praxis
Initiation
The ritual admission of an individual into esoteric knowledge or a sacred order through a formal rite of passage — testing, ordeal, or ceremony — marking a definite before/after threshold in the initiate's status and access. Distinct from hidden_sayings (the doctrine being concealed, not the rite of admission to it) and esoteric_lineage (the historical chain of transmission across generations, not a single individual's admission).
72 passages · 2 traditions
theosophy44
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page xvii]] INTRODUCTORY.
------- "Gently to hear, kindly to judge." -- S HAKESPEARE.
S INCE the appearance of Theosophical literature in England, it has become customary to c…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 2)
“"When Buddhi absorbs our E GOtism (destroys it) with all its Vikaras, Avalokiteshvara becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached," "Mukti" being the same as Nirvana, i.e.
, freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion.…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 4)
“*** According to the same tradition the now desolate regions of the waterless land of Tarim -- a true wilderness in the heart of Turkestan -- were in the days of old covered with flourishing and wealthy cities.
At present, hardly a few ver…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 8)
“This statement is rendered more credible by a consideration of the following facts: the tradition of the thousands of ancient parchments saved when the Alexandrian library was destroyed; the thousands of Sanskrit works which disappeared in…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 10)
“Helped by his knowledge of landscapes left behind him, he can get a general and pretty correct idea of the transmural view, if he will only climb to the loftiest summit of the altitudes in front of him.
Once there, he can gaze at it, at hi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 2)
“2.[[3.]] " D ARKNESS" RADIATES LIGHT, AND LIGHT DROPS ONE SOLITARY RAY INTO THE WATERS, INTO THE MOTHER DEEP.
T HE RAY SHOOTS THROUGH THE VIRGIN-EGG; THE RAY CAUSES THE ETERNAL EGG TO THRILL, AND DROP THE NON-ETERNAL ( periodical ) GERM, W…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 3)
“unable either to measure the first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity, or to get hold of it, you still hope to subject to your measurements the mystery of the Secret Sciences which emanate from that Deity?
.
.
.
.
And what would y…”
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 13 (part 7)
“Three further higher grades have to be conquered by the Arhan who would reach the apex of the ladder of Arhatship.
There are those who have reached it even in this fifth race of ours, but the faculties necessary for the attainment of these…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 8)
“Although these matters were barely hinted at in " Isis Unveiled ," it will be well to remind the reader of what was said in Vol.
I., pp.
587 to 593, concerning a certain Sacred Island in Central Asia, and to refer him for further details…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 3)
“These, Tsanagi-Tsanami , descended into the Universe by the celestial Bridge (the milky way), and " Tsanagi , perceiving far below a chaotic mass of cloud and water, thrust his jewelled spear into the depths, and dry land appeared." Then th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 8)
“These "Father and Son" were interchangeable in their functions and worked harmoniously together in their effects upon terrestrial nature and humanity; hence they were regarded as ONE, though TWO in personified Entities.
They were both male…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 13)
“) Some fifteen years ago, the writer was the first to repeat, after the Kabalists, the wise Commandments in the Esoteric Catechism.
"Close thy mouth, lest thou shouldst speak of this (the mystery), and thy heart, lest thou shouldst think a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 17 (part 3)
“the races, human and animal, are as fully treated here as the writer is able to treat them.
The proofs brought forward in corroboration of the old teachings are scattered widely throughout the old scriptures of ancient civilizations.
The…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 18 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 310 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
§ II.
THE MYSTERY LANGUAGE AND ITS KEYS.
R ECENT discoveries made by great mathematicians and Kabalists thus prove, beyond a shadow of doubt,…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 18 (part 4)
“Hence, it is the Occultists and Kabalists who are the "true" heirs to the KNOWLEDGE, or the secret wisdom which is still found in the Bible; for they alone now understand its real meaning, whereas profane Jews and Christians cling to the hu…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 18 (part 5)
“Divested of their modern repulsive crudeness, such views of nature and man, on the authority of the celestial bodies and their mysteries, [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous p…”
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 26 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 403 IDENTITY OF TYPOLOGY.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § X.
