Our chief aim may be that enunciated by the Master K.H. (Mahatma Letters, page 53): "To teach man virtue for its own sake, and to walk in life relying on himself instead of leaning on a theological crutch, that for countless ages was the direct cause of nearly all human misery." (*)
Lucifer7 has been started with the explicit
aim not to avoid
controversy and in fact to seek it out. Despite this clear objective,
it had so far not brought out any e-mails which expressed discontent.
The last issue was the first to do that. Both the article by Ariel
Aretziel critisizing Alice Bailey and my own review of 'The Judge Case'
brought critical e-mails. The latter also gave rize to a few positive
responses. Daniel Caldwell even saw fit to republish the review on his
own web site. I see this as a sign that I am finally succeeding in my
aim to help bring out the truth by seeking out dogma's and controversy.
The controversy surrounding 'The Judge Case' has not ended in the
meantime. Fohat has seen fit to publish an anonymous letter that seems
(from Daniel Caldwell's quote from it) hardly fit for publication.
Caldwell deals with its implications better than I could have done on Theos-Talk
Dec 30, 2004 9:34
pm.
I wish you all wisdom and inspiration in the new
year.
(*) Dorothy Jinarajadasa in the Canadian Theosophist of January 1934, about the aim of the Theosophical Society.
To be brief, it is January the 4th which ought to be selected by the Theosophists—the Esotericists especially—as their New Year. January is under the sign of Capricornus, the mysterious Makara of the Hindu mystics—the “Kumaras,” it being stated, having incarnated in mankind under the 10th sign of the Zodiac. For ages the 4th of January has been sacred to Mercury-Budha,* or Thoth-Hermes. Thus everything combines to make of it a festival to be held by those who study ancient Wisdom. (C.W. XII, p. 76)
January—the Januarius dedicated to Janus the God of Time, the ever revolving cycle, the double-faced God—has one face turned to the East, the other to the West; the Past and the Future! Shall we propitiate and pray to him? Why not? His statue had 12 altars at its feet, symbolising the twelve signs of the Zodiac, the twelve great gods, the twelve months of the solar year and—the twelve Apostles of the Sun-Christ. Dominus was the title given to the Sun by the ancients; whence dies domini, dies solis, the “Sun-days.” Puer nobis nascitur dominus dominorum, sing the Roman Catholics on Christmas day. The statue of Janus-January carried engraved on his right hand the number 300, and on his left, 65, the number of the days in the Solar year; in one hand a sceptre, in the other a key, whence his name Janitor, the door-keeper of the Heavens, who opened the gates of the year at its beginning. Old Roman coins represent Janus bifrons on one side, and a ship on the other.
Have we not the right to see in him the prototype of Peter, the fisherman of the celestial ship, the Janitor of Paradise, to the gates of which he alone holds the keys? Janus presided over the four seasons. Peter presides over the four Evangelists. In Occultism the potency and significance of Numbers and Numerals lie in their right application and permutation. If we have to propitiate any mysterious number at all, we have most decidedly to address Janus-Peter, in his relation to the ONE—the Sun. (C.W. X, p. 279)
Every person who draws the breath of life affects the mental and moral atmosphere of the world, and helps to color the day for those about him. Those who do not help to elevate the thoughts and lives of others must of necessity either paralyze them by indifference, or actively drag them down...The Theosophist who is at all in earnest, sees his responsibilities and endeavors to find knowledge, living, in the meantime, up to the highest standard of which he is aware... Man's life is in his own hands, his fate is ordered by himself. Why then should not [2005] be a year of greater spiritual development than any we have lived through? It depends on ourselves to make it so. This is an actual fact, not a religious sentiment...Let no one imagine that it is a mere fancy, the attaching of importance to the birth of the year. The earth passes through its definite phases and man with it; and as a day can be colored, so can a year. The astral life of the earth is young and strong between Christmas and Easter. Those who form their wishes now will have added strength to fulfill them consistently" (CW IX, 3-5).
Every man or woman is endowed, more or less, with a magnetic personality, which when helped by a sincere, and especially by an intense and indomitable will -- is the most effective of magic levers placed by Nature in human hands -- for woe or weal. Let us then, Theosophists, use that will to send a sincere greeting and wish of good luck for the New Year to every living creature under the sun -- enemies and relentless traducers included. Let us try and feel especially kindly and forgiving to our foes and persecutors, honest or dishonest. (CW XII, 67).
