Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00721)

Thanks Paul, Rich, Liesel and Jerry HE for your comments on my posting
concerning Theosophical Source Teachings.

I would like to explore this just a little bit more in depth.

I guess Jerry HE is right when he says that there are many different ways
to define the source teachings. But I will try to explain my approach which
is based on an analysis of early Theosophical history (1874-1891). A study
of Theosophical history indicates that H.P. Blavatsky is the pivotal figure
of the modern Theosophical movement. It was Madame Blavatsky who first
proclaimed to the world the existence of the Theosophical Masters and said she
was their agent, messenger and started giving out certain Theosophical
teachings.

In October, 1874, she met Henry Olcott in Vermont. This meeting changed
the course of Olcott's life. He became her student and co-worker. Then
on Oct. 27, 1874, she finished her first article. As early as Feb. 1875,
she wrote to Dr. Corson:

"I am here in this country [America] sent by my Lodge on behalf of Truth in
modern spiritualism, and it is my most sacred duty to unveil what is, and
expose what is not....When I became a spiritualist, it was not through
the agency of the ever-lying, cheating mediums, miserable instruments of the
undeveloped Spirits of the Rochester knockings, and spring out from the same
source of information that was used by Raymond Lully, Pcus della Mirandola,
Cornelius Agrippa, Robert Fludd, Henry More...etc, all of whom have ever been
searching for a system that should disclose to them the `deepest depths' of
the Divine nature, and show them the real tie which binds all things together.
I found at last, and many years ago, the cravings of my mind satisfied by
this theosophy taught by the Angels."

This is a fairly concise statement by HPB and it was made (in a private letter)
only about 3 months after her public career started.

Notice that she defines "this theosophy taught by the angels" as "a system
that should disclose...the `deepest depths' of the Divine nature, and show...
the real tie which binds all things together."

That's a pretty good definition even for 1995.

In another early letter of 1875 to General F.J. Lippitt:

"I am but a slave, an obedient instrument in the hands of *my Masters*. I
cannot even write good English, unless they dictate me every word."

And in a month or so Olcott was receiving letters from "the Master of the
Masters"----Serapis. In one of these early letters, Serapis assures the
Colonel:

"I am not a disembodied spirit, brother. I am a living man, gifted with
such powers by our Lodge as are in store for thyself someday. I cannot
be otherwise with thee but in spirit, for many thousands of miles separate
us at present."

In July, 1875, HPB wrote an article---which she called her "first *Occult***
Shot"...."by express orders from S***."

This is a remarkable article in which HPB writes of "the primitive Oriental
Cabala" and goes on to say tht"the Oriental Cabala, the practical, full, and
*only* existing copy, is carefully preserved at the headquarters of this
Brotherhood in the East....the existence of the mysterious Lodge, on account
of its secrecy, [may be] doubted; but it does exist and has lost none of the
primitive secret powers of the ancient Chaldaeans. The lodges, few in number,
are divied into sections and known but to the Adepts; no one would be likely
to find them out, unless the sages themselves found the neophyte worthy of
initiation." HPB says much about the Adeptic Brotherhood in this article
entitled "A Few Questions to `Hiraf'.

Then in August, 1875, in New York City, William Judge came to meet HPB for
the first time at her apartment at Irving Place. Judge's life was also
totally changed by this meeting with "our beloved teacher and friend" as
Judge called her soon after her death. In that same article, appearing in
*Lucifer* for June, 1891, Judge also calls HPB "the teacher and the guide."

Then during Sept, Oct and Nov, 1875, the Theosophical Society was formed.
And from as early as the summer months of 1875 through Aug.-Sept. 1877 she
was writing, rewriting, proofreading, etc. her first major work in 2 large
volumes----*Isis Unveiled* in which she told of the "sages of the Orient" and
spoke of their Brotherhood and the Science of the Adepts.

Continued in Part II

Daniel Caldwell