THE PSEUDO-OCCULTISM OF ALICE BAILEY

Alice Cleather was one of the closest disciples of Helena Blavatsky and later she went to live for many years in Orient where she studied with great Lamas, and therefore she is a very capable person to talk about the teachings that the Trans-Himâlayan Masters transmitted to Occident.

(You can discover the life of this extraordinary woman here)

And when Alice Cleather read the aberrations that Mrs. Bailey wrote (who pretended to be the new messenger of the Masters), outraged by such much falsehood, she wrote a long article with the collaboration of her friend Basil Crump (who was also a great connoisseur of Esotericism and Buddhism), detailing the lies that Mrs. Bailey wrote in her books.

And below I transcribe this article for those who want to analyze its content, originally published in pamphlet form in 1929 under the title:

THE PSEUDO-OCCULTISM OF ALICE BAILEY

    Table of Contents:

  1. Introductory Note by J.C.Miller

  2. Preface

  3. Notes on "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" by Basil Crump

  4. Additional Notes "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" by Alice Cleather

  5. Notes on "Initiation, Human and Solar" by Alice Cleather

"In the labyrinth of words the mind is lost like a man in a thick forest."

Sri Sankaracharya

(The Crest Jewel of Wisdom)

1. INTRODUCTORY NOTE

It has been said in the Vedic literature that truth shines in its own glory - true, and that is why it sometimes happens to be the fond pleasure of a great deal of sham to pass for truth and delude people with its magic spells. But it does not take a long time for discerning minds to peer through the think veil of delusive luster and expose its inherent ugliness to the light of hitherto concealed facts.

"The best defense is an attack" is an old military maxim, and such is this publication. But it is a reasonable and reasoned attack, appealing to the reader's logical faculties and treating the subject on the high plane that is in keeping with its really vital importance.

The authors, however, need no introduction in literary circles where their collaboration in four volumes on “Wagner's Symbolic Music-Dramas”, interpreted according to his Prose Works, established their reputations over a quarter of a century ago.

Mrs. Cleather was one of the first members of the Branch of the Trans-Himâlayan Esoteric School established in England by Madame Blavatsky in 1888, and later she was chosen as one of the twelve members of the Inner Group presided over by that faithful Agent of the Masters.

With her son, Mr. Gordon Cleather, and Mr. Basil Crump, she went to India in 1918, and there the three were initiated into the Tibetan Gelugpa (Yellow Cap) Order, at Buddha Gaya, in 1920.

In 1926 they were received, and their membership ratified, at Peking, China, by His Serene Holiness The Tashi Lama of Tashi-Lhumpo, Tibet, who is the Head of the Gelugpa Order throughout Asia. Mr. Gordon Cleather has since studied Tibetan with his secretary and has also learned Chinese. Thus it will be seen that they possess exceptional qualifications for judging anything purporting to emanate from Tibetan sources.

Mr. Crump is a Cambridge University man, a Barrister of the Middle Temple, and for twelve years was editor of the Law Times and a departmental editor of The Field and The Queen.

This latest attempt to obtain credence for another system of allegedly Oriental learning by presenting it as an amplification of the doctrines expounded by Blavatsky is further recognition of her preeminence in that field, and more of the imitation that is such sincere flattery.

May it not be, however, that in seeking guidance concerning the profoundest questions in life, it is wisdom to accept NO SUBSTITUTE?

J.C. Miller

Manila, March, 1929

2. PREFACE

The following notes and comments on two of Mrs. Bailey's principal works: “A Treatise on Cosmic Fire”, and “Initiation, Human and Solar”, were undertaken at the suggestion of Mr. J.C. Miller, of Manila, a member of the Blavatsky Association, as part of the work assigned to its Defense Committee.

That work, as we understand it, includes such as was done in “H.P. Blavatsky: A Great Betrayal”; and it will be seen that the present notes are directed against another aspect of the same movement. ⁽¹⁾  They do not profess to be in any way complete, but merely aim at drawing attention to a few salient points which will at once strike students familiar with Blavatsky's works.

We particularly wish to emphasize that we have undertaken this extremely distasteful task only from a strong sense of our duty to the cause of Blavatsky and her work.

We have never met Mrs. Bailey, and not having previously read any of her books, we were unaware how closely their general scheme and phraseology resemble that of the Besant and Leadbeater’s Neo-Theosophy, which includes the Liberal Catholic Church and World-Teacher propaganda.

Both the latter are more or less veiled attempts to divert the pure stream of Oriental Esoteric Philosophy, introduced to the West by H.P. Blavatsky, into a definitely Christian channel. This is done partly by the substitution of such terms as "God," "The Logos" (as a He), "The Trinity," "The Master Jesus," etc., etc.

At the same time, in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire an astute endeavor is made, by copious references to and quotations from Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, to convey the impression that the former is a continuation of the latter in fact, a "fragment of the Secret Doctrine" (Foreword, x).

Even such a cursory examination as we have had time to give, however, has convinced us that there is little or nothing in common between them. The impression left on the mind is that of a subtle attempt to substitute a specifically Christian system for the universal one of the Secret Doctrine, rather than "confirming and amplifying" that marvelous work, as admirers of book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire have stated.

In a letter to the Occult Review, July, 1928, Mrs. Bailey denies that she ever claimed that her alleged inspirer "The Tibetan" with whom she has "co-operated in producing" the books Cosmic Fire, Initiation, etc., is one of the Masters of the Trans-Himalayan Group.

"It is the express wish of the Tibetan," she declares, "that his real name be withheld; it is his desire that the books be studied and valued on the basis of their own intrinsic worth and by their appeal or non-appeal to the intuition, and not because any person presumes to claim authority for them." ⁽²⁾

We have kept this injunction carefully in mind, and have judged the statements of the "Tibetan" strictly on their face value. Further, Mrs. Bailey quotes what she said so far back as February, 1923, in her magazine The Beacon, about "the blind credulity of a certain group who accept any statement provided it is backed by an Hierarchical claim of some kind, and the narrow sectarianism which would make a prophet out of Blavatsky and a Bible out of the Secret Doctrine."

The first part of this extract applies much more to the Besant and Leadbeater doctrines and to Mrs. Bailey's own books (which fairly bristle with implied, if not expressed, "authority") than to the Secret Doctrine.

Blavatsky's claim for that work is couched in the words of Montaigne: "I have here made only a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the string that ties them" (S.D. I, xivi).

After all, what is there of "blind credulity" and "narrow sectarianism" in regarding Blavatsky as a "prophet: and the Secret Doctrine as a "Bible" in the best sense of those terms?

Was she not a true prophet and one who brought a wonderful message entirely new to the modern world?

Where else is to be found the gigantic and all-embracing threefold system of evolution so clearly and convincingly expounded in the Secret Doctrine, supported by a wealth of evidence from every imaginable source?

The work stands absolutely alone, unapproached and unapproachable in our times; a monument so great that it is even yet too near us to be adequately appreciated.

Its appeal throughout is entirely to reason and never to credulity.

