Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice da Obra Anterior: XXVII – Meditações sobre os Mistérios Seguinte: XXIX – Cartas e Iluminações
(p. 185)
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE
HERMETIC SOCIETY
MARCH [1884] witnessed the arrival in
There was a melodramatic element in the first appearance of H.P.B., which for us
seemed altogether incompatible with any sense of seriousness. The occasion was
the Lodge meeting at which our successors were to be inaugurated, and to show
our acquiescence in the change, we attended it. By all but a few who were in the
secret, Madame Blavatsky was believed to be still abroad. But during the meeting
the whisper went round that she had unexpectedly and mysteriously arrived, and
would presently appear. The excitement of the devotees was, of course, intense
on finding themselves about to be brought face to face with so miraculous a
personage. And it culminated when, on entering the room, she authoritatively
bade Mary and myself to present ourselves to her, and then peremptorily bade us
to shake
(p. 186)
hands with Mr. Sinnett, and let bygones be bygones
for the sake of the universal brotherhood. Meanwhile she fixed her great eyes on
us, as if to compel us by their magnetism to obey her behest. Making myself
spokesman for us both, I remarked to her, firmly but quietly, that repentance
ought to precede forgiveness. Let Mr. Sinnett do his part, and we should not be
slow to do ours. At this unexpected opposition her eyes flashed yet more
powerfully on us, especially on Mary, who, as presumably the weaker vessel,
might be expected to yield the more readily. Of course neither of us was in the
smallest degree affected by her sorcery. And the President, seeing that Madame
was courting a fiasco, approached her and said that he would not have her trying
to magnetise Mrs. Kingsford. The rest of the evening was passed in conversation
more or less amicable, curiosity and amusement being our dominant sentiments.
And in the issue, being unable to reconcile ourselves to their programme [and in
deference to the general desire for officials devoted wholly to the Eastern
teachings], we withdrew from [our positions of President and Vice-President
respectively of] (1) the Lodge, and sought an
independent platform for our own teaching. The result was the formation of the
Hermetic Society, in which we had the concurrence and assistance of the
Theosophical Society Founders and several of its members, their desire being to
make it a separate Lodge of their own Society. This, however, to our
satisfaction, proved impracticable, owing to the issue of a rule prohibiting
membership of more than one Lodge at a time. (2) The Hermetic Society
was therefore established on
(p. 187)
an independent basis, with Mary as its President.
Throughout the whole course of the contentions our valued friend, C.C. Massey,
had proved himself a wise counsellor and indefatigable supporter, and he now
threw himself heartily into our new enterprise, having found himself compelled
to sever his connection with the Theosophical Society on account of certain
incidents which failed to find satisfactory explanation.
Diary. – May 11, 1884. Early in the morning, or rather in
the night between the 9th and 10th of this month, Friday and Saturday, Death
carried from me my last little friend. Now I have no pet. Friday the 9th was the
day of our inaugural meeting of the Hermetic Society, at Captain Lloyd’s house.
And Piggy died before the next dawn. I envy her, almost, lying very quiet and
still now under the ground in the garden at home. For A. took away the corpse
that same day.
I am still in the self-same puzzle in which I was this time last year at Montreaux. There seems to me to be no way out. And now I
have a Society for discussion; perhaps we may be able to arrive at some sort of
conclusion thereby. I do not yet know, myself, exactly what it is we seek to
gain in this Society. I do not want to be a Teacher, arrogating to myself all
authority and illumination. I want light. Perhaps the best way will be to have
discussion days on the subject of some paper previously read. What we really
seek is to reform the Christian system and start a new
To Lady Caithness.
“
“May 12, 1884.
“DEAR FRIEND, – Will you kindly send me the title and
publisher of the book on Masonry that I read when I was staying with you in
(p. 188)
by the Catholic Church against the Masonic system.
I believe it is nothing more nor less than the ancient
feud between Judaism and Christianity. Yesterday I had a long conversation with
a Mason, and am convinced that the main object of the craft is no other than the
perpetuation of the Jewish system and religion. It is fundamentally opposed to
the very spirit of the Catholic Church, and especially to the worship of our
Blessed Lady. It is materialistic and male, and radically subversive of
spirituality and womanhood in its supremest
sense.
“Our Society (the Hermetic) was inaugurated on the 9th with good success.
Colonel Olcott was present, and expressed his sympathy with our intention and
objects. But we want to get known. Sometimes I think that the truths and knowledges we
hold are so high and so deep that the age is yet unable to receive them, and
that all we shall be permitted to do is to formulate them in some book or books
to leave as a legacy to the world when we pass away from it. The truth we have
is far in advance of anything the disciples of Madame Blavatsky and her Gurus
possess. They know only the Lower Triangle of the Seal of Solomon; (1)
and this, again, is all that the Masons or the Buddhists know. This Lower
Triangle is Solomon’s
“I like Mohini Chatterji. I
think he knows more intuitively than Mme. B. is capable of knowing. I have had
two hours’ conversation with him, and found him instructed and intelligent. I
think him honest and free from malice, so far as I can judge. Do you know
anything of chiromancy? If you do, ask to see Madame’s hands. – Your most true
and affectionate friend,
ANNA K.”
“
“MY DEAR SIR, – Some five or six weeks ago I sent you my
first instalment of thanks for your welcome and valuable letter of March 3, and
for your photograph enclosed therein. I think photographs should always be
exchanged by correspondents who do not know each other; it brings them nearer
than the mere exchange of written thoughts, and the
sun-printed features speak more intelligibly to us than the chirographic
characters, typical though these may be.
“Since my return to Leghorn I have received the Pall Mall Gazette of April 26, which
you were kind enough to send me, and which contained the interesting account of
an interview with Madame Blavatsky. The Russians are a terribly clever people,
but while the men are only vulgarly acute, i.e. eminently fit for outwitting
others, the women have, or seem to have, a more elevated form of intelligence,
often combined with considerable soul-power. I have had Russian friends in my
youth, and I have known some most imposing specimens of Russian womankind, but I
never knew how much of what
(p. 189)
I admired in these women was due to genuine
genius and depth, and how much to mere ‘esprit’ and imitativeness and
mercurialness, which is sheer want of selfhood or typical οủδια. Far be it from me to decry or even
to doubt the extraordinary qualities of Madame Blavatsky. Nor is it her
epistolary correspondence with the Thibetan Mahatmas,
regardless of spatial distance, which puzzles me, such things fitting perfectly
into my metaphysics. But her remarks on ‘Zanoni,’ on ‘Vril,’
and on the ‘Coming Race’ induce me to believe that she is not a mould, but only
wax craving for a mould, and that her receptivity or
impressibleness
is greater than her spontaneity or selfhood. That would not disqualify her for
certain forms of mediumship. On the
contrary. In fact, if
“‘We reverence Gautama Buddha,’ she says (according to her interviewer),
‘because he alone of all religious teachers orders his disciples to disbelieve
his own words if they conflict with true reason.’ Why, then, reverence
Gautama Buddha beyond all others, if the supreme authority is ‘true
reason’? This lands us only on the platform of citizens Robespierre,
Danton, and Marat; on the altar of La Déesse
Raison, with the guillotine as its symbol of the
salutaris Hostia. Or it may land us on the Baltic shores of my
native town, Königsberg, where Kant erected the fences
and the bulwarks of ‘Pure Reason’ against the inroads of speculation, Religion,
and Mysticism.
