity or impurity either opens for us vistas into other

worlds,or shuts us out altogether from anything but this three-dimensional world of Matter.

Each of our seven physical senses (two of which are still unknown to profane Science),and also of our

seven states of consciousness —viz.:(1)waking;(2)waking-dreaming;(3)natural sleeping;(4)induced

or trance-sleep;(5)psychic;(6)super-psychic;and (7)purely spiritual —corresponds with one of the

seven Cosmic Planes,develops and uses one of the seven super-senses,and is connected directly in

its use on the terestro-spiritual plane with the cosmic and divine centre of force that gave it birth and

which is its direct creator.Each is also connected with and under the direct influence of one of the

seven sacred Planets.[See supra i.626-629 ] These belonged to the Lesser Mysteries,whose followers

were called Mystai (the veiled),seeing that they were allowed to perceive things only through a mist as it

were “with the eyes closed ” ;while the Initiates or “Seers ”of the Greater Mysteries were called Epoptai

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(those who see things unveiled).It was the latter only who were taught the true mysteries of the Zodiac

and the relations and correspondences between its twelve signs (two secret)and the ten human orfices.

The latter are now of course ten in the female and only nine in the male;but this is merely an external

difference.In the second volume of this work it is stated that till the end of the Third Root-Race (when

androgynous man separated into male and female)the ten orifices existed in the hermaphrodite first

potentially then functionally.

Woman and Alchemy (Page 449)The evolution of the human embryo shows this.For instance the only

opening formed at first is the buccal cavity “ a cloaca communicating with the anterior extremity of the

intestine.”These become later the mouth and the posterior orifice:the Logos differentiating and

emanating gross matter on the lower plane in Occult parlance.The difficulty which some students will

experience in reconciling the correspondences between the Zodiac and the orifice can be easily

explained.Magic is coėval with the Third Root-Race which began by creating through Kriyāshakti and

ended by generating its species in the present way.[See supra i.228 et seq.,ii.passim.] Woman being

left with the full or perfect number 10 (the divine number of Jehovah),was deemed higher and more

spiritual than man.In Egypt in days of old the marriage service contained an article that the woman

should be the “lady of the lord ”and real lord over him the husband pledging himself to be “obedient to

his wife ”for the production of alchemical results such as the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher ’s Stone for

the spirit al help of the woman was needed by the male Alchemist.But woe to the Alchemist who should

take this in the dead-letter sense of physical union.Such sacrilege would become Black Magic and be

followed by certain failure.The true Alchemist of old took aged women to help him carefully avoiding the

young ones;and if any of them happened to be married they treated their wives for months both before

and during their operations as sisters.

The error of crediting the Ancients with knowing only ten of the zodiacal signs is explained in Isis

Unveiled .[Op.cit.,456 461 et seq.] The Ancients did know of twelve but viewed these signs differently

from ourselves.They took neither Virgo nor Scorpio singly into consideration but regarded them as two

in one since they were made to refer directly and symbolically to the primeval dual man and his

separation into sexes.During the reformation of the Zodiac,Libra was added as the twelfth sign though

it is simply an equilibrating sign at the turning point —the mystery of separated man.

Let the student learn all this well.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 (Page 450)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 be 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

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Potency.Thus have Initiates,Saints,and very holy and pure men have 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.

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

Ninevean relics.Amen does not mean “so be it ”or “verily ”but signified in hoary antiquity

almost the same as AUM.The Jewish Tanaļm (Initiates)used it for the same reason as the

Ćryan 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,[Jod-Hevah,or male-female on the

terrestrial plane as invented by the Jews and now made out to mean Jehovah:but signifying

in reality and literally “giving being ”and “receiving life.’]26 and A DoNa Y,65 or 91.Both

words mean the affirmation of the being or existence of the sexless “Lord ”within us.

Sound and Colour -(Page 451)(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,séance rooms,etc.unless they are in sympathy with the crowd.

There is one piece of advice to be given to beginners,who cannot help going into crowds —one which

may appear superstitious,but which in the absence of Occult knowledge will be found efficacious.As well

known to good Astrologers,the days of the week are not in the order of those planets whose names they

bear.The fact is that the ancient Hindus and Egyptians divided the day into four parts,each day being

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under the protection (as ascertained by practical magic)of a planet;and every day as correctly asserted

by Dion Cassius,received the name of the planet which rules and protected its first portion.Let the

student protect himself from the “Powers of the Air ”(Elementals)which throng public places,by wearing

either a ring containing some jewel of the colour of the presiding planet or else of the metal sacred to it.

But the best protection is a clear conscience and a firm desire to benefit Humanity.

The Planets The Days of the Week and Their Corresponding Colours and Metals -(Page 452)In the

accompanying diagram the days of the week do not stand in their usual order though they are placed in

their correct sequence as determined by the order of the colours in the solar spectrum and the

corresponding colours of their ruling planets.The fault of the confusion in the order of the days revealed

by this comparison lies at the door of the early Christians.Adopting from the Jews their lunar months,

they tried to blend them with the solar planets and so made a mess of it;for the order of the days of the

week as it now stands does not follow the order of the planets.

Now the Ancients arranged the planets in the following order:Moon Mercury Venus,Sun Mars Jupiter

Saturn counting the Sun as a planet for exoteric purposes.Again the Egyptians and Indians,the two

oldest nations,divided their day into four parts,each of which was under the protection and rule of a

planet.In course of time each day came to be called by the name of that planet which rules its first

portion —the morning.Now when they arranged their week,the Christians proceeded as follows:they

wanted to make the day of the Sun or Sunday the seventh so they named the days of the week by

taking every fourth planet in turn;e.g.,beginning with the Moon (Monday)they counted thus:Moon

Mercury Venus,Sun Mars;thus Tuesday the day whose first portion was ruled by Mars,became the

second day of the week;and so on.It should be remembered also that the Moon like the Sun is a

substitute for a secret planet.

The present division of the solar year was made several centuries later than the beginning of our era;

and our week is not that of the Ancients and the Occultists.The septenary division of the four parts of the

lunar phases is as old as the world and originated with the people who reckoned time by the lunar

months.The Hebrews never used it for they counted only the seventh day the Sabbath though the

second chapter of Genesis seems to speak of it.Till the days of the Cęsars there is no trace of a week

of seven days among any nation save the Hindus.From India it passed to the Arabs,and reached

Europe with Christianity.The Roman week consisted of eight days,and the Athenian of ten.[See Notice

sur le Calendrier.J.H.Ragon.]

The Days of the Week -(Page 453)Thus one of the numberless contradictions and fallacies of

Christendom is the adoption of the Indian septenary week of the lunar reckoning and the preservation at

the same time of the mythological names of the planets.

Nor do modern Astrologers give the correspondences of the days and planets and their colours correctly;

and while Occultists can give good reason for every detail of their own tables of colours,etc.it is

doubtful whether the Astrologers can do the same.

To close this first Paper let me say that the readers must in all necessity be separated into two broad

divisions:those who have not quite rid themselves of the usual sceptical doubts,but who long to

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ascertain how much truth there may be in the claims of the Occultists;and those others who having

freed themselves from the trammels of Materialism and Relativity feel that true and real bliss must be

sought only in the knowledge and personal experience of that which the Hindu Philosopher calls the

Brahmavidyā and the Buddhist Arhat the realization of Ćdibuddha the primeval Wisdom.Let the former

pick out and study from these Papers only those explanations of the phenomena of life which profane

Science is unable to give them.Even with such limitations,they will find by the end of a year or two that

they will have learned more than all their Universities and Colleges can teach them.As to the sincere

believers,they will be rewarded by seeing their faith transformed into knowledge.True knowledge is of

Spirit and in Spirit alone and cannot be acquired in any other way except through the region of the

higher mind the only plane from which we can penetrate the depths of the all-pervading Absoluteness.

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 Māya 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 Cęsar ’s what is Cęsar ’s,leads

in reality a spiritual and permanent existence a life with no breaks of continuity no gaps,no interludes,

(Page 454)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 Māyā 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.

DIAGRAM II

These Correspondences

are from the Objective

Terrestrial Plane

ATMAN is no

Number and

ccorresponds 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

ATMA As the Human Principles have no numbers

per se,but only correspond to Numbers,

Sounds,Colours,etc.they are not

enumerated here in the order used for

esoteric purposes.

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all.

NUMBER

S

METALS PLANETS THE HUMAN

PRINCIPLES

DAYS OF

THE WEEK

COLOUR

S

SOUND

MUSIC SCALE

1 and 10

Physical

Man's Key-

note

Iron Mars

The Planet of

Generation

Kāma Rūpa

The Vehicle or

seat of the

Animal

Instincts and

Passions

Tuesday

Dies Martis,

or Tiu

1-Red Sanskrit

Gamut

Italian

Gamut

Sa Do

2

The

Spiritual

and Life

Physical

Gold The Sun

The Giver of Life

physically

Spiritually and

Esoterically the

substitute for the

inter-Mercurial

Planet a sacred

and secret planet

with the ancients

Prāna or Jiva

Life

Sunday

Dies Sola or

Sun

2-

Orange

Ri Re

3

Because

BUDDHI is

(so to

speak)

between

Atma and

Manas,

and forms

with the

seventh or

AURIC

ENVELOP

E the

Devachani

c Triad

Mercury

Mixes with

Sulphur as

Buddhi is

mixed with

the Flame of

Spirit (See

Alchemical

Definitions)

Mercury Buddhi

Spiritual Soul

or Atmic Ray

vehicle or Atmā

Wednesday

Dies

Mercuri or

Woden Day

of Buddha in

the South

and of

Woden in

the North -

Gods of

Wisdom

3 Yellow Ga Mi

4

The middle

principle -

between

the purely

material

and purely

spiritual

trias.The

Lead Saturn Kama Manas

The Lower

Mind or

Animal Soul

Saturday

Dies Saturni

or Saturn

4

Green

Ma Fa

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conscious

part of

animal

man.

5 Tin Jupiter Auric

Envelope

Thursday

Dies...

or Thor

5

Black

Pa Sol

6 Copper

When

alloyed

becomes

Bronze (the

d al

principle)

Venus

The Morning and

the Evening Star

Manas

The Higher

Mind or

Human Soul

Friday

Dies...

6

Indigo or

Dark Blue

Da La

7

Contains in

itself the

reflection

of

Septenary

Man

Silver The Moon

The Parent of

the Earth

Linga Sharira

The Astral

Double of Man;

the Parent of

the Physical

Man

Monday

Dies Lunae

or Moon

7

Violet

Ni Si

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PAPER II

An Explanation -(Page 455)IN view of the abstruse nature of the subjects dealt with the present Paper

will begin with an explanation of some points which remained obscure in the preceding one as well as of

some statements in which there was an appearance of contradiction.

Astrologers,of whom there are many among the Esotericists,are likely to be puzzled by some

statements distinctly contradicting their teachings;whilst those who know nothing of the subject may

perhaps find themselves opposed at the outset by those who have studied the exoteric systems of the

Kabalah and Astrology.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.

The following teachings and explanations,therefore may be useful to the student in assisting him to

formulate the teaching given in the preceding Paper.

In Diagram I it will be observed that the 3 7 and 10 centres are respectively as follows:

(a )The 3 pertain to the spiritual world of the Absolute and therefore to the three higher principles in Man.

(b )The 7 belong to the spiritual psychic,and physical worlds and to the body of man.Physics

metaphysics and hyper-physics are the triad that symbolizes man on this plane.

(c )The 10 or the sum total of these is the Universe as a whole in all its aspects,and also its Microcosm

—Man with his ten orifices.

Laying aside for the moment the Higher Decad (Kosmos)and the (Page 456)Lower Decad (Man),the

first three numbers of the separate sevens have a direct reference to the Spirit Soul and Auric Envelope

of the human being as well as to the higher supersensual world.The lower four or the four aspects,

belong to Man also as well as to the Universal Kosmos,the whole being synthesized by the Absolute.

If these three discrete or distributive degrees of Being be conceived according to the Symbology of the

Eastern Religions,as contained in one Ovum or EGG the name of that EGG will be Svabhāvat or the

ALL-BEING on the manifested plane.This Universe has,in truth neither centre nor periphery;but in the

individual and finite mind of man it has such a definition the natural consequence of the limitations of

human thought.

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 metaphysical plane and

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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.With one man it may be Buddhi that stands as number one;

with another if he be a bestial sensualist the Lower Manas.With one the physical body or perhaps

Prāna the life principle will be on the first and highest plane as would be the case in an extremely

healthy man full of vitality;with another it may come as the sixth or even seventh downward.Again the

colours and metals corresponding to the planets and human principles,as will be observed are not those

known exoterically to modern Astrologers and Western Occultists.

Let us see whence the modern Astrologer got his notions about the correspondence of planets metals

and colours.And here we are reminded of the modern Orientalist who judging by appearances credits

the ancient Akkadians (and also the Chaldęans,Hindus and Egyptians)with the crude notion that the

Universe and in like manner the earth was like an inverted bell-shaped bowl!This he demonstrates by

pointing to the symbolical representations of some Akkadian inscriptions and to the Assyrian carvings.It

is,however no place here to explain how mistaken is the Assyriologist for all such representations are

simply symbolical of the Khargakkurra,the World-Mountain or Meru and relate only to the North Pole

the Land of the Gods.

Astrology and Lunar Weeks -(Page 457)Now the Assyrians arranged their exoteric teaching about the

planets and their correspondences as follows;

Numbers Planets Metals Colours Solar Days of Week

1 Saturn Lead Black Saturday (Whence Sabbath

in honour of Jehovah)

2 Jupiter Tin White but as often Purple or

Orange

Thursday

3 Mars Iron Red Tuesday

4 Sun Gold Yellow-golden Sunday

5 Venus Copper Green or Yellow Friday

6 Mercury Quick Silver Blue Wednesday

7 Moon Silver Silver-white Monday

This is the arrangement now adopted by Christian Astrologers,with the exception of the order of the days

of the week,of which by associating the solar planetary names with the lunar weeks,they have made a

sore mess,as he has been already shown in Paper I.This is the Ptolemaic geocentric system which

represents the Universe as in the following diagram showing our Earth in the centre of the Universe and

the Sun a Planet the fourth in number:

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And if the Christian chronology and order of the days of the week are being daily denounced as being

based on an entirely wrong astronomical foundation it is high time to begin a reform also in Astrology

built on such lines,and coming to us entirely from the Chaldęan and Assyrian exoteric mob.

But the correspondences given in these Papers are purely Esoteric.

(Page 458)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.Man derives his Spiritual Soul (Buddhi)from

the essence of the Mānasa Putra the Sons of Wisdom who are the Divine Beings (or Angels)ruling and

presiding over the planet Mercury.

In the same way Venus,Manas and the left eye are set down as correspondences.Exoterically there is,

in reality no such association of physical eyes and physical planets;but Esoterically there is:for the right

eye is the “Eye of Wisdom ”i.e.,it corresponds magnetically with that Occult centre in the brain which we

call the “Third Eye ”;[See supra,ii.302.et seq.] while the left corresponds with the intellectual brain or

those cells which are the organ on the physical plane of the thinking faculty.The kabalistic triangle of

Kether Chokmah and Binah shows this.Chokmah and Binah or Wisdom and Intelligence the Father

and Mother or again the Father and Son are on the same plane and reäct mutually on one another.

When the individual consciousness is turned inward a conjunction of Manas and Buddhi takes place.In

the spiritually regenerated man this conjunction is permanent the Higher Manas clinging to Buddhi

beyond the threshold of Devachan and the Soul or rather the Spirit which should not be confounded

with Ćtmā the Super-Spirit is then said to have the “Single Eye.”Esoterically in other words,the “Third

Eye ” is active.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.

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Seeing Sounds and Hearing Colours -(Page 459)And these “Voices ”are lower than the “Colours,”for

they are the seven lower Sephiroth or the objective Sounds,seen not heard as the Zohar shows [Op.

cit.,ii.81.6.] and even the Old Testament also.For when properly translated verse 18 of chapter xx.

Exod s would read:“And the people saw the Voices ”(or Sounds,not the “thunderings ”as now

translated);and these Voices,or Sounds,are the Sephiroth.[See Frank ’s Die Kabbala,p.314 et seq.]

In the same way the right and left nostrils,into which is breathed the “Breath of Lives,” [Genesis,ii 7.]

are here said to correspond with Sun and Moon as Brahmā-Prajāpati and Vāch or Osiris and Isis,are

the parents of the natural life.This Quaternary viz.:the two eyes and two nostrils,Mercury and Venus,

Sun and Moon constitutes the Kabalistic Guardian-Angels of the Four Corners of the Earth.It is the

same in the Eastern Esoteric Philosophy which however adds that the Sun is not a planet but the

central star of our system and the Moon a dead planet from which all the principles are gone both being

substitutes,the one for an invisible inter-Mercurial planet and the other for a planet which seems to have

now altogether disappeared from view.These are the Four Mahārājahs,[S pra,i.147.] the “Four Holy

Ones ”connected with Karma and Humanity Kosmos and Man in all their aspects.They are:the Sun or

its substitute Michael;Moon or substitute Gabriel;Mercury Raphael;and Venus,Uriel.It need hardly be

said here again that the planetary bodies themselves being only physical symbols,are not often referred

to in the Esoteric System but as a rule their cosmic,psychic,physical and spiritual forces are

symbolized under these names.In short it is the seven physical planets which are the lower Sephiroth of

the Kabalah,and our triple physical Sun whose reflection only we see which is symbolized or rather

personified by the Upper Triad or Sephirothal Crown.[We may refer for confirmation to Origen ’s works

who says that “the seven ruling daimons ”(genii or planetary rulers)are Michael the Sun (the lion-like):

the second in order the Bull Jupiter or Suriel etc.:and all these the “Seven of the Presence ”are the

Sephiroth.The Sephirothal Tree is the Tree of the Divine Planets as given by Porphyry or Porphyry ’s

Tree as it is usually called.]

Then again it will be well to point out that the numbers attached to the psychic principles in Diagram I.

appear the reverse of those in exoteric writings.This is because numbers in this connection are purely

arbitrary changing with every school.Some schools count (Page 460)three some four some six and

others seven as do all the Buddhist Esotericists.As said before [S pra,i 147.] the Esoteric School has

been divided into two departments since the fourteenth century one for the inner Lanoos,or higher

Chelās,the other for the outer circle or lay Chelās.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.The numbers and principles do not go in regular sequence like

the skins of an onion but the student must work out for himself the number appropriate to each of his

principles,when the time comes for him to enter upon practical study.The above will suggest to the

student the necessity of knowing the principles by their names and their appropriate faculties apart from

any system of enumeration or by association with their corresponding centres of actions,colours,

sounds,etc.until these become inseparable.

The old and familiar mode of reckoning the principles,given in the Theosophist and Esoteric B ddhism

leads to another apparently perplexing contradiction though it is really none at all.The principles

numbered 3 and 2 viz :Linga Sharīra and Prāna or Jīva 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 and the Esoteric order given in Diagram I.For in Diagram I.the Linga Sharīra is

defined as the vehicle of Prāna or Jīva the life principle and as such must of necessity be inferior to

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Prāna not superior as the exoteric enumeration would suggest.The principles do not stand one above

the other and thus cannot be taken in numerical sequence;their order depends upon the superiority and

predominance of one or another principle and therefore differs in every man.

The Linga Sharīra is the double or protoplasmic antetype of the body which is its image.It is in this

sense that it is called in Diagram II.the parent of the physical body i.e.,the mother by conception of

Prāna the father.This idea is conveyed in the Egyptian mythology by the birth of Horus,the child of

Osiris and Isis,although like all sacred Mythoi this has both a threefold spiritual and a sevenfold

psycho-physical application.To close the subject Prāna the life principle can in sober truth have no

number as it pervades every other principle or the human total.

Planetary and Human Bodies -(Page 461)Each number of the seven would thus be naturally applicable

to Prāna-Jīva exoterically as it is to the Auric Body Esoterically.As Pythagoras showed Kosmos was

produced not thro gh or by number but geometrically i.e.,following the proportions of numbers.

To those who are unacquainted with the exoteric astrological natures ascribed in practice to the planetary

bodies,it may be useful if we set them down here after the manner of Diagram II.in relation to their

dominion over the human body colours,metals,etc.and explain at the same time why genuine Exoteric

Philosophy differs from the astrological claims.

Planets Days Metals Parts of the Body Colours

Saturn Saturday Lead Right Ear Knees and Bony Sytem Black *

Jupiter Thursday Tin Left Ear Thighs,Feet and Arterial

System

Purple †

Mars Tuesday Iron Forehead and Nose the Skull.Sex-

function and Muscular Sytem

Red.

Sun Sunday Gold Right Eye Heart and Vital Centres Orange ‡

Venus Friday Copper Chin and Cheeks,Neck and Reins and

the Venous Sytem

Yellow §

Mercury Wednesday Quicksilver Mouth Hands,Abdominal Viscera and

Nervous System

Dove or

Cream ¶

Moon Monday Silver Breasts,Left Eye the Fluidic Sytem

Saliva Lymph etc.

White**

*[Esoterically green there being no black in the prismatic ray.]

† [Esoterically light blue.As a pigment purple is a compound of red and blue and in Eastern Occultism

blue is the spiritual essence of the colour purple while red is its material basis.In reality Occultism

makes Jupiter blue because he is the son of Saturn which is green and light blue as a prismatic colour

contains a great deal of green.Again the Auric Body will contain much of the colour of the Lower Manas

if the man is a material sensualist just as it will contain much of the darker hue if the Higher Manas has

preponderance over the Lower.]

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‡ [Esoterically the Sun cannot correspond with the eye nose or any other organ since as explained it

is no planet but a central star.It was adopted as a planet by the post-Christian Astrologers,who had

never been initiated.Moreover the true colour of the Sun is blue and it appears yellow only owing to the

effect of the absorbtion of vapours (chiefly metallic)by its atmosphere.All is Mayā on our earth.]

§ [Esoterically indigo or dark blue which is the complement of yellow in the prism.Yellow is a simple or

primitive colour.Manas being dual in its nature —as is its sidereal symbol the planet Venus,which is both

the morning and evening star —the difference between the higher and the lower principles of Manas,

whose essence is derived from the Hierarchy ruling Venus,is denoted by the dark blue and green.

Green the Lower Manas,resembles the colour of the solar spectrum which appears between the yellow

and the dark blue the Higher Spiritual Manas.Indigo is the intensified colour of the heaven or sky to

denote the upward tendency of Manas toward Buddhi or the heavenly Spiritual Soul.This colour is

obtained from the indigofera tinctoria a plant of the highest occult properties in India much used in White

Magic,and occultly connected with copper.This is shown by the indigo assuming a copper lustre

especially when rubbed on any hard substance.Another property of the dye is that it is insoluble in water

and even in ether being lighter in weight than any known liquid.No symbol has ever been adopted in the

East without being based upon a logical and demonstrable reasons.Therefore Eastern Symbologists,

from the earliest ages,have connected the spiritual and the animal minds of man the one with dark blue

(Newton ’s indigo),or true blue free from green;and the other with pure green.]

[Esoterically yellow because the colour of the Sun is orange and Mercury now stands next to the Sun

in distance as it does in colour.The planet for which the Sun is a substitute was still nearer the Sun than

Mercury now is,and was one of the most secret and highest planets.It is said to have become invisible

at the close of the Third Race.]

**[Esoterically violet because perhaps,violet is the colour assumed by a ray of sunlight when

transmitted through a very thin plate of silver and also because the Moon shines upon the Earth with

light borrowed from the Sun as the human body shines with qualifications borrowed from its double —the

aerial man.As the astral shadow starts the series of principles in man on the terrestrial plane up to the

lower animal Manas,so the violet ray starts the series of prismatic colours from its end up to green both

being the one as a principle and the other as a colour the most refrangible of all the principles and

colours.Besides which there is the same great Occult mystery attached to all these correspondences,

both celestial and terrestrial bodies,colours and sounds.In clearer words,there exists the same law of

relation between the Moon and the Earth the astral and the living body of man as between the violet

end of the prismatic spectrum and the indigo and the blue.But of this more anon .]

(Page 462)Thus it will be seen that the influence of the solar system in the exoteric kabalistic Astrology is

by this method distributed over the entire human body the primary metals,and the gradations of colour

from black to white;but that Esotericism recognizes neither black nor white as colours,because it holds

religiously to the seven solar or natural colours of the prism.Black and white are artificial tints.They

belong to the Earth and are only perceived by virtue of the special construction of our physical organs.

White is the absence of all colours,and therefore no colour;black is simply the absence of light and

therefore the negative aspect of white.The seven prismatic colours are direct emanations from the

Seven Hierarchies of Being each of which has a direct bearing upon and relation to one of the human

principles,since each of these Hierarchies is,in fact the creator and source of the corresponding human

principle.Each prismatic colour is called in Occultism the “Father of Sound ”which corresponds to it;

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Sound being the Word or the Logos,of its Father-Thought.This is the reason why sensitives connect

every colour with a definite sound a fact well recognized in Modern Science (e.g.,Francis Galton ’s

H man Faculty ).But black and white are entirely negative colours,and have no representatives in the

world of subjective being.

Planets and Faculties -(Page 463)Kabalistic Astrology says that the dominion of the planetary bodies in

the human brain also is defined thus:there are seven primary groups of faculties,six of which function

through the cerebrum and the seventh through the cerebellum.This is perfectly correct Esoterically.But

when it is further said that:Saturn governs the devotional faculties;Mercury the intellectual;Jupiter the

sympathetic;the Sun the governing faculties;Mars,the selfish;Venus,the tenacious;and the Moon the

instincts;—we say that the explanation is incomplete and even misleading.For in the first place the

physical planets can rule only the physical body and the purely physical functions.All the mental

emotional psychic and spiritual faculties,are influenced by the Occult properties of the scale of causes

which emanate from the Hierarchies of the Spiritual Rulers of the planets,and not by the planets

themselves.This scale as given in Diagram II leads the student to perceive in the following order:(1)

colour;(2)sound;(3)the sound materializes into the spirit of the metals,i.e.,the metallic Elementals;(4)

these materialize again into the physical metals;(5)then the harmonial and vibratory radiant essence

passes into the plants,giving them colour and smell both of which “properties ”depend upon the rate of

vibration of this energy per unit of time;(6)from plants it passes into the animals;(7)and finally

culminates in the “principles ”of man.

Thus we see the Divine Essence of our Progenitors in Heaven circling through seven stages;Spirit

becoming Matter and Matter returning to Spirit.As there is sound in Nature which is inaudible so there is

colour which is invisible but which can be heard.The creative force at work in its incessant task of

transformation produces colour sound and numbers,in the shape of rates of vibration which compound

and dissociate the atoms and molecules.Though invisible and inaudible to us in detail yet the synthesis

of the whole becomes audible to us on the material plane.It is that which the Chinese call the “Great

Tone ”or K ng.It is,even by scientific confession the actual tonic of Nature held by musicians to be the

middle Fa on the keyboard of a piano.We hear it distinctly in the voice of Nature in the roaring of the

ocean in the sound of the foliage of a great forest in the distant roar of a great city in the wind the

tempest and the storm;in short in everything in Nature which has a voice or produces sound.To the

(Page 464)hearing of all who hearken it culminates in a single definite tone of an unappreciable pitch

which as said is the F or Fa of the diatonic scale.From these particulars,that wherein lies the

difference between the exoteric and the Esoteric nomenclature and symbolism will be evident to the

student of Occultism.In short kabalistic Astrology as practised 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 adapts its correspondences on

the mere appearances of things,Esoteric Philosophy which concerns itself pre-eminently 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 Medięval Ages and their dark bigotry up to the present day when all danger has

disappeared.

The order of the planets in exoteric practice is that defined by their geocentric radii or the distance of

their several orbits from the Earth as a centre viz .Saturn Jupiter Mars,Sun Venus,Mercury and

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Moon.In the first three of these we find symbolized the celestial Triad of supreme power in the physical

manifested universe or Brahmā Vishnu and Shiva;while in the last four we recognize the symbols of the

terrestrial quaternary ruling over all natural and physical revolutions of the seasons,quarters of the day

points of the compass,and elements.Thus:

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

Morning Noon Evening Night

Youth Adolescence Manhood Age

Fire Air Water Earth

East South West North

But Esoteric Science is not content with analogies on the purely objective plane of the physical senses,

and therefore it is absolutely necessary to preface further teachings in this direction with a clear

explanation of the real meaning of the word Magic.

Simon Magnus the Magician (Page 465)

What Magic is,in Reality

Esoteric Science is,above all the knowledge of our relations with and in Divine Magic,[Magic.Magia,

means,in its spiritual secret sense the “Great Life ” or divine life in spirit .The root is magh,as seen in

the Sanskrit mahat Zend maz,Greek megas,and Latin magn s,all signifying “great ”.] inseparableness

from our divine Selves —the latter meaning something else besides our own higher Spirit.Thus,before

proceeding to exemplify and explain these relations,it may perhaps be useful to give the student a

correct idea of the full meaning of this most misunderstood world “Magic.” Many are those willing and

eager to study Occultism but very few have even an approximate idea of the Science itself.Now very

few of our American and European students can derive benefit from Sanskrit works or even their

translations,as these translations are for the most part merely blinds to the uninitiated.I therefore

propose to offer to their attention demonstrations of the aforesaid drawn from Neo-Platonic works.These

are accessible in translation;and in 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 Irenęus,

Ephiphanius and St.Justin and especially in the anonymous Philosoph mena .Yet he is a 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 his chronicler.

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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

Ęons.He mentions only three (Page 466)degrees as such because it was and is useless,as we have

before explained 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 Meander ’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 was,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 [Philosoph mena,vi.9.]

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 Intelligibe (Noźton )and the Sensible

(Aisthźton ),and Aristotle ’s teaching on the Potency (D namis )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 was susceptible of development by

extension and emanation.This is our teaching of the Manifested Logos,and these parts in their

primordial emanations are our Dhyān Chohans,the “Sons of Flame and Fire ”or higher Ęons.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 sacred

side of it being the Father.Simon called these emanations Syzygies (a united pair or couple),for they

emanated two-by-two one as an active and the other as a passive Ęon.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 ” † [No s,Epinoia:Phōni :Onoma :Logismos,Enth mesis.]

the first in each pair being male the last female.From these primordial six emanated the six Ęons of the

Middle World.Let us see what Simon himself says:

Series of Ęons -(Page 467)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.[Philosoph mena,vi.12.]

in clearer terms,it would become atrophied as the modern expression goes.

