Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tt00052)

Hi Rich:

I am a student of both HPB and AAB's teachings.  I have a
complete set of AAB's books and almost all of HPB's writings, so
I may quickly check all the references to the above authors.  As
to Besant and Leadbeater and other Theosophical writers, I have
in my possession just a few books (although I read more).  So let
me proceed from this vantage point.  To simplify the things and
avoid numerous reservations like "IMO," "IMHO," and "to my
knowledge," I will assume I dogmatic tone; please correct me if
misrepresented AB or CWL's views.

> I hope this isn't perceived as obnoxious, but what Maxim wrote is
> terribly vague.

Of course it was vague as it was nothing more than a laundry list
of issues addressed by AAB.

> I've read Alice Bailey, I know perfectly well she wrote about
> "seven rays." In what specific WAYS did she write about seven
> rays that Leadbeater didn't already (and incorrectly) cover?

A sampling:

cosmic sources of the ray energies;

correlations between rays and races, countries, cities, chakras,
planets, kingdims of nature, etc,;

discerning the soul ray (of a human being, planet, country, etc.)
and the personality ray; 5 rays characterizing human beings
(soul, personality, mental body, astral body, physical body);

uses of rays in astrology, psychology, and healing (see below);

> Many people also talk about a so-called "psychological key" to
> the Secret Doctrine.  I'm all ears -- what is this key? Can it be
> summed up? If not, I'm very skeptical.  From my vantage point,
> Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine is perfectly comprehensible to one
> familiar with her other teachings.  No particular psychological
> key is necessary, but if some one can tell me what it might be,
> I'm all ears.

Information about keys to the Secret Doctrine (not HPB's "The
Secret Doctrine") is summarized in A.Bailey's "A Treatise on
Cosmic Fire" p.109-110.

HPB says that "every religious and philosophical symbol has seven
meanings attached to it" (SD v.2 p.538; HPB Collected Writings
edition); "there are seven keys of interpretation to every symbol
and allegory" (same, p.22).

The psychological key has to do with the soul of things, or with
their mind aspect.  What I can do here is to make a reference to
the second section (p.223-1226) of A.Bailey's "A Treatise on
Cosmic Fire"--this is one thousand pages, impossible to
summarize.  Let me mention just a few relevant topics:

coverage of planetary manas and cosmic manas;

a detailed description of the causal body and permanent atoms
(much more detailed that in Besant's "A Study of Consciousness");

fifteen rules for magic (an extension of the Emerald Tablet);

motion on the plane of mind and related laws;

groups of egos;

related Stanzas of Dzyan.

For the kind of new information previously unavailable, please
refer to Charts VIII and IX in "Cosmic Fire."

> Esoteric astrology? Esoteric psychology? Blavatsky has scads to
> say on these topics.  So does Leadbeater.  The two of them
> disagree in almost everything from life on other planets to the
> entire scheme of evolution.  To the best of my (admittedly
> limited) knowledge, Bailey says nothing that was not said by
> Leadbeater on any of these topics.  If anyone has DETAILS or
> SPECIFICS, by all means let's discuss.

Esoteric astrology:

a detailed information about twelve creative hierarchies
including related rays, signs, symbols, etc.;

three kinds of planetary rulers: exoteric, esoteric, and
hierarchical;

the idea of triangular formations, and listings of triangles
relevant to astrology;

a detailed description of the spiritual effects of all signs of
the Zodiac, (including related Words) in conjunction with the
path of initiation;

some preliminary information about making and interpreting the
horoscope of the soul.

Esoteric psychology:

national, racial, planetary, etc.  rays;

the Jewish problem;

the groups of souls;

the laws of soul life.

You may still say it's vague.  Okay, let's pick a concrete issue,
e.g.  a tabulation of energies contained in "Cosmic Fire" p.
1187:

SOLAR LOGOS

Source Focal point Medium Type of energy Nature of fire

1.Causal....Jewel...........Central.....Cosmic Will......Electric
Fire.  Body.  Spiritual Positive.  Sun.  and so on,

or a listing of Planetary Schools (same source, p.1177-79):

URANUS -- Ths School of Magic of the tenth order.  It is
sometimes called "the planet of the violet force," and its
graduates wield the power of cosmic etheric prana.

and so on.

Please locate this information in HPB or CWL's writings.

> But a list of topics won't cut it, because HPB and Leadbeater
> discuss all of these things in depth.  And anyone who has studied
> both knows that between Blavatsky and Leadbeater there is little
> common ground.  As Nicholas discovered first-hand, people are
> either Blavatsky students or Bailey students, but the massive
> contradictions between them FORCES one to choose.

I do not care about lack of agreement between HPB and CWL since I
do not consider CWL's works a reliable source of information.

As to the alleged contradictions between HPB and Bailey, I still
have to see the ones.  Some APPARENT contradictions may be due to
the deliberate blinds.  A.Bailey wrote ("Esoteric Astrology"
p650): "Such 'blinds' are frequent and necessary in the occult
teaching but they will be used less and less as humanity becomes
more spiritually perceptive." I found a lot of contradictions in
A.Bailey's writings, sometimes within same book, but neither I
nor other members of a local study group consider those as
mistakes -- rather as a stimulus to a deeper thinking.  (I do not
perceive in the same way contradictions between HPB and CWL, e.
g.  as regards the inner round planets.)