“It is Madame Blavatsky’s own reason which she reverences ‘above all
Mahatmas’ and as her reason must be the reason of all reasonable people, it is
Reason itself, Kant’s Pure Reason, La Déesse Raison, which she reverences and adores. And
I ask, how can reason unveil
“I like to use my reason, and more
particularly do I delight in mathematical sport. I have wasted much time on the
Theory of Numbers, on Complex Functions, and on the Differential Calculus, but
the tool becomes absolutely useless when I have passed the threshold of the
“In those sacred halls, it seems to
me, there ought to be no discussion. There need not be absolute silence, but
that which craves utterance there cannot adequately utter itself in argument.
(p. 190)
“What is Mystery? The answer is: Si quoeris,
nescio; si non quoeris, scio. Therefore, do
not ask, Fuge quoerere?
And is not this the divine mission of Art, to give utterance to the
unutterable? The child, the poor in spirit, and the sage may join in choral
chanting though they can join in nothing else.
“Death has often been called the
great leveller, before whom there is no inequality, no differences of rank. But
is not our ignorance as great a leveller as Death? On the plane of
transcendent truth we must all lie low as in our graves, though
prostrate rather than recumbent. If you object that we crave articulate
utterance and rational speech even on that exalted level, I would reply, that
such utterance would have to take the form of preaching and dogmatic teaching,
but never of polemical discussion, of criticism or apology. The subject-matter
is too ethereal to bear discussion, or rather to be affected by it; and much of
the critical and apologetic acumen displayed in the great controversy now
pending seems to me to be like the stabbing of ghosts.
“That is the beauty and also the
strength of the Masonic Lodges, that the
Venerabile
itself is never discussed: it is symbolically represented, and looks as if its
hidden truths were reserved for the Adepts of the highest grade; but, somehow,
nobody ever reaches the highest grade, and there is no deceit, no prevarication,
in all this.
“Let me now tell you that I have read
and re-read and thoroughly studied the four remarkable pamphlets which have
appeared since Mr. Sinnett’s book, and which you were
kind enough to send me. Six weeks ago I thanked you for the act of giving; now I
thank you for the gifts themselves, and with a full knowledge of their value. My
indebtedness to you can only be measured by the intense intellectual pleasure I
have felt in reading those pamphlets.
“If I delight in mathematics, my love
for metaphysics is equally great; only I could not call such occupation sport,
since more than one mental faculty are engaged in it.
There is a charm, an irresistible charm, in this projecting of transcendent
truths on the reticulation of human dialectics; and I believe this mental
embroidering is a legitimate, and even a salutary, occupation.
“Yet we should not forget that we
remain outside the
“Mr. Massey has, with consummate
skill, pointed out the characteristic differences between the theistic and
materialistic world view. He has shown that evolution in the theistic view,
being a mere procedure from the
involved
pre-existent to the evolved manifested, has nothing mysterious or transcendent
in it; whereas the materialistic evolution is an incomprehensible generation of
the higher from the lower, and as such illogical. Now, this latter assertion
seems to me incorrect. The individual never pre-exists, not even as a potential
individual: it pre-exists neither in the ovulum nor in
the sperma, but its ingredients pre-exist, and that
scattered or divided between the male and female parent. The ovulum that produces Cajus might
have produced Sempronius if the father had been
another man.
“The ordinary Darwinistic evolution (of modern science) is objectionable
on other grounds, but not because it assumes the evolving of the higher from the
lower. This objection could only be raised
(p. 191)
against the
generalis spontanea, which is a downright miracle. But what
would be a miracle on the material plane is an ordinary possibility on the
spiritual plane. Jupiter’s thigh could not bring forth Bacchus, but only
supplement Semele’s gestation; but Jupiter’s brain
brought forth Minerva, and that full grown and in full armour. On page 21 of
your Reply to Subba Row
I find one of the most important arguments in this whole controversy. It may be
yours, or it may be Kapila’s, but it is a profound and
fertile thought, which opens up an intellectual vista not dimmed by anything
except its own immeasurable length. The division of the
evolutionary highroad into a downhill road and an uphill road is an argument
which, it seems to me, has not been dwelt upon sufficiently. Without reconciling
the theistic and materialistic views, it certainly brings them nearer, by
showing that there is room for both downward and upward developments on the same
evolutionary chain.
“In Schopenhauer’s quasi-Buddhistic
philosophy we find a similar
apparent
breach of continuity in the chain which begins with the Unconscious, and which
goes on, evolvingly, until quite suddenly the flash of
conscious
Intellect lights up the universe. Schopenhauer’s ethics are sublime and pure,
but dogmatically his system is like most forms of Buddhistic
philosophy, not only atheistic, but also akosmic. If the Unconscious is the
Beginning, and the nirvânic
Unconsciousness the end, what is the use of going through the farce of this
evolutionary waltz, which ends where it began, and which ought not to have begun
at all, and which can only be pardoned in consideration of the Unconscious not
being accountable for its primordial fidgets?
“I believe this teleological argument
against the ‘objective’ view (as Mr. Massey calls it) is stronger than the
would-be logical one about the non-pre-existence of the higher evolvendum.
“But both the theistic and the
materialistic views have one great difficulty in common, and that is the
Beginning, the premier pas qui coûte. Mr. Massey
might have acknowledged this more explicitly, but he certainly has not tried to
hide it.
“The materialist, beginning with the Unconscious, can knit the whole chain except the first link,
there being no motive in the unconscious unit for action or for dualising. The theist begins with the conscious Personality,
and the conscious Ego being already dual (Subject-Object, as Schelling calls it), the evolutionary process has no
difficulty even at the outset. But the difficulty lies here behind
the first link: can the primum be a dual, or can
anything dual be the Primum?
