Isis Unveiled (Vol. 1, Ch. 13) on the After-Life: After-Death Revival and Alchemy

Chapters 9-13 of Isis Unveiled, vol. I all deal with various aspect of pre-natal and post-mortem life and are full of esoteric information of a mysterious and magical nature, suitable for this time of year. Below are few sample passages culled from chapter 13.

Chapter 13 (Realities and Illusion) The After-Life: After-Death Revival and Alchemy

1- The coherence of magic and alchemy (p. 461)

Esoteric Science 461 / Esoteric and scientific formulas 462 / Magnetism 463 / Esotericism and chemistry 464 / Mysteries of nature, plants 467 / Faith 467

THERE are persons whose minds would be incapable of appreciating the intellectual grandeur of the ancients, even in physical science, were they to receive the most complete demonstration of their profound learning and achievements. Notwithstanding the lesson of caution which more than one unexpected discovery has taught them, they still pursue their old plan of denying, and, what is still worse, of ridiculing that which they have no means of either proving or disproving. So, for instance, they will pooh-pooh the idea of talismans having any efficacy one way or the other. That the seven spirits of the Apocalypse have direct relation to the seven occult powers in nature, appears incomprehensible and absurd to their feeble intellects; and the bare thought of a magician claiming to work wonders through certain kabalistic rites convulses them with laughter. Perceiving only a geometrical figure traced upon a paper, a bit of metal, or other substance, they cannot imagine how any reasonable being should ascribe to either any occult potency. But those who have taken the pains to inform themselves know that the ancients achieved as great discoveries in psychology as in physics, and that their explorations left few secrets to be discovered. 461

2- Psychic Nature of Animals ( 467)

Astral vision in animals 467 / Blavatsky’s experience with animals 470

Every animal is more or less endowed with the faculty of perceiving, if not spirits, at least something which remains for the time being invisible to common men, and can only be discerned by a clairvoyant. We have made hundreds of experiments with cats, dogs, monkeys of various kinds, and, once, with a tame tiger. A round black mirror, known as the “magic crystal,” was strongly mesmerized by a native Hindu gentleman, formerly an inhabitant of Dindigul, and now residing in a more secluded spot, among the mountains known as the Western Ghauts. He had tamed a young cub, brought to him from the Malabar coast, in which part of India the tigers are proverbially ferocious; and it is with this interesting animal that we made our experiments.

3- Eastern Magic (471)

Hindu Magic 471 / Mass hallucinations 473 / Blavatsky’s travels 474

“Sanang Setzen,” says Colonel Yule,* “enumerates a variety of the wonderful acts which could be performed through the Dharani (mystic Hindu charms). Such were sticking a peg into solid rock; restoring the dead to life; turning a dead body into gold; penetrating everywhere as air does (in astral form); flying; catching wild beasts with the hand; reading thoughts; making water flow backward; eating tiles; sitting in the air with the legs doubled under, etc.” Old legends ascribe to Simon Magus precisely the same powers. “He made statues to walk; leaped into the fire without being burned; flew in the air; made bread of stones; changed his shape; assumed two faces at once; converted himself into a pillar; caused closed doors to fly open spontaneously; made the vessels in a house move of themselves, etc.” The Jesuit Delrio laments that credulous princes, otherwise of pious repute, should have allowed diabolical tricks to be played before them, “as for example, things of iron, and silver goblets, or other heavy articles, to be moved by bounds, from one end of the table to the other, without the use of a magnet, or of any attachment.”* We believe WILL-POWER the most powerful of magnets. The existence of such magical power in certain persons is proved, but the existence of the Devil is a fiction, which no theology is able to demonstrate. 471-72

* “Book of Ser Marco Polo,” vol. i., pp. 133-135. 513-514

4- Re-animation of the Dead (475)

After-death revival 475 / Astral double after death 476 / Telepathy 477 / Prolonged burial of fakirs 477 / Premature burial – suspended animation 479 / The nature of death 480 / Resuscitation of the dead 482 / Jewish schools of magic 482 / After-death and trance states 484

Bearing ever in mind that we repudiate the idea of a miracle and returning once more to phenomena more serious, we would now ask what logical objection can be urged against the claim that the reanimation of the dead was accomplished by many thaumaturgists? The fakir described in the Franco-Americain, might have gone far enough to say that this will-power of man is so tremendously potential that it can reanimate a body apparently dead, by drawing back the flitting soul that has not yet quite ruptured the thread that through life had bound the two together. Dozens of such fakirs have allowed themselves to be buried alive before thousands of witnesses, and weeks afterward have been resuscitated. And if fakirs have the secret of this artificial process, identical with, or analogous to, hibernation, why not allow that their ancestors, the Gymnosophists, and Apollonius of Tyana, who had studied with the latter in India, and Jesus, and other prophets and seers, who all knew more about the mysteries of life and death than any of our modern men of science, might have resuscitated dead men and women? And being quite familiar with that power — that mysterious something “that science cannot yet understand,” as Professor Le Conte confesses — knowing, moreover, “whence it came and whither it was going,” Elisha, Jesus, Paul, and Apollonius, enthusiastic ascetics and learned initiates, might have recalled to life with ease any man who “was not dead but sleeping,” and that without any miracle.

If the molecules of the cadaver are imbued with the physical and chemical forces of the living organism,* what is to prevent them from being set again in motion, provided we know the nature of the vital force, and how to command it? The materialist can certainly offer no objection, for with him it is no question of reinfusing a soul. For him the soul has no existence, and the human body may be regarded simply as a vital engine — a locomotive which will start upon the application of heat and force, and stop when they are withdrawn. To the theologian the case offers greater difficulties, for, in his view, death cuts asunder the tie which binds soul and body, and the one can no more be returned into the other without miracle than the born infant can be compelled to resume its foetal life after parturition and the severing of the umbilicus. But the Hermetic philosopher stands between these two irreconcilable antagonists, “master of the situation. He knows the nature of the soul — a form composed of nervous fluid and atmospheric ether — and knows how the vital force can be made active or passive at will, so long as there is no final destruction of some necessary organ. The claims of Gaffarilus — which, by the bye, appeared so preposterous in 1650** — were later corroborated by science. 475

5- Mediumship and Mediatorship (485)

Occult forces 485 / Universal accounts of spiritual phenomena 486 / Mediumship and Mediatorship

About such men as Apollonius, Iamblichus, Plotinus, and Porphyry, there gathered this heavenly nimbus. It was evolved by the power of their own souls in close unison with their spirits; by the superhuman morality and sanctity of their lives, and aided by frequent interior ecstatic contemplation. Such holy men pure spiritual influences could approach. Radiating around an atmosphere of divine beneficence, they caused evil spirits to flee before them. Not only is it not possible for such to exist in their aura, but they cannot even remain in that of obsessed persons, if the thaumaturgist exercises his will, or even approaches them. 