As Mr. Baseden Butt says in the finest estimate yet written:

« If these, and her other writings, were all produced by Madame Blavatsky's unaided talent, she must have possessed the intellectual resources of at least three ordinary geniuses . . . This amazing woman has handled with the authentic tones of Authority the profoundest, most vital and abstruse subjects known to mankind. »

(Mme Blavatsky. By G. Baseden Butt. London: Rider and Co., 1926, p.216)

Mrs. Bailey evidently considers that her own works are to be judged on the same level, for she continues:

« It is high time, therefore, that occult books should be put forth and judged because of their contents and not because this, that and the other Master is supposed to be responsible for them or because they agree or disagree with the Secret Doctrine. »

Mrs. Bailey's evident implication that the Secret Doctrine was "put forth and judged" in the latter sense is entirely false, as any student with an intelligent understanding of its contents will agree.

That the Masters Kuthumi and Morya assisted her disciple Blavatsky to write it, as stated both by them and by her (see “Mahatma Letters”, and her own to Sinnett), makes no difference to one's judgment of its value and immensity.

Unfortunately for Mrs. Bailey's disclaimer, her "Tibetan-Brother" is undoubtedly believed by most of her followers to be a member of the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood, as two of the most prominent in America have themselves told us.

The name Tibetan, coupled with the assumption of practically unlimited knowledge, inevitably suggest it. Her books are full of pure assertions concerning the Universe and it most advanced beings which only a high Adept could possess – if true, which in most instances seems more than doubtful.

Finally, a most important claim made by Mrs. Bailey in her Foreword to Cosmic Fire, must not be overlooked. She says (p. x):

« It aims to provide a reasonably logical plan of systemic evolution ⁽³⁾ and to indicate to man the part he must play as an atomic unit in a great and corporate whole. »

Evidently, then, Mrs. Bailey and the "Tibetan" consider the scheme of evolution offered in the Secret Doctrine as inadequate, and offer their own in its place.

Apart from the difficulty of discovering anything "systemic" at all in the book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, it is quite clear that the "Tibetan" (if he is really one) is not in agreement with the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood.

In that case one would infer from what is said in the Mahatma Letters that he may belong to the "Red Capped Brothers of the Shadow" (see Index under Dugpas).

As Master Kuthumi says (p. 322):

« The opposition represents enormous vested interests, and they have enthusiastic help from the Dugpas - in Bhutan and the Vatican! »

Hence the Christian terminology that characterizes some of their efforts in the realm of Occultism.

Alice Leighton Cleather

And Basil Crump

Peking, February, 1929

3. NOTES ON "A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE"

By Basil Crump

INTRODUCTORY POSTULATES

These are stated to be "extensions of the three fundamentals to be found in the Proem in the first volume of the Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky." But in reality Mrs. Bailey develops a whole cosmic scheme of her own, which includes a new set of so-called Stanzas of Dzyan, a Solar Logos also called "God," a Triple Solar System consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a Triple Human Being, and a triple Atom.

Also Seven centers of Logoic Force, and Seven Rays which include those of "Love-Wisdom," "Harmony, Beauty and Art," and "Devotion and Abstract Idealism."

The reader is constantly referred to passages in the Secret Doctrine, but very few of the terms used, e.g., "Love-Wisdom," "Abstract," "Idealism," "Logoic," etc.,-etc., will be found there.

My impression is that this is done to mislead the student into thinking that this work is on Blavatsky's lines, whereas even a cursory examination shows that it is entirely different and is really designed very cleverly to lead the student away from the real teaching and confuse his mind with an imposing mass of apparently very learned information which really means little or nothing and leads nowhere.

The method is somewhat similar to, but less obvious and more clever than, that of Leadbeater, but I think that the power behind is the same, working with the same object on a different line for a more intellectual type of mind. It is of considerable significance that Leadbeater and Mrs. Besant are frequently quoted, and their Christ and World Teacher doctrines taken for granted.

MRS. BAILEY'S "TIBETAN TEACHER"

With regard to the source of Mrs. Bailey's information, it has long been understood that she receives it in a psychic, telepathic, or inspirational form from a "Tibetan Teacher."

Referring to the book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, a writer in the Canadian Theosophist for December, 1926, says:

« This material also has been received from the Tibetan Teacher not by any automatic process but apparently in much the same way as the Secret Doctrine was written. . . . It is not a fanciful or arbitrary revelation, but rather a turning of what H.P. Blavatsky called the analogical key in the Secret Docrine lock. The result is startling, almost as startling as the Secret Doctrine itself. »

He goes on to describe and praise Mrs. Bailey's Arcane School, which is evidently intended as a successor to Blavatsky's Esoteric School, with of course Mrs. Bailey as its "Outer Head" or mouthpiece for the "Tibetan Teacher."

The scheme for what one may call a new and improved (?) edition of Blavatsky's work is therefore complete, and comment thereon is scarcely necessary. Conclusions may be drawn for the moment from the following notes:

GOD, THE LOGOS AND THE HIERARCHY

The word "God" is constantly used, and great stress is laid on the "Love Aspect of the Logos"; but the references given to the Secret Doctrine contain no such term.

This sort of trick is found throughout the book; for in nearly every instance, on looking it up, the reference given uses different phraseology or has no application at all.

Thus, on p. 66, Fohat is stated to be "Love-Wisdom," and a footnote refers to S.D. I, 100, 144,155, (Besant Edition), but on looking them up one finds: p. 100 "Blazing Dragon of wisdom"; p. 144, "Fohat, in his capacity of DIVINE LOVE (Eros*), the electric Power of affinity and sympathy"; p. 155, no mention of Fohat, Love, or Wisdom. Next Mrs. Bailey says Fohat is "god" and refers to S.D. I, 167, but we there find in a footnote that what she calls "God" is "absolute Be-Ness, “SAT".

(*Foot note: As in the oldest Grecian Cosmogony, differing widely from the later mythology, Eros is the third person in the primeval trinity: Chaos, Gaea, Eros. - S.D. I, 109)

And if we turn to p. 376 (352 Old Edition) we read:

« When the Theosophists and Occultists say that God is no BEING, for IT is nothing, No-Thing, they are more reverential and religiously respectful to the Deity than those who call God a HE, and thus make of HIM a gigantic MALE. »

The question is dealt with at considerable length by The Master Kuthumi in Letter X, Mahatma Letters, p. 52, where he says:

« We deny God both as philosophers and as Buddhists. We know there are planetary and other spiritual lives, and we know there is in our system no such thing as God, either personal or impersonal. »

One may search in vain for Mrs. Bailey's "Ray of Love-Wisdom" in the Secret Doctrine, and the references (p.74) given to it concerning the "Love aspect of the Logos" contain nothing of the kind. These are only a few out of dozens of such examples in the two volumes.

At p. 91 the "Fourth Creative Hierarchy" is "male," but surely creative power is male in any case. The word "Love" is used ad nauseam throughout the work and even the Ego is called the "Love Aspect" (147).

ASSERTION AND PROPHECY

Confident assertions are made as to what exactly will take place in future Rounds, e.g. "The Logos of our scheme, Sanat Kumara, will take a major initiation in the middle of the Fifth Round, but is preparing for a minor one at this time"(p.374).

According to the Secret Doctrine (I, p.456-7) there are seven Kumaras, who are the Solar angels that endowed man with his immortal Ego. Sanat Kumara (see Theosophical Glossary, p.289) is the most prominent of these, and therefore it is misleading to apply the name to the Logos. (See also below in this article)

Observe particularly that the Bailey scheme entirely ignores the Buddha Hierarchy emanating from Adi-Buddha (S.D. I, 570) substituting the Solar Logos, the Trinity, and Seven Rays, one of which {"Love-Wisdom") includes "The Christ, the World Teacher." ⁽⁴⁾

It is obvious-therefore that, like Leadbeater, Mrs. Bailey is really working in the interests of the Christian system by introducing its terminology and concepts into works that are ostensibly expositions of the Esoteric Philosophy of the Masters and Blavatsky, but are really cleverly masked Christian propaganda.