“It is as easy to say ‘yes’ as ‘no,’
but the ‘yes’ is infinitely more satisfactory, and in harmony with the
constitution, not of our mind, but of our concrete self. The Ego craves an Ego-God. Nor can I see why
that God should not be extra-mundane, considering that we stand here on mystic
ground, where the miserable categories of our grammar-bound logic may not be
valid. The
Primum, whether conscious or Unconscious, must be the
Causa Sui, and
is this formula, though Cartesian, not the mystery of mysteries? We have the
same in every system. Even Pythagoras, whose first was the άπєιρον or indeterminate unit, has it
determined by the πέρας (or Limit); but whence did he get
this second? And does not the Fourth Gospel
(p. 192)
begin, without the slightest embarrassment or
apology, from the Dual of God and the Logos?
“I would suggest, let us all openly
acknowledge this. Whether scientific materialists or speculative gnostics, we must start from and bow before a primordial
mystery. That is the narrow ground on which all must agree, while on all
other questions they can only agree to disagree.
“In the Beginning lies the
Unknowable. In the remainder both views are logically admissible, and
the choice becomes (si’l venia verba) a matter of taste.
A person that chooses the materialistic view may remain my friend as long as he
says, ‘I cannot help it, but cursed be the day of my birth’; but a person
abiding smilingly by this choice, and missing nothing, becomes a stranger, an
enigma, to me.
“You and Mrs. Kingsford were
unquestionably right in blaming Mr. Sinnett’s
needlessly materialistic phraseology. As a mere recipient of traditional lore,
he might claim a more lenient judgment, provided the lore has not suffered by
the transmission.
“The ultimate question is, why should the East and West unite? We are all Aryans, and
can learn from each other, but why should Christianity go more than halfway to
meet its older but dreamy and fantastic sister? I venture to think that, to
satisfy our metaphysical cravings, we need not go farther east than to
“The last number of the Zoophilist brought out a beautiful article against
vivisection, emanating from the Brahmo Somaj. Apparently Western Christianity is put to shame by
such Hindoo utterances. But what has Christianity to
do with vivisection or with Western culture?
“I have received the French Statutes
of the Theosophical Society, I believe from Madame de Morsier, together with a prospectus of the
Theosophist. I may become a subscriber to the latter, as soon as I have
found a new home. As to the Theosophical Society, I cannot, in the present state
of things, make up my mind yet as to whether it would be compatible with my
views on the uses of association for non-combatant purposes to solicit the
honour of membership.
“Meanwhile I follow your researches
and your controversies with the liveliest and keenest interest. I shall feel
most grateful to you for every glimpse you may hereafter allow me to get of the
wonders of Thibetan lore, although thus far I have
felt no inducement to
(p. 193)
leave The Perfect Way. – With sincere
.regards to Mrs. Kingsford, I remain, ever yours truly,
E. GRYZANOWSKY.”
Diary. – June 3 [1884],
How keenly, as one grows older, the
idea enforces itself on the heart that all the events and experiences of this
life are but Maya! How clearly one sees that all the light of this world is
but a false radiance, and that all its seeming
realities are the tricks and shows of illusion! Nothing is; everything passes,
flits by, and vanishes.
From C.C. Massey to E. Maitland
“July 16 [1884].
“I had a note from Olcott this morning. He seemed greatly pleased with his visit
to Mrs. Kingsford. No doubt she will soon be ‘the Goddess’ with them again, as
she was with Sinnett a year ago! As to their attitude towards yourself, perhaps
you are right; but that, too, is a question of times and moods, and meanwhile
your equanimity is not likely to be disturbed. And now that troubles are
menacing on account of ‘the old Lady,’ other people’s depravity will throw yours
into the shade. I, who have been the spoilt child of the theosophical movement
up to now, may be discovered to be a very wicked wretch, if not a Jesuit. (1) We all have to take our turns at
this sort of thing in the ‘Brotherhood.’ (...) As to amalgamation of the
Hermetic with the Christo-Philosophical Society, I
think that is a measure to be kept in view, and more likely than anything else,
if it can be brought about by bringing them to us,
to extend our connection in a very promising quarter – I mean the advanced
Christians who are seeking to reconcile their denomination and calling (in the
case of many of the clergy) with a more interior reading of the faith. This
section of the Church is at present
(p. 194)
an unknown quantity, but I believe already a very
considerable and an increasing one. It only needs a rallying-point, and if we
could give them that, the Society would soon be a great power. Of course the Christo-Philosophical is only a nucleus, and it is
languishing for want of definite direction. Find it that, and I believe there
would be a great draught of fishes into the net, whichever name it had. A
‘Speculative Church Reform Society’ would be as good as any other, perhaps; but
anyhow that is what the Hermetic Society has got to be, if it taps that spring
at all. It struck me almost immediately after Mrs. Kingsford announced her
lectures on the Creed, which at first, I own, I did not at all like the idea of.
It seemed too much like putting new wine into old bottles, and, in short, not
quite the sort of thing ‘Hermetists’ would look for.
But then it occurred to me that if she really can show to the progressive minds
in the Church that the esoteric doctrine is signified by the historical form and
embodied in the Creeds, and that this historical faith is not really
Christianity, but just its vehicle, then that truth might be seized upon, and
might unite hundreds of influential minds in its propaganda. I mean that the
lead might thus be given to a movement of real importance in the Church, and one
which might re-ally it to philosophy. (…) Our movement is one of many. If it
meets the want, the public will find us.
With many others I feel that there are mighty spiritual forces vibrating beneath
the surface of thought at present, and they must rush to the right
outlet. But my faith is not yet strong that our Society will be
the one to introduce to the world its needed revelation. For we know what is to
precede that, ‘Lo, here; and lo, there.’ However, be that as it may, I recognise
in you two a power, and I should like to see the most made of it.”
In a subsequent letter to me he wrote: –
“I must tell you how much I like your
last letter in Light. It would be impossible to
express the true issue more clearly and tersely than in your sentence, ‘The
controversy turns upon the method and intention of Scripture, and how far
religion is addressed to the senses or to the soul.’ And the same remark applies
to the earlier part of the letter equally well. I was really quite grateful to
you for that statement, à
propos to which there is a suggestion perhaps worth considering. It is
said of Jesus, ‘And except in parable spake He not unto them.’ Is not this a hint, as it were, to
us that this is the method of Scripture itself? Would there not be an
inconsistency in the world being treated with more unreserve
than the disciples themselves?”
The news of the formation of the Hermetic Society elicited the following
gratulatory expressions from Baron Spedalieri: –
“Your promptness in acquainting me
with the result of your séance has satisfied my most eager
desire. Thanks with all my heart.
“I can well believe that the resolution to establish a new society with the
auspicious title of ‘Hermetic’ is as great a satisfaction to you as to me. You
will thus be delivered from an entourage, turbulent and disaffected,
from which you must, sooner or later, have
(p. 195)
parted. You will now be free to work to
proclaim your glad tidings, urbi et orbi ad majoram Dei gloriam.
