H P Blavatsky On The Gnostics

In this volume, you learn of the course of Gnosticism. It upholds Blavatsky's startling declaration of the once universal religion from which Gnosticism, and indeed Buddhism and Brahmanism, and early Christianity spring. Basic beliefs of the Gnostics are clarified, and made understandable as we recognise that there is always a direct continuation from age to age of this secret knowledge of hidden and spiritual things.

George Robert Stowe Mead (1863-1933) was a major translator, editor, and commentator on Gnostic and hermetic literature and thus a pivotal figure linking the late 19th-century esoteric revival to 20th-century art, literature, and psychology. As a young convert to the new movement of theosophy, he served as private secretary to its co-founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and after founding the European section of the Theosophical Society edited its London journal, Lucifer, for many years. Mead's initial interest in theosophy and Hinduism soon blossomed into a lifelong and wide-ranging engagement with the texts of Gnosticism, neo-Platonism, and hermeticism. His editions and commentaries on previously inaccessible sources became standard works before the First World War and an important source of inspiration to such figures as Jung, Ezra Pound, Yeats, and Robert Duncan. A new entry in the Western Masters Series of concise biographies noting key figures in the Western esoteric tradition, G.R.S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest introduces Mead's life, works, and influences, combining a substantial biography with a collection of his most important writings.