For instance, the Seven Dhyani Buddhas here become Seven Rays, under three of which (those of "Aspect") are grouped various Masters, including those mentioned by Blavatsky and several others.

The Christ comes first under the "Love-Wisdom Aspect" and "the Master Jesus" under the "Intelligence Aspect." See elaborate Chart of "Solar and Planetary Hierarchies" with key on pages 1238-1239.

"THE MASTER JESUS"

The book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire Cosmic Fire positively bristles with pronouncements concerning the "Master Jesus." (e.g. p.757 et seq.)

·        "The coming of Him for whom all nations wait."

·        "The Son of Man will again tread the highways of man and His physical incarnation will be fact."

·        "The Master Jesus will take a physical vehicle and effect a re-spiritualization of the Catholic Churches about 1980". (Here we have the sure sign of a certain influence which is also evident in the Besant-Leadbeater Liberal Catholic Church scheme.)

·        "Christ occupied the body of Jesus.... Few are as Christ is, and have the power to make a dual appearance. This type of monad is only found on Rays two, four, six."

Compare this with what is said on the Buddha's powers in the Mahatma Letters, pp. 43, 47. See also p. 344 concerning "real Christ of every Christian" and "the man Jeshu." Neither the Masters nor Blavatsky ever write of the Christ as an individual Being, but always as a principle in man.

THE LOGOS IN FACT AND FICTION

The "Logos" is a very Prominent feature of this book, in various forms, such as "Cosmic, "Solar," "Planetary," about all of which we are given intimate Personal details, as to their "initiations," "incarnations," etc. But nothing of this kind is ever assumed in the Secret Doctrine.

As most people, outside this branch of study, do not know what a Logos is, and as Mrs. Bailey prefers assertion to exposition, I will give Blavatsky's definition from her Theosophical Glossary:

« Logos (Gr.) - The manifested deity with every nation and people: the outward expression, or the effect of the cause which is ever concealed. Thus, speech is the Logos of thought; hence it is aptly translated by the 'Verbum' or 'Word', in its metaphysical sense. »

In the Secret Doctrine, I, 573 (1st Ed.) we are told that

« The Logos is the Iswara of the Hindus which the Vedantins say is the highest consciousness in nature - 'the sum total of Dhyan Chohanic consciousness' according to the Occultists. »

It will at once be seen how greatly these differ from Mrs. Bailey's limited and personal conception. S.D. I, pp. 571-2 should also be studied in this connection. Needless to say, no such idea as the “Initiation” of a Logos is to be found in the Secret Doctrine.

There is an immense amount of this sort of thing, very much on the Leadbeater lines of pure assertion with implied authority in the background.

How different from Blavatsky, of whom the Masters say in the Mahatma Letters, p.289:

« She had to bring the whole arsenal of proofs with her, quotations from Paul and Plato, from Plutarch and James, etc., before the Spiritualists admitted that the Theosophists were right. »

Mrs. Bailey scorns such a method - she is content to assert, or her "Tibetan" is.

Prophecies and bold statements concerning evolution on the Earth abound in the book: e.g. p. 390:

« An entirely new group of human beings will sweep into incarnation in our Earth scheme.... Entities will come in from Mars.... Mecurian life will begin to synthesize etc. [In regular Leadbeater style] »

Presumably we are to regard these as examples of "turning the analogical key in the Secret Doctrine lock," although nothing of the sort is to be found in that work. ⁽⁵⁾

Notwithstanding the unsparing condemnation of Spiritualism in the Mahatma Letters, we read at p. 456 (footnote) that:

« Master Hilarian (sic), a Cretan Master, is interested in the Spiritualistic movement. »

Also that a:

« Hungarian Master, Rakoczi, is the Regent of Europe and America under the “Great White Brotherhood." »

This a term coined by the Besant and Leadbeater doctrine and never used by H.P. Blavatsky. (See post p. 33) ⁽⁶⁾

IGNORANCE CONCERNING THE BUDDHA

Considering that these teachings are supposed to come from a "Tibetan," a remarkable ignorance is shown about the Buddha and his real standing in the Occult Hierarchy. For instance, we are told, at page 210:

« The Buddha held office prior to the present World Teacher and upon his Illumination His place was taken by Lord Maitreya ⁽⁷⁾ whom the Occidentals call Christ. »

(p. 211, note)

This World Teacher, who is also called here "the Great Lord, the Christ," is a specifically Leadbeater invention; so is the identification of Maitreya (the next Buddha) with the Christ, the object from the Christian propaganda standpoint being evident. But the whole scheme is entirely foreign to the Oriental teaching of the Secret Doctrine.

One has only to turn to the Mahatma Letters and look up the references to the Buddha to see what a supreme position is given to him by the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood.

I have collected and commented on these passages under the title "Tibetan Initiates on the Buddha" in Part III of our new book Buddhism the Science of Life (Peking, 1928), pointing out their significance in connection with present developments in Asia. ⁽⁸⁾

"THE PHENOMENON CALLED SEX ACTIVITY"

Mrs. Bailey even associates the Logos with Sex! Thus (p.721):

« The Law of Attraction deals with the ability of the Logos to “love wisely;” in the occult sense of the term. It has relation to the polarization of the Logos in His astral body, and produces the phenomenon called “sex activity.” »

Is this another specimen of "turning the analogical key in the Secret Doctrine lock"?

If so, the result is scarcely encouraging; and when we read (p. 905) of "the throat center of a planetary Logos and of a Solar Logos" we realize that sheer anthropomorphism can go no further.

Moreover, the "Mahachohan" (as Mrs. Bailey writes the name) is stated (pages 907-908) to be directly connected with "the effect that the devas of the kundalini fire are producing upon man" in the direction of sex activity.

The passage is too long and unintelligible to quote here; the point to note for anyone who has learnt from Blavatsky and the Masters something of the nature of the Maha Chohan, is the desecration involved in even mentioning his name in such a connection. ⁽⁹⁾

Another example of Mrs. Bailey's ignorance of what Blavatsky really was occurs at p. 1037:

« Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Harvey, and the Curies are, on their own line of force, lightbringers of equal rank with Blavatsky. »

Confucius, we are told, is to reincarnate and superintend the work of "rendering radioactive ⁽¹⁰⁾ some of the foremost thinkers."

Our Chinese friends will appreciate this piece of information.

« Cosmic rapture and rhythmic bliss (sic) are the attributes of the Fourth Path. It is a form of identification which is divorced from consciousness altogether. » ⁽¹¹⁾

Those who follow this Fourth Way are called "the blissful dancing points of fanatical devotion." which suggests nothing so much as dancing dervishes!

IMITATION STANZAS OF DZYAN

An alleged extract in Stanzas of Dzyan style "From the Archives of the Lodge" is given at pages 747-748, headed "The Coming Avatar."

