cosmology
Astral Light
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
185 passages · 3 traditions
western_esoteric117
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 80 (part 3)
“Then, cutting down the carcase from the tree, they shall lay its head towards the east; in the space that this following conjuration is repeating, they shall set a chafing-dish of fire at its right hand, into which they shall pour a little…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter III (part 2)
“So you see, therefore, that Mental Transmutation is really the "Magic" of which the ancient; writers had so much to say in their mystical works, and about which they gave so few practical instructions.
If All be Mental, then the art which…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VIII (part 2)
“So that while a plane is not "a place," nor yet "a state or condition," yet it possesses qualities common to both.
We shall have more to say regarding the subject of the scale of Vibrations in our next lessons, in which we shall consider t…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IX (part 2)
“The Universal Ether, which is postulated by science without its nature being understood clearly, is held by the Hermetists to be but a higher manifestation of that which is erroneously called matter--that is to say, Matter at a higher degre…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IX (part 3)
“It must be remembered, in the above illustration, that at the stages at which the "object" throws off vibrations of light, heat, etc., it is not actually "resolved" into those forms of energy (which are much higher in the scale), but simply…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter X (part 3)
“And it will also be noticed that even to those unfamiliar with the Principle of Vibration, the Positive pole seems to be of a higher degree than the Negative, and readily dominates it.
The tendency of Nature is in the direction of the domi…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter XIV (part 4)
“Many have sought for an explanation of these varied phases of phenomena under the theories of the various "dual mind" teachers.
And in a measure they are right, for there is clearly a manifestation of two distinct phases of mental activity…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | Preface-a
“It is with a sense of the seriousness of the issues involved that I set myself to the task of writing a book on psychic attack and the best methods of defence against it.
The undertaking is beset with pitfalls.
It is hardly possible to gi…”
Show all 117 →theosophy67
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 5)
“But this view does not prevent him from believing in its existence so long as it lasts, to wit, for one Mahamanvantara; nor from applying Akasa, the radiation of Mulaprakriti,* to practical purposes, connected as the World-Soul is with all…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 6)
“." For clearer understanding on the part of the general reader, it must be stated that Occult Science recognises Seven Cosmical Elements -- four entirely physical, and the fifth (Ether) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air to…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 8)
“Moreover, the Secret Doctrine teaches: -- ( c ) The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul -- a spark of the former…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 4 (part 4)
“I T IS THEY WHO ARE THOU, ME, HIM, OH L ANOO.
T HEY, WHO WATCH OVER THEE, AND THY MOTHER EARTH.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 34 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
2.
T HE ONE RAY MULTIPLIES THE SMALLER RAYS.
L IFE PRECEDES FORM, AND LIFE SURVIVES THE LAST ATOM…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 35 STANZA I.
COMMENTARIES ON THE SEVEN STANZAS AND THEIR TERMS, ACCORDING TO THEIR NUMERATION, IN STANZAS AND SLOKAS.
STANZA I.
1.
" T HE E TERNAL P ARENT (Space), WR…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 3)
“The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction.
The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represen…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 62 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA III.
COMMENTARY.
1.
T HE LAST VIBRATION OF THE SEVENTH ETERNITY THRILLS THROUGH INFINITUDE ( a ).
T HE MOTHER SWELLS, EXPANDING FROM W…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 5)
“because, firstly, he is that which the Greek philosophers called the Logos, the Verbum of the Thought Divine; and secondly, because in Esoteric philosophy this first manifestation, being the synthesis or the aggregate of Universal Wisdom, O…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 6)
“"In the beginning, before Mother became Father-Mother, the fiery Dragon moved in the infinitudes alone" ( Book of Sarparajni.
) The Aitareya Brahmana calls the Earth Sarparajni, "the Serpent Queen," and "the Mother of all that moves." Befo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 7)
“( c ) The ancients represented it by a serpent, for "Fohat hisses as he glides hither and thither" (in zigzags).
The Kabala figures it with the Hebrew letter Teth , whose symbol is the serpent which played such a prominent part in the Myst…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 9)
“He is Purusha (spirit), but he is also Prakriti (matter).