The common vice of trying to palm off upon the
world the crude
imaginings or rhapsodical concoctions of one’s own brain, by claiming
their utterance as under divine inspiration, prevails largely among our
esteemed friends, the Spiritualists. Many clever persons known as
“trance speakers” and “inspirational writers” keep the thing up at a
lively rate, turning out oration after oration and book after book as
coming from the great dead, the planetary spirits, and even from God.
The great names of antiquity are evoked to father feeble books, and no
sooner is it known that a prominent character is deceased than some
mediums pretend to be his telephones, to discourse platitudes before
sympathetic audiences. Shakespeare’s imagination pictured to his mind
the mighty Caesar, turned to clay, being made to ‘stop a hole to keep
the wind away,”* but had he made a forecast of our Modern Spiritualism,
he would have found an even worse satire upon the impermanency of human
greatness, in the prospect of the dead Caesar being forced to say
stupidities that, alive, he would not have tolerated in one of his foot
soldiers. Some of our more optimistic friends of the spiritualistic
party postulate a halcyon time when mediumistic utterances will be
judged according to their intrinsic merit, like other oratorical and
literary productions, and it is to be hoped they may not deceive
themselves. The number of bright minds that are occupying themselves
with this great subject is assuredly on the increase, and with such men
as “M.A. (Oxon),” Mr. Massey, Mr. Roden Noel, and others of that class,
spiritualistic literature is always being enriched. But at the same
time we see no diminution as regards bogus platform sermons claiming to
come from Judge Edmonds, Robert Dale Owen, Epes Sargent, and Professors
Hare and Mapes, or books ascribed to the inspiration of Jehovah and his
ancient Spirits. Our poor Mr. Bennett, of the Truthseeker, had scarcely
had time to die before he was paraded as a spirit-control by an
American medium. The future has a gloomy look indeed to us when we
think that, despite their best endeavours to the contrary, the Founders
of the Theosophical Society are quite as liable as either of the
eminent gentlemen above mentioned—with all of whom the writer was
personally acquainted, and neither of whom, in all probability, ever
communicated one word that their alleged mediums attribute to them—to
an involuntary post-mortem recantation of their most cherished and
avowed ideas. We have been prompted to these remarks by a convincing
demonstration, by the Religio-Philosophical Journal, that a recent
“trance address” by our dear deceased friend Epes Sargent, through a
certain medium, was a sheer fabrication. A comparison of the same with
Mr. Sargent’s last and greatest spiritualistic work, The Scientific
Basis of Spiritualism, shows beyond question that he could never have
inspired any such mediumistic oration. While it is yet time, both the
founders of the Theosophical Society place upon record their solemn
promise that they will let trance mediums severely alone after they get
to “the other side.” If after this, any of the talking fraternity take
their names in vain, they hope that at least their theosophical
confrères will unearth this paragraph and warn the trespassers
off their astral premises. So far as we have observed, the best trance
speakers have been those who bragged least about their controls. “Good
wine needs no bush,” says the adage.
––––––––––
* [Hamlet, Act V, Sc. I, 235.]
Many religious movements have a start that reads as though
written
in some bygone age, when Gods walked with men. The start of the
Theosophical Society (TS) reads similarly: thoughts could be read like
newspapers, tea-cups materialized in the earth and Mahatmas (masters)
sent frequent messages to the elect. In other words: during the life of
Blavatsky, the first 16 years of the TS, a lot more seemed possible and
likely to occur than most theosophists these days expect to see
happening in their own lives. Especially those who were close to H.P.
Blavatsky lived in a world where 'the occult' became almost common
place.
As many theosophists were recruited from the
spiritualist movement,
they were already used to spirit-messages, tables moving on their own
accord, ghosts appearing in the flesh and even the rare materializing
object (*). Theosophists were therefore usually quite willing to
concede that much more was possible than science could prove. Blavatsky
went to great lengths to prove that what mediums produced unconsciously
(in a trance) she could produce consciously. Of course she could only
'prove' those to people present and most people were not. Still, these
phenomena drew people to the TS and a few stayed to study her
philosophy and that of other writers in The Theosophist. As the society
grew the amount of witnesses grew as well - so that phenomena were no
longer necessary. A.P. Sinnett, recipient of the majority of the
Mahatma Letters, wrote the book 'The Occult World' in which he reported
the phenomena he witnessed and shared some of the philosophy of the
Mahatmas he corresponded with.