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Now what do these words mean if not that to be equal in all things to the Infinite Potency the Ęons 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 act themselves?To produce emanations,or to

have acquired the gift of Kryiāshakti [See supra,s b voce.] 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 Ęons

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

Ęons,synthesized by the seventh the Parent Potency passed into Act and emanated in their turn six

secondary Ęons,which were each synthesized by their respective Parents.In the Philosoph mena we

read that Simon compared the Ęons to the “Tree of Life.”Said Simon in the Revelation :[The Great

Revelation (Hź Megalź Apophasis),of which Simon himself is supposed to have been the author.]

It is written that there are two ramifications of the universal Ęons,having neither beginning

nor end issued both from the same Root the invisible and incomprehensible Potentiality Sigź

[Silence ].One of these [series of Ęons ]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 Ęon generating

all things.These [two kinds of Ęons ] corresponding [Literally standing opposite each other in

rows or pairs.] with each other have conjunction and manifest the middle distance [the

intermediate sphere or plane ] the incomprehensible Air which has neither beginning nor end.

[Philosoph mena,vi.18.]

This female “Air ”is our Ether or the kabalistic Astral Light.It (Page 468)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 or 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 act and became like unto its own Parent it was not dual or androgyne.It

is the Thought (Sigź)that emanated from it 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 preėxisting: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 [D namis,viz.:No s ] 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.

[Op.cit.,vi.18.]

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

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Syzygy [or spouse ] for the Earth below receives those intellectual fruits which are brought

down from Heaven and are cognate to the Earth.† [Op.cit.,i.13.]

Simon ’s Third World with its third series of six Ęons 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 Spirt brooding over

the dark waters of undifferentiated Space Nārāyana 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.

The Triple Ęon -(Page 469)Irenęus supplements the information on the further development of these

six Ęons.We learn from him that Thought having separated 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 Ęons,the primordial Seven.It is for him to develope “with the

image before him of the highest ” by imitation in act the Potency with which the highest of his Parents,

or Fathers,is endowed.Here we may again quote with advantage from the Philosoph mena:

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 Ęons 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 (Ęon),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.[Op cit.,vi.17.]

Thus of this triple Ęon we learn the first exists as “that which has stood stands and will stand ”or the

uncreate Power Ātman;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 (Page 470)

All that is eternal pure and incorruptible is concealed in everything that is

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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 Ęon from the Creative Angels,or Builders,as we call them.Why then should

not Man the direct heir of the highest Ęon do the same by the potency of his thought which is born

from Spirit?This is Kriyāshakti the power of producing forms on the objective plane through the potency

of Ideation and Will from invisible indestructible Matter.

Truly says Jeremiah [Op.cit.,i.5.] 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 Ęon or Divine Man both with Simon Magus and

Eastern Philosophy.The first three chapters of Genesis are as Occult as that which is given in Paper I.

For the terrestrial Paradise is the Womb says Simon [Philosoph mena,vi.14.] 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 Fœtus,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.[At first there are the omphalo-mesenteric

vessels,two arteries and two veins,but these afterwards totally disappear as does the “vascular area ”

on the Umbilical Vesicle from which they proceed.As regards the “Umbilical Vessels ”proper the

Umbilical Cord ultimately has entwined around it from right to left the one Umbilical Vein which takes the

oxygenated blood from the mother to the Fœtus,and two Hypogastic or Umbilical Arteries which take the

used-up blood from the Fœtus to the Placenta the contents of the vessels being the reverse of that

which prevails after birth.Thus Science corroborates the wisdom and knowledge of ancient Occultism

for in the days of Simon Magus no man unless an Initiate knew anything about the circulation of the

blood or about Physiology.While this Paper was being printed I received two small pamphlets from Dr.

Jerome A.Anderson which were printed in 1884 and 1888 and in which is to be found the scientific

demonstration of the fœtal nutrition as advanced in Paper I.Briefly the Fœtus is nourished by osmosis

from the Amniotic Fluid and respires by means of the Placenta.Science knows little or nothing about the

Amniotic Fluid and its uses.If any one cares to follow up this question I would recommend Dr.

Anderson ’s Remarks on the N trition of the Fœt s.(Wood &Co.New York)]

Magic and Miracles -(Page 471)The above is given for the elucidation of that which is to follow.The

disciples of Simon Magus were numerous,and were instructed by him in Magic.They made use of so-

called “exorcisms ”(as in the New Testament ),incantations,philtres;believed in dreams and visions,and

produced them at will;and finally forced the lower orders of spirits to obey them.Simon Magus was

called “the Great Power of God ”literally “the Potency of the Deity which is called Great.”That which was

then termed Magic we now call Theosophia or Divine Wisdom Power and Knowledge.

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His direct disciple Menader was also a great Magician.Says Irenęus,among other writers:

The successor of Simon was Menander a Samaritan by birth who reached the highest

summits in the Science of Magic.

Thus both master and pupil are shown as having attained the highest powers in the art of enchantments,

powers which can be obtained only through “the help of the Devil ” as Christians claim;and yet their

“works ”were identical with those spoken of in the New Testament wherein such phenomenal results are

called divine miracles,and are therefore believed in and accepted as coming from and through God.But

the question is,have these so-called “miracles ”of the “Christ ” and the Apostles ever been explained any

more than the magical achievements of so-called Sorcerers and Magicians?I say never.We Occultists

do not believe in supernatural phenomena and the Masters laugh at the word “miracle.” Let us see

then what is really the sense of the word Magic.

The source and basis of it lie in Spirit and Thought whether on the purely divine or the terrestrial plane.

Those who know the history of Simon have the two versions before them that of White and of Black

Magic,at their option in the much talked of union of Simon with Helena whom he called his Epinoia

(Thought).Those who like the Christians,had to discredit a dangerous rival talk of Helena as being a

beautiful and actual woman whom Simon had met in a house of ill fame at Tyre and who was,

according to those who wrote his life the incarnation of Helen of Troy.How then was she “Divine

Thought ” ?The lower angels,Simon is made to say in Philosoph mena or the third Ęons,being so

material had more badness in them than all the others.Poor man created or emanated from them had

the vice of his origin.What was it?Only this:when the third Ęons possessed themselves,in their turn of

the Divine Thought through (Page 472)the transmission into them of Fire instead of making of a man a

complete being according to the universal plan they at first detained from him that Divine Spark

(Thought on Earth Manas);and that was the cause and origin of senseless man ’s committing the

original sin as the angels had committed it ęons before refusing to create.[S pra.vol.ii.] Finally after

detaining Epinoia prisoner amongst them and having subjected the Divine Thought to every kind of insult

and desecration they ended by shutting it into the already defiled body of man.After this,as interpreted

by the enemies of Simon she passed from one female body into another through ages and races,until

Simon found and recognized her in the form of Helena the “prostitute ” the “lost sheep ”of the parable.

Simon is made to represent himself as the Saviour descended on Earth to rescue this “lamb ”and those

men in whom Epinoia is still under the dominion of the lower angels.The greatest magical feats are thus

attributed to Simon through his sexual union with Helena hence Black Magic.Indeed the chief rites of

this kind of Magic are based on such disgusting literal interpretation of noble myths,one of the noblest of

which was thus invented by Simon as a symbolical mark of his own teaching.Those who understood it

correctly knew what was meant by “Helena.”It was the marriage of Nous (Ćtmā-Buddhi)with Manas,the

union through which Will and Thought become one and are endowed with divine powers.For Ćtman in

man being of an unalloyed essence the primordial Divine Fire (or the eternal and universal “that which

has stood stands and will stand ”),is of all the planes;and Buddhi is its vehicle or Thought generated by

and generating the “Father ”in her turn and also Will.She is “that which has stood stands and will

stand ” thus becoming in conjunction with Manas,male-female in this sphere only.Hence when Simon

spoke of himself as the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and of Helena and his Epinoia Divine

Thought he meant the marriage of his Buddhi with Manas.Helena was the Shakti of the inner man the

female potency.

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Now what says Menander?The lower angels,he taught were the emanations of Ennoia (Designing

Thought).It was Ennoia who taught the Science of Magic and imparted it to him together with the art of

conquering the creative angels of the lower world.The latter stand for the passions of our lower nature.

Magic a Divine Science -(Page 473)His pupils,after receiving baptism from him (i.e.,after Initiation),

were said to “resurrect from the dead ”and “growing no older ”became “immortal.”[See Eusebius,Hist.

Eccles.,Lib.III,iii.cap.26.]This “resurrection “promised by Menander meant of course simply the

passage from the darkness of ignorance into the light of truth the awakening of man ’s immortal Spirit to

inner and eternal life.This is the Science of the Rāja Yogīs —Magic.

Every person who had read Neo-Platonic Philosophy knows how its chief Adepts,such as Plotinus,and

especially Porphyry fought against phenomenal Theurgy.But beyond all of them Jamblichus,the

author of the De Mysteriis,lifts high the veil from the real term Theurgy and shows us therein the true

Divine Science of Rāja Yoga.

Magic,he says is a lofty and sublime Science Divine and exalted above all others.

It is the great remedy for all ....It neither takes its source in nor is it limited to the body of

its passions,to the human compound or its constitution;but all is derived by it from our upper

Gods,

our divine Egos,which run like a silver thread from the Spark in us up to the primeval divine Fire.† [De

Mysteriis,p.100 lines 10 to 19:p.109 fol.I.]

Jamblichus execrates physical phenomena produced as he says,by the bad demons who deceive men

(the spooks of the sźance room),as vehemently as he exalts Divine Theurgy.But to exercise the latter

he teaches,the Theurgist must imperatively be “ a man of high morality and a chaste Soul.” The other

kind of Magic is used only by impure selfish men and has nothing of the Divine in it.No real Vates

would ever consent to find in its communications anything coming from our higher Gods.Thus one

(Theurgy)is the knowledge of our Father (the Higher Self);the other subjection to our lower nature.One

requires holiness of the Soul a holiness which rejects and excludes everything corporeal;the other the

desecration of it (the Soul).One is the union with the Gods (with one ’s God),the source of all Good;the

other intercourse with demons (Elementals),which unless we subject them,will subject us,and lead us

step by step to moral ruin (mediumship).In short:

Theurgy unites us most strongly to divine nature.This nature begets itself through itself

moves through its own powers,supports all and is intelligent.Being the ornament of the

Universe it invites us to intelligible truth to perfection (Page 474)and imparting perfection to

others.It unites us so intimately to all the creative actions of the Gods,according to the

capacity of each of us,that the soul having accomplished the sacred rites is consolidated in

their [the Gods ’] actions and intelligences,until it launches itself into and is absorbed by the

primordial divine essence.This is the object of the sacred Initiations of the Egyptians.[De

Mysteriis.p.290.lines 15 to 18.et seq.,caps.v and vii.]

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Now Jamblichus shows us how this union of our Higher Soul with the Universal Soul with the Gods,is

to be effected.He speaks of Manteia which Samādhi the highest trance.[Ibid.,p.100 sec.iii.cap ] He

speaks also of dream which is divine vision when man re-becomes again a God.By Theurgy or Rāja

Yoga a man arrives at:(1)Prophetic Discernment through our God (the respective Higher Ego of each

of us)revealing to us the truths of the plane on which we happen to be acting;(2)Ecstacy and

Illumination;(3)Action in Spirit (in Astral Body or through Will);(4)and Domination over the minor

senseless demons (Elementals)by the very nature of our purified Egos.But this demands the complete

purification of the latter.And this is called by him Magic,through initiation into Theurgy.

But Theurgy has to be preceded by a training of our senses and the knowledge of the human Self in

relation to the Divine SELF.So long as man has not thoroughly mastered this preliminary study it is idle

to anthropomorphize the formless.By “formless ”I mean the higher and the lower Gods,the

supermundane as well as mundane Spirits,or Beings,which to beginners can be revealed only in

Colours and Sounds.For none but a high Adept can perceive a “God ”in its true transcendental form

which to the untrained intellect to the Chelā will be visible only by its Aura.The visions of full figures

casually perceived by sensitives and mediums belong to one or another of the only three categories they

can see:(a )Astrals of living men;(b )Nirmānakāyas (Adepts good or bad whose bodies are dead but

who have learned to live in the invisible space in their ethereal personalities);and (c )Spooks,

Elementaries and Elementals masquerading in shapes borrowed from the Astral Light in general or from

figures in the “mind ’s eye ” of the audience or of the medium which are immediately reflected in their

respective Auras.

Having read the foregoing students will now better comprehend the necessity of first studying the

correspondences between our “principles ”—which are but the various aspects of the triune (spiritual and

physical)man —and our Paradigm;the direct roots of these in the Universe.

The Seven Hierarchies (Page 475)In view of this,we must resume our teaching about the Hierarchies

directly connected and for ever linked with man.

Enough has been said to show that while for the Orientalists and profane masses the sentence “Om

Mani Padma H m,”means simply “Oh the Jewel of the Lotus,”Esoterically it signifies “Oh my God within

me.”Yes;there is a God in each human being for man was,and will re-become God.The sentence

points to the indissoluble union between Man and the Universe.For the Lotus is the universal symbol of

Kosmos as the absolute totality and the Jewel is Spiritual Man or God.

In the preceding Paper the correspondences between Colours,Sounds,and “Principles ”were given;and

those who have read our second volume will remember that these seven principles are derived from the

seven great Hierarchies of Angels,or Dhyān Chohans,which are in their turn associated with Colours

and Sounds,and form collectively the Manifested Logos.

In the eternal music of the spheres we find the perfect scale corresponding to the colours,and in the

number determined by the vibrations of colour and sound which “underlies every form and guides every

sound ”we find the summing-up of the Manifested Universe.

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We may illustrate these correspondences by showing the relation of colour and sound to the geometrical

figures which [See supra i.34:i 4 et seq .and 625 et seq .] express the progressive stages in the

manifestation of Kosmos.

But the student will certainly be liable to confusion if in studying the Diagrams,he does not remember

two things:(1)That our plane being a plane of reflection and therefore illusionary the vario s notations

are reversed and m st be co nted from below pwards.The musical scale begins from below upwards,

commencing with the deep Do and ending with the far more acute Si.(2)That Kāma Rūpa

(corresponding to Do in the musical scale),containing as it does all potentialities of Matter is necessarily

the starting-point on our plane.Further it commences the notation on every plane as corresponding to

the “matter ”of that plane.Again the student must also remember that these notes have to be arranged

in a circle thus showing how Fa is the middle note of Nature.In short musical notes,or Sounds,Colours

(Page 476)and Numbers proceed from one to seven and not from seven to one as erroneously shown in

the spectrum of the prismatic colours,in which Red is counted first;a fact which necessitated my putting

the principles and the days of the week at random in Diagram II.The musical scale and colours,

according to the number of vibrations,proceed from the world of gross Matter to that of Spirit thus:

Principles Colours Notes Numbers States of Matter

Chhāyā Shadow or Double Violet Si 7 Ether

Higher Manas Spiritual

Intelligence Indigo La 6 Critical State called

Air in Occultism

Auric Envelope Blue Sol 5 Steam or Vapour

Lower Manas or Animal Soul Green Fa 4 Critical State

Buddhi or Spiritual Soul Yellow Mi 3 Water

Prāna or Life Principle Orange Re 2 Critical State

Kāmā Rūpa the Seat of Animal

Life Red Do 1 Ice

Here again the student is asked to dismiss from his mind any correspondences between “principles ”and

numbers,for reasons already given.The Esoteric enumeration cannot be made to correspond with the

conventional exoteric.The one is the reality the other is classified according to illusive appearances.The

human principles,as given in Esoteric B ddhism were tabulated for beginners,so as not to confuse

their minds.It was half a blind.

Origins (Page 477)

Colours Sounds and Forms

To proceed:

The point in the Circle is the Unmanifested Logos,corresponding to Absolute Life and absolute Sound.

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The first geometrical figure after the Circle or the Spheroid is the Triangle.

It corresonds to Motion Colour and Sound.Thus he Point in the Triangle

represents the Second Logos,“Father-Mother ”or the White Ray which is

no colour since it contains potentially all colours.It is shown radiating from

the Unmanifested Logos,or the Un-spoken Word.Around the first Triangle

is formed on the plane of Primordial Substance in this order (reversed as

to our plane):

(a )The Astral Double of Nature or the Paradigm of all Forms.

(b )Divine Ideation or Universal Mind.

(c )The synthesis of Occult Nature the Egg of Brahmā containing all and radiating all.

(d )Animal of Material Soul of Nature source of animal and vegetable intelligence and instinct.

[The Master-Key or Tonic of Manifested Nature.]

(Page 478)

(e )The aggregate of Dhyān Chohanic Intelligence Fohat.

(f )Life Principle in Nature.

(g )The Life Procreating Principle in Nature.That which on the spiritual plane corresponds to sexual

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affinity on the lower.

Mirrored on the plane of Gross Nature the World of Reality is reversed and becomes on Earth and our

plane:

(a )Red is the colour of manifested dual or male and female.In man it is shown in its lowest animal form.

(b )Orange is the colour of the robes of the Yogīs and Buddhist Priests the colour of the Sun and Spiritual

Vitality also of the Vital Principle.

(c )Yellow or radiant Golden is the colour of the Spiritual Divine Ray in every atom;in man of Buddhi.

(d )Green and Red are so to speak,interchangeable colours,for Green absorbs the Red as being

stronger in its vibrations than the latter;and Green is the complementary colour of extreme Red.This is

why the Lower Manas and Kāma Rūpa are respectively shown as Green and Red.

(c )The Astral Plane or Auric Envelope in Nature and Man.

(f )The Mind or rational element in Man and Nature.

(g )The most ethereal counterpart of the Body of man the opposite pole standing in point of vibration

and sensitiveness as the Violet stands to the Red.

The above is on the manifested plane;after which we get the seven and the Manifested Prism,or Man

on Earth.With the latter the Black Magician alone is concerned.

In Kosmos,the gradations and correlations of Colours and Sounds,and therefore of Numbers are

infinite.This is suspected even in Physics,for it is ascertained that there exist slow vibrations than those

of the Red the slowest perceptible to us,and far more rapid vibrations than those of the Violet the most

rapid that our senses can perceive.But on Earth in our physical world the range of perceptible

vibrations is limited.Our physical senses cannot take cognizance of vibrations above and below the

septenary and limited gradations of the prismatic colours,for such vibrations are incapable of causing in

us the sensation of colour and sound.

Colours and Principles (Page 479)It will always be the graduated septenary and no more unless we

learn to paralyze our Quaternary and discern both the superior and inferior vibrations with our spiritual

senses seated in the upper Triangle.

Now on this plane of illusion there are three fundamental colours,as demonstrated by Physical

Science Red Blue and Yellow (or rather Orange-Yellow).Expressed in terms of the human principles

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they are;(1)Kāma Rūpa the seat of the animal sensations,welded to and serving as a vehicle for the

Animal Soul or Lower Manas (Red and Green as said being interchangeable);(2)Auric envelope or

the essence of man;and (3)Prāna or Life Principle.But if from the realm of illusion or the living man as

he is on our Earth subject to his sensuous perceptions only we pass to that of semi-illusion and

observe the natural colours themselves,or those of the principles,that is,if we try to find which are those

in the perfect man absorb all others,we shall find that the colours correspond and become

complementary in the following way:

A faint violet mist-like form represents the Astral Man

within an oviform bluish circle over which radiate in

ceaseless vibrations the prismatic colours.That colour is

predominant of which the corresponding principle is the

most activPae generally or at the particular moment when

the clairvoyant perceives it.Such man appears during his

waking states;and it is by the predominance of this or that

colour and by the intensity of its vibrations,that a clairvoyant if he be acquainted with

correspondences,can judge of the inner state or character of a person for the latter is an open book to

every practical Occultist.

In the trance state the Aura changes entirely the seven prismatic colours being no longer discernible.In

sleep also they are not all “at home.”For those which belong to the spiritual elements in the man viz.,

Yellow Buddhi;Indigo Higher Manas;and the Blue of the Auric Envelope will be either hardly

discernible or altogether missing.The Spiritual Man is free during sleep and though his physical

memory may not become aware of it lives,robed in his highest essence in realms on other planes,in

realms which are the land of reality called dreams on our plane of illusion.

(Page 480)A good clairvoyant moreover if he had an opportunity of seeing a Yogī in the trance state and

a mesmerized subject side by side would learn an important lesson in Occultism.He would learn to

know the difference between self-induced trance and a hypnotic state resulting from extraneous

influence.In the Yogī the “principles ”of the lower Quaternary disappear entirely.Neither Red Green

Red-Violet nor the Auric Blue of the Body are to be seen;nothing but hardly perceptible vibrations of the

golden-hued Prāna principle and a violet flame streaked with gold rushing upwards from the head in the

region where the Third Eye rests,and culminating in a point.If the student remembers that the true

Violet or the extreme end of the spectrum is no compound colour of Red and Blue but a homogeneous

colour with vibrations seven times more rapid than those of the Red [ and that the golden hue is the

essence of the three yellow hues from Orange-Red to Yellow-Orange and Yellow he will understand the

reason why:he lives in his own Auric Body now become the vehicle of Buddhi-Manas.On the other

hand in a subject in an artificially produced hypnotic or mesmeric trance an effect of unconscious when

not of conscious Black Magic,unless produced by a high Adept the whole set of the principles will be

present with the Higher Manas paralyzed Buddhi severed from it through that paralysis and the red-

violet Astral Body entirely subjected to the Lower Manas and Kāma Rūpa (the green and red animal

monsters in us).

Page 378

Violet

1 Red Green

2 Orange Blue

3 Yellow Indigo

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Colours Wave-Lengths in

Millimetres

Number of Vibrations in

Trillions

Violet extreme 406 759

Violet 423 709

Violet-Indigo 439 683

Indigo 449 668

Indigo-Blue 459 654

Blue 479 631

Blue-Green 492 610

Green 512 586

Green-Yellow 532 564

Yellow 551 544

Yellow-Orange 571 525

Orange 583 514

Orange-Red 596 503

Red 620 484

Red-extreme 645 465

One who comprehends well the above explanations will readily see how important it is for every student

whether he is striving for practical Occult powers or only for the purely psychic and spiritual gifts of

clairvoyance and metaphysical knowledge to master thoroughly the right correspondences between the

human or nature principles,and those of Kosmos.

The Primordial Seven (Page 481)It is ignorance which leads materialistic Science to deny the inner man

and his Divine powers;knowledge and personal experience that allow the Occultist to affirm that such

powers are as natural to man as swimming to fishes.It is like a Laplander in all sincerity denying the

possibility of the catgut strung loosely on the sounding board of a violin producing comprehensive

sounds or melody.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 H m.”

This was why the previous knowledge of music and geometry was obligatory in the School of

Pythagoras.

The Roots of Colour and Sound

Further each of the Primordial Seven the first Seven Rays forming the Manifested Logos,is again

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sevenfold.Thus,as the seven colours of the solar spectrum correspond to the seven Rays or

Hierarchies,so each of these latter has again its seven divisions corresponding to the same series of

colours.But in this case one colour viz.,that which characterizes the particular Hierarchy as a whole is

predominant and more intense than the others.

These Hierarchies can only be symbolized as concentric circles of prismatic colours;each Hierarchy

being represented by a series of seven concentric circles,each circle representing one of the prismatic

colours in their negative order.But in each of these “wheels ”one circle will be brighter and more vivid in

colour than the rest and the wheel will have a surrounding Aura (a fringe as the physicists call it)of that

colour.This colour will be the characteristic colour of that Hierarchy as a whole.Each of these

Hierarchies furnishes the essence (the Soul)and is the “Builder ”of one of the seven kingdoms of Nature

which are the three elemental kingdoms,the mineral the vegetable the (Page 482)animal and the

kingdom of spiritual man.[See Five Years of Theosophy.pp.273 to 278.] Moreover each Hierarchy

furnishes the Aura of one of the seven principles in man with its specific colour.Further as each of these

Hierarchies is the Ruler of one of the Sacred Planets,it will easily be understood how Astrology came

into existence and that real Astrology has a strictly scientific basis.

The symbol adopted in the Eastern School to represent the Seven Hierarchies of creative Powers is a

wheel of seven concentric circles,each circle being coloured with one of the seven colours;call them

Angels,if you will or Planetary Spirits,or again the Seven Rulers of the Seven Sacred Planets of our

system as in our present case.At all events,the concentric circles stand as symbols for Ezekiel ’s

Wheels with some Western Occultists and Kabalists,and for the “Builders ”or Prajāpati with us.

The student should carefully examine the following Diagram.

DIAGRAM III

The Human

Principles

The Seven Hierarchies and their

Subdivisions

VIOLET

Linga Sharira

VIOLET

Indigo

Blue

Green

Yellow

Orange

Red

INDIGO

Higher Manas

Violet

INDIGO

Blue

Green

Yellow

Orange

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Red

BLUE

Auric Egg

Violet

Indigo

BLUE

Green

Yellow

Orange

Red

GREEN

Lower Manas

Violet

Indigo

Blue

GREEN

Yellow

Orange

Red

YELLOW

Buddhi

Violet

Indigo

Blue

Green

YELLOW

Orange

Red

ORANGE

Prāna

Violet

Indigo

Blue

Green

Yellow

ORANGE

Red

RED

Kāma Rupa

Violet

Indigo

Blue

Green

Yellow

Orange

RED

Thus the Linga Sharīra is derived from the Violet sub-ray of the Violet Hierarchy;the Higher Manas is

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similarly derived from the Indigo sub-ray of the Indigo Hierarchy and so on.Every man being born under

a certain planet there will always be a predominance of that planet ’s colour in him because that

“principle ”will rule in him which has its origin in the Hierarchy in question.There will also be a certain

amount of the colour derived from the other planets present in his Aura but that of the ruling planet will

be strongest.Now a person in whom say the Mercury principle is predominant will by acting upon the

Mercury principle in another person born under a different planet be able to get him entirely under his

control.For the stronger Mercury principle in him will overpower the weaker Mercurial element in the

other.But he will have little power over persons born under the same planet as himself.This is the Key to

the Occult Sciences of Magnetism and Hypnotism.

The student will understand that the Orders and Hierarchies are here named after their corresponding

colours,so as to avoid using numerals,which would be confusing in connection with the human

principles,as the latter have no proper numbers of their own.The real Occult names of these Hierarchies

cannot now be given.

The Hierarchies and Man (Page 483)

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 initiated 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 “imitations ”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 Kāma animal desire and is inseparable from the material plane.

The Unity of Deity

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

(Page 484)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 existence.In every ancient Religion

the ONE was demonstrated by the many.In Egypt and India in Chaldę and Phœnicia and finally in

Greece the ideas about Deity were expressed by multiples of three five and seven;and also by eight

nine and twelve great Gods,which symbolized the powers and properties of the One and Only Deity.

This was related to that infinite subdivision by irregular and odd numbers to which the metaphysics of

these nations subjected their ONE DIVINITY.Thus constituted the cycle of the Gods has 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 in India is said to have

no Second.

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O God Ani [the Spiritual Sun ] thou residest in the agglomeration of thy divine personages.

[Ap d Grebaat Papyrus Orbiney.p.101.]

These words show the belief of the ancients that all manifestation proceeds from one and the same

Source all emanating from the one identical Principle which can never be completely developed except

in and through the collective and entire aggregate of Its emanations.

The Pleroma of Valentinus is absolutely the Space of Occult Philosophy;for Pleroma means the

“Fullness,”the superior regions.It is the sum total of all the Divine manifestations and emanations

expressing the plen m or totality of the rays proceeding from the ONE differentiating on all the planes,

and transforming themselves into Divine Powers,called Angels and Planetary Spirits in the Philosophy of

every nation.The Gnostic Ęons and Powers of the Pleroma are made to speak as the Devas and

Siddhas of the P rānas.The Epinoia the first female manifestation of God the “Principle ”of Simon

Magus and Saturninus,holds the same language as the Logos of Basilides;and each of these is traced

to the purely esoteric Alźtheia the TRUTH of the Mysteries.All of them we are taught repeat at different

times and in different languages the magnificent hymn of the Egyptian papyrus,thousands of years old:

The Gods adore thee they greet thee O the One Dark Truth.

Wisdom and Truth (Page 485)And addressing Ra they add:

The Gods bow before thy Majesty by exalting the Souls of that which produces them ...and say to

thee Peace to all emanations from the Unconscious Father of the Conscious Fathers of the Gods ...

Thou producer of beings,we adore the souls which emanate from thee.Thou begettest us,O thou

Unknown and we greet thee in worshipping each God-Soul which descendeth from thee and liveth in us.

This is the source of the assertion:

Know ye not that ye are Gods and the temple of God.

This is shown in the “Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry ”in L cifer for March 1889.Truly then

as said seventeen centuries ago “Man cannot possess Truth (Alźtheia)except he participate in the

Gnosis.” So we may say now:No man can know the Truth unless he studies the secrets of the Pleroma

of Occultism;and these secrets are all in the Theogony of the ancient Wisdom-Religion which is the

Alźtheia of Occult Science.

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PAPER III

A Word Concerning the Earlier Papers

(Page 486)AS many have written and almost complained to me that they could find no practical clear

application of certain diagrams appended to the first two Papers,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 477 (Paper 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 way as accepted by Science.As Plato was an Initiate he very naturally

used the former method while Aristotle never having 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 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 two figures,therefore are not meant to represent any two particular planes,but are the abstraction

of a pair of planes,explanatory of the law of reflection just as the Lower Manas is a reflection of the

Higher.They must therefore be taken in the highest metaphysical sense.

The diagrams are only intended to familiarize students with the leading ideas of Occult correspondences,

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.

Occult Secrecy (Page 487)Figures must be used as ladders to scale the battlements,ladders to be

disregarded when once the foot is set upon the rampart.

Let students,therefore be very careful to spiritualize the Papers 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 Papers,so far as they from the right understanding of

them.This is especially the case with these first Papers and Diagrams,for as in all true arts,so in

Occultism we must first learn the theory before we are taught the practice.

Concerning Secrecy

Students ask:Why such secrecy about the details of a doctrine the body of which has been publicly

revealed as in Esoteric B ddhism and the Secret Doctrine ?

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To this Occultism would reply:for two reasons:—

(a )The whole truth is too sacred to be given out promiscuously.

