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

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

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

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Part 2 of 2

The source and basis of it lie in Spirit and Thought, whether on the purely divine or 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 reincarnation of Helen of Troy. How was she "divine Thought"? The lower angels, Simon is made to say in Philosophomena, or the third AEons, being so material, had more badness in them than all the others. Poor man, created or emanated from them (see Secret Doctrine, vol. II), had the vice of his origin. What was it? Only this: when the third AEons possessed themselves, in their turn, of the divine Thought through the transmission into them of Fire, instead of making of man a complete being according to the universal plan, they detained from him at first 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 aeons before by refusing to create. (Vide Secret Doctrine.) 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 races and ages, 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 that "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 Helen -- hence Black Magic. Indeed, the chief rites of that sort of magic are based on this disgusting literal interpretation of this noblest of myths, invented by Simon as a symbolical mark of his own teaching. Those who understood it correctly knew what was meant by his "Helena." It was the marriage of Nous (Atma-Buddhi) with Manas, the union through which Will and Thought become one and are endowed with divine powers. For Atman in man, being of an unalloyed essence, the primordial divine Fire (or the eternal and universal "That which was, is, and will be"), is of all the planes; and Buddhi is its vehicle or Thought, generated by and generating the "Father" in her turn, as also Will. She is "That which was, is, and will be," thus becoming male-female in Conjunction with Manas, only in this sphere. Hence, when Simon spoke of himself as the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost (see Philosophomena) and of Helena as his Epinoia, divine Thought, he meant the marriage of his Buddhi with Manas. Helena was the Sakti of the inner man, the female potency.

Now what says Menander? The lower angels, he taught, were the emanations of ENNOIA (designing Thought). It is Ennoia who taught the Science of Magic and had 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. His pupils were said to "resurrect from the dead" after receiving baptism from him, (i.e., after initiation) and "growing no older," became "immortal." (Vide Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. III, cap. 26.) The "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 Raja Yogis -- Magic.

Every person who has read Neo-Platonic philosophy knows how Plotinus, and Porphyry especially, fought against phenomenal Theurgy. But Iamblichus, the author of the De Mysteriis, lifts high the veil from the real term Theurgy, and shows us therein the true divine Science of Raja 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 body or 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 seance room), as much 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 being used only by impure, selfish men, and having nothing of the divine in it..... No real Vates would ever consent to find its communications anything coming from our higher Gods. ... Thus one (Theurgy) is the knowledge of our Father (the Higher Self); the other, subjection to the lower nature (of man)..... One requires holiness of the soul, a holiness which rejects and excludes everything corporeal; the other, the desecration of it (that 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 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') action and intelligences, until it launches into and is absorbed by the primordial divine essence. This is the object of the sacred Initiations of the Egyptians." (Ibid., p. 190, lines 15 to 18 et seq., caps. V and VII.)

Now Jamblichus shows us how this union of our Higher Soul with the Universal Soul, with its Gods, is to be effected. He speaks of Manteia which is Samadhi, the highest trance. (See. III, cap. III, p. 100.) He speaks also of dream which is divine vision, when man re-becomes again a God. By Theurgy, or Raja Yoga, a man arrives at (1) Prophetic Discernment through our God (the respective Higher Self of each of us) revealing to us truths of the plane on which we happen to be acting; (2) Ecstacies and Illumination; (3) Action in Spirit (in Astral Body or through will); and (4) the ruling over the minor, senseless demons (Elementals) by the very nature of our purified EGOs. But all 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 inner senses and the knowledge of human self in relation to Divine Self. It is idle to anthropomorphize the formless, so long as man has not thoroughly mastered this preliminary study. I mean by "formless" the higher, as the lower Gods, the supermundane as well as the mundane Spirits or Beings, which to the beginners can be revealed only in colors and sounds. For none but a high Adept can perceive a "God" in its true transcendental form, which to the untrained intellect, to the Chela, will be visible only by its Aura. The visions of full figures casually perceived by sensitives and mediums belong generally to one of the only three categories they can see: (a) the "Astrals" of living men; (b) Nirmanakayas (the Adepts, good or bad, whose bodies are dead, but who have learned to live in the invisible space in their etherial personalities); and (c) Spooks, the Elementaries and Elementals masquerading in shapes borrowed from the Astral Light, generally, or from the figures in the "mind's eye" of those present, or of the medium, which are immediately reflected in their respective auras.

Having read the foregoing, students will now comprehend better the necessity of studying at first the "correspondences" between our "principles" -- which are but the various aspects of the triune (spiritual and physical) man -- and the direct roots of these -- our paradigm -- in the Universe.

In view of this, we must resume our teaching about the
Hierarchies directly connected and forever linked with man.

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Enough has been said to show that while for the Orientalists and the profane masses the sentence "Aum Mani Padme Hum" means only "Oh, the Jewel in 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 absolute totality, and the Jewel is spiritual man, or God.

In the last lesson the correspondences between Colors, Sounds and the human "Principles" were given; and those who have read the second volume of the Secret Doctrine will remember that these seven Principles are derived from the seven great Hierarchies of Angels, or Dhyan Chohans, which are, in their turn, associated with Colors and Sounds, for they form collectively the Manifested Logos.

In the eternal music of the spheres we find the perfect scale corresponding to the colors, and in the number -- determined by the vibration of color and sound -- which "underlies every form and guides every sound" we find the summing-up of the manifested Universe.

We may illustrate these correspondences by showing the relation of color and sound to the geometrical figures which, as explained in volume II of the Secret Doctrine, express the progressive stages in the manifestation of Kosmos.

But the student will certainly be liable to confusion if he does not remember, in connection with the Diagrams, two things: First, that our plane, being a plane of reflection and therefore illusionary, the various notations are reversed and must be counted from below upwards. The scale of music begins from below upwards, commencing with the deep Do and ending with the far more acute Si. Second, that Kama Rupa (corresponding to Do in the musical scale), as it contains 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 counted as arranged on a circle, and this shows how Fa is the middle note of Nature. In short, musical notes, or sounds, colors and numbers proceed from one to seven, and not from seven to one as erroneously shown in the spectrum of the prismatic colors, in which red is counted first: a fact which necessitated my putting in the Tabular Diagram the principles and the days of the week at random. The musical scale and the colors, according to the numbers of vibrations, proceed from the world of gross matter to that of spirit thus:

PRINCIPLES / COLORS / NOTES / NUMBERS / STATES OF MATTER

Chhaya, Shadow, or Double / Violet / Si / 7 / Ether
Manas, the higher, spiritual Intelligence / Indigo / La / 6 / Critical State, called Air in Occultism
Auric Envelope / Blue / Sol / 5 / Steam or Vapor
Animal Soul / Green / Fa / 4 / Critical State
Buddhi, Spiritual Soul / Yellow / Mi / 3 / Water
Prana, Life Principle / Orange / Re / 2 / Critical State
Kama Rupa, the seat of animal life / Red / Do / 1 / Ice


Here again the student is asked to dismiss from his mind any correspondence between "principles" and numbers, for reasons given before. The esoteric cannot be made to correspond with the conventional exoteric. One is reality, the other classified according to illusive appearances. The human principles, as given in Esoteric Buddhism, were tabulated for beginners, so as not to confuse their minds. It was half a blind. To proceed:

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The Point in the Circle, the Unmanifested Logos, corresponding to Absolute Life and to Absolute Sound.

The first geometrical figure after the Circle and the Spheroid is the Triangle. It corresponds to Color and Sound; thus the Point in the Triangle represents the Second Logos, "Father-Mother," or the White Ray which is no color, since it contains potentially all colors. It is shown radiating from the Unmanifested Logos, or the Unspoken Word. Around the first Triangle is formed on the plane of primordial substance in this order (reversed as to our plane):

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(a) The Astral Double of Nature, or the Paradigm of all Forms.

(b) Divine Ideation, or the Universal Mind.

(c) The synthesis of Occult Nature, the Egg of Brahmâ, containing all and radiating all.

(d) Animal or material soul of Nature, source of animal and vegetable intelligence and instinct.

(e) The aggregate of Dhyân Chohanic Intelligence, Fohat.

(f) Life Principle in Nature.

(g) The Life Procreating Principle in Nature. Sexual affinity on the spiritual plane.

Now this is the World of Reality. Mirrored on the plane of Gross Nature, it 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 Yogîs and Buddhist Priests -- color of the Sun and Spiritual Vitality, also of the vital principle.

(c) The Yellow or radiant Golden is the color of the spiritual, divine ray in every atom in man of Buddhi.

(d) Green and Red are, so to speak, interchangeable colours. Green absorbs the Red because it is threefold stronger in its vibrations than the Red. And Green is the complementary color of extreme Red. This is why the Lower Manas and the Kâma Rûpa are respectively shown as Green and Red.

(e) The Astral Plane, or Auric Envelope in Nature, as it is of 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 Colors and Sounds, therefore of Numbers, are infinite. This is suspected even in Physics, as it is ascertained that there exist slower vibrations than those of the Red color, the slowest perceptible to us, and far more rapid vibrations than those of the Violet color, 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 colors: neither are such vibrations capable of causing in us the sensation of color or sound. It will always be the graduated septenary and no more; unless we learn to paralyze our Quaternary and to discern both with our spiritual senses seated in the upper Triangle.

Now, on this plane of illusions there are three fundamental colors, as found by physical Science -- Red, Blue and Yellow (or rather Orange-Yellow). Expressed in terms of the human principles they are: (1) the Kama Rupa, the seat of the animal sensations, welded to and serving as a vehicle for the animal soul, the Lower Manas (the colors Red and Green being interchangeable); (2) the Auric Envelope, or the essence of man; and (3) Prana, or life principle. But if from the realm of illusion, or the living man as he is on Earth, subject to his sensuous perceptions only, we pass to that of semi-illusion, and seeking in the natural colors themselves, or those of the "principles," -- i.e., if we try to find out which are those that in the perfect man absorb all others -- we shall find that the colors correspond and become complementary in the following way:

Violet
(1) Red .. Green
(2) Orange .. Blue
(3) Yellow .. Indigo
Violet


Hence the full septenary man presents the following appearance; symbolically as to the geometrical figures, and in reality as to the various colors of his principles: [4]

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As seen, a faint violet, mist-like form represents the Astral man within an oviform bluish circle, over which radiate in ceaseless vibrations the seven prismatic colors. That color is predominant the corresponding principle of which is the most active in man 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 color, and by the intensity of its vibrations, that a clairvoyant -- 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 colors are no longer discernible. Nor are they all "at home" during sleep. For all those which belong to the spiritual elements in him (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 lives, robed in his highest essence, in realms on other planes, though his physical memory may not become aware of it -- in realms which are the land of reality -- called dreams on our plane of illusion.

A good clairvoyant, furthermore, who had an opportunity of seeing side by side a Yogi in the trance state and a mesmerized subject, would learn an important lesson in Occultism. He would learn to know the difference between self-induced trance and a hypnotic state as the result of extraneous influence. In the Yogi, the principles of the lower Quaternary disappear entirely, i.e., 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 Prana principle and a violet flame streaked with gold rushing upwards from the head (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 color of red and blue, but a homogeneous color with vibrations seven times more rapid than those of the extreme red [5] and that the golden hue is the essence of the three yellow hues from red-range to yellow-orange and yellow (vide table infra), 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 a hypnotic or mesmeric trance artificially produced -- 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 Kama Rupa (the green and red animal monsters in us).

* Colors: / 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 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 the nature principles, and those of Kosmos. 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 is to fishes.

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It is like a Laplander denying in full sincerity to the catgut strung loosely on the sounding-board of a violin the power to produce comprehensive sounds or a melody. Our principles are the seven-stringed lyre of Apollo, truly.

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In this our age, when oblivion has passed over the ancient knowledge, man's faculties are no better than the loose strings of a violin to the Laplander.

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But the Occultist who knows how to tighten them and tune the violin in harmony with the vibrations of color and sound will extract divine harmony from them. The combination of these powers and the attuning of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm will, when combined give the geometrical equivalent of the invocation of Aum Mani Padme Hum.

This is why in the school of Pythagoras the previous knowledge of music and geometry were obligatory.

----------------

The Roots of Color and Sound.

Further, each of the primordial Seven -- the first Seven Rays forming the Manifested Logos -- is again sevenfold. Thus, as the seven colors 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 colors. But in this case one color -- that which characterizes the particular Hierarachy as a whole -- is predominant and more intense than the others.

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PLATE I.
NOTE (a) -- The numbers attached to the circles are for purposes of reference only. They have no correspondence with colors or principles.
NOTE (b). -- Each of the prismatic circles corresponds to, and is the source of, the princiople corresponding in color to its widest circle: e.g., circle 1 corresponds to the Linga Sarira (violet).


These Hierarchies can only be symbolized as concentric circles of prismatic colors: each Hierarchy being represented by a series of seven concentric circles, each circle representing one of the prismatic colors in their natural order. But in each of these "wheels" one circle will be brighter and more vivid in color than the rest and the wheel will have a surrounding aura (a fringe, as the physicists call it) of that color. This color will be the characteristic color 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 animal, and the kingdom of spiritual man (see Five Years of Theosophy, pp. 273 to 278); and besides this, each Hierarchy furnishes the aura of one of the seven principles in man with its specific color. Moreover, 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.

[SEE PLATE I AND THE LINEAR DIAGRAM ON PAGE 30.]

Let us demonstrate the fact by showing the symbol adopted in the Eastern school which represents the Seven Hierarchies of Creative Powers; call them Angels, if you will, or Planetary Spirits, or, again, the Seven Rulers of the Seven Sacred Planets of our system, which is our present case. At all events the concentric circles stand as symbols for Ezekiel's Wheels with some Eastern Occultists and Kabalists, and for the "Builders" or Prajapati with us.

The student should carefully examine the Linear Diagram on the following page.

Thus the Linga-Sarira Violet is derived from the Violet sub-ray of the Violet Hierarchy; the Higher Manas is similarly derived from the Indigo sub-ray of the Indigo Hierarchy, and so on. [5] The student will understand that that the Orders and Hierarchies are named here after their corresponding colors so as to avoid using numerals, which would be confusing in connection with the human principles -- the latter having no proper number of their own. The real occult names of these Hierarchies cannot now be given.

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LINEAR DIAGRAM

THE SEVEN HIERARCHIES AND THEIR SUBDIVISIONS

VIOLET / INDIGO / BLUE / GREEN / YELLOW / ORANGE / RED
Indigo / Blue / Green / Yellow / Orange / Red
Blue / Green / Yellow / Orange / Red / Violet
Green / Yellow / Orange / Red / Violet / Indigo
Yellow / Orange / Red / Violet / Indigo / Blue
Orange / Red / Violet / Indigo / Blue / Green
Red / Violet / Indigo / Blue / Green / Yellow
Violet / Indigo / Blue / Green / Yellow / Orange

THE HUMAN PRINCIPLES

VIOLET. Linga Sarira / INDIGO. Higher Manas / BLUE. Auric Egg. / GREEN. Lower Manas. / YELLOW. Buddhi. / ORANGE. Prana. / RED. Kama Rupa.


The student must, however, remember that the colors which we see with our physical eyes are not the true colors 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 any color may be imitated in its effects on our retina by properly combining three other colors. It follows, therefore, that our retina has only three distinct color sensations, and we therefore do not perceive the seven colors 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 is the true "spiritual" red, if the term may be allowed, while the red (blood-red) of the spectrum is the color of the Kama -- animal desire -- and is inseparable from the material plane.

Esotericism, pure and simple, speaks of no personal God; therefore are we considered as Atheists. But Occult Philosophy, as a whole, is based in reality and absolutely on the ubiquitous presence of God, i.e., the Absolute Deity; and if IT is not speculated upon (because too sacred and absolutely incomprehensible as a Unit to the finite intellect) the entire philosophy is based upon its divine Powers as sources of all that breathes and lives and has its existence, not merely its being. In every ancient religion the ONE was demonstrated by the many. In Egypt and India, as also in Chaldea and Phoenicia and finally in Greece, the ideas about Deity were expressed by multiples of three, five and seven; also of eight, nine and twelve great Gods -- symbolizing the powers and properties of the Only and Sole; it was related to that infinite subdivision by irregular and odd numbers that the metaphysics of these nations subjected their ONE DIVINITY to. Thus constituted, the cycle of the Gods had all the qualities and attributes of the "ONE SUPREME AND UNKNOWABLE;" for in this collection of divine personalities -- or rather of symbols personified -- dwells the ONE GOD, the GOD ONE, that God which, as in India, has no Second: "Oh God Ani (the Spiritual Sun), thou residest in the agglomeration of thy divine personages." (Apud Gribant Papyrus Orbiney, p. 101.)

These words show the belief of the ancients that all manifestation proceeded 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 superior regions. It is the sum total of all the divine manifestations and emanations expressing the plenum or totality of the rays proceeding from the ONE, and differentiating on all the planes, and transforming themselves into divine Powers, called Angels and Planetary Spirits in the philosophy of every nation. The Gnostic AEons and the Angels of the Pleroma are made to speak as the Devas and Saddhus of the Puranas. The Epinoia, the first female manifestation of God, the "Principle" of Simon Magus and Saturnilus, holds the same language as the Logos of Basilides; and each of these is traced to the purely esoteric Aletheia, the TRUTH of the Mysteries. All of them, we are taught, say 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;" and, addressing Ra, they add: "The Gods bow before thy Majesty, by exalting the Souls of all 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, Oh, thou Unknown, and we greet thee in worshipping each God-Soul which descendeth from thee and liveth in us." (Hymn to Amon-Ra) 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 and Masonry," in Lucifer for April, 1889. Truly then, as said seventeen centuries ago, "Man cannot possess Truth (Aletheia) except he participate in the Valentinian 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 Aletheia of Occult Science."

