Theos-Talk Archives (October 1993 Message tl00082)

Arvind.  I have never read Alice Bailey, and have never really
had any desire to do so.  For one thing, her writing style (a bit
pompous)is very hard to follow (I tried once years ago, and gave
up).  For another, I feel that she simply took HPB's ideas and
"elaborated" a bit on her own.  I would rather read HPB.  But I
have heard many people tell me that her stuff is great (including
a high muckty-muck in the Golden Dawn) so I certainly don't feel
free to criticize.  However, I have read several books by R.
Steiner (Anthroposophy) and as far as I am concerned, he simply
Christianized theosophy to the point of it being rather silly.
But to give each their due, many people consider both of them
(ie, Bailey and Steiner) to have been very developed psychically.
Another that comes to my mind here is Dion Fortune whose 'The
Cosmic Doctrine' is very theosophical.  But Fortune is at least
easy to read, and she doesn't make hash of Christianity.

The problem with finding both HPB and Bailey "equally appealing"
is that there are several differences in teachings and in
emphasis.  Which one is right?

Brenda.  I remember you saying that you were not up on Buddhism.
So how come you keep coming out with Buddhist ideas? :-)

Your desire to help humanity rather than "working towards
liberation from rebirth" is called the Bodhisattvic Vow that a
Bodhisttva takes in Mahayana Buddhism.

Leonard.  You are right about there being no signs that "you are
now entering the astral plane."  Probably the only way to be sure
of where you are is to go over your memory of it when you wake.
Most magic schools use symbols.  By giving out or observing key
symbols (which act as signposts) they can test their observations
while undergoing them - not something that everyone can do.  For
example, the Tattva cards each represent a comic element or plane
(the astral plane would be a silver crescent with both tips
pointing upward, for Apas, Water, while the mental plane would be
a blue disk for Vayu, Air).  If you have the conscious ability
while dreaming to hold up a Tattva card and observing it, you can
tell which plane you're on by observing the symbol.  Or, by
concentrating on the symbol for astral, for example, you should
find yourself there when asleep.  One of the problems with
symbols is that they are seldom universal (universal symbols are
archetypes in the classical Jungian sense).  Each magical school
has its own symbols and colors, and so on.  The interesting thing
is that they all seem to work.  This is probably because it is
what you have studied that counts.  Whatever symbols you use
regularly on the physical plane, will carry over to the other
planes.  The same seems to be true with religious symbols.

Modification of experiences on other planes due to chemical
substances in the physical body is possible because of the Silver
Cord or Sutratma that connects our bodies together.  This cord
lasts until death, at which time the psycho-magnetic link between
our bodies is broken and our physical body will no longer
influence our Body of Light.

Nancy.  Thanks for the New Leaf.  The answer to your question
"How can there be two infinite entities?" is this:  there are an
infinite number of infinite entities.  I was using two in my
illustration, but there are an infinite number of monads, each
and every one of which is identical in every way to every other.
G de Purucker says that consciousness centers are geometric
points in the sense that a monad is so tiny it takes up no space.
What he didn't say is that anything that small is also infinitely
large, the two directions, inward and outward, being convergent
at some point outside of space altogether.  Mathematically we can
say
            infinitely small = infinitely large

This concerns space, but the same can be also said for time:

            Infinitely past = infinitely future

Andrew.  I have read Leo's books on esoteric astrology and
enjoyed his concepts.  Like Tarot, I played with astrology for a
few years.  It does, in fact, seem to work; not the predictive
part, which I don't subscribe to, but the idea that planetary
influences are somehow conjoined with your personality at birth
seems to work well.  I used to give readings for people -
personality profiles based on their birth dates - which were
usually rather accurate.  But for predictions, I like G de
Purucker's statement that "the stars impel, they do not compel."

Venus, by the way, is linked in some magic schools to the astral
body or kama.

                                Jerry S.