(b )The knowledge of all the details and missing links in the exoteric teachings is too dangerous in

profane hands.

The truths revealed to man by the “Planetary Spirits ”—the highest Kumāras,those who incarnate no

longer in the Universe during this Mahāmanvantara —who will appear on earth as Avatāras only at the

beginning of every new human Race and at the junctions or close of the two ends of the small and great

cycles —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 tterly 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.When 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,(Page 488)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.

If you wish to know the real raison d ’źtre for this policy I now give it to you.No use my repeating and

explaining what all of you know as well as myself;at the very beginning events have shown that no

caution can be dispensed with.Of our body of several hundred men and women many did not seem to

realize either the awful sacredness of the pledge (which some took at the end of their pen),or the fact

that their personality has to be entirely disregarded when brought face to face with their HIGHER SELF;or

that all their words and professions went for naught unless corroborated by actions.This was human

nature and no more;therefore it was passed leniently by and a new lease accorded by the MASTER.But

apart from this there is a danger lurking in the nature of the present cycle itself.Civilized humanity

however carefully guarded by its invisible Watchers,the Nirmānakāyas who watch over our respective

races and nations,is yet owing to its collective Karma terribly under the sway of the traditional opposers

of the Nirmānakāyas —the “Brothers of the Shadow ” embodied and disembodied;and this,as has

already been told you will last to the end of the first Kali Yuga cycle (1897),and a few years beyond as

the smaller dark cycle happens to overlap the great one.Thus,notwithstanding all precautions,terrible

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secrets are often revealed to entirely unworthy persons by the efforts of the “Dark Brothers ”and their

working on human brains.This is entirely owning to the simple fact that in certain privileged organisms,

vibrations of the primitive truth put in motion by the Planetary Beings are set up in what Western

philosophy would term innate ideas,and Occultism “flashes of genius,”*[See “Genius,”L cifer.Nov.

1889.p.227 ] Some such idea based on eternal truth is awakened and all that the watchful Powers can

do is to prevent its entire revelation.

Everything in this Universe of differentiated matter has its two aspects the light and the dark side and

these two attributes applied practically lead the one to use the other to abuse.

The Light and Dark Sides of Nature (Page 489)Every man may become a Botanist without apparent

danger to his fellow-creatures;and many a Chemist who has mastered the science of essences knows

that every one of them can both heal and kill.Not an ingredient not a poison but can be used for both

purposes —aye from harmless wax to deadly prussic acid from the saliva of an infant to that of the

cobra di capella.This every tyro in medicine knows —theoretically at any rate.But where is the learned

chemist in our day who has been permitted to discover the “night side ”of an attribute of any substance in

the three kingdoms of Science let alone in the seven of the Occultists?Who of them has penetrated into

its Arcana into the innermost Essence of things and its primary correlations?Yet it is this knowledge

alone which makes of an Occultist a genuine practical Initiate whether he turn out a Brother of Light or a

Brother of Darkness.The essence of that subtle traceless poison the most potent in nature which

entered into the composition of the so-called Medici and Borgia poisons,if used with discrimination by

one well versed in the septenary degrees of its potentiality on each of the planes accessible to man on

earth —could heal or kill every man in the world;the result depending of course on whether the operator

was a Brother of the Light or a Brother of the Shadow.The former is prevented from doing the good he

might by racial national and individual Karma;the second is impeded in his fiendish work by the joint

efforts of the human “Stones ”of the “Guardian Wall.”[See Voice of the Silence.pp.68 and 94.art 28.

Glossary.]

It is incorrect to think that there exists any special “powder of projection ”or “philosopher ’s stone ” or

“elixir of life.”The latter lurks in every flower in every stone and mineral throughout the globe.It is the

ultimate essence of everything on its way to higher and higher evol tion.As there is no good or evil per

se,so there is neither “elixir of life ”nor “elixir of death ” nor poison per se,but all this is contained in one

and the same universal Essence this or the other effect or result depending on the degree of its

differentiation and its various correlations.The light side of it produces life health bliss,divine peace

etc;the dark side brings death disease sorrow and strife.This is proven by the knowledge of the nature

of the most violent poisons;of some of them even a large quantity will produce no evil effect on the

organism whereas a grain of the same poison kills with (Page 490)the rapidity of lightning;while the

same grain again altered by a certain combination though its quantity remains almost identical will

heal.The number of the degrees of its differentiation is septenary as are the planes of its action each

degree being either beneficent or maleficent in its effects,according to the system into which it is

introduced.He who is skilled in these degrees is on the high road to practical Adeptship;he who acts at

haphazard —as do the enormous majority of the “Mind Curers,”whether “Mental ”or “Christian

Scientists ”—is likely to rue the effects on himself as well as on others.Put on the track by the example of

the Indian Yogis,and of their broadly but incorrectly outlined practices,which they have only read about

but have have no opportunity to study —these new sects have rushed headlong and guideless into the

practice of denying and affirming .Thus they have done more harm than good.Those who are successful

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owe it to their innate magnetic and healing powers which very often counteract that which would

otherwise be conductive to much evil.Beware I say:Satan and the Archangel are more than twins;they

are one body and one mind —De s est Demon inversus.

Is the Practice of Concentration Beneficent?

Such is another question often asked.I answer:Genuine concentration and meditation conscio s and

ca tio s upon one ’s lower self in the light of the inner divine man and the Pāramitās,is an excellent

thing.But to “sit for Yoga ” with only a superficial and often distorted knowledge of the real practice is

almost invariably fatal:for ten to one the student will either develop mediumistic powers in himself or lose

time and get disgusted both with practice and theory.Before one rushes into such a dangerous

experiment and seeks to go beyond a minute examination of one ’s lower self and its walk in life or that

which is called in our phraseology “The Chelā ’s Daily Life Ledger ” he would do well to learn at least the

difference between the two aspects of “Magic,”the White or Divine and the Black or Devilish and

assure himself that by “sitting for Yoga ”with no experience as well as with no guide to show him the

dangers,he does not daily and hourly cross the boundaries of the Divine to fall into the Satanic.

Nevertheless,the way to learn the difference is very easy;one has only to remember that no Esoteric

truths entirely nveiled will ever be given in p blic print,in book or magazine.

Nature's Finer Forces (Page 491)I ask students to turn to the Theosophist of November 1887.On page

98 they will find the beginning of an excellent article by Mr.Rāma Prasād 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 Shivāgama which are contained in the book called Nat re ’s Finer Forces.The Shivāgama in its

details is purely Tāntric,and nothing but harm can result from any practical following of its precepts.I

would most strongly dissuade any student 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 Rāja 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.Rāma Prasād 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 Tāntra 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 Shivāgama,on which Nat re ’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 Tattvas instead of seven as in

Esoteric teachings.

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Now the Tattvas being simple the substratum of the seven forces of Nature how can this be?There are

seven forms of Prakriti as Kapila ’s Sānkhya the Vishn P rāna,and other works teach.Prakriti is

Nature Matter (primordial and elemental);therefore logic demands that the Tattvas also should be

seven.For whether Tattvas mean as Occultism teaches,“forces of Nature ”or as the learned Rāma

Prāsad explains,“the substance out of which the universe is formed ”and “the power by which it is

sustained ”it is all one;they (Page 492)are Force,Purusha and Matter Prakriti.And if the forms or

rather planes,of the latter are seven then its forces must be seven also.In other words,the degrees of

the solidity of matter and the degrees of the power that ensouls it must go hand in hand.

The Universe is made out of the Tattva it is sustained by the Tattva and it disappears into the

Tattva

says Shiva as quoted from the Shivāgama in Nat re ’s Finer Forces.This settles the question;if Prakriti

is septenary then the Tattvas must be seven for as said they are both Substance and Force or atomic

Matter and the Spirit that ensouls it.

This is explained here to enable the student to read between the lines of the so-called Occult articles on

Sanskrit Philosophy by which they must not be misled.The doctrine of the seven Tattvas (the principles

of the Universe and also of man )was held in great sacredness and therefore secrecy in the days of old

by the Brāhmans,who have now almost forgotten the teaching.Yet it is taught to this day in the Schools

beyond the Himālayan Range though now hardly remembered or heard of in India except through rare

Initiates.The policy has,however been changed gradually;Chelās began to be taught the broad

outlines of it and at the advent of the T.S.in India in 1879 I was ordered to teach it in is exoteric form to

one or two.I now give it out Esoterically.

Knowing that some students 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,Nat re ’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.

The “Seven Principles ” (Page 493)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 to the dabbler in Magic.

In the East in India and China So lless men and women are as frequently met with as in the West

though vice is,in truth far less developed there than it is here.

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It is Black Magic and oblivion of their ancestral wisdom that lead them thereunto.But of this I will speak

later now merely adding:you have to be warned and know the danger.

Meanwhile in view of what follows,the real Occult division of the Principles in their correspondences

with the Tattvas and other minor forces has to be well studied.

About "Principles"and "Aspects"

Speaking metaphysically and philosophically on strict Esoteric lines,man as a complete unit is

composed of Four basic Principles and their Three Aspects on this earth.In the semi-esoteric teachings,

these Four and Three have been called Seven Principles,to facilitate the comprehension of the masses.

THE ETERNAL BASIC PRINCIPLES TRANSITORY ASPECTS

PRODUCED BY THE PRINCIPLES

1-Atmā,or Jiva "the One Life"which

permeates the Monadic Trio.(One in three

and three in One)

1-Prāna,the Breath of Life the same as

Nephesh.At the death of a livinb being Prāna

re-becomes Jiva *

2-A ric envelope;because the substratum of

the Aura around man is the universally

diffused primordial and pure Akāsha the first

film on the boundless and shoreless expanse

of Jiva the immutable Root of all

2-Linga Sharira,the Astral Form the transitory

emanation of the Auric Egg.This form precedes

the formation of the living Body and after death

clings to it dissipating only with the

disappearance of its last atom (the skeleton

excepted).

3-B ddhi;for Buddhi is a ray of the Universal

Spiritual Soul (ALAYA)

4-Manas (the Higher Ego);for it proceeds

from Mahat the first product or emanation of

Pradhāna which contains potentially all the

Gunas (attributes).Mahat is Cosmic

Intelligence called the "Great Principle".

[Remember that our reincanating Egos are

called the Mānasaputras,"Sons of Manas"

(or Mahat),Intelligence Wisdom ]

3-Lower Manas,the Animal Soul the reflection

or shadow of the Buddhi-Manas,having the

potentialities of both but conquered generally

by its association with the Kāma elements.

*-Prāna on earth at any rate is thus but a mode of life a constant cyclic motion from within

outwardly and back again an out-breathing and in-breathing of the One Life or Jiva the

synonym of the Absolute and Unknowable Deity.Prāna is not absolute life or Jiva but its

aspect in a world of delusion.In the Theosophist,May 1888,page 478,Prāna is said to be

"one stage finer than the gross matter of the earth."

As the lower man is the combined product of two aspects —physically of his Astral Form and psycho-

physiologically of Kāma-Manas —he is not looked upon even as an aspect but as an illusion.

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The Auric Egg on account of its nature and manifold functions,has to be well studied.As

Hiranyagarbha the Golden Womb or Egg contains Brahmā the collective symbol of the Seven

Universal Forces,so the Auric Egg contains,and is directly related to both the divine and the physical

man.In its essence as said it is eternal;in its constant correlations and transformations,during the

reincarnating progress of the Ego on this earth it is a kind of perpetual motion machine.

As given out in our second volume the Egos or Kumāras,incarnating in man at the end of the Third

Root-Race are not human Egos of this earth or plane but become such only from the moment they

ensoul the Animal Man thus endowing him with his Higher Mind.Each is a “Breath ” or Principle called

the Human Soul or Manas,the Mind.As the teachings say:

“Each is a pillar of light.Having chosen its vehicle,it expanded,surro nding with an Ćkāshic A ra the

h man animal,while the Divine (Mānasic)Principle settled within that h man form.”

Ancient Wisdom teaches us,moreover that from this first incarnation the Lunar Pitris,who had made

men out of their Chhāyās or Shadows are absorbed by this Auric Essence and a distinct Astral Form is

now produced for each forthcoming personality of the reincarnating series of each Ego.

The Auric Egg (Page 495)Thus the Auric Egg reflecting all the thoughts,words and deeds of man is:

(a )The preserver of every Karmic record.

(b )The storehouse of all the good and evil powers in man receiving and giving out at his will —nay at his

very thought —every potentiality which becomes,then and there an acting potency:this Aura is the

mirror in which sensitives and clairvoyants sense and perceive the real man and see him as he is,not

as he appears.

(c )As it furnished man with his Astral Form around which the physical entity models itself first as a

fœtus,then as a child and man the astral growing apace with the human being so it furnishes him

during life if an Adept with his Māyāvic Rūpa or Illusion Body which is not his Vital-Astral Body;and

after death with his Devachanic Entity and Kāma Rūpa or Body of Desire (the Spook).[It is erroneous

to call the fourth human principle “Kāma Rūpa.”It is no Rūpa ”or form at all until after death but stands

for the Kāmic elements in man his animal desires and passions,such as anger lust envy revenge etc.

the progeny of selfishness and matter.]

In the case of the Devachanic Entity the Ego in order to be able to go into a state of bliss,as the “I ” of

its immediately preceding incarnation has to be clothed (metaphorically speaking)with the spiritual

elements of the ideas,aspirations and thoughts of the now disembodied personality;otherwise what is it

that enjoys bliss and reward?Surely not the impersonal Ego the Divine Individuality.Therefore it must

be the good Karmic records of the deceased impressed upon the Auric Substance which furnish the

Human Soul with just enough of the spiritual elements of the ex-personality to enable it to still believe

itself that body from which it has just been severed and to receive its fruition during a more or less

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prolonged period of “spiritual gestation.” For Devachan is a “spiritual gestation ”within an ideal matrix

state a birth of the Ego into the world of effects which ideal subjective birth precedes its next terrestrial

birth the latter being determined by its bad Karma into the world of causes.[Here the world of effects is

the Devachanic state and the world of causes,earth life.]

In the case of the Spook,the Kāma Rūpa is furnished from the animal dregs of the Auric Envelope with

its daily Karmic record of animal life so full of animal desires and selfish aspirations.[It is this Kāma

Rūpa alone that can materialize in mediumistic séances,which occasionally happens when it is not the

Astral Double or Linga Sharīra of the medium himself which appears.How then can this vile bundle of

passions and terrestrial lusts resurrected by and gaining consciousness only through the organism of

the medium be accepted as a “departed angel ”or the Spirit of a once human body?As well say of the

microbic pest which fastens on a person that it is a sweet departed angel.]

(Page 496)Now the Linga Sharira remains with the Physical Body and fades out along with it.An astral

entity then has to be created a new Linga Sharīra provided to become the bearer of all the past Tanhas

and future Karma.How is this accomplished?The mediumistic Spook,the “departed angel ” fades out

and vanishes also in its turn [This is accomplished in more or less time according to the degree in which

the personality (whose dregs it now is)was spiritual or material.If spirituality prevailed then the Larva or

Spook,will fade out very soon;but if the personality was very materialistic,the Kāma Rūpa may last for

centuries and —in some though very exceptional cases —even survive with the help of some of its

scattered Skandhas,which are all transformed in time into Elementals.See the Key to Theosophy pp.

141 et seq .in which it was impossible to go into details,but where the Skandhas are spoken.] as an

entity or full image of the personality that was,and leaves in the Kāmalokic world of effects only the

record of its misdeeds and sinful thoughts and acts known in the phraseology of Occultists as Tānhic or

human Elementals.Entering into the composition of the Astral Form of the new body into which the Ego

upon its quitting the Devachanic state is to enter according to Karmic decree the Elementals form that

new astral entity which is born within the Auric Envelope and of which it is often said:

Bad Karma waits at the threshold of Devachan with its army of Skandhas.[Key to Theosophy.

p.141.]

For no sooner is the Devachanic state of reward ended than the Ego is indissolubly united with (or

rather follows in the track of)the new Astral Form.Both are Karmically propelled towards the family or

woman from whom is to be born the animal chila chosen by Karma to become the vehicle of the Ego

which has just awakened from the Devachanic state.Then the new Astral Form composed partly of the

pure Akāshic Essence of the Auric Egg and partly of the terrestrial elements of the punishable sins and

misdeeds of the last personality is drawn into the woman.Once there Nature models the fœtus of flesh

around the Astral out of the growing materials of the male seed in the female soil.Thus grows out of the

essence of a decayed seed the fruit or eidolon of the dead seed the physical fruit producing in its turn

within itself another and other seeds for future plants.

And now we may return to the Tattvas,and see what they mean in nature and man showing thereby the

great danger of indulging in fancy amateur Yoga without knowing what we are about.

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Five or Seven Tattvas (Page 497)

The T ć ttvic Correlations and Meaning

In Nature then we find seven Forces,or seven Centres of Force and everything seems to respond to

that number as for instance the septenary scale in music,or Sounds,and the septenary spectrum in

Colours.I have not exhausted its nomenclature and proofs in the earlier volumes,yet enough is given to

show every thinker that the facts adduced are no coincidences,but very weighty testimony.

There are several reasons why only five Tattvas 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 Tattvas the two yet

undeveloped senses in man;and the two forces,or Tattvas,forgotten by Brāhmans 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.It is easy to see that these two Tattvas

and the two senses (the sixth and the seventh)correspond to the two highest human principles,Buddhi

and the Auric Envelope impregnated with the light of Atmā.Unless we open in ourselves,by Occult

training the sixth and seventh senses,we can never comprehend correctly their corresponding types.

Thus the statement in Nat re ’s Finer Forces that in the Tāttvic scale the highest Tattva of all is Ćkāsha *

[Following Shivāgama,the said author enumerates the correspondences in this wise:Ćkāsha Ether is

followed by Vāyu Gas:Tejas,Heat:Ćpas,Liquid:and Prithivī Solid.] (followed by [only ] four each of

which becomes grosser than its predecessor),if made from the Esoteric standpoint is erroneous.For

once Ćkāsha an almost homogeneous and certainly universal Principle is translated Ether then Ćkāsha

is dwarfed and limited to our visible Universe for assuredly it is not the Ether of Space.Ether whatever

Modern Science makes of it is differentiated Substance;Ćkāsha having no attributes save one —

SOUND of which it is the substrat m —is no substance even exoterically and in the minds of some

Orientalists,[See Fitz-Edward Hall ’s notes on the Vishn P rānas.] but rather Chaos,or the Great

Spatial Void.‡ [The pair which we refer to as the One Life the Root of All and Ćkāsha in its pre-

differentiating period answers to the Brahma (neuter)and Aditi of some Hindus,and stands in the same

relation as the Parabrahman and Mūlaprakriti of the Vedāntins.]

(Page 498)Esoterically Ćkāsha 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 Ćkasha 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 Ćkāsha 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 thoughts.

Occultism teaches that Ćkāsha contains and includes the seven Centres of Force therefore the six

Tattvas of which it is the seventh or rather their synthesis.But if Ćkāsha be taken as we believe it is in

this case to represent only the exoteric idea then the author is right;because seeing that Ćkāsha is

universally omnipresent following the Paurānic limitation for the better comprehension of o r infinite

intellects,he places its commencement only beyond the four planes of our Earth Chain [See above.i.

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diagram.p.221.] the two higher Tattvas being as concealed to the average mortal as the sixth and

seventh senses are to the materialistic mind.

Therefore while Sanskrit and Hindu Philosophy generally speak of five Tattvas only Occultists name

seven thus making them correspond with every septenary in Nature.The Tattvas stand in the same

order as the seven macro-and micro-cosmic Forces:and as taught in Esotericism are as follows:

(1)ĆDI TATTVA the primordial universal Force issuing at the beginning of manifestation or of the

“creative ”period from the eternal immutable SAT the substratum of ALL.It corresponds with the Auric

Envelope or Brahmā ’s Egg which surrounds every globe as well as every man animal and thing.It is

the vehicle containing potentially everything —Spirit and Substance Force and Matter.Ćdi Tattva in

Esoteric Cosmogony is the Force which we refer to as proceeding from the First or Unmanifested

LOGOS.

(2)ANUPĆDAKA TATTVA [Anupādaka Opapatika in Pāli means the “parentless,” born without father or

mother from itself as a transformation e.g.,the God Brahmā sprung from the Lotus (the symbol of the

Universe)that grows from Vishnu ’s navel Vishnu typifying eternal and limitless Space and Brahmā the

Universe and LOGOS:the mythical Buddha is also born from a Lotus.] the first differentiation on the

plane of being —the first being an ideal one —or that which is born by transformation from something

higher than itself.With the Occultists this Force proceeds from the SECOND LOGOS.

The Tattvas (Page 499)(3)ĆKĆSHA TATTVA this is the point from which all exoteric Philosophies and

Religions start.Ćkāsha Tattva is explained in them as Etheric Force Ether.Hence Jupiter the “highest ”

God was named after Pater Ęther;Indra once the highest God in India is the etheric or heavenly

expanse and so with Uranus,etc.The Christian biblical God also is spoken of as the Holy Ghost

Pneuma rarefied wind or air.This the Occultists call the Force of the Third LOGOS the Creative Force in

the already Manifested Universe.

(4)VĆYU TATTVA the aėrial plane where substance is gaseous.

(5)TAIJAS TATTVA the plane of our atmosphere from tejas luminous.

(6)ĆPAS TATTVA watery or liquid substance or force.

(7)PRITHIVĪ TATTVA solid earthly substance the terrestrial spirit or force the lowest of all.

All these correspond to our Principles,and to the seven senses and forces in man.According to the

Tattva or Force generated or induced in us,so will our bodies act.

Now what I have to say here is addressed especially to those members who are anxious to develop

powers by “sitting for Yoga.” You have seen from what has been already said that in the development of

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Rāja Yoga no extant works made public are of the least good;they can at best give inklings of Hatha

Yoga something that may develop mediumship at best and in the worst case —consumption.If those

who practice “meditation ”and try to learn “the Science of Breath ”will read attentively Nat re ’s Finer

Forces,they will find that it is by utilizing the five Tattvas only that this dangerous science is acquired.For

in the exoteric Yoga Philosophy and the Hatha Yoga practice Ćkāsha Tattva is placed in the head (or

physical brain)of man;Tejas Tattva in the shoulders;Vāyu Tattva in the navel (the seat of all the phallic

Gods,“creators ”of the universe and man);Ćpas Tattva in the knees ’ and Prithivī Tattva in the feet.

Hence the two higher Tattvas and their correspondences are ignored and excluded;and as these are

the chief factors in Rāja Yoga no spiritual or intellectual phenomena of a high nature can take place.The

best results obtainable will be physical phenomena and no more.As the “Five Breaths,” or rather the five

states of the human breath in Hatha Yoga correspond to the above terrestrial planes and colours,what

spiritual results can be obtained?On the contrary they are the very reverse of the plane of Spirit or the

higher macrocosmic plane reflected (Page 500)as they are upside down in the Astral Light.This is

proven in the Tāntra work,Shivāgama,itself.Let us compare.

First of all remember that the Septenary of visible and also invisible Nature is said in Occultism to

consist of the three (and four)Fires,which grow into the forty-nine Fires.This shows that as the

Macrocosm is divided into seven great planes of various differentiations of Substance —from the spiritual

or subjective to the fully objective or material from Akāsha down to the sin-laden atmosphere of our

earth —so in its turn each of these great planes has three aspects,based on four Principles,as already

shown above.This seems to be quite natural as even modern Science has her three states of matter

and what are generally called the “critical ”or intermediate states between the solid the fluidic,and the

gaseous.

Now the Astral Light is not a universally diffused stuff but pertains only to our earth and all other bodies

of the system on the same plane of matter with it.Our Astral Light is,so to speak,the Linga Sharīra of

our earth;only instead of being its primordial prototype as in the case of our Chhāyā or Double it is the

reverse.Human and animal bodies grow and develop on the model of their antetypal Doubles;whereas

the Astral Light is born from the terrene emanations,grows and develops after its prototypal parent and

in its treacherous waves everything from the upper planes and from the lower solid plane the earth both

ways is reflected reversed .Hence the confusion of its colours and sounds in the clairvoyance and

clairaudience of the sensitive who trusts to its records,be that sensitive a Hatha Yogī or a medium.The

following parallel between the Esoteric and the Tāntra Tables of the Tattvas in relation to Sounds and

Colours shows this very clearly:

(Page 501)

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Esoteric and Tāntra Tables of the Tattvas

Esoteric Principles Tattvas or Forces and their

Correspondences with the Human Body States of Matter and

Colour

Tāntra Tattvas and their

Correspondences with the Human Body

States of matter and Colour

Tattvas Principles States of

Matter Parts of Body Colour Tattvas States of

Matter

Parts of

Body Colour

(a)Adi Auric Egg

Priomardial

Spiritual

Substance;

Akāsha;

Substratum of

the Spirit of

Ether

Envelopes the

whole body

and

penetrates it.

Reciprocal

emanation

endosmotic

and

exosmotic

Synthesis

of all

Colours.

Blue (a)

Ignored Ignored Ignored Ignored

(b)

Anupādaka Buddhi

Spiritual

Essence or

Spirit;

"Primordial

Waters of the

Deep"

Third Eye or

Pineal Gland Yellow (b)

Ignored Ignored Ignored Ignored

(c)Alaya or

Akāsha

Manas Ego

Ether of

Space or

Akāsha in its

third

differentiation.

Critical state

of Vapour

Head Indigo (c)

Akāsha Ether Head Black or

Colourless

(d)Vāyu Kāma

Manas

Critical state

of Matter

Throat or

Navel Green (d)Vāyu Gas Navel Blue

(e)Tejas Kāma

(Rūpa)

Essence of

gross Matter;

corresponds

to Ice

Shoulders

and Arms to

Thighs

Red (e)Tejas Head (?)Shoulder

s Red

(f)Apas Linga

Sharira

Gross Ether or

Liquid -Air

Thighs to

Knees Violet (f)Apas Liquid Knees White

(g)Prithivi

Living Body

in Prāna or

animal life

Solid and

Critical State Knees to feet Orange-

Red *

(g)

Prithivi Solid Feet Yellow **

*One may see at a glance how reversed are the colours of the Tattvas,reflected in the Astral Light when we

find the Indigo called black;the green blue;the violet white;and the orange yellow.

**The colours I repeat do not here follow the prismatic scale -red orange yellow green blue indigo nd

violet -because this scale is a false reflection a true Māyā;whereas our esoteric scale is that of the spiritual

spheres,the seven planes of the Macrocosm.

(Page 502)Such then is the Occult Science on which the modern Ascetics and Yogīs of India base their

Soul development and powers.They are known as the Hatha Yogīs.Now the science of Hatha Yoga

rests upon the “suppression of breath ”or Prānāyāma?Literally translated it means the “death of (vital)

breath.”Prāna as said is not Jīva the eternal fount of life immortal;nor is it connected in any way with

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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 Nat re ’s Finer Forces .If such directions,however

are followed they can only lead to Black Magic and mediumship.Several impatient Chelās,whom we

know 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 Tāntrika 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.has a twofold significance and two

applications.The Tāntrikas take it literally as relating to the regulation of the vital lung breath whereas

the ancient Rāja Yogīs 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 Rāja Yoga

Occult powers.The difference between the two is enormous.The former as shown use the five lower

Tattvas;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 (Ćkāsha Tattva)out of the

Tāntric five.As well said in the above stated work,“Tattvas are the modifications of Svara.” Now the

Svara is the root of all sound the substratum of the Pythagorean music of the spheres,Svara 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

our first volume in ĆTMĆ the etymology of which is “eternal motion.” Now while the ascetic Chelā 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 Yogī reverses the conditions and begins by sitting for

the suppression of his (vital)breath.

Hatha and Rāja Yoga (Page 503)And if as Hindu philosophy teaches,at the beginning of kosmic

evolution “Svara threw itself into the form of Ćkāsha ”and thence successively into the forms of Vāyu

(air)Agni (fire),Apas (water),and Prithivī (solid matter),[See Theosophist February 1888 p.276 ]then it

stands to reason that we have to begin by the higher supersens o s Tattvas.The Rāja Yogī does not

descend on the planes of substance beyond Sūkshma (subtle matter),while the Hatha Yogī develops

and uses his powers only on the material plane.Some Tāntrikas locate the three Nadīs,Sushumnā Īdā

and Pingalā in the medulla oblongata the central line of which they call Sushumnā and the right and

left divisions,Pingalā and Īdā and also in the heart to the divisions of which they apply the same

names.The Trans-Himālayan school of the ancient Indian Rāja Yogīs,with which the modern Yogīs of

India have little to do locates Sushumnā the chief seat of these three Nadīs,in the central tube of the

spinal cord and Īdā and Pingalā on its left and right sides.Sushumnā 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.Īdā and Pingalā are simply the sharps and flats of that Fa of human nature the keynote

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 Kāma and

subdues the lower through the higher.But this effect had to be produced by the exercise of will-power

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 Jīva —not of Prāna which animates the body of man —during what

is called Samādhi and like states.

He who has studied both systems,the Hatha and Rāja Yoga finds an enormous difference between the

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two:one is purely psycho-physiological the other purely psycho-spiritual.The Tāntrists do not seem to

go higher than the six visible and known plexuses,with each of which they connect the Tattvas;and the

great stress they lay on the chief of these the Mūladhāra Chakra (the sacral plexus),shows the material

and selfish bent of their efforts towards the acquisition of powers.Their five Breaths and five Tattvas are

chiefly concerned (Page 504)with the prostatic,epigastric,cardiac,and laryngeal plexuses.Almost

ignoring the Ćjńā they are positively ignorant of the synthesizing laryngeal 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 Tāttvic 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.

Those who are Physicians,Physiologists,Anatomists,etc.will understand me better than the rest in the

following explanation.

Now as to the functions of the Pineal Gland or Conarium and of the Pituitary Body we find no

explanations vouchsafed by the standard authorities.Indeed on looking through the works of the

greatest specialists,it is curious to observe how much confused ignorance on the human vital economy

physiological as well as psychological is openly confessed.The following is all that can be gleaned from

the authorities upon these two important organs.