This is MEDIATORSHIP, not mediumship. Such persons are temples in which dwells the spirit of the living God; but if the temple is defiled by the admission of an evil passion, thought or desire, the mediator falls into the sphere of sorcery. The door is opened; the pure spirits retire and the evil ones rush in. This is still mediatorship, evil as it is; the sorcerer, like the pure magician, forms his own aura and subjects to his will congenial inferior spirits.

But mediumship, as now understood and manifested, is a different thing. Circumstances, independent of his own volition, may, either at birth or subsequently, modify a person’s aura, so that strange manifestations, physical or mental, diabolical or angelic, may take place. Such mediumship, as well as the above-mentioned mediatorship, has existed on earth since the first appearance here of living man. The former is the yielding of weak, mortal flesh to the control and suggestions of spirits and intelligences other than one’s own immortal demon. It is literally obsession and possession; and mediums who pride themselves on being the faithful slaves of their “guides,” and who repudiate with indignation the idea of “controlling” the manifestations, “could not very well deny the fact without inconsistency. This mediumship is typified in the story of Eve succumbing to the reasonings of the serpent; of Pandora peeping in the forbidden casket and letting loose on the world, sorrow and evil, and by Mary Magdalene, who from having been obsessed by ‘seven devils’ was finally redeemed by the triumphant struggle of her immortal spirit, touched by the presence of a holy mediator, against the dweller.” This mediumship, whether beneficent or maleficent, is always passive. Happy are the pure in heart, who repel unconsciously, by that very cleanness of their inner nature, the dark spirits of evil. For verily they have no other weapons of defense but that inborn goodness and purity. Mediumism, as practiced in our days, is a more undesirable gift than the robe of Nessus. 488

6- Ancient and Modern Spiritualistic Phenomena (491)

Different gods mentioned in the Bible 491 / Different types of spirits evoked 492 / Mediums and mediators 494 / Types of spirits, elementals 495

We are forced to contradict, point-blank, such an assertion. They are identical only so far that the same forces and occult powers of nature produce them. But though these powers and forces may be, and most assuredly are, all directed by unseen intelligences, the latter differ more in essence, character, and purposes than mankind itself, composed, as it now stands, of white, black, brown, red, and yellow men, and numbering saints and criminals, geniuses and idiots. The writer may avail himself of the services of a tame orang-outang or a South Sea islander; but the fact alone that he has a servant makes neither the latter nor himself identical with Aristotle and Alexander. The writer compares Ezekiel “lifted up” and taken into the “east gate of the Lord’s house,”** with the levitations of certain mediums, and the three Hebrew youths in the “burning fiery furnace,” with other fire-proof mediums; the John King “spirit-light” is assimilated with the “burning lamp” of Abraham; and finally, after many such comparisons, the case of the Davenport Brothers, released from the jail of Oswego, is confronted with that of Peter delivered from prison by the “angel of the Lord”! 492

7- Levitation (496)

Mesmerism, mediumship and magnetism 499 / Levitation esoterically explained 500

Thus levitation, we will say, must always occur in obedience to law — a law as inexorable as that which makes a body unaffected by it remain upon the ground. And where should we seek for that law outside of the theory of molecular attraction? It is a scientific hypothesis that the form of force which first brings nebulous or star matter together into a whirling vortex is electricity; and modern chemistry is being totally reconstructed upon the theory of electric polarities of atoms. The waterspout, the tornado, the whirlwind, the cyclone, and the hurricane, are all doubtless the result of electrical action. This phenomenon has been studied from above as well as from below, observations having been made both upon the ground and from a balloon floating above the vortex of a thunder-storm.

Observe now, that this force, under the conditions of a dry and warm atmosphere at the earth’s surface, can accumulate a dynamic energy capable of lifting enormous bodies of water, of compressing the particles of atmosphere, and of sweeping across a country, tearing up forests, lifting rocks, and scattering buildings in fragments over the ground. Wild’s electric machine causes induced currents of magneto-electricity so enormously powerful as to produce light by which small print may be read, on a dark night, at a distance of two miles from the place where it is operating. 496-97

8- Alchemy on the Elixir of Life, the Universal Solvent and the Philosopher’s Stone (502)

Perpetual motion 502 / The elixir of life 503 / Esoteric and scientific formulas 506 / Tetraktys 507 / Smaragdine tablet 508

We may say the same of the elixir of life, by which is understood physical life, the soul being of course deathless only by reason of its divine immortal union with spirit. But continual or perpetual does not mean endless. The kabalists have never claimed that either an endless physical life or unending motion is possible. The Hermetic axiom maintains that only the First Cause and its direct emanations, our spirits (scintillas from the eternal central sun which will be reabsorbed by it at the end of time) are incorruptible and eternal. But, in possession of a knowledge of occult natural forces, yet undiscovered by the materialists, they asserted that both physical life and mechanical motion could be prolonged indefinitely. The philosophers’ stone had more than one meaning attached to its mysterious origin. Says Professor Wilder: “The study of alchemy was even more universal than the several writers upon it appear to have known, and was always the auxiliary of, if not identical with, the occult sciences of magic, necromancy, and astrology; probably from the same fact that they were originally but forms of a spiritualism which was generally extant in all ages of human history.”