H. P. B. Image

_______________

Notes:

1. Meanwhile we point out for confirmation Origen's works (vol. II, pp. 362 to 368), 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 by Porphyry, or Porphyry's Tree, as it is usually called.

2. Magic, Magia, means, in its spiritual, secret sense, the "Great Life," or divine life in spirit.

3. 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 Foetus and two Hypogastric or Umbilical arteries which take the used-up blood from the Foetus 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 instruction was being printed, I received two small pamphlets from Dr. Jerome Anderson, F.T.S. (E.S., which were printed in 1884 and 1888, in which are to be found the scientific demonstration of the foetal nutrition as advanced in Instructions No. 1. Briefly, the Foetus 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 of our members care to follow up this question, I would recommend Dr. Anderson's Remarks on the Nutrition of the Foetus. (Wood & Co., New York.)

4. [Owing to the difficulty of representing the colors of the aura on a plane surface, and the lack of proper facilities for color-printing, the illustration here given is only approximate.]

5. Every man being born under one planet, there will always be a predominance of that planet's color 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 color 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 be able, by acting upon the Mercury in another person born under a different planet, 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 Magnestism and Hypnotism.

***

MEMORANDUM

It has become evident that, even in the Esoteric Section, there is need of regular discipline, and that members are only too ready to attribute personal motives to the Head of the Section whenever any fault or breach of Rule is pointed out to them.

Further, it is impossible for me, in my present state of bad health, to bear unassisted the whole burden of the exoteric organization of the Section.

Consequently I have determined to form a Supreme Council of fourteen, consisting of the following members, in whom I have full confidence.

The Council of fourteen will be divided into two executive bodies, one of which will exercise its functions in Europe, India and the Colonies, and the other in America.

The Council for Europe will consist of the following: Countess C. Wachtmeister, W. Kingsland, [1] C. F. Wright, W. R. Old, [2] A. W. Cobbold, A. Keightley, and B. Keightley. [3]

The Council for America will consist of the following: Mrs. J. Campbell Ver-Planck, William Q. Judge, Dr. J. D. Buck, J. Ransom Bridge, and three other persons to be selected by them and approved by me.

All matters of organization, administration and discipline will be dealt with by the above-named Council, and their unanimous decision will be final, subject to any directions which may be received from the Highest Authorities -- which, however, must be expected only on very exceptional occasions.

It will also be the duty of the Council to call the attention of members if they are apparently acting contrary to the spirit of their Pledge.

The necessity of this has been shown by the fact that in the short time which has elapsed since the formation of the Section three members have proved unfaithful to their Pledge. This is very serious, for the teaching being in their hands, it is impossible to say what use may be made of it in view of their defection. I am unable to say whether the Pledge of secrecy will be binding on them as it ought to be on every honorable man or woman to the end of their life, whether they leave the Section or not. This prevents and will prevent the esoteric explanations being as full as I should otherwise make them, for the occult solidarity of the Section is such that all the good and faithful must suffer for the fault of the bad and unfaithful.

I am in hopes that the above arrangements will relieve me of incessant anxieties and responsibilities, and enable me to devote myself the better to the occult teachings which it is my desire to impart to the members of the Section to the largest possible extent, thus utilizing the short time I have to remain with them.

Finally, I must point out to the members of the Section once again that the Pledge of inviolable secrecy which they have taken is binding for life; and that if for any reason a member leaves the Section it is obligatory that he should immediately return all documents and papers relating thereto.

Members must also make proper provision for the security of these papers in case of death or accident to themselves, and for their due return under such circumstances.


In accordance with the first paragraph of Rule 7 of the Pledge-Card, I have to notify that: Mr. T. B. Harbottle has withdrawn from the Section; the certificates of Mrs. Vittoria Cremers and Mrs. Mabel Cook (M. C.) have been cancelled for serious breach of their Pledge.

(Signed.) H. P. BLAVATSKY,
The Head of the Section.

BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY, :.>
Secretary of the E. S.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE,
Secretary to H. P. B.

A true copy.

_______________

Notes:

1. President of the Blavatsky Lodge.

2. Vice-President of the Blavatsky Lodge.

3. Secretary of the Esoteric Section.

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

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 2:08 am

E.S.T.S. Document signed May 14, 1889 by H.P. Blavatsky

Strictly Private & Confidential

The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society

H.P. Blavatsky having learned that Professor Elliot Coues of Washington D.C. calls himself "Perpetual President of the Esoteric Theosophical Society of America", feels it necessary to warn the members of the Esoteric Section of the T.S. of which she is the Head, that Professor Coues is not even a member of her Section.

Spirituality

Coues took an interest in Spiritualism and began speculations in Theosophy. He felt the inadequacy of formal orthodox science in dealing with the deeper problems of human life and destiny. Convinced by the principles of evolution, he believed that these principles may be capable of being applied in psychic research and he proposed to use it to explain obscure phenomena such as hypnotism, clairvoyance, telepathy and the like.

Coues had claimed to have witnessed levitation of objects and developed a theory to try and explain the phenomena.[4] His "telekinetic theory of levitation" claimed that luminiferous ether or a similar energy causes the moving of tables and other objects under given conditions, and that the motions which are set up in the ether are in some way connected with mental activities, which enable the mind to control the movement of objects through the hands and the spheres flowing forth through them.

He visited Madame Blavatsky in Europe. He then founded the Gnostic Theosophical Society of Washington, and in 1890 he became the president of the Esoteric Theosophical Society of America. Around this time he also exposed Blavatsky and lost his interest in the theosophical movement.

-- Elliott Coues, by Wikipedia


1. The Head of the Section desires therefore, to inform all members of the E.S. that Prof. Coues has no authority, except his own, for assuming such a title; that he is not, & never has been, a member of Esoteric Section to which you belong; & that no papers, documents, memoranda or teachings given in this section must be shown or communicated to him.

2. Having learned that a memorandum dated March 17th 1889, relating to the duty which is incumbent on members of the E.S. to defend the T.S. & its leaders, has got into the hands of Col. Bundy of the Religio-Philosophic Journal, the Head of the Section desires to say that should any Member of the E.S. know how this has happened, it is his duty to communicate at once with the Council (vide memorandum appended to Instruction No 2). Should such a breach of faith ever occur again, the Esoteric Section will at once be broken up & all further instruction cease. It is therefore the duty of all who desire its continuance to exercise the greatest possible care & circumspection.

3. In order to prevent any mistake or deception arising as to membership in the E.S., the Head of the Section has selected the following Passwords: ---

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

No member must ever speak or discuss the teachings given in the E.S. or any of its confidential documents with any person to whom he has not previously given these Pass-words, & received from him the correct replies as given above.

The Head of the Section

(signed) H.P. Blavatsky

For the Council
H.P. Blavatsky
Bertram Kelghtley :.>
Secretary
14 May 1889
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 2:26 am

E.S.T.S. DOCUMENT SIGNED MAY 27, 1889 BY WILLIAM Q. JUDGE (FACSIMILE OF ORIGINAL)

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Esoteric Section T.S.

Whereas it appears that Professor Elliott Coues of Washington has for some time past been engaged in representing himself in the public press as the President of the Theosophical Society & as the sole authority & informant in America on the subject of Theosophy; & whereas he has made it appear that Theosophy is only for the learned and prominent, and that the American Section of the T.S. outside of the Gnostic Branch is neither the Society nor theosophical in its aims & work, therefore all members of the Section are hereby notified that the Head of the Section has this day directed that every member thereof shall protest to the utmost of his power in whatever papers he may see the above misrepresentations, against such & other equally false impressions in respect to the Theosophical Society.

New York, May 27th, 1889.
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 2:28 am

E.S.T.S. DOCUMENT SIGNED MAY 27, 1889 BY AMERICAN E.S. COUNCIL

To Members of the Esoteric Section

It has already been stated that the Esoteric Section was established in order "to help the future growth of the Theosophical Society as a whole, in the true direction, by promoting brotherly union, at least among the few." (See Prelim: Memo: p. 9).

To secure real & beneficial harmony two coincident processes are necessary on the part of every member. Each must do some fraternal & unselfish work for all, while striving at the same time to develope in himself a higher realization of Universal Brotherhood, in accordance with the Instructions received through Madame Blavatsky.

The Head of the Section having inaugurated the promised course of teaching, it remains for the section to set about fulfilling that part of its Pledge which relates to active work for the cause of Humanity. No less important is it that the true spirit of charity & universal love should be steadfastly maintained. Where this has not been done, the Section has been weakened as a whole, deprived in due measure of fuller Esoteric Instruction. It should be clearly understood that the violation, by any & every member of the full spirit of the Pledge, not only injures himself, but reacts upon the entire Section. Such penalties may be said to mainly consist in the deprivation of interior enlightenment, against which they have themselves closed the door of their inner nature. At the same time there may be special & harmful results arising from specific deeds, but these are in all cases provided for by Divine Laws, & not by any Being, however great. Thus in the case of work promised and not undertaken, the infringement of the solemn vow will be felt by one & all. And here the last warning by H.P.B. as to discontinuance of the teaching if there be further violation of the Pledge, is important.

For these reasons the American Council repeats to each member the injunctions of the Head of the Section, as a preliminary to organization with a view to united work. You are hereby requested to give your thoughtful attention to this question, viz: What theosophical work are you able & ready to engage in?

There is no one who cannot do something, & it is the quality of work done, its motive and earnestness, rather than its quantity per se, which engenders energy potent upon the real flames of Being. Where some one line of work can be entered upon & systematically carried out by any member, this course commends itself to the practical judgement, but it is not insisted upon. The vital point is that you should decide what you can do & give. Branch work; financial aid; spreading our literature, writing; teaching children; helping inquirers by correspondence or otherwise; watching such journals as you may be in the habit of seeing, in order to reply to any unjust strictures upon Theosophy. All these & many other methods of rousing the world to a perception of Truth are useful & easily available. In the environment & circumstances of each member will be found an indication of the work he can best do, if he will diligently & ardently seek it.

You are requested to report to any of the signers hereof who may be nearest to you stating your views & efforts in the above respect. You may also ask for any information, suggestions or explanations you may require. This does not refer to questions concerning the Instructions, which must invariable be sent to W.Q. Judge only for his endorsement & transmission to H.P. Blavatsky. Otherwise such questions will receive no attention.

By establishing a system of reports & correspondence between the members of the Section & the Council we hope to extend Brotherly sympathy, encouragement & moral support throughout the Section, to stimulate the powers & to unite it in close bonds of spiritual activity & devotion.

Please note that in writing to W.Q. Judge or to any member of the Council All communications relating to the Section must be marked "private"& be separately enclosed & must not contain reference to business matters.

By order of the Council
Mrs. J. Campbell Ver Planck
Wayne Delaware Co. Pa
Dr. J.D. Buck
13 W. 8th Street Cincinnati, O.
J. Ransom Bridge
Box 1868 Boston, Mass.
Dr. M.J. Gahan
Grand Island, Nebraska
Allen Griffiths
13 Mason Street, San Francisco,
Cal.
Dr. J.H. Salisbury
9 West 29th Street, New York City
W.Q. Judge
Box 2659 Hew York City

attest

William Q. Judge
Secretary of the Council.
New York May 27th 1889

***

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

Q. -- Is there an Esoteric Section of the Society in America different from that governed by H. P. Blavatsky?

Answer -- There is not, and there never was.
In the first establishment of the T.S. other degrees than that of a mere diplomaed member were recognized, but no one save H. P. Blavatsky has had the authority to confer those degrees. She has now fully announced the first of those, although during all these 14 years they have existed and included certain members who were also fellows of the T.S.

Some misguided persons may have pretended to confer those degrees, but such a thing was improper on their part, and absolutely worthless to the recipient. These real degrees in occultism may not he trifled with, and yet they protect themselves because pretenders and triflers can make neither entry nor progress.

In 1875 H. P. Blavatsky directed a certain fellow of the Society to attend the needs of all the members of the T.S., who were then called "entered apprentices" by her, and her letter of that date is still extant in which the present Esoteric Section was plainly referred to.

3. -- Why has H. P. Blavatsky waited until now to so publicly proclaim the Esoteric Section?

Answer -- As a matter of fact she has not so waited. In 1875 and since, many knew of its existence and have been in it, and she has frequently spoken of it; but until now there have not been enough members interested in the realities of theosophy to justify her in a definitive statement and organization. These efforts have to proceed slowly; people must first be waked up and directed towards theosophical doctrines before it is wise to open up that which is plain to those who know how to use their intuition. But the Western mind, for all its boasted progressiveness, is generally unable to know what is behind a wall unless a hole is cut through it: others, however, can guess what is hidden when they perceive signs and sounds that are quite plain and made on purpose.

But for the first 14 years of a theosophical effort -- periodically made in every century -- the work of such persons as H. P. Blavatsky is always directed to preparing the ground, and then more open invitation is extended. It is so done in the last 25 years of each century.

HADJI

[The Path. Vol. IV, June, 1889. pp. 87-89]
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 2:28 am

"A VOICE FROM OVER THE SEAS" BY H.P. BLAVATSKY

"A VOICE FROM OVER THE SEAS."

A QUESTION has reached the Head of the Esoteric section of the Theosophical Society, regarding the alleged representation of that Section in America. This question is accompanied by a cutting from the Press of April 21st, 1889, which reads as follows:-

"Dr. Elliot Coues, the Founder of the Gnostic Theosophical Society of Washington, is also perpetual President of the Esoteric Theosophical Society of America."

In reply, I most emphatically state that I am entirely ignorant of the origin or career of the above named "Esoteric Theosophical Society" of which Dr. Coues is said to be the "perpetual President," and that this gentleman is in no way connected with the Esoteric Section of the T. S. of which I am the sole Head; nor can I help thinking that the said Esoteric "Theosophical Society" is a printers mistake. The only Esoteric Society which has any LEGAL right to the name "Theosophical" is that which Col. Olcott founded and chartered in London in October, 1888, for the proofs of which see LUCIFER of that month.

H. P. BLAVATSKY.

[Lucifer, June, 1889, p. 313.]
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 2:40 am

TO ALL THEOSOPHISTS: "THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY" AND ITS ENEMIES BY H.P. BLAVATSKY

To All Theosophists: "The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society" and Its Enemies

H.P.B. wrote a 16 page pamphlet titled To All Theosophists: "The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society" and Its Enemies which is dated "London, June 21, 1889." In this pamphlet H.P.B. wrote about the controversy involving Elliott Coues and Mabel Collins.

See H.P.B.'s Collected Writings, Vol. XI, pp. 306-330 for the text of this pamphlet.

---------------

TO ALL THEOSOPHISTS “THE ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY” AND ITS ENEMIES. [1]

This is neither a private nor a confidential document, and thus will not be productive of treachery. The undersigned—save a few occult truths which she is pledged not to reveal—has no secrets, no desire to create mysteries, and is willing to let the whole world see her private and inner life. She fears nothing, and is ready to face every enemy and slanderer of hers, and bids him or her, to do his worst. She has nothing to dread from truth.

As it has now become evident that our most dangerous enemies are within not without the Theosophical Society, it is time to put an end to this.

Nor is it less evident that Professor Elliott Coues, though the President of the Gnostic Branch of the T.S., calling himself a Theosophist—yet seeks by all means, fair or foul, to upset the “Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society,” —the only legitimate and legal Occult Body in the Society—by trying to discredit the “Head” of that Section, the undersigned. It is useless for the present to explain why Dr. Coues does it, though his motives are quite plain to many and especially to the writer of this. Theosophical charity in the heart of every true Theosophist must urge him to eschew reprisals and never to return evil for evil, so long as truth damaging to his enemies can be withheld without danger to the cause. Full explanation is, therefore, postponed. I will speak only of his last letter to me further on, which will perhaps explain such a sudden persecution of me by Dr. Coues, who professed friendship in all his letters up to a few days before the Convention of the T.S. (American Section) in Chicago.

Meanwhile the following is offered by the undersigned to the consideration of all the Members of the T.S. whom it may concern.

For years past, H. P. Blavatsky has been urged to give esoteric instructions to Theosophists anxious to study the occult sciences, till at last, yielding to the persistent entreaties she consented to do so. “The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society” was formed under the orders of the President-Founder, in October, 1888, in London, and duly announced in Lucifer. As said therein, the formation of a body of esoteric students was “organised on the ORIGINAL LINES devised by the real Founders of the T.S.”

Now this Section, while entailing upon H.P. Blavatsky, as all its members know, much additional labour and an immense weight of responsibility, is not of the smallest advantage or benefit to herself in any way whatever. On the contrary, its formation has become from the first the pretext for new persecutions and slanders against her. She therefore feels it right that a clear alternative should be placed before the Members of the Esoteric Section, as well as such other persons as may be affected:—

Either H. P. Blavatsky does possess “Knowledge” and can teach what many earnestly desire to learn, or she cannot. In the first case, those who desire her teaching must have confidence in her and believe that she has something to teach, otherwise why should they come to her to be taught at all? In the second, if anyone has doubts, let him leave the ESOTERIC SECTION if already a member, or abstain from joining it if he is not. As already said, H. P. Blavatsky gaining nothing but an increase of labour and responsibility with every new member who joins, the benefit is all on their side; and far from conferring a favour, those who place themselves under her teaching are rather the recipients of one from her.

