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…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 9)
“As may be judged, however, from the most important, as the best known of the Rosicrucians' symbols, there is one which has never been hitherto understood even by modern mystics.
It is that of the "Pelican" tearing open its breast to feed i…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 6)
“(See Weber, Max Muller, etc.) We labour under the impression that Colebrooke, "the highest authority" in such matters, had long ago settled the question by showing, that "the Hindus were in this instance the teachers, not the learners." [[V…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 8)
“And the numbers of these three words, Hoa Atah Ani, are 12, 406, and 61, which are resumed in the key numbers of 3, 10, and 7, by the Qabalah of the Nine Chambers, which is a form of the exegetical rule of Temura." It is useless to attempt…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 4)
“This esotericism is the common property of all, and belongs neither to the Aryan 5th Race, nor to any of its numerous Sub-races.
It cannot be claimed by the Turanians, so-called, the Egyptians, Chinese, Chaldeans, nor any of the Seven divi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 5)
“Our learned brother and correspondent judges apparently the Hindu religious systems by their Shastras and Puranas, probably the latter, and in their modern translation moreover, which is disfigured out of all recognition, by the Orientalist…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 11 (part 7)
“yet if you should work out the problem by yourself , it will be my duty to tell you so ." But they never were so worked out, and the results were -- never-ceasing perplexity and mistakes.
Even the teaching about the Septenary constitution…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 12 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 170 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] ADDITIONAL FACTS AND EXPLANATIONS CONCERNING THE GLOBES AND THE MONADS.
Two statements made in "…”
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 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 16 (part 2)
“And there are still weightier reasons to believe that the priceless Bhashyas (Commentaries) on the esoteric doctrine of the Brahmins, by their greatest expounder, will remain for ages yet a dead letter to most of the Hindus, except the Smar…”
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 2)
“The name of the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * As far as divine revelation is concerned, we agree.
Not so with regard to " human history.
" .
.
.
For there is "history" in most of the allegories and…”
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 2)
“Thus, in the seventeenth chapter mentioned by Maspero, one finds (1) Osiris saying he is Toum (the creative force in nature, giving form to all Beings, spirits and men), self-generated and self-existent, issued from Noun , the celestial riv…”
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 22 (part 3)
“These four "animals" may be seen in many of the Roman Catholic New Testaments where the portraits of the evangelists are given.
They are the animals of Ezekiel's Mercabah.
As truly stated by Ragon, "the ancient Hierophants have combined s…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 6)
“Maia, in its forced derivation, has come to mean with the Greeks, "mother," from the root ma (nurse), and even gave its name to the month of May, which was sacred to all those goddesses before it became consecrated to Mary.* Its primitive m…”
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 27 (part 4)
“Esoteric explanation may, however, bring some order into this confusion, in which Jehovah becomes Saturn, and Michael and his army, Satan and the rebellious angels, owing to the indiscreet endeavours of the too faithful zealots to see in ev…”
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 28 (part 5)
“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; while Parabrahmam is the para (beyond the noumenon of all Noumena ) aspect of that Vach." ( Notes…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 28 (part 8)
“Moreover, the three metaphysical Sephiroth or " the periphrasis of Jehovah " are not Jehovah; it is the latter himself with the additional titles of Adonai, Elohim, Sabbaoth, and the numerous names lavished on him, who is the periphrasis of…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 30 (part 3)
“Paganism preached a dual and simultaneous evolution: "creation" -- " spiritualem ac mundanum ," as the Roman Church has it -- ages before the advent of that Roman Church.
Exoteric phraseology has changed little with respect to divine hiera…”
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 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 43 (part 2)
“Two proofs of it are to be found in the world of Science -- two great chemists, each among the greatest in his own country, and these are Mr.
Crookes and the late Professor Butlerof: one, a thorough believer in abnormal phenomena; the othe…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 44 (part 2)
“Finally, the journal of this name published in 1811 the famous hypothesis on the transformation of the nebulae into stars, by the eminent astronomer, Sir W.
Herschell ( See " Philosophical Transactions ," of 1811, p.
269, et seq.
), afte…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 46 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 610 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § XV.
GODS, MONADS, AND ATOMS.
S OME years ago we remarked* that "the Esoteric Doctrine may wel…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 46 (part 10)
“His "reduced universes," of which "there are as many as there are Monads" -- is the chaotic representation of our Septenary System with its divisions and sub-divisions.
As to the relation his Monads bear to our Dhyan-Chohans, Cosmic Spirit…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 47 (part 6)
“1, Page]] 645 ANCIENT AND MODERN PROPHECIES.
and tribe, like their Eastern brethren of the Fifth Race, their Golden and their Iron ages, their period of comparative irresponsibility, or the Satya age of purity, while now, several of them h…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 52 (part 14)
“But it may be remarked, that if there is in the Hindu Pantheon a deity which resembles Jehovah, in, tempting by "suggestion" of thoughts and "hardening" of the hearts of those whom he would make his tools and victims, it is Narada.
Only wi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 53 (part 9)
“This, however, does not refer to the later "Atlantean" or Noah's deluge, nor to the Cosmic Deluge or Pralaya of obscuration, which preceded our Round, but to the appearance of mankind in the latter Round.
