soteriology
Secret Societies
Organized, persisting groups — fraternities, orders, lodges — that maintain esoteric knowledge or practices as an institution distinct from public religion or mainstream society, holding 'the keys' collectively rather than through any one master-disciple pair. Distinct from esoteric_lineage (a genealogical chain of individual transmission, not an institution) and hidden_sayings (the concealment of a teaching's meaning, independent of whether any organized body holds it).
107 passages · 2 traditions
theosophy71
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 3)
“I say "a few truths," advisedly, because that which must remain unsaid could not be contained in a hundred such volumes, nor could it be imparted to the present generation of Sadducees.
But, even the little that is now given is better than…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 5)
“Turning now to the oldest Aryan literature, the Rig-Veda, the student will find, following strictly in this the data furnished by the said Orientalists themselves, that, although the Rig-Veda contains only "about 10,580 verses, or 1,028 hym…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 6)
“When, however, he takes the opportunity of saying in the same breath that Odin "was worshipped as the supreme deity during a period long anterior to the age of the Veda and of Homer" ( Compar.
Theol., p.
318), he has not the slightest " h…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 7)
“Thus, though the Mother of Mercury (Budha, Thot-Hermes, etc.), was Maia, the mother of Buddha (Gautama), also Maya, and the mother of Jesus, likewise Maya (illusion, for Mary is Mare, the Sea, the great illusion symbolically) -- yet these t…”
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 9)
“I believe in the ancients and therefore I love them."** (Quoted in "Science of Religions" by Max Muller.) The writer loves them too, and therefore believes in the ancients, and the modern heirs to their Wisdom.
And believing in both, she n…”
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The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 6 (part 4)
“It is doubtful whether the presence of these elements can be accounted for on the principle that mankind in all ages works unconsciously for the accomplishment of similar intentions in an analogous way; a bizarre intention, of course, tends…”
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-g
“Within an hour of the ceremony I felt a change, and it is only upon the rarest occasions since then, after some psychic injury, that I have had a temporary return of those depleting attacks of exhaustion.
I have told this story in detail b…”
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) | 3. A Case Of Modern Witchcraft-c
“Fortunately for me I had in my hands a large saucepan full of freshly boiled greens, and I used this as a weapon of defence, and we danced round the kitchen table, slopping hot cabbage-water in all directions.
We neither of us made a sound…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 3. A Case Of Modern Witchcraft-d
“She did not know this, nor was it likely to reach her ears indirectly, for he was very uncommunicative, I only knew that he was sealing his room because I chanced to see him doing it.
Nevertheless, one day I heard a knock at my door, and t…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 4. Projection Of The Etheric Body-a
“BEFORE we can leave the subject of attack by incarnate human beings, we must consider the subject of etheric projection.
In this case not only is the mind at work, but also something which is pretty nearly physical; sufficiently physical,…”
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…”
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