To help earnest and well-meaning Theosophists, H. P. Blavatsky is ever ready; and she will work for them and the Society, as long as she has life left in her. But she has no desire to force her teachings upon outsiders, and thereby to desecrate the sacred science by giving it out to those who through recent slanders may have lost faith in her; or again, such—if any exist—as are ready to betray their pledge and word of honour by forming secret understandings with our enemies.

These facts are the more important, since Prof. Elliott Coues, though he never belonged in any capacity to the ESOTERIC SECTION of the T.S. yet proclaims himself Perpetual President of the Esoteric Theosophical Society of America,” of which no one connected with the General Council of the T.S., in India, or the Founders know anything. And it is this unwarranted claim, probably, that led some member of the “Esoteric Section of the T.S.,” under the direction of the undersigned, to mistake Professor Coues for a member thereof, and then to give him or Colonel Bundy, of the R.-P. J., of Chicago, a document emanating from the Council of the E.S. Though of no importance whatever and containing only some advice which might have been given out publicly, yet, since the document was marked “Esoteric Section,” the member who gave it to an outsider, from whatever motive, has broken his pledge and been untrue to his “sacred word of honour.”

It is also Dr. Coues, probably, who furnished to the R.-P.J. for publication the copy of the Rules and Pledge of the E.S. which had been sent to him, although they are marked private and confidential. It is not that these papers were ever intended to be kept secret, since they are sent to every member of the T.S. who applies, and the Journal has only rendered us service by making them so widely known; but that any gentleman should publish papers marked private and confidential is an act best left to the world to characterise as it deserves.

In view of this, and considering that:—

(1.) The only Esoteric Section or body which exists in the Theosophical Society is the one duly authorised and recognised by the President-Founder, Colonel H. S. Olcott; and—

(2.) That Professor Elliott Coues has self-constituted himself “perpetual President” of an Esoteric body. [2]

(3.) Professor Coues shows himself desirous of casting a slur both upon H. P. Blavatsky personally, and upon the Section of which she is the Head, in order to destroy one through the other. Therefore, the following alternative is now laid plainly and publicly before all the members of the “Esoteric Section of the T.S.”

Do you still desire to be taught by H. P. Blavatsky, as to whose occult “knowledge” the Instructions already in your hands are some evidence? Or do you prefer to follow Prof. Elliott Coues—whose knowledge of biology, ornithology, etc., makes of him a very eminent scientist, but whose knowledge of Occultism five years ago, when he was in Europe, amounted to nil?

The question is thus put in a nutshell. Do you want to study ancient Occultism, or modern Hypnotism; esoteric philosophy—whose doctrines may be traced thousands of years back, throughout Eastern literature—or, the “working hypotheses” of modern Psychic Researchers?

This choice is now no longer based on the query: “Do the Mahatmas exist,” or are they, as very theosophically put by Dr. Coues, simply a HOAX of H. P. Blavatsky. The questions, whether the teachers are an actuality or an ideal, and H. P. Blavatsky a truthful woman, or an old fraud, a vixen endowed with every vice, retire in view of the plain alternative into the background, or, at any rate, to a secondary plane; nor will the above-named personage stoop to debate the mooted problem. The really important fact to ascertain is simply whether H. P. Blavatsky is, or is not, possessed of the occult knowledge, whose source was hitherto attributed to the teaching of the MASTERS. The answer is easy and self-evident. If the TEACHERS whom she claims to know, do not exist, then every bit of philosophy from the earliest Esoteric Buddhism, down to the latest Secret Doctrine, in short, every tenet of the Occult Sciences taught and learnt in the T.S., comes from her; this, whether she has invented it all, or acquired the knowledge by some mysterious means. Turn it whichever way you will, the fact remains the same for the Theosophists—she is the origin, the fountainhead, of all the esoteric knowledge they have learned or may learn. Whether she be the source, or only the modest channel, as claimed by her, H.P. Blavatsky has the means and the necessary knowledge to teach.

It is for those eager to learn to decide whether the waters of knowledge offered are good and pure enough for them. Those whose attention is directed chiefly to the mud and stones thrown at and into the said waters, are at liberty to refuse them, and are earnestly asked to do so. Let them pronounce their decision and send back their papers and they will forthwith be set free.

It is therefore only for the benefit of those who desire to go on with the Instructions that the undersigned appends her answers, as well as the published letters of a few other witnesses in Light (Vide the issue of June the 8th). Light on the Path has just been made the pretext by Dr. Elliott Coues and “Miss Mabel Collins” for a new and very ugly slander against H. P. Blavatsky. Now since that priceless little treatise occupies a very prominent position in Theosophical literature, especially among those who desire to tread that path, it is absolutely necessary that no further misunderstanding should exist on this matter, as it was to facilitate the entrance to the said path that the ESOTERIC SECTION of the T.S. was founded. It is thought, therefore, necessary to make the following correspondence as widely known as possible among Theosophists, and especially among members of the ESOTERIC SECTION. The necessity of this step is much to be regretted; but the utterly baseless and unprovoked attack of Professor Coues and Miss Mabel Collins on that Section, and upon H. P. Blavatsky, has rendered imperative the plainest statement of facts in reply. Out of respect for old associations and still more out of the general unwillingness of our best members to turn our MAGAZINE into a tub for washing dirty theosophical linen, I shrank from republishing the facts in Lucifer. But now, here they are in toto. Let the Theosophists judge for themselves.

––––––––

EXTRACTS FROM “LUCIFER,” “LIGHT,” AND ELSEWHERE.

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself.
—SHAKESPEARE.

He who tells a lie, is not sensible how great a task he undertakes, for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.
—JONATHAN SWIFT. [3]


“ATTENTION, THEOSOPHISTS!”
A NEW AND GROSS SLANDER.


This is what we said in Lucifer:—

Grotesque contrasts and paradoxes are the very pith of our age. We might, therefore, permitting ourselves for once to follow suit, publish under the above title certain very untheosophical activities. But we prefer to leave the pages of our Lucifer untainted with the recital of untheosophical backbiting, malicious calumnies and attempts to ruin our character. Those who would learn our answer (and that of trustworthy witnesses) to the slanders that find such a ready hospitality in a spiritual organ of America, are invited to turn to Light of June 1st, and June 8th, 1889.

All attacks would have been ignored and never mentioned could they without danger to the Theosophical Society, but be relegated by us to that common pit of oblivion, in which crawl and hiss, struggling to come to light, all the venomous monsters bred by calumny, envy, hatred, and revenge—most of them the progeny, alas, of those who, once upon a time, took pride in calling themselves, Theosophists(!!)

The old truism, that they whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad, is once more vindicated. Calumnies are effective only on the condition that they should not be so readily refuted. It is easy enough to bear false witness against one who is unable to establish an undeniable alibi. It is as easy for a traducer to charge a person with having said or done that or the other, at a date when the accused and the accuser were both in the same country, if not in the same town. The credibility and likelihood of such accusations become, however, rather shaky if the accused party can furnish precise dates—awkward things to deal with—corroborated by numbers of persons to the effect that at the date mentioned he was 10,000 miles away, and did not even hold any correspondence with the accusing party. “One lie must be thatched with another, or truth will soon rain through,” says a proverb.

The London Light, always fair to all, was forced to publish—or rather to republish from the Chicago Religio-Phil. Journal—a very strange letter. We may even say two letters in one, as the reader will see for himself. We call it “strange” because it is so transparent in its animus, so very imprudent and so easily refuted that both the writers—intellectual, and hoary with life-experience as they really are—seem to give themselves entirely away for a mere song, for the pleasure, one would almost say, of inflicting an ugly scratch, whether it reaches the person aimed at, or simply produces a commotion among the innocent and the credulous ones who believe all they read. So evident are the motives of this joint production—spite and revenge—that, were we certain that no true theosophist would be thereby affected, we would have never gone out of our way to refute the silly invention. It seems almost undignified to even notice it, but truth had to be shown at all costs.

And this is the cutting from the R.-P. J. that was sent to us a few days ago, and referred to above. The reader will please notice the underlined passages.

ATTENTION, THEOSOPHISTS!

A LITTLE MORE “LIGHT ON THE PATH” FOR YOUR BENEFIT.

SIR:—In 1885 appeared a strange little book entitled: Light on the Path: A treatise written for the personal use of those who are ignorant of the Eastern Wisdom, and who desire to enter within its influence. Written down by M.C., Fellow of the Theosophical Society. The author is Mabel Collins, until lately one of the editors of Lucifer. The book is a gem of pure spirituality, and appears to me, as to many others, to symbolize much mystic truth. It has gone through numberless editions, and is used by faithful Theosophists much as orthodox sinners use their prayer-book. This happened mainly [4] because “Light on the Path” was supposed to have been dictated to Mrs. Collins by “Koot Hoomi,” or some other Hindu adept who held the Theosophical Society in the hollow of his masterly hand.

I liked the little book so much that I wrote Mrs. Collins a letter, praising it and asking her about its real source. She promptly replied, in her own handwriting, to the effect that “Light on the Path” was inspired or dictated from the source above indicated. This was about four years ago; since which time nothing passed between Mrs. Collins and myself until yesterday, when I unexpectedly received the following letter. I was not surprised at the new light it threw on the pathway of the Theosophical Society, for late developments respecting that singular result of Madame Blavatsky’s now famous hoax left me nothing to wonder at. I cabled Mrs. Collins yesterday for permission to use her letter at my discretion. Her cablegram from London reached me this morning, saying, “Use my letter as you please. Mabel Collins.” So here is the letter.

April 18th, 1889.
34, Clarendon Road, Holland Park,
London, W.

DEAR SIR:—I feel I have a duty to write to you on a difficult and (to me) painful subject, and that I must not delay it any longer.

You will remember writing to me to ask me who was the inspirer of “Light on the Path.” If you had not been yourself acquainted with Madame Blavatsky I should despair of making you even understand my conduct. Of course I ought to have answered the letter without showing it to any one else; but at that time I was both studying Madame Blavatsky and studying under her. I knew nothing then of the mysteries of the Theosophical Society, and I was puzzled why you should write to me in such a way. I took the letter to her; the result was that I wrote the answer at her dictation. I did not do this by her orders; I have never been under her orders. But I have done one or two things because she begged and implored me to; and this I did for that reason. So far as I can remember I wrote you that I had received “Light on the Path” from one of the Masters who guide Madame Blavatsky. I wish to ease my conscience now by saying that I wrote this from no knowledge of my own, but merely to please her; and that I now see I was very wrong in doing so. I ought further to state that “Light on the Path” was not to my knowledge inspired by any one; but that I saw it written on the walls of a place I visit spiritually (which is described in the “Blossom and the Fruit”)—there I read it and I wrote it down. I have myself never received proof of the existence of any Master though I believe (as always) that the mahatmic force must exist.

Yours faithfully,

MABEL COLLINS.

Yes, Mabel, the “mahatmic force” does exist. It exists in every great soul like yours. There is no need of a word of mine further. It is Helena P. Blavatsky’s turn to speak next.

ELLIOTT COUES.
1726 N St., Washington, D.C., May 3, 1889.


Yes, Elliott Coues, “it is Helena P. Blavatsky’s turn to speak” now; and she will. She begins by declaring that every one of the statements contained in the above double letter is malicious and false—from first to last. It is not her word only she gives for it. She is not popular enough to be believed by the outside public on that alone. But she will furnish dates, as aforesaid, and show the absolute impossibility of this new charge brought against her.

These are the accusations, and here are the answers.

1. Dr. Elliott Coues states that Light on the Path “was supposed to have been dictated to Mrs. Collins by ‘Koot-Hoomi or some other Hindu adept’,” etc.

Answer. No Theosophist known personally to Mme. Blavatsky—or any one else probably—has ever attributed that little work to “Koot-Hoomi” or any other Hindu Adept. On the contrary, as we are informed by those in a position to know best, and also the immediate friends of Mrs. Mabel Cook-Collins, who saw her almost daily after its publication—its inspiration was always ascribed to quite another person, who was never “a Hindu.” This inspirer, whom “Miss Mabel Collins” described, without naming him, to many of her friends and to Mme. Blavatsky herself, was undeniably recognized by the latter; but, although an old friend, she would certainly never call him her “Master.”

Moreover, Dr. E. Coues, the President of the Gnostic Th. Soc., ought to know that the “inspirer” of “Light on the Path” is not the same “great soul” on whom he (Prof. E. Coues) has fathered his No. 5 of the “Biogen Series.” [5] Has the erudite Professor of the Smithsonian Institute connected the said old work with “Koothomi’s” name to “please” H. P. Blavatsky, too; and has she also “begged and implored” him to do so?

2. It is in consequence of the alleged “inspiration” that Prof. Coues wrote, as he himself tells us, his first letter of inquiry to Mabel Collins (Mrs. Cook) FOUR YEARS AGO, “since which time,” he adds, “nothing passed between Mrs. Collins and myself.”

Answer. This is a very important admission, and one, that with the object in view (namely, to throw a little additional mud on “his friend,” H. P. Blavatsky) will prove an unfortunate lapsus calami for Dr. Coues. The facts are these.

The incriminated party left India after six years of sojourn in it on February 20th, 1884 and sailed for Europe. She remained in France four months, then arrived about August in London, and sailed back to India on November 11th of the same year. She remained in London three of four weeks and then went to Germany, where she had the honour of renewing her acquaintance with Professor Coues. But she never met Miss Mabel Collins at all, till a short time before her departure for India, saw her but a few times and never had even a private interview with her. When she first heard of her, it happened as follows: Mr. Ewen, F.T.S., late of India, had unearthed a story written by Miss M Collins, found it charming, as it really is, and showing it to Col. Olcott, introduced the latter to her. This novel was the Idyll of the White Lotus, which “Miss Mabel Collins,” told the Colonel had been written by her, either in trance or under dictation (the handwriting of the MSS., was not hers, certainly) by some one whom she described to him. This was before Mme. Blavatsky ever set eyes on her; and yet the title page of that work bears to this day the inscription:

To the True Author
The Inspirer of this work;
IT IS DEDICATED.

If she knew nothing then (when she wrote Light on the Path) “of the mysteries of the Theosophical Society,” as she states, then she must have forgotten them, since the Idyll, etc., preceded Light on the Path; the more so, as she wrote and finished the former before she had ever set her eyes on “Mme. Blavatsky.” Miss Mabel Collins adds that Light on the Path “was not inspired by anyone.” And here comes an independent witness, Mrs. Passingham, late of Cambridge, who flatly contradicts the statement. “Miss Collins” passed a day in her house in February, 1885, and left early, because, as she said, she had to meet by appointment, her inspirer, the one who dictated to her Light on the Path, at 8 that evening.

(Read Mrs. Passingham’s letter, infra.)

How does this tally with the statement that she (Mabel Collins) had “never received proof of the existence of any Master” (let alone the Theosophical Masters)? Was the dedication invented, and a Master and “Inspirer” suggested by Mme. B. before the latter had ever seen his amanuensis? For that only she proclaims herself in her dedication, by speaking of the “true author,” who thus must be regarded as some kind of Master, at all events. Moreover, heaps of letters may be produced all written between 1872 and 1884, and signed: the well-known seal of one who became an adept only in 1886. Did Mme. Blavatsky send to “Miss Mabel Collins” this signature, at a time when neither knew of the other’s existence?

And now to Light on the Path.

Miss Mabel Collins, known in those days to us simply as Mrs. Cook, can have hardly begun it in November 1884; for, three days before Mme. Blavatsky’s departure for India (there are witnesses) she was visited by Miss M. Collins, who showed her a page or two of that which developed later into Light on the Path, and in which the former recognized some very familiar expressions. Thus, that which became the priceless little book, was finished and published in London after Mme. Blavatsky’s departure for India, i.e., in the early part of 1885, as dozens of witnesses are ready to testify (Miss M. Collins’ friends among others). At that time, the accused party was at Adyar, lying for over three months almost on her deathbed. And now, comes the curious part of this new attempt to discredit a person in her way, and a dangerous witness. If she is the sole author of Light on the Path, how comes it that she, ignorant of Sanskrit and having never seen the “Golden Precepts,” could use so many sentences bodily enshrined in that purely Occult work? But here is something still more curious.

5. If Dr. Coues wrote his first letter of enquiry to Mrs. Mabel Cook four years ago, it must have been some time in the middle of 1885. For, Light on the Path was published, as said, early in that year, and his letter to her could not have preceded the publication of the book, while since then, he assures us, “nothing passed” between him and Mrs. Mabel Collins.”