There is a great difference made,…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 55 (part 6)
“"the causes had to produce effects on earth."** Again, in the ancient Quiche Manuscript, the Popol Vuh -- published by the late Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg -- the first men are described as a race "whose sight was unlimited, and who knew all…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 56 (part 8)
“If from Greek mythology we pass to the Mosaic allegories and symbolism, we shall find a still more striking corroboration of the same tenet under another form.
Unable to trace in Genesis the "Egg-born," we shall still find there unmistakab…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 61 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page]] 202 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
E DENS, S ERPENTS, AND D RAGONS.
Whence the idea, and the true meaning of the term "Eden"?
Christians will maintain that the Garden of Eden is…”
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 62 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page]] 220 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
T HE " S ONS OF G OD" AND THE " S ACRED I SLAND." The legend given in Isis in relation to a portion of the globe which science now concedes to h…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 66 (part 3)
“But they are as rare as their language is unintelligible.
So far, one or two European archaeologists only have been able to procure such priceless works.
[[Vol.
2, Page]] 281 THE SEVEN VIRGIN-YOUTHS.
" according to our ancient documents…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 70 (part 3)
“all this allies them to Cyclopean monuments, of which it can be said with good reason, repeating after de La Vega that 'the demons seem to have worked on them more than men.' "* For once we agree with our friends and foes, the Roman Catholi…”
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 5)
“403.) This is only another version of the Hindu "War in Heaven," between Soma, the moon, and the gods -- Indra being the atmospheric Vul; which shows it plainly to be both a Cosmogonical and an astronomical allegory, woven into and drawn fr…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 73 (part 7)
“Says the crucified Titan: -- "And, portent past belief, the speaking oaks By which full clearly, in no riddling phrase Wast hailed as the illustrious spouse of Zeus .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(v .
853).
.
.
.
.
stroking thee With touc…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 74 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page]] 423 THE "BUDDHAS OF CONFESSION." ADDITIONAL FRAGMENTS FROM A COMMENTARY ON THE VERSES OF STANZA XII.
T HE MS.
from which these additional explanations are taken belongs…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 75 (part 2)
“The red Indian tribes of America, only a few years ago comparatively speaking, petitioned the President of the United States to grant them possession of four small lakes, the petition being written on the tiny surface of a piece of a fabric…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 76 (part 2)
“The Veda is the real Theogony of the Aryan races, while that of Hesiod is a distorted caricature of the original image." This is a sweeping assertion, and perhaps rather unjust in its general application.
But why not try to account for it?…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 77 (part 2)
“"Therefore," he adds, "the work must be an A POCRYPHA to be ranged with its contemporaries -- the fourth book of Esdras, that of Enoch, the Sibylline Oracles, and the Book of Hermes -- every one of these dating no further back than two or t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 78 (part 7)
“They did hate Baal or Bacchus worship publicly, but left its worst features to be followed secretly; and it is with the Talmudic Jews that the grand symbols of nature were the most profaned.
With them, as now shown by the discovery of the…”
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 6)
“Thus, space, in its abstract sense, was called "the realm of divine knowledge," and by the Chaldees or Initiates Ab Soo, the habitat (or Father, i.e.
, the source) of knowledge, because it is in space that dwell the intelligent Powers whic…”
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 6)
“In the Zend Avesta, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), surrounding himself with fire (the "Flames" -- vide supra ) seeks to conquer the Heavens,* when Ahura Mazda, descending from the solid Heaven he inhabits, to the help of the Heavens that revolve (…”
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 2)
“This kind of easy death, or euthanasia, has an esoteric meaning.
It symbolises the death of any adept who has reached the power and degree, as also the purification, which enable him to die only in the physical body and still live and lead…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 86 (part 7)
“We do more: we concede that in one sense much in these so-called "fables" refers to astronomical allegories about constellations, asterisms, stars, and planets.
Yet, while the Gandharva of the Rig-Veda may there be made to personify the fi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 88 (part 13)
“Shall we still doubt the fact of Arjuna going over to Patala (the Antipodes, America) and there marrying Ulupi, the daughter of the Naga (or rather Nargal ) King?
But to the Zuni priests.
These receive an annual tribute, to this day, of c…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 89 (part 3)
“Says the Ritual, the "Book of the Dead" -- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Signatura rerum xiv.
ps.
10, 15 et seq.
** This is indeed news!
It makes us fear that the Lecturer had never read "Esoteric B…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 93 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
2 [[Vol.
2, Page]] 690 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
§ IV.
DURATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL PERIODS, RACE CYCLES, AND THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
M ILLIONS of years have dropped into Lethe, leaving no more r…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 96 (part 3)
“It is well known that "the tongue of the AEgyptian Sea," or the Delta of lower Egypt, became firm land very gradually, and followed the highlands of Abyssinia; unlike the latter, which arose suddenly, comparatively speaking, it was very slo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 96 (part 5)
“The archaic records show the Initiates of the Second Sub-race of the Aryan family moving from one land to the other for the purpose of supervising the building of menhirs and dolmens, of colossal Zodiacs in stone, and places of sepulchre to…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 97 (part 6)
“431-53), and has the gift of appearing to his Seers without being visible to other persons present -- (Iliad, xvii., 322-36) -- a gift, however, shared by every high Adept.
The King of the Hyperboreans, was, therefore, the son of Boreas, t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 98 (part 9)
“Even "the ancient superstitious and credulous classics" have no word of reference to it in clear and unmistakable terms, and the symbols themselves fail to yield a hint at the existence of such a system.
Such would be the verdict of all.…”
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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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