Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00241)

Paul:
>Someone on another list has asked me a stumper.  Where, prior
>to HPB, does one find the doctrine of chains and rounds?  I
>know that the Kabbalah has something similar, and the Hopis
>their doctrine that this is the fourth world.  But in its
>full-blown form, the chains/rounds material does not seem to
>appear in print earlier than HPB.
	
	This idea came up awhile back on theos-l, and I
said at that time that this material was original to HPB, at
least in the detailed form that she gave it to us.  She compares
the Globes of our planetary chain to the Sephiroth of the
Qabala, but if you ask a Qabalist if the Sephiroth are globes
of one single planetary chain, they would look at you as if
you had lost your mind (am I right, Alan?).  Besides, the
Rounds *have* to be unique to HPB's model, which is
entirely circular.  The Tree of Life is not circular, and Rounds
would be pretty hard to come by there.
	However, she does give lots of "hints" for her
model throughout the SD.  She either (1) made the model
up all by herself as a synthesis of her knowledge and
experience, or (2) she was given the model by her Teachers
who had themselves done such a synthesis.  Either way,
it is unique to HPB insofaras it can only be found in her SD.
	Now, in fairness to her, the idea of invisible
worlds or "sheaths" is well-known in India in terms of the
Lokas and Talas, and she (and G de P as well) borrow
heavily from that source.  But there is nothing in the Lokas
and Talas to suggest lifewaves or a set number of Rounds.
(maybe it was kept verbal?).  The idea of invisible worlds
and reincarnation can also be  found in Gnosticism and in
ancient Egyptian texts and pictures (I view the ancient
Egyptian as the "fountain source" of all
Western occultism) but again, nothing of lifewaves or of
a set number of Rounds has ever been discovered that
I know of.
	One of the amazing (to me) things about her
model, is that it provides the necessary foundation or
structure to her three occult axioms in the proem to the
SD.  And furthermore, it requires only a little tweaking
of the Tree of Life to arrive at it.  Either HPB was a genius,
or else her Teachers were, because her model is every
bit as robust as the Tree of Life.

	Jerry S.
	Member, TI