But whether late or early in 1885 or 1886, the fact remains the same. Mme. Blavatsky was not in England, and could not be there when Dr. Coues’ letter of enquiry was received by “Miss Mabel Collins.” For Mme. B. was sent back to Europe by her doctors in India, at the end of March 1885 and remained till May 1887 in Italy, Germany and Ostend. No correspondence ever took place between Miss Collins and Mme. Blavatsky; nor did the latter know anything of Light on the Path until it was given to her as the “New Bible of the American Theosophists,” by Mr. Arthur Gebhard, in the summer of 1886. Thus turn it whatever way you like neither (a) could “Miss Mabel Collins” be studying Mme. B. during that period of 21/2 years; nor could she be “studying under her.” How then could the “author” of Light on the Path possibly say that she “took the letter to her” and wrote “the answer at her dictation”?! The gratuitous invention is so painfully palpable that there is really no need to dwell on it any longer. There is but one explanation possible. Miss M. Collins had an astral dream. She found the imaginary scene between Mme. Blavatsky and herself, and heard the latter dictating her letter to Dr. Coues under the walls she visits spiritually—and now repents of it. Untrained psychic faculties contain potentially strange surprises in them; an inordinate hatred and desire of revenge lead some mediums on to dangerous pathways.

Thus, why should she repent of that which she has never done, and why, above all, should Dr. Elliott Coues—the flower of chivalry—show such an intense eagerness to proclaim his fair correspondent to the world as the wife of the Biblical Ananias? True, she has done many other things to disprove her own words and placed them on record before the world, these records proving still more damaging to her reputation for truthfulness. Has she also forgotten what she wrote in her work Through the Gates of Gold? This book again was quite unknown to Mme. Blavatsky, who first heard of it from Messrs. Finch and Keightley, who brought it to her in Ostend in March 1887, just after its publication. And this work—so inferior to Light on the Path or the Idyll of the White Lotus, that no devotee would ever think of claiming as its author a “Master”—bears on the page facing the Prologue the following words:—

“Once, as I sat alone writing, a mysterious Visitor entered my study unannounced, and stood beside me. I forgot to ask who he was or why he entered so unceremoniously, for he began to tell me of the Gates of Gold. He spoke from knowledge, and from the fire of his speech I caught faith. I have written down his words; but alas, I cannot hope that the fire shall burn as brightly in my writing as in his speech.”

The fear was a just one, as one can never write from memory as well as when copying—from walls. The divine fire was expended in Light on the Path and never burned as brightly since. “Before the voice can speak in the presence of the Masters it must have lost its power to wound.” ... “Seek in the heart the source of evil and expunge it.” These are aphorisms as old as the Book of the Golden Precepts, from which they radiated—on the walls—and thence into Light on the Path.

We must close with a few more words of emphatic denial. At no time has “Miss Mabel Collins” “studied under Madame Blavatsky.” The latter has always refused to teach her, for good reasons of her own. Mrs. Mabel Cook has sometimes attended the “Blavatsky Lodge” meetings, and had casual conversations on occult matters with her, but has never studied two consecutive days “under her.” Nor did Mme. B. know that Dr. Coues has ever written to Miss Collins till he told of it. In all charity we are determined to view her letter to him as—an enigma. And so must be the learned Professor’s sudden attack upon H. P. Blavatsky, another enigma to the Theosophists and the public in general, though to the attacked party it is quite clear. He speaks of hoax, but does not say what it is. We know of definite hoaxes, but prefer not to mention them at present. We have heard of Hindus committing suicide in order to bring their enemies to grief and lay a curse upon their heads. This joint letter is a moral suicide in its way. For a woman to confess to the world that she has been deliberately deceiving it for years, simply for the pleasure of fathering the cause of the deception upon a supposed enemy, is a psychic riddle in itself. Miss Mabel Collins, while denying the “Mahatmas,” believes, however, “that the Mahatmic force (whatever it may be, apart from the Mahatmas) must exist.” This belief Dr. Coues gravely ratifies, on the authority, we must suppose, of his own “great psychic powers”; and thus we find him assuring “Mabel” that the “Mahatmic force ... exists in every great Soul like yours” (her’s).

May all the Heavenly Powers, actual or imaginary, preserve the World from such “Mahatmic force,” if it is this “force” that dictated to Miss Mabel Collins her letter to Dr. Coues, and inspired him to publish it with his comments. And may the poor Theosophical Society be laid into its grave rather than have such representatives of THEOSOPHY!

History repeats itself in every age. The world had its century of Hypatias, its century of the Joans of Arc, and that of many other heroines. Our departing age, the XIXth, seems to impress itself on the tablets of the Universal History, as “the Century of the ‘MADAME COULOMB!” ...

H. P. BLAVATSKY.

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A TIMELY WITNESS.

The following is a letter published in LIGHT of June the 8th, when that weekly reprinted the above insinuations from the REL.-PHIL. JOURNAL. It is a thoroughly independent evidence which, throwing a new and unexpected light on the calumny, shatters it to atoms. No better proof of the baselessness of the charges could be ever expected.

To the Editor of Light

SIR,— Àpropos of the letter from Dr. Coues relative to Mabel Collins and Light on the Path, the following incident may be interesting. In the early part of 1885 (I think February) Mrs. Collins visited a mutual friend at Girton, and was by her introduced to me, and spent the afternoon and part of the evening at my house. She expressed a wish to leave early, as she had an “appointment” with “Hilarion,” the author of Light on the Path, at 8 p.m., and did not wish to be absent from her lodgings at Girton at that hour. So I sent her back in my carriage at her express request. I was informed afterwards by my friend that the writing that evening had been very successful, owing she thought to previous harmonious conditions. I may add that Mrs. Collins told me herself that the influence under which she wrote the book in question was that of a person whom she had long known, but had only lately identified as being that of an “Adept.”

C. A. PASSINGHAM.

Exmouth, Devon, late of Milton, Cambridge.
June 2, 1889.


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Mrs. Passingham is a lady of high standing, well known to many, and who was till now President of the Cambridge Lodge of the T.S. And now what becomes of the—invention (not to call it by a worse name) that Mme. Blavatsky “begged and implored” Miss Mabel Collins, to father Light on the Path “on one of the Masters who guide Mme. Blavatsky”? The visit of Mrs. Cook (Mabel Collins) to Mrs. Passingham was in February 1885, and Mme. Blavatsky having sailed for India three months before had certainly nothing to do with it. As already shown, the accused party hardly knew “Miss Mabel Collins” in 1884, and, had she known her, prudence alone would have never permitted Mme. B. to ask Miss M.C. to share in such an imposture, just at a time when the Christian College Magazine and Mme. Coulomb were red hot in their conspiracy of denunciation. The “hoax” with which Dr. Coues charges Mme. B. in his letter thus returns home, part and parcel, to roost with the learned President of the Gnostic T.S. of Washington. May it do him good!

An American paper, the Washington Post, speaking of a reception given to Dr. Elliott Coues in New York says that: —”The Theosophical Society and some of the most famous and cultivated people in New York will extend him and his wife a series of social courtesies and unite to honour him as a theosophist and a scientist.”

No one in America could “honour” too highly a Professor of the Smithsonian Institute as “a Scientist.” But as a Theosophist—Heaven save the mark! The animus and spite shown in his conduct and the want of all gentlemanly, let alone theosophical feeling, are such as would be unhesitatingly repudiated by every Smithsonian Professor.

And now we have a few more words to say to a weekly in America. For years the R.-P. Journal assumed the monopoly of denouncing and attacking us in almost every issue, and for years we have ignored it and kept silent. But for once, a month or so ago, we raised a mild protest in Lucifer, simply remarking that our contemporary of Chicago repeated “unverified cackle.” At this, the R.-P. J., feeling very indignant, replies: "The JOURNAL does not ‘repeat unverified cackle,’ and unlike the Tartarian termagant has ‘discretion’ enough not to juggle.”

Don’t you “repeat unverified cackle,” dear old Journal?
And what do you call the above “Coues-Collins” letter, and, even more, the lying Billingsgate of W. Emmette Coleman?

Or, perhaps, you think the name “cackle” too mild and would like to replace it with the term “malicious slander”? So be it. As to your having “discretion enough not to juggle,” no one has ever thought of accusing you of it. But you have constantly charged the same upon the “Tartarian Termagant,” and this without the slightest shadow of real proof. This is neither “religious” nor “philosophical.” But what is distinctly kind and beneficent to Theosophists, though hardly meant to be so, is the gratuitous advertisement of the Esoteric Section, its Rules and Pledge in the R.-P.J. The Editor must accept our best thanks, as his generous advertisement brought us about twenty applications to join the E.S., all dispatched within the week of its publication.

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A curious prophecy was made to me, in 1879, in India, by a mystic who said that every letter in the alphabet had either a beneficent or a maleficent influence on the life and work of every man. Persons whose names began with an initial the sound of which was adverse to some other person had to be avoided by the latter. “What is the letter most adverse to me?” I enquired. “Beware of the letter C,” he replied. “I see three capital C’s shining ominously over your head. You have to beware of them especially for the next ten years and shield your Society from their influence. They are the initials of three persons who will belong to the Theosophical body, only to turn its greatest enemies.” I had forgotten the warning till 1884, when the Coulombs appeared on the stage. Are Dr. Coues and Miss Collins (Cook) preparing to close the list—I wonder?

I reprint the following correspondence from Light of June the 8th, omitting my own letter, which would be mere repetition of what is said above, and Mrs. Passingham’s statement as already given:

TO THE EDITOR OF “LIGHT”

SIR,—In reference to the letters from Professor Coues and Mabel Collins, quoted from the Religio-Philosophical Journal in your issue of the 1st inst., I trust you will permit me to say a few words on the facts in question. I knew Madame Blavatsky intimately during her stay in Europe in 1884, and since her arrival in this country in May, 1887, I have resided in the same house continuously. Further, I have known Mabel Collins intimately from the date of the publication of Light on the Path in the early months of 1885.

1. Before Madame Blavatsky’s departure for India, in November, 1884, she had seen Mabel Collins, at the outside, two or three times, and Light on the Path had only just been begun, and the book was not completed till early in 1885, when Madame Blavatsky was in India, and to my certain knowledge no communication took place between her and Mabel Collins after the departure of the former for India in 1884, until her arrival in England in 1887.

Now, since Professor Coues’ letter to Mabel Collins could not have preceded the publication of Light on the Path, it is obvious that Mabel Collins’ reply thereto must fall after the month of March, 1885. How then, I ask, could this reply have been written “at her (Madame Blavatsky’s) dictation,” as asserted by Mabel Collins, seeing that Madame Blavatsky was at the time in India? Such a marvellous discrepancy between statement and fact makes one think: quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat [Google translate: Him whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad."]

2. The astounding suggestion of Professor Coues that the authorship of Light on the Path was claimed by Mahatma Koot Hoomi is so ridiculous as to call only for the remark that no well informed person in the Theosophical Society ever heard of it before.

3. As to its real authorship, Mabel Collins constantly and consistently averred that it was “given” to her in the way she states by the assistance of a person whom she has described to many and in whom Colonel Olcott, entirely independently of Madame Blavatsky, recognized a Greek (not a Hindu) Adept whom he had personally known in the body.

4. As to Mabel Collins insinuation that Madame Blavatsky endeavoured to induce her to claim the authorship of Light on the Path for “one of the Masters who guide her (Madame Blavatsky),” it is simply ridiculous. This alone is enough to show how empty is such an insinuation even apart from the fact that, as I have stated above, no communication whatever passed between Madame Blavatsky and Mabel Collins between November 11th, 1884, and April, 1887.

5. As to the fact that Light on the Path was “inspired” by some influence extraneous to Mabel Collins’ own brain, the dedication prefixed to The Idyll of the White Lotus and the second edition of Through the Gates of Gold are ample proof, if the authoress’ veracity is worth anything.

BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY.

TO THE EDITOR OF “LIGHT”

SIR,—In your issue of June 1st appears a copy of a communication from Professor Coues, of Washington, to the Religio-Philosophio Journal of Chicago, drawing attention to a letter from the authoress of Light on the Path respecting the origin of that book.

The admissions made in that letter by Miss Collins are naturally of interest to all Theosophists who value the little treatise alluded to, and who have hitherto held the name of its authoress in high esteem.

For this latter fact there was great reason, in that she was the authoress not only of Light on the Path, but also of Through the Gates of Gold and The Idyll of the White Lotus, books of inestimable value to those who wished to know themselves from the Theosophic point of view; while a further reason lay in the belief that she was a faithful disciple and fellow-worker of Madame Blavatsky.

But in whatever position the avowal in Miss Collins’ letter may place that lady with regard to those who have hitherto looked upon her as a teacher, by its apparent intention of disowning Madame Blavatsky and of throwing discredit upon her explanation of the origin of Light on the Path, it will certainly appear to many that she has most strongly confirmed that explanation, while she has also satisfactorily answered the query which arose in everyone’s mind, “How did the Mahatma give Mabel Collins that marvellous epitome of the mode in which Mahatmic evolution is to be attained?”

Referring to Miss Collins’ explanation, it is at once evident that another intelligence besides her own must also have visited the place, “spiritually” or otherwise, where she saw Light on the Path written upon its walls, for someone must have placed the words there; moreover, that intelligence had command over good modern English as well as being possessor of high practical wisdom.

We judge, therefore, that Miss Collins was simply the favoured vehicle for the communication of those particular rules of the “Hall of Learning” to the many mortals now needing and hungering for them, and while it is impossible that they could have been written up where she was permitted to observe them, otherwise than by an intelligent Being who had also visited the place, it does not at all follow that he should, or ought to, have made himself or his nature known to her. That would have been creating a basis for a personal intimacy which was not necessary and possibly not advisable.

As regards the manner in which one mind may instruct or inform another, on what may be termed the occult plane, we know at present very little, but the phenomena of psychometry and thought-transference may some day, if scientifically studied, be the means of our understanding these things better.

Hence Madame Blavatsky’s explanation has intrinsic probability for its support, in addition to the authority she herself possesses in speaking of all such matters.

As for the attempts at discredit which Professor Coues makes upon certain occult facts and phenomena, it is difficult to understand how a man who pertinaciously, in public and in private, claims for himself the possession of occult powers, as he has done respecting the visits of his astral body to friends hundreds of miles away, and its recognition by them, can so recklessly and inconsistently throw ridicule and doubt upon occult phenomena testified to by others.

As an eminent man of science accustomed to the methods by which scientific truths are discovered, ought not Professor Coues to see that the attested production on his part of what are ordinarily termed “supernatural” phenomena most surely suggest a strong probability that there are higher and more imposing “supernatural” powers than those to which he has at present attained? The projection of one’s astral form and the projection of one’s definite thoughts, for the purpose of giving information or instruction, can only be matters of degree of power, though the difference between them in degree may be great and the respective degrees be characteristic of very distinct types of development.

A STUDENT OF “LIGHT ON THE PATH.”

I add the following corroborative extracts from a pamphlet issued by W. Q. Judge and widely circulated in America: [6]

1. Madame Blavatsky left England for India in November, 1884, and did not return to England till May 1st, 1887. Light on the Path was published about March, 1885. At the time of Mrs. Collins’ reception of the letter which Dr. Coues wrote her in 1885, Madame Blavatsky was in India. Mrs. Collins could not, therefore, have been “studying and studying under” her, nor could she have “taken the letter” to her, nor have “written the answer at her dictation.”

2. Mr. William Q. Judge was in London in November, 1884, after Madame Blavatsky’s departure, and returned to the States in December. Mrs. Collins was writing Light on the Path at the time of his visit, and he received one of the first copies about April 1st, 1885.

. . . . . . .

4. In dedicating The Idyll of the White Lotus to “The true Author, the Inspirer,” Mrs. Collins made the same claim of inspiration as in the first letter to Dr. Coues, though (as will be seen from an extract below from Madame Blavatsky) Madame Blavatsky was ignorant even of the existence of the book until after Mrs. Collins avowed the inspiration to Col. Olcott.

5. The history of Light on the Path was given to Dr. Keightley by Mrs. Collins herself as follows. When Madame Blavatsky was in London in 1884, Mrs. Collins had partly written The Idyll of the White Lotus. This story (she stated to Dr. K.) was due to inspiration from a Being whom she described to Madame Blavatsky. Madame Blavatsky said that, from the description and the tone of the thought, she believed this Being to be an old friend of her own among the Occult Brotherhood—though not “Koot Hoomi or some other Hindu Adept.” Mrs. Collins further stated that, after the completion of the book, this same Being urged her to endeavour to reach a higher state of consciousness, as there was work for her to do. The effort resulted in the production of Light on the Path, written down in the manner which Mrs. Collins describes.

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Extracts from Madame Blavatsky’s letter of May 27th, 1889, to a lady in America:

1. Light on the Path was first published in 1885, and Dr. Coues’ letter to her could not have preceded the publication of the book. I returned to India in November, 1884, and never saw Mabel Collins till the 1st of May, 1887. Therefore it is perfectly impossible that I should have dictated, or even suggested, such a letter as Mabel Collins speaks of.”

2. “Before my return to India in 1884, I saw Mabel Collins barely three or four times. She then showed me the first page or two of the future Light on the Path, wherein I recognized some phrases which were familiar to me. Therefore I the more readily accepted her description of the manner in which they had been given to her. She herself certainly believed that this book was dictated to her by ‘someone’ whose appearance she described, in which statement I am sure I shall be borne out by Mr. Finch, who had the chief share in bringing about the publication of the book.”

3. “I saw the completed work for the first time in my life at Ostend, a few months before I came to London in 1887.”

4. “I emphatically and unreservedly deny Mabel Collins’ vile insinuation that I ever asked her to make any statement regarding Light on the Path at all, let alone any untrue statements.”

5. “The book (Idyll of the White Lotus) was begun long before I first saw her; it was unearthed by Mr. Ewen, and shown to Col. Olcott, who heard all about its inspirer before I even knew of its existence.”