(1)The Pineal Gland or Conarium,is a rounded oblong body from three to four lines long of a deep

reddish grey connected with the posterior part of the third ventricle of the brain.It is attached at its base

by two thin medullary cords,which diverge forward to the Optic Thalami.Remember that the latter are

found by the best Physiologists to be the organs of reception and condensation of the most sensitive and

sensorial incitations from the periphery of the body (according to Occultism from the periphery of the

Auric Egg which is our point of communication with the higher universal planes).We are further told that

the two bands of the Optic Thalami which are inflected to meet each other unite on the median line

where they become the two peduncles of the Pineal Gland.

(2)The Pituitary Body or Hypophysis Cerebri is a small and hard organ about six lines broad three

long and three high.It is formed of an anterior bean-shaped and of a posterior and more rounded lobe

which are uniformly united.Its component parts we are told are almost identical with those of the Pineal

Gland;yet not the slightest connection can be traced between the two centres.To this,however

Occultists take exception;they know that there is a connection and this even anatomically and

physically.

The Awakening of the Seventh Sense (Page 505)Dissectors,on the other hand have to deal with

corpses;and as they themselves admit brain matter of all tissues and organs,collapses and changes

form the soonest —in fact a few minutes after death.When then the pulsating life which expanded the

mass of the brain filled all its cavities and energized all its organs,vanishes,the cerebral mass shrinks

into a sort of pasty condition and once open passages become closed.But the contraction and even

interblending of parts in this process of shrinking and the subsequent pasty state of the brain do not

imply that there is no connection between these two organs before death.In point of fact as Professor

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Owen has shown a connection as objective as a groove and tube exists in the crania of the human

fœtus and of certain fishes.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 Ćkāshic 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:b t 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 Chelā 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.

It may seem strange almost incomprehensible that the chief success of Gupta Vidyā or Occult

Knowledge should depend upon flashes (Page 506)of clairvoyance and that the latter should depend in

man on two such insignificant excrescences in his cranial cavity “two horny warts covered with grey

sand (acervulus cerebri),” as expressed by Bichat in his Anatomic Descriptive ;yet so it is.But this sand

is not to be despised;nay in truth it is only this landmark of the internal independent activity of the

Conarium that prevents Physiologists from classifying it with absolutely useless atrophied organs,the

relics of a previous and now utterly changed anatomy of man during some period of his unknown

evolution.This “sand ”is very mysterious and baffles the inquiry of every Materialist.In the cavity on the

anterior surface of this gland in young persons,and in its substance in people of advanced years,is

found

A yellowish substance semi-transparent brilliant and hard the diameter of which does not

exceed half a line.[Sœmmerring De Acervulo Cerebri,vol.ii.p.322.]

Such is the acervulus cerebri.

This brilliant “sand ”is the concretion of the gland itself so say the Physiologists.Perhaps not we

answer.The Pineal Gland is that which the Eastern Occultist calls Devāksha the “Divine Eye.”To this

day it is the chief organ of spirituality in the human brain the seat of genius,the magical Sesame uttered

by the purified will of the Mystic,which opens all the avenues of truth for him who knows how to use it.

The Esoteric Science teaches that Manas,the Mind Ego does not accomplish its full union with the child

before he is six or seven years of age before which period even according to the canon of the Church

and Law no child is deemed responsible.[In the Greek Eastern Church no child is allowed to go to

confession before the age of seven after which he is considered to have reached the age of reason.]

Manas becomes a prisoner one with the body only at that age.Now a strange thing was observed in

several thousand cases by the famous German anatomist Wengel.With a few extremely rare

exceptions,this “sand ”or golden-coloured concretion is found only in subjects after the completion of

their seventh year.In the case of fools these calculi are very few indeed;in congenital idiots they are

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completely absent.Morgagni [De Ca s.Ep .vol.xii.] Grading [Advers.Med.,ii.322.] and Gum [De

Lapillis Gland lę Pinealis in Q inq e.Ment.Alien.1753.] were wise men in their generation and are

wise men today since the are the only Physiologists,so far who connect the calculi with mind.

The Master Chakras (Page 507)For sum up the facts,that they are absent in young children in very old

people and in idiots,and the unavoidable conclusion will be that they are connected with mind.

Now since every mineral vegetable and other atom is only a concretion of crystallized Spirit or Ćkāsha

the Universal Soul why asks Occultism should the fact that these concretions of the Pineal Gland are

upon analysis found to be composed of animal matter phosphate of lime and carbonate serve as an

objection to the statement that they are the result of the work of mental electricity upon surrounding

matter?

Our seven Chakras are all situated in the head and it is these Master Chakras which govern and rule the

seven (for there are seven)principal plexuses in the body besides the forty-two minor ones to which

Physiology refuses that name.The fact that no microscope can detect such centres on the objective

plane goes for nothing;no microscope has ever yet detected nor ever will the difference between the

motor and sensory nerve-tubes,the conductors of all our bodily and psychic sensations;and yet logic

alone would show that such difference exists.And if the term plexus,in this application does not

represent to the Western mind the idea conveyed by the term of the Anatomist then call them Chakras

or Padmas,or the Wheels,the Lotus Heart and Petals.Remember that Physiology imperfect as it is,

shows septenary groups all over the exterior and interior of the body;the seven head orifices,the seven

“organs ”at the base of the brain the seven plexuses,the pharyngeal laryngeal cavernous,cardiac,

epigastric,prostatic,and sacral etc.

When the time comes,advanced students will be given the minute details about the Master Chakras and

taught the use of them;till then less difficult subjects have to be learned.If asked whether the seven

plexuses,or Tāttvic centres of action are the centres where the seven Rays of the Logos vibrate I

answer in the affirmative simply remarking that the rays of the Logos vibrate in every atom for the

matter of that.

In these volumes it is almost revealed that the “Sons of Fohat ”are the personified Forces known in a

general way as Motion Sound Heat Light Cohesion Electricity or Electric Fluid and Nerve-Force or

Magnetism.This truth however cannot teach the student to attune and moderate the Kundalini of the

cosmic plane with the vital Kundalini (Page 508)the Electric Fluid with the Nerve-Force and unless he

does so he is sure to kill himself;for the one travels at the rate of about 90 feet and the other at the rate

of 115 000 leagues a second.The seven Shaktis respectively called Para Shakti Jńāna Shakti etc.are

synonymous with the “Sons of Fohat ”for they are their female aspects.At the present stage however

as their names would only be confusing to the Western student it is better to remember the English

equivalents as translated above.As each Force is septenary their sum is,of course forty-nine.

The question now mooted in Science whether a sound is capable of calling forth impressions of light

and colour in addition to its natural sound impressions,has been answered by Occult Science ages ago.

Every impulse or vibration of a physical object producing a certain vibration of the air that is,causing the

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collision of physical particles,the sound of which is capable of affecting the ear produces at the same

time a corresponding flash of light which will assume some particular colour.For in the realm of hidden

Forces,an a dible sound is but a subjective colour;and a perceptible colour but an ina dible sound;

both proceed from the same potential substance which Physicists used to call ether and now refer to

under various other names;but which we call plastic,through invisible SPACE.This may appear a

paradoxical hypothesis,but facts are there to prove it.Complete deafness,for instance does not

preclude the possibility of discerning sounds;medical science has several cases on record which prove

that these sounds are received by and conveyed to the patient ’s organ of sight through the mind under

the form of chromatic impressions.The very fact that the intermediate tones of the chromatic musical

scale were formerly written in colours shows an unconscious reminiscence of the ancient Occult teaching

that colour and sound are two out of the seven correlative aspects,on o r plane of one and the same

thing viz.,Nature ’s first differentiated Substance.

Here is an example of the relation of colour to vibration well worthy of the attention of Occultists.Not only

adepts and advanced Chelās,but also the lower order of Psychics,such as clairvoyants and

psychometrists,can perceive a psychic Aura of various colours around every individual corresponding to

the temperament of the person within it.In other words,the mysterious records within the Auric Egg are

not the heirloom of trained Adepts alone but sometimes also of natural Psychics.

The Human Harp (Page 509)Every human passion every thought and quality is indicated in this Aura by

corresponding colours and shades of colour and certain of these are sensed and felt rather than

perceived.The best of such Psychics,as shown by Galton can also perceive colours produced by the

vibrations of musical instruments,every note suggesting a different colour.As a string vibrates and gives

forth an audible note so the nerves of the human body vibrate and thrill in correspondence with various

emotions under the general impulse of the circulating vitality of Pranā thus producing undulations in the

psychic Aura of the person which result in chromatic effects.

The human nervous system as a whole then may be regarded as an Ęolian Harp responding to the

impact of the vital force which is no abstraction but a dynamic reality and manifests the subtlest shades

of the individual character in colour phenomena.If these nerve vibrations are made intense enough and

brought into vibratory relation with an astral element the result is —sound.How then can anyone doubt

the relation between the microcosmic and macrocosmic forces?

And now that I have shown that the Tāntric works as explained by Rāma Prāsad and other Yoga

treatises of the same character which have appeared from time to time in Theosophical journals —for

note well that those of true Rāja Yoga are never published —tend to Black Magic and are most

dangerous to take for guides in self-training I hope that students will be on their guard.

For considering that no two authorities up to the present day agree as to the real location of the Chakras

and Padmas in the body and seeing that the colours of the Tattvas as given are reversed e.g.:

(a )Ćkāsha is made black or colourless,whereas,corresponding to Manas,it is indigo;

(b )Vāyu is made blue whereas,corresponding to the lower Manas,it is green.

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(c )Ćpas is made white whereas,corresponding to the Astral Body it is violet with a silver moonlike

white substratum;

Tejas,red is the only colour given correctly —from such considerations,I say it is easy to see that these

disagreements are dangerous blinds.

Further the practice of the Five Breaths results in deadly injury both physiologically and psychically as

already shown.It is indeed that which it is called Prānāyāma or the death of the breath for it results,for

the practiser in death —in moral death always and in physical death very frequently.

On Exoteric "Blinds"and "The Death of the Soul"

(Page 510)As a corollary to this,and before going into still more abstruse teachings,I must redeem the

promise already given.I have to illustrate by tenets you already know the awful doctrine of personal

annihilation.Banish from your minds all that you have hitherto read in such works as Esoteric B ddhism

and thought you understood of such hypotheses as the eighth sphere and the moon and that man

shares a common ancestor with the ape.Even the details occasionally given out by myself in the

Theosophist and L cifer were nothing like the whole truth but only broad general ideas,hardly touched

upon in their details.Certain passages,however give out hints especially my foot-notes on articles

translated from liphas Lévi ’s Letters on Magic.[See “Stray Thoughts on Death and Satan ”in the

Theosophist,vol.iii No.1:also “Fragments of Occult Truth ”vols.iii and iv.]

Nevertheless,personal immortality is conditional for there are such things as “soulless men ”a teaching

barely mentioned although it is spoken of even in Isis Unveiled ;† [Op.cit.ii.368.et seq.] and there is an

Avīchi rightly called Hell though it has no connection with or similitude to the good Christian ’s Hell

either geographically or psychically.The truth known to Occultists and Adepts in every age could not be

given out to a promiscuous public:hence though almost every mystery of Occult Philosophy lies half

concealed in Isis and the two earlier volumes of the present work,I had no right to amplify or correct the

details of others.Readers may now compare those four volumes and such books as Esoteric B ddhism

with the diagrams and explanations in these Papers,and see for themselves.

Paramātmā the Spiritual Sun may be thought of as outside the human Auric Egg as it is also outside

the Macrocosmic or Brahmā ’s Egg.Why?Because though every particle and atom are so to speak,

cemented with and soaked through by this Paramātmic essence yet it is wrong to call it a “human ”or

even a “universal ”Principle for the term is very likely to give rise to naught but an erroneous idea of the

philosophical and purely metaphysical concept;it is not a Principle but the cause of every Principle the

latter term being applied by Occultists only to its shadow —the Universal Spirit that ensouls the

boundless Kosmos whether within or beyond Space and Time.

The Duality in Manas (Page 511)Buddhi serves as a vehicle for that Paramātmic shadow.This Buddhi is

universal and so also is the human Ćtmā.Within the Auric Egg is the macrocosmic pentacle of LIFE

Prāna containing within itself the pentagram which represents man.The universal pentacle must be

pictured with its point soaring upwards,the sign of White Magic —in the human pentacle it is the lower

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limbs which are upward forming the “Horns of Satan ”as the Christian Kabbalists call them.This is the

symbol of Matter that of the personal man and the recognized pentacle of the Black Magician.For this

reversed pentacle does not stand only for Kāma the fourth Principle exoterically but it also represents

physical man the animal of flesh with its desires and passions.

Now mark well in order to understand that which follows,that Manas may be pictured as an upper

triangle connected with the lower Manas by a thin line which binds the two together.This is the

Antahkarana that path or bridge of communication which serves as a link between the personal being

whose physical brain is under the sway of the lower animal mind and the reincarnating Individuality the

spiritual Ego Manas,Manu the “Divine Man.” This thinking Manu alone is that which reincarnates.In

truth and in nature the two Minds,the spiritual and the physical or animal are one but separates into

two at reincarnation.For while that portion of the Divine which goes to animate the personality

consciously separating itself like a dense but pure shadow from the Divine Ego [The essence of the

Divine Ego is “pure flame ”an entity to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be

taken:it cannot therefore be diminished even by countless numbers of lower minds,detached from it

like flames from a flame.This is in answer to an objection by an Esotericist who asked whence was that

inexhaustible essence of one and the same Individuality which was called upon to furnish a human

intellect for every new personality in which it is incarnated.] wedges itself into the brain and the senses

[The brain or thinking machinery is not only in the head but as every physiologist who is not quote a

materialist will tell you every organ in man heart liver lungs,etc.down to every nerve and muscle

has,so to speak,its own distinct brain or thinking apparatus.As our brain has naught to do in the

guidance of the collective and individual work of every organ in us,what is that which guides each so

unerringly in its incessant functions:that makes these struggle and that too with disease throws it off

and acts,each of them even to the smallest not in a clock-work manner as alleged by some materialists

(for at the slightest disturbance or breakage the clock stops),but as an entity endowed with instinct?To

say it is Nature is to say nothing if it is not the enunciation of a fallacy;for Nature after all is but a name

for these very same functions,the sum of the qualities and attributes,physical mental etc.in the

universe and man the total of agencies and forces guided by intelligent laws.] of the fœtus,at the

completion of it seventh month the Higher Manas does not unite itself with the child before the

completion of the first seven years of its life.This detached essence or rather the reflection or shadow of

the Higher Manas,becomes,as the (Page 512)child grows,a distinct thinking Principle in man its chief

agent being the physical brain.No wonder the Materialists,who perceive only this “rational soul ”or

mind will not disconnect it with the brain and matter.But Occult Philosophy has ages ago solved the

problem of mind and discovered the duality of Manas.The Divine Ego tends with its point upwards

towards Buddhi and the human Ego gravitates downwards,immersed in Matter connected with its

higher subjective half only by the Antahkarana.As its derivation suggests,this is the only connecting link

during life between the two minds —the higher consciousness of the Ego and the human intelligence of

the lower mind.

To understand this abstruse metaphysical doctrine fully and correctly one has to be thoroughly

impressed with an idea which I have in vain endeavoured to impart to Theosophists at large namely the

great axiomatic truth that the only eternal and living Reality is that which the Hindus call Paramātmā and

Parabrahman.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 we must some day return into It and all the rest becomes easy.

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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 conscio s 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 nits .The

words of Paul an Initiate become comprehensive.“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 (Ćtmā);now it has departed from you

ye soulless people.[See Coloss .]

The Living and the Dead (Page 513)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

Aryasangha 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 become

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.

This is the first lesson to learn.The second is to study well the Principles of both the Kosmos and

ourselves,dividing the group into the permanent and the impermanent the higher and immortal and the

lower and mortal for thus only can we master and guide first the lower cosmic and personal then the

higher cosmic and impersonal.

Once we can do that we have secured our immorality.But some may say:“How few are those who can

do so.All such are great Adepts and none can reach such Adeptship in one short life.”Agreed;but there

is an alternative.“If the Sun thou canst not be then be the humble Planet ”says the Book of the Golden

Precepts.And if even that is beyond our reach then let us at least endeavour to keep within the ray of

some lesser star so that is silvery light may penetrate the murky darkness,through which the stone path

of life treads onwards:for without this divine radiance we risk losing more than we imagine.

With regard then to “soulless ”men and the “second death ”of the “Soul ” mentioned in the second

volume of Isis Unveiled you will there find that I have spoken of such soulless people and even of

Avītchi though I leave the latter unnamed.Read from the last paragraph on page 367 to the end of the

first paragraph on page 370 and then collate what is there said with what I have now to say.

The higher triad Ćtmā-Buddhi-Manas,may be recognized from the first line of the quotation from the

Egyptian papyrus.In the Rit al,now the Book of the Dead,the purified Soul the dual Manas,appears as

“the victim of the dark influence of the Dragon Apophis,”the physical personality of Kāmarūpic man with

his passions.“If it has attained the final knowledge of the heavenly and infernal Mysteries,the Gnosis ”—

the divine and the terrestrial Mysteries,of White and Black Magic —then the defunct personality “will

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triumph over its enemy ”—death.This alludes to the case of a complete re-union at the end of (Page 514)

earth life of the lower Manas,full of “the harvest of life ” with its Ego.But if Apophis conquers the Soul

then it “cannot escape a second death.”

These few lines from a papyrus,many thousands of years old contain a whole revelation known in

those days only to the Hierophants and the Initiates.The “harvest of life ”consists of the finest spiritual

thoughts,of the memory or the noblest and most unselfish deeds of the personality and the constant

presence during its bliss after death of all those it loved with divine spiritual devotion.[See Key to

Theosophy.pp.147 148 et seq.] Remember the teaching:The Human Soul lower Manas,is the only

and direct mediator between the personality and the Divine Ego.That which goes to make up on this

earth the personality miscalled individ ality by the majority is the sum of all its mental physical and

spiritual characteristics,which being impressed on the Human Soul produces the man.Now of all

these characteristics it is the purified thoughts alone which can be impressed on the higher immortal

Ego.This is done by the Human Soul merging again in its essence into its parent source commingling

with its Divine Ego during life and re-uniting itself entirely with it after the death of the physical man.

Therefore unless Kāma-Manas transmits to Buddhi-Manas such personal ideations,and such

consciousness of its “I ”as can be assimilated by the Divine Ego nothing of that “I ” or personality can

survive in the Eternal.Only that which is worthy of the immortal God within us,and identical in its nature

with the divine quintessence can survive;for in this case it is its own the Divine Ego ’s “shadows ”or

emanations which ascend to it and are indrawn by it into itself again to become once more part of its

own Essence.No noble thought no grand aspiration desire or divine immortal love can come into the

brain of the man of clay and settle there except as a direct emanation from the Higher to and through

the lower Ego:all the rest intellectual as it may seem,proceeds from the “shadow ” the lower mind in its

association and commingling with Kāma and passes away and disappears for ever.But the mental and

spiritual ideations of the personal “I ”return to it as parts of the Ego ’s Essence and can never fade out.

Thus of the personality that was,only its spiritual experiences,the memory of all that is good and noble

with the consciousness of its “I ”blended with that of all the other personal “I ’s ”that preceded it survive

and become immortal.

Gaining Immortality (Page 515)There is no distinct or separate immortality for the men of earth outside

of the Ego which informed them.That Higher Ego is the sole bearer of all its alter egos on earth and their

sole representative in the mental state called Devachan.As the last embodied personality however has

a right to its own special state of bliss,unalloyed and free from the memories of all others,it is the last

life only which is f lly and realistically vivid.Devachan is often compared to the happiest day in a series

of many thousands of other “days ”in the life of a person.The intensity of its happiness makes the man

entirely forget all others,his past becomes obliterated.

This is what we call the Devachanic state the reward of the personality and it is on this old teaching that

the hazy Christian notion of Paradise was built borrowed with many other things from the Egyptian

Mysteries,wherein the doctrine was enacted.And this is the meaning of the passage quoted in Isis .The

Soul has triumphed over Apophis,the Dragon of Flesh.Henceforth the personality will live in eternity in

its highest and noblest elements,the memory of its past deeds,while the “characteristics ”of the

“Dragon ”will be fading out in Kāma Loka.If the question be asked “How live in eternity when Devachan

lasts but from 1 000 to 2 000 years ”the answer is:“In the same way as the recollection of each day

which is worth remembering lives in the memory of each one of us.” For the sake of an example the

days passed in one personal life may be taken as an illustration of each personal life and this or that

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person may stand for the Divine Ego.

To obtain the key which will open the door of many a psychological mystery it is sufficient to understand

and remember that which precedes and that which follows.Many a Spiritualist has felt terribly indignant

on being told that personal immortality was conditional ;and yet such is the philosophical and logical fact.

Much has been said already on the subject but no one to this day seems to have fully understood the

doctrine.Moreover it is not enough to know that such a fact is said to exist.An Occultist or he who

would become one must know why it is so;for having learned and comprehended the raison d ’źtre,it

becomes easier to set others right in their erroneous speculations,and most important of all it affords

one an opportunity without saying too much to teach other people to avoid a calamity which sad to say

occurs in our age almost daily.This calamity will now be explained at length.

(Page 516)One must know little indeed of the Eastern modes of expression to fail to see in this passage

quoted from the Book of the Dead,and the pages of Isis (a )an allegory for the uninitiated containing

our Esoteric teaching;and (b )that the two terms “second death ”and “Soul ”are in one sense blinds.

“Soul ”refers indifferently to Buddhi-Manas and Kāma-Manas.As to the term “second death ”the

qualification “second ”applies to several deaths which have to be undergone by the “Principles ”during

their incarnation Occultists alone understanding fully the sense in which such a statement is made.For

we have (1)the death of the Body;(2)the death of the Animal Soul in Kāma Loka;(3)the death of the

Astral Linga Sharīra following that of the Body;(4)the metaphysical death of the Higher Ego the

immortal,every time it “falls into matter ”or incarnates in a new personality.The Animal Soul or lower

Manas,that shadow of the Divine Ego which separates from it to inform the personality cannot by any

possible means escape death in Kāma Loka at any rate that portion of this reflection which remains as a

terrestrial residue and cannot be impressed on the Ego.Thus the chief and most important secret with

regard to that “second death ”in the Esoteric teaching was and is to this day the terrible possibility of the

death of the Soul that is,its severance from the Ego on earth during a person ’s lifetime.This is a real

death (though with chances of resurrection),which shows no traces in a person and yet leaves him

morally a living corpse.It is difficult to see why this teaching should have been preserved until now with

such secrecy when by spreading it among people at any rate among those who believe in

reincarnation so much good might be done.But so it was,and I had no right to question the wisdom of

the prohibition but have given it hitherto as it was given to myself nder pledge not to reveal it to the

world at large.But now I have permission to give it to all revealing its tenets first to the Esotericists,and

then when they have assimilated them thoroughly it will be their duty to teach others this special tenet of

the “second death ”and warn all the Theosophists of its dangers.

To make the teaching clearer I shall seemingly have to go over old ground;in reality however it is given

out with new light and new details.I have tried to hint at it in the Theosophist as I have done in Isis but

have failed to make myself understood.I will now explain it point by point.

The Philosophical Rationale of the Tenet

Light and Life (Page 517)(1)Imagine for illustration ’s sake the one homogeneous,absolute and

omnipresent Essence above the upper step of the “stair of the seven planes of worlds,”ready to start on

its evolutionary journey.As its correlating reflection gradually descends,it differentiates and transforms

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into subjective and finally into objective matter.Let us call it at its north pole Absolute Light;at its south

pole which to us would be the fourth or middle step or plane counting either way we know it

Esoterically as the One and Universal Life.Now mark the difference.Above LIGHT;below Life .The

former is ever immutable the latter manifests under the aspects of countless differentiations.According

to the Occult law all potentialities included in the higher become differentiated reflections in the lower;

and according to the same law nothing which is differentiated can be blended with the homogeneous.

Again nothing can endure of that which lives and breathes and has its being in the seething waves of

the world or plane of differentiation.Thus Buddhi and Manas being both primordial rays of the One

Flame the former the vehicle the upādhi or vāhana of the one eternal Essence the latter the vehicle of

Mahat or Divine Ideation (Mahā-Buddhi in the P rānas ),the Universal Intelligent Soul —neither of them

as such can become extinct or be annihilated either in essence or consciousness.But the physical

personality with its Linga Sharīra and the animal soul with its Kāma [Kāma Rūpa the vehicle of the

Lower Manas,is said to dwell in the physical brain in the five physical senses and in all the sense-

organs of the physical body.] can and do become so.They are born in the realm of illusion and must

vanish like a fleecy cloud from the blue and eternal sky.

He who has read these volumes with any degree of attention must know the origin of the human Egos,

called Monads,generically and what they were before they were forced to incarnate in the human

animal.The divine beings whom Karma led to act in the drama of Manvantaric life are entities from

higher and earlier worlds and planets,whose Karma had not been exhausted when their world went into

Pralaya.Such is the teaching;but whether it is so or not the Higher Egos are —as compared to such

forms of transitory terrestrial mud as ourselves —Divine Beings,Gods,immortal throughout the

Mahāmanvantara or the 311 040 000 000 000 years during which the Age of Brahmā lasts.And as the

Divine Egos,in (Page 518)order to re-become the One Essence or be indrawn again into the AUM have

to purify themselves in the fire of suffering and individual experience so also have the terrestrial Egos,

the personalities,to do likewise if they would partake of the immortality of the Higher Egos.This they

can achieve by crushing in themselves all that benefits only the lower personal nature of their “selves ”

and by aspiring to transfuse their thinking Kāmic Principle into that of the Higher Ego.We (i.e.,our

personalities)become immortal by the mere fact of our thinking moral nature being grafted on our Divine

Triune Monad Ćtmā-Buddhi-Manas,the three in one and one in three (aspects).For the Monad

manifested on earth by the incarnating Ego is that which is called the Tree of Life Eternal that can only

be approached by eating the fruit of knowledge the Knowledge of Good and Evil or of GNOSIS Divine

Wisdom.

In the Esoteric teachings,this Ego is the fifth Principle in man.But the student who had read and

understood the first two Papers,knows something more.He is aware that the seventh is not a human

but a universal Principle in which man participates;but so does equally every physical and subjective

atom and also every blade of grass and everything that lives or is in Space whether it be sensible of it

or not.He knows,moreover that if man is more closely connected with it and assimilates it with a

hundredfold more power it is simply because he is endowed with the highest consciousness on this

earth;that man in short may become a Spirit a Deva or a God in his next transformation whereas

neither a stone nor a vegetable nor an animal can do so before they become men in their proper turn.

(2)Now what are the functions of Buddhi?On this plane it has none unless it is united with Manas,the

conscious Ego.Buddhi stands to the divine Root Essence in the same relation as Mūlaprakriti to

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Parabrahman in the Vedānta School;or as Alaya the Universal Soul to the One Eternal Spirit or that

which is beyond Spirit.It is its human vehicle one remove from that Absolute which can have no relation

whatever to the finite and the conditioned.

(3)What again is Manas and its functions?In its purely metaphysical aspect Manas,though one

remove on the downward plane from Buddhi is still so immeasurably higher than the physical man that

it cannot enter into direct relation with the personality except through its reflection the lower mind.

Manas is Spirit al Self-Conscio sness in itself and Divine Consciousness when united with Buddhi

which is the true “producer ”of that “production ”(vikāra),or Self-Consciousness,through Mahat.

The Two Egos (Page 519)Buddhi-Manas,therefore is entirely unfit to manifest during its periodical

incarnations,except through the human mind or lower Manas.Both are linked together and are

inseparable and can have as little to do with the lower Tanmātras,[Tanmātra means subtle and

rudimentary form the gross type of the finer elements.The five Tanmātras are really the characteristic

properties or qualities of matter and of all the elements;the real spirit of the word is “something ”or

“merely transcendental ”in the sense of properties or qualities.] or rudimentary atoms as the

homogeneous with the heterogeneous.It is,therefore the task of the lower Manas,or thinking

personality if it would blend itself with its God the Divine Ego to dissipate and paralyse the Tanmātras,

or properties of the material form.Therefore Manas is shown double as the Ego and Mind of Man.It is

Kāma-Manas,or the lower Ego which deluded into a notion of independent existence as the “producer ”

in its turn and the sovereign of the five Tanmātras,becomes Ego-ism,the selfish Self in which case it

has to be considered as Mahābhūtic and finite in the sense of its being connected with Ahankāra the

personal “I-creating ”faculty.Hence

Manas has to be regarded as eternal and non-eternal in its atomic nature (paramanu rūpa),as eternal

substance (dravya),finite (kārya-rūpa)when linked as a duad with Kāma (animal desire or human

egoistic volition),a lower production in short.[See Theosophist,August.1883.“The Real and the

Unreal.”]

While therefore the INDIVIDUAL EGO owing to its essence and nature is immortal throughout eternity

with a form (rūpa),which prevails during the whole life cycles of the Fourth Round its Sosie,or

resemblance the personal Ego has to win its immortality.

(4)Antahkarana is the name of that imaginary bridge the path which lies between the Divine and the

human Egos,for they are Egos,during human life to rebecome one Ego in Devachan or Nirvāna.This

may seem difficult to understand but in reality with the help of a familiar though fanciful illustration it

becomes quite simple.Let us figure to ourselves a bright lamp in the middle of the room casting its light

upon the wall.Let the lamp represent the Divine Ego and the light thrown on the wall the lower Manas,

and let the wall stand for the body.That portion of the atmosphere which transmits the ray from the lamp

to the wall will then present the Antahkarana.We must further suppose that the light thus cast is

endowed with reason and intelligence and (Page 520)possesses,moreover the faculty of dissipating all

the evil shadows which pass across the wall and of attracting all brightness to itself receiving their

indelible impressions.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 Antahkarana

ensure its own permanent connection and its final re-union with the Divine Ego.Remember that the

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latter cannot take place while there remains a single taint of the terrestrial of matter in the purity of that

light.On the other hand the connection cannot be entirely ruptured and final re-union 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.

On the other hand however still using our simile when the light thrown on the wall or the rational

human Ego reaches the point of actual spiritual exhaustion the Antahkarana disappears,no more light

is transmitted and the lamp becomes non-existent to the ray.The light which has been absorbed

gradually disappears and “Soul eclipse ”occurs;the being lives on earth and then passes into Kāma

Loka as a mere surviving congeries of material qualities;it can never pass onwards towards Devachan

but is reborn immediately a human animal and scourge.