Therefore it is only after separating himself into two halves -- Brahma-vach (the female) and Brahma-Viraj (the male), that the Prajapati becomes the male Brahma.
------- STANZA II…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 1)
“`The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 86 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA IV.
COMMENTARY.
1.
L ISTEN, YE S ONS OF THE E ARTH, TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS -- THE S ONS OF THE F IRE ( a ).
L EARN THERE IS NEITHER FIRS…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 3)
“"Ten is the Mother of the Soul, for Life and Light are therein united," says Hermes.
"For number one is born of the Spirit and the number ten from matter (chaos, feminine); the unity has made the ten, the ten the unity" ( Book of the Keys…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 4)
“He designed and hewed therewith the throne of glory and the wheels, and the seraphim and the holy animals and the ministering angels, and of the three He founded his dwelling, as it is said, He makes his angels spirits and his servants fier…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 8)
“Having evolved from Cosmic Space, and before the final formation of the primaries and the annulation of the planetary nebula, the Sun, we are taught, drew into the depths of its mass all the Cosmic vitality he could, threatening to engulf h…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 9)
“Upon the walls of our most private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out, and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done."** Drs.
Je…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 106 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA V.
1.
T HE P RIMORDIAL S EVEN, THE FIRST SEVEN B REATHS OF THE D RAGON OF W ISDOM, PRODUCE IN THEIR TURN FROM THEIR HOLY CIRCUMGYRATING…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 3)
“Fohat, then, is the personified electric vital power, the transcendental binding Unity of all Cosmic Energies, on the unseen as on the manifested planes, the action of which resembles -- on an immense scale -- that of a living Force created…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 10 (part 2)
“The whole Kosmos in its objective form is Vaikhari-Vach , the light of the Logos is the Madhyama form, and the Logos itself the Pasyanti form, and Parabrahm the Para form or aspect of that Vach.
It is by the light of this explanation that…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 11 (part 4)
“" M AN," which came later, was an attempt to present the archaic doctrine from a more ideal standpoint, to translate some visions in and from the Astral Light, to render some teachings partly gathered from a Master's thoughts, but unfortuna…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 2)
“And the Dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." The Kabalistic version of the same story is given in the Codex Nazareus, the scripture of the Nazarenes, the real mystic Christians…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 3)
“It is already the outline of the two "Supremes" -- God and Satan.
But in the Stanzas no such idea exists.
Most of the Western Christian Kabalists -- pre-eminently Eliphas Levi -- in their desire to reconcile the Occult Sciences with Churc…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 6)
“Others moving in parabolic curves generally escape destruction, owing to their velocity.
Some very critical readers will perhaps imagine that this teaching, as to the cometary stage passed through by all heavenly bodies, is in contradictio…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 10)
“** The so-called "Spirits" that may occasionally possess themselves of the bodies of mediums are not the Monads or Higher Principles of disembodied personalities.
Such a "Spirit" can only be either an Elementary, or -- a Nirmanakaya.
[[Vo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 7)
“There is a curious work by Blanchard, on the Origin of Life, wherein he shows some strange contradictions and confusions in the theories of his colleagues, and which we recommend to the reader's attention.
* Eliphas Levi shows it very trul…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 8)
“No Hindu has ever mistaken Prakriti -- the Astral Light being only above the lowest plane of Prakriti, the material Kosmos -- for the "immortal Spirit." Prakriti is ever called Maya , illusion, and is doomed to disappear with the rest, the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 9)
“198, of the same Vishnu Purana it is written, "in this manner were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned from Mahat to Earth" (?).
Between Mahat or Maha-Buddhi and "Water, etc.," the difference is very considerable.
** According t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 11)
“.
.
.
All these Genii preside over mundane affairs,** they shake and overthrow the constitution of States and of individuals; they imprint their likeness on our Souls, they are present in our nerves, our marrow, our veins, our arteries,…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 12)
“"In dimension it is infinite; it is not made up of parts; and colour, taste, smell, and tangibility do not appertain to it.
So far forth it corresponds exactly to time, space, Isvara, ("The Lord," but rather creative potency and soul -- an…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 3)
“Therefore, such being the case, all those who sought to give a name to the incognizable Principle have simply degraded it.