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From the above facts and extracts, it is clear—

1st. That Mrs. Collins claimed an inspirer for The Idyll of the White Lotus before Madame Blavatsky had seen or even known of the book.

2nd. That the suggestion of inspiration in the case of Light on the Path was not made by Madame Blavatsky to Mrs. Collins, but by Mrs. Collins to Madame Blavatsky.

3rd. That at the time Mrs. Collins alleges herself to have been “implored” by Madame Blavatsky to write to Dr. Coues a claim of inspiration, Madame Blavatsky was, and had been for months, 7,000 miles away.

4th. That if the claim to inspiration was false, Mrs. Collins alone was responsible for the falsehood, and

5th. That the falsehood cannot be shifted to another person by a second falsehood even more glaring and palpable.

It is not necessary for the undersigned to expand the reflections which instantly arise in any honest and clear mind upon perusal of such a story as the foregoing. The spectacle of a woman spontaneously accusing herself of a falsehood and sanctioning the utmost publicity, not in penitence or atonement, but as a means, coupled with a greater falsehood, to spite and injure a former friend, is of a sadness beyond measure. And yet one can hardly see incongruity in the added spectacle of an officer of a Society grasping at such an occasion, eagerly telegraphing across the ocean for permission to use it as widely as possible to belittle and befoul the Society and its Head, exulting in the probable confusion to the Cause to which he had professed allegiance, and finding “Mahatmic force” in the very person he had just proclaimed a liar! Before these astounding displays of moral callousness and mental shortsightedness, conscience, judgment and taste can but stand appalled.

There is, however, one remark which we, as students of Theosophy and intimate friends of Madame Blavatsky, desire to make to all those who are interested in the Wisdom Religion or members of the Theosophical Society. There is no cause for discouragement or alarm. This is not the first time that evil passion has used the arts of detraction and treason to check the progress of the Society and impair the influence of the Founders. Preceding ones have failed. After each attack the Cause has rallied and stridden forward and upward, the enemy’s hopes vanishing like his reputation. Why? Because behind the Society and its friends are the Masters Themselves. Their aid is ever given to those who are earnestly working for the Truth and sustaining the hands of the visible Founders. It will be so in this case. Very soon the animus of the present attack will be understood, its spirit, motives, objects, become apparent, and the very letters which to some seemed at first so damaging will, like the scorpion, die from their own sting. Honour and honesty are not dead among Theosophists nor is perception of motive, or horror of perfidy.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.
ARCHIBALD KEIGHTLEY.
June the 6th, 1889.

ADDENDUM

Concerning the actual authorship of the works referred to, and concerning the varied assertions made by the reputed author, the following considerations may have weight.

1. In LUCIFER, Vol. I, No. 1. Mabel Collins in “Comments upon Light on the Path” said that the book has a deep underlying meaning, and he who reads it “is in fact deciphering a profound cipher”; and, p. 9, “The whole of Light on the Path is written in an astral cipher, and can therefore only be deciphered by one who reads astrally.” This is repeated and enforced in Lucifer for November, 1887.

2. Extract from a letter from Mabel Collins dated London, July 17, 1887, and printed in The Path of September, 1887.

“To the Editor of the Path—As to Light on the Path, that is a collection of axioms which I found written on the walls of a certain place to which I obtained admittance, and I made notes of them as I saw them. But I see no feasible method of making such explanations to the public therefore at present I propose to place this preface before each of the books.”

3. Through the Gates of Gold, by the same author, is dedicated to an unknown being who, she says, came to her room and told her the story.

4. It is well known to those who are acquainted with Mabel Collins that, previous to the writing of Light on the Path, she had been solely engaged in novel writing and newspaper work.

5. She stated to the undersigned in London in 1888 that she knew nothing about philosophy or the laws of occultism, of Karma or any far-reaching Theosophical doctrine.


CONSEQUENTLY,

6. That the books Light on the Path, Idyll of the White Lotus, and Through the Gates of Gold were written, according to her own claim, under the inspiration of some being or beings whom she does not know, and that the best of those contains within itself indisputable evidence that it could not have been written by her unassisted.

7. That even if her charge against Madame Blavatsky was true, she is now claiming to be the author of those books which, in many places and at times when Madame Blavatsky was not with her, she has declared were not her own.

8. It cannot fail to be plain to everyone that the explanation now offered by Prof. Coues and Mabel Collins in regard to these books is only an attempt to make the public believe that during these four years she has been pretending, at the solicitation of Madame Blavatsky, that the book was written by an Adept, whereas in 1887 she published the same explanation in The Path.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.

There are but few words needed in addition to the above. Whatever explanation the Coues-Collins combination may put forward to cover the manifest unveracity of their statements, whether Mabel Collins’ letter to Prof. Coues dates from four years or from one year ago; whether people believe that letter to have been dictated or inspired by H. P. Blavatsky or not;—nothing can alter the fact that the one has publicly proclaimed her own untruthfulness in order to slander a hated enemy, while the other has jumped at the opportunity to gratify his wounded vanity at the cost of breaking the pledge and his word of honour to the Theosophical Society which he took upon joining it.

Why has he done it? The motive is plainly shown by a letter received by me from Dr. Coues a few days before the Convention of the American Section T.S. at Chicago. This letter was an ultimatum in which the Professor offered me the choice of the following alternatives: Either to telegraph immediately to the Convention, using all my influence to have him appointed President or “Boss” of the whole T.S. in America, or to see him bust up the T.S. forever.
Not being easily intimidated, I replied that he might do his worst. His letter and my reply can be published, if thought proper.

Having read both this letter from Dr. Coues and Madame Blavatsky’s reply thereto, I desire to state that the above is a perfectly correct summary of their contents, though as regards Dr. Coues’ letter it is too favourable to him.—BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY.]

Therefore the choice lies open to every member of the Esoteric Section. If his confidence and trust in its Head has been shaken, then by all means let him leave. On returning the papers and Instructions he has received his pledge will be cancelled. But all who desire to be taught by H. P. Blavatsky and to remain members of the Esoteric Section must (if in America) communicate at once with Mr. W. Q. Judge, who will inform them of the new organisation which has been adopted for that Section. It may be well to state here, however, that no change of any kind has been or will be made in the terms of the PLEDGE itself, nor will any more onerous restrictions or rules be imposed on members.

Everyone can easily see that this attack is simply a repetition of the old lines of the Coulomb-Hodgson business. In fact, the analogy is most striking; but there, the slanderers had the benefit of novelty, while this one is a mere réchauffé at which no intelligent man or woman will do more than shrug their shoulders. Non bis in idem [Google translate: Not the same thing twice].

However that may be, as it is not H. P. Blavatsky that can ever be affected by it, but only those who think that she may be of some use to them, the choice is left entirely in their hands.

Fraternally yours,
(Signed) H. P. BLAVATSKY.
London, June 21, 1889.

______________

Notes:

1. This text was published as a separate pamphlet of 16 pages, dated London, June 21, 1889; the type and format are identical with those of the magazine Lucifer. Only a couple of copies of this pamphlet are known to exist, and they are in private hands. The present reprint has been reproduced from one of them.—Compiler.]

2. Everyone has a right to found an “Esoteric Society”—whether he has anything to teach or not—Professor Elliott Coues, as much as Professor Hiram E. Butler. But neither of them has any right to append to the name the words “of the Theosophical Society.”

3. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, London, 1727, Vol. II, p. 345.—Compiler.

4. The word “mainly” does not sound very complimentary to the author “Mrs. Collins.”––[ED.]

5. “Kuthumi, the true and complete Oeconomy of Human Life, based on the system of Theosophical Ethics,” by Elliott Coues. Noticing it in its issue of July, 1886 [Vol. 1], The Path remarks: “This is a reprint of a little volume, originally issued in 1770, but under the classical pen of Prof. Coues, who has added an introduction and the faultless typography of Estes and Lauriat, the little book is a very different affair from the earlier edition.” Yet, perfect as it may be, what had “Koothoomi” or Kuthumi to do with this “reprint,” we wonder?—[ED.]

6. This pamphlet is entitled: “Light on the Path” and Mabel Collins. It is signed by William Quan Judge and Dr. Archibald Keightley, and contains 8 pages of text.—Compiler.

***

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"If Coues wrote to you that the 'E.S. must go' he must be a fool. How can he, or you, or anyone make it 'go', so long as there are theosophists who want to study Occultism? Of course it is he who gave Bundy the Rules. I sent them to his wife November last. Besides there is nothing secret in them and almost as much was given out in Lucifer, in the "Sacredness of the Pledge". Even the Document which advised the Esotericists to drop a paper if it would not cease blackguarding us -- was private and confidential but had nothing secret in it. And this too Coues got hold of from a Washington Esotericist by making him believe he belonged to the E.S., and that he was 'perpetual President' of its American Branch. Nobody betrayed, no one was a traitor consciously. Simply his infernal cunning and the innocence of the two members. If I were you, I would certainly drop the R.P.J. unless it promised to persecute us no longer. I have nothing against Bundy but against Coues; and really the R.P.J. did us an excellent advertisement. 19 members in once week applied after this but I refused or rather postponed their admission. There must be a reform in the administration, or I shall have to cease giving any serious Instructions. There's Judge saying that he can do nothing. Well, if he does nothing, then I cannot go on. I bless my stars that I was stopped in time, as I was going to send the 3rd Number ..."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated July 4, 1889
to J.D. Buck
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 2:40 am

THE WORK OF THE "ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE T.S.": TO ALL THE "PLEDGED" THEOSOPHISTS BY H.P. BLAVATSKY

THE WORK OF THE "ESOTERIC SECTION OF THE T.S."

TO ALL THE "PLEDGED" THEOSOPHISTS.

THE Washington Evening Star of June the 22nd, 1889, contains an article full of the most ungentlemanly and false denunciations inspired by the ex-President of the "Gnostic Theosophical Society" (now dischartered), attacking the best Theosophists of America, the Society and the undersigned. Speaking of Occult magnetism the traducer expresses himself as follows:

"I want to emphasize the dangers there are in the knowledge of these occult powers and forces without the moral stamina to use that knowledge for good."

So far so good. The "Ex-President" here repeats only that, which H.P. Blavatsky -- whom he accuses in print of "tricks, fraud and deviltry"(?) -- insults, scorns and laughs at -- was the first to teach in the T.S. and its literature. But being himself just one of those who lack "moral stamina," he adds to it the following insinuation:-

"Take an illustration of what I say, that recent very bad case of the Boston Theosophists (?) so fully exposed by the press. There is a true, real and actual psychic force. It may be used for good or for evil. Any honest theosophical society makes a study of this force and attempts to direct it toward the improvement of mankind. But such a society works quietly and never strolls about the country," etc., etc.

Everyone knows that no "Boston Theosophists" have ever been "exposed by the press" neither "fully" nor partially; but only the "Esoteric" humbug of Hiram Butler and his mythical adept "1,000 years old." And it is as well known that of the "Butler" Esoteric clique, not one has ever been a member of the T. S. however much those crows tried to parade in theosophical plumage by cribbing all they could from our books. Therefore, it becomes quite evident that the intention of the ex-President of the defunct gnostic Branch of the T. S. was to maliciously identify and connect theosophists in general with the Butlerites. He does not name Hiram Butler, but, relying upon the public ignorance, insinuates the identity; an action than which none baser or more cunning could be conceived. At the same time it is as evident that those whom he seeks to strike at are the "Esotericists "of the T. S. and the Head of the Section, as he repeatedly calls the "pledged" theosophists Mme "Blavatsky's dupes."

Whether any pledged or unpledged theosophists will resent the malicious calumny and insinuation is their own concern. My humble advice is, to show the greatest contempt for an action which dishonours but the perpetrator of such a base attack. Only in view of the term "Esoteric" and "Esotericism" having been so desecrated by the Boston Butlerites; and rendered so ridiculous by the non-existent and mythical "Esoteric Theosophical Society" of America, invented by its "Perpetual President" ("perpetual peacock," rather as neatly rendered by a Californian lady) -- our Esoteric Section had better drop its name. The Council in England has decided to call it the "Arcane" instead of the "Esoteric" Section and we hope the American Council will accede to this. It has the advantage of being a name which has not been dragged in mire and ridicule by charlatans as has the term Esoteric.

Hoping this name will be sanctioned by Our President, Col. H. S. Olcott, and readily adopted by the pledged members, -- I remain, fraternally, etc.,

(Signed) H. P. BLAVATSKY.

Head of the Arcane (late Esoteric) Section of the T. S.
Fontainebleau, July 7th, 1889/

[Lucifer, July, 1889, pp. 427-428.]

***

A FEW ADDRESSES TO MME. BLAVATSKY.

(Called forth by the malicious attacks of the T. S.'s enemies.)

As the slanders against the Theosophical Society, and the base and entirely unwarranted attacks against our Esoteric Section and its Head, are increasing in America, we publish the following addresses and votes of confidence out of the many assurances of gratitude and loyalty received by Mme. Blavatsky, since a new persecution was started against her. The first one speaks for itself, and is a complete answer to the lies and libels started by an ex-Theosophist (just expelled from the Society by the American Council), namely, that the Esoteric Section is "a new trick," and a "fraud started by H.P.B." We withhold the signatures on the first address, just to shield honourable men from vile attacks. -- [SUB-EDITOR.]

To MADAME H, P. BLAVATSKY

DEAR MADAME, -- Monday, June 24th, 1889.

We, the undersigned, members of the HORUS LODGE of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, have read the various papers sent to us from time to time, relating to the * * affair, and we unanimously express our contempt for the dishonourable actions of both * * (parties concerned), especially in regard to their breach of the pledges of secrecy and fidelity to the T. S. We beg you to accept our sincere sympathy with you in this trouble, knowing how disheartening it must be to you to have your earnest efforts thus combated by such dishonourable dealing. We have every confidence in you as an occult teacher, and earnestly ask you to continue the E. S. instructions to us at the earliest opportunity. It matters not to us whether the said teaching be the fruits of your own labour, or the instructions of the Mahatmas. We are satisfied to receive what is to us undoubtedly valuable instruction, and some of us, who have been students of so-called Occultism for the last ten years, are satisfied that we have at last got upon the Right Path, through your great and valuable assistance. -- We are, Dear Madame, yours most sincerely and fraternally,

(Signed), President's name, followed by those of the Members.

The underlined passage proves (1) that Mme. Blavatsky possesses the esoteric knowledge requisite for teaching occult sciences -- from whatever source she has it; -- and (2) that since old Kabalists and Occultists have found that they can learn something from her, as the sentence "we have at last got upon the Right Path through your (her) valuable assistance," plainly shows, -- that the Esoteric Section of the T.S. can hardly be a fraud or a trick. As these epithets, however, are freely bestowed only by one person -- namely an American ex-theosophist now expelled, and that his motives and malicious revengeful spirit are well known, whatever he may write, cause to be written, or say can never influence a true theosophist -- least of all one who is a pledged student of Occultism. Having invented a bogus Esoteric Theosophical Society of America, of which he created himself "Perpetual President," the foundation of a real Esoteric Section of the T.S. interfered of course with his plans -- which, we regret to say, were to fool the credulous crowds of his admirers. Hence, as he had never belonged to the E.S., nor had his mythical Esoteric Society been chartered by the Council at Adyar, it naturally had to fall through when a real Esoteric Section was announced. Hence, again, his exertions to show the real E.S. of the T.S. a hoax, a humbug, and its Head a "fraud" "bent on a new trick." His conduct having been exposed, he now seeks to produce a reaction by resorting to falsehoods and bogus exposures. We pity one once so high and now so fallen (whose name we do not pronounce out of respect for his family, though every theosophist knows him). Let him do the worst he may; his Letters to H.P. Blavatsky, now printed in America, have unveiled him more than he can ever hope to unveil any of those whom he so hates. -- [SUB-EDITOR.]

[Lucifer, July, 1889, pp.428-429.]

***

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"...Mrs. Cook (Miss Mabel Collins)...was expelled from the E.S. of the T.S. for breaking her pledge, for secret and malicious conspiracy and calumny and many other uncanny things. She left the T.S. and abuses it and me ever since....."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated July 19, 1889
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 3:24 am

THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY: EXTRACTS ON THE E.S.T.S. AND ITS MEMBERS

Image

THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY, A CLEAR EXPOSITION, IN THE FORM OF QUESTION AND ANSWER, OF THE ETHICS, SCIENCE, AND PHILOSOPHY

FOR THE STUDY OF WHICH THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY HAS BEEN FOUNDED

BY

H.P. BLAVATSKY.

LONDON:

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED,

7, DUKE STREET, ADELPHI, W.C.

NEW YORK: W.Q. JUDGE, 21, PARK ROW.

***

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"...like all other ancient systems, Theosophy is divided into Exoteric and Esoteric Sections ....

"The members of the Theosophical Society at large are free to profess whatever religion or philosophy they like, or none if they so prefer, provided they are in sympathy with, and ready to carry out one or more of the three objects of the Association. The Society is a philanthropic and scientific body for the propagation of the idea of brotherhood on practical instead of theoretical lines. The Fellows may be Christians or Mussulmen, Jews or Parsees, Buddhists or Brahmins, Spiritualists or Materialists, it does not matter; but every member must be either a philanthropist, or a scholar, a searcher into Aryan and other old literature, or a psychic student. In short, he has to help, if he can, in the carrying out of at least one of the objects of the programme. Otherwise he has no reason for becoming a 'Fellow' . Such are the majority of the exoteric Society ....

