This article’s citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949), known as Alice A. Bailey or AAB to her followers, was an influential writer and theosophist in what she termed „Ageless Wisdom“. This included occult teachings, „esoteric“ psychology and healing, astrological and other philosophic and religious themes. Alice Bailey was born as Alice LaTrobe Bateman, in Manchester, England at 7:32 am GMT.^[1] She moved to the United States in 1907, where she spent most of her life as a writer and teacher.

Her works, written between 1919 and 1949, describe a wide-ranging system of esoteric thought covering such topics as how spirituality relates to the solar system, meditation, healing, spiritual psychology, the destiny of nations, and prescriptions for society in general. She described the majority of her work as having been telepathically dictated to her by a „Master of the Wisdom„, initially referred to only as „the Tibetan“, or by the initials „D.K.“, later identified as Djwal Khul.^[2] Her followers refer to her writings as The Alice A. Bailey material, or sometimes, as the AAB material.

Her writings were influenced by the works of Madame Blavatsky. Though Bailey’s writings differ from the orthodox Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky, they also have much in common with it. She wrote about religious themes, including Christianity, though her writings are fundamentally different from many aspects of Christianity and of other orthodox religions. Her vision of a unified society includes a global „spirit of religion“ different from traditional religious forms and including the concept of the Age of Aquarius.^[3][4]

Controversy has arisen around some of Bailey’s statements on nationalism, American isolationism, Soviet totalitarianism, Fascism, Zionism, Nazism, race relations, Africans, Jews, and the religions of Judaism and Christianity. Yonassan Gershom and others have claimed that her writings contain „racist“ material.^[5][6]

According to Robert S. Ellwood, her philosophy and publications are still applied by the groups and organizations she founded, such as the Arcane School,and the Full Moon Meditation Groups that follow her teachings.^[7]

Biography

Childhood

Alice Bailey was born to a wealthy aristocratic British family, and as a member of the Anglican Church, received a thorough Christian education. She described a lonely and „over-sheltered“ childhood and was unhappy despite the luxury of her physical circumstances.^[8] Of her early life she wrote that she was appalled at the influences of the Victorian era, especially the wide gulf between the comforts of the upper classes and the struggles of the laboring classes, that those problems were caused at least in part by the unfairness of the „theology of the past“, and that in turn those issues led to what she called the „present world war“, referring to the years between 1914–1945.^[9]

In her autobiography she related that as a child she was unhappy and did not find life worth living, and because of this attempted suicide three times: the first at the age of five, the second at age 11, and the third at an unspecified time prior to age 15. She wrote that after her third attempt, she lost interest in the idea, but that she „always understood the impulse.“ ^[10]

At age 15, on June 30, 1895, Bailey was visited by a stranger, „…a tall man, dressed in European clothes and wearing a turban“ who told her she needed to develop self-control to prepare for certain work planned for her to do.^[11] She supposed this individual was Jesus, but later she identified him as Master Koot Hoomi.^[12]

India, evangelical work, and first marriage

At age 22 Bailey did evangelical work in connection with the YMCA and the British Army.^[13] This took her to India where, in 1907, she met her future husband, Walter Evans. Together they moved to America where Evans became an Episcopalian priest.^[14] However, this marriage did not last. She stated that her husband mistreated her and in one of his fits of temper, threw her down the stairs.^[15] Bailey pushed for and received a divorce. She left with their three children; after formal separation in 1915. Then followed a difficult period in which she worked as a factory hand to support herself and the children.^{[11][16][17][18]}

Bailey’s break was not only with her Christian husband, but with Christianity in general. In her autobiography she wrote that „a rabid, orthodox Christian worker [had] become a well-known occult teacher.“^[19]

With the Theosophical Society

In 1915 Bailey discovered the Theosophical Society and the work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Bailey, pp 134–136). Theosophical Society states that Bailey became involved in 1917.^[20] Theosophist Joy Mills states that in 1918 she became a member of the Esoteric Section of the society.^[21] Theosophist Bruce F. Campbell notes, „She quickly rose to a position of influence in the American Section of the Adyar society, moving to its headquarters at Krotona in Hollywood. She became editor of its magazine, The Messenger, and member of the committee responsible for Krotona.“^[22]

Bailey claimed to recognize Koot Hoomi, the master who had visited her in her childhood, from a portrait she saw in the Shrine Room of the Theosophical Society. (Bailey, pp 156).^[23] Bailey wrote much about those she called the „Masters of the Wisdom„, which she believed to be a brotherhood of enlightened sages working under the guidance of „the Christ.“ In part, she stated her writings were an effort to clarify the nature of these Masters, and their work.^[24]

„The Tibetan“, split from Theosophy, and second marriage

Bailey wrote that, in 1919, she was contacted by a Master known as The Tibetan (later associated with the initials D.K., and eventually the name Djwhal Khul). Bailey stated that after initial resistance, she was eventually persuaded to write down the communications from this source. She wrote for 30 years, from 1919 to 1949.^[2] The result was 24 published books on ancient wisdom, philosophy, religion, contemporary events, science, psychology, nations, astrology, and healing. Also in 1919, 32nd degree Freemason Foster Bailey (1888–1977), who was to be her second husband, became National Secretary of the Theosophical Society. (Bailey, p. 157)^[25] They married in 1921.^[26]

The Theosophist published the first few chapters of her first work, Initiation, Human and Solar, but then stopped for reasons Bailey called „theosophical jealousy and reactionary attitude.“^[27] Bailey „objected to the ‚neo-Theosophy‘ of Annie Besant“ and worked with Foster Bailey to gain more power in the American Section.^[27] According to Theosophist Josephine Maria Davies Ransom, she became part of a progressive „Back to Blavatsky movement, led mainly by Mr. and Mrs. Foster Bailey“.^[28] She outlined her vision for the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society and announced ideals of tolerance and brotherhood.^[29][30] However, her efforts to influence the society failed, and she and her husband were dismissed from their positions.^[31]

According to author Olav Hammer, Bailey’s early writings of communications with the Tibetan were well received within the society, but society president Annie Besant questioned Bailey’s claims of communications with „the Tibetan“ and allowed the Baileys to be expelled from the organization.^[12] According to Bailey, she had come to see the society as authoritarian and involved with „lower psychic phenomena.“.^[11] In her writings, however, she continued to acknowledge the importance of Madame Blavatsky’s works, and saw her own task as the continuation and further development of Blavatsky’s teachings. (Bailey, pp. 168–177)

The Arcane School and the Lucis Trust

According to the Lucis Trust website, the Baileys founded a quarterly magazine of esoteric philosophy entitled The Beacon in 1922.^[32]

In 1923, with the help of Foster Bailey, Alice Bailey also founded the Arcane School (also part of Lucis Trust), which gave (and still gives) a series of correspondence courses based on her heterodox version of Theosophy, which accepted the basic Theosophical views on karma, reincarnation, masters, a divine plan, and humanity’s achievement of their original divine status (Bailey, pp. 192–193).^[25]

The Lucis Trust website and Alice Bailey’s autobiography also state that, together with Foster Bailey, she created the „World Goodwill“ organization to promote what she called „Love in Action“.^[33][34] The stated purposes of World Goodwill, according to its sponsoring organization, the Lucis Trust, are: „To help mobilise the energy of goodwill; To cooperate in the work of preparation for the reappearance of the Christ; To educate public opinion on the causes of the major world problems and to help create the thoughtform of solution.“^[35]

About 100 of Alice Bailey’s public talks and private talks to her more advanced Arcane School students are available online.^[36] Bailey continued to work up to the time of her death in 1949.^[2][37] Foster Bailey took over as head of Lucis Trust^{[citation needed]} until his death in 1977, while his second wife Mary Bailey ran the Arcane School^{[citation needed]} and after his death became president of the Lucis Trust.^[38] Mary Bailey authored a book titled A Learning Experience describing her 33 years of work with the Arcane School and accounts of the early years of Alice Bailey’s work with „the Tibetan.“^[39]