Our greatest wonder is, that the very men who view the human body simply as a “digesting machine,” should object to the idea that if some equivalent for metalline could be applied between its molecules, it should run without friction. Man’s body is taken from the earth, or dust, according to Genesis; which allegory bars the claims of modern analysts to original discovery of the nature of the inorganic constituents of human body. If the author of Genesis knew this, and Aristotle taught the identity between the life-principle of plants, animals, and men, our affiliation with mother earth seems to have been settled long ago. 502

9- Ancient Science validated by Modern Discoveries (510)

Chinese printing 513 / Numbers and colors and sound 513

Professor Roscoe, visiting Kirchhoff and Bunsen when they were making their great discoveries of the nature of the Fraunhoffer lines, says that it flashed upon his mind at once that there is iron in the sun; therein presenting one more evidence to add to a million predecessors, that great discoveries usually come with a flash, and not by induction. There are many more flashes in store for us. It may be found, perhaps, that one of the last sparkles of modern science — the beautiful green spectrum of silver — is nothing new, but was, notwithstanding the paucity “and great inferiority of their optical instruments,” well known to the ancient chemists and physicists. Silver and green were associated together as far back as the days of Hermes. Luna, or Astarte (the Hermetic silver), is one of the two chief symbols of the Rosicrucians. It is a Hermetic axiom, that “the cause of the splendor and variety of colors lies deep in the affinities of nature; and that there is a singular and mysterious alliance between color and sound.” The kabalists place their “middle nature” in direct relation with the moon; and the green ray occupies the centre point between the others, being placed in the middle of the spectrum. The Egyptian priests chanted the seven vowels as a hymn addressed to Serapis;* and at the sound of the seventh vowel, as at the “seventh ray” of the rising sun, the statue of Memnon responded. Recent discoveries have proved the wonderful properties of the blue-violet light — the seventh ray of the prismatic spectrum, the most powerfully chemical of all, which corresponds with the highest note in the musical scale. The Rosicrucian theory, that the whole universe is a musical instrument, is the Pythagorean doctrine of the music of the spheres. Sounds and colors are all spiritual numerals; as the seven prismatic rays proceed from one spot in heaven, so the seven powers of nature, each of them a number, are the seven radiations of the Unity, the central, spiritual SUN.

“Happy is he who comprehends the spiritual numerals, and perceives their mighty influence!” exclaims Plato. And happy, we may add, is he who, treading the maze of force-correlations, does not neglect to trace them to this invisible Sun!

This is the fifth and final chapter on post-mortem / ante-natal experience which covers a broad range of spiritualistic, supernatural and magical topics besides. The following authors and works have significant mention in this chapter:

Henry Maudsley (1835 – 1918), Body and Mind (1871)
Sir Henry Yule (1820 – 1889), The Travels of Marco Polo (C. 1300)
Eliphas Levi (1810-1875), La science des esprits (The Science of Spirits), 1865
William Gilbert (1544-1603) On the Magnet (1600)
Josiah Parsons Cooke (1827-1894), The New Chemistry (1876)

Franz Hartmann 4- To Keep Silent (Know, Dare, Will, Keep Silent - Occultist Motto, Kabalist Axiom)

(Note: Hartmann develops this notion at length in terms of meditative silence and mystical silence, related to the Voice of the Silence, a term that first appeared in Light on the Path, Mabel Collins, see Theosophical Basics: Sacred Sound and Mantra. By the way he explains the four points, one could be inclined to draw a parallel with the four basic paths of yoga: Jnana Yoga (To Know), Karma Yoga (To dare), Bhakti Yoga (To will, follow, obey the divine will) and Raja Yoga (To be silent), see Yoga.)

This is but natural. Whatever they be, they are men of the modern science even before they are spiritualists, and if not all, some of them at any rate would rather give up their connection with, and belief in, mediums and spirits, than certain of the great dogmas of orthodox, exact science. And they would have to give up not a few of these were they to turn Occultists and approach the threshold of THE MYSTERY in a right spirit of enquiry.

It is this difficulty that lies at the root of the recent troubles of Theosophy; and a few words upon the subject will not be out of season, the more so as the whole question lies in a nut-shell. Those Theosophists who are not Occultists cannot help the investigators, let alone the men of science. Those who are Occultists work on certain lines that they dare not trespass. Their mouth is closed; their explanations and demonstrations are limited. What can they do? Science will never be satisfied with a half-explanation.

To know, to dare, to will and to remain silent—is so well known as the motto of the Kabbalists, that to repeat it here may perhaps seem superfluous. Still it may act as a reminder. As it is, we have either said too much, or too little. I am very much afraid it is the former. If so, then we have atoned for it, for we were the first to suffer for saying too much. Even that little might have placed us in worse difficulties hardly a quarter of a century ago. (H. P. Blavatsky, Occult or Exact Science?  The Theosophist, April-May, 1886; CW 7, 77-78)

The fourth requirement to the recognition of the truth is therefore

To be silent.

This means that we must not allow any desire to speak in our heart, but only the voice of the truth; because the truth is a jealous goddess and suffers no rivals. He who selects wisdom for the bride of his soul must woo her with his whole heart and dismiss the concubines from the bridal chamber of his soul. He must clothe her in the purity of his affection and ornament her with the gold of his love, for wisdom is modest, she does not adorn herself but waits until she is adorned by her lover. She cannot be bought with money nor with promises, her love is only gained by acts of devotion. Science is only the handmaid of wisdom, and he who makes love to the servant will be rejected by the mistress; but he who sacrifices his whole being to wisdom will be united with her.

The Bhagwat Gita, says : '' He who thinketh constantly of me, his mind undiverted by any other object, will find me. I will at all times be easily found by a constant devotion to me." (8, 14)

The Christian Mystic, Jacob Boehme, an illuminated seer, expressed the same truth, in the form of a dialogue between the master and his disciple, as follows :

The disciple said to the master: 'How can I succeed in arriving at that supersensual life, in which I may see and hear the Supreme ?’

The master answered : ‘If you can only for a moment enter in thought into the formless, where no creature resides, you will hear the voice of the Supreme.’

The disciple said : ''Is this far or near  ''

The master answered : ''It is in yourself, and if you can command only for one hour the silence of your desires, you will hear the inexpressible words of the Supreme. If your own will and self are silent in you, the perception of the eternal will be manifest through you ; God will hear, and see, and talk through you ; your own hearing, desiring and seeing prevents you to see and hear the Supreme." Jacob Boehme : ' Theosophical Writings,'' book vi (The Supersensual Life, The Way to Christ (1624))

These directions are identical with those prescribed by the practice of Raja-Yoga by which the holy men of the East unite their minds with the formless and infinite. Religious services are calculated to elevate the mind into the region of the formless, and, in fact, all religious systems can have no other legitimate object than to teach methods how to attain such states. Churches are not worthy the name of church, which means, spiritual union unless they serve as schools in which the science of uniting one- self with the eternal fountain of life is practically taught.  

