“Studies in Isis Unveiled” is a series of ten articles published by Theosophy journal (belonging
to The Theosophy Company, Los Angeles) where they made up of textual extracts from
Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, topically and sequentially arranged.
These articles were first published between 1917 and 1918, and later were
reprinted 1975 and 1976.
Table of Contents
Introductory (below)
Chapter 1: Adepts and the Secret Doctrine
Chapter 2: Spiritual Identity
Chapter 3: Evolution of the soul
Chapter 4: Pre-existence, metempsychosis, reincarnation
Chapter 5: Magic and magical powers
Chapter 6: Adeptship and mediumship
Chapter 7: Spiritualism
Chapter 8: Spirits of various kinds
Chapter 9: Magical phenomena
INTRODUCTORY
"In Isis Unveiled the
explanations of a hundred mysteries lie but half buried, only waiting for the
application of intelligence guided by a little Occult knowledge to come out
into thelight of day."
H.P. Blavatsky
Isis Unveiled is the first published work of H.
P. Blavatsky. It was issued at New York City by the publishing house of J. W.
Bouton in the fall of 1877.
The plates were stereotyped and in
all six numbered editions have been issued with the Bouton imprint at varying
dates down to 1895. All these editions are identical except that after the
fourth edition a new portrait of Madame Blavatsky was used for the frontispiece
of the first volume.
Subsequently, the Bouton plates came
into the possession of Madam Katherine Tingley and were used for the
"Point Loma Edition" of Isis Unveiled, with such inserts and changes
as that edition contains.
Another edition of Isis Unveiled was
issued in London in 1911, by the Theosophical Publishing Society, affiliated
with the Theosophical society of which Mrs. Annie Besant is President. This
edition has the same pagings as the original Bouton editions, but, being reset
throughout, is authentic and accurate only to the extent that it faithfully
reproduces the original text.
The Bouton editions of Isis Unveiled
are now, of course, out of print, but can still be obtained with a little
effort, through the medium of the dealers in second-hand and rare books.
Isis Unveiled is H.P.B.'s first gift
to Humanity. In many respects it is her greatest. It is the first direct
communication from the Masters of Wisdom to the world of men in many, many
centuries. It constitutes Their invitation to all who will listen, to enter
upon the study of the Spirit and Nature with Those who know how to teach. It is
intended to convey information and do a work of clearance for the individual
student, without which he cannot make true progress, and without which Their
subsequent Teachings cannot be properly availed of.
Nature's modes and actions do not
obey the whims or the man dates of the individual. The student succeeds only as
he waits upon and studies nature in her operations. The laws and processes of
the higher nature are the same. They can only be successfully studied in their
manifestation, and these do not conform to the prejudices or the preconceptions
of the would-be neophyte in their mysteries.
More than once, in later years,
H.P.B. threw out hints about Isis. These hints, like the book itself, were
addressed to the intuition and not to the curiosity of the reader. Thus,
writing in The Theosophist in November, 1882, five years after the publication
of Isis, she said, in the form of a mere obiter
dictum:
« In Isis the explanations of a
hundred mysteries He but half buried ... only waiting for the application of
intelligence guided by a little Occult knowledge to come out into the light of
day. »
This was written and published in
India — on the other side of the world from New York. Nearly eight years later,
in May, 1891— and again on the other side of the world from India — she gave a
final statement in regard to Isis in her article, "My Books," printed
in Lucifer at London. This was written a few days before her death, when she
knew she was going, and was not printed till after her departure from the body.
It ought, therefore, to bear an especial significance to all who believe in her
sincerity and good faith. This is what she said:
« I maintain that Isis contains
a mass of original and never hitherto divulged information on occult subjects.
... I defend the ideas and teachings in it, with no fear of being charged with
conceit, since neither ideas nor teaching
are mine, as I have always declared; and I maintain that both are of the
greatest value to mystics and students of Theosophy.
Every word of information found in
this work or in my later writings, comes from the teachings of our Eastern Masters.
and ... many a passage in these works has been written by me under their dictation. »
Almost numberless are the false
charges that have been made against H.P.B. and against Isis Unveiled. These are
constantly being revived by new generations of writers, theosophical and
otherwise. They rest upon malice, conceit or ignorance. Few indeed, even among
earnest and sincere students, have taken the trouble to get the facts, and
fewer still have made diligent study of the work itself.
It is human nature to desire to reap
where we have not sown. It is so much easier to take things at second-hand. Yet
the very first lesson in Occultism is accuracy as to the facts. And again,
students often begin with the Secret
Doctrine, which they read up side down, without aim or direction, because
they have neither undergone the necessary preliminary study and training, nor established a connection. Making no
headway, they fall easily prey to the thousand and one claims as to teachers
and teachings. Seeking something easy and promising, they go far astray in
blind paths — or worse.
Not for naught nor in lightness did
H. P. B. write on the title page of Isis that it is a Master Key to the mysteries that en compass the two greatest
problems with which the human mind has wrestled in all ages — Science and
Theology.
We propose, therefore, in
perseverance of a most solemn and sacred self-imposed obligation to our fellow
students of all organizations and of none, to take up for consideration some of
the teachings in Isis Unveiled.
If our fellow students everywhere
will join with us in the work, and foster it with their study, their thought,
their questions and their contributions, we do not doubt that we will all make
discoveries of great value, and be doubly enriched — enriched in what we
achieve for others, and enriched in what we achieve for ourselves.
For the differences that separate
us, weakening each, and dividing the power of all to help on the progress of
the race, are due to our ignorance and misconceptions. And these, in turn, are
due to our neglect to study and apply what the Masters have recorded for our
instruction and guidance.
If H.P.B. was the Agent of Masters,
and did Their work, what She has left of record must be a true guide for every
student in any and every difficulty, and must have been recorded for that very
purpose. That she was Their Agent is
shown by the Message she brought, by her life, by her word, and by Theirs. To
suppose that anything she wrote can be neglected, cast aside, explained away,
or rejected, is to affirm that the Masters are as weak, as impotent and as
unreliable as human nature.
We believe that the more we study
Isis Unveiled, the more will our conviction be strengthened in Theosophy, in
Masters, and in H. P. B., Their Messenger. We believe that only by such study
will our present differences be dissolved, and that unity of aim, purpose and
teaching obtain among all students of Theosophy that assuredly obtains
among the Masters of Wisdom.
In that profound conviction we
undertake our present task; one more link in the chain of effort to
"teach, preach, and above all, practise Theosophy." May Ishwara be
near!
(Theosophy, March
1917, p.193-196)
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