This simile however fantasic will help us to seize the correct idea.Save through the blending of the

moral nature with the Divine Ego there is no immortality for the personal Ego.It is only the most spiritual

emanations of the personal Human Soul which survive.Having during a lifetime been imbued with the

notion and feeling of the “ I am I ”of its personality the Human Soul the bearer of the very essence of the

Karmic deeds of the physical man becomes,after the death of the latter part and parcel of the Divine

Flame the Ego.It becomes immortal through the mere fact that it is now strongly grafted on the Monad

which is the “Tree of Life Eternal.”

And now we must speak of the tenet of the “second death.”What happens to the Kāmic Human Soul

which is always that of a debased and wicked man or of a soulless person?This mystery will now be

explained.

Death of the Soul (Page 521)The personal Soul in this case viz.,in that of one who has never had a

thought not concerned with the animal self having nothing to transmit to the Higher or to add to the sum

of the experiences gleaned from past incarnations which its memory is to preserve throughout eternity —

this personal Soul becomes separated from the Ego.It can graft nothing of self on that eternal trunk

whose sap throws out millions of personalities,like leaves from its branches,leaves which wither die

and fall at the end of their season.These personalities bud blossom forth and expire some without

leaving a trace behind others after commingling their own life with that of the parent stem.It is the Souls

of the former class that are doomed to annihilation or Avītchi a state so badly understood and still

worse described by some Theosophical writers,but which is not only located on our earth but is in fact

this very earth itself.

Thus we see that Antahkarana has been destroyed before the lower man has had an opportunity of

assimilating the Higher and becoming at one with it;and therefore the Kāmic “Soul ”becomes a separate

entity to live henceforth for a short or long period according to its Karma as a “soulless ”creature.

But before I elaborate this question I must explain more clearly the meaning and functions of the

Antahkarana.As already said it may be represented as a narrow bridge connecting the Higher and the

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lower Manas.If you look at the Glossary of the Voice of the Silence,pp.88 and 89 you will find it is a

projection of the lower Manas,or rather the link between the latter and the Higher Ego or between the

Human and the Divine or Spiritual Soul.[As the author of Esoteric B ddhism and the Occult World called

Manas the Human Soul and Buddhi the Spiritual Soul I have left these terms unchanged in the Voice

seeing that it was a book intended for the public.

At death it is destroyed as a path or medium of communication and its remains survive as

Kāma Rūpa.

the “shell.”It is this which the Spiritualists see sometimes appearing in the séance rooms as materialized

“forms,”which they foolishly mistake for the “Spirits of the Departed.” [In the exoteric teachings of Rāja

Yoga Antahkarana is called the inner organ of perception and is divided into four parts:the (lower)

Manas,Buddhi (reason),Ahankāra (personality)and Chitta (thinking faculty).It also together with

several other organs,forms a part of Jīva Sou called also Lingadeh.Esotericists,however must not be

misled by this popular version.] So far is this from being (Page 522)the case that in dreams,though

Antahkarana is there the personality is only half awake;therefore Antahkarana is said to be dr nk or

insane during our normal sleeping state.If such is the case during the periodical death or sleep of the

living body one may judge what the consciousness of Antahkarana is like when it has been transformed

after the “eternal sleep ”into Kāma Rūpa.

But to return.In order not to confuse the mind of the Western student with the abstruse difficulties of

Indian metaphysics,let him view the lower Manas,or Mind as the personal Ego during the waking state

and as Antahkarana only during those moments when it aspires towards its Higher Ego and thus

becomes the medium of communication between the two.It is for this reason that it is called the “Path.”

Now when a limb or organ belonging to the physical organism is left in disuse it becomes weak and

finally atrophies.So also it is with mental faculties;and hence the atrophy of the lower mind-function

called Antahkarana becomes comprehensible in both completely materialistic and depraved natures.

According to Esoteric Philosophy however the teaching is as follows:Seeing that the faculty and

function of Antahkarana is as necessary as the medium of the ear for hearing or that of the eye for

seeing;then so long as the feeling of Ahankāra that is,of the personal “I ”or selfishness,is not entirely

crushed out in a man and the lower mind not entirely merged into and become one with the Higher

Buddhi-Manas,it stands to reason that to destroy Antahkarana is like destroying a bridge over an

impassable chasm;the traveller can never reach the goal on the other shore.And here lies the difference

between the exoteric and Esoteric teaching.The former makes the Vedānta state that so long as Mind

(the lower)clings through Antahkarana to Spirit (Buddhi-Manas)it is impossible for it to acquire true

Spiritual Wisdom Gnyāna and that this can only be attained by seeking to come en rapport with the

Universal Soul (Ćtmā);that in fact it is by ignoring the Higher Mind altogether that one reaches Rāja

Yoga.We say it is not so.No single rung of the ladder leading to knowledge can be skipped.No

personality can ever reach or bring itself into communications with Ćtmā except through Buddhi-Manas;

to try and become a Jīvanmukta or a Mahātma before one has become an Adept or even a Narjol (a

sinless man)is like trying to reach Ceylon from India without crossing the sea.Therefore we are told that

if we destroy Antahkarana before the personal is absolutely under the control of the impersonal Ego we

risk to lose the latter and be severed for ever from it unless indeed we hasten to re-establish the

communication by a supreme and final effort.

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Reincarnation of Lower Soul (Page 523)It is only when we are indissolubly linked with the essence of

the Divine Mind that we have to destroy Antahkarana.

Like as a solitary warrior pursued by an army seeks refuge in a stronghold;to cut himself off

from the enemy he first destroys the drawbridge and then only commences to destroy the

pursuer;so must the Srotāpatti act before he slays Antahkarana.

Or as an Occult axiom has it:

The Unit becomes Three,and Three generate Fo r.It is for the latter [the Q arternary ] to

rebecome Three,and for the Divine Three to expand into the Absol te One.

Monads,which become Duads on the differentiated plane to develop into Triads during the cycle of

incarnations,even when incarnated know neither space nor time but are diffused through the lower

Principles of the Quarternary being omnipresent and omniscient in their nature.But this omniscience is

innate and can manifest its reflected light only through that which is at least semi-terrestrial or material;

even as the physical brain which in its turn is the vehicle of the lower Manas enthroned in Kāma Rūpa.

And it is this which is gradually annihilated in cases of “second death.”

But such annihilation —which is in reality the absence of the slightest trace of the doomed Soul from the

eternal MEMORY and therefore signifies annihilation in eternity —does not mean simply discontinuation of

human life on earth for earth is Avītchi and the worst Avītchi possible.Expelled forever from the

consciousness of the Individuality the reincarnating Ego the physical atoms and psychic vibrations of

the now separate personality are immediately reincarnated on the same earth only in a lower and still

more abject creature a human being only in form doomed to Karmic torments during the whole of its

new life.Moreover if it persists in its criminal or debauched course it will suffer a long series of

immediate reincarnations.

Here two questions present themselves:(1)What becomes of the Higher Ego in such cases?(2)What

kind of an animal is a human creature born soulless?

Before answering these two very natural queries,I have to draw the attention of all of you who are born

in Christian countries to the fact that the romance of the vicarious atonement and the mission of Jesus

(Page 524)as it now stands,was drawn or borrowed by some too liberal Initiates from the mysterious and

weird tenet of the earthly experience of the reincarnating Ego.The latter is indeed the sacrificial victim of

and through its own Karma in previous Manvantaras,which takes upon itself voluntarily the duty of

saving what would be otherwise soulless men or personalities.Eastern truth is thus more philosophical

and logical than Western fiction.The Christos or Buddhi-Manas of each man is not quite an innocent

and sinless God though in one sense it is the “Father ” being of the same essence with the Universal

Spirit and at the same time the “Son ”for Manas is the second remove from the “Father.” By incarnation

the Divine Son makes itself responsible for the sins of all the personalities which it will inform.This it can

do only through its proxy or reflection the lower Manas.The only case in which the Divine Ego can

escape individual penalty and responsibility as a guiding Principle is when it has to break off from the

personality because matter with its psychic and astral vibrations,is then by the very intensity of its

combinations,placed beyond the control of the Ego.Apophis,the Dragon having become the conqueror

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the reincarnating Manas,separating itself gradually from its tabernacle breaks finally asunder from the

psycho-animal Soul.

Thus,in answer to the first question I say:

(1)The Divine Ego does one of two things:either (a )it recommences immediately under its own Karmic

impulses a fresh series of incarnations;or (b )it seeks and finds refuge in the bosom of the Mother

Alaya the Universal Soul of which the Manvantaric aspect is Mahat.Freed from the life-impressions of

the personality it merges into a kind of Nirvānic interlude wherein there can be nothing but the eternal

Present which absorbs the Past and Future.Bereft of the “labourer ”both field and harvest now being

lost the Master in the infinitude of his thought naturally preserves no recollection of the finite and

evanescent illusion which had been his last personality.And then indeed is the latter annihilated.

(2)The future of the lower Manas is more terrible and still more terrible to humanity than to the now

animal man.It sometimes happens that after the separation the exhausted Soul now become supremely

animal fades out in Kāma Loka as do all other animal souls.But seeing that the more material is the

human mind the longer it lasts,even in the intermediate stage it frequently happens that after the

present life of the soulless man is ended he is again and again reincarnated into new personalities,each

one more abject than the other.

The Dweller on the Threshold (Page 525)The impulse of animal life is too strong;it cannot wear itself

out in one or two lives only.In rarer cases,however when the lower Manas is doomed to exhaust itself

by starvation ;when there is no longer hope that even a remnant of a lower light will owing to favourable

conditions —say even a short period of spiritual aspiration and repentance —attract back to itself its

Parent Ego and Karma leads the Higher Ego back to new incarnations,then something far more

dreadful may happen.The Kāma-Mānasic spook may become that which is called in Occultism the

“Dweller on the Threshold.”This Dweller is not like that which is described so graphically in Zanoni,but

an actual fact in Nature and not a fiction in romance however beautiful the latter may be.Bulwer

however must have got the idea from some Eastern Initiate.This Dweller led by affinity and attraction

forces itself into the astral current and through the Auric Envelope of the new tabernacle inhabited by

the Parent Ego and declares war to the lower light which has replaced it.This,of course can only

happen in the case of the moral weakness of the personality so obsessed.

No one strong in virtue and righteous in his walk of life can risk or dread any such thing;but only those

depraved in heart.Robert Louis Stevenson had a glimpse of a true vision indeed when he wrote his

Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde .His story is a true allegory.Every Chelā will recognize in it a

substratum of truth and in Mr.Hyde a Dweller an obsessor of the personality the tabernacle of the

Parent Spirit.

“This is a nightmare tale!”I was often told by one now no more in our ranks,who had a most

pronounced “Dweller ” a “Mr.Hyde ” as an almost constant companion.“How can such a process take

place without one ’s knowledge?”It can and does so happen and I have almost described it once before

in the Theosophist.

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The Soul the lower Mind becomes as a half animal principle almost paralyzed with daily vice

and grows gradually unconscious of its subjective half the Lord and of the mighty Host;[and ]

in proportion to the rapid sensuous development of the brain and nerves,sooner or later it

(the personal Soul)finally loses sight of its divine mission on earth.

Truly

Like the vampire the brain feeds and lives and grows in strength at the expense of its spiritual

parent ...and the personal half-unconscious Soul becomes senseless,beyond hope of

redemption.It is powerless to discern the voice of its (Page 526)God.It aims but at the

development and fuller comprehension of natural earthly life;and thus can discover but the

mysteries of physical nature ....It begins by becoming virtually dead during the life of the

body;and ends by dying completely —that is,by being annihilated as a complete immortal

So l .Such a catastrophe may often happen long years before one ’s physical death;“We

elbow soulless men and women at every step in life.” And when death arrives ...there is no

more a Soul (the reincarnating Spiritual Ego)to liberate ...for it has fled years before.

Result:Bereft of its guiding Principles,but strengthened by the material elements,Kāma-Manas,from

being a “derived light ”now becomes an independent Entity.After thus suffering itself to sink lower and

lower on the animal plane when the hour strikes for its earthly body to die one of two things happen:

either Kāma-Manas is immediately reborn in Myalba the state of Avītchi on earth [The Earth or earth-

life rather is the only Avītchi (Hell)that exists for the men of our humanity on this globe.Avītchi is a state

not a locality a counterpart of Devachan.Such a state follows the Soul wherever it goes,whether into

Kāma Loka as a semi-conscious Spook,or into a human body when reborn to suffer Avītchi.Our

Philosophy recognizes no other Hell.] or if it become too strong in evil —“immortal in Satan ”is the Occult

expression —it is sometimes allowed for Karmic purposes,to remain in an active state of Avītchi in the

terrestrial Aura.Then through despair and loss of all hope it becomes like the mythical “devil ”in its

endless wickedness;it continues in its elements,which are imbued through and through with the

essence of Matter;for evil is coeval with Matter rent asunder from Spirit.And when its Higher Ego has

once more reincarnated evolving a new reflection or Kāma-Manas,the doomed lower Ego like a

Frankenstein ’s monster will ever feel attracted to its Father who repudiates his son and will become a

regular “Dweller on the Threshold ”of terrestrial life.I gave the outlines of the Occult doctrine in the

Theosophist of October 1881 and November 1882 but could not go into details,and therefore got very

much embarrassed when called upon to explain.Yet I have written there plainly enough about “useless

drones,”those who refuse to become co-workers with Nature and who perish by millions during the

Manvantaric life-cycle;those as in the case in hand who prefer to be ever suffering in Avītchi under

Karmic law rather than give up their lives “in evil ” and finally those who are co-workers with Nature for

destruction.These are thoroughly wicked and depraved men but yet as highly intellectual and acutely

spirit al for evil as those who are spiritual for good.

The (lower)Egos of these may escape the law of final destruction or annihilation for ages to

come.

The Word (Page 527)Thus we find two kinds of soulless beings on earth:those who have lost their Higher

Ego in the present incarnation and those who are born soulless,having been severed from their

Spiritual Soul in the preceding birth.The former are candidates for Avītchi;the latter are “Mr.Hydes,”

whether in or o t of human bodies,whether incarnated or hanging about as invisible though potent

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ghouls.In such men cunning develops to an enormous degree and no one except those who are

familiar with the doctrine would suspect them of being soulless,for neither Religion nor Science has the

least suspicion that such facts actually exist in Nature.

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 “Antahkarana is destroyed ”and the personal

Entity has one foot already in Myalba;[See Voice of the Silence,p.97.] 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.” [Read the last footnote on p.368 vol.ii.of Isis Unveiled,and you will see that even

profane Egyptologists and men who like Bunsen were ignorant of Initiation were struck by their own

discoverers when they found the “Word ”mentioned in old papyri.] What this “WORD ” which is not a

“Word ”but a So nd 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 towards the HIGHER SELF which is

that Aum through one ’s Higher Ego which is its third (Page 528)letter and Buddhi the second there is no

attack of the Dragon Apophis which it will not repel.From those to whom much is given much is

expected.He who knocks at the door of the Sanctuary in full knowledge of its sacredness,and after

obtaining admission departs from the threshold or turns round and says “Oh there ’s nothing in it!” and

thus loses his chance of learning the whole truth —can but await his Karma.

Such are then the Esoteric explanations of that which has perplexed so many who have found what they

thought contradictions in various Theosophical writings,including “Fragments of Occult Truth ” in vols.iii

and iv of The Theosophist,etc.Before finally dismissing the subject I must add a caution which pray

keep well in mind.It will be very natural for those of you who are Esotericists to hope that none of you

belong so far to the soulless portion of mankind and that you can feel quite easy about Avītchi even as

the good citizen is about the penal laws.Though not perhaps,exactly on the Path as yet you are

skirting its border and many of you in the right direction.Between such venal faults as are inevitable

under our social environment and the blasting wickedness described in the Editor ’s note on liphas Lźvi ’s

“Satan ” [See Theosophist,vol.iii.October 1882 p.13.] there is an abyss.If not become “immortal in

good by identification with (our)God ”or AUM,Ćtma-Buddhi-Manas,we have surely not made ourselves

“immortal in evil ”by coalescing with Satan the lower Self.You forget however that everything must

have a beginning;that the first step on a slippery mountain slope is the necessary antecedent to one ’s

falling precipitately to the bottom and into the arms of death.Be it far from me the suspicion that any of

the Esoteric students have reached to any considerable point down the plane of spiritual descent.All the

same I warn you to avoid taking the first step.You may not reach the bottom in this life or the next but

you may now generate causes which will insure your spiritual destruction in your third fourth fifth or

even some subsequent birth.In the great Indian epic you may read how a mother whose whole family of

warrior sons were slaughtered in battle complained to Krishna that though she had the spiritual vision to

enable her to look back fifty incarnations,yet she could see no sin of hers that could have begotten so

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dreadful a Karma;and Krishna answered her:“If thou could ’st look back to thy fifty-first anterior birth as I

can thou would ’st see thyself killing in wanton cruelty the same number of ants as that of the sons thou

hast now lost.”This,of course is only a poetical exaggeration;yet it is a striking image to show how

great results come from apparently trifling causes.

The Divine Witness (Page 529)Good and evil are relative and are intensified or lessened according to

the conditions by which man is surrounded.One who belongs to that which we call the “useless portion

of mankind ”that is to say the lay majority is in many cases irresponsible.Crimes committed in Avidyā

or ignorance involve physical but not moral responsibilities or Karma.Take for example the case of

idiots,children savages,and people who know no better.But the case of each who is pledged to the

HIGHER SELF is quite another matter.Yo cannot invoke this Divine Witness with Imp nity,and once

that you have put yourselves under its tutelage you have asked the Radiant Light to shine and search

through all the dark corners of your being;consciously you have invoked the Divine Justice of Karma to

take note of your motive to scrutinize your actions,and to enter up all in your account.The step is

irrevocable as that of the infant taking birth.Never again can you force yourselves back into the matrix of

Avidyā and irresponsibility.Though you flee to the uttermost parts of the earth and hide yourselves from

the sight of men or seek oblivion in the tumult of the social whirl that Light will find you out and lighten

your every thought word and deed.All H.P.B can do is to send to each earnest one among you a most

sincerely fraternal sympathy and hope for a good outcome to your endeavours.Nevertheless,be not

discouraged but try ever keep trying;[Read pp.40 and 63 in the Voice of the Silence.] twenty failures

are not irremediable if followed by as many undaunted struggles upward.Is it not so that mountains are

climbed?And know further that if Karma relentlessly records in the Esotericist ’s account bad deeds that

in the ignorant would be overlooked yet equally true is it that each of his good deeds is,by reason of his

association with the Higher Self a hundredfold intensified as a potentiality for good.

Finally keep ever in mind the consciousness that though you see no Master at your bedside nor hear

one audible whisper in the silence of the still night yet the Holy Power is about you the Holy Light is

shining into your hour of spiritual need and aspirations,and it will be no fault of the MASTERS or of their

humble mouthpiece and servant if through perversity or moral feebleness some of you cut yourselves off

from these higher potencies,and step upon the delivery that leads to Avītchi.

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Appendix

Notes on Papers I II III

Page 436

(Page 530)Students in the west have little or no idea of the forces that lie latent in Sound the Ćkashic

vibrations that may be set up by those who understand how to pronounce certain words.The Om or the

“Om mani padme h m ” are in spiritual affinity with cosmic forces,but without a knowledge of the natural

arrangement or of the order in which the syllables stand very little can be achieved.“Om ”is,of course

Aum that may be pronounced as two three or seven syllables,setting up different vibrations.

Now letters as vocal sounds,cannot fail to correspond with musical notes,and therefore with numbers

and colours;hence also with forces and Tattvas.He who remembers the Universe is built up from the

Tattvas 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 students 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.

A Mantra Operative (Page 531)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 .[See The Voice of the Silence.p.viii.] 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 h m ”;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.

H.P.B.

PAGE 439

[The following notes were contributed by students and approved by H.P.B ]

The Pythagorean Four or Tetraktys,was the symbol of the Kosmos,as containing within itself the point

the line the superficies,the solid;in other words,the essentials of all forms.Its mystical representation is

the point within the triangle.The Decad or perfect number is contained in the Four;thus,1+2+3+4=10.

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PAGE 453

O

PAGE 477

The difficult passage:“Bear in mind ....a mystery below truly ‡ [See Page 444 ] may become a little

more clear to the student if slightly amplified.”(Page 532)The “primordial Triangle ”is the Second Logos,

which reflects itself as a Triangle in the Third Logos,or Heavenly Man and then disappears.The Third

Logos,containing the “potency of formative creation ” develops the Tetraktys from the Triangle and so

becomes the Seven the Creative Force making a Decad with the primordial Triangle which originated it.

When this heavenly Triangle and Tetraktys are reflected in the Universe of Matter as the astral

paradigmatic man they are reversed and the Triangle or formative potency is thrown below the

Quaternary with its apex pointing downwards:the Monad of this astral paradigmatic man is itself a

Triangle bearing to the Quaternary and Triangle the relation born by the primordial Triangle to the

Heavenly Man.Hence the phrase “the upper Triangle ...is shifted in the man of clay below the seven

Here again the point tracing the Triangle the Monad becoming the Ternary with the Quaternary and the

lower creative triangle make up the Decad the perfect number.“As above so below.”

The student will do well to relate the knowledge here acquired to that given on p.477.Here the upper

Triangle is given as Violet Indigo Blue associating Violet as the paradigm of all forms with Indigo as

Mahat and blue as the Ćtmic Aura.In the Quaternary Yellow as substance is associated with Yellow-

Orange Life and Red-Orange the creative potency.Green is the plane between.

The next stage is now explained.Green passes upward to Violet Indigo Blue the Triangle opening out

to receive it and so forming the square Violet Indigo Blue Green.This leaves the Red-Orange Yellow-

Orange and Yellow and these having thus lost their fourth member can only form a triangle.This

triangle revolves to point downwards for the descent into matter and “mirrored on the plane of gross

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nature it is reversed ”and appears as in the diagram following these words.

[See supra,i.89 90 and 95.]

Colour and Spiritual Sound (Page 533)In the perfect man the Red will be absorbed by the Green;Yellow

will become one with Indigo;Yellow-Orange will be absorbed in Blue;Violet will remain outside the True

Man though connected with him.Or to translate the colours:Kāma will be absorbed in the Lower

Manas;Buddhi will become one with Manas;Prāna will be absorbed in the Auric Egg;the physical body

remains,connected but outside the real life.

A.Besant

Page 481

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.In the second instruction the

corrected rates of vibration for the seven primary colours and their modulations are given.Inspecting

these it appears that each colour differs from the preceding one by a step of 42 or 6x7.

Carrying the process backward and subtracting 42 we find that the first or ground colour is green for

this globe.

Page 417

462 Red +42 =504

504 Orange +42 =546

546 Yellow +42 =588

588 Green +42 =630

630 Blue +42 =672

672 Indigo +42 =714

714 Violet +42 =756

756 Red +

Third Octave

of psychic

colour perceptions

Green

42 Blue

84 Indigo

126 Violet

First semi-octave

168 Red

210 Orange

252 Yellow

294 Green

336 Blue

378 Indigo

420 Violet

462 Red

Second octave.

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The third and fourth octaves would be heat and actinic rays,and are invisible to our present perception.

The seventh sense is that of spiritual sound;and since the vibrations of the sixth progress by steps of

6x7 those of the seventh progress by steps of 7x7.This is their table:

The fifth sense is in our possession:it is possibly that of geometrical form and its steps of progression

would be 5x7 or 35.

The fourth sense is that of physical hearing music,and its progressions are 28 or 4x7.The truth of this

is demonstrated by the fact that it is in accord with the theories of Science as to the vibrations of musical

notes.Our scale is as follows.

— 28 56 84 112 140 168 196 224 252 280 308 336 364 392 420 448 476 504 532 560 588

616 644 672 700.

According to musical science the notes C E G are as 4 5 6 in their ratios of vibrations.The same

ratio obtains between the notes of the triplet G B D and F A C.This gives the scale and reducing the

vibrations to C as I the ratios of the seven notes to C are

Reducing these to whole numbers,we get for one octave:

Page 418

Fa Green Sound

49 Sol Blue Sound

98 La Indigo Sound

147 Si Violet Sound

First semi-octave

196 Do Red Sound

245 Re Orange Sound

294 Mi Yellow Sound

343 Fa Green Sound

392 Sol Blue Sound

441 La Indigo Sound

490 Si Violet Sound

539 Do Red Sound

etc etc

Second Octave

1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2

C D E F G A B C

24 27 30 32 36 40 45 48

C D E F G A B C.

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(Page 535)By a similar calculation we can put an octave below C ’ and above C.”Writing these three

octaves in line and multiplying by seven we obtain a nearly exact correspondence with our table of

vibration for the fourth sense.

Musical Table

Fourth Sense Scale Ratio Product

28 4 x 7 =28 E

56 8 x 7 =56 F

84 12 x 7 =84 G

112 16 x 7 =112 A

140 20 x 7 =140 B

168 24 x 7 =168 C

196 27 x 7 =189 D

...30 x 7 =210 E

224 32 x 7 =224 F

252 36 x 7 =252 G

280 40 x 7 =280 A

308 45 x 7 =315 B

336 48 x 7 =336 C

364 54 x 7 =378 D

392

420 60 x 7 =420 E

448 64 x 7 =448 F

476

504 72 x 7 =504 G

532

560 80 x 7 =560 A

588

616 90 x 7 =630 B

644

672 96 x 7 =672 C

H.C.

Notes on Some Oral Teachings

The Three Vital Airs

(Page 537)IT is the pure Ćkāsha that passes up Sushumnā:its two aspects flow in Idā and Pingalā.These

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are the three vital airs,and are symbolized by the Brāhmanical thread.They are ruled by the Will.Will

and Desire are the higher and lower aspects of one and the same thing.Hence the importance of the

purity of the canals;for if they soil the vital airs energized by the Will Black Magic results.This is why all

sexual intercourse is forbidden in practical Occultism.

From Sushumnā Idā and Pingalā a circulation is set up and from the central canal passes into the whole

body.(Man is a tree;he has in him the macrocosm and the microcosm.Hence the trees used as

symbols;the Dhyān-Chohanic body is thus figured.)

The Auric Egg

The Auric Egg is formed in curves,which may be conceived from the curves formed by sand on a

vibrating metal disk.Each atom as each body has its Auric Egg each centre forming its own.This Auric

Egg with the appropriate materials thrown into it is a defence;no wild animal however ferocious,will

approach te Yogī thus guarded:it flings back from its surface all malign influences.No Will power is

manifested through the Auric Egg.

Q.What is the connection between the circulation of the vital airs and the power of the Yogī to make his

A ric Egg a defence against aggression?

A.It is impossible to answer this question.The knowledge is the last word of Magic.It is connected with

Kundalini that can as easily destroy as preserve.The ignorant tyro might kill himself.

Q.Is the A ric Egg of a child a differentiation of Ćkāsha,into which may be thrown by the Adept the

materials he needs for special p rposes —e.g.,the Māyāvi Rūpa?

[The question was somewhat obscurely worded.Evidently what the questioner wanted to know was if the

Auric Egg was a differentiation (Page 538)of Akāsha into which as the child became a man he might if

an Adept weave the materials needed for special purposes,etc.]

A .Taking the question in the sense of an Adept putting something into or acting on the Auric Egg of a

child then this could not be done as the Auric Egg is Karmic,and not even an Adept must interfere with

such Karmic record.If the Adept were to put anything into the Auric Egg of another for which the person

is not responsible or which does not come from the Higher Self of that personality how could Karmic

justice be maintained?

The Adept can draw into his own Auric Egg from his planet or even from that of the globe or of the

universe according to his degree.This envelope is the receptacle of all Karmic causes,and photographs

all things like a sensitive plate.

The child has a very small Auric Egg which is in colour almost pure white.At birth the Auric Egg consists

of almost pure Ćkāsha plus the Tanhās,which until the seventh year remain potential or in latency.

The Auric Egg of an idiot cannot be said to be human that is,it is not tinged with Manas.It is Ćkāshic

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vibrations rather than an Auric Egg —the material envelope such as that of the plant the mineral or other

object.

The Auric Egg is the transmitter from the periodical lives to the Life eternal i.e.,from Prāna to Jīva.It

disappears,but remains.

The reason why the confession of the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches is so great a sin is because

the confessor interferes with the Auric Egg of the penitent by means of his will power engrafting

artificially emanations from his own Auric Egg and casting seeds for germination into the Auric Egg of his

subject.It is on the same lines as hypnotic suggestion.

The above remarks apply equally to Hypnotism although the latter is a psycho-physical force and it is

this which constitutes one of its many serious dangers.At the same time “ a good thing may pass through

dirty channels,” as in the case of the breaking by suggestion of the alcohol or opium habit.Mesmerism

may be used by the Occultist to remove evil habits if the intention be perfectly pure;as on the higher

plane intention is everything and good intention must work for good.

Q.Is the A ric Egg the expansion of the “Pillar of Light,” the Mānasic Principle,and so not surro nding

the child till its seventh year?

The Dweller on the Threshold (Page 539)A.It is the Auric Egg.The Auric Egg is quite pure at birth but it

is a question whether the higher or lower Manas will colour it at the seventh year.The Mānasic

expansion is pure Ćkāsha.The ray of Manas is let down into the vortex of the lower Principles,and being

discoloured and so limited by the Kamic Tanhās and by the defects of the bodily organism forms the

personality.Hereditary Karma can reach the child before the seventh year but no individual Karma can

come into play till the descent of the Manas.

The Auric Egg is to the Man

As the Astral Light is to the Earth

As the Ether is to the Astral Light

As the Akāsha is to the Ether

The critical states are left out in the enumeration.They are the Laya Centres,or missing links in our

consciousness,and separate these four planes from one another.

The Dweller

The “Dweller on the Threshold ”is found in two cases:(a )In the case of the separation of the Triangle

from the Quaternary;(b )When Kāmic desires and passions are so intense that the Kāma Rūpa persists

in Kāma Loka beyond the Devachanic period of the Ego and thus survives the reincarnation of the

Devachanic Entity (e.g.,when reincarnation occurs within two hundred or three hundred years).The

“Dweller ”being drawn by affinity towards the Reincarnating Ego to whom it had belonged and being

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unable to reach it fastens on the Kāma of the new personality and becomes the Dweller on the

Threshold strengthening the Kāmic element and thus lending it a dangerous potency.Some become

mad from this cause.

