Theos-Talk Archives (September 2007 Message tt00111)

A COMPARISON BETWEEN 
H. P. BLAVATSKY 
& 
ALICE BAILEY
from 
PROTOGONUS
SPRING 1989
The
Pseudo-Occultism
of
Mrs. A. Bailey

By

Alice Leighton Cleather 
and
Basil Crump

________________________________________

CONTENTS
 
Introductory Note By J.C.Miller
Preface
Notes on "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" By Basil Crump 
Additional Notes By A.L. Cleather
Notes on "Initiation, Human and Solar" By A.L. Cleather
The Last Word By H.P. Blavatsky

"In the labyrinth of words the mind is lost like a man in a thick forest."
- Sri Sankaracharya
The Crest Jewel of Wisdom
 
 
________________________________________

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

It has been said in the Vedic literature that truth shines in its own
glory - true, and that is why it sometimes happens to be the fond
pleasure of a great deal of sham to pass for truth and delude people
with its magic spells. But it does not take a long time for discerning
minds to peer through the think veil of delusive luster and expose its
inherent ugliness to the light of hitherto concealed facts.

"The best defense is an attack" is an old military maxim, and such is
this publication. But it is a reasonable and reasoned attack,
appealing to the reader's logical faculties and treating the subject
on the high plane that is in keeping with its really vital importance.

The authors, however, need no introduction in literary circles where
their collaboration in four volumes on Wagner's Symbolic Music-Dramas,
interpreted according to his Prose Works, established their
reputations over a quarter of a century ago.

Mrs. Cleather was one of the first members of the Branch of the
Trans-Himâlayan Esoteric School established in England by Madame H.P.
Blavatsky In 1888, and later she was chosen as one of the twelve
members of the Inner Group presided over by that faithful Agent of the
Masters.

With her son, Mr. Gordon Cleather, and Mr. Basil Crump, she went to
India in 1918, and there the three were initiated into the Tibetan
Gelugpa (Yellow Cap) Order, at Buddha Gaya, in 1920. In 1926 they were
received, and their membership ratified, at Peking, China, by His
Serene Holiness The Tashi Lama of Tashi-Lhumpo, Tibet, who is the Head
of the Gelugpa Order throughout Asia. Mr. Gordon Cleather has since
studied Tibetan with his secretary and has also learned Chinese. Thus
it will be seen that they possess exceptional qualifications for
judging anything purporting to emanate from Tibetan sources.

Mr. Crump is a Cambridge University man, a Barrister of the Middle
Temple, and for twelve years was editor of the Law Times and a
departmental editor of The Field and The Queen.

This latest attempt to obtain credence for another system of allegedly
Oriental learning by presenting it as an amplification of the
doctrines expounded by "H.P.B." is further recognition of her
preeminence in that field, and more of the imitation that is such
sincere flattery. May it not be, however, that in seeking guidance
concerning the profoundest questions in life, it is wisdom to accept
NO SUBSTITUTE?

J.C. Miller
Manila, March, 1929

________________________________________

PREFACE

The following notes and comments on two of Mrs. Bailey's principal
works, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and Initiation, Human and Solar,
were undertaken at the suggestion of Mr. J.C. Miller, of Manila, a
member of the Blavatsky Association, as part of the work assigned to
its Defense Committee. That work, as we understand it, includes such
as was done in H.P. Blavatsky: A Great Betrayal; and it will be seen
that the present notes are directed against another aspect of the same
movement. They do not profess to be in any way complete, but merely
aim at drawing attention to a few salient points which will at once
strike students familiar with H.P. Blavatsky's works.

We particularly wish to emphasize that we have undertaken this
extremely distasteful task only from a strong sense of our duty to the
cause of H. P. Blavatsky and her work. We have never met Mrs. Bailey,
and not having previously read any of her books, we were unaware how
closely their general scheme and phraseology resemble that of the
BesantLeadbeater "Neo-Theosophy, which includes the Liberal Catholic
Church and World-Teacher propaganda. Both the latter are more or less
veiled attempts to divert the pure stream of Oriental Esoteric
Philosophy, introduced to the West by H.P. Blavatsky, into a
definitely Christian channel. This is done partly by the substitution
of such terms as "God," "The Logos" (as a He) , "The Trinity," "The
Master Jesus," etc., etc. At the same time, in Cosmic Fire an astute
endeavor is made, by copious references to and quotations from H.P.
Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, to convey the impression that the former
is a continuation of the latter in fact, a "fragment of the Secret
Doctrine" (Foreword, x).

Even such a cursory examination as we have had time to give, however,
has convinced us that there is little or nothing in common between
them. The impression left on the mind is that of a subtle attempt to
substitute a specifically Christian system for the universal one of
the secret Doctrine, rather than "confirming and amplifying" that
marvelous work, as admirers of Cosmic Fire have stated.

In a letter to the occult Review, July, 1928, Mrs. Bailey denies that
she ever claimed that her alleged inspirer "The Tibetan" with whom she
has "co-operated in producing" cosmic Fire, Initiation, etc., is one
of the Masters of the Trans-Himalayan Group. "It is the express wish
of the Tibetan," she declares, "that his real name be withheld; it is
his desire that the books be studied and valued on the basis of their
own intrinsic worth and by their appeal or non-appeal to the
intuition, and not because any person presumes to claim authority for
them."

We have kept this injunction carefully in mind, and have judged the
statements of the "Tibetan" strictly on their face value. Further,
Mrs. Bailey quotes what she said so far back as February, 1923, in her
magazine The Beacon, about "the blind credulity of a certain group who
accept any statement provided it is backed by an Hierarchical claim of
some kind, and the narrow sectarianism which would make a prophet out
of H.P.B. and a Bible out of the Secret Doctrine."

The first part of this extract applies much more to the
Besant-Leadbeater doctrines and to Mrs. Bailey's own books (which
fairly bristle with implied, if not expressed, "authority") than to
the Secret Doctrine. H.P.B.'s claim for that work is couched in the
words of Montaigne: "I have here made only a nosegay of culled
flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the string that ties
them" (S. D. I., xivi.). 