With introductory notes on the controversy between Madame Blavatsky and a French Canon, by Boris de Zirkoff. Part 1. Abbe Roca’s ecclesiastical views upon the Esotericism of Christian Dogma. Part 2. Madame Blavatsky responds to Abbe Roca’s Esotericism of Christian Dogma. Christian texts are allegories to the archaic mysteries of the Cycle of Initiation, and keys to the once universal mystery-language. When esoterically interpreted, they reveal their fundamental identify with the same Universal Truths. By imposing the dogma of the “Word made flesh,” the Latin Church is diametrically opposed to the tenets of Eastern Occultism, thus maintaining an abyss between East and West as long as neither yields an inch. The New Testament is a western allegory founded upon universal mysteries, the first historical traces of which, in Egypt alone, go back at least to 6.000, years before the Christian era. Today’s Christians are the usurpers of a name they no longer understand. By denying the Divine Logos to any other man, except Jesus of Nazareth, the Churches carnalised the Christos of the Gnostics, and that alone prevents them having any point in common with the disciples of the Archaic Wisdom. Krishna, the historical hero, is mortal; but Vishnu, the divine Principle which animates him, is immortal. Vishnu absorbs only that part of himself which had animated the Avatara. The Church of Rome was Gnostic, just as much as the Marcionites were, until the middle of the second century. Further evidence that Rome has wandered farthest from the real religion of the mystical Christ is that it adopted the solar tonsure proper to the Egyptian priests of the public temples, and to the lamas and bonzes of the popular Buddhist cult. No “sacrificial victim” can be united with Christ triumphant before passing through the stage of the suffering Chrēst, who was put to death on the cross of his passions. It is Christos Himself who directs the occult movement. The Astronomical Christos can have only one anniversary of birth and resurrection in years because his parents are the Sun and the Moon, the heavenly bodies that accompany “the Man crucified in Space.” Paul had been converted not to Jesus of Nazareth but to the Christos of the Gnostics. In his Epistles he has been made to fulminate against the heretics — Peter, James, and the other Apostles! The sacred fire which Prometheus “stole” from the gods is the flame of self-consciousness, the spark that quickened the human mind. The supposed “theft” of the sexual flame is the outcome of evolution, of which the Darwinian theory is but the rough exterior husk on the material plane. Since men had discovered the secret of physical creation, and were procreating in their turn, what was the use of god-creators? The true Christ is the glorious Ego, triumphant over the flesh. We solemnly reject the dogma of Ascension, which degrades the great mystery of Universal Unity. Mysteries were invented by those who are bend on exercising power in order to manipulate the ignorant by arrogating the prerogative of gods. Did you know that the “mysteries” of the Catholic Church are those of the Brahmanas, though under other names? We will never accept either a Christ “made-flesh” or an anthropomorphic God, still less a “Shepherd” in the person of a Pope. Part 3. Abbe Roca counter-responds to Madame Blavatsky’s observations. Part 4. Madame Blavatsky debunks Abbe Roca’s mistaken notions concerning her observations. The Abbé has consigned the theological Christ to the background, and has not breathed a word about the esoteric Christos. He bears me a grudge for having displayed what he pleases to call “such erudition.” He deceives himself in fancying he understands Buddhism but he does not know it even exoterically, any more than Hinduism, even in its popular form. Theosophy is neither Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, nor any other –ism: it is the esoteric synthesis of the world’s religions, philosophies, and sciences. Abbé Roca has fabricated for himself a Christianity of his own. A-brahm, in Sanskrit, means a non-Brahmana, a man driven out from the Brahmin caste, i.e., a man of inferior caste. Our Masters are far too great to bedizen themselves with the peacock’s feathers of infallibility. The puff of wind which knocks down a house of cards may easily pass for a heavy squall in the eyes of the architect who built it; but if the Abbé lays the blame on the puff, rather than on the weakness of his edifice, it is certainly not my fault. The homage he renders to the wisdom of our Masters, instead of intoxicating me by its heady fumes as he alleges, it made me feel an even deeper mistrust of his motives. A divine Christ has never existed under a human form outside the imagination of blasphemers, who have carnalised a universal and wholly impersonal principle. Unlike Abbé Roca, a true Buddhist would not even think of striking a dog to stop him from barking. The Man-God of the Christians was never historical person. He is a deified personification of the glorified type of the great Hierophants of the Temples, and his story as told in the New Testament is a mere allegory, assuredly containing profound esoteric truths, but still an allegory. Can one, who is inferior to the angels, be God? Matthew’s “strait is the gate and narrow is the way” applies neither to the Abbé nor his faith. In his Church, the way and the gate to heaven become wider in proportion to the sums paid by the faithful. The Churches, which style themselves “Christian,” are nothing but whited sepulchres filled with the dead bones of esoteric paganism and moral putrefaction. It is infinetly more difficult, more meritorious, and more godlike, to live for the love of, whether man or an ideal, than to die for it. The Abbé tells us one thing, and the history of his Bible quite another. Paul was never an apostle of ecclesiastical Christianity: he was the Gnostic adversary of Peter. Here is how a Bavarian theologian, with a lively imagination, made of the calculations of Pliny and Suidas a Japanese salad! And here is a fine passage “of the gnosis” from Bavaria that Dr. Sepp had found at the bottom of a pot of beer. We have thus shown to the Abbé what we, Occultists, know as opposed to what some Fathers of the Church believed they knew. Not only he deceives himself, he is hopelessly optimistic. Though I amply elaborated upon the real Christ, i.e., the impersonal pre-Christian Logos, Abbé Roca keeps reverting back to the ecclesiastical and dogmatic Christ of his Church. Part 5. Abbe Roca’s final response annotated by Madame Blavatsky. Part 6. Fearless Roca was defrocked for coquetting too openly with Theosophy. Alas! His glorious dream of a reconciliation between Pantheistic Theosophy and a Socialistic Latin Church, under a Caesaro-Papal head, came to an abrupt end.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky often known as Madame Blavatsky was a Russian occultist, philosopher, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy, the esoteric religion that the society promoted. If you care about Theosophy or this trailblazer of the New Age, then this book is for you. A must for any scholar of spiritual movements. Along with writing her several books, H. P. Blavatsky kept up a voluminous correspondence and also contributed a steady stream of essays and articles to periodicals in English, French, and Russian. ISIS UNVEILED FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN WHAT IS THEOSOPHY? WHAT ARE THE THEOSOPHISTS? MAHATMAS AND CHELAS OCCULT OR EXACT SCIENCE? THE ESOTERIC CHARACTER OF THE GOSPELS OCCULTISM VERSUS THE OCCULT ARTS IS THEOSOPHY A RELIGION? THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY THE SECRET DOCTRINE