Sursum cordam.
“I thank Mrs. Kingsford for having
placed me in relation with Lady Caithness, who has honoured me with two charming
letters. But I believe our correspondence will stop there. The
Perfect Way and your correspondence have made me exclusive and intransigeant. I can truly say with Caliph Omar,
that if others write what is not in your books, I do not care for it; if it is
there, their writing is superfluous. I turn away, then, from the praisers of the Mahatmas, ‘possessors of great secret
truths,’ of Swedenborg, of Boehme, and from the writer
who complains in Light that you take no account of
these authors. When, after long years of research and study, one has succeeded
in finding that truth so much sought and longed for, it is distressing to see
persons who ought by all means to rally exclusively to it wandering and
dissipating themselves over strange doctrines. You have opened my interior
sense. The light has shone forth and illumined it. I can now say, Hic est requies
mea, and sing Nunc dimitte Domine. Why, then, should I seek elsewhere?”
The objects of the Hermetic Society were set forth in its prospectus (1)
as follows: –
“The designation of this Society was
chosen in conformity with that ancient and universal usage of the Western world,
which, regarding HERMES as the supreme initiator into the Sacred Mysteries of existence, has
identified his name with the knowledge of things spiritual and occult.
“Its objects are at once scientific,
intellectual, moral, and religious.
‘‘Its chief aim is to promote the
comparative study of the philosophical and religious systems of the East and of
the West; especially of the Greek Mysteries and the Hermetic Gnosis, and its
allied schools, the Kabalistic, Pythagorean, Platonic,
and Alexandrian, – these being inclusive of Christianity, – with a view to the
elucidation of their original esoteric and real doctrine, and the adaptation of
its expression to modern requirements.
“The knowledges acquired will be
applied, first, to the interpretation and harmonisation of the various existing
systems of thought and faith, and the provision thereby of an Eirenicon among all Churches and communions; and,
secondly, to the promotion of personal psychic and spiritual development.
“To these ends the Society encourages
and undertakes the publication of ancient and modern Hermetic literature, and
invites its Fellows to further its efforts on this behalf by subscribing for the
Works issued, by actively co-operating in the general purposes of the Society,
and by contributing to the promotion of its special objects.
“In carrying out these designs, the
Society accords to its Fellows full freedom of opinion,
expression, and action; and in regard to doctrinal questions, recognises
reason and experience alone as affording legitimate ground for conclusion.”
(p. 196)
The meetings for this session were
held at the residence of Captain Francis Lloyd, Grenadier Guards, 43
“In the revival of the Hermetic
philosophy now taking place may be seen at once the token and the agent of the
world’s deliverance. For it means the supersession
of a period of obscuration by one of illumination, such that men can once more
rise from the appreciation of the Form to that of the Substance, of the Letter
to that of the Spirit, and thus discern the meaning of the Divine Word, whether
written or enacted. Such recognition of the ideal as the real signifies the
reconstruction of religion upon a scientific basis, and of science upon a
religious basis. So long as religion builds upon the mere facts and phenomena of
history, she builds upon a sandbank, on which the advancing tide of scientific
criticism is ever encroaching, and which must sooner or later be swept away with
all that is founded upon it. But when she learns the secret of Hermetic, that is, Esoteric interpretation, then, and then
only, does she build upon a rock, which shall never be shaken. Such is the
import of the term ‘Peter,’ which, as one with Hermes, properly denotes not only
rock, but interpreter.” (1)
My contribution on the occasion was a
sketch of the history and character of the Hermetic philosophy, which was
followed by a discussion, the chief feature of which was an account given by
Colonel Olcott of the origin and aims of the Theosophical Society, and of the
derivation of its teaching from the sages of the East, whose methods and
doctrines, he said, were purely Hermetic – a definition which we recognised as
altogether excluding Mr. Sinnett’s
Esoteric Buddhism.
(p. 197)
At the second meeting [on May 19], I
read a paper on Revelation as the Supreme
Common Sense, meaning that the consensus or agreement which it represents is
that, not of all men merely, but of all parts of man; of mind, soul, and spirit;
of intellect and intuition, combined in a pure spirit and unfolded to the
utmost. There is no contradiction between Reason and Revelation, provided only
it be the whole Reason and not the mutilated faculty
which ordinarily passes for such, for that represents the intellect without the
intuition. And it is precisely the loss or corruption of this last which
constitutes the Fall, the Intuition, as the feminine
mode of the mind and representing the soul, being mystically called “the woman.”
At the third meeting, which was on
June 12, Mary gave the first of her promised course of papers on the Credo of Christendom (the Apostles’
Creed), and in the course of the session she gave five further lectures on the
same subject, dealing with it clause by clause.
In her first lecture, dealing with
the first clause, – “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven
and earth,” – after affirming the universality and antiquity of really Catholic
doctrine, and its identity with that of the sacred mysteries of all countries
from the beginning, she showed the fallacy involved in the conventional
anthropomorphic conception of Deity, and the necessity to a rational system of
thought of a substratum to the universe which is at once intelligent and
personal, though in a sense differing from that which is ordinarily implied by
the term; the Divine personality being that, not of outward form, but of
essential consciousness; and creation, which is manifestation, being due, not to
action from without, but to the perpetual Divine presence and operation from
within: “God the Father” being, in the esoteric and true sense, the original,
undifferentiated Life and Substance of the universe, but not limited by the
universe, and Himself the potentiality of all things.
The subject of her second lecture,
which was given at the fourth meeting on June 19, was the second clause of the
Creed: “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who is conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” Concerning this clause, she said that in
insisting upon the esoteric signification as alone true and of value, we are but
reverting to the ancient and original usage. It is the acceptance of the Creed
(p. 198)
in its exoteric and historical sense which is
really modern. For all sacred mysteries were originally regarded as spiritual,
and only when they passed from the hands of properly instructed initiates into
those of the ignorant and vulgar, did they become materialised and degraded to
their present level. The esoteric truth of this article of the Creed can be
understood only through a previous knowledge, first, of the constitution of man,
and next, of the meaning of the terms employed in the formulation of religious
doctrine. This doctrine represents perfect knowledge of human nature, and the
terms in which it is expressed – “Adam,” “Eve,” “Christ,” and “Mary” and the
rest – denote the various spiritual elements constituting the individual, the
states through which he passes, and the goal he finally attains in the course of
his spiritual evolution. For, as
The entire spiritual history of man
is thus comprised in the Church’s two dogmas, the Immaculate Conception and the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. For they have no physical reference, but
denote precisely that triumph and apotheosis of the soul, that glorification and
perpetuation of the individual human ego, which is the object and result of
cosmic evolution,
(p. 199)
and consummation of the scheme of creation. As may
be supposed, this paper was followed by a conversation of unusual interest, in
which a large number of Fellows and visitors joined, the chief point of
discussion being the extent to which the Gospel narratives represent an actual
personal history, and the value attaching to such history if real.