But it is easier to allow one's mind to revel among the multifarious forms and attractions of the material plane, and to listen to the Syren song of the Elementals inhabiting the soul, than to enter the apparently dark caves of the formless, where at first no sound is heard in the eternal stillness of night but the echo of our voice, but where alone true power resides.

 It is easier to let our minds be ruled by thoughts that come and go without our bidding than to hold fast to a thought and command it to remain and to close the doors of the soul to all thoughts that have not the seal of truth impressed upon their forms ; and this is the reason why the majority of men and women prefer the illusions of finite life to the eternal realities of the infinite — why they prefer sufferings to happiness, and ignorance to a knowledge of truth.

To be silent means to let no other language be heard within the heart but the language of God, to listen to the voice of Divine Wisdom speaking within the heart ; but this state will be arrived at only after the storm of the passions, the battle of desires, and the conflict of the intellectual forces is over.

He who has learned to know, to will, to dare, and to be silent, is upon the true path that leads to immortal life, and will know how to practice interior meditation or yog; but by those who move merely in the sensual plane, or whose minds are concentrated upon external things of the physical or intellectual plane, even the meaning of these words will not be understood.

Various instructions are given in the books of the East in regard to the practice of this interior meditation, but they all teach the same thing, namely, a concentration of man's higher consciousness to a single point within his own centre.

(Franz Hartmann, Magic White and Black. Chapter 12, 1888)

Part 1 

Franz Hartmann 3- To Dare (Know, Dare, Will, Keep Silent - Occultist Motto, Kabalist Axiom)

(Note: Hartmann explains 'to dare' in terms of the traditional notion of the spiritual combat (see for example Through the Gates of Gold, part 5, The Secret of Strength) and the will-power aspect is akin to the eastern notion of Karma Yoga)

 

TO DARE, TO WILL, TO ACHIEVE AND KEEP SILENT is the motto of the true Occultist, from the first adept of our fifth Race down to the last Rosecroix. True Occultism, i.e., genuine Raj-Yoga powers, are not pompously boasted of, and advertised in “Dailies” and monthlies, like Beecham’s pills or Pears’ soap. “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes; for the wise man feareth and keeps silent, but the fool layeth open his folly.”(Isaiah, 5,21) (Blavatsky, H. P. The Year Is Dead, Long Live The Year! Lucifer, January, 1889)

The third requirement is

To Dare

We must dare to act and throw off our desires, instead of waiting patiently until they desert us. We must dare to tear ourselves loose from accustomed habits, irrational thoughts, and selfish considerations, and from everything that is an impediment to our recognition of the truth. We must dare to conquer ourselves and to conquer the world ; dare to face the ridicule of the ignorant, the vilifications of bigots, the haughtiness of the vain, the contempt of the learned, and the envy of the small ; dare to proclaim the truth if it is useful to do so, and dare to be silent if taunted by the fool.(Prov. xxvi, 4) We must dare to face poverty, suffering, and isolation, and dare to act under all circumstances according to our highest conception of truth.

All this might be easily accomplished, if the will of man were free ; if man were his own master and not bound with the chains of the soul ; but man is a relative being, and as such his will can only be free to a certain extent ; it can only enjoy a relative liberty as long as it is a slave to desire. Man may perform certain acts and leave other undone if he chooses ; but his internal desire determines his choice, and man acts in obedience to it.  A man who is free of external desires has the power to will that which his nature does not desire, and not to will that to which the desires of that nature attract him.

To make the will free, action is required, and each action strengthens the will, and each unselfish deed increases its power. In unity is power. To render our will powerful we may unite it with the will of others, and if the desires of the others are different from ours, our will thereby becomes free from our own desires. In action is strength. If we oppose our will to the will of others, by acting against the desires of others, we increase its strength, but we become thereby isolated from others.
There is only one universal' power of will, because divinity is a whole. It may act in the direction for good and in the direction for evil ; but its action for good is the strongest, because it emanates from the eternal source of all good. 

This will-power being the collective sum of all will-power in the universe, is the power that moves the worlds. It is necessarily immeasurably stronger than any individual will-power can possibly be, because the whole is larger than the part, and the infinite greater than the finite. He who unites his own will with the universal will becomes powerful; he who exercises his will by opposing it may become strong, but while the former attains eternal life with the whole, the latter causes his own destruction, as he will finally be crushed by the opposing force, which is immeasurably stronger than he. Dare to obey the Law  and you will become your own Master and the Lord over all.

Philosophical courage is a quality for which men are respected everywhere. The Red Indian prides himself at his indifference to physical pain, the Fakir undergoes tortures to strengthen his will-power, the civilized soldier is eager to prove his contempt for danger, and to measure his strength with the strength of the enemy. 

But there are deeds to perform that require a courage of a superior kind. It requires only momentary outbursts of power or temporary efforts of will to perform a daring deed on the physical plane, and after it is accomplished It is followed by satisfaction and rest ; but in the realm of the soul there is no rest for those who have not succeeded in eradicating that which is evil. A continual and unremitted strain is needed to keep the emotions subjected, and this strain is rendered still more fatiguing by the circumstance that it depends entirely on your own will whether or not we will endure it, and if we relax the bridle and allow our emotions to run free and disorderly, sensual gratification is the result. 

It requires a courage of the highest order to act under all circumstances in obedience to the law. Long may the battle last, but each victory strengthens the will; each act of submission renders it more powerful, until at last the combat is ended, and over the battlefield where the remnants of the slain desires are exposed to the decomposing action of the elements hovers the spiritual eagle, rising towards the sun and enjoying the serene tranquility of the ethereal realm. The only true way to obtain courage is to rise above fear.

Metals are purified by fire and the spirit is purified by suffering. Only when the molten mass has cooled can we judge of the progress of the purification ; only when a victory over the emotions is gained, and peace follows after the struggle, can the spirit rest to contemplate and realize the beauty of eternal truth. In vain will men attempt to listen to the voice of truth during the clash of contending desires and opinions, only in the silence that follows the storm can the voice of truth be heard. (Light on the Path," by M. C)

(Franz Hartmann, Magic White and Black. Chapter 12, 1888)

Part 4 

Franz Hartmann 2- To Will (Know, Dare, Will, Keep Silent - Occultist Motto, Kabalist Axiom)

(Note: Hartmann's original text uses 'to want' (similar in the sense of  Desire for Freedom (mumukṣutva)), possibly because the original french verb is 'vouloir', which can mean to want or to will, as in using will-power. Lévi's references seem to indicate both meanings, and Hartmann explains both, covering will-power in the 'To Dare' section and in chapter 10).

