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{{Page aside in Path|v=2|n=6|p=180}} | |||
{{Style P-Title small caps|level=3|1=Notes on the Astral Light.}} | |||
{{Style P-Subtitle|From Eliphas Lévi's Works.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|''(Continued.)''}} | |||
To be able to command this agent, is to be the depository of the power of God Himself: all effective Magic, all real power, is there: and all books of true science have no other aim than to demonstrate this. In order to command this great magical agent two things are necessary—to ''concentrate'', and to ''project''. On one of the arms of the Androgyne of Henri Khunrath, is inscribed "Coagula:" on the other, "Solve,"—to concentrate, and to expand, are the two master words of Nature: but how can we "concentrate," or "expand," the Astral Light, the soul of the world? concentration | |||
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may be effected by isolation, and expansion by the magic chain. But he who has prejudices or fears, who is passionate, or a slave of his passions, can never concentrate nor coagulate the Astral Light. All true Adepts have been self-centred, sober, and chaste even unto death: and the reason of this is, that in order to be master of a force, it must not be permitted to have dominion over us. | |||
To form "the magic chain," is to establish a magnetic current, which becomes powerful in proportion to its length. Enthusiasm is contagious, because it is only produced by settled faith: and faith begets faith; to believe, is to will with reason; to will with reason is to will with a power. I do not say infinite, but indefinite. | |||
All enthusiasm propagated in a society by means of regular practices and communications, creates a magnetic current, and conserves and augments itself by means of this current. The tendency of this current is to carry away and exalt, often beyond measure, persons of a weak or impressionable nature, those of nervous organisms, and temperaments predisposed to hysteria or hallucination: such persons become powerful media of communication of the magic force, and facilitate the transmission of the Astral currents: To oppose the manifestations of such currents, therefore, is, as it were, to fight against fate. When the young Pharisee, Saul, threw himself with all the fanaticism of a head-strong sectary, against the overwhelming spread of Christianity, he placed himself, without knowing it, at the mercy of that power he thought to combat: accordingly, he was thunder-struck by a terrible magnetic flash, which was rendered more instantaneously effective, no doubt, by the combined action of a cerebral congestion and a burning sun. | |||
There are some sects of enthusiasts at whom we may laugh—while at a distance—but in whose ranks we enlist, in spite of ourselves, as soon as we come within the sphere of their influence. These magnetic circles and magnetic chains sometimes establish themselves automatically, and influence the sphere of relations, which constitutes his world, and to whose influence he must submit. | |||
Great cycles make great men, and vice versa: there are no "misunderstood geniuses:" there are "eccentric" men, and the word is so admirably descriptive, that it seems that it might have been invented by an Adept. The eccentric man of genius is he who seeks to establish a circle for himself by combatting the forces of central attraction and the established currents: his fate is either to be crushed in the struggle, or to succeed. | |||
The man of genius is he who discovers a real law, and consequently possesses an invincible power of action and direction: he may possibly die | |||
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of his death, and often even because of it, for death is a veritable assumption: "If I be lifted up" said the greatest of Initiates," "I will draw all men unto me." | |||
The law of magnetic currents is the law of the movement of the Astral Light: this movement is always double and propagates itself in contrary directions. A great action always opens the way for a great re-action, and the secret of consummate success lies solely in the ability to foresee re-actions. To oppose one's self to a current that is beginning to run its circle, is to court destruction: to oppose a current that has run through its circle, is to take lead of the reflex currents: the great man is he who appears at the right moment, and can decipher the meaning of the new movement. | |||
