Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00417)

June 19 2005

Re: AFRICAN MAGIC , Lucifer Article, Nov/Dec 1890

History records show Mabel Collins was expelled from the E S around Jan/Feb
1889 [see The THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT (1875-1950) , pp. 148-9, and
PATH, Vol. IV, pp. 126-7.

This article AFRICAN MAGIC came out in LUCIFER almost 2 years later ! This
time delay seems important to me.  

I wonder if we have a full record of all of HPB's travels in her life prior
to 1875, "laying down the 'lines of force'" it was once written, needed for
her future work ?

In a letter to Mr. Judge and concerning the PATH magazine which he edited,
HPB wrote:

"If I thought for one moment that LUCIFER will 'rub out' PATH I would never
consent to be the editor. But listen, then, my good old friend. Once that
the Masters have proclaimed your PATH the best, the most theosophical of all
theosophical publications, surely it is not to allow it to be rubbed out. .
. . One [LUCIFER] is the fighting, combative Manas; the other (PATH) is pure
Buddhi. . . . . LUCIFER will be Theosophy militant and PATH the shining
light, the Star of Peace. If your intuition does not whisper to you 'IT Is
So', then that intuition must be wool-gathering. No, sir, the PATH is too
well, too theosophically edited for me to interfere." "Letters," p. 281 

The symbols used as "nom de plume" seem to show TAU (the symbol of perfect
"Man" (Adeptship) -- the Pythagorean TEN - 10 --) placed in the center (or
leading ?) of three pyramids (symbolized by the 3 DELTAS). Or, Manas in its
three-fold aspect. [This may be one interpretation ? DTB]

----------------------------------------

D. Both in the English and Hebrew alphabets the fourth letter, whose
numerical value is four. The symbolical signification in the Kabbala of the
Daleth is "door". It is the Greek DELTA D, through which the world (whose
symbol is the tetrad or number four,) issued, producing the divine seven.
The name of the Tetrad was Harmony with the Pythagoreans, "because it is a
diatessaron in sesquitertia". With the Kabbalists, the divine name
associated with Daleth was Daghoul. THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY, p. 83


TAU (Heb.). That which has now become the square Hebrew letter tau, but
was ages before the invention of the Jewish alphabet, the Egyptian handled
cross, the crux ansata of the Latins, and identical with the Egyptian ankh.
This mark belonged exclusively, and still belongs, to the Adepts of every
country. 

As Kenneth R. F. Mackenzie shows, "It was a symbol of salvation and
consecration, and as such has been adopted as a Masonic symbol in the Royal
Arch Degree ". It is also called the astronomical cross, and was used by the
ancient Mexicans- as its presence on one of the palaces at Palenque shows-as
well as by the Hindus, who placed the tau as a mark on the brows of their
Chelas.
T Glos pp. 322-3
-----------------------------------------------------

Notes on symbology - from SECRET DOCTRINE 

"Upon inaugurating an active period, [Manvantara] says the Secret Doctrine,
an expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and from within
outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the
phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of
cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. 

In like manner, when the passive condition [Pralaya] is resumed, a
contraction of the Divine essence takes place, and the previous work of
creation is gradually and progressively undone. 

The visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed; and
'darkness' solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the 'deep.'


To use a Metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea still
more clearly, an out-breathing of the 'unknown essence' produces the world;
and an inhalation causes it to disappear. 

This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present universe
is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning and will have no
end." - (See "Isis Unveiled"; also "The Days and Nights of Brahma" in S D
I, p. 368.) 

This passage will be explained, as far as it is possible, in the present
work. Though, as it now stands, it contains nothing new to the Orientalist,
its esoteric interpretation may contain a good deal which has hitherto
remained entirely unknown to the Western student. 

The first illustration being a plain disc the second one in the Archaic
symbol shows , a disc with a point in it - the first differentiation in the
periodical manifestations of the ever-eternal nature, sexless and infinite
"Aditi in THAT" (Rig Veda), the point in the disc, or potential Space within
abstract Space. 