Some of my readers may need to have these mahatmas
introduced. Their
pen names were Morya and Koot Hoomi Lal Sing, Koot Hoomi for short.
Both
are referred to by their initials, usually: M and KH. Morya and Koot
Hoomi are now amongst the names popular in certain new age-channelers
circles. These mahatmas remained illusive and did not want to give out
their real names. Still, contrary to popular opinion, in Blavatsky's
time they were assumed to occupy human bodies, though capable of
leaving these at will. Their letters arrived by mail and otherwise:
dropping out of thin air, wrapped up in other people's letters, at the
back of paintings, etc. Their manner or arrival made it likely that
their content would be well studied.
Scientists have wondered whether perhaps these
letters were simply
written by H.P. Blavatsky. Personally I don't think that is the case.
Still it does take belief in powers beyond the ordinary to be able to
see it that way. Anyhow, like H.P. Blavatsky, these Mahatmas stressed
self-reliance, ethical living and studying Indian philosophy. Their
references to Tibetan Buddhist doctrine include terminology that was
not known outside Tibet at the time (%). Mediums were classically
passive
(even unconscious) in relation to the spirits that talked through them,
so they were held up as prime examples of how not
to do it. (#)
Another problem with mediums is that they have no control over which
'spirit' talks through her (most were female). An interesting detail is
that Mahatma KH felt that vegetarian circles (most mediums worked with
circles) could be better relied on, because the inner purity of the
members attracted spirits which shared that purity. In other words:
animal food attracts impure spirits and influences. ($)
Classical theosophy thus holds that though spiritual
powers exist,
they should not be used indiscriminately. Or in other words: precisely because
spiritual powers exist, they should not be used indiscriminately.
According to Buddhist philosophy iddhis (or siddhis: spiritual powers)
may develop on the path to becoming an arhat, but they are never to be
sought for their own sake (curiosity or love of power) as they distract
from what is really important. It is felt that if spiritual powers
develop they should only be used for the general good of sentient
beings (or mankind) and never bragged about. This pretty much
disqualifies every clairvoyant, or medium or channeler who market their
skill.
(*) Most mediums, psychics and channelers stick to
giving messages,
these days. Scientists, then and now, usually assume that all
the above mentioned phenomena were simply stage magic tricks. Some
theosophists agree and provide a 'spiritual' explanation. (source)
(%) See the work of David and Nancy Reigle. http://www.easterntradition.org/
(#) Channelers are usually defined as anyone who produces texts with
the help of spirits. This includes people who go into trance and people
who don't. This is a clear example of a lack of discriminating
terminology that makes it difficult to talk about the occult processes
involved. Those channelers that go into trance run all the risks
classic mediums do: they open themselves up to outside forces without
having any control over the quality of those forces.
($) The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett (Chronological version: Letter
No. 49) (ML-48) Rec. March 3, 1882
Caharqua, of the place once called “Central Land,” but now lost to the annals of man, sought wisdom and essayed the helping of mankind. But with the other half of his mind and body, both being strong and able, he sought also for gold and the praise of men.
His life not proving to be as he had hoped, he applied to Joncala, the Companion, respected by him, for advice. Said he:
“I have sought fulfillment of aims, and have achieved in diverse ways. But always envy and jealousy have pursued me. In the moment of triumph I have been flagellated with lies and scourged by contumely; yes, even at the hands of those most benefiting. When seeking renown, men striving more mightily toward the same end, have accused me of overweening ambition; and others, holding much more gold less scrupulously attained, accuse me of greed. It is as though hate were drawn to me as by a magnet, clinging to deeds esteemed innocent when done by others. Upon an occasion, when the land was in peril of evil times, I pointed it out, showing the measures that must be taken lest disaster befall. They spat upon me for this, including those having most to lose by ignoring my words. I was even threatened with the King’s wrath for upsetting the equanimity of the realm.
“It then happened that sorrow came as I had warned; but instead of proclaiming my wisdom and making amends, the people elevated small men, even those men who had most abused me for my foresight, into new powers. These powers were then used to bring about, in a weak and partial way, the measures that I had first preached. In no way was my name mentioned in this, but these small ones proclaimed loudly that it was they who had had wisdom all along. And the people, who a brief year previously had scoffed at my understanding, believed them. My name, when recalled at all, was of one known as mad. And indeed, mention of my name brought to some a vague resentment, they having in some inscrutable manner identified the one who warned of disaster, with the cause of that disaster.