The various phenomena which have lately excited so much interest in Europe and America, the rapping tables, and fluidic manifestations, are merely magnetic currents which are beginning to form spontaneously; and are, in fact, the solicitations of Nature, inviting us, for the good of Humanity, to form again the great sympathetic and religious chain: for the stagnation of the Astral Light means the annihilation of the human race: and even the stagnation of this agent is from time to time manifested, by terrifying symptoms of decomposition and death: Cholera Morbus, for example, and the diseases of the grape, and the potatoe, have no other cause than this. All the mysterious movements of tables are attributable to this universal magic agent; which seeks a chain of enthusiasms, in order to form new currents: it is a force blind in itself, but which may be directed by the will of man: and it is influenced by prevailing opinions: this universal fluid, if we may so call it, being the common medium of all nervous organisms, and the vehicle of all sensitive vibrations, establishes between persons of an impressionable nature, an actual physical solidarity, and transmits, from one to another, the impressions of imagination and thought. | |||
The movement of an inert body, determined by the undulations of the universal agent, obeys the dominant impression, and reproduces in its revelations the lucidity of the most marvellous visions, sometimes the oddity and deception of the most incoherent dreams. | |||
Thus, the extravagances of the ecstatics of St. Medard, the phenomena of raps in furniture, of musical instruments playing apparently of their own accord, are all illusions produced by the same cause. | |||
The exaggerations which are induced by that fascination which is a peculiar intoxication, caused by the congestion of the Astral Light, the oscillation impressed on inert matter by the subtle and universal agent of movement and of life is all that there is at the bottom of much that is so apparently marvellous, as one can easily convince himself, by producing them, at will, by following the directions laid down in the "Dogma and Ritual." | |||
{{Style P-Signature|B. N. Acle, F. T. S.}} | |||
{{Page aside in Path|v=2|n=6|p=185}} | |||
{{Style P-Title small caps|level=3|1=Literary Notes.}} | |||
''Lucifer: A New Theosophical Magazine''.—Madame H. P. Blavatsky, who is now in London, has started the above periodical which is to appear monthly.<ref>London: George Redway; price one shilling monthly.</ref> It is edited by the Sphinx of the 19th century associated with Mabel Collins, the gifted author of ''Light on the Path'' and ''Through the Gates of Gold''. | |||
Many persons have recoiled from the name because of its unpleasant appropriation by Milton for the use of Satan. But history shows that with the early christian it was a name of promise—that of The Light Bearer. As the editors announce, "The Light Bearer is at war with no man." | |||
To bring to light is its great function. Some disclosures will be painful, for it will uncover many carefully concealed fester-spots of our present civilization, and reveal, as by a microscope, the nature and source of many corruptions in the social fabric. Yet also it will expound truth, truth that students of occultism desire to know,—but not all. | |||
Madame Blavatsky for many years has braved the tongue of scandal and the finger of scorn, as well as the distant mutterings of actual physical persecution, while pushing forward the Cause of Universal Brotherhood, and she will hardly stop now at the beginning of actual warfare. Twelve years of the Theosophical Society life have almost closed, bringing nearer the moment when the once indifferent enemy raises his head and begins to think that this obscure annoyance has become something that needs crushing. And so, choosing the advance position in London, where the Psychical Researchers cheered their Hodgson to the echo when he reported H. P. Blavatsky a fraud, she flings into their faces this new challenge labelled with a name that has been long associated with Satan. By her audacity she will amaze the self-styled scientists of this age, and by her genius she will lash them as they retreat in defeat. In adapting this only-apparently inappropriate name, she hopes to shock some lethargic Christians and Theosophists who dislike to call a spade a spade; after their benumbed senses are shocked they may get power to see a little light. | |||
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We extend to Lucifer a welcome, with the hope that the name may be raised from its degradation through the efforts of such gifted theosophists as our two sisters. | |||
The first number will appear September 15th, and will contain, among other things, notes on ''Light on the Path'' by the author, papers by Madame Blavatsky and others. | |||
"''The Duchess Emilia''."—When scientific subjects are made the texts for novels, the implication is that interest in them has become diffused through social ranks. Similarly as to Theosophical and kindred topics, "Mr. Isaacs" and "A Fallen Idol" are paradoxically proof that Occultism has passed beyond the region of careless amusement and entered that of serious inquiry. "The Duchess Emilia" is a novel, but a novel embodying the esoteric doctrine of Re-incarnation. The soul of a dissolute Italian noblewoman enters the body of a new-born babe in America; and the fixed purpose of the adult man, prompted by hazy reminiscences of its past and stimulated by conscience and by hope, is to attain enlightenment and expiation. All is depicted with vigor and beauty. We know few things more touchingly pathetic than the aged Cardinal, still struggling to crush out the deathless love of his youth, and vainly seeking through austerities and prayers the peace which can only come—as at last it does—when the evil of that love is purged away and the purified spirits are made one in bliss and hope. Intelligence repudiates the theology, but sentiment revels in the pathos, and taste delights in the literary quality, of this new offering of Romance to Occultism. Ticknor & Co., Boston; price, 50 cts. | |||