"[And what of those who pursue the esoteric study of Theosophy; are they the real Theosophists?] Not necessarily, until they have proven themselves to be such. They have entered the inner group and pledged themselves to carry out, as strictly as they can, the rules of the occult body. This is a difficult undertaking, as the foremost rule of all is the entire renunciation of one's personality --- i.e., a pledged member has to become a thorough altruist, never to think of himself, and to forget his own vanity and pride in the thought of the good of his fellow-creatures, besides that of his fellow-brothers in the esoteric circle. He has to live, if the esoteric instructions shall profit him, a life of abstinence in everything, of self-denial and strict morality, doing his duty by all men. The few real Theosophists in the T.S. are among these members. This does not imply that outside of the T.S. and the inner circle, there are no Theosophists; for there are, and more than people know of; certainly far more than are found among the lay members of the T.S.....

"[Are we to understand that the inner group of the T.S. claims to learn what it does from real initiates or masters of esoteric wisdom?] Not directly. The personal presence of such masters is not required. Suffice it if they give instructions to some of those who have studied under their guidance for years, and devoted their whole lives to their service. Then, in turn, these can give out the knowledge so imparted to others, who had no such opportunity....

"[...I heard that you were bound by pledges?] Only in the Arcane or 'Esoteric' Section.

"[...some members after leaving did not regard themselves bound by them. Are they right?] This shows that their idea of honour is an imperfect one. How can they be right? ...

..... We have, strictly speaking, no right to refuse admission to anyone--- especially in the Esoteric Section of the Society, wherein 'he who enters is as one newly born'. But if any member, his sacred pledges on his word of honour and immortal self notwithstanding, chooses to continue, after that 'new birth', with the new man, the vices or defects of his old life, and to indulge in them still in the Society, then, of course, he is more than likely to be asked to resign and withdraw; or, in case of his refusal, to be expelled....

"To begin with, no Fellow in the Society, whether exoteric or esoteric, has a right to force his personal opinions upon another Fellow....As regards the inner section, now called the Esoteric, the following rules have been laid down and adopted, so far back as 1880. "No Fellow shall put to his selfish use any knowledge communicated to him by any member of the first section (now a higher 'degree'); violation of the rule being punished by expulsion." Now, however, before any such knowledge can be imparted, the applicant has to bind himself by a solemn oath not to use it for selfish purposes, nor to reveal anything said except by permission."

"[But is a man expelled, or resigning, from the section free to reveal anything he may have learned, or to break any clause of the pledge he has taken?" Certainly not. His expulsion or resignation only relieves him from the obligation of obedience to the teacher, and from that of taking an active part in the work of the Society, but surely not from the sacred pledge of secrecy....To any man or woman with the slightest honourable feeling a pledge of secrecy taken even on one's word or honour, much more to one's Higher Self---the God within---is binding till death. And though he may leave the Section and the Society, no man or woman of honour will think of attacking or injuring a body to which he or she has been so pledged....How can anyone expect to be taught secret knowledge, if he is to be at liberty to free himself from all the obligations he had taken, whenever he pleases? What security, confidence, or trust would ever exist among men, if pledges such as this were to have no really binding force at all? Believe me, the law of retribution (Karma) would very soon overtake one who so broke his pledge, and perhaps as soon as the contempt of every honourable man would, even on this physical plane. As well expressed in the N.Y. "Path" ..., 'A pledge once taken is for ever binding in both the moral and the occult worlds. If we break it once and are punished, that does not justify us in breaking it again, and so long as we do, so long will the mighty lever of the Law (of Karma) react upon us.' (The Path, July, 1889.) ....

"But though we do give out to the world as much as is lawful, even in our doctrine more than one important detail is withheld, which those who study the esoteric philosophy and are pledged to silence, are alone entitled to know."

H.P. Blavatsky
The Key to Theosophy,
1889 ed., pp. 19-23, 38, 49-51, 96.

***

H.P. BLAVATSKY ON THE ESOTERIC SECTION

"Judge has never pledged himself, never signed anything; for as in the case of Olcott, my confidence in him is sufficient to trust him without any Pledges...."

H.P. Blavatsky
Letter dated Sept. 12, 1889

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

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 3:25 am

THE ESOTERIC SECTION T.S.: REORGANIZATION OF THE SECTION IN AMERICA (FACSIMILE OF SEPTEMBER 1889 ORIGINAL)

THE ESOTERIC SECTION T.S.

Resorganization of the Section in America.

1! In future the Esoteric Section in America will be divided into groups each consisting of three or more members.

2! Each each group shall have a President, who will receive the Instructions for the members of the group and transmit them to each member.

3! The President of each group shall, in accordance with the instructions conveyed to him by Mr. Judge, adopt such measures as shall ensure the safe-keeping of the Instructions in the hand of the members of the groups and the due preservation of the secrecy thereof.

4! Members of the groups must repeat the Pledge of the Section in the presence of their President and of each other.

5! The Rules for the formation and conduct of groups will be settled by Mr. Judge subject to my approval.

6! It must be distinctly understood that the formation of groups throughout the Section is compulsory, excepting in the case of those members who are too widely scattered to form such groups and who will, therefore, be formed into a single 'correspondence' group under the direction of Mr. Judge. The members of this 'correspondence' group must take the first available opportunity of enrolling themselves in some regular group and conforming to its regulations.

7! The next series of Instructions will be issued shortly, but they will only be sent to those members of the E.S. who shall have duly conformed with this reorganization. Hence all members who desire to receive further Instruction are required to conform without delay with these regulations. Those who are unwilling to do so will send in their resignations accompanied by the Instructions and other papers of the Section to Mr. Judge.

8! In case of any change of address notice must be given at once to the Head of the Section and to Mr. Judge.

9! The present Council of the Section in America, consisting of seven members is hereby confirmed and its members are required to assist in the reorganization of the Section into groups. Mr. A.B. Griggs is hereby appointed to take Mr. Bridge's place on the Council at Mr. Bridge's request.

H.P. Blavatsky

***

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.

THE ESOTERIC SECTION T. S.

REORGANIZATION OF THE SECTION IN AMERICA.

1. In future the Esoteric Section in America will be divided into groups, each consisting of three or more members.

2. Each such group shall have a President, who will receive the Instructions for the members of the group and transmit them to each member.

3. The President of each group shall, in accordance with the instructions conveyed to him by Mr. Judge, adopt such measures as shall ensure the safekeeping of the Instructions in the hands of the members of the groups and the due preservation of the secrecy thereof.

4. Members of the groups must repeat the Pledge of the Section in the presence of their President and of each other.

5. The Rules for the formation and conduct of groups will be settled by Mr. Judge, subject to my approval.

6. It must be distinctly understood that the formation of groups throughout the Section is compulsory, excepting in the case of those members who are too widely scattered to form such groups, and who will, therefore, be formed into a single "correspondence" group under the direction of Mr. Judge. The members of this "correspondence" group must take the first available opportunity of enrolling themselves in some regular group and conforming to its regulations.

7. The next series of Instructions will be issued shortly, but they will only be sent to those members of the E. S. who shall have duly conformed with this reorganization. Hence all members who desire to receive further Instructions are required to conform without delay with these regulations Those who are unwilling to do so will send in their resignations, accompanied by the Instructions and other papers of the Section, to Mr. Judge.

8. In case of any change of address. notice must be given at once to the Head of tile Section and to Mr. Judge.

9. The present Council of the Section in America, consisting of seven members, is hereby confirmed, and its members are required to assist in the reorganization of the Section into groups. Mr. A. B. Griggs is hereby appointed to take Mr. Bridge's place on the Council at Mr. Bridge's request.

H. P. BLAVATSKY.

[A copy. WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, Secretary.]

***

MEMORANDUM AND RULES.

The Council in America is:

MRS. J. CAMPBELL VER-PLANCK.

DR. J. D. BUCK, 124W. 7th St., Cincinnati, O.

MR. A. B. GRIGGS, Young's Hotel. Boston, Mass.

DR. M. J. GAHAN, Grand Island, Nebr.

DR. J. H. SALISBURY, 9 W. 29th, St., N. Y. City.

DR. ALLEN GRIFFITHS, 13 Mason St., San Francisco, Calif.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, Box 2659. N. Y. P.O., N. Y.

1. All applications for membership which come through a Councillor must bear the latter's endorsement.

2. All documents of the Section should be kept in a secure place, plainly marked to be returned to the Secretary in case of death or loss.

3. All communications relative to the Section must be marked "private," and should not be enclosed with other matter, nor contain any references to business or other affairs.

4. Immediately upon change of address, members must notify the Head of the Section direct. Her address is: 17 Landsdowne Road, Holland Park, W., London, England. The Secretary should also be notified. All other communications must be made through the Secretary.

5. Although members have the right to address queries to the Head of the Section, it is expected that they will not hurriedly do so, but exhaust all means of their own first. And individual replies must not always be expected, as the answer may be incorporated in the next Instructions.

6. For convenience, it is requested that all questions shall be written upon paper of uniform size -- say letter sheets, -- on one side, and in black ink. As we are all extremely busy, the practice of hap-hazard writing and in pencil or pale ink makes this request necessary.

7. The groups referred to in the order are not for practical occultism, but for mutual study of the Instructions and help in Theosophic life. Application for charter for a group must be signed by those applying and be sent to the Secretary with the endorsement of the nearest Councillor thereupon. Such groups will be constituted as Lodges of the Section, with distinctive appellations, and their existence is not to be lightly disclosed. The President of each group will have charge of, and be responsible for, the original Instructions, which are always to be open to the members, who may copy the same.

When groups meet for study, no other matters whatever are to be discussed; and particularly gossip or discussion of other people must be avoided: and while awaiting arrival of members no irrelevant talking is to be indulged in. This must be strictly observed. Members who are to be included in the "correspondence" group will be notified by the Secretary.

Further regulations may be made as occasion requires.

Dated NEW YORK, September 21, 1889.
For H. P. B. and the Council.
WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, Secretary.
Box 2659, New York.
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Re: The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavat

Postby admin » Tue May 15, 2018 3:39 am

PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS TO NO. III OF THE INSTRUCTIONS BY H.P.B.

Preliminary Explanations to No. III of the Instructions

Preliminary Explanations was written and issued by H.P.B. in October 1889 as a separate 12-page pamphlet. I have seen a copy of this original edition but was not allowed to reproduce the original for this present compilation.

In the April 1891 edition of H.P.B.'s Esoteric Instructions, the Preliminary Explanations material was abridged and added as an introduction to E.S. Instructions No. III. See pp. 411-425 of the present compilation for this abridged 1891 version.

(Note: The original 1889-1890 edition of E.8. Instructions No. III did not include the Preliminary Explanations text.)

See pp. 311, 319 and 411 of the present compilation for more information about this April 1891 abridged reprint. Also compare notes about the Preliminary Explanations in H.P.B's Collected Writings, Volume XII, pp. 499-50] and 581. The note on p. 581 was added to E.S. Instructions III when it was reprinted for Judge's Esoteric School after the Judge-Besant controversy of 1894- 1895.

A transcription of the unabridged version of Preliminary Explanations can be found in H.P.B's Collected Writings, Volume XII, pp. 581-599. Notice at the end of Preliminary Explanations (p. 599), H.P.B. writes to her E.S. students:

"[E.S. Instructions] No. III is ready, and being multiplied: it will be sent very shortly."

-------------------------

STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

NOT THE PROPERTY OF ANY MEMBER, AND TO BE RETURNED ON
DEMAND TO THE AGENT OF THE HEAD OF THE E.S.T.

INSTRUCTION NO. III

The following “Preliminary Explanations” were written by H. P. B. at the time of a grave crisis, or rasher series of crises, through which the T.S. passed in 1889-90. Treachery within the E.S. itself and persistent and relentless attacks on the T.S. from without, especially in America, necessitated the striking of a fresh keynote and giving directions for the closing up of the ranks of the E.S. At the time of reprinting the Instructions in London in 1890-91, certain portions of these “Preliminary Explanations” dealing with the details of the matter were purposely omitted by those of H.P.B.’s pupils who were constituted the editors, these portions being deemed by them of too personal a character to remain. This was done when H.P.B. was too ill to supervise, without her sanction and, as she afterwards said, much against her wishes. The “Preliminary Explanations” are therefore now printed exactly as they originally stood, those portions previously omitted being now put between square brackets: [ ].

E.S. PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS TO NO. III OF THE INSTRUCTIONS.

[BROTHERS and SISTERS in THEOSOPHY:

Many of you who, having joined the E.S., expected to receive their papers every two months, at least, but received only those for Jan.-Feb. and March April, must have felt disappointed, perhaps displeased. For this I am sincerely sorry, but owing to the present state of things in America, treachery from the first, and still worse treachery recently, the betrayal by one who joined the E.S. with the determined object of getting possession of its supposed secrets, in order to upset the Theosophical Society, and, by crushing me, crush the E.S. out of existence, has put an unavoidable stop to the teachings.

You have read in my “Open Letter to all Theosophists” the true and sad history of an ex-brother, who, whether from personal or other motives, consented to undertake the mission of a Judas. Though having failed in finding out what he so diligently sought by coming to London, he has nevertheless since then done us the greatest harm by substituting falsehoods and slander for facts, and even succeeded in turning several honourable men away from us. (Since I began writing this, two more prominent members of Boston have been upset by the joint efforts of our enemies’ “league,” and dropped out of the fold, labouring under the most false suggested impressions.) How, then, could I continue under such circumstances? Yet I had begun preparing No. III of the papers, which would have been sent to you long ago had not a third obstacle arisen.

A full reorganization was necessary, and our Brother W. Q. Judge, together with a few of the American Council of the E.S., kindly undertook it. But now the poisonous shafts of our persevering enemies are turned against him; and it is, as I know, partly owing to the same slanderous and underhand work that several of you have refused to comply with the new Rules issued by him in my name.

Of the chief reason, however, for stopping the teachings, few, except those in my immediate surroundings, know, and you have to learn it now.]

Of the fact that no such large and ever-growing body as the E.S. has now become could remain without its traitors, secret and open, I was aware from the beginning. I knew what I had to expect from the first day. I knew that the task I had undertaken would lead to more obloquy and misrepresentations for me than ever; that it was sure to create a large amount of bad feeling among the members of the main (exoteric) body of the T.S., which would be finally vented, in particular, if not solely, upon myself. And all came to pass as I knew it would. But if it is, in a great measure, owing to this that the delivery of instructions was delayed, it was not, as said, the sole reason. There came a more serious impediment––to me the bitterest of all. I received two letters and a reproof from the Masters. These reached me in no such way as to allow the hope that it was less serious than had at first appeared. That which I received both times, was a letter in plain language, sent by post and mailed quite prosaically at the Sikkim frontier, one in March, the other in August. The last of these left me no ephemeral hope that I had misunderstood or even exaggerated the facts. In their first, our Masters were displeased, and in their last, which arrived just as the news of M. A. Lane’s treachery came from New York, that displeasure became still more apparent.

It was at the end of August, and I was told to keep No. III of the Papers back, until further developments, and then to make those portions of the contents of the Masters’ letter that related to the E.S. known to all its members of both continents, without even omitting to show them how mistaken and dangerous had been my policy in the E.S. from its beginning. I had been warned by the Council and my trusted friends, of the danger there was in admitting such a number of persons, scattered so widely over the world, who, it was added, knew me not, except on hearsay, and each of whom I had no other means, as they supposed, of studying than through their auras and photographs. I myself realized that danger, but had no means of averting it, since the “Book of the Discipline and Rules” states that: “No one shall be refused admission, or the chance of learning truth and thereby improving his life, only because some one, or even all his neighbors think ill of him.” Such is the rule. Therefore, the larger the number of applicants who take the pledge, the greater the possibility of helping the masses. A member of the T.S. may be utterly unfit for the higher sciences and never grasp the true teachings of occultism and esoteric philosophy; but yet, if he has the true spark and faith in the real presence of the HIGHER SELF in him, he will remain loyal to his pledge and will try to model his life in accordance with the rules of the E.S., and thereby become nobler and better in every case. Membership in the E.S., and “pledges” sent, accepted and signed, are no warrants for a high success, nor do these pledges aim at making of every student an adept or a magician. They are simply the seeds in which lurks the potentiality of every truth, the germ of that progress which will be the heirloom of only the seventh perfect Race. A handful of such seeds was entrusted to me by the keepers of these truths, and it is my duty to sow them there, where I perceive a possibility of growth. It is the parable of the Sower put once more into practice, and a fresh lesson to be derived from its new application. The seeds that fall into good ground will bring forth fruit an hundredfold, and thus repay in each case the waste of those seeds which will have fallen by the wayside, on stony hearts and among the thorns of human passions. It is the duty of the Sower to choose the best soil for the future crops. But he is held responsible only so far as that ability is directly connected with the failures, and that such are solely due to it; it is the Karma of the individuals who receive the seeds by asking for them, that will repay or punish those who fail in their duties to their HIGHER SELF. Nature is ever struggling even in its so-called inorganic and inanimate kingdoms towards progress and perfectibility by production; how much more the nature of conscious thinking man! Each of us, if his nature is not productive or deep enough per se, may borrow and derive material for soil from the seeds themselves which he receives; and every one has the means to avoid the scorching sun, and to force the seeds to strike root, or prevent the thorns choking them, with a very little effort indeed. Therefore, my mistake did not lie in that I accepted too readily applications to join the E.S.