After all, what is there of "blind credulity" and "narrow
sectarianism" in regarding H.P.B. as a "prophet: and the S.D. as a
"Bible" in the best sense of those terms? Was she not a true prophet
and one who brought a wonderful message entirely new to the modern
world? Where else is to be found the gigantic and all-embracing
threefold system of evolution so clearly and convincingly expounded in
the S.D., supported by a wealth of evidence from every imaginable
source? The work stands absolutely alone, unapproached and
unapproachable in our times; a monument so great that it is even yet
too near us to be adequately appreciated. Its appeal throughout is
entirely to reason and never to credulity. As Mr. Baseden Butt says in
the finest estimate yet written: "If these, and her other writings,
were all produced by Madame Blavatsky's unaided ????talent, she must
have possessed the intellectual resources of at least three ordinary
geniuses . . . This amazing woman has handled with the authentic tones
of Authority the profoundest, most vital and abstruse subjects known
to mankind" (Madame Blavatsky. By G. Baseden Butt. London: Rider and
Co., 1926, p. 216)

Mrs. Bailey evidently considers that her own works are to be judged on
the same level, for she continues: "It is high time, therefore, that
occult books should be put forth and judged because of their contents
and not because this, that and the other Master is supposed to be
responsible for them or because they agree or disagree with the Secret
Doctrine." Mrs. Bailey's evident implication that the S.D. was "put
forth and judged" in the latter sense is entirely false, as any
student with an intelligent understanding of its contents will agree.
That the Masters M. and K.H. assisted H.P.B. to write it, as stated
both by them and by her (see Mahatma Letters, and her own to Sinnett),
makes no difference to one's judgment of its value and immensity.

Unfortunately for Mrs. Bailey's disclaimer, her "Tibetan-Brother" is
undoubtedly believed by most of her followers to be a member of the
Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood, as two of the most prominent in America
have themselves told us. The name Tibetan, coupled with the assumption
of practically unlimited knowledge, inevitably suggest it. Her books
are full of pure assertions concerning the Universe and it most
advanced beings which only a high Adept could possess - if true, which
in most instances seems more than doubtful.

Finally, a most important claim made by Mrs. Bailey in her Foreword to
Cosmic Fire, must not be overlooked. She says (p. x): "It aims to
provide a reasonably logical plan of systemic evolution and to
indicate to man the part he must play as an atomic unit in a great and
corporate whole."

Evidently, then, Mrs. Bailey and the "Tibetan" consider the scheme of
evolution offered in the Secret Doctrine as inadequate, and offer
their own in its place. Apart from the difficulty of discovering
anything "systemic" at all in Cosmic Fire, it is quite clear that the
"Tibetan" (if he is really one) is not in agreement with the
Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood. In that case one would infer from what is
said in the Mahatma Letters that he may belong to the "Red Capped
Brothers of the Shadow" (see Index under Dugpas). As K.H. says (p.
322): "the opposition represents enormous vested interests, and they
have enthusiastic help from the Dugpas - in Bhutan and the Vatican!"
Hence the Christian terminology that characterizes some of their
efforts in the realm of Occultism.

- Alice Leighton Cleather
- Basil Crump
Peking, February, 1929

________________________________________


NOTES ON 
"A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE

By Basil Crump
Introductory Postulates

These are stated to be "extensions of the three fundamentals to be
found in the Proem in the first volume of The Secret Doctrine by H.P.
Blavatsky." But in reality Mrs. Bailey develops a whole cosmic scheme
of her own, which includes a new set of so-called Stanzas of Dzyan, a
Solar Logos also called "God," a Triple Solar System consisting of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a Triple Human Being, and a triple Atom.
Also Seven centers of Logoic Force, and Seven Rays which include those
of "Love-Wisdom," "Harmony, Beauty and Art," and "Devotion and
Abstract Idealism." The reader is constantly referred to passages in
the Secret Doctrine, but very few of the terms used, e. g. ,
"Love-Wisdom," "Abstract," "Idealism," "Logoic," etc.,-etc., will be
found there. My impression is that this is done to mislead the student
into thinking that this work is on H.P. Blavatsky's lines, whereas
even a cursory examination shows that it is entirely different and is
really designed very cleverly to lead the student away from the real
teaching and confuse his mind with an imposing mass of apparently very
learned information which really means little or nothing and leads
nowhere. The method is somewhat similar to, but less obvious and more
clever than, that of C. W. Leadbeater, but I think that the power
behind is the same, working with the same object on a different line
for a more intellectual type of mind. It is of considerable
significance that Leadbeater and Mrs. Besant are frequently quoted,
and their Christ and World Teacher doctrines taken for granted.


MRS. BAILEY'S "TIBETAN TEACHER"

With regard to the source of Mrs. Bailey's information, it has long
been understood that she receives it in a psychic, telepathic, or
inspirational form from a "Tibetan Teacher." Referring to Cosmic Fire,
a writer in the Canadian Theosophist for December, 1926, says: "This
material also has been received from the Tibetan Teacher not by any
automatic process but apparently in much the same way as The Secret
Doctrine was written. . . . It is not a fanciful or arbitrary
revelation, but rather a turning of what H.P. Blavatsky called the
analogical key in the Secret Docrine lock. The result is startling,
almost as startling as the Secret Doctrine itself." He goes on to
describe and praise Mrs. Bailey's Arcane School, which is evidently
intended as a successor to H.P. Blavatsky's Esoteric School, with of
course Mrs. Bailey as its "Outer Head" or mouthpiece for the "Tibetan
Teacher." The scheme for what one may call a new and improved(?)
edition of H.P. Blavatsky's work is therefore complete, and comment
thereon is scarcely necessary. Conclusions may be drawn for the moment
from the following notes:


GOD, THE LOGOS AND THE HIERARCHY

The word "God" is constantly used, and great stress is laid on the
"Love Aspect of the Logos"; but the references given to the Secret
Doctrine contain no such term. This sort of trick is found throughout
the book; for in nearly every instance, on looking it up, the
reference given uses different phraseology or has no application at
all. Thus, on p. 66, Fohat is stated to be "Love-Wisdom," and a
footnote refers to S.D. I, 100, 144,155, (Besant Edition), but on
looking them up one finds: p. 100 "Blazing Dragon of wisdom"; p. 144,
"Fohat, in his capacity of DIVINE LOVE (Eros) 1*, the electric Power
of affinity and sympathy"; p. 155, no mention of Fohat, Love, or
Wisdom. Next Mrs. Bailey says Fohat is "god" and refers to S.D. I,
167, but we there find in a footnote that what she calls "God" is
"absolute Be-Ness, 'SAT'." And if we turn to p. 376 (352 Old Edition)
we read: "When the Theosophists and Occultists say that God is no
BEING, for IT is nothing, No-Thing, they are more reverential and
religiously respectful to the Deity than those who call God a HE, and
thus make of HIM a gigantic MALE."