Formerly the school was structured in a series of degrees similar to Freemasonry and its early structure can be compared with the ceremonials of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship.^[40]

Writing

Comparison with Theosophy

Theosophists are divided on their assessment of Alice Bailey’s writings. For instance, the noted contemporary Theosophical writer Geoffrey Hodson wrote a highly favorable review of one her books, saying, „Once more Alice Bailey has placed occult students in her debt.“^[41] Olav Hammer writes, „Her first book, Initiation Human and Solar, was at first favorably received by her fellow theosophists. Soon, however, her claims to be recipient of ageless wisdom from the Masters met with opposition.“^[42] The conflict is understandable since her works contain some criticisms of Theosophy, and at the time of the break she voiced her criticism of what she saw as dogmatic structures within the society, while questioning the pledges of loyalty to Theosophical leaders that were required. „During the annual convention of 1920 in Chicago, there was a power struggle between forces loyal to Besant and the Esoteric Section and others who believed that the ES had become too powerful. Below the surface was a hidden controversy regarding Alice’s work with the Tibetan.“^[14] For a more recent example of Bailey/Theosophy division, see Theosophy in Scandinavia.

Campbell writes that Bailey’s books are a reworking of major Theosophical themes, with some distinctive emphases, and that they present a comprehensive system of esoteric science and occult philosophy, cognizant of contemporary social and political developments.^[43] Steven J. Sutcliffe points out that both Bailey and Blavatsky’s work evoke a picture of Tibet as the spiritual home of the Masters and that Bailey claimed a more-or-less direct lineage to Blavatsky. He describes Bailey as a ‚post-Theosophical‘ theorist, reporting that Bailey received instruction from „former personal pupils of Blavatsky“, and notes that her third book (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire) not only reproduces Blavatsky’s apocryphal Stanzas of Dzyan, but is dedicated to Blavatsky, as well.^[44]

Jon Klimo, in Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources, writes, „As with Blavatsky/Theosophical material, and more recent contemporary channeled material from other sources, we find in the Bailey work the same occult cosmological hierarchy: physical, etheric, astral, mental, causal, and higher inhabited levels of existence.“^[45] Olav Hammer, in the book Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age, highlights Bailey’s Theosophical similarities as well as noting what he thinks are some differences between them: „To a large extent, Bailey’s teachings are a restatement and amplification of theosophy of the Secret Doctrine. Bailey inherited from Blavatsky and Leadbeater a predilection for profuse details and complex classificatory schemes. … Her books have also introduced shifts in emphasis as well as new doctrinal elements.“^[46]

In contrast to the above, some Theosophical critics have contended that there are major differences between Bailey’s ideas and the Theosophy of Blavatsky, such as Bailey’s embrace of some mystical Christian terms and concepts and her acceptance of C.W. Leadbeater.^[47][48]

Nicholas Weeks, writing for the Theosophical magazine Fohat in 1997, felt Bailey’s assertion that „… her teachings are grounded in and do not oppose in any fundamental way Theosophy as lived and taught by HPB and her Gurus“ was false, claiming her books are in fact „rooted in the pseudo-theosophy pioneered by C. W. Leadbeater.“ He claimed Bailey accepted Leadbeater’s „fantasy“ of the return of Maitreya, and disparaged Bailey’s Great Invocation, a prayer supposed to „induce Christ and his Masters to leave their hidden ashrams [and] enter into major cities“ to lead the Aquarian Age. This contrasts with the Theosophy of Blavatsky, he says, which emphasizes reliance on „the Christos principle within each person“.^[48]

The Blavatskian theosophists.
Some critics and often followers of the so-called Blavatskian theosophy on Atma-Vidya refer to the following quotes. The theosophical Master K.H. was given by H. P. Blavatsky to say: „the Salvation Army by hypnotizing people and making them psychically drunk with excitement, is Black Magic“.^[49] And H. P. Blavatsky stated in contrast with Alice A. Bailey’s promotion of a Great Invocation arrival of a Maitreya Saviour in the flesh that: „(a) „the coming of Christ,“ means the presence of CHRISTOS in a regenerated world, and not at all the actual coming in body of „Christ“ Jesus; (b) this Christ is to be sought neither in the wilderness nor „in the inner chambers,“ nor in the sanctuary of any temple or church built by man; for Christ—the true esoteric SAVIOUR—is no man, but the DIVINE PRINCIPLE in every human being. „^[50] This can be compared with Alice A. Bailey.s „The Externalization of the Hierarchy“, p. 590.
H. P. Blavatsky also said in a letter to the honourable Abbé Roca: „In carnalizing the central figure of the New Testament, in imposing the dogma of the Word made flesh, the Latin Church sets up a doctrine diametrically opposed to the tenets of Buddhist and Hindu Esotericism and the Greek Gnosis. Therefore, there will always be an abyss between the East and the West, as long as neither of these dogmas yields.“ And further on she said, that a „true Theosophists will never accept either a Christ made Flesh, according to the Roman dogma, or an anthropomorphic God, still less a “Shepherd” in the person of a Pope“.^[51] Alice A. Bailey wrote: „We have fought over the historical Christ, and thus fighting, have lost sight of His message of love to all beings. Fanatics quarrel over His words, and fail to remember that He was ‚the Word made flesh.'“^[52] Alice A. Bailey wrote: „They will prepare and work for conditions in the world in which Christ can move freely among men, in bodily Presence; He need not then remain in His present retreat in Central Asia. „^[53][54]

Another principle of Theosophy, the Law of Attraction was discussed in esoteric writings by Blavatsky,^[55] Annie Besant,^[56] William Quan Judge,^[57] and others;^[58][59] and was also discussed in the writings of Alice Bailey, including a whole chapter in one of her books.^[60][61][62] The term has been embraced, in a simplified form, by the contemporary New Age movement and was recently popularized in the film The Secret.

The Seven Rays of energy

Underlying her writings is the idea that all is energy and that spirit, matter, and the psychic forces intermediate between them are forms of energy.^[63] This energy is life itself.^[64] From one essential energy, divinity, proceed seven rays that underlie and shape the evolution of human life and the entire phenomenal world.^[65] On a cosmic level these seven rays of energy are the creative forces of planets and stars. On a microcosmic level they are the creative forces conditioning the physical, psychic, and spiritual constitution of man. (Jurriaance, p. 73–152)

In Esoteric Psychology I, the first book of A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Bailey writes that the „one Life sought expansion“ resulting in seven aeons, or emanations, manifesting in the expression of life, becoming the „seven Rishis of all the ancient scriptures.“^[66]

She enumerates these seven as:^[67]

1. The Lord of Power or Will
2. The Lord of Love-Wisdom
3. The Lord of Active Intelligence
4. The Lord of Harmony, Beauty and Art
5. The Lord of Concrete Knowledge and Science
6. The Lord of Devotion and Idealism
7. The Lord of Ceremonial Order or Magic

Although described as „Lords“ and „persons“, Bailey states that these „great forces“ are not to be understood in terms of human personality. She also cautions that any description of such things must be couched in terms of our particular planet, such that humanity can understand it, but that these „pure Being[s] … have purposes and activities in which our Earth plays only a minor part.“^[66]

In Bailey’s concept the rays and all things manifest in centers of energy and their relationships.^[68] All rays and centers are focuses of some type of evolving life or consciousness. (Jurriaance, p. 35–52) This includes everything from atoms to centers or chakras in the human constitution, and upwards through the human aura to groups of humans as centers, and cities and nations as centers. (Jurriaance, p. 79- 90 ) Humanity as a whole is conceived as a center of energy as are the masters of wisdom of which she writes.^[69] Likewise, planet Earth as a whole, with all its subsidiary centers of life, is viewed as a center of life within the large life or divinity of our solar system.

