PRACTICAL
OCCULTISM
From the
writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the
founder of modern Theosophy and co-founder of
the
original Theosophical Society in
theosophycardiff@uwclub.net
Webpage Posted by Dave Marsland
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
1831-1891
The
Founder of Modern Theosophy
Practical
Occultism
by
Important to Students
As some of the letters in the CORRESPONDENCE of this month show, there
are many people who are looking for practical instruction in Occultism. It
becomes necessary, therefore, to state once for all: --
(a) The essential difference between theoretical and practical
Occultism; or what is generally known as Theosophy on the one hand, and Occult
science on the other, and: --
(b) The nature of the difficulties involved in the study of the latter.
It is easy to become a Theosophist. Any person of average intellectual
capacities, and a leaning toward the metaphysical; of pure, unselfish life, who
finds more joy in helping his neighbor than in receiving help himself; one who
is ever ready to sacrifice his own pleasures for the sake of other people; and
who loves Truth, Goodness and Wisdom for their own sake, not for the benefit
they may confer -- is a Theosophist.
But it is quite another matter to put oneself upon the path which leads
to the knowledge of what is good to do, as to the right discrimination of good
from evil; a path which also leads a man to that power through which he can do
the good he desires, often without even apparently lifting a finger.
Moreover, there is one important fact with which the student should be
made acquainted. Namely, the enormous, almost limitless, responsibility assumed
by the teacher for the sake of the pupil. From the Gurus of the East who teach
openly or secretly, down to the few Kabalists in
Western lands who undertake to teach the rudiments of the Sacred Science to
their disciples -- those western Hierophants being often themselves ignorant of
the danger they incur -- one and all of these "Teachers" are subject
to the same inviolable law.
From the moment they begin really to teach, from the instant they confer
any power -- whether psychic, mental or physical -- on their pupils, they take
upon themselves all the sins of that pupil, in connection with the Occult
Sciences, whether of omission or commission, until the moment when initiation
makes the pupil a Master and responsible in his turn. There is a weird and
mystic religious law, the Roman Catholic, and absolutely extinct in the
These tacitly take upon themselves all the sins of the newly baptized
child -- (anointed, as at the initiation, a mystery truly!) -- until the day when the child becomes a responsible unit,
knowing good and evil. Thus it is clear why the "Teachers" are so
reticent, and why "Chelas" are required to serve a seven years
probation to prove their fitness, and develop the qualities necessary to the
security of both Master and pupil.
Occultism is not magic. It is comparatively easy to learn the trick of
spells and the methods of using the subtler, but still material, forces of
physical nature; the powers of the animal soul in man are soon awakened; the
forces which his love, his hate, his passion, can call into operation, are
readily developed.
But this is Black Magic -- Sorcery. For it is the motive, and the motive
alone, which makes any exercise of power become black, malignant, or white,
beneficent Magic.
It is impossible to employ spiritual forces if there is the slightest
tinge of selfishness remaining in the
operator. For, unless the intention is entirely unalloyed, the spiritual will
transform itself into the psychic, act on the astral plane, and dire results
may be produced by it. The powers and forces of animal nature can equally be
used by the selfish and revengeful, as by the unselfish and the all-forgiving;
the powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to the perfectly pure in
heart -- and this is DIVINE MAGIC.
What are then the conditions required to become
a student of the "Divine Sapientia"? For
let it be known that no such instruction can possibly be given unless these
certain conditions are complied with, and rigorously carried out during the
years of study. This is a sine qua non. No man can swim unless he enters deep
water. No bird can fly unless its wings are grown, and it has space before it
and courage to trust itself to the air. A man who will wield a two edged sword,
must be a thorough master of the blunt weapon, if he would not injure himself
-- or what is worse -- others, at the first attempt.
To give an approximate idea of the conditions under which alone the
study of Divine Wisdom can be pursued with safety, that is without danger that
Divine will give place to Black Magic, a page is given from the "private
rules," with which every instructor in the East is furnished. The few
passages which follow are chosen from a great number and explained in brackets.
1. The place selected for receiving instruction
must be a spot calculated not to distract the mind, and filled with
"influence-evolving" (magnetic) objects. The five sacred colors
gathered in a circle must be there among other things. The place must be free
from any malignant influences hanging about in the air.
[The place must be set apart, and used for no other purpose. The five
"sacred colors" are the prismatic hues arranged in a certain way, as
these colors are very magnetic. By "malignant influences" are meant
any disturbances through strife, quarrels, bad feelings, etc., as these are
said to impress themselves immediately on the astral light, i.e., in the
atmosphere of the place, and to hang "about in the air." This first
condition seems easy enough to accomplish, yet -- on further consideration, it
is one of the most difficult ones to obtain.]
2. Before the disciple shall be permitted to study "face to
face," he has to acquire preliminary understanding in a select company of
other lay upasaka (disciples), the number of whom
must be odd.
["Face to face," means in this instance a study independent or
apart from others, when the disciple gets his instruction face to face either
with himself (his higher, Divine Self) or -- his guru. It is then only that
each receives his due of information, according to the use he has made of his
knowledge. This can happen only toward the end of the cycle of instruction.]