Intellect

The white Adept is not always at first of powerful intellect.In fact H.P.B had known Adepts whose

intellectual powers were originally below the average.It is the Adept ’s purity his equal love to all his

working with Nature with Karma with his “Inner God ” that give him his power.Intellect by itself alone will

make the Black Magician.For intellect alone is accompanied with pride and selfishness:it is the

intellectual pl s the spiritual that raises man.For spirituality prevents pride and vanity.

Metaphysics are the domain of the Higher Manas;whereas (Page 540)Physics are that of Kāma-Manas,

which does the thinking in Physical Science and on material things.Kāma-Manas,like every other

Principle is of seven degrees.The Mathematician without spirituality however great he may be will not

reach Metaphysics;but the Metaphysician will master the highest conceptions of Mathematics and will

apply them without learning the latter.To be born Metaphysician the Psychic Plane will not be of much

account:he will see its errors immediately he enters it inasmuch as it is not the thing he seeks.With

respect to Music and other Arts,they are the children of either the Mānasic or Kāma-Mānasic Principle

proportionately as Soul or technicality predominates.

Karma

After each incarnation when the Mānasic Ray returns to its Father the Ego some of its atoms remain

behind and scatter.These Mānasic atoms,Tānhic and other “causes,”being of the same nature as the

Manas,are attracted to it by strong bonds of affinity and on the reincarnation of the Ego are unerringly

attracted to it and constitute its Karma.Until these are all gathered up the individuality is not free from

rebirth.The Higher Manas is responsible for the Ray it sends forth.If the Ray be not soiled no bad

Karma is generated.

The Turīya State

You should bear in mind that in becoming Karma-less,good Karma as well as bad has to be gotten rid

of and that Nidānas,started towards the acquisition of good Karma are binding as those induced in the

other direction.For both are Karma.

Yogis cannot attain the Turīya state unless the Triangle is separated from the Quaternary.

Mahat

Mahat is the manifested universal Parabrāhmic Mind (for one Manvantara)on the Third Plane [of

Kosmos ].It is the Law whereby the Light falls from plane to plane and differentiates.The Mānasaputras

are its emanations.

Man alone is capable of conceiving the Universe on this plane of existence.

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Existence is ;but when the entity does not feel it for that eternity it is not.The pain of an operation exists,

though the patient does not feel it and for the patient it is not.

Fear and Hatred (Page 541)

How to Advance

Q.What is the correct pron nciation of AUM?

A.It should first be practised physically;always at the same pitch which must be discovered in the same

way as the particular colour of the student is found for each has its own tone.

AUM consists of two vowels and one semi-vowel which latter must be prolonged.Just as Nature has its

Fa so each man has his:man being differentiated from Nature.The body may be compared to an

instrument and the Ego to the player.You begin by producing effect on yourself;then little by little you

learn to play on the Tattvas and Principles;learn first the notes,then the chords,then the melodies.Once

the student is master of every chord he may begin to be a co-worker with Nature and for others.He may

then by the experience he has gained of his own nature and by the knowledge of the chords,strike such

as will be beneficial in another and so will serve as a keynote for beneficial results.

Try to have a clear representation of the geometrical triangle on every plane the conception gradually

growing more metaphysical and ending with the subjective Triangle Ćtmā-Buddhi-Manas.It is only by

the knowledge of this Triangle under all forms that you can succeed e.g.,in enclosing the past and the

future in the present.Remember that you have to merge the Quaternary in the Triangle.The Lower

Manas is drawn upwards,with the Kāma Prāna and Linga leaving only the physical body behind the

lower reinforcing the higher.

Advance may be made in Occultism even in Devachan if the Mind and Soul be set thereon during life;

but it is only as in a dream and the knowledge will fade away as memory of a dream fades,unless it be

kept alive by conscious study.

Fear and Hatred

Fear and hatred are essentially one and the same.He who fears nothing will never hate and he who

hates nothing will never fear.

The Triangle

Q.What is the meaning of the phrase:“Form a clear image of the Triangle on every plane;” e.g.,on the

Astral Plane,what sho ld one think of as the Triangle?

A.[H.P.B asked whether the question signified the meaning of (Page 542)the Triangle or the way to

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represent the Triangle on the “screen of light.”The questioner explaining that the latter was the meaning

H.P.B said that ] it was only in the Turīa state the fourth of the seven steps of Rāja Yoga that the Yogī can

represent to himself that which is abstract.Below this state the perceptive power being conditioned

must have some form to contemplate;it cannot represent to itself the Arūpa.In the Turīya state the

Triangle is in yourself and is felt.Below the Turīya state there must be a symbol to represent Atmā-

Buddhi-Manas.It is not a mere geometrical Triangle but the Triad imaged to make thought possible.Of

this Triad we can make some kind of representation of Manas,however indistinct;while of Atmā no

image can be formed.We must try to represent the Triangle to ourselves on higher and higher planes.

We must figure Manas as overshadowed by Buddhi and immersed in Ćtmā.Only Manas,the Higher

Ego can be represented;we may think it as the Augoeides,the radiant figure in Zanoni.A very good

Psychic might see this.

Psychic Vision

Psychic vision however is not to be desired since Psyche is earthly and evil.More and more as Science

advances,the psychic will be reached and understood;Psychism has in it nothing that is spiritual.

Science is right on its own plane from its own standpoint.The law of the Conservation of Energy implies

that psychic motion is generated by motion.Psychic motion being only motion on the Psychic Plane a

material plane the Psychologist is right who sees in it nothing beyond matter.Animals have no Spirit but

they have psychic vision and are sensitive to psychic conditions;observe how these react on their

health their bodily state.

Motion is the abstract Deity;on the highest plane it is Arūpa absoolute;but on the lowest it is merely

mechanical.Psychic action is within the sphere of physical motion.Ere psychic action can be developed

in the brain and nerves,there must be adequate action which generates it on the Physical Plane.The

paralysed animal that cannot generate action in the physical body cannot think.Psychics merely see on

a plane of different material density;the spiritual glimpses sometimes obtained by them come from a

plane beyond.A Psychic ’s vision is that of one coming as it were into the lighted room and seeing

everything there by an 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 and

independently of all outiside.

Triangle and Quaternary (Page 543)The Psychic seeing by an external light the vision is coloured by the

nature of that light.

X.saying that she felt as though she saw on three planes,H.P.B answered that each plane was

sevenfold the Astral as every other.She gave as an example on the Physical Plane the vision of a table

with the sense of sight;seeing it still with the eyes closed by retinal impression;the image of it

conserved in the brain;it can be recalled by memory;it can be seen in dream;or as an aggregate of

atoms;or as disintegrated.All these are on the Physical Plane.Then we can begin again on the Astral

Plane and obtain another septenary.This hint should be followed and worked out.

Triangle and Quaternary

Q.Why is the violet,the colo r of the Linga Sharīra,placed at the apex of the when the Macrocosm is ¢

figured as thus throwing the yellow Buddhi into the lower Quaternary? ¢

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A .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

was the Quaternay as the lower Triad which is then reversed.The Triad is reflected in the Lower Manas.

The Higher Manas cannot 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 and 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 planes.The Lower Manas is as a

tablet which retains the impressions made on it during trance.

The Turīya state is entered on the Fourth Path;it is figured in the diagram on p.478 in the Second Paper.

Q.What is the meaning of a triangle formed of lines of light appearing in the midst of intense vibrating

bl e?

A.Seeing the Triangle outside is nothing;it is merely a reflection of the Triad on the Auric Envelope and

proves that the seer is outside the Triangle.It should be seen in quite another way.You must (Page 544)

endeavour to merge yourself in it to assimilate yourself with it.You are merely seeing things in the Astral.

“When the Third Eye is opened in any one of you you will have something very different to tell me.”

Q.With reference to the “Pillar of Light ” in a previo s q estion,is the A ric Envelope the Higher Ego,and

does it correspond to the Ring-Pass-Not?

[This question was not answered as going too far.The Ring-Pass-Not is at the circumference of the

manifested Universe.]

Nidānas

Q.The root of the Nidānas is Avidyā.How does this differ from Māyā?How many Nidānas are there

Esoterically?

A.Again too much is asked.The Nidānas,the concatenations of causes and effects (not in the sense of

the Orientalists),are not caused by ignorance.They are produced by Dhyān Chohans and Devas,who

certainly cannot be said to act in ignorance.We produce Nidānas in ignorance.Each cause started on

the Physical Plane sets up action on every plane to all eternity.They are eternal effects reflected from

plane to plane on the “screen of eternity.”

Manas

Q.What is the septenary classification of Manas?There are seven degrees of the Lower Manas,and

presumably there are seven degrees of the Higher.Are there then fo rteen degrees of Manas,or is

Manas,taken as a whole,divided into forty-nine Mānasic fires?

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A.Certainly there are fourteen but you want to run before you can walk.First learn the three and then

go on to the forty-nine.There are three Sons of Agni;they become seven and then evolve to the forty-

nine.But you are still ignorant how to produce the three.Learn first how to produce the “Sacred Fire ”

spoken of in the P ranas.The forty-nine fires are all states of Kundalinī to be produced in ourselves by

the friction of the triad.First learn the septenary body and then that of each Principle.But first of all learn

the first Triad (the three vital airs).

The Spinal Cord

Q.What is the sympathetic nerve and its f nction in Occultism?Is it fo nd only after a certain stage of

animal evol tion,and wo ld seem to be evolving in complexity towards a second spinal cord.

Prāna and Antahkarana (Page 545)A.At the end of the next Round Humanity will again become male-

female and then there will be two spinal cords.In the Seventh Race the two will merge into one.The

evolution corresponds to the Races,and with the evolution of the Races the sympathetic develops into a

true spinal cord.We are returning up the arc only with self-consciousness added.The Sixth Race will

correspond to the “pudding bags,”but will have the perfection of form with the highest intelligence and

spirituality.

Anatomists are beginning to find new ramifications and new modifications in the human body.They are in

error on many points,e.g.,as to the spleen which they call the manufactory of white blood corpuscles,

but which is really the vehicle of the Linga Sharīra.Occultists know each minute portion of the heart and

have a name for each.They call them by the names of the Gods,as Brahmā ’s Hall Vishnu ’s Hall etc.

They correspond with parts of the brain.The very atoms of the body are the thirty-three crores of Gods.

The sympathetic nerve is played on by the Tāntrikas,who call it Shiva ’s Vīnā.

Prāna

Q.What is the relation of man to Prāna —the periodical life?

A.Jīva becomes Prāna only when the child is born and begins to breathe.It is the breath of life

Nephesh.There is no Prāna on the Astral Plane.

Antahkarana

Q.The Antahkarana is the link between the Higher and the Lower Egos;does it correspond to the

mbilical cord in projection?

A.No;the umbilical cord joining the astral to the physical body is a real thing.Antahkarana is imaginary

a figure of speech and is only the bridging over from the Higher to the Lower Manas.Antahkarana only

exists when you commence to “throw your thought upwards and downwards.” The Māyāvi Rūpa or

Mānasic body has no material connection with the physical body no umbilical cord.It is spiritual and

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ethereal and passes everywhere without let or hindrance.It entirely differs from the astral body which if

injured acts by repercussion on the physical body.The Devachanic entity even previous to birth can be

affected by the Skandhas,but these have nothing to do with the Antahkarana.It is affected e.g.,by the

desire for reincarnation.

Q.We are told in The Voice of the Silence that we have to become (Page 546)“the path itself,”and in

another passage that Antahkarana is that path.Does this mean anything more than that we have to

bridge over the gap between the conscio sness of the Lower and the Higher Egos?

A.That is all.

Q.We are told that there are seven portals on the Path:is there then a sevenfold division of

Antahkarana?Also,is Antahkarana the battlefield?

A.It is the battlefield.There are seven divisions in the Antahkarana.As you pass from each to the next

you approach the Higher Manas.When you have bridged the fourth you may consider yourself fortunate.

Miscellaneous

Q.We are told that AUM “sho ld be practised physically.” Does this mean that,colo r being more

differentiated than so nd,it is only thro gh the colo rs that we shall get at the real so nd of each of s?

and that AUM can only have its Spirit al and Occult signification when attained to the Ćtmā-B ddhi-

Manas of each person?

A.AUM means good action not merely lip-sound.You must say it in deeds.

Q.With reference to the ¢is not the Ćtmā-B ddhi-Manas different for each entity,according to the plane

on which he is?

A.Each Principle is on a different plane.The Chelā must rise to one after the other assimilating each

until the three are one.This is the root of the Trinity.

Q.In The Secret Doctrine we are told that Ćkāsha is the same as Pradhāna.Akasha is the A ric Egg of

the earth,and yet Ćkāsha is the same as Pradhāna.Ćkāsha is the A ric Egg of the earth,and yet

Ćkāsha is Mahat.What then is the relation of Manas to the A ric Egg?

A.Mūlaprakriti is the same as Ćkāsha (seven degrees).Mahat is the positive aspect of Akasha and is

the Manas of the Kosmic Body.Mahat is to Ćkāsha as Manas is to Buddhi and Pradhāna is but another

name for Mūlaprakriti.

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The Auric Egg is Ćkāsha and has seven degrees.Being pure abstract substance it reflects abstract

ideas,but also reflects lower concrete things.

The Third Logos and Mahat are one and are the same as the Universal Mind Alaya.

The Tetraktys is the Chatur Vidyā or the fourfold knowledge in one the four-faced Brahmā.

Sacred Centres of Body (Page 547)

Nādīs

Q.Have the Nādīs any fixed relationship to the vertebrę?can they be located opposite to or between

any vertebrae?Can they be regarded as occupying each a given and fixed extent in the cord?Do they

correspond to the divisions of the cord known to Anatomists?

A.H.P.B believed that the Nādīs corresponded to regions of the spinal cord known to Anatomists.There

are thus six or seven Nādīs or plexuses along the spinal cord.The term however is not technical but

general and applies to any knot centre ganglion etc.The sacred Nādīs are those which run along or

above Sushumnā.Six are known to Science and one (near the atlas)unknown.Even the Tāraka Rāja

Yogīs speak only of six and will not mention the sacred seventh.

Idā and Pingalā play along the curved wall of the cord in which is Sushumnā.They are semi-material

positive and negative sun and moon and start into action the free and spiritual current of Sushumnā.

They have distinct paths of their own otherwise they would radiate all over the body.By concentration on

Idā and Pingalā is generated the “sacred fire.”

Another name for Shiva ’s Vīnā (sympathetic system)is Kālī ’s Vīnā.

The sympathetic cords and Idā and Pingalā start from a sacred spot above the medulla oblongata called

Triveni.This is one of the sacred centres,another of which is Brahmarandra which is,if you like the grey

matter of the brain.It is also the anterior fontanelle in the new-born child.

The spinal column is called Brahmadanda the stick of Brahmā.This is again symbolized by the bamboo

rod carried by Ascetics.The Yogis on the other sides of the Himālayas,who assemble regularly at Lake

Mānsarovara carry a triple knotted bamboo stick,and are called Tridandins.This has the same

signification as the Brāhmanical cord which has many meanings besides the three vital airs;e.g.,it

symbolizes the three initiations of a Brāhman taking place:(a )at birth when he receives his mystery

name from the family Astrologer who is supposed to have received it from the Devas (he is also thus

said to be initiated by the Devas);a Hindu will sooner die than reveal this name;(b )at seven when he

receives the cord;and (c )at eleven or twelve when he is initiated into his caste.

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(Page 548)Q.If it is right to st dy the body and its organs,with their correspondences,will yo give the

main o tline of these in connection with the Nādīs and with the diagram of the orifices?

The Corresponds to the

Spleen Linga Sharira

Liver Kāma

Heart Prāna

Corpora-quadrigemina Kāma-Manas

Pictuitary body Manas-Antahkarana

Pineal gland Manas

until it is touched by the vibrating light of Kundalinī which proceeds from Buddhi when it becomes

Buddhi-Manas.

The pineal gland corresponds with Divine Thought.The pituitary body is the organ of the Psychic Plane.

Psychic vision is caused by the molecular motion of this body which is directly connected with the optic

nerve and thus affects the sight and gives rise to hallucinations.Its motion may readily cause flashes of

light such as may be obtained by pressing the eyeballs.Drunkenness and fever produce illusions of

sight and hearing by the action of the pituitary body.This body is sometimes so affected by drunkenness

that it is paralysed.If an influence on the optic nerve is thus produced and the current thus reversed the

colour will probably be compementary.

Sevens

Q.If the physical body is no part of the real h man septenary,is the physical material world one of the

seven planes of the Kosmic septenary?

A.It is.The body is not a Principle in Esoteric parlance because the body and the Linga are both on the

same plane;then the Auric Egg makes the seventh.The body is an Upādhi rather than a Principle.The

earth and its astral light are as closely related to each other as the body and its Linga the earth being the

Upādhi.Our plane in its lowest division is the earth in its highest the astral.The terrestrial astral light

should of course not be confounded with the universal Astral Light.

Q.A physical object was spoken of as a septenary on the physical plane,inasm ch as we co ld (1)

directly contact it;(2)retinally reprod ce it;(3)remember it;(4)dream of it;(5)view it atomically;(6)view

it disintegrated;(7)—What is the seventh?

These are seven ways in which we view it:the septenary is o r way of seeing one thing.Is it objectively

septenary?

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Ćkāsha Nature's Sounding-Board (Page 549)A .The seventh bridges across from one plane to another.

The last is the idea the privation of matter and carries you to the next plane.The highest of one plane

touches the lowest of the next.Seven is a factor in nature as in colours and sounds.There are seven

degrees in the same piece of wood each perceived by one of the seven senses.In wood the smell is the

most material degree while in other substances it may be the sixth.Substances are septenary apart from

the consciousness of the viewer.

The psychometer seeing a morsel say of a table a thousand years hence would see the whole;for

every atom reflects the whole body to which it belongs,just as with the Monads of Leibnitz.

After the seven material subdivisions are the seven divisions of the Astral which is its second Principle.

The disintegrated matter —the highest of the material subdivisions —is the privation of the idea of it —the

fourth.

The number fourteen is the first step between seven and forty-nine.Each septenary is really a fourteen

because each of the seven has its two aspects.Thus fourteen signifies the inter-relation of two planes in

its turn.The septenary is to be clearly traced in the lunar months,fevers,gestations,etc.On it is based

the week of the Jews and the septenary Hierarchies of the Lord of Hosts.

Sounds

Q.So nd is an attrib te of Ćkāsha;b t we cannot cognize anything on the Ćkāshic plane;on what plane

then do we recognize so nd?On what plane is so nd prod ced by the physical contact of bodies?Is

there so nd on seven planes,and is the physical plane one of them?

A.The physical plane is one of them.You cannot see Ćkāsha but you can sense it from the Fourth Path.

You may not be fully conscious of it and yet you may sense it.Ćkāsha is at the root of the manifestation

of all sounds.Sound is the expression and manifestation of that which is behind it and which is the

parent of many correlations.All Nature is a sounding-board;or rather Ćkāsha is the sounding-board of

Nature.It is the Deity the one Life the one Existence.(Hearing is the vibration of molecular particles;the

order is seen in the sentence “The disciple feels,hears,sees.”)

Sound can have no end.H.P.B remarked with regard to a tap made by a pencil on the table:“By this time

it has affected the whole universe.The particle which has had its wear and tear destroys some (Page

550)thing which passes into something else.It is eternal in the Nidānas it produces.” A sound if not

previously produced on the Astral Plane and before that on the Ćkāshic,could not be produced at all.

Ćkāsha is the bridge between nerve cells and mental powers.

Q.“Colo rs are psychic,and so nds are spirit al.” What,ass ming that these are vibrations,is the

successive order (these corresponding to sight and hearing)of the other senses?

A.This phrase was not to be taken out of its context otherwise confusion would arise.All are on all

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planes.The First Race had touch all over like a sounding board;this touch differentiated into the other

senses,which developed with the Races.The “sense ”of the First Race was that of touch meaning the

power of their atoms to vibrate in unison with external atoms.The “touch ”would be almost the same as

sympathy.

The senses were on a different plane with each Race;e.g.,the Fourth Race had very much more

developed senses than ourselves,but on another plane.It was also a very material Race.The sixth and

seventh senses will merge into the Ćkāshic Sound.“It depends to what degree of matter the sense of

touch relates itself as to what we call it.”

Prāna

Q.Is Prāna the prod ction of the co ntless “lives ” of the h man body,and therefore,to some extent,of

the congeries of the cells or atoms of the body?

A.No;Prāna is the parent of the “lives.” As an example a sponge may be immersed in an ocean.The

water in the sponge ’s interior may be compared to Prāna;outside is Jīva.Prāna is the motor-principle in

life.The “lives ”leave Prāna;Prāna does not leave them.Take out the sponge from the water and it

becomes dry thus symbolizing death.Every principle is a differentiation of Jīva but the life-motion in

each is Prāna the “breath of life.”Kāma depends on Prāna without which there would be no Kāma.

Prāna wakes the Kāmic germs to life;it makes all desires vital and living.

The Second Spinal Cord

Q.With reference to the answer to the q estion on the second cord,what is it that will become a second

spinal cord in the Sixth Race?Will Idā and Pingalā have separate physical d cts?

A.It is the sympathetic cords which will grow together and form another spinal cord.Idā and Pingalā will

be joined with Sushumnā and they will become one.Idā is on the left side of the cord and Pingalā on

the right.

Kosmic Consciousness (Page 551)

Initiates

Pythagoras was an Initiate one of the grandest of Scientists.His disciple Archytas was marvellously apt

in applied Science.Plato and Euclid were Initiates,but not Socrates.No real Initiates were married.

Euclid learned his Geometry in the Mysteries.Modern men of Science only rediscover the old truths.

Kosmic Consciousness

H.P.B proceeded to explain Kosmic Consciousness,which is,like all else on seven planes,of which

three are inconceivable and four are cognizable by the highest Adept.She sketched the planes as in the

following diagram.

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Taking the lowest only the Terrestrial (it was afterwards decided to call this

plane Prākritic),it is divisible into seven planes,and these again into seven

making the forty-nine.

Terrestrial

(Page 552)She then took the lowest plane of Prakriti or the true Terrestrial

and divided it as follows:—

Its objective or sensuous plane is that which is sensed by the five physical senses.

On its second plane things are reversed.

Its third plane is psychic:here is the instinct which prevents a kitten going into the water and getting

drowned.

The following table of the terrestrial objective consciousness was given:

Divisions of the Astral Plane (Page 553)

Astral

The three lower Prākritic are related to the three lower of the Astral Plane immediately succeeding.

Page 432

Manas-Ego

Kāma-Manas

or Higher

Psychic

Prānic-Kāma

or Lower

Psychic

Astral

Prakritic

or Terrestrial

True terrestrial

planes

or 7th Prākritic

7 Para-Ego or Atmic

6 Inner-Ego or Buddhic

5 Ego-Manas

4 Kāma-Manas or Lower Manas

3 Prānic Kāma or Psychic

2 Astral

1 Objective.

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With regard to the first division of the second plane H.P.B reminded her pupils that all seen on it

must be reversed in translating it e.g.,with numbers which appeared backwards.The Astral

Objective corresponds in everything to the Terrestrial Objective.

The second division corresponds to the second of the lower plane but the objects are of extreme

tenuity an astralized Astral.This plane is the limit of the ordinary medium beyond which he cannot

go.A non-mediumistic person to reach it must be asleep or in a trance or under the influence of

laughing-gas;or in ordinary delirium people pass on to this plane.

The third the Prānic,is of an intensely vivid nature.Extreme delirium carried the patient to this plane.In

delirium tremens the sufferer passes to this and to the one above it.Lunatics are often conscious on this

plane where they see terrible visions.It runs into the —

Fourth division the worst of the astral planes,Kāmic and terrible.Hence come the images that tempt;

images of drunkards in Kāma Loka impelling others to drink;images of all vices inoculating men with the

desire to commit crimes.The weak imitate these images in a kind of monkeyish fashion so falling

beneath their influence.This is also the cause of epidemics of vices,and cycles of disaster of accidents

of all kinds coming in groups.Extreme delirium tremens is on this plane.

(Page 554)The fifth division is that of premonitions in dreams,of reflections from the lower mentality

glimpses into the past and future the plane of things mental and not spiritual.The mesmerized

clairvoyant can reach this plane and even if good may go higher.

The sixth is the plane from which come all beautiful inspirations of art poetry and music,high types of

dreams,flashes of genius.Here we have glimpses of past incarnations,without being able to locate or

analyse them.

We are on the seventh plane at the moment of death or in exceptional visions.The drowning man is here

when he remembers his past life.The memory of events of this plane must be centred in the heart “the

seat of Buddha.”There it will remain but impressions from this plane are not made on the physical brain.

4th Kosmic Plane Fohat Kosmic Kāma-Mans

3rd Kosmic Plane Jiva-Fohat Prānic-Kāma Kosmic Life

2nd Kosmic Plane Kosmic Astral

1st Kosmic Prakiristic Kosmic Body

(next graphic part of this one)

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[In this diagram all the Kosmic Planes should be figured as of one size —the size given to the lowest

plane Prakriti.Further within the circle all the Prākritic Planes should be of one size —that given to the

first or lowest.To do this would make so large a diagram that the planes are compressed.—Ed.]

Kosmic Planes (Page 555)

General Notes

The two planes a/bove dealt with are the only two used in the Hatha Yoga.

Prāna and the Auric Envelope are essentially the same and again as Jīva it is the same as the

Universal Deity.This,in its Fifth Principle is Mahat in its Sixth Alaya.(The Universal Life is also seven-

principled.)Mahat is the highest Entity in Kosmos;beyond this is no diviner Entity;it is of subtlest matter

Sūkshma.In us this is Manas,and the very Logoi are less high not having gained experience.The

Mānasic Entity will not be destroyed even at the end of the Mahāmanvantara when all the Gods are

absorbed but will re-emerge from Parabrāhmic latency.

Consciousness is the Kosmic seed of superkosmic omniscience.It has the potentiality of budding into the

Divine Consciousness.

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Rude physical health is a drawback to seership.This was the case with Swedenborg.

Fohat is everywhere:it runs like a thread through all and has its own seven divisions.

In the Kosmic Auric Envelope is all the Karma of the manifesting Universe.This is the Hiranyagarbha.

Jīva is everywhere and so with the other Principles.

(Page 556)

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The above diagram represents the type of all the Solar Systems.

Mahat single before informing the Universe differentiates when informing it as does Manas in man

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Taking this figure to represent the human Principles and planes of consciousness,then

Differentiation (Page 557)

7 6 5 represent respectively Shiva Vishnu Brahmā being the lowest.

Shiva is the four-faced Brahmā;the Creator Preserver Destroyer and Regenerator.

Between 5 and 4 comes the Antahkarana.The represents the Christos,the Sacrificial Victim crucified ¢

between the thieves:this is the double-faced entity.The Vedāntins make this a quarternary for a blind:

Antahkarana Chit Buddhi and Manas.

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Manvantaric Aspect of Parabrahman and Mūlaprakriti

N.B.The number of rays is arbitrary and without significance.

Perceptive life begins with the Astral:it is not our physical atoms which see etc.

Consciousness proper begins between Kāma and Manas.Ćtmā-buddhi acts more in the atoms of the

body in the bacilli microbes,etc.than in Man himself.

Objective Consciousness

Sensuous objective consciousness includes all that pertains to the five physical senses in man and rules

in animals,birds,fishes and some insects.Here are the “Lives;”their consciousness is in Ćtma-Buddhi;

these are entirely without Manas.

Astral Consciousness

(Page 558)That of some plants (e.g.,sensitive)of ants,spiders,and some night-flies (Indian),but not of

bees.

The vertebrate animals in general are without this consciousness,but the placental Mammals have all

the potentialities of human consciousness,though at present of course dormant.

Idiots are on this plane.The common expression “he has lost his mind ”is an Occult truth.For when

through fright or other cause the lower mind becomes paralysed then the consciousness is on the Astral

Plane.The study of lunacy will throw much light on these points.This may be called the “nerve plane.”It

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is cognized by our “nervous centres ”of which Physiology knows nothing e.g.,the clairvoyant reading

with the eyes bandaged reading with the tips of the fingers,the pit of the stomach etc.This sense is

greatly developed in the deaf and dumb.

Kāma-Prānic Consciousness

The general life-consciousness which belongs to all the objective world even to the stones;for if stones

were not living they could not decay emit a spark,etc.Affinity between chemical elements is a

manifestation of this Kāmic consciousness.

Kāma-Mānasic Consciousness

The instinctual consciousness of animals and idiots in its lowest degrees,the planes of sensation;in man

these are rationalized e.g.,a dog shut in a room has the instinct to get out but cannot because its

instinct is not sufficiently rationalized to take the necessary means;whereas a man at once takes in the

situation and extricates himself.The highest degree of this Kāma-Mānasic consciousness is the psychic.

Thus there are seven degrees from the instinctual animal to the rationalized instinctual and psychic.

Mānasic Consciousness

From this plane Manas stretches upwards to Mahat.

Buddhic Consciousness

The plane of Buddhi and the Auric Envelope.From here it goes to the Father in heaven Ćtmā and

reflects all that is in the Auric Envelope.Five and six therefore cover the planes from the psychic to the

divine.

Men and Pitris (Page 559)

Miscellaneous

Reason is a thing that oscillates between right and wrong.But Intelligence —Intuition —is higher it is the

clear vision.

To get rid of Kāma we must crush out all out material instincts —“crush out matter.” The flesh is a thing of

habit;it will repeat mechanically a good impulse as well as a bad one.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,leads the flesh into

temptation.

The highest Adept begins his Samādhi on the Fourth Solar Plane but cannot go outside the Solar

System.When he begins Samādhi he is on a par with some of the Dhyān Chohans,but he transcends

them as he rises to the seventh plane (Nirvāna).

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The Silent Watcher is on the Fourth Kosmic Plane.

The higher Mind directs the Will:the lower turns it into selfish Desire.

The head should not be covered in meditation.It is covered in Samādhi.

The Dhyān Chohans are passionless,pure and mindless.They have no struggle no passion to crush.

The Dhyān Chohans are made to pass through the School of Life.“God goes to School.”

The best of us in the future will be Mānasaputras;the lowest will be Pitris.We are seven intellectual

Hierarchies here.This earth becomes the moon of the next earth.