Even to speak of Cosmic Ideation -- save in its phenomenal aspect -- is like trying to bottle up primordial Chaos, o…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 4)
“We shall speak further on of the intelligent "principle," or rather of the invisible immaterial properties, in the visible and material elements, that "sprung from the primordial Chaos." For, "What is the primordial Chaos but AEther?" it is…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 7)
“) But now the Elements are degraded into and limited to atoms of which nothing is known, so far, and which are only "children of necessity" as Ether is too -- as we said in " I SIS." "The poor primordial elements have long been exiled, and…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 8)
“"Therefore, it was taught in the inner temples that this visible universe of spirit and matter is but the concrete image of the ideal abstraction; it was built on the model of the first DIVINE IDEA.
Thus our universe existed from Eternity…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 20 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 342 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
§ IV.
CHAOS -- THEOS -- KOSMOS.
T HESE three are the containment of Space; or, as a learned Kabalist has defined it, "Space, the all containin…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 20 (part 4)
“The Holy is the seventh of all," etc.
(p.
415).
This, besides showing a strange identity with the cosmogony of the Puranas ( e.g ., Vishnu Purana 1st Book), corroborates with regard to number seven, all our teachings as briefly given in…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 21 (part 3)
“Even AEsculapius, called the "Saviour of all," is identical, according to ancient classics, with Phta , the Egyptian Creative Intellect (or Divine Wisdom), and with Apollo, Baal, Adonis and Hercules ( see Dunlap ' s " Mystery of Adonis ," p…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 22 (part 4)
“In conjunction with the hawk, the symbol of Osiris-Sun, the symbol is dual: it relates to both lives -- the mortal and the immortal.
In Kircher's OEdipus Egyptiacus (vol.
iii., p.
124) one can see, on the papyrus engraved in it, an egg f…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 22 (part 5)
“It is Phtah, however, "he who opens," the opener of life and Death,** who proceeds from the egg of the world to begin his dual work.
( Book of Numbers.
) According to the Greeks, the phantom form of the Chemis ( Chemi , ancient Egypt) whi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 5)
“We bow to thee, in the nature of Brahma uncreated, undecaying ( avyaya ), who art in our bodies and in all other bodies , and in all living creatures , and beside whom nothing exists.
We glorify that Vasudeva, the lord of all, who is witho…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 6)
“"They have seized upon the three worlds, and appropriated the offerings which are our portion, taking care not to transgress the Precepts of the Veda.
Although we , as well as they , are parts of thee.* .
.
.
.
engaged as they are in t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 29 (part 7)
“But, in the esoteric teaching, they are the progenitors of the true spiritual SELF in the physical man -- the higher Prajapati, while the Pitris, or lower Prajapati, are no more than the fathers of the model, or type of his physical form, m…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 30 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 460 [[This page continued from previous section ]] § XIV.
THE FOUR ELEMENTS.
M ETAPHYSICALLY and esoterically there is but One E LEMENT in nature, and at the root of it…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 31 (part 2)
“And it is, therefore, with hardly a smile that we find another preposterous absurdity quoted about "Budh," as being a name "which signifies not only the sun as the source of generation but also the male organ ( Round Towers of Ireland; quot…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 34 (part 3)
“Most of them reject actio in distans (one of the fundamental principles in the question of AEther or Akasa in Occultism), while, as Stallo justly observes, there is no physical action, [[Vol.
1, Page]] 488 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
"which, on…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 35 (part 2)
“Newton is credited with having given the death-blow to the Elemental Vortices of Descartes (the idea of Anaxagoras, resurrected, by-the-bye), though the last modern "vortical atoms" of Sir W.
Thomson do not, in truth, differ much from the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 506 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] VI.
THE MASKS OF SCIENCE.
PHYSICS OR METAPHYSICS?
I F there is anything on earth like progress…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 4)
“How can Science presume to know anything certain of it?