“Thus, it happens that, able and capable, among those sadly needing my service and guidance, myself also holding much wealth and successful in many enterprises, I am unloved and without ease. How is this?”
Said Joncala: “You do many things well in a land where men do few things, and those poorly. In spite of much envy and hate, you have gained wealth against multitudes opposing such gain. Have you noted fear toward you on the part of the people?”
“Yes, but why?”
“There are two kinds of men in the world. To the one, an encounter with the unknown is an invitation to embrace and understand; a meeting with superiority is an incentive to emulation. To the other sort, all that is unknown is to be feared; perceived superiority is to be envied and hated, without hope or emulation.
“It is your karma to have been born in a land ruled by this latter breed. Your own success in objectives envied by them, has hitherto walled away from you also those few who might otherwise have been known to you as understanding friends.”
“What sin, then, have I committed, to be thus born out of proper time and place, in a tribe where superiority makes me inferior?”
“It is not a sin; it is an enterprise not yet properly understood. Let us imagine a man of noble aim secretly entering a foreign land for the purpose of conspiring to liberate it from an oppressor. How would he conduct himself?”
“He would go in other than his own likeness.”
“What occupation would he seek?”
“Whatever occupation would best bring him to those of like mind.”
“Would the achievements dear to the natives of that land be an object to him?”
“No; such achievements would not interest him, and in fact would bring upon him undesirable notice. This would also be true of those whom he sought. In this relation, superior capacity exhibits itself in perfect simulation of the commonplace.”
“If necessary, then, he would, in pursuit of his object, sweep floors, clean sewers, or even cut up corpses on the Hill of the Dead?”
“Such exigencies would perhaps forsooth lend spice to the great adventure. But such poor are pinned down in movement, restricted in association, and lack time for aught but winning bread.”
“Tell me, then, his conduct in your own words.”
“He would disguise himself upon entering the land; he would then endeavor to discover the paths of those of like mind, and place himself in their way by following some suitable but modest occupation. He would be neither poor nor rich in seeming, seek lodgings neither bare no luxurious; eat food neither cheap nor costly. In a word, his way would be the Great Median - outwardly; a secret enterprise inwardly. Such a man, if of good address, may associate with the great, yet move also unquestioned among the poor. The spies of war lords so act with ill intent; a lover of mankind might so act with good intent.”
“For him, then, the gaining of gold and fame would be at best diversions from the issue; at worst, dire hindrance and peril to the mission?”
“Even so. And illumination now falls upon the perplexities of my life.”
“Would there be another reason why this agent of a superior land should not exhibit his accomplishments in this dark and inferior one?”
Caharqua thought for some time.
“Perhaps. What else?”
“I think that envy and hatred roused by one of superior power would retard the evolution of these beings and bring upon them great future disasters. Better then, that these things be done badly by them, than well by others, if hate be the price of the doing.”
“Have we, then, really anything more to discuss on this matter?”
“Only this: I know no land of birth save this one. Of what superior race am I native?”
“Let us assume that in entering this dark land, an agent of its deliverance must at the border suffer a sickness depriving him of material memory. This would not change his true nature, nor the power of a vow undertaken long ago?”
“No; it would not. What then is the name of the oppressor from whom this land is to be delivered?”
“Mara is the name.”
[Preamble] People
have long sought to enrich their lives and to awaken to their full
natures through spiritual practices including prayer, meditation,
mind-body disciplines, service, ritual, community liturgy, holy-day and
seasonal observances, and rites of passage. "Primary religious
practices" are those intended, or especially likely, to bring about
exceptional states of consciousness such as the direct experience of
the divine, of cosmic unity, or of boundless awareness.
In any community, there are some who feel called to assist
others along
spiritual paths, and who are known as ministers, rabbis, pastors,
curanderas, shamans, priests, or other titles. We call such people
'guides': those experienced in some practice, familiar with the
terrain, and who act to facilitate the spiritual practices of others. A
guide need not claim exclusive or definitive knowledge of the terrain.
Spiritual practices, and especially primary religious
practices, carry
risks. Therefore, when an individual chooses to practice with the
assistance of a guide, both take on special responsibilities. The
Council on Spiritual Practices proposes the following Code of Ethics
for those who serve as spiritual guides.