The “Pitris ”are the Astral overshadowed by Ćtma-Buddhi falling into matter.T he “Pudding-bags ”has

Life and Ćtmā-Buddhi but no Manas.They were therefore senseless.The reason for all evolution is the

gaining of experience.

In the Fifth Round all of us will pay the part of the Pitris.We shall have to go and shoot out our Chhāyās

into another humanity and remain until that humanity is perfected.The Pitris have finished their office in

this Round and have gone into Nirvāna;but they will return to do the same office up to the middle point of

the Fifth Round.The Fourth or Kāmic Hierarchy of the Pitris becomes the “man of flesh.”

The astral body is first in the womb;then comes the germ that fructifies it.It is then clothed with matter

as were the Pitris.

The Chhāyā is really the lower Manas,the shadow of the higher Mind.This Chhāyā makes the Māyāvi

Rūpa.The Ray clothes itself (Page 560)in the highest degree of the Astral Plane.The Māyāvi Rūpa is

composed of the astral body as Upādhi the guiding intelligence from the heart the attributes and

qualities from the Auric Envelopes.

The Auric Envelope takes up the light of Ćtmā and overshadows the coronal circling round the head.

The Auric Fluid is a combination of the Life and Will principles,the life and the will being one and the

same in Kosmos.It emanates from the eyes and hands,when directed by the will of the operator.

The Auric Light surrounds all bodies:it is the “aura ”emanating from them whether they be animal

vegetable or mineral.It is the light e.g.,seen round magnets.

Ćtmā-Buddhi-Manas in man corresponds to the three Logoi in Kosmos.They not only correspond but

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each is the radiation from Kosmos to Microcosmos.The third Logos,Mahat becomes Manas in man

Manas being only Mahat individualized as the sun-rays are individualized in bodies that absorb them.

The sun-rays give life they fertilize what is already there and the individual is formed.Mahat so to say

fertilizes,and Manas is the result.

Buddhi-Manas is the Kshetrajńa.

There are seven planes of Mahat as of all else.

The Human Principles

Here H.P.B drew two diagrams,illustrating different ways of representing the human principles.In the

first:

the two lower are disregarded;they go out disintegrate are of not account.Remain five under the

radiation of Ćtmā.

Power of Imagination (Page 561)

In the second:

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the lower Quaternary is regarded as mere matter objective illusion and there remain Manas and the

Auric Egg the higher Principles being reflected in the Auric Egg.In all these systems remember the main

principle the descent and re-ascent of the Spirit in man as in Kosmos.The Spirit is drawn downwards as

by spiritual gravitation.

Seeking further for the cause of this,the students were checked H.P.B giving only a suggestion on the

three Logoi:

1.Potentiality of Mind (Absolute Thought).

2.Thought in Germ.

3.Ideation in Activity.

Notes

Protective variation e.g.,identity of colouring of insects and of that on which they feed was explained to

be the work of Nature Elementals.

Form is on different planes,and the forms of one plane may 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 —principi m individ ationis —is Form:this principle is Divine Law manifested in Kosmic Matter

which in its essence is limitless.The Auric Egg is the limit of man as Hiranyagarbha of the Kosmos.

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The first step towards the accomplishment of Kriyāshakti 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

and the form is thereby transferred to the objective world.This is creation by Kriyāshakti.

Suns and Planets

(Page 562)A comet partially cools and settles down as a sun.It then gradually attracts round it planets that

are as yet unattached to any centre and thus,in millions of years,a Solar System is formed.The worn-

out planet becomes a moon to the planet of another system.

The sun we see is a reflection of the true Sun:this reflection as an outward concrete thing is a Kāma-

Rūpa all the suns forming the Kāma-Rūpa of Kosmos.To its own system the sun is Buddhi as being the

reflection and vehicle of the true Sun which is Ćtmā invisible on this plane.All the Fohatic forces —

electricity etc —are in this reflection.

The Moon

At the beginning of the evolution of our globe the moon was much nearer to the earth and larger than it

is now.It has retreated from us,and shrunk much in size.(The moon gave all her Principles to the earth

while the Pitris gave only their Chhāyās to man.)

The influences of the moon are wholly psycho-physiological.It is dead sending out injurious emanations

like a corpse.It vampirizes the earth and its inhabitants so that any one sleeping in its rays suffers,

losing some of his life-force.A white cloth is a protection the rays not passing through it and the head

especially should be thus guarded.It has most power when it is full.It throws off particles which we

absorb and is gradually disintegrating.Where there is snow the moon looks like a corpse being unable

through the white snow to vampirize effectually.Hence snow-covered mountains are free from its bad

influences.The moon is phosphorescent.

The Rākshakas of Lanka and the Atlanteans are said to have subjected the moon.The Thessalians

learned from them their Magic.

Esoterically the moon is the symbol of the Lower Manas;it is also the symbol of the Astral.

Plants which under the sun ’s rays are beneficent are maleficent under those of the moon.Herbs

containing poisons are most active when gathered under the moon ’s rays.

A new moon will appear during the Seventh Round and our moon will finally disintegrate and disappear.

There is now a planet the “Mystery Planet ” behind the moon and it is gradually dying.Finally the time

will come for it to send its Principles to a new Laya Centre and there a new planet will form to belong to

another Solar System the present Mystery Planet then functioning as moon to that new globe.This

moon will have nothing to do with our earth though it will come within our range of vision.

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Why Cycles Return (Page 563

The Solar System

All the visible planets placed in our Solar System by Astronomers belong to it except Neptune.There are

also some others not known to Science belonging to it and “all moons which are not yet visible for next

things.”

The planets only move in our consciousness.The Rulers of the seven Secret Planets have no influence

on this earth as this earth has on other planets.It is the sun and moon which really have not only a

mental but also a physical effect.The effect of the sun on humanity is connected with Kāma-Prāna with

the most physical Kāmic elements in us;it is the vital principle which helps growth.The effect of the

moon is chiefly Kāma-Mānasic or psycho-physiological;it acts on the psychological brain on the brain

mind.

Precious Stones

In answer to a question H.P.B said that the diamond and the ruby were under the sun the saphire under

the moon —“but what does it matter to you?”

Time

When once out of the body and not subject to the habit of consciousness formed by others,time does

not exist.

Cycles and epochs depend on consciousness:we are not here for the first time;the cycles return

because we come back into conscious existence.Cycles are measured by the consciousness of

humanity and not by Nature.It is because we are the same people as in past epochs that these events

occur to us.

Death

The Hindus look upon death as impure owing to the disintegration of the body and the passing from one

plane to another.“ I believe in transformation not in death.”

Atoms

The Atom is the Soul of the molecule.It is the six Principles,and the molecule is the body thereof.The

Atom is the Ćtman of the objective Kosmos,i.e.,it is on the seventh plane of the lowest Prakriti.

Terms

(Page 564)H.P.B began by saying that students ought to know the correct meaning of the Sanskrit terms

used in Occultism and should learn the Occult Symbology.To begin with one had better learn the correct

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Esoteric classification and names of the fourteen (7 X 2 )and seven (Sapta)Lokas found in the exoteric

texts.These are given there in a very confused manner and are full of “blinds.” To illustrate this three

classifications are given below.

Lokas

Each and all correspond Esoterically to the Kosmic or Dhyān Chohanic Hierarchies,and to the human

States of Consciousness and their subdivisions (forty-nine).To appreciate this the meanings of the terms

used in the Vedāntic classification must be first understood.

Page 445

LOKAS

1

The general exoteric orthodox and tāntric category:

Bhūr-loka

Bhuvar-loka

Swar-loka

Mahar-loka The second seven are reflected.

Janar-loka

Tapar-loka

Satya-loka

2

The Sānkhya category and that of some Vedāntins

Brahmā-loka

Pitri-loka

Soma-loka

Indra-loka

Gandharva-loka

Rākshasa-loka

Yaksha-loka

And an eighth.

3

The Vedāntic the nearest approach to the Esoteric:

Atala

Vitala

Sutala

Talātala (or Karatala).

Rasātala

Mahātala

Pātāla.

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Talas and Lokas (Page 565)

Each of the Lokas,places,worlds,states,etc.corresponds with and is transformed into five

(exoterically)and seven (Esoterically)states or Tattvas,for which there are no definite names.These in

the main divisions cited below make up the forty-nine Fires:

5 and 7 Tanmātras,outer and inner senses.

5 and 7 Bhūtas,or elements.

5 and 7 Gnyānendryas,or organs of sensation.

5 and 7 Karmendryas,or organs of action.

These correspond in general to States of Consciousness,to the Hierarchies of Dhyān Chohans,to the

Tattvas etc.These Tattvas transform themselves into the whole Universe.The fourteen Lokas are made

of seven with seven reflections:above below;within without;subjective objective;pure impure;

positive negative;etc.

Explanation of the States of Consciousness

Corresponding to the Vedāntic Classification of Lokas

7.Atala The Ćtmic or Auric state or locality:it emanates directly from ABSOLUTENESS and is the first

Page 446

Word means

Tala place

Atala no place

Vitala

some change for the better:i.e.better for matter in that more

matter enters into it or in other words it becomes more

differentiated.This is an ancient Occult term.

Sutala good excellent,place.

Karatala something that can be grasped or touched (from kara a

hand):i.e.the state in which matter becomes tangible.

Rasātala place of taste;a place you can sense with one of the organs

of sense.

Mahātala exoterically “great place ”;but Esoterically a place including

all others subjectively and potentially including all that

precedes it.

Pātāla something under the feet (from pada foot)the upādhi or

basis of anything the antipodes America etc..

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something in the Universe.Its correspondence is the Hierarchy of non-substantial primordial Beings,in a

place which is no place (for us),a state which is no state.This Hierarchy contains the primordial plane

all that was,and will be from the beginning to the end of the Mahāmanvantara;all is there.This

statement should not however be taken to imply Kismet:the latter is contrary to all the teachings of

Occultism.

Here are the Hierarchies of the Dhyāni Buddhas.Their state is that of Parasamādhi of the Dharmakāya;

a state where no progress is possible.The entities there may be said to be crystallized in purity in

homogeneity.

6.Vitala .Here are the Hierarchies of the celestial Buddhas,or Bodhisattvas who are said to emanate

from the seven Dhyāni Buddhas.It is related on earth to Samādhi to the Buddhic consciousness in man.

No adept save one can be higher than this and live;if he passes into the Ćtmic or Dharmakāya state

(Alaya)he can return to earth no more.These two states are purely hyper-metaphysical.

5.utala .A differential state corresponding on earth with the Higher Manas,and therefore with Shabda

(Sound),the Logos,our Higher Ego;and also to the Manushi Buddha state like that of Gautama on

earth.This is the third stage of Samādhi (which is septenary).Here belong the Hierachies of the

Kumāras —the Agnishvattas,etc.

4.Karatala corresponds with Sparsha (touch)and to the Hierarchies of ethereal semi-objective Dhyān

Chohans of the astral matter of the Mānasa-Manas,or the pure ray of Manas,that is the Lower Manas

before it is mixed with Kāma (as in the young child).They are called Sparsha Devas,the Devas endowed

with touch.These Hierarchies of Devas are progressive:the first have one sense;the second two;and

so on to seven:each containing all the senses potentially but not yet developed.Sparsha would be

rendered better by affinity contact.

3.Rasātala or Rūpatala :corresponds to the Hierachies of Rūpa or Sight Devas,possessed of three

senses,sight hearing and touch.These are the Kāma-Mānasic entities,and the higher Elementals.With

the Rosicrucians they were the Sylphs and Undines.It corresponds on earth with an artificial state of

consciousness,such as that produced by hypnotism and drugs (morphia etc.).

2.Mahātala.Corresponds to the Hierachies of Rasa or Taste Devas and includes a state of

consciousness embracing the lower five senses and emanations of life and being.It corresponds to

Kāma and Prāna in man and to Salamanders and Gnomes in nature.

1.Pātala.Corresponds to the Hierarchies of Gandha or Smell Devas,the underworld or antipodes:

Myalba.The sphere of irrational animals,having no feeling save that of self-preservation and gratification

of the senses:also of intensely selfish human beings,walking or sleeping.This is why Nārada is said to

have visited Pātāla when he was cursed to be reborn.He reported that life there was very pleasant for

those “who had never left their birth-place ” ;they were happy.It is the earthly state and corresponds with

the sense of smell.Here are also animal Dugpas,Elementals of animals,and Nature Spirits.

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States of Consciousness (Page 567)

Further Explanations of the Same Classifications

7.Auric,Ćtmic,Alayic sense or state.One of full potentiality but not of activity.

6.Buddhic;the sense of being one with the universe;the impossibility of imagining oneself apart from it.

(It was asked why the term Alayic was here given to the Ćtmic and not to the Buddhic state.Ans.These

classifications are not hard and fast divisions.A term may change places according as the classification

is exoteric,Esoteric or practical.For students the effort should be to bring all things down to states of

consciousness.Buddhi is really one and indivisible.It is a feeling within absolutely inexpressible in

words.All cataloguing is useless to explain it.)

5.Shābdic,sense of hearing.

4.Spārshic,sense of touch.

3.Rūpīc the state of feeling oneself a body and perceiving it (rūpa =form).

2.Rāsic,sense of taste.

1.Gāndhic,sense of smell.

All the Kosmic and anthropic states and senses correspond with our organs of sensation Gnyānendryas

rudimentary organs for receiving knowledge through direct contact sight etc.These are the faculties of

Sharīra through Netra (eyes)nose speech etc.and also with the organs of action Karmendryas,

hands,feet etc.

Exoterically there are five sets of five giving twenty-five.Of these twenty are facultative and five

Buddhic.Exoterically Buddhi is said to perceive;Esoterically it reaches perception only through the

Higher Manas.Each of these twenty is both positive and negative thus making forty in all.There are two

subjective states answering to each of the four sets of five hence eight in all.These being subjective can

(Page 568)not be doubled.Thus we have 40 +8 =48 “cognitions of Buddhi.” These with Māya which

includes them all make 49.(Once that you have reached the cognition of Māya you are an Adept.)

Page 448

5 +5 Tanmātras 2

5 +5 Bhūta 2

5 +5 Gnyānendry

as 2

5 +5 Karmendrya

s 2

TOTAL

S 20 +20 +8 +Māy

ā =49.

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The Lokas

In their exoteric blinds the Brāhmans count fourteen Lokas earth included),of which seven are objective

though not apparent and seven subjective yet fully demonstrable to the Inner Man.There are seven

Divine Lokas and seven infernal (terrestrial)Lokas.

SEVEN DIVINE LOKAS SEVEN INFERNAL

(TERRESTRIAL)LOKAS

1 Bhūrloka (the earth).1 Pātāla (our earth).

2 Bhuvarloka (between the earth and the sun [Munīs ]).2 Mahātala

3 Svarloka (between the sun and the Pole Star [Yogīs ]).3 Rasātala

4 Maharloka (between the earth and the and the utmost

limit of the Solar System *4 Talātala (or Karatala).

5 Janarloka (beyond the Solar System the abode of

the Kumāras who do not belong to this plane).5 Sutala

6 Taparloka (still beyond the Mahātmic region the

dwelling of the Vairāja deities).6 Vitala

7 Satyaloka (the abode of the Nirvanīs).7 Atala

*[All these “spaces ”denote the special magnetic currents the planes of substance and the

degrees of approach that the consciousness of the Yogi or Chela performs towards assimilation

with the inhabitants of the Lokas.]

[GRAPHIC PAGE 568A missing)

Man and Lokas (Page 569)

These the Brāhmans read from the bottom.

Now all these fourteen are planes from without within and (the seven Divine)States of Consciousness

through which man can pass —and must pass,once he is determined to go through the seven paths and

portals of Dhyāni;one need not be disembodied for this,and all this is reached on earth and in one or

many of the incarnations.

See the order:the four lower ones (1 2 3 4)are rūpa ;i.e.,they are performed by the Inner Man with the

full concurrence of the diviner portions,or elements of the Lower Manas,and consciously by the

personal man.The three higher states cannot be reached and remembered by the latter unless he is a

fully initiated Adept.A Hatha Yogī will never pass beyond the Maharloka psychically and the Talātala

(double or dual place),physico-mentally.To become a Rāja Yogī one has to ascend up to the seventh

portal the Satyaloka.For such the Master Yogīs tells us,is the fruition of Yajna or sacrifice.When the

Bhūr Bhuvar and Svarga (states)are once passed and the Yogi ’s consciousness centered in Maharloka

it is in the last plane and state between entire identification of the Personal and the Higher Manas.

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One thing to remember:while the infernal (or terrestrial)states are also the seven divisions of the earth

for planes and states,as much as they are Kosmic divisions,the divine Saptaloka are purely subjective

and begin with the psychic Astral Light plane ending with the Satya or Jīvanmukta state.These fourteen

Lokas,or spheres,form the extent of the whole Brahmānda (world).The four lower are transitory with all

their dwellers,and the three higher eternal;i.e.,the former states,planes and subjects to these last only

a Day of Brahmā changing with every Kalpa:the latter endure for an Age of Brahmā.

In Diagram V.only Body Astral Kāma Lower Manas,Higher Manas,Buddhi and Auric Ćtmā are given.

Life is a Universal Kosmic Principle and no more than Ćtman does it belong to individuals.

In answer to questions on the diagram H.P.B said that Touch and Taste have no order.Elements have a

regular order but Fire pervades them all.Every sense pervades every other.There is no universal order

that being first in each which is most developed.

Students must learn the correspondences:then concentrate on the organs and so reach their

corresponding states of consciousness.Take them in order beginning with the lowest and working

steadily (Page 570)upwards.A medium might irregularly catch glimpses of higher but would not thus gain

orderly development.

The greatest phenomena are produced by touching and centering the attention upon the little finger.

The Lokas and Talas are reflections the one of the other.So also are the Hierarchies in each in pairs of

opposites,at the two poles of the sphere.Everywhere are such opposites:good and evil light and

darkness,male and female.

H.P.B could not say why blue was the colour of the earth.Blue is a colour by itself a primary.Indigo is a

colour not a shade of blue so is violet.

The Vairājas belong to are the fiery Egos of other Manvantaras.They have already been purified in the

fire of passions.It is they who refused to create.They have reached the Seventh Portal and have

refused Nirvāna remaining for succeeding Manvantaras.

The seven steps of Antahkarana correspond with the Lokas.

Samādhi is the highest state on earth that can be reached in the body.

Beyond that the Initiate must have become a Nirmānakāya.

Purity of mind is of greater importance than purity of body.If the Upādhi be not perfectly pure it cannot

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preserve recollections coming from a higher state.An act may be performed to which little or no attention

is paid and it is of comparatively small importance.But if thought of dwelt on in the mind the effect is a

thousand times greater.

The thoughts must be kept pure.

Remember that Kāma while having bad passions and emotions,helps you to evolve by giving also the

desire and impulse necessary for rising.

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 it and subdue it and finds its

subjugation difficult.

The Liver is the General the Spleen is the Aide-de-Camp.All that the Liver does not accomplish is taken

up and completed by the Spleen.

H.P.B was asked whether each person must pass through the fourteen states,and answered that the

Lokas and Talas represented planes on this earth through some of which all must pass,and through all

of which the disciple must pass,on his way to Adeptship.Everyone passes through the lower Lokas,but

not necessarily through the corresponding Talas.There are two poles in everything;seven states in every

state.

Yogīs in Svarloka (Page 571)Vitala represents a sublime as well as an infernal state.That state which for

the mortal is a complete separation of the Ego from the personality is for a Buddha a mere temporary

separation.For the Buddha it is a Kosmic state.

The Brāhmans and Buddhists regard the Talas as hells,but in reality the term is figurative.We are in hell

whenever we are in misery suffer misfortune and so on.

Forms in the Astral Light

The Elementals in the Astral light are reflections.Everything on earth is reflected there.It is from these

that photographs are sometimes obtained through mediums.The mediums unconsciously produce them

as forms.The Adepts produce them consciously through Kriyāshakti bringing them down by a process

that may be compared to the focussing of rays of light by a burning glass.

States of Consciousness

Bhūrloka is the waking state in which we normally live;it is the state in which animals also are when they

sense food a danger etc.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.Yogīs are known who have

become crystallized in this state and then they must be nourished by others.A Yogī near Allahabad had

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been for fifty-three years sitting on a stone;his Chelās plunge him into the river every night and then

replace him.During the day his consciousness returns to Bhūrloka and he talks and teaches.A Yogī 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.

Q.Is it possible to be in more than one state of conscio sness at once?

A.The consciousness cannot be entirely on two planes at once.The higher and lower states are not

wholly incompatible but if you are on the higher you will wool-gather on the lower.In order to remember

the higher state on returning to the lower the memory must be carried upwards to the higher.An Adept

may apparently enjoy a dual consciousness;when he desires not to see he can abstract himself;he may

be in a higher state and yet return answers to questions (Page 572)addressed to him.But in this case he

will momentarily return to the material plane shooting up again to the higher plane.This is his only

salvation in adverse conditions.

The lower you go in the Talas the more intellectual you become and the less spiritual.You may be a

morally good man but not spiritual.Intellect may remain very closely related to Kāma.A man may be in a

Loka to which he belongs.Thus a man in Bhūrloka only may pass into the Talas and go to the devil.If he

dwells in Bhuvarloka he cannot become as bad.If he has reached the Satya state he can go into any

Tala without danger;buoyed up by his own purity he can never be engulfed.The Talas are brain intellect

states,while the Lokas —or more accurately the three higher —are spiritual.

Manas absorbs the light of Buddhi.Buddhi is Arūpa and can absorb nothing.When the Ego takes all the

light of Buddhi it takes that of Ćtmā Buddhi being the vehicle and thus the three become one.This

done the f ll Adept is one spiritually but has a body.The fourfold Path is finished and he is one.The

Masters bodies are as far as they are concerned illusionary and hence do not grow old become

wrinkled etc.

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.

Mother-Love

Mother-love is an instinct the same in the human being and in the animal and often stronger in the latter.

The continuance of this love in human beings is due to association to blood magnetism and to psychic

affinity.Families are sometimes formed of those who have lived together before but often not.The

causes at work are very complex and have to be balanced.Sometimes when a child with very bad karma

is to be born parents of a callous type are chosen or they may die before the Karmic results appear.Or

the suffering through the child may be their own Karma.Mother-love as an instinct is between Rasātala

and Talātala.

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Consciousness and Self-Consciousness (Page 573)The Lipikas keep man ’s Karmic record and

impress it on the Astral Light.

Vacillating people pass from one state of consciousness to another.

Thought arises before desire.The thought acts on the brain the brain on the organ and then 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;and though the five years ’ work will be run through more rapidly the second time yet time is

lost.

Consciousness

H.P.B began by challenging the views of consciousness in the West commenting on the lack of definition

in the leading Philosphies.No distinction was made between consciousness and self-consciousness,and

yet in this lay the difference between man and the animal.The animal was conscious only not self-

conscious;the animal does not know the Ego as Subject as does man.There is therefore an enormous

difference between the consciousness of the bird the insect the beast and that of man.

But the full consciousness of man is self-consciousness —that which makes us say “I do that.” If there is

pleasure is must be traced to some one experiencing it.Now the difference between the consciousness

of man and animals is that while there is a Self in the animal the animal is not conscious of the Self.

Spencer reasons on consciousness,but when he comes to a gap he merely jumps over it.So again

Hume when he says that on introspection he sees merely feelings and can never find any “I ” forgets

that without an “I ”no seeing of feelings would be possible.What is it that studies the feelings?The

animal is not conscious of the feeling “ I am I ”It has instinct but instinct is not self-consciousness.Self-

consciousness is an attribute of the mind not of the soul the anima whence the very name animal is

taken.Humanity had no self-consciousness until the coming of the Mānasaputras in the Third Race.

Consciousness,brain-consciousness,is the field of the light of the Ego of the Auric Egg of the Higher

Manas.The cells of the leg are conscious,but they are the slaves of the idea;they are not self-

conscious,they cannot originate an idea although when they are tired they can convey to the brain an

uneasy sensation and so give rise to the idea of fatigue.Instinct is the lower state of consciousness.

Man has consciousness running through the (Page 574)four lower keys of his septenary consciousness;

there are seven scales of consciousness in his consciousness,which is none the less essentially and

pre-eminently one a unit.There are millions and millions of states of consciousness,as there are

millions and millions of leaves;but as you cannot find two leaves alike so you cannot find two states of

consciousness alike;a state is never exactly repeated.

Is memory a thing born in us that it can give birth to the Ego?Knowledge feeling volition are colleagues

of the mind not faculties of it.Memory is an artificial thing an adjunct of relativeness;it can be

sharpened or left dull and it depends on the condition of the brain-cells which store all impressions;

knowledge feeling volition cannot be correlated do what you will.They are not produced from each

other nor produced from mind but are principles,colleagues.You cannot have knowledge without

memory for memory stores all things,garnishing and furnishing.If you teach a child nothing it will know

nothing.Brain-consciousness depends on the intensity of the light shed by the Higher Manas on the

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Lower and the extent of affinity between the brain to this light.Brain-mind is conditioned by the

responsiveneness of the brain to this light;it is the field of consciousness of the Manas.The animal has

the Monad and the Manas latent but its brain cannot respond.All potentialities are there but are

dormant.There are certain accepted errors in the West which vitiate all their theories.

How many impressions can a man receive simultaneously into his consciousness and record?The

Western say one:Occultists say normally seven and abnormally fourteen seventeen nineteen twenty-

one up to forty-nine impressions can be simultaneously received.Occultism teaches that the

consciousness always receives a sevenfold impression and stores it in the memory.You can prove it by

striking at once the seven notes of the musical scale:the seven sounds reach the consciousness

simultaneously but the untrained ear can only recognize them one after another and if you choose you

can measure the intervals.The trained ear will hear the seven notes at once simultaneously.And

experiment has shown that in two or three weeks a man may be trained to receive seventeen or eighteen

impressions of colour the intervals decreasing with patience.

Memory is acquired for this life and can be expanded.Genius is the greatest responsiveness of the brain

and brain-memory to the Higher Manas.Impressions on any sense are stored in the memory.

Scales of Consciousness (Page 575)Before a physical sense is developed there is a mental feeling

which proceeds to become a physical sense.Fishes who are blind living in the deep sea or

subterranean waters if they are put into a pond will in a few generations develop eyes.But in their

previous state there is a sense of seeing though no physical sight;how else should they in the darkness

find their way avoid dangers,etc.?The mind will take in and store all kinds of things mechanically and

unconsciously and will throw them into the memory as unconscious perceptions.If the attention is

greatly engrossed in any way the sense perception of any injury is not felt at the time but later the

suffering enters into consciousness.So returning to our example of the seven notes struck

simultaneously we have one impression but the ear is affected in succession by the notes one after

another so that they are stored in the brain-mind in order for the untrained consciousness cannot

register them simultaneously.All depends on training and on attention.Thus the transference of a

sensation passing from any organ to the consciousness is almost simultaneous if your attention is fixed

on it but if any noise distracts your attention then it will take a fraction more of a second before it

reaches your consciousness.The Occultist should train himself to receive and 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.

Consciousness Its Seven Scales

There are seven scales or shades of consciousness,of the Unit;e.g.,in a moment of pleasure or pain;

four lower and three higher.

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Consciousness Its Seven Scales

1 Physical sense-perception:Perception of the cell (if paralyzed the sense is

there though yo do not feel it).

2 Self-perception or apperception:I.e.,self-perception of cell.

3 Psychic apperception:

4 Vital perception

Of astral double döppelganger carrying it higher to

the Physical feeling sensations of pleasure and

pain of quality.

These are the four lower scales,and belong to the psycho-physiological man.

5

Manasic discernment of the

Mānasic self-perception.Lower

Manas.

6 Will perception:Volitional perception the voluntary taking in of an

idea;you can regard or disregard physical pain.

7 Spiritual entirely conscious

apperception:**

Because it reaches the Higher self-conscious

conscious Manas.

**Apperception means self-perception conscious action not as with Leibnitz but when

attention is fixed on the perception

(Page 576)You can take these on any planes:e.g.,bad news passes through the four lower stages before

coming to the heart.

Or take Sound:

1.It strikes the ear.

2.Self-perception of the ear.

3.On the psychic or mental which carries it to

4.Vital (harsh soft;strong weak;etc.).

The Ego

One of the best proofs that there is an Ego a true Field of Consciousness is the fact already mentionned

that a state of consciousness,is never exactly reproduced though you should live a hundred years,and

pass through milliards and milliards.In an active day how many states and substates there are;it would

be impossible to have cells enough for all.This will help you to understand why some mental states and

abstract things follow the Ego into Devachan and why others merely scatter in space.That which

touches the Entity has an affinity for it as a noble action is immortal and goes with it into Devachan

forming part and parcel of the biography of the personality which is disintegrating.A lofty emotion runs

through the seven stages,and touches the Ego the mind that plays its tunes in the mind-cells.We can

analyze the work of consciousness and describe it;but we cannot define consciousness unless we

postulate a Subject.

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Bhūrloka

The Bhūrloka begins with the Lower Manas.Animals do not feel as do men.The dog thinks more of his

master being angry than of the actual pain of the lash.The animal does not suffer in memory and in

imagination feeling past and future as well as actual present pain.

Vibrations and Impressions (Page 577)

Pineal Gland

The special physical organ of perception is the brain and perception is located in the aura of the pineal

gland.This aura answers in vibrations to any impressions,but it can only be sensed not perceived in

the living man.During the process of thought manifesting in consciousness,a constant vibration occurs

in the light of this aura and a clairvoyant looking at the brain of a living man may almost count see with

the spiritual eye the seven scales,the seven shades of light passing from the dullest to the brightest.

You touch your hand;before you touch it the vibration is already in the aura of the pineal gland and has

its own shade of colour.It is this aura which causes the wear and tear of the organ by the vibrations its

sets up.The brain set vibrating conveys the vibrations to the spinal cord and so to the rest of the body.

Happiness as well as sorrow sets up these strong vibrations,and so wears out the body.Powerful

vibrations of joy or sorrow may thus kill.

The Heart

The septenary disturbance and play of light around the pineal gland are reflected in the heart or rather

the aura of the heart which vibrates and illumines the seven brains of the heart just as does the aura

round the pineal gland.This is the exoterically four-but Esoterically seven-leaved lotus,the Saptaparna

the cave of Buddha with its seven compartments.