Men possessed of such knowledge and exercising such powers patiently toiled for something better than the vain glory of a passing fame. Seeking it not, they became immortal, as do all who labor for the good of the race, forgetful of mean self. Illuminated with the light of eternal truth, these rich-poor alchemists fixed their attention upon the things that lie beyond the common ken, recognizing nothing inscrutable but the First Cause, and finding no question unsolvable. To dare, to know, to will, and remain silent, was their constant rule; to be beneficent, unselfish, and unpretending, were, with them, spontaneous impulses. Disdaining the rewards of petty traffic, spurning wealth, luxury, pomp, and worldly power, they aspired to knowledge as the most satisfying of all acquisitions. They esteemed poverty, hunger, toil, and the evil report of men, as none too great a price to pay for its achievement. They, who might have lain on downy, velvet-covered beds, suffered themselves to die in hospitals and by the wayside, rather than debase their souls and allow the profane cupidity of those who tempted them to triumph over their sacred vows. The lives of Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, and Philalethes are too well known to repeat the old, sad story. (Blavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled I, 66-67)

The second requirement is
To Will
If we are not willing to receive the truth we will not obtain it. Men believe that they love the truth, but there are few who loving for its own sake desire it. They desire welcome truths; those that are unwelcome are rejected. Opinions which flatter the vanity and are in harmony with accustomed modes of thought are accepted; strange truths are regarded with astonishment and driven away from the door. Men are often afraid of that which they do not know, and, not knowing the truth, they are afraid to receive it. They ask new truths for their passports, and if they do not bear the stamp of some fashionable authority they are looked upon as illegitimate children, and are not permitted to grow.

How shall we learn to love the truth? By learning to know it. How can we know the truth? By learning to love it. The deluded asks for external proofs, but the wise requires no other certificate for the truth but its own revelation. There can be no difference between speculative and practical knowledge; because knowledge is one, an opinion based upon mere speculation is no knowledge. Knowledge can only be attained by speculation, if the speculation is accompanied by experience. Those who want to know the truth must practise it; those who cannot practise it will not know it; speculation without practice  is only a deceitful dream.  

Man can have no actual desire for a thing which he has never experienced, and which he therefore not knows. How can we love a thing of which we know not that it exists ? How can we know its existence, except by realising its presence? How can we realise its presence if we do not enjoy it ? How can we enjoy it if we do not love it?

Neither inductive nor deductive reasoning can give us a realisation of truth. Divine Reason itself alone can cause it to become manifest in ourselves. To know that a thing is good, is to desire it; for it is a law acting within the constitution of man, no less than among the planets, that we should be attracted to that which we know to be good and be repulsed by that which we know to be evil. A strong desire to be good, causes man to perform good actions; a desire to be evil, causes him to commit evil deeds. Man is the product of his own thoughts and acts; if he thinks and acts good, he becomes good; if he thinks and acts evil, he becomes evil.

In an occult sense “willing” is identical with “feeling”; for the substance of the Will, if infused with the consciousness of the Spirit, feels and grasps its object. Willing, knowing, and acting are ultimately identical; because we can only will what we know, and we can only know that of which we have an experience. The only way to obtain true practical knowledge of spiritual truths is by the practice of the truth — in other words, the a wakening of the inner consciousness to the recognition of truth existing within oneself.

Only a mind which has been purified from all selfish desires, and is filled with a strong determination to learn the truth, is thereby “duly and truly prepared” to enter the temple of wisdom. Every time that a person, either for selfish purposes or to gratify the whim of another, or for any other personal  consideration, gives his consent to something, of which his reason or conscience tells him that it ought not to be; however insignificant such an act may be; it will nevertheless involve for him a loss of a certain
amount of will.

Man is chained to the kingdom of his illusions with a thousand chains. The inhabitants of his earthly soul appear before him in their most seductive forms. If they are driven away they change their masks and appear in some other form. But the chains by which man is bound are forged by his own desire. His vices do not cling to him against his will. He clings to them, and they will desert him as soon as he rises up in the strength and dignity of his manhood and shakes them off. There is a method, by which we may, without any active effort, obtain that which we desire, and this is that we should desire nothing except what the divine spirit wills within our own heart.

(Franz Hartmann, Magic White and Black. Chapter 12, 1888)

Part 1 Part 3

Franz Hartmann 1- To Know (Know, Dare, Will, Keep Silent - Occultist Motto, Kabalist Axiom)

(Note: Hartmann's description of higher knowledge seems very much in the oriental spirit of Jnana Yoga).

Let him remember the universal Kabalistic axiom. “To know, to dare, to will and be silent.” Let him read the impressive phrase translated by Eliphas Levi from the Book of Numbers in Vol. I of “Dogme de la Haute Magie,” p. 115. (Blavatsky, H. P.  The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett, T. Fisher Unwin ltd. London : Adelphi Terrace, 1925, p. 17)

 ’To dare, to will, to act and remain silent’’ is our motto as that of every Kabalist and Occultist (Jinarajadasa, C., ed. Letters from the Masters of Wisdom 1881-1888. Theosophical Publishig House. Adyar. 1919, letter 66).

If we wish to enter the path to infinite life, the first requirement is

To Know
Knowledge is the perception and understanding of truth. We can only know that which we perceive. 

Lower Knowledge

As long as the true nature of man is not known, his lower interests are mistaken for his higher ones. Scientific attainments are often only used for the purpose of obtaining the power to speculate on the ignorance of those that have no such intellectual acquirements, and by taking advantage of their beliefs to obtain money and material comfort. Such scientific attainments may be good for such purposes, but they retard the progress of man in a spiritual direction, because they make men more selfish, and cause them to worship matter; they are therefore useless for the only true and permanent interest of man.

If science wishes to find the foundation of truth, it must begin to realise the unity of the universe and know that the world of appearances manifested in nature is a revelation of truth originating in divine wisdom. This realisation cannot be attained by arguments and inferences, it is only realised by the power of universal love, which is the recognition of truth.

