Blavatsky H.P. - Isis Unveiled

Isis Unveiled:

A MASTER-KEY

TO THE

Mysteries of Ancient and Modern

SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY.

BY

H. P. BLAVATSKY,

corresponding secretary of the theosophical society

1877 First Edition, Updated and Corrected. Credits for electronic edition goes to Universal Theosophy

THE AUTHOR Dedicates these Volumes to the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, which was founded at New York, a.d. 1875. To Study the Subjects on which they Treat.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Volume I

Preface

... v

Before the veil

Dogmatic assumptions of modem science and theology

... ix

The Platonic philosophy affords the only middle ground

... xi

Review of the ancient philosophical systems

... xv

A Syriac manuscript on Simon Magus

... xxiii

Glossary of terms used in this book

... xxiii

––––––– Volume First. THE “INFALLIBILITY” OF MODERN SCIENCE ––––––– CHAPTER I Old things with new names

The Oriental Kabala

... 1

Ancient traditions supported by modern research

... 3

The progress of mankind marked by cycles

... 5

Ancient cryptic science

... 7

Priceless value of the Vedas

... 12

Mutilations of the Jewish sacred books in translation

... 13

Magic always regarded as a divine science

... 25

Achievements of its adepts and hypotheses of their modern detractors

... 25

Man’s yearning for immortality

... 37

CHAPTER II Phenomena and forces

The servility of society

... 39

Prejudice and bigotry of men of science

... 40

They are chased by psychical phenomena

... 41

Lost arts

... 49

The human will the master-force of forces

... 57

Superficial generalizations of the French savants

... 60

Mediumistic phenomena, to what attributable

... 67

Their relation to crime

... 71

CHAPTER III Blind leaders of the blind

Huxley’s derivation from the Orohitppus

... 74

Comte, his system and disciples

... 75

The London materialists

... 85

Borrowed robes

... 89

Emanation of the objective universe from the subjective

... 92

CHAPTER IV Theories respecting psychic phenomena

Theory of de Gasparin

... 100

Theory of Thury

... 100

Theory of des Mousseaux, de Mirville

... 100

Theory of Babinet

... 101

Theory of Houdin

... 101

Theory of Drs. Rayer and Jobert de Lamballe

... 102

The twins–“unconscious cerebration” and “unconscious ventriloquism”

... 105

Theory of Crookes

... 112

Theory of Faraday

... 116

Theory of Chevreul

... 116

The Mendeleyeff commission of 1876

... 117

Soul blindness

... 121

CHAPTER V The aether, or “astral light”

One primal force, but many correlations

... 126

Tyndall narrowly escapes a great discovery

... 127

The impossibility of miracle

... 128

Nature of the primordial substance

... 133

Interpretation of certain ancient myths

... 133

Experiments of the fakirs

... 139

Evolution in Hindu allegory

... 153

CHAPTER VI Psycho-physical phenomena

The debt we owe to Paracelsus

... 163

Mesmerism – its parentage, reception, potentiality

... 165

“Psychometry”

... 183

Time, space, eternity

... 184

Transfer of energy from the visible to the invisible universe

... 186

The Crookes experiments and Cox theory

... 195

CHAPTER VII The elements, elementals and elementaries

Attraction and repulsion universal in all the kingdoms of nature

... 206

Psychical phenomena depend on physical surroundings

... 211

Observations in Siam

... 214

Music in nervous disorders

... 215

The “world-soul” and its potentialities

... 216

Healing by touch, and healers

... 217

“Diakka” and Porphyry’s bad daemons

... 219

The quenchless lamp

... 224

Modern ignorance of vital force

... 237

Antiquity of the theory of force-correlation

... 241

Universality of belief in magic

... 247

CHAPTER VIII Some mysteries of nature

Do the planets affect human destiny?

... 253

Very curious passage from Hermes

... 254

The restlessness of matter

... 257

An old prophecy fulfilled

... 260

Sympathies between planets and plants

... 264

Hindu knowledge of the properties of colors

... 265

“Coincidences” the panacea of modern science

... 268

The moon and the tides

... 273

Epidemic mental and moral disorders

... 274

The gods of the Pantheons only natural forces

... 280

Proofs of the magical powers of Pythagoras

... 283

The viewless races of ethereal space

... 284

The “four truths” of Buddhism

... 291

CHAPTER IX Cyclic phenomena

Meaning of the expression “coats of skin”

... 293

Natural selection and its results

... 295

The Egyptian “circle of necessity”

... 296

Pre-Adamite races

... 299

Descent of spirit into matter

... 302

The triune nature of man

... 309

The lowest creatures in the scale of being

... 310

Elementals specifically described

... 311

Proclus on the beings of the air

... 312

Various names for elementals

... 313

Swedenborgian views on soul-death

... 317

Earth-bound human souls

... 319

Impure mediums and their “guides”

... 325

Psychometry an aid to scientific research

... 333

CHAPTER X The inner and outer man

Père Félix arraigns the scientists

... 338

The “Unknowable”