''Bagavad-Gita''.—A theosophist, now in Prussia, is translating this sacred poem into the German language. The date of its appearance is not fixed. When this edition and the translation now being made by Mohini M. Chatterji, are published. we shall have two notable additions to theosophical literature. | |||
''Atheism Philosophically Refuted'', (''Geo. Robertson & Co., Melbourne, Australia'') is a pamphlet by Hugh Junor Brown, which attempts the task indicated by its title, through the aid the author has received from spiritualism and reason. | |||
{{Page aside in Path|v=2|n=6|p=187}} | |||
''Comfort for the Bereaved'', by Hugh Junor Brown, is a tribute to the influence and benefit of spiritualism in Australia. It is published (1887) by the author, at Melbourne. | |||
''Among the Rosicrucians''.—By a Student of Occultism. (''Occult Publishing Co., Boston.'') This little book bears the name of Franz Hartmann on its cover and the impress of that writer's style in every line. Of that style not much can be said; it is as we already know it; never graceful, often mechanical, often as didactic and verbose. It has, however, its happy moments when it rises into surprising clearness and force, and such moments are precisely those in which the most valuable instruction or suggestion is conveyed. Its defects are trifling compared with the vital excellence of the matter itself. Dr. Hartmann is that rare being—a born occultist. He has an alert mind of high intuitive order. He is almost the only modern writer who gives available hints for the practical development of students. His later work, inclusive of the present volume, has a surprising occult property—amounting almost to a ''"Mantram"'' or charm,—of rising the reader's vibrations. Much of a man and his inner experience cling to his writing, and works upon us in unseen ways, and persons not infrequently have remarkable dreams after reading Hartmann. It is not impossible that this effect is intentionally conveyed by him, for the secret is not unknown. | |||
A variety of theosophical and occult themes are crowded into these two hundred pages, all knit together under pretext of a dream visit to a Rosicrucian Monastery. Or was it only a dream? Perhaps the author will tell us more later. Meanwhile the student cannot do better than study this suggestive book, which puts many vaguely known truths in easy, conversational form. | |||
{{Style P-Signature|J. N.}} | |||
''Swedenborg, the Buddhist''.—By Philangi Dasa,<ref>Carl Casso & Co., Box 267, Santa Cruz, Cal.</ref> (''1887''). This book proposes to show that the higher Swedenborgianism is Thibetan in its origin, and that Swedenborg was a Buddhist. It is cast in the form of conversations or discussions between various persons, in the course of which the comparisons are brought out. Whether the author is a Hindu or not we do not know, but the style shows many traces of Shakesperian study, and many terms and modes of expression are used that were only known in that poet's time. It is an interesting and valuable book. | |||
{{Page aside in Path|v=2|n=6|p=188}} | |||
{{Style P-Title small caps|level=3|1=Correspondence.}} | |||
{{Style P-Subtitle|The Gates of Gold; Light on the Path; Idyll of the White Lotus.}} | |||
{{Style P-Signature|London, July 17, 1887.}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|To the Editor of The Path:}} | |||
{{Style P-No indent|Sir:—I should be very glad if you would allow me to inform your readers that the Preface which I have added to the new edition of "The Gates of Gold" I propose to add also to "The Idyll of the White Lotus" and "Light on the Path," as soon as there is any opportunity for me to do so. I believe a new edition of "Light on the Path" will soon appear, to which I shall make this addition. The explanation I now make seems to me to be necessary, as some of your readers are under the mistaken impression that I intended this preface to constitute a kind of separate claim for "The Gates of Gold." This is not so. That book and the "Idyll of the White Lotus," were written in the same manner. As to "Light on the Path" that is a collection of axioms which I found written on the walls of a certain place to which I obtained admittance, and I made notes of them as I saw them. But I see no feasible method of making such explanations to the public, and therefore at present I propose to place this preface before each of the books. | |||
Very truly yours,}} | |||
{{Style P-Signature|Mabel Collins.}} | |||
{{Footnotes}} | {{Footnotes}} | ||