The following is a specimen of the flamboyant language:

« Greater the chaos becometh; the major center with all the seven circulating spheres rock with the echoes of disintegration. The fumes of utter blackness mount upwards in dissipation. The noise discordant of the warring elements greets the oncoming One, and deters Him not. »

Again, at page 1267, we find a set of "Seven Esoteric Stanzas from Archaic Formulas." A note informs us that they "form only one true stanza out of the oldest book in the world, and one which the eye of the average man has never contacted" (sic).

The last of them is headed, as one might expect, with "The Path of Absolute Sonship," and ends suggestively with "To Him be glory of the Mother, Father, Son, as the One Who hath existed in the past, the now and That which is to come."

The "Finale" begins with "The morning stars sang in their courses" and ends with" the marriage song of the Heavenly Man."

A specimen of the alleged "Stanzas of Dzyan" may also be given:

« Riseth the cave of beauty rare, of color iridescent. Shineth (sic) the walls with azure tint, bathed in the light of rose. The blending shade of blue irradiates the whole and all is merged in gleaming. »

(Stanza VII, p. 22.) ⁽¹²⁾

What a contrast to the genuine Stanzas in the S.D., e.g. I, 35:

1)   The Eternal Parent (Space), wrapped in her ever invisible robes, had slumbered once again for seven eternities.

2)   Time was not, for it lay in the infinite bosom of Duration.

The statement at page 749 that Blavatsky was "overshadowed" by "One greater than an Adept" scarcely agrees with what we glean about her occult status in the Mahatma Letters and elsewhere. ⁽¹³⁾

However, at page 757 she is described as "a true psychic and conscious medium," which is the spiritualistic theory above which A.P. Sinnett likewise was never able to rise, especially after her death.

At the close of this century, we are told, the "Avatar will come as the Teacher of Love and Unity, and the Keynote He will strike will be regeneration through love poured forth on all."

Imagine Blavatsky or the Masters writing this kind of sentimental stuff, such as one reads in Christian tracts or the "Order of the Star" literature.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WOULD-BE MAGICIANS

Pages 996-1026 contain "Fifteen Rules for Magic" in the section "Thought and Fire Elementals."

They are in Mrs. Bailey's usual verbose and pseudo-Apocalyptic style, and are led up to by a clever touch concerning "an old book of magic, hidden in the caves of learning, guarded by the Masters"., from which some "appropriate words" are quoted:

« The Brothers of the Sun, through the force of solar fire, fanned to a flame in the blazing vault of the second Heaven, put out the lower lunar fires, and render naught the lower “fire by friction.” »

« The Brother of the Moon ignores the sun and solar heat; borrows his fire from all that triply is, and pursues his cycle. The fires of hell await, and lunar fire dies out. Then neither sun nor moon avails him, only the highest heaven awaits the spark electric, seeking vibration synchronous from that which lies beneath. And yet it cometh not. »

In case the reader should fail to make any sense of this gem of "magic," he is told that:

« The terminology is in the nature of a blind, which ever carries revelation to those who have the clue, but tends to perplex and to bewilder the student who as yet is unready for the truth. »

It need hardly be added that nowhere in this entire "labyrinth of words," running to a total of 1282 pages, is the exact nature of the 'clue' more than darkly hinted at, as in the present instance. An old and common trick, usually employed to conceal the complete absence of either clue or meaning. ⁽¹⁴⁾

"Rule I" runs thus: "The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force, but in meditation deep communicates with his reflection." why this is termed a "Rule" is not quite clear. ⁽¹⁵⁾

The other fourteen Rules are of course equally meaningless and obscure - without the "clue." These Rules are given with over thirty pages of copious comments which make confusion worse confounded, containing such terms as "the magician" (for whose use they are formulated), "Solar Angel," "Egoic Lotus," "the Illuminator," "the eye of the Magician," "the Agnichaitans," "the Agnisuryans," etc.

ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION OF COLOR

« The “Eye of Shiva,” when perfected, is blue in color [R. VI, p.1011] and as our solar Logos is the “Blue Logos,” so do His children occultly resemble Him; but this color must be interpreted esoterically. »

This last is a specimen of the sort of weird jumble which constitutes the major part of this book, in which Blavatsky and her Secret Doctrine are much quoted and referred to in footnotes, more as a blind to the reader than as bearing any real relation to Mrs. Bailey's own scheme.

Familiar words and phrases are twisted from their proper and original setting and use, in an effort to compile an imposing work which may appear on the surface to continue the same line of teaching, but is really quite different.

The language is certainly not such as any "Tibetan," or indeed any Oriental, would use. In fact, as I have shown, it is distinctively Christian; and Mrs. Bailey's inspirer, if a separate entity at all, is much more likely to be an ecclesiastic of that faith who (like many of them nowadays) has familiarized himself with the literature of Occultism and is trying to make it fit the Christian scheme.

It has even been suggested, not without some justification, that the "Tibetan" is merely a misleading generic term for a council of astute theologians for whom Mrs. Bailey is the mouthpiece and scribe.

4. ADDITIONAL NOTES ON "A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE"

By Alice Cleather

SUBTLE DEPRECIATION OF H.P. BLAVATSKY

Observe how cleverly Blavatsky is gradually pushed into the background; little hints and remarks, "damning with faint praise," being thrown out now and again - a well-known form of "suggestion."

We have no "evidence" for the existence of this "Tibetan Brother;" simply Mrs. Bailey's word, her own ipse dixit for everything. I am inclined to believe that if her "teacher" is not actually Alice Besant-Leadbeater, it is someone behind all three, with a pseudonym cleverly adapted to conceal his identity with a certain Christian hierarchy, and by repeated "suggestion" plant in the minds of Mrs. Bailey's readers the concept of a TIBETAN origin for the "teachings".

The complete omission by this supposed member of the Lodge (!) of all reference to the true status and nature of the Buddha and his place in Evolution, as given by the Masters and Blavatsky, tends to bear out my theory.

Whether Mrs. Bailey believes whole-heartedly in her "mission" is not clear. She is evidently a psychic. Whatever may be the truth of the matter, the whole "plot" is most cleverly contrived , and she must surely be a willing "tool," if not a fully conscious agent.

Observe in this "new cycle teaching" there is no place for or mention of the necessity for the twin laws of Karma and Reincarnation, although they are often mentioned incidentally; nor of the great sweep of Cyclic Law through which they work.

Nothing really definite, reasonable or rational; and, as a matter of fact, but little relation to the teachings of Blavatsky despite the constant references thereto. ⁽¹⁶⁾

THE SO-CALLED "NEW CYCLE OF TEACHING"

To such proportions has this new cult already grown that the following astounding assertions are boldly made in the May Occult Review (1928, p. 305) by H. Adams, in an article on Mrs. Bailey's latest book on Patanjali *:

« The Tibetan Brother who is responsible for the impartation of Mrs. Bailey's previous works. . . . »

(*Foot note: The Light of the Soul: Its Science and Effect.)

Mr. Adams then gives a few supposed facts culled from the book, and continues:

« This authoritative statement,  [The "authority" is Mrs. Bailey's invisible teacher, and for him we have only her own word] emanates from the Brotherhood (!!), in that it has been produced by the express authority and under the personal supervision of the Brother specially appointed to communicate the new cycle teaching necessary at this point of evolution in connection with the second Ray impulse. »

The last few words are typical of her Cosmic Fire "teaching."

Note the piling up of assumption after assumption. First, he is "a Tibetan brother," then his pronouncements are forthwith identified with "the Brotherhood"!