The question is dealt with at considerable length by The Master K.H.
in Letter X, Mahatma Letters, p. 52, where he says "we deny God both
as philosophers and as Buddhists. We know there are planetary and
other spiritual lives, and we know there is in our system no such
thing as God, either personal or impersonal."

One may search in vain for Mrs.. Bailey's "Ray of Love-Wisdom" in the
S.D., and the references (p. 74) given to it concerning the "Love
aspect of the Logos" contain nothing of the kind. These are only a few
out of dozens of such examples in the two volumes.

At p. 91 the "Fourth Creative Hierarchy" is "male," but surely
creative power is male in any case. The word "Love" is used ad nauseam
throughout the work and even the Ego is called the "Love Aspect" (147).


ASSERTION AND PROPHECY

Confident assertions are made as to what exactly will take place in
future Rounds, e.g. "The Logos of our scheme, Sanat Kumara, will take
a major initiation in the middle of the Fifth Round, but is preparing
for a minor one at this time"(p.374). According to the S.D. I, 456-7
thereare seven Kumaras, who are the Solar angels that endowed man with
his immortal Ego. Sanat Kumara (see Theos. Glossary, 289) is the most
prominent of these, and therefore it is misleading to apply the name
to the Logos. See also post p.

Observe particularly that the Bailey scheme entirely ignores the
Buddha Hierarchy emanating from Adi-Buddha (S.D. I, 570) substituting
the Solar Logos, the Trinity, and Seven Rays, one of which
{"Love-Wisdom") includes "The Christ, the World Teacher." It is
obvious-therefore that, like Leadbeater, Mrs. Bailey is really working
in the interests of the Christian system by introducing its
terminology and concepts into works that are ostensibly expositions of
the Esoteric Philosophy of the Masters and H.P.B., but are really
cleverly masked Christian propaganda.

For instance, the Seven Dhyani Buddhas here become Seven Rays, under
three of which (those of "Aspect") are grouped various Masters,
including those mentioned by H.P.B. and several others. The Christ
comes first under the "Love-Wisdom Aspect" and "the Master Jesus"
under the "Intelligence Aspect." See elaborate Chart of "Solar and
Planetary Hierarchies" with key on pp. 1238-9.


"THE MASTER JESUS"

Cosmic Fire positively bristles with pronouncements concerning the
"Master Jesus," e.g. p. 757 et seq.

"the coming of Him for whom all nations wait."

"The Son of Man will again tread the highways of man and His physical
incarnation will be fact."

"The Master Jesus will take a physical vehicle and effect a
re-spirtualization of the Catholic Churches about 1980". (Here we have
the sure sign of a certain influence which is also evident in the
Besant-Leadbeater Liberal Catholic Church scheme.)

"Christ occupied the body of Jesus.... Few are as Christ is, and have
the power to make a dual appearance. This type of monad is only found
on Rays two, four, six."

Compare this with what is said on the Buddha's powers in the Mahatma
Letters, pp. 43, 47. See also p. 344 concerning "real Christ of every
Christian" and "the man Jeshu." Neither the Masters nor H.P. Blavatsky
ever write of the Christ as an individual Being, but always as a
principle in man.


THE LOGOS IN FACT AND FICTION

The "Logos" is a very Prominent feature of this book, in various
forms, such as "Cosmic, "Solar," "Planetary," about all of which we
are given intimate Personal details, as to their "initiations,"
"incarnations," etc. Nothing of this kind is ever assumed in the
Secret Doctrine. 

As most people, outside this branch of study, do not know what a Logos
is, and as Mrs. Bailey prefers assertion to exposition, I will ,give
H.P. Blavatsky's definition from her Theosophical Glossary: "Logos
(Gr.) - The manifested deity with every nation and people: the outward
expression, or the effect of the cause which is ever concealed. Thus,
speech is the Logos of thought; hence it is aptly translated by the
'Verbum' or 'Word', in its metaphysical sense." 

In the Secret Doctrine, I, 573 (1st Ed.) we are told that "The Logos
is the Iswara of the Hindus which the Vedantins say is the highest
consciousness in nature - 'the sum total of DhyanChohanic
consciousness' according to the Occultists." It will at once be seen
how greatly these differ from Mrs. Bailey's limited and personal
conception. S.D. I, pp. 571-2 should also be studied in this
connection. Needless to say, no such idea as the "Initiation,, of a
Logos is to be found in the S.D.

There is an immense amount of this sort of thing, very much on the
Leadbeater lines of pure assertion with implied authority in the
background. How different from H.P. Blavatsky, of whom the Masters say
in the Mahatma Letters, p.289: "She had to bring the whole arsenal of
proofs with her, quotations from Paul and Plato, from-Plutarch and
James, etc., before the Spiritualists admitted that the Theosophists
were right." Mrs. Bailey scorns Such a method - she is content to
assert, or her "Tibetan" is.

Prophecies and bold statements concerning evolution on the Earth
abound in the book: e.g. p. 390: "An entirely new group of human
beings will sweep into incarnation in our Earth scheme.... Entities
will come in from Mars Mecurian life will begin to synthesize," etc.,
in regular Leadbeater style. Presumably we are to regard these as
examples of "turning the analogical key in the Secret Doctrine lock,"
although nothing of the sort is to be found in that work.

Notwithstanding the unsparing condemnation of Spiritualism in the
Mahatma Letters, we read at p. 456 (footnote) that "Master Hilarian
(sic), a Cretan Master, is interested in the Spiritualistic movement."
Also that a "Hungarian Master, Rakoczi, is the Regent of Europe and
America under the 'Great White Brotherhood,"' - a term coined by the
Besant-Leadbeater doctrine and never used by H.P. Blavatsky. (See post
p. 33)


IGNORANCE CONCERNING THE BUDDHA

Considering that these teachings are supposed to come from a
"Tibetan," a remarkable ignorance is shown-about the Buddha and his
real standing in the Occult Hierarchy. For instance, we are told, at
p. 210: "The Buddha held office prior to the present World Teacher and
upon his Illumination His place was taken by Lord Maitreya whom the
Occidentals call Christ". (p. 211, note). This World Teacher, who is
also called here "the Great Lord, the Christ," is a specifically
Leadbeater invention; so is the identification of Maitreya (the next
Buddha) with the Christ, the object from the Christian propaganda
standpoint being evident. But the whole scheme is entirely foreign to
the Oriental teaching of the Secret Doctrine.

