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{{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued |Mad. Blavatsky`s Forthcoming Work |4-79}}
{{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued |Mad. Blavatsky`s Forthcoming Work |4-79}}


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{{Style P-No indent|Properly, the disembodied ''souls'' of the depraved; these souls having at some time
prior to death separated from themselves their divine spirits, and so lost
their chance for immortality. Once divorced from their bodies, these souls,
(also called astral bodies,) of purely materialistic persons, are
irresistibly attracted to the earth, where they live a temporary and finite
life amid elements congenial to their gross natures. “''After a more or less
prolonged period of time these material souls will begin to disintegrate,
and finally, like a column of mist, be dissolved atom by atom in the
surrounding elements.''” I have, in these quotations, italicised those
passages which, in my opinion, are apt to become points of issue between
the Spiritualists and Madame B.}}
 
At the same time I suggest that to avoid further confusion of “elemental
and elementary spirits” it would be advisable to designate the latter by
some other name, as for instance, “rudimentary.” If they, as Madame B.
assures us, are liable to be “dissolved,” there must have been some
deficiency in their germ, which would justify their designation as
“rudimentary.”
 
''On Evolution'', our authoress makes these highly appropriate remarks:
“The development of higher orders of animals from the lower, modern, or
so-called exact, science, holds but to a one-sided, physical evolution,
prudently avoiding and ignoring the higher, or spiritual evolution, which
would force our contemporaries to confess the superiority of the ancient
philosophers and psychologists over themselves. The ancient sages ascending
to the {{Style S-Small capitals|unknowable}}, made their starting-point
from the first manifestation of the unseen, the unavoidable, and from a
strict logical reasoning the absolutely necessary creative Being, the
Demiurgos of the universe. Evolution began with them from pure spirit,
which, descending lower and lower down, assumed at last a visible and
comprehensible form, and became matter. Arrived at this point, they
speculated in the Darwinian method, but on a far more large and
comprehensive basis.”
 
An important declaration is found under the head of “''Materialization''.”
It reads:
 
''Materialization.'' A word employed by Spiritualists to indicate the
phenomenon of a “spirit clothing himself with a material form.” The far
less objectionable term “form-manifestation” has been recently suggested by
Mr. Stainton Moses, of London. When the real nature of these apparitions is
better comprehended, a still more appropriate name will doubtless be
adopted. ''To call them “materialized spirits” is inadmissible, for they
are not spirits but'' “{{Style S-Small capitals|animated portrait-statues.}}”
 
Here a wide field of strife opens between the unveiler of Isis and the
Spiritualists. A great many of the latter, at least, in view of the latest
and most wonderful experiences of Mr. O’Sullivan in Paris, will be prone to
contend that the forms produced through the mediumship of Mr. Firman must
be more than “animated portrait-statues,” supposing even that Madame B.
should be prepared to demonstrate that the fable of Pygmalion may still
become a reality.
 
“''Soma''.” “This Hindu sacred beverage, answering to the Greek Ambrosia or
nectar drank by the gods of Olympus,” prompts the authoress to make the
following spicy remarks: “Thus the Hindu Soma is mystically and in all
respects the same that the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea
is similar. By means of the sacrificial prayers — the Mantras — this liquor
is supposed to be transformed on the spot into real Soma, or the Angel, and
even into Brahma himself. Some missionaries have expressed themselves very
indignantly about this ceremony, the more so that, generally speaking, the
Brahmans use a kind of spirituous liquor as a substitute. But do the
Christians believe less fervently in the transubstantiation of the
communion wine into the blood of Christ, because this wine happens to be
more or less spirituous? Is not the idea of the symbol attached to it the
same? But the missionaries say that this hour of Soma-drinking is the
golden hour of Satan, who lurks at the bottom of the Hindu sacrificial
cup.”
 
The very vague and promiscuous use of the terms ''spirit'' and ''soul'',
causes the authoress to state this as her definition of them: Referring to
the work itself, she remarks here only that “spirit” is the “''Nous''
(νοῦς)” of Plato, the immortal, immaterial and purely divine principle in
man, the crown of the human triad, whereas “''Soul''” is the Psyche or the
''nephesli'' of the Bible, the vital principle or the breath of life which
every animal, down to the infusoria, shares with man.”
 
Space and time forbidding, I must resist the temptation of making further
quotations, but I trust that what has been quoted will impress the
attentive reader of the Banner with the fact that the forthcoming book of
Madame B. will, under all considerations, range among the most important
contributions to the literature of the modern science of spirit, and be
worth the attention of every thinking student of this. Whether the
authoress will make good the proud title of her work, and this will prove a
true “''Unveiling of Isis, i. e.'',” the lifting of the curtain from the
inner temple of the mysterious goddess, and solve the enigma of nature and
life, I am not prepared to say. I am satisfied, however, that it may tear
some rents into the hitherto indestructible Veil, and allow some peeps into
the sanctissimum of the Unknowable. But not being an adept of the Esoteric
Arcana of “theosophical wisdom,” I would, in view of malevolent opposition,
have preferred ''a less pretentious title'' for the meritorious work of our
learned authoress. Although great things have been done since, nearly a
hundred years ago, ''Goethe'' wrote his great theosophical poem, “''Faust'',”
I believe that to these very days, the days of “materialization,” or
“animated portrait-statues,” remains true what that student of mediæval
magic expressed as the ultimate result of his studies:
 
{{Style P-Poem|poem=
“Mysterious even in open day,
Nature ''retains her veil'' despite our clamors,
That which she does not ''willingly'' display
Cannot be wrenched ''from her'' with levers, screws and
hammers.” —[''Goethe, Faust, trans. B. Taylor''.
}}
 
''Brooklyn, Aug.'' 1877.




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