In its third stage the point is transformed into a diameter, thus It now
symbolises a divine immaculate Mother-Nature within the all-embracing
absolute Infinitude. 

When the diameter line is crossed by a vertical one + , it becomes the
mundane cross. Humanity has reached its third root-race; it is the sign for
the origin of human life to begin. 

When the circumference disappears and leaves only the + it is a sign that
the fall of man into matter is accomplished, and the FOURTH race begins. 

The Cross within a circle symbolises pure Pantheism; when the Cross was left
uninscribed, it became phallic. 

It had the same and yet other meanings as a TAU inscribed within a circle
or as a "Thor's hammer," the Jaina cross, so-called, or simply Svastica
within a circle  

By the third symbol - the circle divided in two by the horizontal line of
the diameter - the first manifestation of creative (still passive, because
feminine) Nature was meant. 

The first shadowy perception of man connected with procreation is feminine,
because man knows his mother more than his father. Hence female deities were
more sacred than the male. Nature is therefore feminine, and, to a degree,
objective and tangible, and the spirit Principle which fructifies it is
concealed. 

By adding to the circle with the horizontal line in it, a perpendicular
line, the tau was formed - T - the oldest form of the letter. It was the
glyph of the third root-race to the day of its symbolical Fall - i.e., when
the separation of sexes by natural evolution took place - when the figure
became O , the circle, or sexless life modified or separated - a double
glyph or symbol. 

With the races of our Fifth Race it became in symbology the sacr', and in
Hebrew n'cabvah, of the first-formed races; then it changed into the
Egyptian (emblem of life), and still later into the sign of Venus.  

Then comes the Svastica (Thor's hammer, or the "Hermetic Cross" now),
entirely separated from its Circle, thus becoming purely phallic."   

[see S D I pp. 4-6, 320-1, 441-2; II 36, 542-9, 573-589, 600 fn]

-------------------------------------------------

This article AFRICAN MAGIC came out in LUCIFER almost 2 years later !  

Dallas

====================================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Spiro
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 9:59 AM
To: 
Subject: Re: Lucifer Article Nov 1890

Hi Anton,

Thanks for that reply. The problem I have with this statement by
Farnell is that by 1890, according to an Esoteric Section Memo,
Vittoria Cremers and Mabel Collins had been expelled. So how could
they commission an article from anyone?

If that is the case, then who is Robert Donston Stephenson and was he
a member of the Theosophical Society? And why would his article be
attributed to HPB?

I am simply attempting some historical research here and would be most
grateful for any assistance.

Regards
Spiro

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Anton Rozman" <anton_rozman@y...>
wrote:
 
Hi Spiro,
 
Please see at http://www.katinkahesselink.net/his/farnell4.html Kim 
Farnell's biography of Mabel Collins.
 
There you can read:
 
Robert Donston Stephenson was the son of a Yorkshire seed mill owner 
who had studied chemistry in Munich and medicine in Paris. He fought 
for Garibaldi in the 1860's, working as a battlefield medic, and 
studied the occult under Bulwer Lytton. ..... Vittoria and Mabel 
commissioned for Lucifer an article from Stephenson that appeared in 
November 1890, African Magic by Tau-Triadelta, which was later 
attributed to Blavatsky.
 
Kind regards,
Anton
 
---------------------------------------------------
 
--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Spiro" <auspirograph@y...> wrote:
Hi all,
  
I have a question to ask on a historical article ascribed to
Blavatsky. In the November 1890 issue of "Lucifer", there is an
article titled "African Magic" and attributed to HPB yet in other
places the same article is credited to a certain "Tautriadelta".
  
If the article indeed was penned by Blavatsky then within it's text
the author mentions their experiences in Western Africa and as far as
I know, HPB didn't actually travel there.
  
If HPB was not the author of this article I would be interested in
knowing more about the anonymous writer "Tautriadelta".
  
Thanks
Spiro