One has only to turn to the Mahatma Letters and look up the references
to the Buddha to see what a supreme position is given to him by the
Trans-Himalayan brotherhood. I have collected and commented on these
passages under the title "Tibetan Initiates on the Buddha" in Part III
of our new book Buddhism the Science of Life (Peking, 1928), pointing
out their significance in connection with present developments in Asia.


"THE PHENOMENON CALLED SEX ACTIVITY"

Mrs. Bailey even associates the Logos with Sex! Thus (p. 721): "The
Law of Attraction.... deals with the ability of the Logos to 'love
wisely;' in the occult sense of the term. It has relation to the
polarization of the Logos in His astral body, and produces the
phenomenon called 'sex activity'...." Is this another specimen of
"turning the analogical key in the Secret Doctrine lock"? If so, the
result is scarcely encouraging; and when we read (p. 905) of "the
throat center of a planetary Logos and of a Solar Logos" we realize
that sheer anthropomorphism can go no further.

Moreover, the "Mahachohan" (as Mrs. Bailey writes the name) is stated
(pp. 907-8) to be directly connected with "the effect that the devas
of the kundalini fire are producing upon man" in the direction of sex
activity. The passage is too long and unintelligible to quote here;
the point to note for anyone who has learnt from H.P. B. and the
Masters something of the nature of the Maha Chohan, is the desecration
involved in even mentioning his name in such a connection.

Another example of Mrs. Bailey's ignorance of what H.P.B. really was
occurs at p. 1037: "Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Harvey, and the
Curies are, on their own line of force, lightbringers of equal rank
with H.P.B." Confucius, we are told, is to reincarnate and superintend
the work of "rendering radioactive some of the foremost thinkers.
...." Our Chinese friends will appreciate this piece of information.

"Cosmic rapture and rhythmic bliss (sic) are the attributes of the
Fourth Path. It is a form of identification which is divorced from
consciousness altogether." Those who follow this Fourth Way are called
"the blissful dancing points of fanatical devotion." which suggests
nothing so much as dancing dervishes!


IMITATION STANZAS OF DZYAN

An alleged extract in "Stanzas of Dzyan" style "From the Archives of
the Lodge" is given at pp. 747-8, headed "The Coming Avatar." The
following is a specimen of the flamboyant language: "Greater the chaos
becometh; the major center with all the seven circulating spheres rock
with the echoes of disintegration. The fumes of utter blackness mount
upwards in dissipation. The noise discordant of the warring elements
greet the oncoming One, and deter Him not."

Again, at p. 1267, we find a set of "Seven Esoteric Stanzas from
Archaic Formulas." A note informs us that they "form only one true
stanza out of the oldest book in the world, and one which the eye of
the average man has never contacted" (sic). The last of them is
headed, as one might expect, with "The Path of Absolute Sonship," and
ends suggestively with "To Him be glory of the Mother, Father, Son, as
the One Who hath existed in the past, the now and That which is to
come." The "Finale" begins with "The morning stars sang in their
courses" and ends with" the marriage song of the Heavenly Man."

A specimen of the alleged "Stanzas of Dzyan" may also be given:
"Riseth the cave of beauty rare, of colour iridescent. Shineth (sic)
the walls with azure tint, bathed in the light of rose. The blending
shade of blue irradiates the whole and all is merged in gleaming."
Stanza VII, p. 22.

What a contrast to the genuine Stanzas in the S.D., e.g. I, 35:

1. The Eternal Parent (Space), wrapped in her ever invisible robes,
had slumbered once again for seven eternities.

2. Time was not, for it lay in the infinite bosom of Duration. 

The statement at p. 749 that H.P.B. was "overshadowed" by "One greater
than an Adept" scarcely agrees with what we glean about her occult
status in the Mahatma Letters and elsewhere. However, at p. 757 she is
described as "a true psychic and conscious medium," which is the
spiritualistic theory above which A.P. Sinnett likewise was never able
to rise, especially after her death.

At the close of this century, we are told, the "Avatarwill come as the
Teacher of Love and Unity, and the Keynote He will strike will be
regeneration through love poured forth on all." Imagine H.P.B. or the
Masters writing this kind of sentimental stuff, such as one reads in
Christian tracts or the "Order of the Star" literature.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR WOULD-BE MAGICIANS

Pages 996-1026 contain "Fifteen Rules for Magic" in the section
"Thought and Fire Elementals." They are in Mrs. Bailey's usual verbose
and pseudo-Apocalyptic style, and are led up to by a clever touch
concerning "an old book of magic, hidden in the caves of learning,
guarded by the Masters"., from which some "appropriate words" are quoted:

"The Brothers of the Sun, through the force of solar fire, fanned to a
flame in the blazing vault of the second Heaven, put out the lower
lunar fires, and render naught the lower 'fire by friction'." 

"The Brother of the Moon ignores the sun and solar heat; borrows his
fire from all that triply is, and pursues his cycle. The fires of hell
await, and lunar fire dies out. Then neither sun nor moon avails him,
only the highest heaven awaits the spark electric, seeking vibration
synchronous from that which lies beneath. And yetit cometh not."

In case the reader should fail to make any sense of this gem of
"magic," he is told that "the terminology is in the nature of a blind,
which ever carries revelation to those who have the clue, but tends to
perplex and to bewilder the student who as yet is unready for the
truth." It need hardly be added that nowhere in this entire "labyrinth
of words," running to a total of 1282 pages, is the exact nature of
the 'clue' more than darkly hinted at, as in the present instance. An
old and common trick, usually employed to conceal the complete absence
of either clue or meaning.

"Rule I" runs thus: "The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not
his force, but in meditation deep communicates with his reflection."
why this is termed a "Rule" is not quite clear.