The concept of the seven rays can also be found in Theosophical works.^[70] Campbell writes that Bailey, „…was the first to develop the idea of the seven rays, although it can be found in germ in earlier Theosophical writings.“^[47] The seven rays also appear in Hindu religious philosophy.^[71][72]

The constitution of man

In line with previous Theosophical teachings,^[73] Bailey taught that man consists of a soul of abstract mental material, working through a personality—a technical term used to describe the physical, emotional, and less-abstract mental bodies considered holistically.^[74][75] She uses traditional terms for these lower three „vehicles“ or „sheaths“: physical body, astral body and mental body. There is also the etheric body which directly corresponds to the physical but is the vital energizing agent for the whole of a man in all his forms of expression. These auric aspects of the human being are defined as partial emanations or expressions of the soul, which is itself synonymous with the evolving human consciousness. The mind is not conceived to be simply an ephemeral brain effect, but as the motivating energy responsible for the inner constitution of individuals, and which also manifest as the aura.^[76]

In Bailey’s writings, evolution is defined as the process of bringing the „lower nature“ his physical, emotional, and mental selves into integration and alignment with the will of the soul—the „at-one-ment“ of the personality.^[77] It is this transformation that leads to „right human relations“ and spiritual revelation or awakening. Discrete steps on the spiritual path are called initiations, which is to say that the evolving consciousness is entering into new and wider fields of awareness, relationships, responsibilities, and power.^[78][79] In terms of her ray concept, the note of the soul is imposed (or superimposed) on the note of the personality.^[74][80]

The Spiritual Hierarchy, Shamballa, Venus, and Sirius

Bailey wrote that behind all human evolution stands a brotherhood of enlightened souls who have guided and aided humanity throughout history.^[81] For Bailey, the evolution of humanity was intimately bound up with its relationship to this Spiritual Hierarchy. She believed that the stimulating and uplifting influences of religions, philosophies, sciences, educational movements, and human culture in general are the result of this relationship,^[82] and though in time humanity debases all these developments, they are all in their original impetus conceived as the result of the Spiritual Hierarchy working in concert with evolving human potentials.^[83][84][85]

Bailey associated the spiritual hierarchy and its branches with the system of Sirius, the planet Venus, and the mythical land of Shambhala (which she spelled „Shamballa“), the residence of Sanat Kumara, „Lord of the World“. Bailey wrote, „The energy of Sirius by-passes (to use a modern word) Shamballa and is focused in the Hierarchy. […] The entire work of the Great White Lodge is controlled from Sirius….“^[86] Monica Sjoo, in an essay about the New Age movement, explained her interpretation that „Bailey taught that the Hierarchy of Masters exists in Shambhala and that Venusians founded this fabled city some 18 million years ago on the sacred Gobi island, which is now in the Mongolian desert.“^[87] It may be noted here that, in Bailey’s concept, „city“ is figurative since she states that Shamballa is not physical in the common usage of that word but is rather located in „higher ethers.“^[88]

Teachings regarding Maitreya

In the Alice A. Bailey material, she asserts that World War II was a cosmic conflict between good and evil. The Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, representing the Forces of Light, were on the side of the Allies; the Dark Forces were on the side of the Axis. According to Bailey, Adolf Hitler was possessed by the Dark Forces.^[89] With the defeat of the axis by the allies in 1945, the stage was set for the appearance of the being traditional Theosophists call Maitreya, but whom Alice A. Bailey refers to simply as Christ, to inaugurate the New Age.

In January 1946, Bailey prophesied that since, according to her view, „Jiddu Krishnamurti had rejected being overshadowed„, Christ (the name she used in her writings to refer to Maitreya) would return himself by manifesting a physical body of his own on the physical plane „sometime after AD 2025„,^[90] and that this would be the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Christ.^[91]

She further stated that St. Germain (referred to as the Master Rakoczi or the Master R. in her books) is the manager of the executive council of Christ.^[92] This executive council is a specific group of Masters of the Ancient Wisdom charged with preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ and the consequent inauguration of the Age of Aquarius. According to Bailey, when Christ returns, he will stay the entire approximately 2,158 year period of the Age of Aquarius, and thus the New Age equivalent of the Millennial Age will not be just a single millennium but will be the Aquarian bimillennium. During this era, said Bailey, Christ (Maitreya) will reign as the spiritual leader of Earth, the Messiah who will bring World Peace.^[91]

In August 1946, Bailey prophesied that Christ would return in an airplane from „the place on Earth where He has been for many generations“ and that after doing so, he would appear on worldwide television.^[93]

The Great Invocation

The Great Invocation is a mantra given in 1937 to Bailey by Djwhal Khul. The mantra begins with „From the point of Light within the Mind of God, let light stream forth into the minds of men.“ with the rest of the passage reinforcing this idea of men acting in accordance with the plan of God. It is well known by some followers of the New Age movement, where it is used as part of meditation, particularly in groups.^[94]

The invocation has been used in the Findhorn Foundation community since the 1970s. In response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Great Invocation was used as a central element of a new daily program at Findhorn known as the „Network of Light meditations for peace“.^[95] Findhorn’s use of the Great Invocation later spun off to various other groups they had influenced, including groups interested in new age UFO philosophies.^[96][97]

Rosemary Keller described the Great Invocation as a call for „the Christ to return to Earth“ and wrote that Bailey-related groups purchased radio and television time to broadcast the invocation as part of their mission, and that often the invocation was recited in what Keller called „light groups“, to accomplish what Bailey’s disciples considered to be attracting and focusing „spiritual energies to benefit the planet“.^[11] Researcher Hannah Newman described what she found to be an antisemitic element in the Great Invocation. According to Newman, „the Plan“ named in the invocation refers to the plan authored by „the Hierarchy“, that Newman states places „high priority on removing all Jewish presence and influence from human consciousness, a goal to be achieved by eliminating Judaism.“^[6]

Discipleship and service

Bailey elaborated the relation of humanity to the Hierarchy in her teaching on Discipleship in the New Age. A disciple is an accepted student, or chela, in the spiritual ashram of a Master. In this scheme, all awakening souls stand in some relationship—for a long time unconsciously, but eventually in full conscious awareness—to some particular Master.^[98][99] The integrated personality, coming under the influence of the soul, is simultaneously coming under the influence of this Master.^[100] This relationship is determined by karma, by evolutionary status, and (most importantly) by the aspirant’s capacity for work to be done on behalf of humanity.^[101] This service aspect is strongly emphasized throughout Bailey’s writings.^[102] In her concept, the greatly increased („stepped-up“) evolution of consciousness that results from this Master–pupil relationship is made possible only in and through service to humanity.

Bailey’s writing downplayed the traditional devotional and aspirational aspects of the spiritual life, in favor of serving „the Plan of the Hierarchy“ by serving humanity.^[103] According to her, this is primary, and everything hinges upon it.^[104] For Bailey, discipleship means work—service—and the evolution of those sensitivities and powers that enhance that labor. Disciples will never gain such powers or awareness unless and until they will be used solely for unselfish service. (Bailey, p. 38)

Unity and divinity of nations and groups

Underlying Alice Bailey’s writing is the central concepts of unity and divinity.^{[105][106][107][108]}

Although she often identified groups of people by their race, nationality, or religion, she said the key matter was not race or religion per se, but the evolution of consciousness that transcends these labels.^[109] In her writings about the races, she focused on the humanitarian concept of unity and stated that the source of human problems is the spirit of separation that causes individuals and groups to set themselves apart from the rest of humanity. (Bailey, p. 375)

Ross describes Bailey’s teachings as emphasizing the „underlying unity of all forms of life“, and the „essential oneness of all religions, of all departments of science, and of all the philosophies.“^[110] Campbell notes that the New Group of World Servers was established for „… promotion of international understanding, economic sharing, and religious unity.“^[47]