The problems afflicting society today are firmly rooted in the modern approach to education, which focuses on memorization and imitation rather than genuine understanding and practical importance. Schools, teachers, and parents emphasize what we should think, rather than teaching how to think, to question, analyze, and discover the truth through our own experience. The modern system demands that students follow what they are told, and not to question what is taught. From the perspective of the ancient Gnostic tradition, beneficial growth for an individual or a society is an outcome of comprehension: knowing the truth through experience, rather than because of what someone else has said. History shows that those who are willing to question and analyze are those who arrive at the most useful and important knowledge for the benefit of everyone. This includes spirituality: the greatest spiritual leaders refused to follow the established "rules," and instead followed the guidance of awakened consciousness, thereby showing humanity the way to the Light. Over his lifetime, Samael Aun Weor taught millions of people how to awaken consciousness and free themselves of suffering. This book radiates his brilliant teaching method, a beautiful reflection of the same approach utilized by our most important sages, philosophers, and thinkers, which is a form of superior logic and tremendous love that illustrates how vital it is for people to learn not "what to think, but HOW to think." By awakening the consciousness and developing the heart and mind in equilibrium comes the potential to alter the painful realities that humanity is suffering within. Perhaps his most quotable book, it provides a solid and ethical foundation for students, teachers, and parents. "What is the value of studying law and becoming lawyers if we perpetuate fights? What is the value of accumulating much knowledge within our mind if we continue to be confused? What is the value of technical and industrial skills if we use them for the destruction of our fellowmen? It is worthless to receive instruction, to attend classes, to study, if in the process of our daily living we are miserably destroying one another. Indeed, the true objective of a fundamental education must be to create true men and women, who-because of their psychological integration-are cognizant and intelligent."

The present volume is entitled Blavatsky's Companion to Pistis Sophia because Blavatsky published and commented, in the pages of Lucifer magazine, selections of the Pistis Sophia translated and annotated by G.R.S. Mead. The publication project was first announced, in the pages of Lucifer, in the following manner: "We shall also...insert the first of some 'Selections from the Gnostic Gospel, the Pistis Sophia, ' translated by G. R. S. Mead, and annotated by H.P.B." After that, a second note stated that "The promised 'Selections from the Gnostic Gospel, the Pistis Sophia, ' translated by G.R.S. Mead, and annotated by H.P.B., will be commenced in our next number." Fourteen instalments of the material were published seriatum. However, the first instalment featured the following note "Translated and annotated by G. R. S. Mead, with additional notes by H.P.B." In this manner, it is clear that both Blavatsky and Mead annotated Pistis Sophia. Unfortunately, the translation was interrupted and only two books of the Pistis Sophia were published in Lucifer. Even though this volume does not contain the complete Pistis Sophia, it still offers extremely valuable insight into the text due to the important and unique contribution that Helena Petrovna Blavatsky provided with her commentary. Her in-depth knowledge of the material she presented in her great works, in concordance with her detailed commentary to Pistis Sophia, creates a true guide towards a deeper awareness and understanding of this Gnostic Gem.

At the age of 17, rejecting nineteenth-century materialism, Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) left her native Russia and traveled through India, Tibet, Egypt, Europe, and the Americas seeking out the sources of ancient wisdom as a key to spiritual truth. In 1875 in New York, she co-founded the Theosophical Society for the study of occult traditions. Many popular ideas of rediscovered ancient wisdom, including reincarnation and karma, trace their origin to Helena Blavatsky and Theosophy. This anthology includes material on her life and travels, as well as excerpts from her major works.

Scholar Richard Smoley reveals the secret history of the religious doctrines of Gnosticism in Forbidden Faith. The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity—truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of Gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries A.D., but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages. “Smoley elegantly tracks one of our wildest and most vital inner lineages, the one that comes down through Plotinus, the Gospel of Thomas, the Cathar Perfects, Pico, Blake, Madame Blavatsky, Jung, and the Matrix films.” —Coleman Barks, author of The Essential Rumi “This clear, concise primer traces the Gnostic threads of philosophy, religion, science and popular culture from their biblical references through to their 21st-century appearances in novels and film. Moving easily from one century to the next while at the same time connecting them to each other, Smoley is at once thoughtful and thought-provoking . . . He paves a wide, clear path to understanding it, accessible even to the weekend seeker.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) “Drawing on an impressive mastery of the subject matter, Smoley traces Gnosticism from the first century CE to the present. A compelling and accessible argument. A thoroughly enjoyable read; highly recommended.” —Library Journal