Theos-Talk Archives (July 1997 Message tt00058)

I am just back to Theos-Talk and I see various comments on HPB's
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY.  I append below further comments on THE
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY.  I have been intending to do an article on
the Glossary for several years and have compiled a huge file
folder of relevant material.  I hope Dallas T.  will give us his
observations.  In a day or two or three I will try to append my
own comments on what Mr.  de Zirkoff wrote and also on the
extract given below:

In the book THE PERENNIAL WISDOM --- FUNDAMENTAL TEACHINGS OF
H.P.  BLAVATSKY: A STUDY GUIDE TO THE VIDEOTAPE, etc.  by April
Hejka-Ekins, Jerry Hejka-Ekins and Brett Forray, the following
comments are made on THE THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY.

Published in 1892, this is a posthumous work.  Research by Boris
de Zirkoff ('Who Played the Trick on H.P.B.?' THEOSOPHIA, Vol.
24, No.  3) indicates that H.P.B.  had far less to do with
writing this glossary, than previously assumed.  According to Mr.
de Zirkoff, after H.P.B.'s death, the unfinished manuscript was
still too thin for publication, therefore the editors added a
considerable number of definitions from outside sources, without
acknowledgement to the readers.  Sometimes W.  Wynn Westcott, one
of the editors, penned his own definitions.  These however, are
identified by his initials.  Some of the above definitions have
proven to be incorrect.  The portion of manuscript material
actually penned by H.P.B.  for this glossary was apparently added
to the second edition of THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY in 1890, during her
lifetime.  Nevertheless, THE THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY remains an
important reference if this history is kept in mind.