On fanaticism and intolerance

Alice Bailey wrote strongly against all forms of fanaticism and intolerance.^[111] She saw this fanaticism in churches, in nationalism, and in competing esoteric schools. (Bailey pp. 15 & 453)^[112] She associated this fanaticism with unintelligent devotion and holding on to old ways and ancient theologies. Bailey indicated that these problems were found mostly in the older generations, that their fanaticism would limit their personal growth and that they would mostly find a solution for that limitation through devotion, and the forward movement of spiritual evolution.^[113]

Racial theories

Bailey upheld theories of racial differentiation that posited a division of humanity into races that are on different levels in a „ladder of evolution“. These ‚races‘ do not represent a national or physical type, but a state of evolution. For example, she states that the Aryan root race (or ‚5th race‘), as an „emerging new race“, are the most recently evolved people on Earth, although the term ‚Aryan‚ as used by her has a quite distinct meaning from the separative and racist use of the word. It refers not only to Caucasian peoples, but to origins in Indo-Persia, and indicates a culture where thought and intellect is dominant. In her book Education in the New Age, Bailey made predictions about the use of occult racial theories in the schools of the future, which she said would be based on the idea of ‚root races‚ (originally vast prehistoric spans of time covering thousands of years when a particular human facet was being developed) such as Lemurians (physically adept), Atlanteans (emotionally adept), Aryans (mentally adept), and the New Race with „group qualities and consciousness and idealistic vision.“.^[114] However, she holds that the forthcoming ‚sixth sub-race‘ (evolving from various facets of current ‚fifth race‘ intellectual culture) cannot reach its peak until the ‚sixth race‘ proper (due many thousands of years hence), and may therefore not be the advance some of her New Age followers wish for. In her The Destiny of the Nations, Bailey described a process by which this „new race“ will evolve, after which „low grade human bodies will disappear, causing a general shift in the racial types toward a higher standard.“^[115]

Her writings were criticized by Victor Shnirelman, a cultural anthropologist and ethnographer, who in a survey of modern Neopaganism in Russia, drew particular attention to „… groups [that] take an extremely negative view of multi-culturalism, object to the ‚mixture‘ of kinds, [and] support isolationism and the prohibition of immigration.“ He noted that a number of Bailey’s books, as well as those of her contemporary Julius Evola, had been recently translated into Russian, and said that „… racist and antisemitic trends are explicit, for example, in the occult teachings of Alice Bailey and her followers, who wish to cleanse Christianity of its ‚Jewish inheritance‘ and reject the ‚Jewish Bible‘ as a prerequisite for entering the Age of Aquarius.“.^[116]

Monica Sjöö, a Swedish-born British artist, writer, and supporter of the Goddess movement, wrote that Bailey, through her published teachings, had a „reactionary and racist influence on the whole New Age movement.“^[117] She also noted what she called Bailey’s (and Theosophy’s) „pro-fascist religious views“, such as the belief in a secret elite of „Masters“ who control world events and human minds through occult means and attempt to bring about the evolution of an Aryan super race (although this is an understandably modern misunderstanding of her teaching – ‚Aryan‘ as used by Bailey is easily confused with the modern terminology, and the „Masters“ are not an elite, but instead are ‚enlightened‘ individuals originally introduced in Theosophy as having evolved beyond the human or „4th kingdom“ into the 5th or „Kingdom of souls“, and who – in her view – guide the human race as a whole).^[118]

On the Negro race

Bailey stated that the Negro race contains a large number of „child souls“, leading lives of „physical activity motivated by the desire for satisfaction of some kind, and by a shallow „wish-life“ or desire nature, and almost entirely oriented towards the physical life.“^[119] She also wrote of the need for the white races to train the Negroes of Africa so that they will be fitted for true self-government.^[120]

She described Negro people as „creative, artistic and capable of the highest mental development when taught and trained – as capable as is the white man;“ and she emphasized the need for the white races to accord the Negro „the respect and the opportunity which is due him“, stating that „The future peace of the world depends today upon enlightened, farseeing statesmanship and an appreciation of the fact that God has made all men free.“^[121]

She wrote that what she described as „the Negro Problem“ is divided into two areas: „the problem of the future of the African Negro and the problem of the future of the Negro in the western hemisphere.“^[122]

On „the Negro problem“ in Africa

Bailey considered the indigenous people of Africa to be in the „embryonic stage“ of evolutionary development, and wrote that, „Behind the many separative religious cults of that dark land, there emerges a fundamental and pure mysticism, ranging all the way from nature worship and a primitive animism to a deep occult knowledge and an esoteric understanding which may some day make Africa the seat of the purest form of occult teaching and living.“^[122] She said that „Right human relations must be firmly established between the emerging Negro empire and the rest of the world; the new ideals and the new world trends must be fostered in the receptive Negro consciousness and in this way darkest Africa will become a radiant center of light, ready for self-government and expressing true freedom.“

On „the Negro problem“ in the Americas

Regarding the relations between the Negro race and other races in the Western Hemisphere, Bailey wrote that it „constitutes a very ugly story, seriously implicates the white man and provides an outstanding disgrace“, and that „The white people face a grave responsibility and it lies in their hands to change conditions.“^[123] She was a vocal advocate of humane treatment and equal rights for the Negro race, acknowledged that they had been subject to much cruelty and exploitation by the white race, but also said that good had come of this for Negroes, and described reason for optimism regarding their future prospects.^[122] She advocated improvement in the situation of the Negro in the United States, calling for the people of America to end discrimination, to accept the Negro population as brothers and friends and thereby bring about positive change.^[123] She also wrote that in the black peoples attempt to resolve their problem of separation in society, „the spiritual forces of the world are on the side of the Negro.“^[124]

On the Jewish people

Bailey wrote much about the Jewish people, referring to them collectively as a race, with group karma, characteristics, and behaviors. Specifically, she was of the opinion that Jews embody the characteristics of „materialism, cruelty and a spiritual conservatism“ and the „separative, selfish, lower concrete mind.“^[125][126]

On the social characteristics of the Jews

Bailey described Jews as „the most reactionary and conservative race in the world“, explaining this as a result of their need to preserve their cultural identity as a wandering people under persecution. She wrote that, „People complain (and it is frequently true) the Jews lower the atmosphere of any district in which they reside. They hang their bedding and their clothing out of the windows. They live on the streets, sitting in groups on the sidewalks.“^[16]

She wrote that Jews „take what they want, to see to it that their children get the best of everything available, no matter what the cost to others“; they „blame the non-Jewish nations for their miseries“; and, „The Jew needs to recognize his share in bringing about the dislike which hounds him everywhere.“^[127]

She stated that even though the Jews are „possessed of great wealth and influence“, they create „dissension among the nations“ and „almost abusive, demands for the Gentile to shoulder the entire blame and end the difficulty.“^[127]

On „the Jewish Problem“

Bailey said that what she called the „Jewish problem“^[128][129] was the result of negative karma accumulated by the Jews due to „acts and deeds there claimed by him as his racial acts and deeds (conquest, terrorism and cruelty)…“ and wrote that the solution to this „problem“ will come „…when the races regard the Jewish problem as a humanitarian problem but also when the Jew does his share of understanding, love and right action. This he [the Jew] does not yet do, speaking racially.“^[125]

Before World War II, she wrote: „The major racial problem has, for many centuries, been the Jewish, which has been brought to a critical point by Germany…“;^[130] that the Jews „constitute an international minority of great aggressiveness, exceedingly vocal“;^[131] and that while they are an ancient, civilized and cultured people, their problems as a „struggling minority“ are the result of „certain inherent characteristics“, and the „untidy effect they have on any community“.^[132]

In 1939, as World War II began, Bailey wrote that „the Jewish problem, is definitely producing cleavage as a part of the divine plan… to bring humanity to certain realizations and decisions.“^[133]

In 1948, after the war and the Holocaust, she wrote that „there are eighty percent of other people in the concentration camps, only twenty percent Jews“, and that Jews have not only repudiated the Messiah, but they have forgotten their unique relation to humanity.^[115][134]