... 340

Danger of evocations by tyros

... 342

Lares and Lemures

... 345

Secrets of Hindu temples

... 350

Reincarnation

... 351

Witchcraft and witches

... 353

The sacred Soma trance

... 357

Vulnerability of certain “shadows”

... 363

Experiment of Clearchus on a sleeping boy

... 365

The author witnesses a trial of magic in India

... 369

Case of the Cévennois

... 371

CHAPTER XI Psychological and physical marvels

Invulnerability attainable by man

... 379

Projecting the force of the will

... 380

Insensibility to snake-poison

... 381

Charming serpents by music

... 383

Teratological phenomena discussed

... 385

The psychological domain confessedly unexplored

... 407

Despairing regrets of Berzelius

... 411

Turning a river into blood a vegetable phenomenon

... 413

CHAPTER XII The “impassable chasm”

Confessions of ignorance by men of science

... 417

The Pantheon of nihilism

... 421

Triple composition of fire

... 423

Instinct and reason defined

... 425

Philosophy of the Hindu Jainas

... 429

Deliberate misrepresentation of Lemprière

... 431

Man’s astral soul not immortal

... 432

The reincarnation of Buddha

... 437

Magical sun and moon pictures of Thibet

... 441

Vampirism–its phenomena explained

... 449

Bengalese jugglery

... 457

CHAPTER XIII Realities and illusion

The rationale of talismans

... 462

Unexplained mysteries

... 466

Magical experiment in Bengal

... 467

Chibh Chondor’s surprising feats

... 471

The Indian tape-climbing trick an illusion

... 473

Resuscitation of buried fakirs

... 477

Limits of suspended animation

... 481

Mediumship totally antagonistic to adeptship

... 487

What are “materialized spirits”?

... 493

The Shudâla-Mâdan

... 495

Philosophy of levitation

... 497

The elixir and alkahest

... 503

CHAPTER XIV Egyptian wisdom

Origin of the Egyptians

... 515

Their mighty engineering works

... 517

The ancient land of the Pharaohs

... 521

Antiquity of the Nilotic monuments

... 529

Arts of war and peace

... 531

Mexican myths and ruins

... 545

Resemblances to the Egyptian

... 551

Moses a priest of Osiris

... 555

The lessons taught by the ruins of Siam

... 563

The Egyptian Tau at Palenque

... 573

CHAPTER XV India the cradle of the race

Acquisition of the “secret doctrine”

... 575

Two relics owned by a Pâli scholar

... 577

Jealous exclusiveness of the Hindus

... 581

Lydia Maria Child on Phallic symbolism

... 583

The age of the Vedas and Manu

... 587

Traditions of pre-diluvian races

... 589

Atlantis and its peoples

... 593

Peruvian relics

... 597

The Gobi desert and its secrets

... 599

Thibetan and Chinese legends

... 600

The magician aids, not impedes, nature

... 617

Philosophy, religion, arts and sciences bequeathed by Mother India to posterity

... 618

Volume II

Preface

... iii

Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson and Baroness Burdett-Coutts

––––––– Volume Second THE “INFALLIBILITY” OF RELIGION ––––––– CHAPTER I The church: where is it?

Church statistics

... 1

Catholic “miracles” and spiritualistic “phenomena”

... 4

Christian and Pagan belief compared

... 10

Magic and sorcery practiced by Christian clergy

... 20

Comparative theology a new science

... 25

Eastern traditions as to Alexandrian Library

... 27

Roman pontiffs imitators of the Hindu Brahmâtma

... 30

Christian dogmas derived from heathen philosophy

... 33

Doctrine of the Trinity of Pagan origin

... 45

Disputes between Gnostics and Church Fathers

... 51

Bloody records of Christianity

... 53

CHAPTER II Christian crimes and heathen virtues

Sorceries of Catherine of Medici

... 55

Occult arts practiced by the clergy

... 59

Witch-burning and auto-da-fé of little children

... 62

Lying Catholic saints

... 74

Pretensions of missionaries in India and China

... 79

Sacrilegious tricks of Catholic clergy

... 82

Paul a kabalist

... 91

Peter not the founder of Roman church

... 91

Strict lives of Pagan hierophants

... 98

High character of ancient “mysteries”

... 101

Jacolliot’s account of Hindu fakirs

... 103

Christian symbolism derived from Phallic worship

... 109

Hindu doctrine of the Pitṛis

... 114

Brahmanic spirit-communion

... 115

Dangers of untrained mediumship

... 117

CHAPTER III Divisions amongst the early Christians

Resemblance between early Christianity and Buddhism

... 123

Peter never in Rome

... 124

Meaning of “Nazar” and “Nazarene”

... 129

Baptism a derived right

... 134

Is Zoroaster a generic name?

... 141

Pythagorean teachings of Jesus

... 147

The Apocalypse kabalistic

... 147

Jesus considered an adept by some Pagan philosophers and early Christians

... 150

Doctrine of permutation

... 152

The meaning of God-Incarnate

... 153

Dogmas of the Gnostics

... 155

Ideas of Marcion, the “heresiarch”

... 159

Precepts of Manu

... 163

Jehovah identical with Bacchus

... 165

CHAPTER IV Oriental cosmogonies and Bible records

Discrepancies in the Pentateuch

... 167

Indian, Chaldean and Ophite systems compared

... 170

Who were the first Christians?