Astral and Ego

There is a difference between the nature and the essence of the Astral Body and the Ego.The Astral

Body is molecular however etherealized it may be:the Ego is atomic,spiritual.The Atoms are spiritual

and are for ever invisible on this plane;molecules form around them they remaining as the higher

invisible principles of the molecules.The eyes are the most Occult of our senses;close them and you

pass to the mental plane.Stop all the senses and you are entirely on another plane.

Individuality

If twelve people are smoking together the smoke of their cigarettes may mingle but the molecules of the

smoke from each have an affinity with each other and they remain distinct for ever and ever no matter

(Page 578)how the whole mass may interblend.So a drop of water though it fall into the ocean retains its

individuality.It has become a drop with a life of its own like a man and cannot be annihilated.Any group

of people would appear as a group in the Astral Light but would not be permanent;but a group meeting

to study Occultism would cohere and the impression would be more permanent.The higher and the more

spiritual the affinity the more permanent the cohesion.

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Lower Manas

The Lower Manas is an emanation from the Higher Manas,and is of the same nature as the Higher.This

nature can make no impression on this plane nor receive any:an Archangel having no experience

would be senseless on this plane and could neither give nor receive impressions.So the Lower Manas

clothes itself with the essence of the Astral Light;this astral envelope shuts it out from its Parent except

through the Antahkarana which is its only salvation.Break this and you become an animal.

Kāma

Kāma is life it is the essence of the blood.When this leaves the blood the latter congeals.Prāna is

universal on this plane;it is in us the vital principle Prānic,rather than Pranā.

Self-Hood

Qualities determine the properties of “Self-hood.”As,for instance two wolves placed in the same

environment would probably not act differently.

The field of the consciousness of the Higher Ego is never reflected in the Astral Light.The Auric

Envelope receives the impressions of both the Higher and the Lower Manas,and it is the latter

impressions that are also reflected in the Astral Light.Whereas the essence of all things spiritual all that

which reaches,or is not rejected by the Higher Ego is not reflected in the Astral Light because it is on too

low a plane.But during the life of a man this essence with a view to Karmīc ends,is impressed on the

Auric Envelope and after death and the separation of the Principles is united with the Universal Mind

(that is to say those “impressions ”which are superior to even the Devachanic Plane),to await there

Karmically until the day when the Ego is to be reincarnated.[There are thus three sets of impressions,

which we may call the Kāmic,Devachanic and Mānasic.] For the entities no matter how high must have

their Karmic rewards and punishments on earth.

The Crucifixion of the Christos (Page 579)These spiritual impressions are made more or less on the

brain otherwise the Lower Ego would not be responsible.There are some impressions,however

received through the brain which are not of our previous experience.In the case of the Adept the brain is

trained to retain these impressions.

The reincarnating Ray may for convenience be separated into two aspects:the lower Kāmic Ego is

scattered in Kāma Loka;the Mānasic part accomplishes its cycle and returns to the Higher Ego.It is,in

reality this Higher Ego which is,so to speak,punished which suffers.This is the true crucifixion of the

Christos —the most abstruse but yet the most important mystery of Occultism;all the cycle of our lives

hangs on it.It is indeed the Higher Ego that is the sufferer;for remember that the abstract consciousness

of the higher personal consciousness will remained impressed on the Ego since it must be part and

parcel of its eternity.All our grandest impressions are impressed on the Higher Ego because they are of

the same nature as itself.

Patriotism and great actions in national service are not altogether good from the point of view of the

highest.To benefit a portion of humanity is good;but to do so at the expense of the rest is bad.

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Therefore in patriotism etc.the venom is present with the good.For though the inner essence of the

Higher Ego is unsoilable the outer garment may be soiled.Thus both the bad and the good of such

thoughts and actions are impressed on the Auric Envelope and the Karma of the bad is taken up by the

Higher Ego though it is perfectly guiltless of it.Thus both sets of impressions after death scatter in the

Universal Mind and at reincarnation the Ego sends out a Ray which is itself into a new personality and

there suffers.It suffers in the Self-consciousness that it has created by its own accumulated experiences.

Every one of our Egos has the Karma of past Manvantaras behind.There are seven Hierarchies of Egos,

some of which e.g.,in inferior tribes,may be said to be only just beginning the present cycle.The Ego

starts with Divine Consciousness;no past no future no separation.It is long before realizing that it is

itself.Only after many births does it begin to discern by this collectivity of experience that it is individual.

At the end of its cycle of reincarnation it is still the same Divine Consciousness,but it has now become

individualized Self-consciousness.

(Page 580)The feeling of responsibility is inspired by the presence of the Light of the Higher Ego.As the

Ego in its cycle of re-birth becomes more and more individualized it learns more and more by suffering

to recognize its own responsibility by which it finally gains Self-consciousness,the consciousness of all

the Egos of the whole Universe.Absolute Being to have the idea of sensation of all this,must pass

through all experience individually not universally so that when it returns it should be of the same

omniscience as the Universal Mind pl s the memory of all that it has passed through.

At the Day “Be with us ”every Ego has to remember all the cycles of its past reincarnations for

Manvantaras.The Ego comes in contact with this earth all seven Principles become one it sees all that

it has done therein.It sees the stream of its past reincarnations by a certain divine light.It sees all

humanity at once but still there is ever as it were a stream which is always the “I.”

We should therefore always endeavour to accentuate our responsibility.

The Higher Ego is,as it were a globe of pure divine light a Unit from a higher plane on which is no

differentiation.Descending to a plane of differentiation it emanates a Ray which it can only manifest

through the personality which is already differentiated.A portion of this Ray the Lower Manas,during life

may so crystallize itself and become one with Kāma that it will remain assimilated with Matter.That

portion which retains its purity forms Antahkarana.The whole fate of an incarnation depends on whether

Antahkarana will be able to restrain the Kāma-Manas or not.After death the higher light (Antahkarana)

which bears the impressions and memory of all good and noble aspirations,assimilates itself with the

Higher Ego the bad is dissociated in space and comes back as bad Karma awaiting the personality.

The feeling of responsibility is the beginning of Wisdom a proof that Ahankāra is beginning to fade out

the beginning of losing the sense of separateness.

Kāma Rūpa

The Kāma Rūpa eventually breaks up and goes into animals.All red-blooded animals come from man.

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The cold-blooded are from the matter of the past.The blood is the Kāma Rūpa.

The white corpuscles are the scavengers,“devourers ” ;they are oozed out of the Astral through the

spleen and are of the same essence as the Astral.They are the seat-born of the Chhāyā.Kāma is

everywhere in the body.The red cells are drops of electrical fluid the perspiration of all the organs oozed

out from every cell.They are the progeny of the Fohatic Principle.

Rising Above the Brain (Page 581)

Heart

There are seven brains in the heart the Upādhis and symbols of the seven Hierarchies.

The Fires

The fires are always playing round the pineal gland but when Kundalini illuminates them for a brief

instant the whole universe is seen.Even in deep sleep the Third Eye opens.This is good for Manas,who

profits by it though we ourselves do not remember.

Perception

In answer to a question on the seven stages of perception 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 Mānasic Plane.

Try to imagine something which transcends your power of thought say the nature of the Dhyān

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 Mānasic Plane.

On the Mānasic 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

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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 Māyāvi Rūpa.Fix your attention and if you

go away keep your consciousness firmly to the Māyāvic Body;do not lose sight of it hold on like grim

death.

Consciousness

The consciousness which is merely the animal consciousness is made up of the consciousness of all the

cells in the body except those of the heart.The heart is the king the most important organ in the body of

man.Even if the head be severed from the body the heart will continue to beat for thirty minutes.It will

beat for some hours if wrapped in cotton wool and put in a warm place.The spot in the heart which is the

last of all to die is the seat of life the centre of all Brahmā the first spot that lives in the fœtus and the

last that dies.When a Yogi is buried in a trance it is this spot that lives,though the rest of the body be

dead and as long as this is alive the Yogī can be resurrected.This spot contains potentially mind life

energy and will.During life it radiates prismatic colours,fiery and opalescent.The heart is the centre of

spiritual consciousness,as the brain is the centre of intellectual.But this consciousness cannot be

guided by a person nor its energy directed by him until he is at one with Buddhi-Manas;until then it

guides him —if it can.Hence the pangs of remorse the prickings of conscience they come from the

heart not the head.In the heart is the only manifested God the other two are invisible and it is this

which represents the Triad.Ćtmā-Buddhi-Manas.

Christ and Apollonius (Page 583)

In reply to a question whether the consciousness might not be concentrated in the heart and so the

promptings of the Spirit caught.H.P.B said that any one who could thus concentrate would be at one with

Manas,would have united Kāma-Manas to the Higher Manas.The Higher Manas could not directly guide

man it could only act through the Lower Manas.

There are three principal centres in man Heart Head and Navel:any two of which may be +or – to

each other according to the relative predominance of the centres.

The heart represents the Higher Triad;the liver and spleen represent the Quaternary.The solar plexus is

the brain of the stomach.

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H.P.B was asked if the three centres above-named would represent the Christos,crucified between two

thieves;she said it might serve as an analogy but these figures must not be over-driven.It must never

be forgotten that the Lower Manas is the same in its essence as the Higher and may become one with it

by rejecting Kāmic impulses.The crucifixion of the Christos represents the self-sacrifice of the Higher

Manas,the Father that sends his only begotten Son into the world to take upon him our sins:the Christ-

myth came from the Mysteries.So also did the life of Apollonius of Tyana;this was suppressed by the

Fathers of the Church because of its striking similarity to the life of Christ.

The psycho-intellectual man is all in the head with its seven gateways;the spiritual man is in the heart.

The convolutions are formed by thought.

The third ventricle in life is filled with light and not with a liquid as after death.

There are seven cavities in the brain which are quite empty during life and it is in these that visions must

be reflected if they are to remain in the memory.These centres are in Occultism called the seven

harmonies,the scale of the divine harmonies.They are filled with Ćkāsha each with its own colour

according to the state of consciousness in which you are.The sixth is the pineal gland which is hollow

and empty during life;the seventh is the whole;the fifth is the third ventricle;the fourth the pituitary body.

When Manas is united (Page 584)to Ćtmā-Buddhi or when Ćtmā-Buddhi is centred in Manas,it acts in the

three higher cavities,radiating sending forth a halo of light and this is visible in the case of a very holy

person.

The cerebellum is the centre the storehouse of all the forces;it is the Kāma of the head.The pineal

gland corresponds to the uterus;its peduncles to the Fallopian tubes.The pituitary body is only its

servant its torch-bearer like the servants bearing lights that used to run before the carriage of a

princess.Man is thus androgyne so far as his head is concerned.

Man contains in himself every element that is found in the Universe.There is nothing in the Macrocosm

that is not in the Microcosm.The pineal gland as was said is quite empty during life;the pituitary

contains various essences.The granules in the pineal gland are precipitated after death within the cavity.

The cerebellum furnishes the materials for ideation;the frontal lobes of the cerebrum are the finishers

and polishers of the materials,but they cannot create of themselves.

Clairvoyant perception is the consciousness of touch:thus reading letters,psychometrizing substances,

etc.may be done at the pit of the stomach.Every sense has its consciousness,and you can have

consciousness through every sense.There may be consciousness on the plane of sight though the brain

be paralyzed;the eyes of a paralyzed person will show terror.So with the sense of hearing.Those who

are physically blind deaf or dumb are still possessed of the psychic counterparts of these senses.

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Will and Desire

Eros in man is the will of the genius to create great pictures,great music,things that will live and serve

the race.It has nothing in common with the animal desire to create.Will is the Higher Manas.It is the

universal harmonious tendency acting by the Higher Manas.Desire is the outcome of separateness,

aiming at the satisfaction of Self in Matter.The path opened between the Higher Ego and the Lower

enables the Ego to act on the personal self.

Conversion

It is not true that a man powerful in evil can suddenly be converted and become as powerfully for good.

His vehicle is too defiled and he can at best but neutralize the evil balancing up the bad Karmic causes

he has set in motion at any rate for this incarnation.You cannot take a herring barrel and use it for attar

of roses;the wood is too soaked through with the drippings.When evil impulses and tendencies have

become impressed on the physical nature they cannot at once be reversed.The molecules of the body

have been set in a Kāmic direction and though they have sufficient intelligence to discern between

things on their own plane i.e.,to avoid things harmful to themselves,they cannot understand a change

of direction the impulse to which is from another plane.If they are forced too violently disease madness

or death will result.

The Beginnings (Page 585)

Origines

Absolute eternal motion Parabrahman which is nothing and everything motion inconceivably rapid in

this motion throws off a film which is Energy Eros.It thus transforms itself to Mūlaprakrity primordial

Substance which is still Energy.This Energy still transforming itself in its ceaseless and inconceivable

motion becomes the Atom or rather the germ of the Atom and then it is on the Third Plane.

Our Manas is a Ray from the World-Soul and is withdrawn at Pralaya;“it is perhaps the Lower Manas of

Parabrahman ”that is,of the Parabrahman of the manifested Universe.The first film is Energy or motion

on the manifested plane;Alaya is the Third Logos,Mahā-Buddhi Mahat.We always begin on the Third

Plane;beyond that all is inconceivable.Ćtmā is focussed in Buddhi but is embodied only in Manas,

these being the Spirit Soul and Body of the Universe.

Dreams

We may have evil experiences in dreams as well as good.We should therefore train ourselves so as to

awaken directly we tend to do wrong.

The Lower Manas is asleep in sense-dreams,the animal consciousness being then guided towards the

Astral Light by Kāma;the tendency of such sense-dreams is always towards the animal.

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

incarnations.

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Nidānas

There are twelve Nidānas,exoteric and Esoteric,the fundamental doctrine of Buddhism.(Page 586)So

also there are twelve exoteric Buddhist Sūttas called Nidānas,each giving one Nidāna.

The Nidānas have a dual meaning.They are:

(1)The twelve causes of sentient existence through the twelve links of subjective with objective Nature

or between the subjective and objective Natures.

(2)A concatenation of causes and effects.

Every cause produces an effect and this effect becomes in its turn a cause.Each of these has an

Upādhi (basis),one of the sub-divisions of one of the Nidānas,and also an effect or consequence.

Both bases and effects belong to one or another Nidāna each having from three to seventeen eighteen

and twenty-one sub-divisions.

The names of the twelve Nidānas are:

Page 463

THE TWELVE NIDANAS

1 Jarāmarana

2 Jāti

3 Bhava

4 Upādāna

5 Trishnā

6 Vedanā

7 Sparsha

8 Chadayātana

9 Nāmarūpa

10 Vigńāna

11 Samskāra

12 Avidyā *

*If the Nidānas are read the reverse way i.e.from

12 to 1 they give the evolutionary order.—Ed.J ].

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(1)JARĀMARANA lit death in consequence of decrepitude.Notice that death and not life comes as the

first of the Nidānas.This is the first fundamental in Buddhist Philosophy;every Atom at every moment

as soon as it is born begins dying.

The five Skandhahas are founded on it;they are its effects or product.Moreover in its turn it is based on

the five Skandhas.They are mutual things,one gives to the other.

(2)JĀTI lit.Birth.

That is to say Birth according to one of the four modes of Chaturyoni (the four wombs),viz.,:

(i)Through the womb like Mammalia.

(ii)Through Eggs.

(iii)Ethereal or liquid Germs —fish spawn pollen insects,etc.

(iv)Anupādaka —Nirmānakāyas,Gods,etc.

That is to say that birth takes place by one of these modes.You must be born in one of the six objective

modes of existence or in the seventh which is subjective.These four are within six modes of existence

vis.:

Karmic Effects (Page 587)

Exoterically:—

(i)Devas;(ii)Men;(iii)Asuras;(iv)Men in Hell;(v)Pretas,devouring demons on earth;(vi)animals.

Esoterically:---

(i)Higher Gods;(ii)Devas or Pitris (all classes);(iii)Nirmānakāyas;(iv)Bodhisattvas;(v)Men in Myalba;

(vi)Kāma Rūpic existences,whether of men or animals,in Kāma Loka or the Astral Light;(vii)

Elementals (Subjective Existences).

(3)BHAVA =Karmic existence not life existence but as a moral agent which determines where you will

be born i.e.,in which of the Triloka Bhūr Bhuvar or Svar (seven Lokas in reality).

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The cause or Nidāna of Bhava is Upādāna that is,the clinging to existence that which makes us desire

life in whatever form.

Its effect is Jatī in one or another of the Triloka and under whatever conditions.

Nidānas are the detailed expression of the law of Karma under twelve aspects;or we might say the law

of Karma under twelve Nidānic aspects.

Skandhas

Skandhas are the germs of life on all the seven planes of Being and make up the totality of the

subjective and objective man.Every vibration we have made is a Skandha.The Skandhas are closely

united to the pictures in the Astral Light which is the medium of impressions,and the Skandhas,or

vibrations,connected with subjective or objective man are the links which attract the Reincarnating Ego

the germs left behind when it went into Devachan which have to be picked up again and exhausted by a

new personality.The exoteric Skandhas have to do with the physical atoms and vibrations,or objective

man;the Esoteric with the internal and subjective man.

A mental change or a glimpse of spiritual truth may make a man suddenly change to the truth even at

his death thus creating good Skandhas for the next life.The last acts or thoughts of a man have an

enormous effect upon his future life but he would still have to suffer for his misdeeds,and this is the

basis of the idea of a death-bed repentance.But the Karmic effects of the past life must follow for the

man in his next birth must pick up the Skandhas or vibratory impressions that he left in the Astral Light

since nothing comes from nothing in Occultism and there must be a link between the lives.New

Skandhas are born from their old parents.

(Page 588)It is wrong to speak of Tanhās in the plural;there is only one Tanhā the desire to live.This

develops into a multitude or one might say a congeries of ideas.The Skandhas are Karmic and non-

Karmic.Skandhas may produce Elementals by unconscious Kriyāshakti.Every Elemental that is thrown

out by man must return to him sooner or later since it is his own vibration.They thus become his

Frankenstein.Elementals are simply effects producing effects.They are disembodied thoughts,good and

bad.They remain crystallized in the Astral Light and are attracted by affinity and galvanized back into life

again when their originator returns to earth-life.You can paralyze them by reverse effects.Elementals

are caught like a disease and hence are dangerous to ourselves and to others.This is why it is

dangerous to influence others.The Elementals which live after your death are those which you implant in

others:the rest remain latent till you are reincarnated when they come to life in you.“Thus,” H.P.B said

“if you are badly taught by me or incited thereby to do something wrong you would go on after my death

and sin through me but I should have to bear the Karma.Calvin for instance will have to suffer for all

the wrong teaching he has given though he gave it with good intentions.The worst ****does is to arrest

the progress of truth.Even Buddha made mistakes.He applied his teaching to people who were not

ready;and this has produced Nidānas.”

Subtle Bodies

When a man visits another in his Astral Body it is the Linga Sharira which goes,but this cannot happen

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at any great distance.When a man thinks of another at a distance very intently he sometimes appears to

that person.

In this case it is the Māyāvī Rūpa which is created by unconscious Kriyāshakti and the man himself is

not conscious of appearing.If he were and projected his Māyāvi Rūpa consciously he would be an

Adept .[ I.e.an Initiate the word Adept being used by H.P.B.to cover all grades of Initiation.As above

seen she used the words Māyāvi Rūpa in more than one sense.-Editor ] No two persons can be

simultaneously conscious of one another ’s presence unless one be an Adept.Dugpas use the Māyāvi

Rūpa and sorcerers also.Dugpas work on the Linga Sharīra of other people.

The Linga Sharīra in the spleen is the perfect picture of the man and is good or bad according to his

own nature.The Astral Body is the subjective image of the man which is to be the first germ in the

matrix the model of the physical body in which the child is formed and developed.The Linga Sharīra

may be hurt by a sharp instrument and would not face a sword or a bayonet although it would easily

pass through a table or other piece of furniture.

Fire is Kriyāshakti (Page 589)

Nothing however can hurt the Māyāvi Rūpa or thought-body since it is purely subjective.When swords

are struck at shades,it is the sword itself not its Linga Sharīra or Astral that cuts.Sharp instruments

alone can penetrate Astrals,e.g.,under water a blow will not affect you but a cut will.

The projection of the Astral Body should not be attempted but the power of Kriyāshakti should be

exercised in the projection of the Māyāvi Rūpa.

Fire

Fire is not an Element but a divine thing.The physical flame is the objective vehicle of the highest Spirit.

The Fire Elementals are the highest.Everything in this world has its Aura and its Spirit.The flame you

apply to the candle has nothing to do with the candle itself.The Aura of the object comes into conjunction

with the lowest part of the other.Granite cannot burn because its Aura is Fire.Fire Elementals have no

consciousness on this plane they are too high reflecting the divinity of their own source.Other

Elementals have consciousness on this plane as they reflect man and his nature.There is a very great

difference between the mineral and vegetable kingdoms.The wick of the lamp for instance is negative.

It is made positive by fire the oil being the medium.Ęther is Fire.The lowest part of Ęther is the flame

which you see.Fire is Divinity in its subjective presence throughout the universe.Under other conditions,

this Universal Fire manifests as water air and earth.It is the one Element in our visible Universe which is

the Kriyāshakti of all forms of life.It is that which gives light heat death life etc.It is even the blood.In

all its various manifestations it is essentially one.

It is the “seven Cosmocratores.”

Evidence of the esteem in which Fire was held are to be found in the Old Testament .The Pillar of Fire

the Burning Bush the Shining Face of Moses —all Fire.Fire is like a looking-glass in its nature and

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reflects the beams of the first order of subjective manifestations which are supposed to be thrown on to

the screen of the first outlines of the created universe;in their lower aspect these are the creations of

Fire.

(Page 590)Fire in the grossest aspect of its essence is the first form and reflects the lower forms of the

first subjective beings which are in the universe.The first divine chaotic thoughts are the Fire Elementals.

When on earth they take form and come flitting in the flame in the form of the Salamanders or lower Fire

Elementals.In the air you have millions of living and conscious beings,besides our thoughts which they

catch up.The Fire Elementals are related to the sense of sight and absorb the Elements of all the other

senses.Thus through sight you can have the consciousness of feeling hearing tasting etc.since all are

included in the sense of sight.

Hints on the Future

As time passes on there will be more and more ether in the air.When ether fills the air then will be born

children without fathers.In Virginia there is an apple tree of a special kind.It does not blossom but bears

fruit from a kind of berry without any seeds.This will gradually extend to animals and then to men.

Women will bear children without impregnation and in the Seventh Round there will appear men who

can reproduce themselves.In the Seventh Race of the Fourth Round men will change their skins every

year and will have new toe and finger nails.People will become more psychic,then spiritual.Last of all in

the Seventh Round Buddhas will be born without sin.The Fourth Round is the longest in the Kali Yuga

then the Fifth then the Sixth and the Seventh Round will be very short.

The Egos

In explaining the relations of the Higher and Lower Ego Devachan and the “Death of the Soul ”the

following figure was drawn:

On the separation of the Principles at death the Higher Ego may be said to go to Devachan by reason

of the experiences of the Lower.The Higher Ego in its own plane is the

Kumāra.

The Lower Quaternary dissolves;the body rots,the Linga Sharīra fades out.

At reincarnation the Higher Ego shoots out a Ray the Lower Ego.Its energies

are upward and downward.The upward tendencies become its Devachanic

experiences;the lower are Kāmic.The Higher Manas stands to Buddhi as the

Lower Manas to the Higher.

Responsibility and the Ego (Page 591)

As to the question of responsibility it may be understood by an example.If you take the form of Jack the

Ripper you must suffer for its misdeeds,for the law will punish the murderer and hold him responsible.

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You are the sacrificial victim.In the same way the Higher Ego takes the responsibility of every body it

informs.

You borrow some money to lend it to another;the other runs away but it is you who are responsible.The

mission of the Higher Ego is to shoot out a Ray to be a Soul in a child.

Thus the Ego incarnates in a thousand bodies,taking upon itself the sins and responsibilities of each

body.At every incarnation a new Ray is emitted and yet it is the same Ray in essence the same in you

and me and every one.The dross of the incarnation disintegrates,the good goes to Devachan.

The Flame is eternal.From the Flame of the Higher Ego the Lower is lighted and from this a lower

vehicle and so on.

And yet the Lower Manas is such as it makes itself.It is possible for it to act differently in like conditions,

for it has reason and self-conscious knowledge of right and wrong and good and evil given to it.It is in

fact endowed with all the attributes of the Divine Soul.In this the Ray is the Higher Manas,the speck of

responsibility on earth.

The part of the essence is the essence but while it is out of itself so to say it can get soiled and

polluted.The Ray can be manifested on this earth because it can send forth its Māyāvi Rūpa.But the

Higher cannot so it has to send forth a Ray.We may look upon the Higher Ego as the Sun and the

personal Manases as its Rays.If we take away the surrounding air and light the Ray may be said to

return to the Sun so with the Lower Manas and Lower Quaternary.

The Higher Ego can only manifest through its attributes.

In cases of sudden death the Lower Manas no more disappears than does the Kāma Rūpa after death.

After the severance the Ray may be said to snap or be dropped.After death such a man cannot go to

Devachan nor yet remain in Kāma Loka;his fate is to reincarnate immediately.Such an entity is then an

animal Soul pl s the intelligence of the severed Ray.The manifestation of this intelligence in (Page 592)

the next birth will depend entirely on the physical formation of the brain and on education.

Such a Soul may be re-united with its Higher Ego in the next birth if the environment is such as to give it

a chance of aspiration (this is the “grace ”of the Christians);or it may go on for two or three incarnations,

the Ray becoming weaker and weaker and gradually dissipating until it is born a congenital idiot and

then finally dissipated in lower forms.

There are enormous mysteries connected with the Lower Manas.

With regard to some intellectual giants,they are in somewhat the same condition as smaller men for

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their Higher Ego is paralyzed that is to say their spiritual nature is atrophied.

The Manas can pass its essence to several vehicles,e.g.,the Māyāvi Rūpa etc.and even to Elementals

which it can ensoul as the Rosicrucians taught.

The Māyāvi Rūpa 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.

Monadic Evolution

The Kumāras do not direct the evolution of the Lunar Pitris.To understand the latter we might take the

analogy of the blood.

The blood maybe compared to the universal Life Principle the corpuscles to the Monads.The different

kinds of corpuscles are the same as the various classes of Monads and various kingdoms,not however

because of their essence being different but because of the environment in which they are.The Chhāyā

the permanent seed and Weissmann in his hereditary germ theory is very near truth.

H.P.B was asked whether there was one Ego to one permanent Chhāyā seed oversouling it in a series

of incarnations;her answer was:“No it is Heaven and Earth kissing each other.”

The animal Souls are in temporary forms and shells in which they gain experience and in which they

prepare materials for higher evolution.

Functions of the Astral Body (Page 593)

Until the age of seven the astral atavic germ forms and moulds the body;after that the body forms the

Astral.

The Astral and the Mind Mutually react on each other.

The meaning of the passage in the Upanishads where it says that the Gods feed on men is that the

Higher Ego obtains its earth experience through the Lower.

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Astral Body

The Astral can get out unconsciously to the person and wander about.

The Chhāyā is the same as the Astral Body.

The germ or life essence of it is in the spleen.

“The Chhāyā is coiled up in the spleen.”It is from this that the Astral is formed;it evolves in a shadowy

curling or gyrating essence like smoke gradually taking form as it grows.But it is not projected from the

physical atom for atom.This latter intermolecular form is the Kāmā Rūpa.At death every cell and

molecule gives out its essence and from it is formed the Astral of the Kāma Rūpa;but this can never

come out during life.

The Chhāyā in order to become visible draws upon the surrounding atmosphere attracting the atoms to

itself;the Linga Sharīra could not form in vacuo .The fact of the Astral Body accounts for the Arabian and

Eastern tales of Djins and bottle imps,etc.

In spiritualistic phenomena the resemblance to deceased persons is mostly caused by the imagination.

The clothing of such phantoms is formed from the living atoms of the medium and is no real clothing

and has nothing to do with the clothing of the medium.“All the clothing of a materialization has been paid

for.”

The Astral supports life;it is the reservoir or sponge of life gathering it up from all the natural kingdoms

around and is the intermediary between the kingdoms of Prānic and physical life.

Life cannot come immediately from the subjective to the objective for Nature goes gradually through

each sphere.Therefore the Linga Sharīra is the intermediary between Prāna and our physical body and

pumps in the life.

The spleen is consequently a very delicate organ but the physical spleen is only a cover for the real

spleen.

Now Life is in reality Divinity;Parabrahman.But in order to manifest on the physical Plane it must be

assimilated;and as the purely physical is too gross,it must have a medium viz.,the Astral.

(Page 594)Astral matter is not homogeneous,and the Astral Light is nothing but the shadow of the real

Divine Light;it is however not molecular.

Those (Kāmarūpic)entities which are below the Devachanic Plane are in Kama Loka and only possess

Page 470.

The Secret Doctrine Volume 3 by H.P.Blavatsky

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intelligence like monkeys.There are no entities in the four lower kingdoms possessing intelligence which

can communicate with men but the Elementals have instincts like animals.It is,however possible for the

Sylphs (the Air Elementals,the wickedest things in the world)to commuicate but they require to be

propitiated.

Spooks (Kāmarūpic entities)can only give the information they see immediately before them.They see

things in the Aura of people although the people may not be aware of them themselves.

Earth-bound spirits are Kāmalokic entities that have been so materialistic that they cannot be dissolved

for a long time.They have only a glimmering of consciousness and do not know why they are held some

sleep some preserve a glimmering of consciousness and suffer torture.

In the case of people who have very little Devachan the greater part of the consciousness remains in

Kāma Loka and may last far beyond the normal period of one hundred and fifty years and remain over

until the next reincarnation of the Spirit.This then becomes the Dweller on the Threshold and fights with

the new Astral.

The acme of Kāma is the sexual instinct e.g.,idiots have such desires and also food appetites,etc.and

nothing else.

Devachan is a state on a plane of spiritual consciousness;Kāma Loka is a place of physical

consciousness.It is the shadow of the animal world and that of instinctual feeling.When the

consciousness thinks of spiritual things,it is on a spiritual plane.

If one ’s thoughts are of nature flowers etc.then the consciousness is on the material plane.

But if thoughts are about eating drinking etc.and the passions,then the consciousness is in the

Kāmalokic plane which is the plane of animal instincts pure and simple.

PEACE TO ALL BEINGS

Page 471

 

 

 

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