The following and fifth meeting, on
June 26, was devoted to a paper of mine on
“Mystics and Materialists,” in which I showed how dense was the ignorance
and prejudice of the treatment accorded by the materialistic school to Mystics
and Mysticism, and described the issue between the two parties as of the most
tremendous import, being nothing less than the nature of existence, the
constitution and destiny of man, the being of God and the spiritual world, the
possibility of revelation, and the validity of the religious sentiment.
Respecting all these, I said, the mystics claimed to have affirmative
experiences of a kind absolutely satisfactory, they themselves being, by reason
of their character and eminence, entitled to full credence. For the order to
which they belonged comprised the highest types of humanity, and in fact all
those sages, saints, seers, prophets, and Christs,
through whose redeeming influence humanity has been preserved from the abyss of
utter negation in respect of all that makes and ennobles humanity, and these
have uniformly declared that the passage from Materialism to Mysticism has been
to them a passage, physically, from disease to health; intellectually, from
infancy to manhood; morally, from anarchy to order; and spiritually, from
darkness to light and from death to life – even life everlasting. And none who
had made that passage had ever been known to wish to retrieve his steps. And as
it was through the loss of the intuition that the world has sunk into the
materialism now prevailing, so it will be through the restoration of the
intuition, now taking place, that the world will be rescued and redeemed.
The remaining lectures, with one
exception, were all given by Mary, and that one, the sixth, was given by Mr.
Arthur Lillie, the subject being Indian Yoga. (1) Careful abstracts of
our own
(p. 200)
lectures, made by myself, were published in Light;
and among the recognitions received from persons who read them there was the
following from one whom we regarded as far and away the most advanced of them
all in mystic and spiritual knowledge – Baron Spedalieri,
who wrote to us as follows respecting Mary’s interpretations of the Creed: –
“
“DEAR AND HONOURED MADAME, – DEAR SIR AND FRIEND, – Eliphas
Levi was right when he told me that humanity needed not a new Revelation, but
rather an explanation of that which it already has. This explanation would, he
said, be given in the ‘latter times,’ and would constitute what he called the ‘Messianisme.’
The illuminated Guillaume Postel predicted likewise
that the ‘latter days’ would be distinguished by the comprehension of the
Kabala, and of the occult books of the Hebrews.
“You – the New Messiah – you are now
accomplishing this double mission, and you are doing it in a manner veritably miraculous. For I cannot otherwise explain to myself how you
have been able to acquire an erudition so exalted and a knowledge so deep that
before it all human intelligence is dazzled. No initiation in any anterior state
of existence suffices to explain this wonder. Moreover, the doctrines you
expound relate to facts posterior to the ancient mysteries, and were therefore
unknown to the initiates of remote ages.
“Nothing was ever
known or written by any of the Christian Mystics, whether
“But this mission imposes on you a
great duty. Time presses; the harvest of the earth is ripe. Why do you wait? Why
confine yourselves to communicating to a small group of auditors that which
ought to regenerate humanity: Why not at once publish these chapters on the
Credo, and later the rest of your Hermetic expositions of the teachings
of the Church? For then indeed the Church herself will for the first time learn
with surprise how great a treasure lies buried under the materialism of her
doctrines.
“Prepared as I was by the study of The Perfect Way, your two
(p. 201)
first lectures did not surpass my learning. But the
rest have been for me a dazzling revelation. They have opened to me new and
unexpected horizons: the splendour of the Kabala has been surpassed. I have
thoroughly studied the résumés in Light
in order to grasp the depth and breadth, and shall I say the
originality(?) of your commentaries. Your explanations of the Seal of
Solomon are new to me; but their profundity and truth have ravished my mind. I
cried aloud as I read, ‘How beautiful that is! How all the truth is there! Ah,
my God, when will all this be published?’
“At last I have found the explanation
of the planetary system of Esoteric Buddhism. But what a
difference between the two! How simple is the truth, and how the reason is
satisfied by it! Beautiful and accurate also is the distinction you draw between
Mysticism and Occultism, whereby the superiority of the former is readily
perceived.
“Dear and honoured friends, how can I
speak of the great literary talent you have exhibited in the treatment of those
most difficult subjects? You have placed them within the reach of every intelligence. You have handled them
with admirable lucidity. Ali that I can say would be beneath the truth.
“With sentiments of the most profound
and respectful attachment, I am your wholly devoted
“SPEDALIERI.”
Notwithstanding the arduous nature of
our work in connection with the Hermetic Society, we had not neglected our
crusade on behalf of our rudimentary brethren, the animals. In May we visited
Exeter to take part in a public demonstration in the vegetarian cause, where
Mary was the principal speaker; and in June we paid a hurried visit to Paris, (1)
where she delivered an address in French, before the Society of which Victor
Hugo was the president, in exposure of the pretences and methods of Pasteur,
which was afterwards published in France. We stayed with Lady Caithness on this
occasion, and
(p. 202)
be.
“Madame Ia Duchesse, pour Ia première fois de ma vie, je suis vaincu en debat. Madame votre belle compatriote m’a battu.”
The formation of the Hermetic Society was speedily
followed by a letter from the President of the
We had been warned that our attitude
towards the Theosophical Society and its Masters exposed us to personal danger
from the occult powers possessed by them, and some of the more ardent of their
partisans had already expressed their surprise at our immunity from their
vengeance. Certain incidents which occurred during our sojourn in
(p. 203)
seemed to lend confirmation to the idea, of
which the following is one: –
Mary was roused from sleep one night by a sound of rustling among some
manuscripts which were on a table at the foot of her bed, and on looking to see
the cause, beheld a dwarf figure, which she recognised as that of an elemental
of the order of the Gnomes, or earth-spirits; for it was costumed as a labourer,
and carried a long-handled shovel, their distinguishing symbol. It was turning
over the manuscripts as if looking for some particular paper, and muttering to
itself in French. She therefore accosted it in the same language, sharply
demanding its business, and bidding it begone. Upon
which the imp looked at her in great surprise, as if not expecting detection,
and exclaiming in the same language that it had made a mistake, took its
departure.
On the following night I was aroused
from a sound sleep by hearing her exclaim in great distress, “Caro! Caro! I am dying!” Owing to
the distance between our rooms – for they were on different storeys and
staircases – I knew that her actual voice could not have reached me, call as
loudly as she might. I took it, therefore, for an interior summons, obeying
which I hastened to her door, and knocking at it, asked if she was in want of
anything, as I fancied I heard her calling out. Whereupon she presently exclaimed, “Oh! I am so glad you have
woke me; I was just being suffocated by a terrible nightmare.”