“To bring thee to thy God, love takes the shortest route;

The way which science leads is but a round about”. [Angelu Silesius]

The harmful knowledge consists in scientific attainments without any corresponding perception of the moral aspect of truth. It is only partial knowledge, because it recognises only a part of the truth. A high intellectual development without any corresponding growth of spirituality is a curse to mankind. Knowledge to be good must be illuminated by Wisdom; knowledge without wisdom is dangerous to possess. Misunderstanding and misapplication of truths are the sources of evil.“ A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”.  Such an attainment of knowledge without wisdom may become detrimental. The invention of the fulminates of mercury, of gunpowder and nitro-glycerine, has caused much suffering to a large part of  humanity. Not that the substances applied, or the forces which are liberated, are intrinsically evil, but their  misapplication in the hands of those without wisdom leads to evil results. If all men were intelligent enough to understand the laws which govern the world, and wise enough to employ their knowledge for good purposes only, no evil results would follow. 

One of the most harmful acquisitions is the so-called “religious knowledge”; that is to say the holding on to theological doctrines which are wrong or misunderstood, because it is unaccompanied by any unfoldment of true spirituality. Such a “ religion” results in bigotry, hypocrisy and intolerance; it is based upon fear and not upon faith. A religion without universal love is an absurdity; because that Love is the link which relates man to God. A faith without love is only a superstition. Nevertheless it is that foolish “faith” which clamours the most for its rights.

‘’Faith without love will make the greatest roar and din;

The cask sounds loudest when there is nought within”. [Angelus Silesius]

If we proceed a step further and imagine intellectual but wicked and selfish people possessed not only of the power to employ explosives, and poisonous drugs, to injure others, but able to send their own degrading poisonous thoughts to a distance, to leave at will the prison house of the physical body to kill or injure others, the most disastrous results would follow. Such forbidden knowledge has been and is sometimes possessed by people with criminal tendencies, a fact which is universally known in the East, and upon the possibility and actuality of such facts have been established on many occasions, and among others by many of the witch trials of the Middle Ages. Modern scientists may now laugh at these facts, but the doctors of law, of medicine, and of theology of their times, were as sure of their knowledge as modern representatives of science are of their own opinions today, and the former had as many intellectual capacities as the latter. The only difference is that the former knew these facts, but gave a wrong explanation; the latter find it easier to ignore than to explain.

Man is continually surrounded by unseen influences, and the astral plane is swarming with entities and forces, which are acting upon him for good or for evil, according to his good or evil inclinations. At the present state of evolution man has a physical body, which is admirably adapted to modify the influence from the astral plane, and to shelter him against the “ monsters of the deep”. If the physical body is in good health, it acts as an armour, and, moreover, man has the power, by a judicious exercise of his will, to so concentrate the odic aura by which he is surrounded, as to render his armour impenetrable to the influences of the astral world and its inhabitants; but if by bad health, by a careless expenditure of vitality, or by the practice of mediumship, he disperses his protective power, his physical armour will become weakened and unable to guard him; he becomes the victim of elementaries and elemental forces, his mental faculties lose their balance, and sooner or later he will, like the symbolical Adam and Eve, know that he is naked, and exposed to influences which he cannot repel.  Such is the result for which those ignorantly crave who wish to obtain knowledge without corresponding morality. To supply the ignorant or weak with powers of destruction would be like providing children with  gunpowder and matches for play.

Higher Knowledge

Only an intelligent and well-balanced mind can discriminate properly and dive into the hidden mysteries of Nature. “Only the pure in heart can see God”. He who has reached that stage need not search the world for a person to instruct him; the higher intelligences will be attracted to him, and become his instructor, in the same manner as he himself is attracted by the beauty of an animal or of a flower. A harp does not invent sound but obeys the hand of a master, and the more perfect the instrument, the  sweeter will be the music. A diamond does not originate light, but reflects it, and the purer the diamond  the purer will be its lustre. Man does not invent or create thought, will, and intelligence. He is a mirror in  which the thoughts of the world are reflected, an instrument through which the will of nature expresses  itself; a pearl filled with a drop of water from the universal ocean of intelligence.

The only true knowledge is the knowledge of one's own true self, which knows neither “good” nor “evil”, but is the realisation of truth. He who ate from the tree of the knowledge of illusion has died; because by  experiencing the illusion of self, he has died to his spiritual nature and become an illusion himself.[Gen. ii. 17] If you eat of the tree of divine knowledge, which is the tree of life, your illusion will die and you will live. Your personality will be swallowed up by a realisation of the fact that “you” are nothing, and that God  in you is the only true self and the All. Realising this, you will not be “as one of the gods”; but a self-conscious power in God, unlimited and immortal.

How can self-knowledge be attained? The answer is: “By the realisation of truth”. The truth is  everywhere, always ready to manifest itself in you and around you, if you only permit it to become manifest. Wisdom requires no other teacher but wisdom itself. Rise up to it in your soul and it will descend upon you and fill your heart. He who ascends to the top of a high mountain need not enquire for somebody to bring him pure air. Pure air surrounds him there on all sides. The realm of wisdom is not limited, and he whose mind is receptive will not suffer from want of divine grace to feed his holy aspiration.

The school in which the occultist graduates has many classes, each class representing a life. The days of vacation may arrive before the lesson is learned, and what has been learned may be forgotten during the time of vacation; but still the impression remains, and a thing once learned is easily learned again. This accounts for the different talents with which men are endowed, and for their propensities for good or for evil. No effort is lost, every cause creates a corresponding effect, no favours are granted, no injustice takes place. Blind to bribes and deaf to appeals is the law of justice, dealing its treasures out to everyone according to his capacities to receive, but he who has no selfish desire for reward, and no cowardly fear of punishment, but who dares to act rightly because he will not do wrong, identifies himself with the law, and in the equilibrium of the law will he find his Power

(Franz Hartmann, Magic White and Black. Chapter 12, 1888)

Part 2 

Astrology: Fall Equinox - September 22, 2021

Cautiously Optimistic

Leading up to  the summer solstice, there was a lunar eclipse (May 26), a Mars-Pluto opposition (June 5), a solar eclipse (June 10), the 2^nd exact Saturn-Uranus square (June 14). The solstice was a very intense one, with two powerful aspects, the challengeing Grand Cross and the beneficial Grand Trine, both involving the Moon, which can be quite powerful in a transit chart, even though it doesn’t last long. Some of the major news events from the Jun 9-15 period include:

More than 350,000 people in Ethiopia experiencing dire hunger, with millions more facing "high levels of acute food insecurity," Ethiopians head to the polls  for the country's first multiparty election in 16 years. Anti-government protesters flooded the streets of Lebanese cities as the country's currency tanked, adding to a string of economic woes. Naftali Bennett was sworn in as Israel's new prime minister, ending former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 years in office.