ESOTERIC T.S. SECTION"As Head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, I hereby declare that William Q. Judge, of New York, U.S., in virtue of his character as a chela of thirteen year's standing, and of the trust and confidence reposed in him, is my only representative for said Section in America, and he is the sole channel through whom will be sent and received all communications between the members of said Section and myself, and to him full faith, confidence and credit in that regard are to be given , [three dots in shape of a triangle as if stamp of Master M's approval] Done at London this fourteenth day of December, 1888, and in the fourteenth year of the Theosophical Society."[SEAL] H.P. BLAVATSKY, [again three dots which can't be reproduced in my e-mail]
London, October 23d, 1889....The Esoteric Section and its life in the U.S.A. depend upon W.Q.J. remaining its agent and what he is now. The day W.Q.J. resigns, H.P.B. will be virtually dead for the Americans. W.Q.J. is the Antahkarana between the two Manas(es), the American thought and the Indian,----or rather the trans-Himalayan esoteric knowledge. Dixi. H.P.B. [triangle dots]P.S. W.Q.J. had better show and impress this on the mind of all those it may concern. H.P.B.
Another point to be made about your otherwise splendid review is that Countess W. did not seem to be aware of how Judge rose to H.P. Blavatsky's defense in the United States newspapers, such as the New York Sun. He also had a hand in the legal action against Elliot Coues when he tried to take over the society in America and claimed that H.P. Blavatsky wanted him to do so. Judge was her defense lawyer in the Coues case, which you can read more about if you have the index to the Echoes series. If you do not have that series, it can be ordered from Kenneth Small at wisdomtraditions.com; and could help with your fine online journal which my husband Nicholas has been telling me about. Also I do not believe that K.Tingley was a client of Judge, but a trusted friend who cared for him during his period of convalescence in the warmer Southern States. She may have had mediumistic tendencies, but never claimed to be a medium nor ever encouraged her students to consult mediums.
-
I was very pleased with your articulate handling of the Fohat criticisms of the H.P.Blavatsky collected letters project, for which we know how hard Dr. Algeo worked to regather and carefully re-check the letters after John Cooper's death. My own response will be printed in the next Fohat issue, according to Ernie. It is with great regret I see Fohat magazine as interpreting the T.S. efforts as a conspiracy against Blavatsky. You and I know better; in my case having had seminars given by John on H.P.B. at the Krotona Institute in Ojai California, and in working with him as a proof-reader on the editorial board. Unfortunately the subtitle of Ernie's Judge Case book (which I have not yet had a chance to peruse) also uses the word "Conspiracy". Nor do I think an such imagined conspiracy "Ruined the Theosophical Cause." The cause would be on fairly shakey ground if it could be ruined so easily; the Cause goes on despite the many human failings of the Theosophists in various organizations, or individuals.
I used to have great trust in the Theosophical History journal, but now see that its writers (often scholars skeptical of our teachings on the Mahatmas) have their own academic axes to grind.
Katinka, my task as an executor of B.deZ's literary estate was simply to deliver the archives to Wheaton, Illinois; which we began doing a month before Boris passed on here in our home, under his guidance. I am certain if he had lived he would have questioned and added much editorial commentary about the Solovyev letters.
Our thanks to you for your courageous defense of John Algeo and the efforts by the Society over the past decades to get back on track with the original founder. Of course lots of this credit goes also to Joy Mills with all her wonderful seminars on the Secret Doctrine world-wide, and especially at Ojai, California. Hopefully you will one day visit California and we may meet. Meanwhile, after the holidays I will try to go to your online site more often.
Sincere Regards,
Dara Eklund
Dear Dara,
I do have the volumes 'The Echoes of the Orient'.
They are indeed
very interesting. Otherwize thanks for the kind words and the extra
information. Most of it is well known, but my readers may not all be
aware of the above. As for Theosophical History - I think it is an
excellent magazine and was much interested in the last issue where the
chronology of Blavatsky's early years was touched on (indirectly). I
did not know about Fullerton being a pedofile, but even if he was, that
does not automatically disqualify him as a witness.
Katinka Hesselink
This is the method of training of the younger chelas - down there at home. They record every small circumstance, compare their accumulated numbers, deduct their conclusions from the premises & those syllogisms lead them unerringly onward. It helps sharpening intuitions & sensitiveness[,] develops clairvoyance & every chela comes to recognize instantaneously the smallest change in the invisible aura of the ever present thought of [11] his guru who guides the events though he never creates them. Do you understand, oh Lamb of god? Try to.Katinka Hesselink
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