Bailey also wrote critically about hatred of the Jews and predicted a future in which Jews would „fuse and blend with the rest of mankind.“^[135] In her autobiography, she stated that she had been on Hitler’s „blacklist“, and she believed this had been because of her defense of the Jews during her lectures throughout Europe.^[136] She criticized the cruelty of „the Gentile“ (non-Jewish people) for their treatment of the Jews, stating „great is his responsibility for wrong doing and cruel action.“^[137]

Bailey further stated that the Jews were themselves responsible for the bad treatment they received, „Changed inner attitudes are needed on both sides, but very largely on the side of the Jews.“ She was aware of and accepted the controversial nature of her comments in this regard.^[127]

On interracial marriage

Bailey wrote regarding interracial marriage that „the best and soundest thinkers in both the white and black races at this time deplore mixed marriages. They mean no happiness for either party.“ She also advised against intermarriage between Caucasians and Asians but said that children of interracial unions would be unavoidable following World War II due to the actions of what she called the „inevitable promiscuity“ of the armies during that period. She wrote that „children of mixed race, as well as the half-castes and the Eurasians may be the answer to a large part of the problem. There will be hundreds of thousands of these children of mixed parentage, forming part of the world population in the next generation and immediate cycle and they are a group with which we will have to reckon.“^[138]

While she believed that intermarriage would not solve what she called „the Negro problem,“^[139] she implied this might change and on this issue, „I make no prophecy about the future.“^[140]

Her comments on the topic of interracial marriage are conflicting: On the one hand she suggested that mixed marriages have unhappy effects, on the other hand she seemed to view them as positive and contributing to the solution of racial tensions.^[141] Elsewhere she wrote that marriages are rooted in soul relationships,^[142] and that intermarriage in general is not a solution to racial problems, but that the solution lies in appreciation of the good qualities found groups other than one’s own.^[143] Her contrary statements thus reflect the mixed and emerging views of the time in which she was writing.

On nationalism and nations

Bailey criticized national groups, based on what she believed were their violations of the spirit of unity and brotherhood. She believed that an individual’s primary allegiance is to humanity and not to any subgroup within it: „I call you to no organizational loyalties, but only to love your fellowmen, be they German, American, Jewish, British, French, Negro or Asiatic.“^[144]

On the United States and France

While praising the United States and France in some respects, Bailey saw in them political corruption.^[145][146] She regarded the talk about a free press as largely an illusory ideal and stated, „… particularly is it absent in the United States, where parties and publishers dictate newspaper policies.“^[147]

On Israel, Zionism, and the U.S.S.R.

Regarding the foundation of the modern nation of Israel after World War II, Bailey said that „The Jews, by their illegal and terrorist activities, have laid a foundation of great difficulty for those who are seeking to promote world peace.“^[148]

Bailey criticized Zionism, comparing it with the then-current Stalinist regime in the Russian-dominated Soviet Union, writing, „Zionism today stands for aggression and for the use of force, and the keynote is permission to take what you want irrespective of other people or of their inalienable rights. These points of view are against the position of the spiritual leaders of humanity, and therefore the leaders of the Zionist movement, and the group of men who direct and control the policies of Russia, are against the policies of the spiritual Hierarchy and are contrary to the lasting good of mankind. … The menace to world freedom today lies in the known policies of the rulers of the U.S.S.R. and in the devious and lying machinations of the Zionists.“^[149]

On the „present world crisis“

Bailey said, „We could take the nations, one by one, and observe how this nationalistic, separative or isolationist spirit, emerging out of an historical past, out of racial complexes, out of territorial position, out of revolt and out of possession of material resources, has brought about the present world crisis and cleavage and this global clash of interests and ideals.“^[150] In 1947, in listing the causes of world conflict, she cited the fight for oil, and the fight over Palestine, „[…] a fight which has greed and not any love of Palestine behind it, and which is governed by financial interests and not by the humanitarian spirit which the Zionists claim […]“.^[151]

On organized religions

Bailey taught a form of universal spirituality that transcended denominational identification, believing that, „Every class of human beings is a group of brothers. Catholics, Jews, Gentiles, occidentals and orientals are all the sons of God.“ She stated that all religions originate from the same spiritual source, and that humanity will eventually come to realize this, and as they do so, the result will be the emergence of a universal world religion and a „new world order.“^[152][153] Bailey described a world where there would be no separate religions but rather „one great body of believers.“ She predicted that these believers would accept unified truths based on brotherhood and „divine sonship“, and would „cooperate with the divine Plan, revealed to them by the spiritual leaders of the race.“ She wrote that this was not a distant dream but a change that was actually occurring during the time of her writing. (Bailey, p 140)

Despite her focus on unity of religion, Bromley and Hammond point out that Bailey and other „occultists“ „…hammered home the central idea, ‚The East is the true home of spiritual knowledge and occult wisdom.'“^[154]

Author Steven Sutcliffe wrote that Bailey’s „World Goodwill“ organization was promoting groups of „world servers“ to, as he quotes Bailey, „serve the Plan, Humanity, the Hierarchy and the Christ.“^[155]

On Judaism

Bailey was highly critical of Judaism. She wrote: „The word ‚love‘ as it concerns relation to other people is lacking in their religious presentation, though love of Jehovah is taught with due threats; the concept of a future life, dependent upon conduct and behavior to others and on right action in the world of men, is almost entirely lacking in The Old Testament and teaching on immortality is nowhere emphasized; salvation is apparently dependent upon the keeping of numerous physical laws and rules related to physical cleanliness; they go so far as to establish retail shops where these rules are kept – in a modern world where scientific methods are applied to purity in food. All these and other factors of less importance set the Jew apart, and these he enforces no matter how obsolete they are or inconvenient to others.“^[156]

Because of writings like these, the American Chassidic author Rabbi Yonassan Gershom wrote that Bailey’s plan for a New World Order and her call for „the gradual dissolution—again if in any way possible—of the Orthodox Jewish faith“ revealed that „her goal is nothing less than the destruction of Judaism itself.“ Gershom also wrote that „This stereotyped portrayal of Jews is followed by a hackneyed diatribe against the Biblical Hebrews, based upon the „angry Jehovah“ theology of nineteenth-century Protestantism. Jews do not, and never have, worshipped an angry vengeful god, and we Jews never, ever call God „Jehovah.“^[157]

On Christianity

Bailey wrote of „the return of the Christ“, but her concept had little in common with that of mainstream Christian churches. Bailey almost always used the phrase „the Christ“ when not referring specifically to the Christian idea. For her, the leadership of the Hierarchy is an „office“ (so to speak), to be occupied by various Masters in the course of Their unfolding evolution. She saw the Christ as a great „Person“, embodying the energy of love, and His return as the awakening of that energy in human consciousness.^[158] She also introduced the ideas that the new Christ might be „of no particular faith at all“, that he may be from any nation, race, or religion, and wrote that his purpose of returning will be to „restore man’s faith in the Father’s love“ in a close personal relationship with „all men everywhere“.^[159]

She stated that no one particular group can claim Him—that the New Age Christ belongs to whole world, and not to Christians alone, or to any nation or group. (Bailey, p 109) Bailey was highly critical of mainstream Christianity; she wrote that much of the Church’s teaching about Christ’s return is directly opposed to His own intentions and that „The history of the Christian nations and of the Christian church has been one of an aggressive militancy“ (Bailey, p 110)

Influence

Alice Bailey’s influence can be seen on the groups she founded, on a variety of religious and spiritual authors, and on groups that have utilized her writings in their own teachings.