3. Before thou (the teacher) shalt impart to
thy Lanoo (disciple) the good (holy) words of LAMRIN,
or shall permit him "to make ready" for Dubjed,
thou shalt take care that his mind is thoroughly
purified and at peace with all, especially with his other Selves. Other wise
the words of Wisdom and of the good Law, shall scatter and be picked up by the
winds.
["Lamrin" is a work of practical
instructions, by Tson-kha-pa, in two portions, one
for ecclesiastical and exoteric purposes, the other
for esoteric use. "To make ready" for Dubjed,
is to prepare the vessels used for seership, such as
mirrors and crystals. The "other selves," refers to the fellow
students. Unless the greatest harmony reigns among the learners, no success is
possible. It is the teacher who makes the selections according to the magnetic
and electric natures of the students, bringing together and adjusting most
carefully the positive and the negative elements.]
4. The upasaka while studying must take care
to be united as the fingers on one hand. Thou shalt
impress upon their minds that whatever hurts one should hurt the others, and if
the rejoicing of one finds no echo in the breasts of the others, then the
required conditions are absent, and it is useless to proceed.
[This can hardly happen if the preliminary choice made was consistent
with the magnetic requirements. It is known that chelas otherwise promising and
fit for the reception of truth, had to wait for years
on account of their temper and the impossibility they felt to put themselves in
tune with their companions. For -- ]
5. The co-disciples must be tuned by the guru as the strings of a lute (vina), each different from the others, yet each emitting
sounds in harmony with all. Collectively they must form a key-board answering
in all its parts to thy lightest touch (the touch of the Master). Thus their
minds shall open for the harmonies of Wisdom, to vibrate as knowledge through
each and all, resulting in effects pleasing to the presiding gods (tutelary or
patron-angels) and useful to the Lanoo. So shall
Wisdom be impressed forever on their hearts and the harmony of the law shall
never be broken.
6. Those who desire to acquire the knowledge leading to the Siddhis (occult powers) have to renounce all the vanities
of life and of the world (here follows enumeration of the Siddhis).
7. None can feel the difference between himself and his fellow-students,
such as "I am the wisest," "I am more holy and pleasing to the
teacher, or in my community, than my brother," etc., -- and remain an upasaka. His thoughts must be predominantly fixed upon his
heart, chasing therefrom every hostile thought to any
living being. It (the heart) must be full of the feeling of its
non-separateness from the rest of beings as from all in Nature; otherwise no
success can follow.
8. A Lanoo (disciple) has to dread external
living influence alone (magnetic emanations from living creatures). For this
reason while at one with all, in his inner nature, he must take care to
separate his outer (external) body from every foreign influence: none must
drink out of, or eat in his cup but himself. He must avoid bodily contact
(i.e., being touched or touch) with human, as with animal being.
[No pet animals are permitted and
it is forbidden even to touch certain trees and plants. A disciple has to live,
so to say, in his own atmosphere in order to individualize it for occult
purposes.]
9. The mind must remain blunt to all but the universal
truths in nature, lest the "Doctrine of the Heart" should become only
the "Doctrine of the Eye," (i.e., empty esoteric ritualism).
10. No animal food of whatever kind, nothing that has life in it, should
be taken by the disciple. No wine, no spirits, or opium should be used: for
these are like the Lhamayin (evil spirits), who
fasten upon the unwary, they devour the understanding.
[Wine and Spirits are supposed to
contain and preserve the bad magnetism of all the men who helped in their
fabrication; the meat of each animal, to preserve the psychic characteristics
of its kind.]
11. Meditation, abstinence in all, the observation of moral duties,
gentle thoughts, good deeds and kind words, as good will to all and entire
oblivion of Self, are the most efficacious means of obtaining knowledge and
preparing for the reception of higher wisdom.
12. It is only by virtue of a strict observance of the foregoing rules
that a Lanoo can hope to acquire in good time the Siddhis of the Arhats, the growth
which makes him become gradually One with the
UNIVERSAL ALL. -------
These twelve extracts are taken from amongst some seventy-three rules,
to enumerate which would be useless, as they would be meaningless in
(2) All Western, and especially English, education is instinct with the
principle of emulation and strife; each boy is urged to learn more quickly, to
outstrip his companions, and to surpass them in every possible way. What is
miscalled "friendly rivalry" is assiduously cultivated, and the same
spirit is fostered and strengthened in every detail of life.
With such ideas "educated into" him from his childhood, how
can a Westerner bring himself to feel towards his co-students "as the
fingers on one hand"?
Those co-students, too, are not of his own
selection, or chosen by himself from personal sympathy and appreciation. They
are chosen by his teacher on far other grounds, and he who would be a student
must first be strong enough to kill out in his heart all feelings of dislike
and antipathy to others. How many Westerners are ready even to attempt this in
earnest?
