Theos-Talk Archives (February 1997 Message tl00332)

Some of the aversion that some older theosophists may have for Java could
possibly be based on the following description given by C. W. Leadbeater in
his The Occult History of Java. These excerpts are from pages 3 to 6.

"The colonists from Atlantis in the very early days had brought with them (to
Java) the dark and evil religion of their country, and as time rolled on, its
hold upon the people became stronger and more pernicious. It was based
entirely on fear, as are all the gloomy faiths; they worshiped cruel and
abominable deities, who required constant propitiation by human sacrifice,
and they lived ever under the shadow of a ghastly tyranny from which no
escape was possible.

"They were ruled at the time by a dynasty of chiefs or kings...among these
priests-kings we find one who was specially earnest and fanatical in his
awful faith. He really thought that only by the perpetuation of his appalling
scheme of daily blood sacrifices could his country be saved from utter
destruction at the hands of spiteful and bloodthirsty deities....he was under
the direct inspiration of the Darker Powers.

"He was a man of great power and inflexible determination, and having worked
out his terrible plan of sacrifice, he resolved to ensure as far as he could
that it should be continued throughout the ages yet to come. To that end he
worked a most elaborate system of magic, throwing by a tremendous and
long-continued effort of will a kind of spell upon the Island - laying it
under a curse...the result of his action may still be seen etherically and
astrally, in the shape of a vast dark cloud hovering low over the Island. And
this malign cloud has the curious appearance of being ‘pegged down' at
certain definite spots, so that it may not drift away.

"These spots were specially magnetized by him for that purpose; they are
nearly coincident with the craters of various volcanos...these outlets are
usually inhabited by a peculiar type of nature-spirits of marvelous tenacity,
looking like animated bronze images - a type which is specially susceptible
to the kind of influence which he was using, and capable of retain and
reinforcing it for an indefinite period.... the Darker Powers took care to
give his scheme such support as they could; and thus it comes that this cloud
is still in evidence even in the present day....".