In the United States, president Biden attended the NATO G7 summit in the UK. and the US-EU summit in Brussels , recommitting to global concerns like cybersecurity, global health, and climate change.  A severe drought occurred, and the Delta variant appeared as responsible for a six-fold increase in hospitalizations in one Missouri city. The Keystone XL Pipeline deal was officially cancelled.

Around the Summer Solstice, also in the United States, ten mass shootings happened across the nation leaving at least seven people dead and more than 40 injured. It was the latest in a streak of violent weekends in America. The weekend before this, there were also 10 mass shootings that left 12 people dead across seven states.  On June 25 A Minnesota judge sentenced Derek Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. The sentence "is one of the longest a former police officer has ever received for an unlawful use of deadly force," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said, calling it a "moment of real accountability."

The Summer Solstice marked the beginning of a Mars/Saturn/Uranus T-Square, one of the most intense aspects of the year, which was at its most intense around  July 4. Around this time, there occurred the assassination of the Haitian president, as well as a string of bad floods, forest fires, hurricanes, building collapses, vehicle accidents, and freak accidents.

This was all part of the longer-term aspect Saturn-Uranus square, where we have an unusual situation in which Saturn, the conservative planet, is in a progressive sign, Aquarius, while Uranus, the progressive planet, is in a conservative sign, Taurus. There can be tension experienced as our needs for freedom and spontaneity seem to clash with a need for structure and stability. At times, these energies can feel oppressive and we might feel that we’re often at cross-purposes, even when the end game is similar. Rules and limitations can feel more challenging to tolerate, but without some lines drawn, life feels too chaotic. Attempts to assert our individuality, freedom, and originality tend to undermine our feeling of groundedness and security. Yet, we are not satisfied when we conform. There may be sudden and unexpected twists that force us to do something different or free ourselves from old habits. Ideally, we can find creative ways to satisfy these diverging needs, perhaps by giving form to our ideals and quest for progress. Adjusting our plans may be in order, and striking a balance between convention and innovation is the challenge. Setbacks tend to be temporary and often lead to new, more creative paths or solutions. While this aspect is active, however, we can feel some real frustration (Café Astrology).

An example of these tensions can be seen with the Covid pandemic, (which seems to recede in concert with the Pluto and Saturn retrogrades; although this occurs as the weather gets warmer in many places, with less people indoors, so it is harder to track the correlation). The problem has been admirably addressed at a medical level, as great progress was made with the vaccine roll-out process, but it has proven unable to curb the fourth wave and delta variant due to failures at the political level. Despite sophisticated communication technology, governments are having difficulty educating the public of the need for safety measures. When restrictions are lifted, the case numbers tend to rise dramatically. Relatively small, but vocal groups are radically opposed to vaccinations, but end up getting the virus and overloading the medical services. This strong distrust in government is probably not helped by their seeming inability to prevent a majority of vaccines going to the rich, while the poor continue to suffer the worst, although there has been some concerted manifestation of generosity in vaccine distribution such as COVAX. Another related example was the need to apply widespread restrictions on social media platforms in order to curb Covid and vaccine misinformation, as well as conspiracy theories.

Another interesting event that illustrates this tension and also coincides closely with the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle has been the end of United States military occupation of Afghanistan with the ensuing return of Taliban rule around August 14. The September 11, 2000 destruction of the World Trade Center occurred six months after an exact Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, the latest Taliban takeover, eight months after the most recent conjunction. Possibly, it can be seen to signal the end of end era in a certain style of oil-interested military interventions and a steady decline of international US military involvement, previous to the decline of Russia and the rise of China as an international military enforcer. At any rate, an interesting bookend to the previous Jupiter-Saturn cycle, which was marked by the 9/11 disaster.

This chart (which can be considered as a kind of snapshot of the quarter to come), arriving just after the full moon, is rather complex and intense, with three T-Squares, centered around Jupiter, Saturn, & Pluto. There are also two triangles of potential, one of them attached to a T-Square. Although quite intense, not nearly as dramatic as the Summer Solstice chart; expect it to bring some weirdness, confusion, and disfunction, but one can do well if one stays focused and optimistic.

Moon, Mercury, Pluto T-Square

Moon opposition Mercury, Moon square Pluto, Mercury square Pluto

This aspect brings minor irritations like the car breaking down, missing the bus, lost emails, best  to avoid scheduling negotiations, test-taking, or contract-signing now. Tendencies for futile obsessions, suspicions that can lead to personal emotional crisis.

Moon, Mercury, Jupiter Triangle of Potential

Moon sextile Jupiter, Mercury trine Jupiter, Moon opposite Mercury

The Moon, Mercury, Pluto T-Square is balanced by emotionally upbeat, optimistic, sociable, open-minded, adventurous energies. Favorable influence for short trips, writing, teaching, studying, mailings, interviews, advertising and promotion. Good for career opportunities.

Venus, Saturn, Uranus T-Square  (also a Venus, Jupiter, Uranus T-Square)

Venus opposite Uranus, Venus Square Saturn, Saturn square Uranus

This brings a tendency for a need to express one’s most unique individualism and an anti-social, rebellious attitude. Relationships may change or end.

Sun, Neptune, Pluto Triangle of Potential

Sun opposition Neptune, Sun trine Pluto, Neptune sextile Pluto

This tends to make one directionless, unfocused, dispersed and less able to face everyday realities. Willpower is low. This is a balanced by strong energies that help make us more decisive than usual, and our abilities to concentrate and focus help us achieve what we set out to do. Good endurance. Leadership skills are in focus and strong. a pioneering spirit, making you unafraid to challenge the accepted way of thinking and doing things.

There are also two positive aspects that can help cut through all the tense, challenging, complex energies.

Mars trine Saturn -determined effort and actions, a sense of responsibility and purposefulness good discipline and endurance.