Nor have I sinned even in accepting men and women of whom I have not felt quite sure, though the opportunity of discerning their inner natures was possible and given to me in almost every instance. I have not sinned, in this, I say, as some think, because the rules teach again that the grand ethics taught in the secret Âryâsanga schools are not for the benefit or perfection of saints, but verily of sinners who need moral and intellectual help.

In what particular, then, have I failed to do my duty? Simply in this, as I am shown: I have begun to give out Eastern teachings to those who were unacquainted with the Eastern discipline; to Westerners, who, had they been thoroughly versed in the laws of that discipline so unfamiliar to cultured Christian-born people, would have thought twice before joining the E.S. Being taught to rely on their Saviour and scapegoat instead of themselves, they have never stopped to think that their salvation and future incarnation depend entirely on themselves, and that every transgression against the Holy Ghost (their Higher Self) will indeed become unpardoned in their present life––or their next incarnation: for Karma is there to watch their actions, and even thoughts. In short, I have begun to instruct them in spelling before I had taught them the letters of the Occult alphabet. Instead of solemnly warning those who signed their pledge that, by breaking it and becoming guilty of that which they had sworn to avoid, they incurred thereby the most dangerous responsibilities, entailing sooner or later the most terrible consequences, and proving this to them by living examples from their own and other people’s lives, I left them to their own devices. Instead of such warning, I have given out to them the preliminary knowledge that leads to the most hidden secrets of nature and the old Wisdom-Religion––and which but very few can appreciate. I have, finally, neglecting to prepare them by first placing each and all on a twelve-month’s or so probation, given them an opportunity of going quite easily, and in most cases, unconsciously to themselves, astray. It is in consequence of this that there has been such a number of members caring for nothing but new instructions to amuse them, and several backsliders who have already done the greatest harm to the Theosophical Society, let alone the E.S. This is the result and consequence of my neglect to conform with and enforce the rules; and I now confess it, in all humility, to all my friends who will read this.

How true are these words in Master’s letter:

“Experience but too clearly proves that any departure from the time-honored rules for the government and instructions of the disciple to suit Western custom and prejudices, is a fatal policy.”

“Before the pupil can be taught, he must learn how to conduct himself as regards the world, his teacher, the sacred science, and his INNER SELF,” the letter adds, quoting the Eastern aphorism that:

“The ruffled water-surface reflects naught but broken images:” the Master meaning that so long as the learners have not mastered their world-passions and remain ignorant of the Truth, their unprepared minds will perceive everything in the light of their worldly, not of their truly spiritual, esoteric judgment.

“How can they be expected, then” it asks, “to see aught but the broken truths, that such judgment is sure to suggest and distort the more? Violation of ancient usages is sure to result in evil.”

How true are these words is shown in our own case. For what have the violations of that time-honored usage which prohibits to speak in public or before the ignorant masses of sacred things, of which we, the two Founders, have been guilty, brought upon the T.S. and individual aspirants, even before the E.S. had been established, but grief and scandal? In blind foolishness, without warrant and reflection, have we, Col. Olcott and I, chiefest of all, lifted some of the veils of Truth, given some flitting glimpses of the secret laws of Nature and of Being, to a blind, ignorant, sense-ruled public, and thus provoked the hatred, deepened the skepticism, and excited the malevolent activity of many opponents who, otherwise, would have left us alone. Ah, friends, it was a wise law and a prudent restriction that ancient rule that kept the sacred, but dangerous knowledge (dangerous, because it cuts both ways) confined to the few, and these few pledged by a vow, which, if broken, led them almost to perdition. And to this day it is these few who run the greater risk. Some of the Theosophists, yet quite recently almost adorers of the T.S., and especially of its Masters, have lost or are losing unconsciously to themselves their moral balance; some because of the venomous words spoken in their ears by traitors, while others are flinging aside to the four winds their good Karmic chances, and turning into bitter and unprincipled enemies. Of the rude public one should have expected this, but from friends, brothers, and associates!

Well, as it now appears, so far as the members of the E.S. are concerned, it is in a great measure, if not entirely, my fault; and it is a bitter draught that Karma compels me to drink out of her iron cup. Had I instead of showing such hopeful confidence and belief in the inviolability of people’s word of honor, and almost a blind faith that the sacredness of their pledge would prove the surest guarantee of the good faith of any pledged member; had I instead of that, gone on the old occult lines of the Eastern discipline, such things as have taken place could never have happened. But I never permitted myself to even dream that a double pledge of such sanctity as the one taken in the name of the HIGHER SELF could ever be broken, however little one may make even of his “most sacred word of honor.” Even in the few cases when a dark and ominous aura around the face of a photograph plainly warned me, I still tried to hope against all hope. I could not bring myself to believe any man or woman capable of such deliberate treachery. I rejected as an evil, sinful thought, the idea that conscious depravity could ever remain on the best of terms with a man, after the signing of such a sacred promise; and, I have learned now for the first time the possibility of what has been truthfully dubbed by some Theosophists “only a lip-pledge.” Had I strictly enforced the rules, I would have, no doubt, lost the two-thirds of our pledged members––those who had signed it as they would any circular letter––but then at least, those few who will remain true to their vows to the bitter end, would have more profited than they have now. Having omitted, however, the usual precautions of the probationary period, I have but myself to thank; and therefore, it is but just that I should also be myself the first to suffer for it at the hands of the inexorable Karmic law. For this, ironclad as I have been made by daily and almost hourly unjust attacks, I would have cared but very little; but that which I deplore the most––with a bitterness few of you will ever realize––is the fact that such a number of thoroughly earnest, good, and sincere men and women should be made to suffer for the guilt of the few. For, though but a fault of omission on my part, still that guilt, as I feel, is due to my neglect. Behold! my Karma appeared as a warning almost from the beginning of the E.S.

I had started well. Several of those whom I knew to be entirely unfitted to take the pledge have been refused from the first; but I proved unable to withstand their prayers when certain of them declared to me that it was their “last chance in life.” The “pledge fever” made short work of their promises. One broke her vows only four days after signing her pledge, becoming guilty of the blackest treachery and disloyalty to her HIGHER SELF. And when I could no longer keep in the E.S. either herself or her friend, the two convulsed the whole Society with their calumnies and falsehoods. Then it was that the old wondering query, “How is it that ‘poor H.P.B.,’ notwithstanding the Masters at her back, and her own insight, is so evidently unable to know her friends from her foes?” ran once more the round of theosophical circles, both here and in America.

Brothers, if you will judge from appearances, and from the worldly standpoint, you are right; but if you take the trouble of looking into the inner causes producing outward results, you will find that you are decidedly in the wrong. That you should no longer do me injustice, let me explain what I mean.

Take for an instant for granted (you, who still doubt at moments in your hearts), that I am doing the work of a real, living Master. And if I am, then surely I would not have been entrusted with such a mission unless I had pledged myself irrevocably to the laws of the Ethics, Sciences, and Philosophy THEY teach. Come whatever may, I have to abide by these laws and rules even in the face of condemnation to death. Now, if the law, in common legislature even, holds that no person should be condemned before his guilt is proven, or becomes manifest, how much more strict must this law be in our Occult Code? Have I the right––in special cases when I see that a person has in him the germs of, or even a decided proclivity toward, evil doing, deception, ingratitude, or revenge, that, in short, he is not a reliable man or woman; but that, on the other hand, he is earnest and sincere, for the time being, in his interest and sympathy for Theosophy and Occultism; have I the right, I ask, to deny him the chance of becoming a better man, merely out of fear that he may one day turn round? I will say more. Knowing, as I do, that no earthly forces combined can destroy the T.S. and its truths, even if they can and do, in each case, hurt more or less my outward and miserable personality, that shell that I am solemnly pledged to use as a buffer of the cause I serve, have I the right, think you, out of mere personal cowardice and in self-defence, to refuse anyone the chance of profiting by the truths I can teach him, and of thereby becoming better? That many are called, but few chosen, is something I knew from the beginning; that he who speaks the truth is turned out of nine cities, is an old saying; and that the man (and especially the woman) who preaches new truths, whether in religion or science, is stoned and made a martyr by those to whom they are unwelcome––all this is what I have bargained for, and no more. Let me give you an illustration out of real life. When the notorious Madame Coulomb came to me in Bombay, with her husband, to ask for bread and shelter, though I had met her in Cairo, and knew her to be a treacherous, wicked, and lying woman, nevertheless I gave her all she needed, because such was my duty. But when, in course of time, I saw she hated me, envied my position and influence, and slandered me to my friends while flattering me to my face, my human nature revolted. We were very poor then, poorer even in fact than we are now, both the Society and ourselves, and to keep two enemies at our expense seemed hard. Then I applied to my Guru and Master, who was then at three days’ distance from Bombay, and submitted to his decision whether it was right and theosophical to keep two such Serpents in the house; for she, at any rate, if not her husband, threatened the whole Society. Would you know the answer I received? These are the words verbatim, the reply beginning with an aphorism from the Book of Precepts:

“‘If thou findest a hungry Serpent creeping into thy house, seeking for food, and, out of fear it should bite thee, instead of offering it milk thou turnest it out to suffer and starve, thou turnest away from the Path of Compassion. Thus acteth the fainthearted and the selfish.’ You know,” went on the message, “that you are PERSONALLY threatened; you have still to learn that SO LONG AS THERE ARE THREE MEN WORTHY OF OUR LORD’S BLESSING IN THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY––IT CAN NEVER BE DESTROYED. . . . Your two Karmas [her’s and mine] run in two opposite directions. Shall you, out of abject fear of that which may come, blend the two [Karmas] and become as she is? . . . They are homeless and hungry; shelter and feed them, then, if you would not become participant in her Karma.”

Since then I have acted more than ever on this principle of trying to help everyone irrespective of what I personally may have to suffer for it. It is not, therefore, the utter incapacity for right discrimination in me, but something quite different that compelled me to lay aside all thought of possible consequences in this case of selection of fit members of the E.S. No; I sinned on a different plane. Neglecting to profit by my personal experience, I allowed myself in this instance to be more prompted by an easily understood delicacy and regard for Western feeling than by my duty. In one word, I was loath to apply to Western students the rigorous rules and discipline of the Eastern school; afraid of seeing any demand on my part of strict submission to the rules, misinterpreted into a desire of claiming papal and despotic authority. [1] Read your pledges and the Preliminary Memoranda, and study them; and then, finding the amount of authority you have yourselves conferred on me by signing the pledge––say honestly which of you, if any, can come and complain, not only that I have ever abused, but even used that authority over any probationer? In one case only––that of a friend who could hardly misinterpret my action––I have insisted that he should leave for a certain time America. And to emphasize this the more, no sooner have I heard from several of those members in whom I have the greatest confidence that the pledge, as now worded, was open to a dead-letter construction, than I have immediately altered it, of which I now notify you. The 2nd and 3rd clauses now stand––

(2) I pledge myself to support before the world, the Theosophical movement, and those of its leaders and members, in whom I place full confidence; and in particular to obey, without cavil or delay, the orders given through the Head of the Section in all that concerns my theosophical duties and esoteric work, so far as my pledge to my Higher Self and my conscience sanction. [2]

(3) I pledge myself never to listen, without protest, to any evil thing spoken falsely or yet unproven, against a brother Theosophist, and to abstain from condemning others. [3]


I have done this because I think it right to explain the true spirit of the pledge. But it is precisely that unwillingness in me to ever guide any one of you more than is strictly necessary that is now shown as having been productive of evil, and as that wherein my fault lies. As the same letter says, addressing me:

“You have spoken to them before their ear was trained to listen, and begun showing things, before the eye of the learner was prepared to see. And just for this reason, hearing but indistinctly and seeing each in his own way, more than one [member of the E.S.] has turned round and tried to rend you [me] for your pains.”

[And now I sincerely hope that you will––some of you, at least––learn a lesson from my weakness, and show your appreciation of this by not judging me too unkindly if I now change somewhat my policy. For I have to either do so, or to drop the Esoteric teachings altogether, for those at any rate, who will disagree with this arrangement. To avoid repeating the mistake, this is what I propose doing. Each Paper will be sent as it was hitherto, only it will appear as a Supplement to the Ethics and teachings which will impart the rules of Discipline and the laws of Discipleship, as in the case of all Probationers.] Those who accept the new arrangement will have to study the latter, or they cannot receive any more teachings from me. For, as saith the Book of Discipline in the Schools of Dzyan:

“Speak not the mysteries to the common vulgar, nor to the casual friend, or new disciple. With prudent eye to the possible consequences, keep locked within your breast the teachings received, until you find a listener who will understand your words and sympathize with your aspirations.”


This does not mean that you are at liberty to repeat what you have learned to anyone whom you believe to answer that description, but that you can exchange views with your co-disciples who are pledged as you are yourself.

I can do no better, I believe, than give at once some of the oral and written precepts from the same book above mentioned, and as pointed out by the Master.

“1. To the earnest Disciple his Teacher takes the place of Father and Mother. For, whereas they give him his body and its faculties, its life and casual form, the Teacher shows him how to develop the inner faculties to the acquisition of the Eternal Wisdom.

“2. To the Disciple each Fellow-Disciple becomes a Brother and Sister, a portion of himself. [4] For his interests and aspirations are theirs his progress helped or hindered by their intelligence, morality, and behavior through the intimacy brought about by their co-discipleship.

“3. A co-disciple cannot backslide or fall out of the line without affecting those who stand firm through the sympathetic tie between themselves and the psychical currents between them and their Teacher.

“4. Woe to the deserter, woe also to all who help to bring his soul to the point where desertion first presents itself before his mind’s eye as the lesser of two evils. Gold in the crucible is he who stands the melting heat of trial, and lets only the dross be burnt out of his heart; accursed by Karmic action will find himself he, who throws dross into the melting-pot of discipleship for the debasement of his fellow-pupil. As the members to the body, so are the disciples to each other, and to the Head and Heart which teach and nourish them with the life stream of Truth.

“5. As the limbs defend the head and heart of the body they belong to, so have the disciples to defend the head and the heart of the body they belong to [in this case Theosophy] from injury.”


Before I proceed, let me explain, for fear of being misunderstood again, that by “Teacher” I neither mean myself––as I am but the humble mouthpiece of the true Teacher––nor do I write the above in order to stimulate any one to defend or stand by my own personality, but verily to make it clear, once for all, that to defend the E.S. and Theosophy (the heart and the soul of the T.S., its visible body) is the duty of every good Theosophist, of the E.S. especially. So is it his “bounden duty” to protect from attack and defend every fellow-brother, if he knows him to be innocent, and try and help him morally, if he thinks he is guilty. Nor is verse 5 intended to convey the idea that aggressiveness is the best course to take, for it is not: passive resistance and a firm refusal to listen to any slanderous reports about one another, in the case of a member as well as of a stranger or an ex-Fellow, is all that would be necessary in some cases to defeat entirely conspiracy and malevolence.

And now hoping that no misunderstanding is any longer possible, I resume in this hope the Rules, quoting a few more remarks upon them from the said letter. They come as a comment on art. 5, and I quote them verbatim.

“. . . And if the limbs have to defend the head and heart of their body, then why not so, also, the Disciples their Teachers as representing the SCIENCE of Theosophy which contains and includes the ‘head’ of their privilege, the ‘heart’ of their spiritual growth? Saith the Scripture:

“He who wipeth not away the filth with which the parent’s body may have been defiled by an enemy, neither loves the parent nor honors himself. He who defendeth not the persecuted and the helpless, who giveth not of his food to the starving, nor draweth water from his well for the thirsty, hath been born too soon in human shape.

“Behold the truth before you: a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness for one’s co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience to the behests of TRUTH, once we have placed our confidence in, and believe that Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection which the secret science (Gupta-Vidy) depicts––these are the golden stairs up the steps of which the learner may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom. Say this to those who have volunteered to be taught by you.”


These are the words of great Teachers, and I but do the bidding of one of these in repeating them to you. What is found in the letter, I, H.P.B., now say to you in the authentic words, which are: “THINK; and thinking, TRY: the goal is indeed worth all the possible effort.” Much of what the Book of Discipline contains you may find in the fragments just translated by me from The Book of the Golden Precepts, and published for the benefit of the “Few.” These rules are as old as the world. And it is these, as I now see, that I was expected to impress upon the minds of all those who applied to me for instruction. This duty I knew well, and yet omitted doing it. I will not excuse myself by saying that I forgot to do so, for this would not be the truth, but I say and confess that I skipped it, out of an idiotic regard to Western prejudices and habits of thought. I knew that a code of preliminary ethics such as is obligatory with, and enforced upon, Eastern disciples would grate upon, even offend, the feelings of many American and European probationers. Ever misunderstood, judged by appearances, vilified, slandered and persecuted, I feared to hurt the Society by forcing several, if not many, of our members to sever their connection with it, if they found that I made the rules too exacting. For the first time in my life, I acted like a coward in my own sight, and almost a traitor to my duties by such compromise with my conscience. Therefore, though the first punished, I do not complain, and only hope that no one else will suffer through my weakness.

It is of the second and last letter in relation to the E.S. that I speak. The first was to the effect that those who desired to receive Eastern teaching had to conform to Eastern rules, and that I had better suspend my instructions until I had notified them of that; reminding them also of Rule 3 of their Pledge, which, if I had not the courage to enforce I had better change, as it only caused the members to become untrue to their vows. This was repeated by me to the Council of the E.S., and it led to their sending that joint advice to the Esotericists, which was surreptitiously handed over to the R.P.J. [Religio-Philosophical Journal] office and published.