TREE, SERPENT, AND CROCODILE WORSHIP.
"Object of horror or of adoration, men have for the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 26 (part 3)
“So has Sefekh Abu who builds the house on high, as Wisdom (Sophia) built hers with seven pillars.
.
.
The primary Kronotypes were seven, and thus the beginning of time in heaven is based on the number and the name of seven, on account of…”
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 47 (part 4)
“But spiritual Forces having been usually confused with the purely physical, the former are denied by, and therefore, have to remain unknown to Science, because left unexamined.* "The history of the World begins with its general aim," says H…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 57 (part 4)
“To this, one answer can be given -- a direct proof that the Egyptians believed in the Secret Doctrine is, that it was taught to them at Initiation.
Let the objectors open the " Eclogae Physicae et Ethicae " of Stobaeus, the Greek compiler…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 61 (part 6)
“"* Now in the original, the words "their secret" really are "their S OD."** And Sod was the name for the great mysteries of Baal, Adonis and Bacchus, who were all sun-gods and had serpents for symbols.
The Kabalists explain the allegory of…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 61 (part 7)
“it was already an old one.
That Arjuna, Krishna's companion and chela, is said to have descended into Patala, the "antipodes," and therein married Ulupi, * a Naga (or Nagini rather), the daughter of the king of the Nagas, Kauravya.** And n…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 63 (part 2)
“In Genesis (vi.) the "Sons of God" -- B ' ne Aleim -- become enamoured of the daughters of men, marry, and reveal to their wives the mysteries unlawfully learnt by them in heaven, according to Enoch; and this is the "Fall of Angels."* But w…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 69 (part 10)
“Every text relates to, and has to be rendered from, one of the following standpoints -- 1.
The Realistic plane of thought; 2.
The Idealistic; 3.
The purely Divine or Spiritual.
The other planes too far transcend the average consciousnes…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 71 (part 2)
“Gerald Massey -- an Initiate truly in the mysteries of the British Museum, still only a Self -initiate -- from declaring and insisting that the Atlantean submersion and Deluge were only the anthropomorphized fancies of ignorant people; and…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 72 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page]] 378 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] T HE O RIGIN OF THE S ATANIC M YTH.
Let us then fathom this creation of the Patristic fancy stil…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 72 (part 2)
“[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * See Sanchoniathon in "Eusebius," Pr.
Ev.
36; Genesis xiv.
** "Society of Antiquaries of London," vol.
xxv.
p.
220.
[[Vol.
2, Page]] 381 THE THEFT OF RAHU.
Rahu, my…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 73 (part 9)
“Hence Io, refusing to yield to Jupiter's passion, becomes "horned." The cow was in every country the symbol of the passive generative power of nature, Isis, Vach, Venus -- the mother of the prolific god of love, Cupid, but, at the same time…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 76 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page 447]] BOOK II., PART II.
THE ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS.
--------- "The narratives of the Doctrine are its cloak.
The simple look only at the garment -- th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 78 (part 2)
“In the Astro-Theosophic chart of the Western Rite, the Ark corresponds with the navel, and is placed at the sinister side, the side of the woman (the moon), one of whose symbols is the left pillar of Solomon's temple -- B OAZ.
The umbilicu…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 78 (part 4)
“2, Page]] 465 THE "FOUR-FACED" BRAHMA.
made plain to any one who reads " The Source of Measures, " or " Hebrew Egyptian Mystery, " and understands the undeniable, clear, and mathematical proofs that the esoteric foundations, or the system…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 80 (part 2)
“Bear in mind, that almost every ancient King and priest was an initiate; that from toward the close of the Fourth Race there had been a feud between the Initiates of the Right and those of the Left Path; finally, that the garden of Eden is…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 80 (part 4)
“The episode brings on a battle between the gods and the Asuras: King Soma, finds allies in Usanas (Venus), the leader of the Danavas; and the gods are led by Indra and Rudra, who side with Brihaspati.