She had been much exercised about the
experience of the previous night, owing chiefly to the circumstance that the
goblin spoke in French, this being quite a novel feature to her; and she could
not help connecting it in some way with a visit she had on that day paid to
Madame Blavatsky, in which they had chiefly spoken French together. The visit
itself had been marked by an incident which we had discussed with considerable
interest, and which was in this wise.
On calling at the house where Madame
Blavatsky was staying, she found her on the point of going out for a drive, and
instead of entering the house, complied with a message asking her to get into
the carriage and wait there. Presently Madame appeared, with one of her Indian
protégés,
one M–––, and the three went for a drive together, Madame being very cordial,
and cheerful even to jocularity. After a while she referred to
(p. 204)
the criticism we had written on Mr. Sinnett’s book, Esoteric Buddhism, quoting a sentence
which she ascribed to Mary, and asking how she could say such a thing. To which
Mary replied that she had said nothing of the kind, but quite the opposite.
Whereupon, in order to prove herself right, Madame asked M––– for the pamphlet,
saying she was sure he had it about him. This M––– denied, but, on her
persisting, searched his pockets for it, but without finding it. At this Madame
seemed disappointed, but presently regained her cheerfulness, and showed herself
full of vivacious humour, much to Mary’s delight, as she had heard so much of
that trait in her character, but had never yet witnessed any exhibition of it.
In the course of the drive the “Old Lady” proposed that they have some
refreshment, and the party accordingly repaired to a confectioner’s, and called
for some chocolate. While sitting there Madame again recurred to the pamphlet,
reaffirming her accuracy, and insisted on M––– again searching his pockets for
it, saying in a tone of command, “I must and will have it.” This time, after a
short search, he produced it; upon which Madame exclaimed triumphantly, “There!
You see! The Masters –––.”
To which Mary responded by saying quietly, “That is very nice; now I will show
you”; and taking the book, she found the passage, which proved to be as she had
declared. Madame at once frankly admitted her mistake, saying she was very glad
to find she was wrong; and the rest of the time passed pleasantly all round.
On coming home and telling me the
story, Mary said that, even if she had believed there was a miracle in the
matter, she would not have shown any surprise, as that would have been to credit
Madame with a monopoly of thaumaturgic power. What she
wanted, however, to do was to find a middle course between a miracle – in which
she did not for a moment believe – and a barefaced trick, deliberately contrived
and rehearsed to impose upon her. The explanation to which we inclined was this
twofold one. Madame had been prompted, partly by her irrepressible love of fun,
and partly by her desire to put Mary to a test to ascertain whether she was
really a sensible person, or belonged to the category of those whom Madame had
been wont to call her “domestic imbeciles,” “flapdoodles,” and the like names.
It was the way of the Adepts in occultism to test their neophytes, and Mary took
this as an ordeal similarly
(p. 205)
devised to try her, and believed that her
behaviour on the occasion had greatly raised her in Madame
Blavatsky’s
estimation. In this view I was glad to concur, but could not help remarking that
it was a serious risk for the “Old Lady” to run, whether as regarded her own
credit or that of her cause, as the generality of persons would be apt to take a
view less favourable to her. But then prudence was notoriously not her strong
point, and, in fact, was the very last quality with which either her friends or
her enemies would credit her. For she was veritable
personification of impulsiveness.
Knowing, too, as we did know, that
for several years prior to the formation of the Theosophical Society she had
followed the vocation of a professional spirit-medium, and knowing also the
class of entity with which such persons are apt to be in relation, and the
liability of sensitives to yield to sudden suggestions
from such source, we were disposed to regard her peculiarities as representing a
survival from her former vocation, and as due, therefore, to what she herself
called “the spooks of the séance-room,” rather than to any deliberate design of
her own to deceive.
Having been interviewed by Mr. W.T.
Stead, then editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, Mary wrote for
that Journal the following account of the Hermetic Society, which duly appeared,
but under the misleading heading, “The
Newest Thing in Religions”: –
“The name of Hermes as the divine
representative of the intellectual principle has ever in the Western world been
associated with the study of spiritual and occult science, and with the
knowledge of things hidden and removed from the reach of the superficial sense.
Hence the very word ‘hermetic’ has, in common parlance, come to be applied to
the enclosure and sealing up of objects which it is desired to preserve
inviolate and incorrupt. The Hermetic Society, however, though, as its name
implies, concerning itself mainly with the study of the secret science, is not a
secret association. Its Fellows are bound by no pledges of silence, and use
neither password nor sign. In a Society having a catholic object, and aiming at
the inauguration of a school of thought which, though old in the history of the
world, is new in that of our race and time, it is considered that a policy of
exclusiveness would be anachronistic and out of place. Moreover, the origin and
character of the Society are not of a nature to render secrecy either necessary
or desirable. Composed as it is, not of initiates, but of students, and
numbering in its ranks sound scholars and competent thinkers more or less
intolerant of ecclesiastical methods and control, the
(p. 206)
task which the Society has set itself is one for
which it seeks and invites co-operation on the part of all able contributors to
the thought of our day. This task involves the investigation of the nature and
constitution of man, with a view to the formulation of a system of thought and
rule of life which will enable the individual to develop to the utmost his
higher potentialities, intellectual and spiritual. The Society represents a
reaction that has long been observable, though hitherto discouraged and hindered
from public expression by still dominant influences. Reaction is not
necessarily, nor indeed usually, retrogressive. It bears on its wave the best
acquisitions of time and culture, and often represents the deeper current of
essential progress. The tendency of the age to restrict the researches of the
human mind to a range of study merely material and sensible is directly inimical
to the method of Nature, and must, therefore, prove abortive. For it represents
an attempt to limit the scope and the possibilities of evolution, and thus to
hinder the normal development of those higher modes of consciousness which mark
certain advanced types of mankind. Reason is not less the test of truth to the
mystic than to the materialist; but the mode of it to which the former appeals
is on a higher level, transcending the operation of the outer and ordinary
senses. ‘Revelation’ thus becomes conceivable. Only to thought which is
absolutely free is the manifestation of truth possible; and to be thus free,
thought must be exercised in all directions, not outward only to the phenomenal,
but inward to the real also, from the expression of idea in formal matter to the
informing idea itself. Our age, failing to comprehend the mystic spirit, has
hitherto associated it with attributes which really belong not to mysticism, but
to the common apprehension of it – obscurity and uncertainty. The Hermetic
Society desires to reveal mysticism to a world which knows it not; to define its
propositions, and to categorise its doctrine. And this can only be done by minds
trained in the philosophical method, because mysticism is a science, based on
the essential reason of things – the most supremely rationalistic of all
systems.