The other fourteen Rules are of course equally meaningless and obscure
- without the "clue." These Rules are given with over thirty pages of
copious comments which make confusion worse confounded, containing
such terms as "the magician" (for whose use they are formulated),
"Solar Angel," "Egoic Lotus," "the Illuminator," "the eye of the
Magician," "the Agnichaitans," "the Agnisuryans," etc.


ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION OF COLOR

"The 'Eye of Shiva,' when perfected, is blue in color" (R. VI, p.
1011), "and as our solar Logos is the 'Blue Logos,' so do His children
occultly resemble Him; but this color must be interpreted esoterically."

This last is a specimen of the sort of weird jumble which constitutes
the major part of this book, in which H.P. Blavatsky and her Secret
Doctrine are much quoted and referred to in footnotes, more as a blind
to the reader than as bearing any real relation to Mrs. Bailey's own
scheme. Familiar words and phrases are twisted from their proper and
original setting and use, in an effort to compile an imposing work
which may appear on the surface to continue the same line of teaching,
but is really quite different.

The language is certainly not such as any "Tibetan," or indeed any
Oriental, would use. In fact, as I have shown, it is distinctively
Christian; and Mrs. Bailey's inspirer, if a separate entity at all, is
much more likely to be an ecclesiastic of that faith who (like many of
them nowadays) has familiarized himself with the literature of
Occultism and is trying to make it fit the Christian scheme. It has
even been suggested, not without some justification, that the
"Tibetan" is merely a misleading generic term for a council of astute
theologians for whom Mrs. Bailey is the mouthpiece and scribe.

________________________________________

ADDITIONAL NOTES
By A.L. Cleather
SUBTLE DEPRECIATION OF H.P. BLAVATSKY

Observe how cleverly H.P.B. is gradually pushed into the background;
little hints and remarks, "damning with faint praise," being thrown
out now and again - a well-known form of "suggestion."

We have no "evidence" for the existence of this "Tibetan Brother";
simply Mrs. Bailey's word, her own ipse dixit for everything. I am
inclined to believe that if her "teacher" is not actually AB-CWL, it
is someone behind all three, with a pseudonym cleverly adapted to
conceal his identity with a certain Christian hierarchy, and by
repeated "suggestion" plant in the minds of Mrs. Bailey's readers the
concept of a TIBETAN origin for the "teachings."

The complete omission by this supposed member of the Lodge (!) of all
reference to the true status and nature of the Buddha and his place in
Evolution, as given by the Masters and H.P. Blavatsky, tends to bear
out my theory.

Whether Mrs. Bailey believes whole-heartedly in her "mission" is not
clear. She is evidently a psychic. Whatever may be the truth of the
matter, the whole "plot" is most cleverly contrived , and she must
surely be a willing "tool," if not a fully conscious agent.

Observe in this "new cycle teaching" there is no place for or mention
of the necessity for the twin laws of Karma and Reincarnation,
although they are often mentioned incidentally; nor of the great sweep
of Cyclic Law through which they work. Nothing really definite,
reasonable or rational; and, as a matter of fact, but little relation
to the teachings of H.P.B. despite the constant references thereto.


THE SO-CALLED "NEW CYCLE OF TEACHING"

To such proportions has this new cult already grown that the following
astounding assertions are boldly made in the May Occult Review (1928,
p. 305) by H. Adams, in an article on Mrs. Bailey's latest book on
Patanjali2: "the Tibetan Brother who is responsible for the
impartation of Mrs. Bailey's previous works. . . ."

Mr. Adams then gives a few supposed facts culled from the book, and
continues: "This authoritative statement. . . ." (The "authority" is
Mrs. Bailey's invisible teacher, and for him we have only her own
word) "emanates from the Brotherhood (!!), in that it has been
produced by the express authority and under the personal supervision
of the Brother specially appointed to communicate the new cycle
teaching necessary at this point of evolution in connection with the
second Ray impulse." The last few words are typical of her Cosmic Fire
"teaching."

Note the piling up of assumption after assumption. First, he is "a
Tibetan brother," then his pronouncements are forthwith identified
with "the Brotherhood"! There is talk of their "ex press authority"
and so on.

Boiled down, what does it all amount to? Simply Mrs. Bailey's calm,
unchecked (and uncheckable) assertions, for the validity of which she
claims the equally unchecked (and uncheckable) "authority" of her
"Tibetan." The concluding sentences actually go the length of placing
her on a level with H.P. Blavatsky.


ALLEGED INSPIRATION OF TIBETAN MASTERS

Mr. Adams further says: "In the midst of religious controversies on
every hand emptying the churches and filling sincere and seeking souls
with disquiet and eager (1) questioning, and our friends the
Theosophists divided into half a dozen societies and pathetically
asking one another 'What is Truth?' surely it is a great so lace and
matter for thankfulness that the ever watchful (2) Brotherhood of
Masters, ignoring all the petty issues, or, rather, (3) answering them
most effectively by the voice of an accredited messenger, declares
once again in clear solid English (!) the Science of the Spirit hid
den in the Sutras." (Italics mine. - A.L.C.) Here we may note: (1) A
clever touch, giving the idea that this new scheme has nothing to do
with Theosophy or its societies; leading to the unblushing assertion
(2) that this new teaching actually emanates from the Masters. Further
(3) that the "accredited messenger," whether Mrs. Bailey or her
supposed teacher, has been inspired by Them!

At the beginning of Mr. Adam's article H.P. Blavatsky is referred to
only as the translator of The Voice of the Silence; his idea evidently
being to blot out from the reader's mind the existence of her magnum
opus, the Secret Doctrine, the teachings of which are in flat
contradiction to some of the bewildering material we have found in
Cosmic Fire.


DOCTRINE OF "RAY IMPULSES"

With reference to H.P. Blavatsky it should al so be noted that Mr.
Adams says on p. 306:

"An interesting point is made by Mrs. Bailey in her introduction to
the effect that the coming spiritual impulse is a second Ray impulse
and will reach its zenith towards the close of the present century,
but it has no relation to the first Ray impulse which produced the
work of H.P. B." This is, of course, one of Mrs. Bailey's usual
arbitrary statements, not in the least what H.P.B. herself told us,
but evidently made as part of the whole scheme to subordinate her and
her work to the "new dispensation" of the Besant Leadbeater-Bailey cult.