How can it maintain its position and its hypotheses against those of the Occultists, who see in gravity only sympathy and antipathy, or attraction and repulsion, caused by physical po…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 5)
“The totality of the Seven Rays spread through the Solar system constitute, so to say, the physical Upadhi (basis) of the Ether of Science; in which Upadhi, light, heat, electricity, etc., etc., -- the forces of orthodox science -- correlate…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 38 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 523 SUGGESTIVE ALLEGORIES.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] VII.
AN ATTACK ON THE SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF FORCE BY A MAN OF SCIENCE.
T HE wise words of seve…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 38 (part 2)
“On our globe this Substance is the second principle of the septenary Element -- Earth; in the atmosphere, it is that of air , which is the cosmic gross body; in the Sun it becomes the Solar body and that of the Seven rays; in sidereal space…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 38 (part 3)
“** "Unchangeable" only during Manvantaric periods, after which it merges once more into Mulaprakriti; "invisible" for ever, in its own essence, but seen in its reflected coruscations, called the Astral light by the modern Kabalists.
Yet, c…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 39 (part 2)
“Hunt writes: -- "But regarding Life -- Vital Force -- as a power far more exalted than either light, heat, or electricity, and indeed capable of exerting a controlling power over them all " (this is absolutely occult).
.
.
.
.
"we are…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 39 (part 4)
“Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space (or Akasa , AEther), Mind, Understanding and Egoism (or the perception of all the former on the illusive plane).
.
.
This is a lower form of my nature.
Know (that there is) another (form of my) nature, and…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 39 (part 5)
“This process must go on until the period which will bring the Sixth Root-Race on a parallel line with the spirituality of the Second, long extinct mankind.
But this will hardly be understood at present.
We must return to Dr.
Richardson's…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 40 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 540 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] ------- IX.
THE SOLAR THEORY.
A SHORT ANALYSIS OF THE COMPOUND AND SINGLE ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE A…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 43 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 579 ANTIQUITY OUR GREAT MASTER.
XII.
ANCIENT THOUGHT IN MODERN DRESS.
M ODERN S CIENCE IS ANCIENT THOUGHT DISTORTED, and no more.
We have seen, however, WHAT INTUITIO…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 43 (part 5)
“Crookes remarks to this that he does not "wish to infer that the gaps in Mendeleef's table, and in this graphic representation of it (the diagram showing the evolution of atoms) necessarily mean that there are elements actually existing to…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 49 (part 2)
“The grain of sand, gentlemen, has been studied four thousand years by science, she has turned and returned it; she divides it and subdivides it; she torments it with her experiments; she vexes it with her questions to snatch from it the fin…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 53 (part 11)
“They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influ…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 56 (part 3)
“2, Page]] 113 THE SECRET WORK OF CHIRAM.
active emanations from the three higher principles in man, namely, "Spirit, Soul, and Mind," or Atma, Buddhi, and Manas.
It is the spiritual and also the material human basis.
Rudimentary man, hav…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 72 (part 12)
“Every beneficent (astral and cosmic) action comes from the North; every lethal influence from the South Pole.
They are much connected with and influence " right " and " left " hand magic.
** The more one approaches the poles the less rota…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 73 (part 4)
“Plato's Atlantis perished between water below and fire above; the great mountain vomiting flames all the while.
"The 'fire-vomiting Monster' survived alone out of the ruins of the unfortunate island." Do the Greeks, accused of borrowing a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 81 (part 3)
“God is light and Satan is the necessary darkness or shadow to set it off, without which pure light would be invisible and incomprehensible.* "For the initiates," says Eliphas Levi, "the devil is not a person but a creative Force, for Good a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 81 (part 4)
“It is mankind which has become the "Serpent of Genesis," and thus causes daily and hourly the Fall and sin of the "Celestial Virgin" -- which thus becomes the Mother of gods and devils at one and the same time; for she is the ever-loving, b…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 84 (part 13)
“The three nails with the three wounds are in number 6, which denotes the 6 faces of the cube unfolded (which make the cross or man-form, or 7, counting three horizontal and four vertical bars) on which the man is placed; and this in turn po…”
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Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III | Sutra 41
“From perfectly concentrated Meditation on the correlation of hearing and the ether, comes the power of spiritual hearing. Physical sound, we are told, is carried by the air, or by water, iron, or some medium on the same plane of substance.…”