“The programme by which the Hermetic
Society intends to regulate and direct its labours is a rich one. It comprises
the comparative study of all philosophical and religious systems, whether of the
East or of the West, and especially of the ‘Mysteries’ of
“These observations will suffice to
show that the Hermetic Society is not more friendly to
the popular presentation of orthodox Church doctrine than to the fashionable
agnosticism of the hour. It represents, indeed, a revolt against all
conventional forms of belief, whether ecclesiastical or secular, and a
conviction that the rehabilitation
(p. 207)
of religion on reasonable and scientific grounds
is not only possible to the human mind, but is essential to human progress and
development. This line of thought was first introduced to the public in a work
entitled The
“Students of the ‘solar myth’ have
again and again demonstrated the fact that the dogmas and central figures of
Christianity are identical with those of all other religious systems, and are
probably all traceable to a common astronomical origin; but it was reserved for
the writers of the book in question to define the esoteric significance of the
solar myth, and to point out the correspondence subsisting between the
symbology of the various creeds founded on the terms of this universal
myth, and the processes and principles concerned in the interior development of
the individual human Ego.
“The appearance of this book, it is
asserted by those who claim to know, awakened the interest of the Eastern
‘Adepts,’ whom the Theosophical Society venerates as its leaders and master; and
the writers were invited by the London representatives of that Society to join
its English branch in an official capacity. The views and aims of the two
parties proved, however, to be in some important respects divergent. The writers
of The Perfect Way found that their labours, though not
inconsistent with personal interest in the propaganda of which Mr. Sinnett is
the accredited exponent, could not be carried on within the same organisation.
Their paramount idea lay in the direction of the revival of Christian mysticism,
as the form of theosophy best adapted to the genius of the European mind. In
this view many readers of their book concurred, and thus, while friendly to much
in the objects of the Indian Theosophical fraternity, the Hermetic Society has
its raison d’être in the distinctly Western proclivities of its
promoters. It has a mystic rather than an ‘occult’ character; it depends for
guidance upon no ‘Mahatmas,’ and can boast no worker of wonders on the
phenomenal plane. Its Fellows do not, as Hermetists,
interest themselves in the study or culture of abnormal powers; they seek
knowledges only,
and these not so much on the physical as on the intellectual and spiritual
level. Such knowledge must, they hold, be necessarily productive of good works.
Hermetists are expected to be true knights of
spiritual chivalry, identifying themselves with movements in the direction of
justice and mercy, whether toward man or beast, and doing their utmost,
individually and collectively, to further the recognition of the Love-principle
as that involving the highest and worthiest motive and method of human action.”
(p. 208)
“To the Editor of the ‘
“SIR, – Pray allow me to remove the erroneous and
unfavourable impression likely to be produced by your heading of the article on
this Society in the Pall Mall Gazette of to-day. So far
from being ‘the newest thing in religions,’ or even claiming to be a religion at
all, that at which the Society aims is the recovery of what is really the oldest
thing in Religion – so old as to have become forgotten and lost – namely, its
esoteric and spiritual, and therefore its true, signification. I had hoped that
this had been made sufficiently clear in the article to prevent any
misconception on the point. Thanking you for the publication of the article, and
requesting the insertion of this important rectification, I am, Sir, your
obedient servant,
“THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE.”
“GARMISCH (
“MY DEAR SIR, – I thank you much for the two Pall
Malls and the prospectus of your new ‘Hermetic Society,’ which were
forwarded to me hither after some delay. The disorder consequent upon the
removal of my furniture to a magazine made it well-nigh impossible for me to
give due attention to such subjects as were touched upon in your last
communication of May 22, and even in these mountain retreats, which are just now
filled with a restless crowd of excursionists and pleasure-seekers, I have had
some difficulty in tuning my mind for theosophic
harmonies. How little repose there is in this Western world of ours, and what a
world of toil and drudgery it must be to induce such holiday excitement!
“I was greatly and agreeably
surprised to hear of the constitution of the new Society. I had received the
Statutes of the London Lodge, and later the
Statuts de Ia Société Theosophique, but of the actual secession of some of the
London brethren, and of the foundation of a new and independent Society, I
knew nothing; and now that l have carefully read its prospectus, and the
admirable commentary contained in your Pall Mall article, I cannot but
congratulate you on this step. Your article is a masterpiece of persuasiveness,
and so irresistibly plausible that my former objections to such forms of mental
co-operation have grown weaker, and may at any moment be waived together.
“It was a bold but salutary thing to
proclaim the scientific dignity of Mysticism, and to vindicate the claims of
Christian mysticism in particular. And what you say about the knighthood of
spiritual chivalry completes your programme most satisfactorily by bringing,
explicitly or implicitly, every one of our great moral agitations within its
range.
“If the editor of the Pall
Mall Gazette calls this ‘the newest thing in religions,’ he only proves
what we all know but are apt to forget, that newspapers are at best but
advertising agencies and sensation-mongers. Fortunately, this nouveauté did not come from
“You would greatly oblige me by
telling me, at your leisure and convenience, a little more about the status and
the prospects of
(p. 209)
your new Society, and by letting me know the
conditions of membership.
“You are right in what you say about
the variety of ‘planes’ on which a new spiritual fermentation is observable
(from the Buddhistic revival and apparition of the
Mahdi down to the Salvation Army), and from the Hermetic point of view
this must be considered as effects of ‘illumination,’ or influxus divinus, while ordinary rationalists would ascribe
it to evolution from below, helped on and accelerated by the
multiplication of the channels and means of human intercourse. But, then, what
is ‘evolution’ what is all so-called spontaneity (whether of generation, or of
thought, or of will), without some divine subsoil, or some hidden spiritual vis a tergo,
which is but the alter ego of the Spirit above reflected and refracted in the
spray of matter?
“I find among my papers a little note
which I beg leave to transcribe here, although it is out of date. It runs thus:
– ‘I said in my last letter to Mr. Maitland that the individual cannot pre-exist
either in the sperma or in the
ovulum. I might have said, more accurately, one part of the individual,
namely, the four first principles, being dependent for their aggregation on
natural or intentional selection, cannot collectively pre-exist, but manas, buddhi,
and atma may be supposed to
pre-exist somewhere as to wait for the formation (from below) of a suitable
substratum.’ – Yours sincerely,
E. GRYZANOWSKY.”
From the numerous letters from
strangers which reached us from various distant regions, I select the following,
which was written in reply to a brief communication supplying some desired
information respecting our work. The writing is a model of clearness, the Hebrew
and Greek characters being written in the most scholarly style, the former as if
by a student in a Jewish school. It was expressly declared to be for ourselves
alone, and I therefore withhold the name. The writer, however, has since become
distinguished as the author of some very valuable contributions to theosophical
literature: –
“
“Αîτεîτє, καì δοθήσεταs ύμǐν; ‘ςητεìτε,
кαì εύρήσετε кρούετε, кαì άνοιγήσεται
ύμîν.”