THE "WORLD&shyp;TEACHER" IMPOSTURE

It is clear that the efforts now being made by the enemies of the
Masters is to focus the attention of the whole thinking world of the
West on the "Christ-World-Teacher" idea originated by the
Besant-Leadbeater cult, and here shown to be a leading feature in Mrs.
Bailey's scheme, vide the specimens cited by Mr. Crump. Nor is it any
less dangerous to the progress of humanity, al though the intellectual
form in which it is so ably presented tends to disarm criticism and
conceal the cloven hoof.

The warnings of the Masters on the dangers of psychic communications
and the work of the Dugpas - "the infamous Shammars" - the "Red-capped
Brothers of the Shadow . . . whose pernicious work is everywhere in
our way" (Mahatma Letters, 272, 284) must be applied to such cases as
this. Also the extremely important letter in H.P. Blavatsky's Letters
to Sinnett p. 230 re the work of the Jesuits, (which was evidently
written by one of the Masters), especially the concluding paragraph on
p. 233.


CLAIMS OF HIGH INSPIRATION BY PSYCHICS

In the same number of the Occult Review, at p. 354, is an
advertisement of a book called Living Secrets by Luma Valdry.

It is described as follows: "Produced by automatic writing under the
direct inspiration of a Master of the Wisdom, the authoress during its
composition being in a dual consciousness. it is a prose poem of
transcendental esoteric import. This book may well become the type of
a new mode of communion...."

Here we have a precisely similar claim to. that of Mrs. Bailey, and
this sort of thing is quite common in spiritualistic and psychological
literature. Mediums generally have a list of eminent "controls," and
therefore it is quite natural for psychics who wish to appeal to those
seeking new "occult teaching" should claim to get it in the smeme
manner and from the same source as H.P. Blavatsky. Psychism is so
little understood as yet that few realize how, especially in female
psychics, the line is very difficult to draw between conscious and
unconscious deception (which includes self-deception). Paracelsus is
very illuminating on the power of the female imagination, and such
imposing works as Mrs. Bailey's may quite well be the product of her
own imagination, using occult ideas and terminology, and filtering
into her brain as definite "teaching," spoken or inspired by an entity
that calls itself "the Tibetan."

________________________________________

NOTES ON "INITIATION, 
HUMAN AND SOLAR

By A.L. Cleather
Since the foregoing notes on Cosmic Fire were written, this earlier
work has been sent to me for comment. I note that it was first
published in 1922, a year earlier than the publication of the Mahatma
Letters, from which Mrs. Bailey makes several quotations in Cosmic
Fire, published in 1925. She has dedicated it "With Reverence and
Gratitude to the Master K.H.," the idea obviously being to suggest
that the contents were obtained, if not direct from the Master, at
least gleaned from his teachings. That this was most certainly not the
source of the ideas of Mrs. Bailey, or the "Tibetan," must be evident
from the following parallels:

>From Initiation, Human and Solar pub. 1922, Ch. I, p. 9: 


"Initiation Defined. - The question anent initiation is one that is
coming more and more be fore the public. Before many centuries pass
the old mysteries will be restored, and in inner body will exist in
the Church - the Church of the period, of which the nucleus is already
forming - wherein the first initiation will become exoteric in this
sense only, that the taking of the first initiation will, before so
very long, be the most sacred ceremony of the Church, performed
exoterically as one of the mysteries given at stated periods, attended
by those concerned. It will also hold a similar place in the ritual of
the Masons. At this ceremony those ready for initiation will be
publicly admitted to the Lodge by one of its members, authorized to do
so by the great Hierophant himself." (Italics mine. - A.L.C.)

>From a letter to A.P. Sinnett by Master K.H. about 1881-2, in The
Mahatma Letters, 1923, pp. 57-8 "


I will point out the greatest, the chief cause of nearly two-thirds of
the evils that pursue humanity, ever since that cause became a power.
It is religion under whatever form and in whatsoever nation. It is the
sacerdotal caste, the priesthood and the Churches. It is in those
illusions that man looks upon as sacred, that he has to search out the
source of that multitude of evils which is the great curse of humanity
and that almost overwhelms mankind. Ignorance created Gods and cunning
took advantage of the opportunity . . . It is priestly imposture that
rendered these Gods so terrible to man... It is belief in God and Gods
that makes two-thirds of humanity the slaves of a handful of those who
deceive them under the false pretense of saving them. (Italics mine. -
A.L.C.)

It would appear that Mrs. Bailey too hastily took in vain the name of
the Master, and must have felt somewhat disconcerted (as did Mrs.
Besant and Mr. Leadbeater) on the appearance in print of the Master's
real views about "God" and "the Church," etc. Nothing daunted,
however, and hearing in mind the sage advice to diplomats: "L'audace,
l'audace, et toujours l'audace," she published Cosmic Fire in 1925,
freely quoting from the Mahatma Letters, and peppering her pages with
footnotes containing copious references to the Secret Doctrine which
in most cases do not confirm her assertions, as anyone can see by
looking them up.

Who is this "great Hierophant" of whom she speaks? Can he perchance
bear any relation to Mr. Leadbeater's "Supreme Director of Evolution
on this globe"?

The book abounds (like Cosmic Fire) with the usual unsupported
assertions - typical of and common to the Besant-Leadbeater-Bailey
cult - as to initiations, their number (1st to 6th, etc.) the
"Planetary Logos," with a full description of his work; "The KING, the
Lord of the World"; the "Master Jesus," who, it is stated (p. 56), "is
the focal point of the energy that flows through the various Christian
Churches," and who is "at present living in a Syrian body . . . is
rather a martial figure, a disciplinarian, and a man of iron rule and
will. He is tall and spare with rather a long thin face, black hair,
pale complexion and piercing blue eyes".

Nor is this the only detailed description, for the Masters M. and
K.H., and many others, are also dealt with and the character of their
work fully described. Part of the Masters work, we are informed, is
"to prepare the world on a large scale for the coming of the World
Teacher".

This, of course, at once identifies the Bailey school (as we have
already seen in Cosmic Fire) with the Besant-Leadbeater perversions
and delusions. "Everywhere," says Mrs. Bailey, "They (the Masters
collectively) are gathering in those who may in any way show a
tendency to respond to high vibration, seeking to force their
vibration and to fit them so that they may be of use at the time of
the coming of the Christ .... " (Italics mine. - A.L.C.) Mrs. Bailey's
idea of response to "high vibration" would presumably be identical
with a "response" to her own "message," as she terms it in her opening
chapter.