There is talk of their "ex press authority" and so on.

Boiled down, what does it all amounts to?

Simply Mrs. Bailey's calm, unchecked (and uncheckable) assertions, for the validity of which she claims the equally unchecked (and uncheckable) "authority" of her "Tibetan."

The concluding sentences actually go the length of placing her on a level with Blavatsky.

ALLEGED INSPIRATION OF TIBETAN MASTERS

Mr. Adams further says:

« In the midst of religious controversies on every hand emptying the churches and filling sincere and seeking souls with disquiet and eager:

(1) Questioning, and our friends the Theosophists divided into half a dozen societies and pathetically asking one another 'What is Truth?' surely it is a great so lace and matter for thankfulness that the ever watchful

(2) Brotherhood of Masters, ignoring all the petty issues, or, rather,

(3) Answering them most effectively by the voice of an accredited messenger, declares once again in clear solid English (!) the Science of the Spirit hidden in the Sutras. »

Here we may note:

(1) A clever touch, giving the idea that this new scheme has nothing to do with Theosophy or its societies; leading to the unblushing assertion (2) that this new teaching actually emanates from the Masters. Further (3) that the "accredited messenger," whether Mrs. Bailey or her supposed teacher, has been inspired by Them! ⁽¹⁷⁾

At the beginning of Mr. Adam's article, Blavatsky is referred to only as the translator of The Voice of the Silence; his idea evidently being to blot out from the reader's mind the existence of her magnum opus, the Secret Doctrine, the teachings of which are in flat contradiction to some of the bewildering material we have found in the book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.

DOCTRINE OF "RAY IMPULSES"

With reference to Blavatsky it should also be noted that Mr. Adams says on page 306:

« An interesting point is made by Mrs. Bailey in her introduction to the effect that the coming spiritual impulse is a second Ray impulse and will reach its zenith towards the close of the present century, but it has no relation to the first Ray impulse which produced the work of Blavatsky. »

This is, of course, one of Mrs. Bailey's usual arbitrary statements, not in the least what Blavatsky herself told us, but evidently made as part of the whole scheme to subordinate her and her work to the "new dispensation" of the Besant Leadbeater-Bailey cult.

THE "WORLD –TEACHER" IMPOSTURE

It is clear that the efforts now being made by the enemies of the Masters is to focus the attention of the whole thinking world of the West on the "Christ-World-Teacher" idea originated by the Besant-Leadbeater cult, and here shown to be a leading feature in Mrs. Bailey's scheme, vide the specimens cited by Mr. Crump.

Nor is it any less dangerous to the progress of humanity, although the intellectual form in which it is so ably presented tends to disarm criticism and conceal the cloven hoof.

The warnings of the Masters on the dangers of psychic communications and the work of the Dugpas ("the infamous Shammars") the "Red-capped Brothers of the Shadow . . . whose pernicious work is everywhere in our way" (Mahatma Letters, p. 272, 284) must be applied to such cases as this.

Also the extremely important letter in H.P. Blavatsky's Letters to Sinnett (p.230) re the work of the Jesuits, (which was evidently written by one of the Masters), especially the concluding paragraph on page 233.

CLAIMS OF HIGH INSPIRATION BY PSYCHICS

In the same number of the Occult Review, at page 354, is an advertisement of a book called Living Secrets by Luma Valdry.

It is described as follows:

« Produced by automatic writing under the direct inspiration of a Master of the Wisdom, the authoress during its composition being in a dual consciousness. It is a prose poem of transcendental esoteric import. This book may well become the type of a new mode of communion.... »

Here we have a precisely similar claim to that of Mrs. Bailey, and this sort of thing is quite common in spiritualistic and psychological literature.

Mediums generally have a list of eminent "controls," and therefore it is quite natural for psychics who wish to appeal to those seeking new "occult teaching" should claim to get it in the same manner and from the same source as Blavatsky.

Psychism is so little understood as yet that few realize how, especially in female psychics, the line is very difficult to draw between conscious and unconscious deception (which includes self-deception).

Paracelsus is very illuminating on the power of the female imagination, and such imposing works as Mrs. Bailey's may quite well be the product of her own imagination, using occult ideas and terminology, and filtering into her brain as definite "teaching," spoken or inspired by an entity that calls itself "the Tibetan."

5. NOTES ON "INITIATION, HUMAN AND SOLAR"

By Alice Cleather

Since the foregoing notes on A Treatise on Cosmic Fire were written, this earlier work has been sent to me for comment. I note that it was first published in 1922, a year earlier than the publication of the Mahatma Letters, from which Mrs. Bailey makes several quotations in Cosmic Fire, published in 1925.

She has dedicated it "With Reverence and Gratitude to the Master Kuthumi," the idea obviously being to suggest that the contents were obtained, if not direct from the Master, at least gleaned from his teachings.

That this was most certainly not the source of the ideas of Mrs. Bailey, or the "Tibetan," must be evident from the following parallels:

From Initiation, Human and Solar pub. 1922, Ch. I, p.9

From a letter to Sinnett by Master K.H., about 1881, in The Mahatma Letters, 1923, p.57

"Initiation Defined. - The question anent initiation is one that is coming more and more before the public. Before many centuries pass the old mysteries will be restored, and in inner body will exist in the Church - the Church of the period, of which the nucleus is already forming (18) - wherein the first initiation will become exoteric in this sense only, that the taking of the first initiation will, before so very long, be the most sacred ceremony of the Church, performed exoterically as one of the mysteries given at stated periods, attended by those concerned. It will also hold a similar place in the ritual of the Masons. At this ceremony those ready for initiation will be publicly admitted to the Lodge by one of its members, authorized to do so by the great Hierophant himself."

"I will point out the greatest, the chief cause of nearly two-thirds of the evils that pursue humanity, ever since that cause became a power. It is religion under whatever form and in whatsoever nation. It is the sacerdotal caste, the priesthood and the Churches. It is in those illusions that man looks upon as sacred, that he has to search out the source of that multitude of evils which is the great curse of humanity and that almost overwhelms mankind. Ignorance created Gods and cunning took advantage of the opportunity. It is priestly imposture that rendered these Gods so terrible to man. It is belief in God and Gods that makes two-thirds of humanity the slaves of a handful of those who deceive them under the false pretense of saving them."

It would appear that Mrs. Bailey too hastily took in vain the name of the Master, and must have felt somewhat disconcerted (as did Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater) on the appearance in print of the Master's real views about "God" and "the Church," etc.

Nothing daunted, however, and hearing in mind the sage advice to diplomats: "L'audace, l'audace, et toujours l'audace," she published her book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire in 1925, freely quoting from the Mahatma Letters, and peppering her pages with footnotes containing copious references to the Secret Doctrine which in most cases do not confirm her assertions, as anyone can see by looking them up.

Who is this "great Hierophant" of whom she speaks?

Can he perchance bear any relation to Mr. Leadbeater's "Supreme Director of Evolution on this globe"?

The book abounds (like Cosmic Fire) with the usual unsupported assertions - typical of and common to the Besant-Leadbeater-Bailey cult - as to initiations, their number (1st to 6th, etc.) the "Planetary Logos," with a full description of his work; "The KING, the Lord of the World"; the "Master Jesus," who, it is stated (p.56), "is the focal point of the energy that flows through the various Christian Churches," and who is "at present living in a Syrian body . . . is rather a martial figure, a disciplinarian, and a man of iron rule and will. He is tall and spare with rather a long thin face, black hair, pale complexion and piercing blue eyes".