... 178

Christos and Sophia-Akhamôth

... 183

Secret doctrine taught by Jesus

... 191

Jesus never claimed to be God

... 193

New Testament narratives and Hindu legends

... 199

Antiquity of the “Logos” and “Christ”

... 205

Comparative Virgin-worship

... 209

CHAPTER V Mysteries of the Kabala

Ain-Soph and the Sephîrôth

... 212

The primitive wisdom-religion

... 216

The book of Genesis a compilation of Old World legends

... 217

The Trinity of the Kabala

... 222

Gnostic and Nazarene systems contrasted with Hindu myths

... 225

Kabalism in the book of Ezekiel

... 232

Story of the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter found in the history of Kṛishṇa

... 241

Untrustworthy teachings of the early Fathers

... 248

Their persecuting spirit

... 249

CHAPTER VI Esoteric doctrines of Buddhism parodied in Christianity

Decisions of Nicæan Council, how arrived at

... 251

Murder of Hypatia

... 252

Origin of the fish-symbol of Vishṇu

... 256

Kabalistic doctrine of the Cosmogony

... 264

Diagrams of Hindu and Chaldeo-Jewish systems

... 265

Ten mythical Avatâras of Vishṇu

... 274

Trinity of man taught by Paul

... 281

Socrates and Plato on soul and spirit

... 283

True Buddhism, what it is

... 288

CHAPTER VII Earlier Christian heresies and secret societies

Nazareans, Ophites, and modern Druzes

... 291

Etymology of IAŌ

... 298

“Hermetic Brothers” of Egypt

... 307

True meaning of Nirvâṇa

... 319

The Jaina sect

... 321

Christians and Chrêstians

... 323

The Gnostics and their detractors

... 325

Buddha, Jesus, and Apollonius of Tyana

... 341

CHAPTER VIII Jesuitry and Masonry

The Zohar and Rabbi Shimon

... 348

The Order of Jesuits and its relation to some of the Masonic orders

... 352

Crimes permitted to its members

... 355

Principles of Jesuitry compared with those of Pagan moralists

... 364

Trinity of man in Egyptian Book of the Dead

... 367

Freemasonry no longer esoteric

... 372

Persecution of Templars by the Church

... 381

Secret Masonic ciphers

... 395

Jehovah not the “Ineffable Name”

... 398

CHAPTER IX The Vedas and the Bible

Nearly every myth based on some great truth

... 405

Whence the Christian Sabbath

... 406

Antiquity of the Vedas

... 410

Pythagorean doctrine of the potentialities of numbers

... 417

“Days” of Genesis and “Days” of Brahmâ

... 422

Fall of man and the Deluge in the Hindu books

... 425

Antiquity of the Mahâbhârata

... 429

Were the ancient Egyptians of the Âryan race?

... 434

Samuel, David, and Solomon mythical personages

... 439

Symbolism of Noah’s Ark

... 447

The Patriarchs identical with zodiacal signs

... 459

All Bible legends belong to universal history

... 469

CHAPTER X The Devil-myth

The devil officially recognized by the Church

... 477

Satan the mainstay of sacerdotalism

... 480

Identity of Satan with the Egyptian Typhon

... 483

His relation to serpent-worship

... 489

The Book of Job and the Book of the Dead

... 493

The Hindu devil a metaphysical abstraction

... 501

Satan and the Prince of Hell in the Gospel of Nicodemus

... 515

CHAPTER XI Comparative results of buddhism and christianity

The age of philosophy produced no atheists

... 530

The legends of three Saviors

... 537

Christian doctrine of the Atonement illogical

... 542

Cause of the failure of missionaries to convert Buddhists and Brahmanists

... 553

Neither Buddha nor Jesus left written records

... 559

The grandest mysteries of religion in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ

... 562

The meaning of regeneration explained in the Śatapatha-Brâhmaṇa

... 565

The sacrifice of blood interpreted

... 566

Demoralization of British India by Christian missionaries

... 573

The Bible less authenticated than any other sacred book

... 577

Knowledge of chemistry and physics displayed by Indian jugglers

... 583

CHAPTER XII Conclusions and illustrations

Recapitulation of fundamental propositions

... 587

Seership of the soul and of the spirit

... 590

The phenomenon of the so-called spirit-hand

... 594

Difference between mediums and adepts

... 595

Interview of an English ambassador with a reincarnated Buddha

... 598

Flight of a lama’s astral body related by Abbé Huc

... 604

Schools of magic in Buddhist lamaseries

... 609

The unknown race of Hindu Tôḍas

... 613

Will-power of fakirs and yogis

... 617

Taming of wild beasts by fakirs

... 622

Evocation of a living spirit by a Shaman, witnessed by the writer

... 626

Sorcery by the breath of a Jesuit Father

... 633

Why the study of magic is almost impracticable in Europe

... 635

Conclusion

... 635