Groups founded by Bailey or her followers

The Arcane School, founded by Alice and Foster Bailey to disseminate spiritual teachings, organizes a worldwide „Triangles“ program to bring people together in groups of three, for daily meditation and study. Their belief is that they receive divine energy through meditation; this energy is transmitted to humanity, so raising spiritual awareness.^[160] John Michael Greer’s New Encyclopedia of the Occult states that the school „seeks to develop a New Group of World Servers to accomplish the work of the Hierarchy of Masters, under the guidance of its head, the Christ.“^[161]

Influence on the New Age Movement

Bailey made extensive use of the term „New Age“ in her books and some writers have described her as the founder of the New Age movement.^{[4][116][162]} However The New Age was used as the title of a Journal of Christian liberalism and Socialism, published as early as 1894, predating Bailey’s use of the term.^[163][164]

James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton, in Perspectives on the New Age wrote, „The most important—though certainly not the only—source of this transformative metaphor, as well as the term „New Age“, was Theosophy, particularly as the Theosophical perspective was mediated to the movement by the works of Alice Bailey.“^[165]

Sir John Sinclair, in his book The Alice Bailey Inheritance, commented on the seminal influence of Alice Bailey, which, he said, underlies the consciousness growth movement in the 20th century.^[166]

Influence on neopaganism

Several writers have mentioned the affinity of some of Bailey’s concepts with modern expressions of paganism.^[167][168]

During the 1960s and 1970s, the neopagan author and ceremonial magic ritualist Caroll Poke Runyon published a magazine called The Seventh Ray, its name taken from the writings of Alice Bailey. In the 1990s, two volumes of collected articles from the magazine were published as The Seventh Ray Book I, The Blue Ray and The Seventh Ray Book II, the Red Ray.

Influence on women in religion

Author Catherine Wessinger wrote that Bailey was a liberated woman „… sixty years before it became popular“; that Bailey’s books expressed a similar „millennial view“ to the works of Annie Besant; and that they were „an important source of the contemporary New Age movement.“^[169]

According to the Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, several leaders of New Age philosophy have further developed Bailey’s teachings, including the well-known personalities JZ Knight (who channels the entity known by the name Ramtha), Helen Schucman (author of A Course in Miracles through the process of telepathic dictation she called „scribing“),and Elizabeth Clare Prophet (who published what she referred to as „dictations from Ascended Masters“).

The „Tibetan“ teacher, Djwal Khul, whom Bailey claimed was the co-author of many of her books, has also been claimed as co-author by two new female channelers, Violet Starre and Moriah Marston. Starre claims to have channeled Bailey’s old teacher twice: the title of her first book, Diamond Light, Cosmic Psychology of Being, 4th Dimension, 7 Rays & More, owes an obvious debt to Bailey’s writings, and is sometimes listed in book catalogues under the full title „Diamond Light, Cosmic Psychology of Being, 4th Dimension, 7 Rays & More (Teachings Similar to Those Given to Alice A. Bailey) by Djwhal (channeled Through Violet Starre) Khul.“.^[170] The same influence can also be seen in Starre’s The Amethyst Light: Djwhal Khul Through Violet Starre, published in 2004. Marston’s Soul Searching with Djwahl Khul, the Tibetan, was published in 2006, and according to her publisher, Airleaf Books, „She has been a conscious channel for Ascended Master Djwhal Khul since 1986.“

Influence on psychotherapy and healing

In 1930, with the patronage of English-Dutch spiritualist, theosophist and scholar Olga Froebe-Kapteyn, Bailey established the short-lived „School of Spiritual Research“ located on Froebe-Kapteyn’s estate, Casa Gabriella, in Switzerland. (In 1932 the school was closed due to personal conflict between Bailey and Froebe-Kapteyn, at which time Froebe-Kapteyn replaced it with the Eranos group.) Roberto Assagioli, founder of Psychosynthesis, was a lecturer at School of Spiritual Research.^[171] He continued a close association with Bailey during the 1930s; some of his writings were published in Bailey’s magazine The Beacon; and he was a trustee of Bailey’s organization, the Lucis Trust.^[172] He had developed his approach to psychology, called Psychosynthesis, beginning in 1910; his methods were later influenced by some elements of Bailey’s work.^{[173][174][175][176][177]} However, authors John Firman and Ann Gila write that Assagioli kept what he referred to as a „wall of silence“ between the areas of psychosynthesis and religion or metaphysics, insisting that they not be confused with each other.^[178]

Roger J. Woolger said, in a paper presented to the „Beyond the Brain“ Conference held at Cambridge University in 1999, „In Tansley as in Brennan you will find descriptions of a hierarchy of subtle bodies called the etheric, emotional, mental and spiritual that surround the physical body. (Interestingly Tansley attributed the source of his model to Alice Bailey’s theosophical commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the locus classicus of Hindu teaching.)“^[179]

Bailey’s influence can be found in therapeutic communities with which she was never directly involved, such as the Human Potential Movement.^[11]

Influence on UFO groups

Christopher Patridge wrote that the works of Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, and Theosophy in general all influenced what he called the „UFO religions„.^[180] He explained that „…Theosophy has several prominent branches, and, strictly speaking, the branch which has had the most important influence on the UFO religion is that developed by Alice Bailey.“.^[181] Partridge also quoted Gordon Melton, who suggested that the first UFO religion was Guy Ballard‚s „I Am“ Activity,^[180] which Bailey described as a „cheap comedy.“^[182]

Professor Robert S. Ellwood of the University of Southern California investigated a wide range of religious and spiritual groups in the United States during the 1970s, including a nationwide group of UFO believers called Understanding, Inc., which had been founded by a contactee named Daniel Fry. He reported that, „There is no particular religious practice connected with the meeting, although interestingly the New Age Prayer derived from the Alice Bailey writings is used as an invocation.“^[183]

George D. Chryssides of the University of Wolverhampton, cited Bailey’s influence on the ideas of the Order of the Solar Temple and related UFO organisations.^[184]

Benjamin Creme, formerly a member of the UFO religion the Aetherius Society, became a follower of Alice A. Bailey and then proclaimed in 1975 that he had been contacted by Maitreya to prepare for the return of Maitreya to Earth that had been prophesied by Alice A. Bailey in 1946. Alice A. Bailey prophesied in January 1946 that (since Jiddu Krishnamurti had repudiated the „World Teacher Project“) Christ (in her books she refers to Maitreya as The Christ or The World Teacher, not as Maitreya) would return himself by manifesting a physical body of his own on the physical plane „sometime after AD 2025″^[185] and that this would be the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Christ^[186] (See Maitreya (Benjamin Creme)).

Esoteric astrology

Whereas most astrology focuses on the personality, the esoteric astrology of Alice Bailey seeks to explain the soul and its desire for spiritual evolution.^[187][188] Esoteric astrology is grounded in Bailey’s (Djwhal’s) Ageless Wisdom teachings.^[189][190] According to one writer, „The Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, has provided a significant foundation for a more Soul-oriented approach to astrology and to the Life it seeks to symbolize and interpret.“^[191]

The esoteric astrologers who follow the teachings of Bailey typically base their work on her five-volume Treatise on the Seven Rays, particularly volume three which focuses on astrology.^[192]

In esoteric astrology the seven rays are applied to the astrological signs and planets, with a corresponding „soul urge“, in the following manner (taken from Oken^[192]).