The latter is helped by Sankara (Siva)…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 80 (part 5)
“In the oldest portions of the Rig Veda, they are the spiritual and the divine , the term Asura being used for the Supreme Spirit and being the same as the great Ahura of the Zoroastrians.
(See Darmesteter's V ENDIDAD).
There was a time wh…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 80 (part 7)
“As in the Chaldean Cosmogony of Berosus and the Stanzas just given, some treatises on the Kabala speak of creatures with two faces, some with four, and some with one face: for "the highest Adam did not come down in all the countries, or pro…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 81 (part 7)
“When the Chaldeans broke into the sanctuary and beheld this most astounding emblem, they naturally enough exclaimed, 'Is this your God, of whom you boast that He is such a lover of purity?' " (p.
441.) King thinks that this tradition "savo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 83 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page]] 529 WHO INVENTED WRITING?
§ XXI.
ENOICHION-HENOCH.
T HE history of the evolution of the Satanic myth would not be complete if we omitted to notice the character of the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 83 (part 4)
“The Book of Enoch, in short, is a resume, a compound of the main features of the History of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Races; a very few prophecies from the present age of the world; a long retrospective, introspective and prophetic summar…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 84 (part 11)
“The incommunicable axiom is kabalistically contained therein, and this is what is called the magic arcanum by the masters.' " ( "Isis Unveiled." ) Again: -- The (Tau), and the astronomical cross of Egypt are conspicuous in several apertures…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 85 (part 2)
“King: -- "Whatever the primary meaning (of the gem with the solar lion and vowels) it was probably imported in its present shape from I NDIA, that true fountain head of gnostic iconography" ( Gnostics, p.
218).
The mysteries of the seven…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 89 (part 4)
“Nor can one accept the said "sevenfold classification" as having "a closer connection with the Brahminical Logos than with the Buddhist Logos," since both are identical, whether the one "Logos" is called Eswara or Avalokiteswara, Brahma or…”
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Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | Preface-f
“My heart was beating so hard that at each beat a loose brass knob on the bedstead rattled.
Fortunately for me, my friend saw that something was seriously wrong and she sent for my family, who fetched me away.
They were exceedingly suspici…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | Preface-h
“Moreover, there is a considerable literature on the subject to be found in quarters where one would least expect it - in accounts of folk-lore and ethnology, in the State Records of witch-trials, and even under the guise of fiction.
These…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 3. A Case Of Modern Witchcraft-a
“THE part played by the ex-witch in occult attack is very marked.
Again and again do the investigations of independent psychics point to witchcraft in a previous incarnation when trouble of this sort is afoot.
The motive is nearly always v…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 5. Vampirism-d
“It was, in fact, the same method that I was instructed to use in dealing with my were-wolf, but it is a much more formidable task to absorb and transmute the projection of another person than to absorb one’s own, and could only have been ac…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 7. The Pathology Of Non-Human Contacts-c
“They are never living normally in full possession of their faculties.
An equally difficult problem is set to the non-human who is drawn into our midst.
A single-element creature is bidden to control and assimilate an additional three elem…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 7. The Pathology Of Non-Human Contacts-d
“The great Orders have their definite contacts and work strictly within them, keeping a firm hand on neophytes; outside the Orders there is a good deal of chaos and banditry, and it is unwise to venture far save in the company of an experien…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 7. The Pathology Of Non-Human Contacts-e
“It is neither giddiness nor mountain sickness, but a curious oppression of the spirits by the overwhelming grandeur of nature.
The same force, when not at a poisonous concentration, inspires the passion ate love of the hills or of the sea…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 7. The Pathology Of Non-Human Contacts-f
“I smashed my way through two entire tea-sets and all the mantelpiece ornaments.
The ornaments just fell off the mantelpiece one by one of their own accord.
I actually saw two of them do it.
I did not know at the time that the Element of…”
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