Occult

The Universal Æther was not, in the eyes of the ancients, simply a tenantless something, stretching throughout the expanse of heaven; it was for them a boundless ocean, peopled like our familiar earthly seas, with Gods, Planetary Spirits, monstrous and minor creatures, and having in its every molecule the germs of life from the potential up to the most developed.

Mr. A. P. Sinnett has lately contributed a remarkable article on “Esoteric Teaching”* in which he tries to give a tardy reply to one of the alleged mistakes in “Esoteric Buddhism”, commented on, and explained by Madame Blavatsky in the “ Secret Doctrine.” Speaking of the correspondence that he had with his Occult Teachers, he states that he gave copies of the greater part of these writings to several London Theosophists under a “solemn pledge” not to make use of them in any way without his permission, and he adds—“ Several years later when Madame Blavatsky was living in this country she naturally acquired overwhelming influence over a great many members of the Society.

In the study of universal history there is a strange fascination in the accounts of the numberless martyrs who have been slandered and persecuted with. an almost incredible ferocity because they tried to help their fellowmen to a higher ideal and practice of brotherhood. Not the least interesting of these was the extraordinary man known as Alessandro, Count di Cagliostro, who first appears in authentic history in London in 1776, and vanishes from sight in the Papal prison of San Leo in Italy in 1795.

The number seven was considered sacred not only by all the cultured nations of antiquity and the East, but was held in the greatest reverence even by the later nations of the West. The astronomical origin of this number is established beyond any doubt. Man, feeling himself time out of mind dependent upon the heavenly powers, ever and everywhere made earth subject to heaven. The largest and brightest of the luminaries thus became in his sight the most important and highest of powers; such were the planets which the whole antiquity numbered as seven. In course of time these were transformed into seven deities.

The mention of Cagliostro’s name produces a twofold effect. With the one party, a whole sequence of marvellous events emerges from the shadowy past; with others the modern progeny of a too realistic age, the name of Alexander, Count Cagliostro, provokes wonder, if not contempt.

When I was in graduate school, one of my professors, an eminent historian of medieval science espoused in his lectures what one student affectionately tagged as the Old Man River theory of scientific progress. The professor asserted that in his research he found no evidence of social or cultural factors impinging on the development of medieval science: driven purely by intellectual thought, the science, just kept rolling along.

There are many definitions of this word; and, in bygone ages, it was simply used to designate anything and everything which was "not understanded of the vulgar." It will be sufficient for our purpose to define it as the knowledge of certain natural laws which are not merely unknown but absolutely unsuspected by the scientists of Europe and America.

 As some of the letters in the CORRESPONDENCE of this month show, there are many people who are looking for practical instruction in Occultism.

Superphysical vision operates under precisely the same laws as those which govern physical vision. All men possess some degree of superphysical vision when out of the physical body during the hours of sleep.

This book is merely a record of talks by Mr. C. W. Leadbeater – now Bishop Leadbeater – and myself on three famous books – books small in size but great in contents. We both hope that they will prove useful to aspirants, and even to those above that stage, since the talkers were older than the listeners, and had more experience in the life of discipleship.

Geoffrey Hodson was born in Lincolnshire, England, on the 12th of March 1886, and passed away on the 23rd of January 1983, at his home in Auckland, New Zealand. He joined the Manchester Branch of the Theosophical Society as a young man, and from then on until the end of his Life of 96 years, he travelled throughout the world teaching, lecturing, and writing on Theosophy.

The Emblem of the Theosophical Society is composed of a number of symbols, all of which have been used from very ancient times to express profound spiritual and philosophical concepts about the human being and the universe. They are found in a variety of forms in the great religions of the world and their universality is further shown by their appearance in widely separated cultures. Each symbol studied separately will yield a wealth of understanding.