“DEAR SIR, – Your letter of the 10th inst. and the pamphlet have been received. I
am very thankful for them. What you tell me about Dr. Kingsford does not
surprise me. The language and teachings of The Perfect Way, compared
with her language and teachings in the Theosophist and Light, point to her. I
wrote ‘Sirs’ as a mere matter of formality; for, while reading the book, I said
that a Catholic, and I felt that a woman, had co-operated in its production. As
it is all honour to her and to her fellow-worker. I procured The
Perfect Way, read it three times, underscored all strikingly interesting
statements, and circulated it among a few prudent friends, men and women. All
have admitted it is full of
(p. 210)
love and light, and each is about to procure a copy.
My copy has been sent to
“I thank you for offering to answer
questions I may put. But before I ask any question, that I may be understood,
let me depart from my usual habit and say a few words about myself.
“I am a Swede; to-day
thirty-five years of age; unmarried; physician by profession; have been in
“Since I came to
‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’
(:תבל
תבל٠ם
חבל חבל) ‘The
“I read
Ghostland. I am indebted to the author of it. It led me to read Isis Unveiled, The
Occult World, the Theosophist, and
Esoteric Buddhism. The last led me to read The Perfect Way. While reading it I
thought at times that it had been inspired by some ‘Mahatma’ – a thought not
repugnant to me. But the thought that ‘departed spirits’ might have had
something to do with it did not enter my mind, because the productions of
‘departed spirits’ – as many of these as I have met with – consist either of
pathetic nonsense or downright imposture, neither of which is visible in The Perfect Way.
“I confess frankly that I am
disappointed to learn that a brotherhood of the kind I referred to in my letter
does not exist. (1) I would give much if I could find a brotherhood that could
show a Christhood. And I would give more if I could get
the spiritual help the ‘Chelas’ get, that the author of Ghostland got in India; and that is gotten in the adyta
of some of the temples of the East.
“I am looking for a sign of the Son
of Man. Where, my good Sir, shall I find it? In books?
In Thibet? In my heart? ‘In the latter,’ you would say. I understand
you. But, consider, I am not, like Dr. Kingsford, and perhaps yourself, born
into such a psychological state that I can elevate myself beyond the matters of
the senses and learn the secrets of the ‘Woman.’ Alas, no! Of what profit is my
book-knowledge, my abstinence from unclean food, and
(p. 211)
my other possible virtues? Will these alone open
the
adytum
of my being, restore the memory of the forgotten past?
Again, alas, no! Then in what respect am I better off than the ignoramus, the
cannibal, and the libertine? ‘A melancholist,’ you
would say, ‘seeking signs.’ Sir, I have not practised table-tipping,
slate-writing, and tambourine-playing, in dark or lighted chambers. And I do not
intend. But I feel daily the force of Goethe’s words, ‘Ernst ist das
Leben.’ And I am looking for the Christ. Do
you blame me?
“I have now not any direct question
to put. You will readily perceive this whole letter is a question. For your
letter I thank you again. I give you hereby my word of honour not to misuse any
information you have given, or may give, in the future.
“Please tell Dr. Kingsford that she
has attentive and appreciative readers in this distant land, who will not
knowingly trample the ‘Woman’ under foot; who will, if possible, ‘restore the
Queen.’
“Are your works, The
Pilgrim and the Shrine and the Keys of the Creeds, of an Hermetic nature? By the by, the discussion now going on in
Light
between the Spiritists and the Theosophists is very
painful to me –Respectfully yours,
“–––”
FOOTNOTES
(185:1) The object of their visit to
(186:1) Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland
did not at first sever their connection with the Lodge, but remained members
thereof, with the double object of examining any further teachings that might be
received from the East, and effacing personal antagonisms. At the close of the
year, however, they took the further step, and resigned their membership in the
Lodge. (See p. 221 post.) – S.H.H.
(186:2) A charter was, in fact, granted by Col. H.S.
Olcott, the President-Founder of the Theosophical Society, to the new society,
which was to be known as the Hermetic Lodge of the Theosophical Society, and
members of other Lodges were to be eligible for admission to the Hermetic Lodge
without renunciation of any previous affiliation: and on April 9, 1884, a
meeting for the purpose of inaugurating the new Lodge was held at C.C. Massey’s
Chambers, Col. H.S. Olcott presiding. But owing to the issue almost immediately
afterwards by Col. H.S. Olcott of the above-mentioned rule prohibiting
membership of more than one Lodge at a time, and as some of the members of the
Hermetic Lodge were also members of the London Lodge and had no desire to sever
their connection with it, it became necessary to make the new adventure outside
of the Theosophical Society; and at a meeting held on April 22, 1884, it was
unanimously resolved to surrender the charter affiliating the new Society to the
Theosophical Society, and to reconstruct it independently of that organisation.
It thus became possible for members of a Lodge in the Theosophical Society to
remain in or join the Hermetic Society without severing their connection with
the
(188:1) The hexagram, or
double triangle.
(193:1) This is an allusion to
a charge made against us to account for our action in reference to the
Theosophical Society. We were alleged to be “agents of the Jesuits” on the
authority of occult knowledge! – E.M.
(195:1) I.e.
the revised prospectus. For the prospectus as originally issued, see Light,
1884, p. 186.
(196:1) For Anna Kingsford’s exposition of the legend
of St. George and the Dragon, see the story of St. George the Chevalier in Dreams and Dream Stories (Third
Edition), p. 288.
(199:1) The following are the
dates and subjects of Anna Kingsford’s six Lectures on the Credo of Christendom:
–
June 12, 1884 (Third meeting). First Lecture, on the clause “I believe in God,”
etc.
June 19, 1884 (Fourth meeting). Second Lecture, on the clause “And in Jesus
Christ,” etc.
July 10, 1884 (Seventh meeting). Third Lecture, on the clause “Suffered under
Pontius Pilate,” etc.
July 17, 1884 (Eighth meeting). Fourth Lecture, on the clause
“I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church.”
July 24, 1884 (Ninth meeting). Fifth Lecture, further on the same clause.
July 31, 1884 (Tenth meeting). Sixth Lecture, further on the same clause. –
S.H.H.
(201:1) See p. 193 ante.
(210:1) This was the community
described by me in The Perfect Way, Lecture VII, pars. 40-49, on the strength, as it seemed to me, of interior
recollection. – E.M. (See p. 65 ante.)
Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice da Obra Anterior: XXVII – Meditações sobre os Mistérios Seguinte: XXIX – Cartas e Iluminações