Nor is this the only detailed description, for the Masters Kuthumi and Morya, and many others, are also dealt with and the character of their work fully described. Part of the Masters work, we are informed, is "to prepare the world on a large scale for the coming of the World Teacher".

This, of course, at once identifies the Bailey school (as we have already seen in the book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire) with the Besant-Leadbeater perversions and delusions.

Mrs. Bailey says:

« Everywhere, They [the Masters collectively] are gathering in those who may in any way show a tendency to respond to high vibration, seeking to force their vibration and to fit them so that they may be of use at the time of the coming of the Christ. »

Mrs. Bailey's idea of response to "high vibration" would presumably be identical with a "response" to her own "message," as she terms it in her opening chapter. ⁽¹⁹⁾

Another similarity with the Besant-Leadbeater school occurs in Chap. V, which contains the following:

« At the head of affairs stands the KING, the Lord of the World. . . . Co-operating with Him as His advisers are three Personalities called the Pratyeka Buddhas, or Buddhas of Activity. These four are the embodiment of active intelligent loving will. »

It will be remembered that in my Great Betrayal I dealt with Mrs. Besant's false statement correcting Blavatsky's definition of the Pratyeka Buddha in The Voice of the Silence, page 109, note 25, in our reprint (and the Theos Glossary) which we find accepted all over the East as correct, i.e. that purely intellectual, selfish, solitary saint. There is here, too, no word of the Nirmanakayas, none of the "Masters of Compassion," or the "Great Renunciation" and above all of the "Two Paths."

Clearly, the Besant-Leadbeater teachings have largely inspired this later "false guide" - one more "blind leader of the blind."

These people, in fact - especially Mrs. Bailey - possess some of the requisites of a writer of fiction. But, "Oh, the pity of it," that it should need but barefaced and entirely unsupported assertions, coupled with the detailed descriptions so greedily absorbed by the novel reading public, to completely impose upon the foolish multitude.

It is quite impossible to deal at any length with a work in which truth and error are so ingeniously mingled that to separate the chaff from the grain would need another volume of the same length. The very titles of the nineteen chapters show the nature of the subject-matter.

And for all the supposed "knowledge," or "teaching," contained in these nineteen chapters nothing is offered in confirmation, testimony, or excuse, save in the "Introductory Remarks," where the writer declares that she does not arrogate to herself "any credit or personal authority for the knowledge implied," and emphatically disavows all such claims or representations. She cannot do otherwise than present these statements as matters of fact.

The unsophisticated enquirer might not unreasonably ask, Why?

The "claim," here so jesuiticaliy disavowed, is really there, though cleverly camouflaged. If these things are "matters of fact," why is no evidence whatever adduced?

Considered as an ingenious and highly imaginative work of occult fiction, the book possesses definite attractions. Other writers in the same field have produced actual novels dealing with the occult, e.g. A Brother of the Third Degree, Three Sevens, and many tales by later writers, all of which have won recognition from the fiction-reading public.

But, with the exception of C.W. Leadbeater, Mrs. Bailey is the first writer on occult subjects who has had the wit to present Fiction as Fact, thus winning at one stroke and with the greatest ease a certain following among the credulous, and presumably the financial backing so necessary for advertising purposes these days.

Her books, however, cannot be taken seriously by followers of Blavatsky's teachings, or as being any sort of contribution to genuine occult "knowledge."

TEACHING ON SEX OPPOSED TO H.P. BLAVATSKY'S

Moreover, Mrs. Bailey's presumably "inspired" views (one must not forget her alleged "Tibetan" teacher) on sex relations in their application to those who have entered, or are entering, on the serious study of practical Occultism, are in direct conflict with the teachings of Blavatsky and her Teachers on the subject.

In the last chapter, "Rules for Applicants," she is far more definite on this point than in her later Cosmic Fire. Possibly the publication of the Mahatma Letters may have counseled more prudence on that head, if (as seems probable) she is anxious that the public should believe that the contents of her books are drawn from the same source as H.P. Blavatsky's, as shown by the constant references to the Secret Doctrine in her book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.

Like the followers of the Leadbeater dispensation, there are some who regard her works as an extension and expansion of the Secret Doctrine, which is of course almost grotesque. ⁽²⁰⁾

Rule 11, page 204, runs thus:

« Let the disciple transfer the fire from the lower triangle to the higher, and preserve that which is created through the fire of the midway point. »

Mrs. Bailey explains this as follows:

« This means, literally, the control by the initiate of the sex impulse, as usually understood, and the transference of the fire which normally vitalises the generative organs to the throat center, thus leading to creation upon the mental plane through the agency of mind. That which is to be created must then be nourished and sustained by the love energy issuing from the heart center. »

No words of mine could be half strong enough to condemn the advice here given to all and sundry in a printed book. The "transference" advised is probably the most dangerous in the process of Black Magic, which is distinguished from White by its use of the sex forces.

It is found in such Tantrik works as The Serpent Power, by "Arthur Avalon" (the late Sir John Woodroffe an Indian Judge), against the terrible dangers of which Blavatsky so constantly warns her readers and pupils. In most cases she says that such an attempt as above described would have a fatal result. For this one passage alone Mrs. Bailey deserves the severest condemnation.

She is indeed playing with fire – the Fire of Kundalini, which, as Blavatsky says: "can as easily kill as it can create."

The following is the "lower triangle referred to:

    1. The Solar Plexus.

    2. The Base of the Spine.

    3. The Generative Organs. ⁽²¹⁾

The "higher" is thus given:

    1. The Head.

    2. The Throat.

    3. The Heart.

There is not the smallest recognition throughout this book of the tremendous gulf which yawns between "White" and "Black" Magic in Practical Occultism. ⁽²²⁾ And in these three pages (204-206) she unconsciously lays bare the real evil at the root of her teachings which, where Sex is concerned, are in direct opposition to those of Blavatsky and her Teachers.

For Mrs. Bailey's further detailed explanations as to the sex relationships of "Initiated Masters" parallel columns will again supply the necessary contrast:

Initiation, Human and Solar, Chap. XIX, p.204-206. Referring to the above quotation from p.204.

From "The qualifications expected in a Chela" (Theosophist, Vol. IV, Supplement, July, 1883, p.10)

"This might be interpreted by the superficial reader as an injunction to the celibate life, and the pledging of the applicant to abstain from all physical manifestation of the sex pulse. This is not so. Many initiates have attained their objective when duly and wisely participating in the marriage relation ...." "The physical plane is as much a form of divine expression as any of the higher planes (23)... that it may be advisable at certain stages for a man to perfect control along any particular line through a temporary abstention is not to be denied, but that . . . will be succeeded by stages when - the control having been gained - the man demonstrates perfectly through the medium of the physical body, the attributes of divinity, and every center will be normally and wisely used, and thus race purposes furthered." "Initiates and Masters, in many cases, marry, and normally perform their duties as husbands, wives, and householders, but all is controlled and regulated by purpose and intention, and none is carried away by passion or desire. In the perfect man upon the physical plane, all the centers are under complete control. . . the spiritual will of the divine inner God is the main factor.... The true initiate would be known by his wise and sanctified normality.... by the example he sets to his environing associates of spiritual living and moral rectitude, coupled with the discipline of his own life...."

