Theos-Talk Archives (April 1994 Message tl00013)

This is by Brenda.

One (somewhat secret) advantage to having two diverse opinions
regarding the AAB books and The Arcane School is that when the
young, less-seasoned theosophists get together to do full moon
meditations, the older, ingrained, veterans of theosophy stay away.


Would it be possible for Jerry and Arvind to describe their
experiences of full moon meditations?  As some of the other members
of the network may also have been to full moon meditations, it might
be of interest to see how closely the activities match in content.

Both before and after I became a staff member at the National
Headquarters in Wheaton, I attended full moon meditations that were
either held at a house on the estate or within the library or
lecture hall of the T.S.  Most of the meditations attracted about 25
young people and we would sit in a circle, begin the evening with
three Oms and after a short meditation with a seed thought, we would
begin an activity designed by different members of the group, so
that one night we might draw mandalas, one night we might research
the literature to determine which ray we thought we were, one night
we might break into small discussion groups for a half hour, etc.
There was rarely a presentation by a member because it was felt that
this time was right for each person's involvement in group
activities.  Before the evening ended, the "leader" would draw a
quote from the Alice Bailey writings and it was generally with
reference to the particular sun sign which we were in at that
particular full moon.  So regardless of which sign the moon was in,
the meetings progressed from Aries to Pisces and the thought would
be centered in some energy expressed by and within that sign.

As the older group of theosophists weren't much interested in this
study, we were always left completely to our own best thought-out
expression of the work which we were attempting to become involved
in.  I mean, the administration left us completely to ourselves as
far as participation and planning.  Always during the years at
Olcott, some activities would be designated youth activities, but
unlike the full-moon meditations, they were rarely formally planned
around an interesting topic as these were.  More likely than not,
they would be sort of a party, with piano playing, food, and fun or
an outing to a restaurant or movie.  Full moon meditations were
special because of the involvement at the spiritual level by
meditation.  So, I would say they should be encouraged if the
indicators are right, they were completely left up to the creativity
of the group, followed the sun sign seed-thought, brought us
together at a regular, hard-to-miss time, and kept us away from the
"authority" of theosophy.  I mean, after all, the point was to
embody the spirit of a subject in an individual way.  Reaching
through to the spirit behind all manifested study is vastly
different than always drawing on unarguable points of definition.
How can you define AAB's work by defining each separate term she
ever used?  How can you reach through to your highest manifest self
if you aren't allowed to create who you are?  Sometimes what you
think is who you are and it's so pleasant that we aren't in any set,
manifest, world, but one that changes depending on the variables we
respond to with our existence.  Do you remember ever reading the
story of how an observer of a beautiful scene being painted by an
artist was amazed by how an adept was able to provide his eyesight
with the visual stimuli depicting an entirely different scene than
that being painted (for more than just an instant, but for a limited
amount of time)?  Maybe the world is created like that, individually
for each one, by the forces that be.  I can sure think of some
hellish paranoias, but the sufferers of such must just be victims of
their own thought processes (etc.) for a limited amount of time.

One of our members also compiled a little booklet from the AAB
teachings, published by Lucis Trust, and thought it wise to keep the
editorship of the book anonymous, (just signing "a student")
probably due to some of the strong opinions of some of the members
of the T.S. who don't hesitate to denounce you or your spiritual
consciousness and who may not ever feel a sense of loyalty to a
proponent of AAB's, as her organization is run differently and the
two have very little blending of modern authority figures.  Most
people writing, lecturing, and working for theosophy would prefer to
appear loyal and distant due to the fact that they may be standing
for an election at some future date and some of their past work
would speak loudly about where they seek their inspiration.

Young people, however, are rarely as tuned into the ingraining of
attitudes that goes on during many contacts with theosophists as a
whole and through attendance at the events of the theosophical
elect.  So look at it this way, what you don't know could hurt you,
but it's worth the risk and healthy to occasionally throw caution to
the wind.  So, try studying AAB with theosophists and take the
whiplash.  Other study centers study Seth, and manage to go on to
bigger and better things after it all, and besides maybe you're
opening your lines of communication somewhat to people who would
like to be your acquaintance and simultaneously would like to
qualify for the path.  Studying with people is a learning process.
If you have ambition toward leadership, you may choose to take
different steps than you would take if you like the "sharing of
spirit" with friends.

I would also like to add that I had some very favorable impressions
of the people who worked with the full moon meditations.  Meditation
does the heart and soul good.

Bye.