Theos-Talk Archives (February 1995 Message tl00060)

        This is from Nancy.

        Greetings! I am about 2 months behind on reading
        correspondence on this list and I apologize if I'm
        repeating what someone else may have pointed out.

        Regarding sex and celibacy:

        I consider some of the theosophical paranoia about sex to
        be a product of the Victorian way of thinking, and not
        necessarily relevant to spiritual seekers.  However, when
        a seeker wants to be an Occultist, I think the rules
        change.  Here is what makes me pause .  .  .

        In BCW, E.S.  Instruction No.  V entitled THE SPINAL
        SYSTEM p.701, HPB talks about why an Occultist must be
        celibate.  She writes,

        <The Spinal Cord puts into connection the Brain and the
        Generative Organs, and this connection is further
        strengthened by the Sympathetic System.  The Cord,
        however, gives an open passage, which opens into the
        important cavities of the Brain.  Excitement of the
        Generative Organs sends up impulses and subtle essences
        to the Brain by way of the Spinal canals.  Now the three
        vital airs are ruled by the Will, and Will and Desire are
        the higher and lower aspects of one and the same thing.
        These airs, as said, play in the canals, and hence the
        importance of their absolute purity.  For if they soil
        the vital airs energized by the Will, disease results at
        the best, Black Magic at the worst.  Therefore all sexual
        intercourse is forbidden to the students of Practical
        Occultism.>