"2. Absolute mental and physical purity." "Remember, he who is not as pure as a young child (had) better leave chelaship alone." (Master Kuthumi) "Bodily purity every Adept takes precautions to keep." "The Self of matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must disappear; there is no place for both." (Master Morya to the esoteric students) "Guard thou the lower lest it soil the Higher." (The Voice of the Silence) There are not in the West half a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves 'Occultists' who have even an approximately correct idea of the nature of the Science they seek to master. With a few exceptions, they are all on the highway to Sorcery." (Blavatsky in her article: Occultism vs The Occult Arts.) "No Adept ever marries." (Blavatsky) "It is true that the married man cannot be an Adept." (Master Kuthumi in The Mahatma Letters, p.17) "The Dugpas and the Gelugpas are not fighting in Tibet alone: see their vile work in England among the 'Occultists' and 'Seers'! Hear your acquaintance - preaching, like a true 'Hierophant of the left-hand,' the marriage of the 'soul with the spirit' and getting the true definitions topsy-turvy, seek to prove that every practicing Hierophant must at least be spiritually married if for some reason he cannot do so physically, there being otherwise a great danger of Adulteration of God and Devil! I tell you the Shammars (Dugpas, or Black Magicians) are there already, and their pernicious work is everywhere in our way." (24) (Master Morya in The Mahatma Letters, p. 272)

Not only did Blavatsky tell us that true Adepts of the Right-Hand Path never marry or enter into any sort of sex relation, but she also said that certain Black Magicians well-known in occult annals were the offspring of high occultists who broke their vow of celibacy.

Thus of Cagliostro she wrote (Theos. Gloss. 72):

« Yet his end was not utterly undeserved, as he had been untrue to his vows in some respects, had fallen from his state of chastity and. yielded to ambition and selfishness. »

(Cf. "Great ones fall back, even from the Threshold")

The evil is a great one, for in this particular instance, teaching on one of the greatest dangers in Occultism - SEX – is given out which is subversive of all that Blavatsky and the Masters stand for.

In Blavatsky's article Occultism vs The Occult Arts from which I quote above (and at greater length in my Great Betrayal) the true occult teaching on this subject is clearly and unequivocally set forth.

It forms a complete refutation of the false and dangerous ideas put forward with such a show of authority by Mrs. Bailey, which are common to all the charlatans of Occultism, whether conscious or unconscious. Many other examples, besides Leadbeater, ⁽²⁵⁾ might be given of this.

A point of interest in connection with the large number of Adepts mentioned by name in Mrs. Bailey's books is that Blavatsky says in "Lodges of Magic" (Lucifer, 1888):

« The personage known to the public under the pseudonym of “Kuthumi” is called by a totally different name among his acquaintances. . . . The real names of Master Adepts and Occult Schools are never, under any circumstances, revealed to the profane. »

Among the Besant-Leadbeater "Masters" adopted by Mrs. Bailey, but nowhere to be found in the Blavatsky literature so far as I am aware, is "Rakoczi," referred to ante page 12.

(See Initiation, Human and Solar, p.58, and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 455)

According to Mrs. Besant, he was previously incarnated as Rosenkreuz, Bacon, St. Germain, and others, only achieving adeptship as "Rakoczi" (The Masters, p.75-76. Krotona, 1918).

H.P. Blavatsky, on the other hand, calls St. Getmain "the greatest Oriental Adept Europe has seen during the last centuries" (Theos. Glossary, p. 309, also p. 214 under "Mesmer")

(For more information, see: "Influence of Occultism on Revolutions" in our Buddhism the Science of Life, 2nd ed., p.110)

Finally, with reference to Mr. Crump's remarks (ante, p.10) on the application of the name Sanat Kumara to the Logos, it may be added here that four of the seven Rumaras are exoteric and three are esoteric. (Secret Doctrine, I, 457 old ed.)

Sanat Kumara is one of the former. One of the esoteric Rumaras is Sanat Sujata, after whom the Sanat Sujatiyan of the Mahabharata is named. (See The Crest Jewel of Wisdom: Translated by Mohini Chatterji, verse 324 and footnote, p.80)

COMMENTS BY VICTOR ENDERSBY

In 1963, Theosophist Victor A. Endersby republished the text above (see link) and he added the following comments:

1. Neatly, compartmented organization and classification on a hierarchal line are characteristic of the Bailey structure; every man in his proper place and every one doing his own job - and jolly well better stick to it. In later works this went to extremes of assigning every Adept as "patron saint" of some occupation or other. This characteristically Catholic psychology sticks out again and again. Considerable light is thrown on it by the aforesaid Fate article. The most dangerous possible psychological mixture is produced by extreme childhood religious conditioning and psychic-occult propensities.

2. Note that this misquotation of text is also used by Gertrude Marvin Williams, open enemy of H.P.B., in her own book, in that case to discredit H.P.B. herself. In this case, to substitute completely opposed philosophy.

The utter confusion about "Fohat" shown in these quotes is characteristic of philosophical illiterates unable to understand the Secret Doctrine teachings, or too mentally lazy to study them. The whole proposition about Fohat is actually simple when one really studies and correlates the teachings of the Secret Doctrine. Fohat is just cosmic energy, which manifests as any form of motion or change, physical or metaphysical. Since consciousness on some level or other is a component of all action, consciousness and intelligence are associated with the name but in purely impersonal forms. But there is no special correlation of either "love" or "Wisdom". Fohat is the Activator of all evil action as well as all good action. "Love-Wisdom'' means, if it means anything, the Buddhic principle.

3. Caution. The Kumaras are not individual beings. They are classes of lives. The whole issue between real occult science and the illusionary religions and creeds hangs on the perpetual battle to prevent the basic impersonal structure of the Universe from being demoted by progressive degrees of materialization, to the creatures and puppets of personal gods of some sort. The Bailey philosophy is probably the most comprehensive single downward step yet taken.

4. This elevation of Jesus to the position of "World Teacher" is one of the most usual and most effective appeals to Christian religious conditioning. People who are not happy with their religion, but also, like Mrs. Bailey, unable to shake off its conditionings, come running to such compromises. The Bailey group today comprises about the same numerical membership as the Theosophical Society.

The facts about Jesus, so far as they can be derived from the Secret Doctrine or any verifiable secular source are: He was a Jewish Adept, whose powers were due more     to great nobility and purity of soul than to any actual Adept training; he was half-Roman and half-Jewish; he lived about a hundred years before the alleged date, and may have been the "Teacher of Righteousness" of the Dead Sea Scrolls; the Essenes, the religious colony to which he belonged, were in all probability the outcome of a Buddhist mission to Palestine in earlier years; he was not crucified but stoned to death in accordance with Jewish custom.

(Crucifixion seems to have become the legend, started by his Jewish enemies because to Jews, this Roman punishment was the most degrading and infamous possible; but as it also is a symbol of the fate of man as a spirit nailed to the cross of matter, it may have been adopted by the Christian Gnostics as a fitting legend, and thus carried on down.)

The Mahatma Letters make it crystal clear that to the real Mahatmas, the Buddha was the greatest teacher who has ever appeared. People who prefer to believe otherwise have the privilege of doing so; but no right to falsify the teachings. The Mahatma, in the Letters, says that Christ is a principle, and "no living man of that epoch." It seems fairly clear that the Christian legends derive partly from those of Apollonius of Tyana, born 1 A.D.