And then the details of daily life, the command not to touch even the
hand of one's nearest and dearest. How contrary to Western notions of affection
and good feeling! How cold and hard it seems. Egotistical too, people would
say, to abstain from giving pleasure to others for the sake of one's own
development. Well, let those who think so defer, till another lifetime, the
attempt to enter the path in real earnest. But let them not glory in their own
fancied unselfishness. For, in reality, it is only the seeming appearances
which they allow to deceive them, the conventional notions, based on
emotionalism and gush, or so-called courtesy, things of the unreal life, not
the dictates of Truth.
But even putting aside these difficulties, which may be considered
"external," though their importance is none the less great, how are
students in the West to "attune themselves" to harmony as here
required of them?
So strong has personality grown in Europe and
In the East the spirit of "non-separateness" is inculcated as
steadily from childhood up, as in the West the spirit of rivalry. Personal
ambition, personal feelings and desires, are not encouraged to grow so rampant
there. When the soil is naturally good, it is cultivated in the right way, and
the child grows into a man in whom the habit of subordination of one's lower to
one's higher Self is strong and powerful. In the West men think that their own
likes and dislikes of other men and things are guiding principles for them to
act upon, even when they do not make of them the law of their lives and seek to
impose them upon others.
Let those who complain that they have learned little in the Theosophical
Society lay to heart the words written in an article in the Path for last
February: "The key in each degree is the aspirant himself." It is not
"the fear of God" which is "the beginning of Wisdom," but
the knowledge of SELF which is WISDOM ITSELF.
How grand and true appears, thus, to the student of Occultism who has
commenced to realize some of the foregoing truths, the answer given by the
Delphic Oracle to all who came seeking after Occult Wisdom -- words repeated
and enforced again and again by the wise Socrates:
-- MAN KNOW THYSELF. . . . --------
Chelaship has nothing whatever to do with means
of subsistence or anything of the kind, for a man can isolate his mind entirely
from his body and its surroundings. Chelaship is a
state of mind, rather than a life according to hard and fast rules on the
physical plane. This applies especially to the earlier, probationary period,
while the rules given in Lucifer for April last pertain properly to a later
stage, that of actual occult training and the development of occult powers and
insight. These rules indicate, however, the mode of life which ought to be
followed by all aspirants so far as practicable, since it is the most helpful
to them in their aspirations.
It should never be forgotten that Occultism is concerned with the inner
man who must be strengthened and freed from the dominion of the physical body
and its surroundings, which must become his servants. Hence the first and chief
necessity of Chelaship is a spirit
of absolute unselfishness and devotion to Truth; then follow
self-knowledge and self-mastery. These are all-important; while outward
observance of fixed rules of life is a matter of secondary moment.
-- H. P. Blavatsky, Lucifer IV,
1. So holy is the connection thus formed deemed in the Greek Church,
that a marriage between god-parents of the same child is regarded as the worst
kind of incest, is considered illegal and is dissolved by law; and this
absolute prohibition extends even to the children of one of the sponsors as
regards those of the other.
2. Be it remembered that all "Chelas," even lay disciples, are
called Upasaka until after their first initiation,
when they become lanoo-Upasaka. To that day, even
those who belong to Lamaseries and are set apart, are considered as
"laymen."
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Theosophy and the Number Seven
A selection of articles relating to the
esoteric
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The Spiritual Home of Urban Theosophy
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Quick Explanations with Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy
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Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma
Reincarnation Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical
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History of the Theosophical
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The Three Objectives of the
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Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
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Annie
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THE PHYSICAL PLANE THE ASTRAL PLANE
KÂMALOKA
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THE THREE KINDS OF KARMA COLLECTIVE KARMA
THE LAW OF SACRIFICE MAN'S
ASCENT
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Annie Besant Visits Cardiff 1924
An Outline of Theosophy
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known?
The Method of Observation General Principles
Advantage Gained from this
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The Deity The Divine Scheme The Constitution of Man
The True Man Reincarnation The Wider Outlook
Death Man’s Past and Future Cause and Effect
Reincarnation
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From A Textbook
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How We Remember our Past Lives
Life after Death & Reincarnation
The
Slaughter of the
a
great demand by the public for lectures on Reincarnation
Classic Introductory Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
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The Occult
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The
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Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
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A Student of Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley (1847
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Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man?
Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation
Karma The Seven in Man and Nature
Helena
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The
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Index of
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Is the Desire to Live Selfish?
Ancient Magic in Modern Science
Precepts Compiled by H P Blavatsky
Obras Por H P Blavatsky
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Writings of Ernest Egerton Wood
Theosophy and the Number Seven
A selection of articles relating to the
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Index of
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Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
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Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
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The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy
Mystical,
Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical
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Edited by George
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From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the Twilight”
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1898 in The Theosophical Review and
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compiled from information supplied by
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Letters and
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Karma Fundamental Principles Laws: Natural and Man-Made
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Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds Understand The Truth
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Thought, The Builder Practical Meditation Will and Desire
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National Karma India’s Karma National
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Annotated Edition Published 1885
Preface to the Annotated Edition Preface to the Original Edition
Esoteric Teachers The Constitution
of Man The Planetary Chain
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Loca
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Buddha Nirvana The Universe The Doctrine Reviewed
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