• The First Ray: Will/Power — Signs: Aries, Leo, Capricorn — Planets: Vulcan, Pluto

Soul Urge: „The use of spiritual will for the benefit of the collective; power utilized for the purpose of enhancing unity and beauty; the expression of will for the purposes and being of the group.“ (p. 105)

• The Second Ray: Love/Wisdom — Signs: Gemini, Virgo, Pisces — Planets: Jupiter, Sun

Soul Urge: „The urge to bring about a sustaining, loving wholeness to any group or life situation; the ability, through magnetic attraction, to bring about healing; the focus for the stimulation of consciousness, and hence for greater love/wisdom; the ability to see beyond differences into unifying principles.“ (p. 110)

• The Third Ray: Active Intelligence — Signs: Cancer, Libra, Capricorn — Planets: Earth, Saturn

Soul Urge: „The birthing of ideas to benefit humanity; the structuring of time and activities to allow for group energies to flourish; inherent, objective intelligence ready to be used in service to humanity in all ways.“ (p. 114)

• The Fourth Ray: Harmony through Conflict — Signs: Taurus, Scorpio, Sagittarius — Planets: Mercury, Moon

Soul Urge: „The ‚Divine Artist‘ – one who seeks to raise humanity’s consciousness through the realization of the beauty and harmony existing in nature and in the world of forms; the mediator between heaven and earth, God and man; the Priest.“ (p. 122)

• The Fifth Ray: Concrete Knowledge — Signs: Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius — Planet: Venus

Soul Urge: „Those who work to be connecting links of intelligence between the abstract world of pure ideation and the concrete world of practical application; precision and exactitude in creating those forms and inventions which allow for the outpouring of Higher-Mind Intelligence.“ (p. 127)

• The Sixth Ray: Devotion and Idealism — Signs: Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces — Planet: Mars, Neptune

Soul Urge: „The urge to transform selfish and personal motivation into selfless, impersonal devotion for the good of all; the bringing about of circumstances which reorient the exclusive to the inclusive for the greater expression of Love/Wisdom.“ (p. 133)

• The Seventh Ray: Ceremonial Order and Magic — Signs: Aries, Cancer, Capricorn — Planet: Uranus

Soul Urge: „The urge to gather, formulate, and harmonize various aspects of a given set of life circumstances into an ordered expression for the Will of God; the urge to make ‚heaven on earth.'“ (p. 139)

The planetary and house rulers differ in esoteric astrology as compared to exoteric astrology. The esoteric planetary and house rulers are to be used when a person is analyzing the soul’s purpose or journey through life. According to Djwhal Khul (Alice Bailey), here are the rulers.^[193]

Alice Bailey wrote in Esoteric Astrology, „The human being in his eventual recognized group relationships is of more importance than appears in his individual life, which the orthodox horoscope seeks to elucidate. It only determines his little destiny and unimportant fate. Esoteric astrology indicates his group usefulness and the scope of his potential consciousness.“

Esoteric Healing

Esoteric healing is a major subject in the philosophical writings of Alice Bailey. It is contained in the fourth volume of „The Treatise on the Seven Rays“.^[194] The primary emphasis of esoteric healing is not on the physical body or any of the three personality bodies of the human being (physical, emotional, mental), but on the soul. It is the soul that heals. This is stated in the „Law One of Esoteric Healing“: „All disease is the result of inhibited soul life. This is true of all forms in all kingdoms. The art of the healer consists in releasing the soul so that its life can flow through the aggregate of organisms which constitute any particular form.“ The primary healing ray is ray two. More advanced esoteric healing allows the practitioner to work with their own soul ray and the soul ray of the patient. Volume IV (Esoteric Healing) was first published in 1953. It took until the 1970s for a group to adequately assimilate the teachings and begin to put it into practice. Brenda Johnston founded the International Health Research Network in 1971. In 1984 the group became a registered charity in UK, with its name changed to the International Network of Esoteric Healing (INEH). The international group remains small but it has spread to about 20 countries with training of students by trained teachers of esoteric healing, esoteric healing clinics, national and international conferences annually. They also have a biannual Journal. Although INEH requires membership of its organization, esoteric healing remains open to anyone wishing to practice the art.

Alice A. Bailey in popular culture

Music

• In 1975, Todd Rundgren released an album titled Initiation which has a song called „Initiation“ on side one. The title of the album is apparently based on the Theosophical concept of Initiation, taught by Alice A. Bailey and C.W. Leadbeater. The entire second side of the album is taken up by a song called „A Treatise on Cosmic Fire“; the three parts of the song are listed as: „I. The Internal Fire, or Fire by Friction; II. The Fire of Spirit, or Electric Fire; The Fire of Mind, or Solar Fire.“ The second parts of these three phrases are taken directly from Alice A. Bailey’s book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Also in 1975, Rundgren released an album by his side-project Utopia titled „Another Live.“ This album contained a song titled „The Seven Rays“ (see reference above). Finally, in 1977, Rundgren followed up with another Bailey reference with a song entitled „Love in Action“ from the Utopia album Oops! Wrong Planet. Love in Action was the concept promoted by Bailey’s and Foster Bailey’s „World Goodwill“ organization.
• In 1982, Bailey’s influence appeared in pop culture, with the release of Van Morrison‚s album Beautiful Vision, in which he directly referred to the teachings and the Tibetan in the lyrics of the songs „Dweller on the Threshold“ and „Aryan Mist“.^[195] Morrison also used the phrase „world of glamour“, reminiscent of Bailey’s Glamour: A World Problem, in the songs „Ivory Tower“ and „Green Mansions“. The song Ancient of Days from the 1984 Sense of Wonder album appears to be a reference to a Bailey concept found in such books as The Externalization of the Hierarchy. Alice A. Bailey and the Tibetan’s Glamour: A World Problem is also directly cited in the liner notes to Morrison’s album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.

Bibliography

The Lucis Trust is the official publisher of Alice Bailey’s books. A few books of Alice Bailey that are no longer under copyright are also available online at independent web sites.

Credited to Alice Bailey

Works containing the prefatory Extract from a Statement by the Tibetan, generally taken to indicate the book was a „received“ work.

• Bailey, Alice (1922). Initiation, human and solar. Lucifer Pub. Co.. OCLC 1882542
• Bailey, Alice (1922). Letters on occult meditation. New York. OCLC 16554444
• Bailey, Alice Anne (1930). A treatise on cosmic fire. OCLC 59038059
• Bailey, Alice (1997) [1927]. The light of the soul : its science and effect : a paraphrase of the Yoga sutras of Patanjali. Lucis Publishing. ISBN 9780853301127
• Bailey, Alice A. (1987) [1934]. A treatise on white magic, or, The way of the disciple (5 ed.). Lucis Pub. Co.. ISBN 9780853301233
• Bailey, Alice (1944). Discipleship in the new age. New York, Lucis Pub. Co. [. OCLC 7376440
• Bailey, Alice (1944). The problems of humanity. New York. OCLC 368105355
• Bailey, Alice (1947). The reappearance of the Christ. New York, Men of Goodwill. OCLC 80397436
• Bailey, Alice (1949). The destiny of the nations. Lucis. OCLC 221102891
• Bailey, Alice (1950). Glamour : a world problem. Lucis Press. OCLC 221718671
• Bailey, Alice (1950). Telepathy and the etheric vehicle. New York, Lucis Pub. Co. OCLC 19102973
• Education in the New Age—1954
• The Externalization of the Hierarchy—1957
• Ponder On This: A Compilation—2003
• A Treatise on the Seven Rays:
  • Volume 1: Esoteric Psychology I—1936
  • Volume 2: Esoteric Psychology II—1942
  • Volume 3: Esoteric Astrology—1951
  • Volume 4: Esoteric Healing—1953
  • Volume 5: The Rays and the Initiations—1960

Credited to Alice A. Bailey alone

Works in which Bailey claimed sole authorship of the material.

• The Consciousness of the Atom—1922
• The Soul and its Mechanism—1930
• From Intellect to Intuition—1932
• From Bethlehem to Calvary—1937
• The Unfinished Autobiography—1951
• The Labors of Hercules—1974
• The Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Interpretation—first published 1982

Сriticism

• Sjöö, Monica (1998). New Age Channelings – Who Or What Is Being Channeled? Bristol, England: Green Leaf Bookshop. Entire text online at Monica Sjoo website, page found 2010-06-28.
• Sjöö, Monica, Sinister Channelings Notes and explanations to accompany the „New Age Channelings“ book. Entire text online, page found 2010-06-28.
• Sjöö, Monica (1999-09-09). Return of the Dark/Light Mother or New Age Armageddon? Towards a Feminist Vision of the Future. Texas: Plain View Press.
• A comparison between H.P.Blavatsky & Alice Baily. The Pseudo-Occultism of Alice Baily by Alice Leighton Cleather and Basil Crump. 1929
• Е.И. Рерих. Критика А. Бейли.