Neptune trine Venus Compassion, harmony, kindness, and openness. Good artistic and creative inspiration.

The nature of these aspects can be seen to make for a year that will be a consolidation process of the year’s previous upheavals (actually part of deconstruction/revolution process over the last five years), a final year of checks and adjustments to prepare for the new twenty-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle. What needs to be let go, what needs to change, what new projects need to be undertaken, these are some of the key considerations at this time. We will see the third and final Jupiter-Uranus exact station just after the Winter Solstice on December 24th, 2021, a final hurdle to overcome.

This new Jupiter-Saturn cycle marks a definitive shift from earth signs to air signs, which will last until 2159. The previous Jupiter-Saturn cycles were in earth signs since 1802. Once can interpret this as the age of oil and carbon fuels, whereas the next cycle in air signs can mark a new era of alternate energies, along with satellite and computer technologies that have developed over the last 40 years. In the following years, four outer planets will be changing signs over a four-year period, 2023-2026, and so by 2026, we should be witnessing an interesting paradigm shift. There is still much uncertainty, but at the same time, one can see how effective modern medicine and modern information technology (Computers, Internet, Cell Phones) have been in dealing with the pandemic crisis.

References

https://cafeastrology.com/events/saturn-square-uranus/

Tolstunka Astrology - Saturn square Uranus, T-Square to Mars—What has occurred under similar transits in the past?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx8hOns4zwI

The Dangers of Occultism 2 - Franz Hartmann

But we will now direct our attention to another class of “occult schools,” which are more dangerous, as their guides are invisible and belong to the inhabitants of the astral plane. One such case has been graphically described by C. W. Leadbeater in an article entitled “A Vision and the Facts behind it,” contained in the Theosophist of April, 1909. 

Here I might give account, from my own experience, of a number of cases where well intentioned and intelligent people met financial and physical ruin by placing implicit confidence in the teachings and directions of invisible “spiritual” guides. I will select only the following two.

Some of our readers will perhaps remember that a few years ago a dozen students of Theosophy, being dissatisfied with the slow progress which they were making in becoming spiritual, formed an “inner circle” at Budapest in which they soon become witnesses of the most surprising phenomena. They had materializations and the ghosts represented themselves to be the twelve apostles, and each “ apostle” accepted one of these students as his disciples. All that had heretofore been taught by H. P. Blavatsky and the Indian Sages was now by these apostles declared to be nonsense, self sacrifice and asceticism made ridiculous, and contrary directions, enjoining strict secrecy, were given. Finally “Jesus Christ” himself appeared in person; they were ordered to go to Madagascar and, being partly obsessed by these spooks, they actually went there, expecting “further orders.” There they lived for a while in the swamps, contrary to all the laws of hygiene, but soon one after another they fell victims to the climate. Out of the twelve seven died and the rest returned, perhaps wiser, but surely poorer men.

Another case is the following, and I regret to have to leave out names on account of personal considerations. In Hamburg I was introduced into a society of “occultists,” counting among its visitors persons of some distinction. They had their “Masters,” which they held in great veneration, and these “Masters” produced their phenomena and gave their communications through the wife of the husband who owned the house where the circle met. This lady seemed to be in a state of chronic obsession, often lying for weeks in a state of semi-trance, during which she declared that her own spirit was absent and that the “Masters” had taken possession of her. The most remarkable phenomena took place at that house; noises, as if cannon balls were being rolled over the wooden floor, were heard, and made the walls shake; lights appeared at night so strong as to make the neighbors believe that the house was on fire; handfuls of sand were thrown in the faces of visitors, photographs of scenery of living and dead persons, elementals and monsters were taken on plates without the use of a camera; but the most astonishing phenomenon was the almost instantaneous travelling of living people to long distances and through walls and closed windows, such as I have described in my article on “Magical Metathesis” in the Occult Review, July 1906.

What surprised me still more, was the fact that these spirits seemed to be well acquainted with the contents of Madame Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine and other books on Theosophy, which those people had never read, while on the other hand the communications received, which were held very secret and sacred, being shown to only the very select, contained the greatest vagaries, descriptions of the “realm of Pluto,” the infernal regions within the interior of the earth, and the like. These “Masters” not only directed the “spiritual progress” of their disciples, but also their external affairs, and the disciples always acted according to the orders received. The end was that the husband of that lady first entirely neglected and finally gave up his business, and afterwards—also “by order of the Masters” —sold his house at a great sacrifice. The family were reduced to poverty and having become destitute they finally abandoned their “occult research”.

All such failures go to show that there is a desire for progress and spiritual evolution within the human heart, and that everybody consciously or unconsciously strives to attain it, however erroneous may be the ways and means which are taken for that purpose. The unguided aspirant for occult knowledge resembles a fly that falls into a basin of water and tries to save itself by swimming now in this and then in that direction, often changing its course even when nearing the shore and finally getting drowned.

But where is that guidance to be found? There are innumerable “seekers for truth” and “students of Theosophy” wishing for guides and continually clamoring for “more instructions,” without ever thinking of following those instructions which they have already received. They are at all times looking at external things in the hope of finding that which can be found only internally; regardless of the often repeated saying: “Within yourselves deliverance must be found”.

The first step on the way to Initiation is purification of the heart and mind, because the light of Divine Wisdom cannot manifest itself in a place clouded with impure thoughts and filled with selfish desires. No one has ever made the second step without making the first one, and all efforts to drag the high into the service of the low lead only to degradation, misfortune and evil. Therefore the real practice of occultism consists in the control of one’s lower thoughts and emotions, which can be done only by the aid of one’s own higher nature; because only the higher has power over the lower; “self” cannot overcome “itself,” and for this purpose it is necessary to acquire that discernment between the eternal and true, and that which is temporal and illusive, of which we spoke in the beginning of this article.

Thus it appears that instead of running after bogus “Masters” and pseudo adepts and being led by the nose by humbugs and frauds of this or the astral plane, it would be better to cultivate high thoughts and elevating selfless aspirations, from which good actions are the natural outcome. If his consciousness is thus firmly established on a higher plane, the student of Theosophy will be ready to receive further light; and the Great Souls who are watching over the progress of humanity will not fail to come to the aid of those who keep the divine ideal before their eyes and seek to realize it within their hearts. 

The Theosophist, October 1909  

 Part 1