Another similarity with the Besant-Leadbeater school occurs in Chap.
V, which contains the following: "At the head of affairs . . . stands
the KING, the Lord of the World. . . . Co-operating with Him as His
advisers are three Personalities called the Pratyeka Buddhas, or
Buddhas of Activity. These four are the embodiment of active
intelligent loving will. . . ." (Italics mine. - A.L.C.)

It will be remembered that in my Great Betrayal I dealt with Mrs.
Besant's false statement correcting H.P.B.'s definition of the
Pratyeka Buddha in the voice of the Silence p. 109, note 25, in our
reprint (and the Theos Glossary) which we find accepted all over the
East as correct, i.e. that purely intellectual, selfish, solitary
saint. There is here, too, no word of the Nirmanakayas, none of the
"Masters of Compassion," or the "Great Renunciation" and above all of
the "Two Paths."

Clearly, the Besant-Leadbeater teachings have largely inspired this
later "false guide" - one more "blind leader of the blind." These
people, in fact - especially Mrs. Bailey - possess some of the
requisites of a writer of fiction. But, "Oh, the pity of it," that it
should need but barefaced and entirely unsupported assertions, coupled
with the detailed descriptions so greedily absorbed by the novel
reading public, to completely impose upon the foolish multitude.

It is quite impossible to deal at any length with a work in which
truth and error are so ingeniously mingled that to separate the chaff
from the grain would need another volume of the same length. The very
titles of the nineteen chapters show the nature of the subject-matter.

And for all the supposed "knowledge," or "teaching," contained in
these nineteen chapters nothing is offered in confirmation, testimony,
or excuse, save in the "Introductory Remarks," where the writer
declares that she does not arrogate to herself "any credit or personal
authority for the Knowledge implied," and emphatically disavows all
such claims or representations. She cannot do otherwise than present
these statements as matters of fact." {Italics mine. - A.L.C.) The
unsophisticated enquirer might not unreasonably ask, Why? The "claim,"
here so jesuiticaliy disavowed, is really there, though cleverly
camouflaged. If these things are "matters of fact," why is no evidence
whatever adduced?

Considered as an ingenious and highly imaginative work of occult
fiction, the book possesses definite attractions. Other writers in the
same field have produced actual novels dealing with the occult, e.g. A
Brother of the Third Degree, Three Sevens, and many tales by later
writers, all of which have won recognition from the fiction-reading
public. But, with the exception of C.W. Leadbeater, Mrs. Bailey is the
first writer on occult subjects who has had the wit to present Fiction
as Fact, thus winning at one stroke and with the greatest ease a
certain following among the credulous, and presumably the financial
backing so necessary for advertising purposes these days. Her books,
however, cannot be taken seriously by followers of H.P. Blavatsky's
teachings, or as being any sort of contribution to genuine occult
"knowledge."


TEACHING ON SEX OPPOSED TO H.P. BLAVATSKY'S

Moreover, Mrs. Bailey's presumably "inspired" views (one must not
forget her alleged "Tibetan" teacher) on sex relations in their
application to those who have entered, or are entering, on the serious
study of practical Qccultism, are in direct conflict with the
teachings of H.P. Blavatsky and her Teachers on the subject.

In the last chapter, "Rules for Applicants," she is far more definite
on this point than in her later Cosmic Fire. Possibly the publication
of the Mahatma Letters may have counseled more prudence on that head,
if - as seems probable - she is anxious that the public should believe
that the contents of her books are drawn from the same source as H.P.
Blavatsky's, as shown by the constant references to the Secret
Doctrine in Cosmic Fire. Like the followers of the Leadbeater
dispensation, there are some who regard her works as an extension and
expansion of the Secret Doctrine, which is of course almost grotesque.

Rule 11, 0. 204, runs thus: "Let the disciple transfer the fire from
the lower triangle to the higher, and preserve that which is created
through the fire of the midway point."

Mrs. Bailey explains this as follows: "This means, literally, the
control by the initiate of the sex impulse, as usually understood, and
the transference of the fire which normally vitalises the generative
organs to the throat center, thus leading to creation upon the mental
plane through the agency of mind. That which is to be created must
then be nourished and sustained by the love energy issuing from the
heart center."

No words of mine could be half strong enough to condemn the advice
here given to all and sundry in a printed book. The "transference"
advised is probably the most dangerous in the process of Black Magic,
which is distinguished from White by its use of the sex forces. It is
found in such Tantrik works as The Serpent Power, by "Arthur Avalon"
(the late Sir John Woodroffe an Indian Judge), against the terrible
dangers of which H.P. Blavatsky so constantly warns her readers and
pupils. In most cases she says that such an attempt as above described
would have a fatal result. For this one passage alone Mrs. Bailey
deserves the severest. condemnation. She is indeed playing with fire -
the Fire of Kundalini, which, as H.P. Blavatsky says, "can as easily
kill as it can create."

The following is the "lower triangle referred to:

1. The Solar Plexus.
2. The Base of the Spine.
3. The Generative Organs.

The "higher" is thus given:

1. The Head. 
2. The Throat. 
3. The Heart.

There is not the smallest recognition throughout this book of the
tremendous gulf which yawns between "White" and "Black" Magic in
Practical Occultism. And in these three pages (204-5-6) she
unconsciously lays bare the real evil at the root of her teachings
which, where Sex is concerned, are in direct opposition to those of
H.P. Blavatsky and her Teachers.
For Mrs. Bailey's further detailed explanations as to the sex
relationships of "Initiated Masters" parallel columns will again
supply the necessary contrast:

Initiation, Human and Solar, Chap. XIX, pp. 204-5-6. Referring to the
above quotation from p. 204. 

Mrs. Bailey continues:

"This might be interpreted by the superficial reader as an injunction
to the celibate life, and the pledging of the applicant to abstain
from all physical manifestation of the sex pulse. This is not so. Many
initiates have attained their objective when duly and wisely
participating in the marriage relation ...."The physical plane is as
much a form of divine expression as any of the higher planes... that
it may be advisable at certain stages for a man to perfect control
along any particular line through a temporary abstention is not to be
denied, but that . . . will be succeeded by stages when - the control
having been gained - the man demonstrates perfectly through the medium
of the physical body, the attributes of divinity, and every center
will be normally and wisely used, and thus race purposes furthered."

