Theos-Talk Archives (July 1997 Message tl00127)

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> From: kymsmith@micron.net
> To: Multiple recipients of list <theos-l@vnet.net>
> Subject: "She does rave betimes"
> Date: Sunday, July 13, 1997 2:25 AM
> 
> Well, far be it for me to nit-pick! but, in the recent issue of "Quest" (the
> teeny one), John Algeo addressed a reader who wrote about desiring an
> article which would discuss how the "Heaven's Gate tragedy" could never
> happen in Theosophy.  Algeo answered that the TS has "certain inherent
> protections against the sort of cult behavior. . .associated with groups
> like the Heaven's Gate organization.  Chief among those is the emphasis in
> Theosophy on personal responsibility and freedom from authoritarian
> dictation."  

It is also interesting that any research done on Heaven's Gate also
mentions the fact that Bonnie Nettles, one of the two leaders, was
a member of the Houston Theosophical Society.  She taught Herff what
she knew from that and then weaved into their own UFO philosophy.

In the now-popular-book, "The Gods Have Landed", it states: "We are now
in a position to examine HPB's role  in shaping the (alien) contactee picture. . . . 
LIttle recognzed, and certainly not emphasized by either Blavatsky or modern theosohists, 
HPB included among the heierarchy a master who dwelt on Venus and with whom she was in
contact.  These masters she termed the Lords of the Flame and the Lord of This World, the Head
of the heirarchy for humanity."

So HPB is not only responsible for the New Age, but also the UFO phenomena.

I could hear Algeo doing some fancy dancing and talking when it comes to this, especially in
reassurring everyone the Olcott is not a a similar group to Heaven's Gate nor has a similar
structure.

-A. Safron