Behold, all of you, the work of never failing, prompt Karma! Had I not departed from the old Rules of the Book of Discipline, such a sad case would not have happened, for there would have been no need of such a document as framed by the Council. For the Rule says, to the Chela:

“If thou canst not fulfil thy pledge, refuse to take it, but once thou hast bound thyself to any promise, carry it out, even if thou hast to die for it.”


And to the Teacher:

“Thou shalt not remind the Disciple who shows himself whether willingly or inadvertently disloyal to the letter and spirit of any law––more than TWICE: at the third time thou shalt separate him from the Body,”––i.e., ask him to resign or expel him.

But as unfortunately in general, though very fortunately in this case, every handful of mud thrown at the T.S. reaches only myself, and that the members of the E.S. had no opportunity of defending any one but myself, I was loath to enforce this rule. I felt a great unwillingness to even pass a message in which I was personally concerned.

But after the second letter I could no longer remain silent; it is the law and I have but to obey, taking now this opportunity to implore every pledged member of the E.S. who feels incapable of allowing himself to be subjected to such a discipline, to resign. Knowing, indeed, as I do, the free American and the free Briton, how can I come and tell either of them, for instance:

“The office of Teacher was always considered as a very solemn and responsible one among our Asiatic ancestors, and the pupil was always enjoined to obedience and loyalty. This is what you have to tell them, advising them to study Manu.” (From the letter.)


And how could I hope to make them understand that by Teacher it was the Master who was meant and not myself, when I knew that many, many of them while knowing of me, and luckily not having any reason to doubt my existence, still doubted that of the Mahtmas, with the exception of the very few? Such is my only excuse. Unable to transfuse my certain knowledge of the reality of the Masters as men, into the consciousness of the Theosophists and even of pledged members, for the last fourteen years, I have ever avoided pressing this truth upon them. Yet unwilling to play the part of the crow in peacock’s feathers, I had to assert the existence of Teachers who had taught me all I know.

And yet the rules of Discipleship being so very strict upon the subject of the personal and other relations between the Teachers and the pupils, I have no choice. A Guru was ever considered as the chela’s benefactor, because he imparted that which was more precious than worldly wealth or honors, that which money could not buy and which concerned the welfare of the pupil’s soul and future weal or woe. Yet the Guru is not the only one pointed out to the chela’s consideration, but also all those who help a disciple one way or the other to pursue and progress in his studies.

[Here, I have to say a few words with regard to these. And now again it is not myself who is concerned, but I speak of other “helpers.” In the worst case, I can always take care of myself personally, and really need no one’s defence, though I shall feel always thankful to those who have offered it. But I mean by “helpers” such as William Q. Judge; and I now call upon all those who will remain true to their pledges to do their duty by both, when the time comes, and especially by their American brother. Both are threatened and both are hated by certain persons as unjustly as I am by some unprincipled enemies who would still call themselves Theosophists.

Ingratitude is a crime in Occultism, and I shall illustrate the point by citing the case of W. Q. Judge. He is one of the three founders of the Theosophical Society, the only three who have remained as true as rock to the Cause. While others have all turned deserters or enemies, he has ever remained faithful to his original pledge. If one wants to know how the Masters would feel towards him, let him read what one of them writes about the fidelity of Colonel Olcott and their appreciation of it, in a letter published in The Occult World. Though strong pressure was used to displace him and his associates (Judge along with them) in favor of another––a newcomer––and all manner of boons were promised for the T.S., Mahtma “K.H.” flatly refused, saying that ingratitude had never been one of their vices. Now that which Colonel Olcott has accomplished in India and Asia, W. Q. Judge has done in America. He is the Recuscitator of Theosophy in the United States, and is working to the best of his means and ability, and at a great sacrifice, for the spread of the movement; and he is now being infamously attacked and schemed against for this by one who has never done a thing for the T.S., but is now trying to crush it out of existence. [5] From the first this enemy of the cause, though he has never believed in any Mahtmas, their powers, or even existence, has worked for an object; hence he boasted for over two years of his own marvellous powers and intercourse with our Masters. He it is who published the shameful forgery under the Master K.H.’s name in the Chicago Tribune; he who made all those who would, believe that he was in regular communication with the “Adepts.” And now, when his object––to rule despotically over the whole American Section––has been defeated; when the flat denial by one of the Masters (K.H.) of having written a single line to any one in England or America for the last five years has shown him a deceiver, and that neither Mr. Judge nor myself would help him to deceive the public, or join him in a conspiracy of still worse deception with regard to Theosophists, he now turns round, repudiates Masters and Mahtmas, and tries to substitute for them some bogus adepts in the Rocky Mountains, and thus ruin the Cause. Having vainly tried to crush me, and finding me unmalleable, he now fastens his poison fangs on Brother Judge. He has cunning, indomitable energy, never relaxing vindictiveness, and a great command of money. These are grave charges, and may appear “untheosophical” to many, as they would undoubtedly be were there only danger for some units in the Society. But it is the Society itself, our CAUSE, so dear and so sacred to many of us, which is threatened––nay, attacked; and to save it I for one would not hesitate one moment to be regarded as untheosophical twenty times over, by the whole world. For, understand well; unless we unite all our forces against this enemy, we cannot win the day, or even have one hour of full peace and security for, or in, the Society. He is wealthy and we are poor; he is unscrupulous, and we feel bound by our pledges and theosophical duty. He lies with an ease worthy of the admiration of the Sons of Loyola; and we Theosophists hold that, whosoever lies, even to conquer an enemy, or save himself from a condemnation, is not worthy to call himself one. He attacks us by every available means and foul play; we can only be on our defensive, and defeat him by truth and nothing but the truth. Yet that truth must not be withheld, if, owing to his unrelenting hatred and alliance with every enemy who has hitherto attacked us, openly or secretly (I speak on knowledge), we would not now have the very name of Theosophy and its Society become very soon a public household word of opprobrium.

Brother Judge refuses to defend himself, even more than I have refused to defend myself after the Coulomb conspiracy. No man who knows himself innocent ever will. But is that a reason why we should let him go undefended? It is our bounden duty to support him, in every way, with our sympathy and influence, energetically, not in a half-hearted, timid way. Let our protest be on merely defensive lines, and not of an aggressive character. For, if the spirit of true Theosophy does not permit of aggressiveness being used, yet it does demand in some cases active defence, and it does impose on everyone of us the duty of taking an active interest in the welfare of a brother, especially of a persecuted brother, as Mr. Judge is now. Is it the part of a “Brother-Fellow” to remain indifferent and inactive when one who has done so much for the noble and sacred CAUSE is vilified for its sake, hence, for that of every Theosophist; when he is selected by the enemy as the mark of all the lying and damaging attacks of those who wish to destroy the Society in order to build on its ruins another, a bogus Body of the same name, and to enshrine therein an idol with feet of clay and a heart full of selfishness and evil, for the admiration and worship of credulous fools? Can we allow them to achieve this object when they seek to ensure success by ruining the character of this most unselfish champion of our T.S.? Put yourselves in the victim’s place, and then act as you think your Brothers should act towards you under similar circumstances. Let us protest, I say, all of us; protest by word and deed. Let every one who can hold the pen expose every lie said about our friend and Brother, in every case we know it to be a lie.

You all profess the wish to acquire esoteric knowledge, and some of you––those who believe in the blessed Masters––to win the regards of our Teachers. Know then, Brothers, that they have regard for only such as square their behavior with the rules hinted at, with our Master’s permission, by me in The Voice of the Silence in the Second and Third Treatises. The reputation of the Theosophical Society is in the keeping of each one of you, and as you regard or neglect it, so will it prosper. But you have to remember that the life of the E.S. too depends on that of the body. The moment the T.S. falls in America (it cannot die in India, or even Europe, so long as the Colonel or I are alive) through your apathy or carelessness, every member of the E.S. who has not done his duty will go down with it. From that day there will be no more hope of acquiring true Eastern secret knowledge till the end of the XXth century.

If I am asked, What kind of protest on defensive lines would I have? and reminded that neither Brother Judge consents to make of his Path the field of controversy, nor do the majority of the daily and weekly papers consent to insert such letters from Theosophists––I answer plainly and sincerely:––There are means to do so, but there is neither the willingness nor the energy to accomplish that which is required for this among the American members of the E.S., and Theosophists who refuse to even support The Path as it ought to be supported. And yet look around you, my brothers and sisters. Not a sect, not a guild, or Society, however insignificant and useless, and far smaller than our Theosophical body, but has its recognized organ. Adventists, Christian Scientists, mind curers, Swedenborgians, tradesmen, and who not, have their dailies, weeklies, and monthlies. One weekly or even monthly sheet of only four pages is better than none; and if we had not an absolute and immediate necessity for such a defensive organ now, it would serve at all times for the dissemination of our theosophical teachings, the popularization of Theosophy and Eastern Ethics suited for the intelligence of the masses. Neither The Path nor Lucifer––least of all The Theosophist, are for the masses. To understand them requires educated readers, and, in most cases, high metaphysicians; and, therefore, none of these magazines can ever become popular. What you American Theosophists require, indeed, are extracts and a weekly paper as cheap as you can make them. Have an organ wherein to defend the Cause from insidious attacks, from misrepresentation and lies, and teach people the truth, and very soon the enemy will have no hold upon us. Teach the common laborer the truths he fails to find in the churches, and you will soon have saved half of the mankind of civilized countries, for the PATH is easier to the poor and the single of heart, than to the cultured and the rich.]

“Observe,” writes the Master, “that the first of the steps of gold which mount towards the Temple of Truth is––A CLEAN LIFE. This means a purity of body, and a still greater purity of mind, heart, and spirit.” And the latter are found more in the poor country-classes than among the cultured and the rich. That the Master’s eye is upon you, Theosophists, is evidenced by the following lines from the same pen:

“How many of them [you] violate one or more of these conditions (of the right Path), and yet expect to be freely taught the highest Wisdom and Sciences, the Wisdom of the gods. As pure water poured into the scavenger’s bucket is befouled and unfit for use, so is divine Truth when poured into the consciousness of a sensualist, of one of selfish heart and a mind indifferent and inaccessible to justice and compassion.” ... “There is a very, VERY ancient maxim, far older than the time of the Romans or the Greeks, more ancient than the Egyptians or Chaldeans. It is a maxim all of them (Theosophists) ought to remember and live accordingly. And it is that a sound and pure mind requires a sound and pure body. Bodily purity every adept takes precautions to keep.... Most of you (Theosophists) know this.”

And yet, knowing it, how few live up to this! I had rather not say whether the letter includes in this reproof Theosophists generally, or only Esotericists. It means a few, but this is for my own private information; meanwhile, these are the words addressed to all.

“. . . But though they have been repeatedly told of this sine qua non rule on the Path of Theosophy and chelaship, how few of them have given attention to it. Behold, how many of them are sluggards in the morning and time-wasters at night; GLUTTONS, eating and drinking for the sensual pleasure they give; indolent in business; selfish as to the keeping of their neighbors’ (brothers’) interests in view; borrowing from brother-Theosophists, making money out of the loan and failing to return it; lazy in study and waiting for others to think for and teach them; denying themselves nothing, EVEN OF LUXURIES, for the sake of helping poorer brothers; forgetting the Cause in general and its volunteer, hard workers,-–and even debauchees, GUILTY OF SECRET IMMORALITY in more than one form. And yet all call themselves Theosophists; all talk with outsiders about ‘Theosophical ethics’ and things, with a puffed up, vain conceit in their hearts...”

Alas! if these words apply to the Theosophical Society in general, to the selfish coldness and supreme indifference of most members to the future of the cause they belong to but will not go out of their way to serve, do not most of the cases cited apply also to some Esotericists, if not to all? Do not we find among them envy and hatred for their colleagues, suspicion and slanderous talk? Who of you who read this, is prepared to say that not one out of the above enumerated faults concerns you?

Ah, friends, brothers, and many of you beloved co-workers, indeed, indeed little do you know of the eternal, unchangeable conditions of soul-development, and chiefly of the inexorable occult laws! Believe the Teacher from whose letter I quote, if you will not believe me, that:

“Though such a person with any of the faults as above declared should fill the world with his charities, and make his name known throughout every nation, he would make no advancement in the practical occult sciences, but be continually slipping backward. The ‘six and ten transcendental virtues.’ the Pâramitâs, are not for full-grown yogis and priests alone, but for all those who would enter the ‘Path.’”


If, explaining this, I add that gentle kindness to all beings, strict honesty (not according to the world-code, but that of Karmic action), virtuous habits, strict truthfulness, and temperance in all things; that these alone are the keys that unlock the doors of earthly happiness and blissful peace of mind, and that fit the man of flesh to evolve into the perfect Spirit-Ego––many of you will feel inclined, I fear, to mock me for saying this. You may think that I am carrying coals to Newcastle, and that each of you knows this, at least, as well as I do. You may remark, perhaps, that I am taking my rôle of “teacher” on a too high tone altogether, regarding and treating you, grown up, intelligent men and women, as I would little school-boys and girls. And some of you may indulge in the thought that it is useless for me to be teaching you to be “goody-goody” instead of going on with my Instructions and give you explanations about “that occult jumble of color and sound, and their respective relations to the human principles,” as some have already complained. But I say again, if you are ignorant of the real occult value of even such trite truths as are contained in my “grandmother’s sermon,” how can you hope to understand the science which you are studying? Can an electrician, however well familiarized with the electric fluid and its variable currents, apply them to himself, or the body of any living man unless he knows human anatomy and is a good physician at the same time, without risking to kill his patient or himself? What is the good of knowing all about the occult relations between the forces of nature and the human principles if, by remaining deliberately ignorant of SELF, we remain thereby as ignorant of what does or what does not affect each distinct principle? Are you aware that by starving, so to speak, one principle or even centre, at the expense of another principle or centre, we may lose the former and injure hopelessly the latter? That by forcing our Higher Ego (not Self, mind you) to remain inactive and silent, which is easily achieved by overfeeding the lower Manas ever gravitating down to Kâma-rûpa, we risk utter annihilation of our present personality?

As this may be questioned by some members who are not very strong even in the exoteric Theosophical doctrines, in order to make my meaning more clear, I will supplement the present explanation, which had become unavoidable, by incorporating a paper on this subject in the next Instructions, which explains the case in hand. Let the dreadful possibility of losing one’s “soul,” not a rare occurrence, and vouchsafed, moreover, by the experience of a long series of seers and clairvoyant teachers, become known to all. This dogma of the inner schools has been often hinted at in our literature, yet never till now explained. It can be done only to the few who are pledged not to make the details of it known.

Those who still desire to remain working members of the E.S. will henceforth receive their Instructions as regularly as this can be done. No. III is ready, and being multiplied: it will be sent very shortly.

And now I must close. For some of you, I have little doubt, this will turn out to be a “parting” farewell letter. Such I may as well thank now for the confidence they have shown, and with which they have honored me, if even for a few months; and so I wish them “God speed” in some other Science made less heavy by discipline and rules. But those, whom no hardships, providing they lead them to the eternal TRUTH, can ever discourage, I address in the words of the great American poet, whose lips are now cold and mute: “Up and onward for evermore!” Let this be the motto of the E.S., applied to Death of Selfishness and Sin through the bright dawn of the resurrection of the Divine Science now known as THEOSOPHY.

H.P.B.

_______________

Notes:

1. And just because I have ever avoided to exercise my legitimate authority in the E.S., and sinned thereby, I am now punished at the hands of an earnest and sincere member of the E.S. who has just resigned, and is now denouncing in print, over his signature, those whom he is pleased to call my “personal worshippers” for “hero worship,” and of calling out to the T.S. on my behalf, “Behold your god . . . bow and worship!!” This is supremely unjust, and I hope in no case whatever true. The protest originated in the sudden unwillingness of this member, whose fine and sensitive nature has been worked upon in that direction by our enemies, to submit to the rules worked out by the Council of the American E.S.––rules absolutely obligatory with the pledged members, and which have to be followed or I will have to give up the Esoteric instructions altogether. Now, I ask, if a member once signed his pledge without protest, why should he object to repeat it once more to his lodge, the members of which have to be pledged to each other for common and mutual security? Karmic work all round, I say. “Pledge fever’’ is raging.

2. As this qualification may possibly be abused, the decision shall rest with seven members of the E.S. as arbitrators, four of whom shall be chosen by the Probationer and three by the Head of the Section.

The above rule will be incorporated in the Preliminary Memorandum.

3. The second and third clauses of the original Pledge ran as follows:

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

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


4. “So shalt thou be in full accord with all that lives, bear love to men as though they were thy brother-pupils, disciples of one Teacher, the sons of one sweet mother.” (Vide Fragment III in The Voice of the Silence, p. 49.)

5. An excerpt from a letter of H.P.B.’s, regarding which we have no further information, was published in Vol. II of Letters That Have Helped Me (Radlett, Herts, 1905), pp. 110-11; in it H.P.B. says: ‘‘... Let them read Master’s letter in the preliminary. All that which I said about W.Q.J. was from HIS words in HIS letter to me ... Do with this letter what you like.”––Compiler.]
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-- Blavatsky Collected Writings, Volume 12, Page 581-599
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