"Initiates and Masters, in many cases, marry, and normally perform
their duties as husbands. wives, and householders, but all is
controlled and regulated by purpose and intention, and none is carried
away by passion or desire. In the perfect man upon the physical plane,
all the centers are under complete control. . . the spiritual will of
the divine inner God is the main factor.... The true initiate would be
known by his wise and sanctified normality.... by the example he sets
to his environing associates of spiritual living and moral rectitude,
coupled with the discipline of his own life...." (Italics mine. - A.L.C.)

>From "The qualifications expected in a Chela" (Theosophist, Vol.. IV,
Supplement, July, 1883, p. 10)

"2. Absolute mental and physical purity."

"Remember, he who is not as pure as a young child (had) better leave
chelaship alone." (The Master K.H.)

The Master M... to the Esoteric Students: "Bodily purity every Adept
takes precautions to keep."

"The Self of matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of the
twain must disappear; there is no place for both."

"Guard thou the lower lest it soil the Higher." Voice of the Silence.

There are not in the West half a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who
call themselves 'Occultists' who have even an approximately correct
idea of the nature of the Science they seek to master. With a few
exception, they are all on the highway to Sorcery." (H.P. Blavatsky in
Occultism v. The Occult Arts.)

"No Adept ever marries." - H.P. Blavatsky.

"It is true that the married man cannot be an Adept." (The master K.H.
in The Mahatma Letters, p. 17.

Ibid. (p. 272 by Master M): - "The Dugpas and the Gelugpas are not
fighting in Tibet alone: see their vile work in England among the
'Occultists' and 'Seers'! Hear your acquaintance - preaching, like a
true 'Hierophant of the left-hand,' the marriage of the 'soul with the
spirit' and getting the true definitions topsy-turvy, seek to prove
that every practicing Hierophant must at least be spiritually married
if for some reason he cannot do so physically, there being otherwise a
great danger of Adulteration of God and Devil! I tell you the Shammars
(Dugpas, Or Black Magicians) are there already, and their pernicious
work is everywhere in our way."

Not only did H.P. Blavatsky tell us that true Adepts of the Right-Hand
Path never marry or enter into any sort of sex relation, but she also
said that certain Black Magicians well-known in occult annals were the
offspring of high occultists who broke their vow of celibacy. Thus of
Cagliostro she wrote (Theos. Gloss. 72): "Yet his end was not utterly
undeserved, as he had been untrue to his vows in some respects, had
fallen from his state of chastity and. yielded to ambition and
selfishness" (cf. "Great ones fall back, even from the Threshold").

The evil is a great one, for in this particular instance, teaching on
one of the greatest dangers in Occultism - SEX - is given out which is
subversive of all that H.P. Blavatsky and the Masters stand for. In
H.P. Blavatsky's Occultism v. The Occult Arts from which I quote above
(and at greater length in my Great Betrayal) the true occult teaching
on this subject is clearly and unequivocally set forth. It forms a
complete refutation of the false and dangerous ideas put forward with
such a show of authority by Mrs. Bailey, which are common to all the
charlatans of Occultism, whether conscious or unconscious. Many other
examples, besides C.W. Leadbeater, might be given of this.

A point of interest in connection with the large number of Adepts
mentioned by name in Mrs. Bailey's books is that H.P. Blavatsky says
in "Lodges of Magic" (Lucifer, 1888): - "The personage known to the
public under the pseudonym of 'Koot Hoomi' is called by a totally
different name among his acquaintances. . . . The real names of Master
Adepts and Occult Schools are never, under any circumstances, revealed
to the profane."

Among the Besant-Leadbeater "Masters" adopted by Mrs. Bailey, but
nowhere to be found in the Blavatsky literature so far as I am aware,
is "Rakoczi," referred to ante p. 12 (See Initiation, Human and Solar,
p. 58, and Cosmic Fire, p. 455). According to Mrs. Besant, he was
previously incarnated as Rosenkreuz, Bacon, St. Germain, and others,
only achieving adeptship as "Rakoczi" (The Masters, pp. 75-76. Krotona,


1918). H.P. Blavatsky, on the other hand, calls St. Getmain "the
greatest Oriental Adept Europe has seen during the last centuries"
(Theos. Glossary, p. 309, also p. 214 under "Mesmer") See "Influence
of Occultism on Revolutions" in our Buddhism the Science of Life, 2nd
ed., p. 110)

Finally, with reference to Mr. Crump's remarks (ante, p.10) on the
application of the name Sanat Kumara to the Logos, it may be added
here that four of the seven Rumaras are exoteric and three are
esoteric. (Secret Doctrine, I, 457 old ed.) Sanat Kumara is one of the
former. One of the esoteric Rumaras is Sanat Sujata, after whom the
Sanat Sujatiyan of the Mahabharata is named (See The Crest Jewel of
Wisdom: Translated by Mohini Chatterji, verse 324 and footnote, p. 80).
*
* *
"The Pseudo-Occultism of Mrs. A. Bailey" has been reproduced verbatim
from the pamphlet issued by International Studycentre for Independent
Search for truth. It can be purchased from The H.P.B. Library, c/o M.
Freeman, Site No. 19, Comp. No. 2, R.R.I. Vernon. B.C.. Canada V1T 6L4
PROTOGONOS is issued four times a year. Subscription rate is $3.50 per
year U.S. and Canada, $5.00 otherwise. Write: Protogonos, PO Box 121,
Waterville, Ohio 43566


1 As in the oldest Grecian Cosmogony, differing widely from the later
mythology, Eros is the third person in the primeval trinity: Chaos,
Gaea, Eros. - S.D. I, 109

2 The Light of the Soul: Its Science and Effect
 


________________________________________

THE LAST WORD

The Pseudo Law of Self Preservation

". . . is a 'pretended' law indeed, as far as the human family is
concerned, and a fiction of the most dangerous kind. 'Self
preservation' on these lines is indeeed and in truth, a sure, if slow
suicide, for it is a policy of mutual homicide, becuse, man, by
descending to its practical application among themselves, merge, more
and more, by a retrograde reinvolution, into the animal kingdom. . .
Once that this axiomatic truth is proved to all man: the same instinct
of self-preservation only directed into its true channel will make
them turn to ALTRUISM - as their surest policy of salvation."