5. There is no possible way by which this planetary nonsense can be fitted into the Secret Doctrine or the Mahatma Letters teachings, where each planet is shown as an evolutionary scheme peculiar to itself. You just have to throw the whole thing away if you are going to follow Bailey. (On the other hand, if you are going to follow her, you probably do not know enough about the real teachings to know what you are throwing away.)

6. “Rakoczi" is also a Leadbeater invention. (As an Adept. Currently a Hungarian family name of the ci-devant aristocracy.

7. The real Maitreya was an Arhat follower of the Buddha, though not a direct disciple, and founded an independent school of philosophy. His name seems to have been taken from the "Maitreya Buddha", who, according to the Glossary, will appear in the "Seventh (sub) race of this Round". (The insertion of "sub" makes it rather obscure which cycle is referred to. If it means the major subdivision of the Round, it would be billions of years hence. It most probably means the seventh race of our current "globe", at least millions of years hence. Exoteric legend quoted by H.P.B. holds that the appearance will be about 3000 years hence. In any case it seems that Mrs. Bailey's followers will have to wait a little longer than they expect.)

8. Not being familiar with this book, we cannot comment on it.

9. This is purely Tantric; the same kind of philosophy which reached such degraded levels in India and Tibet. We expect to have a lot to say about this in another brochure.

10. There is indeed a fairly lively prospect of some of our foremost thinkers being rendered "radio-active" in a slightly different sense, nowadays.  The chief compensation in that case is that some of the foremost non-thinkers will also share the illumination. But note the subtle denigration and downgrading of H.P.B. by describing her "rank" as that of the completely exoteric persons named. Only consummate ignorance of what H.P.B. taught, even on some of the specialities of these eminent persons, could result in such a comparison. What a jumble the Secret Doctrine must have created in the Bailey mind - if it ever got there at all!

11. The last sentence is probably as true a statement as one could wish. But how in the name of all common sense "bliss" could be a function of unconsciousness is quite beyond our limited understanding. But then a large part of the Bailey philosophy does seem to be "divorced from consciousness altogether".

12. Nothing in common with this nonsense (illiteracy and all) is found in the real Stanzas, either in content or style. But the lyrical, pseudo-religious note has much in common with the outpouring. "From the Mountain-Top," which continued for many years through the mediumship of Mrs. Francia La Due (Temple of the People, an offshoot of the society.) (Nothing equals the disdain of people like those of the "Temple" for people like the Baileyites, except the disdain of the Baileyites for people like those of the "Temple." But we have a very strong idea that the ultimate inspiration was the same.)

13. We doubt that anyone, including Mrs. Bailey, knows what she means by "overshadowed." We appreciate the compliment about "greater than an Adept," since the word Adept in this connection simply means one proficient in the occult arts, regardless of "degree." Since K.H. called himself an "Adept," - it is hard to understand what one "greater than an Adept" could be. God maybe? At  any rate, this  tutorship hardly  goes with the reckless manner in which Mrs. Bailey mutilates and rejects H.P.B.'s teachings.

14. [This is blank in the original.]

15. Also it strikes us that "communication with his reflection" could be "scattering his force" with a vengeance. This is not quite clear either.

16. This neglect of reincarnation and karma is most significant. These, strenuously insisted on by H.P.B. and the Mahatmas, are the Magna Charta of the human soul its enfranchisement from all the bonds and threats of power-hungry churches and ecclesiastics. As the history of the elimination of these ideas from the Christian doctrines indicates, removing them is the first step toward degrading the basic philosophy toward dogmatic church doctrine and the consequent horrors. (As will appear later, Mrs. Bailey retrieved this omission in a left-handed sort of way.)

17. Note the extraordinary effrontery of Mr. Adams' assumption that upon Mrs. Bailey's bare assertion of her connection with the Mahatmas, Theosophists will be comforted and their doubts assuaged! The background of this remark was the chaos produced in Theosophical ranks by that very schism - the Leadbeater-Besant neo- theosophical campaign and its messianic climax and scandal - from which the Bailey teachings took off and which they are an amplification!

It is that which produced doubt and distress, which Mr. Adams thinks will be cured by still more of the same, with still more extreme divagations from the original! The fact is that if Theosophists had had sense enough to let well enough alone, and not tried in so many cases to substitute other, apparently more plausible and more congenial but false teachings for the original, all this would have been avoided, and the Movement would have been in quite good condition today as compared with what it is. It is the teachings of the Mahatmas and H.P.B. which have stood up; none of the others have, including those of Bailey. Note this preposterous "accreditation" consisting solely of Mrs. Bailey's unsupported word! How far can uncritical credulity go?

18. Obviously the "World Servers" now being so intensively advertised as the "nucleus" of a new dogmatic, tyrannical church hierarchy based once again on the kind of blind faith with which the followers of Alice Bailey are imbued. Faith of that sort can go anywhere but toward the truth. If one assumes that the real origin of the Bailey divergence is something like what Cleather suggests, such a new "Church" with its sensational psychic appeal added to the religious conditioning of the spiritually immature, would be a "natural" to succeed the fading power of the Catholic church proper. People of that sort will one day be in desperate need of such a church as a shield and shelter.

19. And in our book, simply unthinking psychic credulity. But how flattering to frustrated people with inferiority complexes.

20. The result of an amazing lack of knowledge of the Secret Doctrine and all the allied works.

21. H.P.B.'s Esoteric Instructions state that the physical organs are used only in black magic, when used for occult purposes or other than in the natural manner.

22. It should be recognized, however, that great as the gulf is in the full development - it is the gap between spiritual liberation and actual destruction of the personality in the long run - the line between the two, when the searcher first encounters the issue, is a razor's edge, of a most subtly deceptive nature. This is because the issue is always masked by deceptive words of "love", "brotherhood", "altruism", "spirituality", etc., etc. Just as were the operations of the Inquisition. How easily people are fooled by words.

23. The very basis of the Tantra.

24. This issue cannot possibly be reconciled. Either the Mahatmas did not know what they were talking about, or the Bailey teachings are false. Yet it is the same Mahatmas to whom Mrs. Bailey attributed her teachings, to which source she was "Tibetan" committed before the revelations of The Mahatma Letters. And how come her knew nothing of these letters from the Tibetan Mahatmas, until they appeared in print? The Bailey course since then seems to have relied heavily on general Theosophical and public ignorance of those Letters as of the Secret Doctrine and other H.P.B. teachings. Its success with an uninformed public is understandable; it is the fact that it is making inroads into the Theosophical ranks that is discouraging.

25. A different sort of problem not germane to the present issue.

On this question the Theosophical world today is between the devil and the deep blue sea; sex as black magic on the one hand and no sex at all on the other. The latter school is sometimes incredibly fanatical. Psychiatrists have a name for this sort of complex as well as an explanation. The crux of the whole matter is that one who tries to become  an Adept is trying to go millions of years beyond normal humanity; for the latter, now and for a long time to come, sex in family life, progressing toward higher and more thoughtful and considerate, more restrained use, is and will be the norm. It is when it is lifted out of its proper sphere, made a source of abnormal pleasures or used as an "occult" approach, both of which are contained in the Tantra, that danger sets in.

(Theosophical Notes, September 1963, p.23-26)