Theos-Talk Archives (March 2006 Message tt00501)

John wrote:  "When I finally actually talked to one of them on the 
phone they wouldn't give an address or any information about how a new 
member might join them. This sure was very strange to me, but now 
maybe I begin to understand how stifled and scared the membership 
might have become internal to their knowledge and how it become the 
icy cold clammy hand of death upon the growth at grass roots level of
things. Perhaps a special Poll is necessary and questions that are 
pointedly directly configured to determine what fears are held against 
acceptance of new members that might place them in a position similar 
or same to the Tacoma Lodge."

As regards the Tacoma Lodge, TSA added people to the Lodge' roster of 
which the Tacoma Lodge had no knowledge.  A group of any kind tends to 
develop its own identity, derived from individuals attracted to it.  
By getting to know an individual then voting to make that person a 
member gives both the individual and the lodge a chance to get to know 
each other.  

In the early days, I believe lodges selected at least one object as 
its focus.  Not all lodges elected to work on the same objects, and 
various lodges developed differently.   

In the case of one person that TSA added to Tacoma's roster, I was 
told he was a spiritualist who wanted to use the lodge to give 
spiritualist lectures.  He had little knowledge of theosophy, and may 
not have been interested in it in view of his proclaimed success with 
spiritualism.  Members of the lodge explained that they were not a 
spiritualist center and did not want to be used as one.  There's a 
spiritualist center near Tacoma that would be more appropriate to his 
interests.  

I have similar reasons for not making my study group in Montana open 
to everyone who calls me in the middle of the night.  When I realized 
how voluminous Blavatsky's writing were and how much I liked her, I 
started a study group with the explicit purpose of studying "The 
Secret Doctrine."  A number of people were invited by word of mouth.  
What showed up in my home was a collection of people, of which many 
tended to use the study group as a gathering to hawk their own 
believes and methods.  

These people met in my home at my expense and proceeded to compete for 
attention.  One woman introduced herself as a healer and repeatedly 
went back to one visual image of seeing a tiger spinning in a 
whirlwind when she healed.  She explained that she had not completed 
high school and did not believe she would be able to study "The Secret 
Doctrine," much less write a 2-page paper each month on the lessons.

Another woman believed the spinning tiger healer was a phony and 
called her an embarrassment to Reike healing methods.  She could easly 
have done the study of "The Secret Doctrine," but was always busy with 
other things.  She attended the meetings but was not able to discuss 
the book, because she hadn't read it.

So much time was spent competing for righteousness that little study 
of "The Secret Doctrine" was accomplished.  It seemed obvious that we 
could not discuss theosophy until we knew something about it, and "The 
Secret Doctrine" was the place to begin.  

When I put my foot down and said essentially what I have said on this 
list.  Psychics, saints and psychotics have been hearing voices since 
the beginning of time.  The trick is to get them to tell you the 
truth.  The study group needed to focus on the study we had all agreed 
on in the beginning.  

The spinning tiger lady and her friend were so offended by accusations 
of being a phony healer that they stopped coming.  The the phony 
healer accuser stopped coming.  Then her friend stopped coming.  The 
few who were left wanted to study "The Secret Doctrine," and we began 
to make headway.  

When people call me now, I make it clear that we are a study group.  
We study and use dictionaries.  If a person wants to work with us on 
that basis, they are welcome.  I have never turned away anyone who 
wanted to work on those terms.  This does not mean that we are 
entirely intellectual with no interest in the hidden powers.  

We decided to add energy work to our meetings, because one of the 
women had never heard of anything like that.  We used tuning forks the 
first time we worked with her, with the idea of demonstrating subtle 
energy functions.  When we were done, the woman began reading 
something we were talking about then realized she wasn't wearing her 
glasses.  She could see near and far without glasses for months.  
About 4 months later then mentioned that she had started needing her 
glasses again.

She went home and told her husband we had tuned up her chakras, a new 
term for her.  She had so much energy that started cleaning house and 
singing.  Her husband later asked, "What did they tune up?"  She 
explained chakras as she had learned about them that day.

We continue to do pragmatic work with the principles we study in "The 
Secret Doctrine," whenever possible. Over the last year, the "chakra 
tuning" had has confided several times that Theosophy is what she's 
really looking for.  She has become a Theosophist. 

I don't turn my time, energy, and home over to anyone who walks in the 
door and wants an audience.  Our study group has a focus, and we work 
with that focus.  Reike practioners are many, and they should work in 
centers that invite that focus.  


Best regards,
Krsanna