See also

Spirituality portal

• Esoteric cosmology
• Esoteric healing
• List of spirituality-related topics
• Lucis Trust
• Magic and religion
• New World Order
• Planes of existence
• Reincarnation
• Western mystery tradition

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alice Bailey

• Lucis Trust
• Alice Bailey lectures^{[dead link]}
• A compilation of extracts from the books of Alice A. Bailey can be read online at Lucistrust (registration required)
• Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 25 short excerpt
• Dissertation from the U of W. Sydney, The texts of Alice A. Bailey: An inquiry into the role of esotericism in transforming consciousness.^{[dead link]}

• 1880 births
• 1949 deaths
• Antisemitism
• English astrologers
• English occult writers
• English Theosophists
• Former Theosophists
• New Age writers
• People from Manchester
• Occult

The term Neo-Theosophy is a term, originally derogatory, used by the followers of Blavatsky to denominate the system of Theosophical ideas expounded by Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater following the death of Madame Blavatsky in 1891. This material differed in some respects from Blavatsky’s original presentation, but it is accepted as genuinely Theosophical by the vast majority of Theosophists around the world.

After Blavatsky died in 1891, William Quan Judge became involved in a dispute with Henry Steele Olcott and Annie Besant over Judge allegedly forging letters from the Mahatmas. As a result, he ended his association with Olcott and Besant during 1895 and took most of the Society’s American Section with him. He managed his new organization for about a year until his death in New York, whereupon Katherine Tingley became manager. The organization originating from the faction of Olcott and Besant is based nowadays in India and known as the Theosophical Society – Adyar, while the organization managed by Judge is known nowadays simply as the Theosophical Society, but often with the specification, „international headquarters, Pasadena, California.“ The Theosophical Society – Adyar is the original group denounced as Neo-Theosophy by those in the Theosophical Society–International Headquarters (Pasadena, California), who are followers of William Q. Judge and the original teachings of Madame Blavatsky; they regard themselves as the Orthodox Theosophists and do not accept what they regard as the Neo-Theosophical teachings of Annie Besant, Henry Olcott, and C.W. Leadbeater.

The term Neo-Theosophy was coined by Ferdinand T. Brooks around 1912 in a book called Neo Theosophy Exposed, the second part of an earlier book called The Theosophical Society and its Esoteric Bogeydom.^[1] Around 1924, Margaret Thomas published a book called Theosophy Versus Neo-Theosophy. This book, now available online,^[2] presents a detailed critical comparison of Blavatskyian Theosophy and Neo-Theosophy.

G. R. S. Mead who was also highly critical of the clairvoyant researches of Besant and Leadbeater, remaining loyal to Blavatskyian Theosophy,^[3] also used the term Neo-Theosophy to refer to Besant’s movement. For him „Theosophy“ meant the wisdom element in the great world religions and philosophies.^[4]

Later, the term Neo-Theosophical came to be used outside Theosophical circles to refer to groups formed by former Theosophists as well as groups whose central premises borrow heavily from Blavatskyian Theosophy. Robert S. Ellwood, in his 1973 book Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America referred to organizations that had been formed by former Theosophists as „devolutions of Theosophy“ and included in his survey „Neo-Gnostic groups and Neo-Rosicrucian groups […] the Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, […] Alice Bailey‚s groups, (Guy Ballard‚s) „I AM Activity“ and Max Heindel‚s Rosicrucianism.^[5] In a later book, Alternative Altars (1979) Professor Ellwood added;

Alice Bailey (1880 – 1949), founder of the Arcane School and the Full Moon Meditation Groups, and Guy Ballard (1878 – 1930), of the „I AM“ movement, are representative of those who have started activities based on new and special communications from Theosophical Masters.^[6]

The author Daryl S. Paulson associates „neo-Theosophy“ with Alice Bailey.^[7]

Other neo-Theosophists include Steiner‚s contemporary Peter Deunov and Samael Aun Weor, who introduced theosophical teachings to Latin America. Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley were also influencers of (and influenced by) the leading edge of the theosophical movement, which in turn influenced Anton LaVey‚s Satanism, L. Ron Hubbard‚s Scientology, Wiccanism, and the modern New Age and New Thought movements. (Alice Bailey introduced the term New Age).^[8] Some examples of Neo-Theosophists today include Benjamin Creme and Douglas Baker.

References

1. ^ James R. Lewis, Jesper Aagaard Petersen, Controversial New Religions, Oxford University Press, 2004 ISBN 0-19-515682-X Page 292
2. ^ Theosophy vs. Neo-Theosophy:
3. ^ by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Clare Goodrick-Clarke G. R. S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest North Atlantic Books ISBN 1-55643-572-X Page 22
4. ^ cited in Demetres P. Tryphonopoulos, The Celestial Tradition: A Study of Ezra Pound’s the Cantos , Wilfrid Laurier University Press 1992 ISBN 0-88920-202-8 Page 85
5. ^ Robert S. Ellwood, Jr., „Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America“, Prentice-Hall, 1973 ISBN 0-13-773317-8
6. ^ Robert S. Ellwood, Jr., Alternative Altars: Unconventional and Eastern Spirituality in America, University of Chicago Press, 1979 ISBN 0-226-20618-1
7. ^ Daryl S. Paulson, „The Near-Death Experience: An Integration of Cultural, Spiritual, and Physical Perspectives“, Journal of Near-Death Studies, Springer, Netherlands, ISSN 0891-4494 (Print) 1573-3661 (Online) Issue Volume 18, Number 1 / September, 1999
8. ^ See Neville Drury. „Why Does Aleister Crowley Still Matter?“ Richard Metzger, ed. Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. Disinformation Books, 2003.

External links

• Theosophy Versus Neo-Theosophy – online version of Margaret Thomas’s book.

Ascended Masters, in the Ascended Master Teachings is derived from the Theosophical concept of Masters of the Ancient Wisdom or „Mahatmas“, though they differ in important aspects. They are believed to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans, but who have undergone a process of spiritual transformation originally called Initiation in Theosophy but in the Ascended Master Teachings it is referred to as Ascension.^[1] The term „Ascended Master“ was first introduced in 1934 with the publication of Unveiled Mysteries ^[2] by Guy Ballard in The „I AM“ Activity.^[3] This concept was further popularized by authors such as Baird T. Spalding during the 1930s, and in books like The Bridge to Freedom (1951),^[4] The Summit Lighthouse (1958),^[5][6] and various other organizations such as the White Eagle Lodge (1936).^[7]

Definition

Students of Ascended Master Teachings organizations (also known as „Ascended Master Activities„) believe that the Presence of Life – God – Individualizes as the „I AM“ and incarnates throughout the created universes. They believe that their Teachings have been given to humanity by the Ascended Masters. These are believed to be individuals who have lived in physical bodies, acquired the Wisdom and Mastery needed to become Immortal and Free of the cycles of „re-embodiment“ and karma, and have attained their „Ascension“. They consider the Ascension to be the complete permanent union of the raised and purified outer self with the „I AM“ Presence – that True Identity that is the unique Individualization of Almighty God for each person. This knowledge is believed to have previously been taught for millions of years only within „Ascended Master Retreats“ and „Mystery Schools“. It is believed by adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings that this wisdom was partially released by the Theosophical Society beginning in 1875, by C.W. Leadbeater and Alice A. Bailey, and began to have more detailed public release in the 1930s by the Ascended Masters through Guy Ballard in the I AM Activity.^[8][9] However, Theosophists maintain the concept of Ascended Masters are a corruption of the original Theosophical concept of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. The term Ascended Master was first introduced in 1934 by Guy Ballard with the publication of Unveiled Mysteries, a book which he said was dictated to him by the Ascended Master St. Germain.^[2][3] Other Ascended Master Teachings are contained in The Bridge to Freedom (1951),^[4] Mark Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet‚s The Summit Lighthouse (1958) (reorganized as the Church Universal and Triumphant in 1975),^[5] The Temple of The Presence (1995),^[10] The Hearts Center (2002), the I AM University (2004), and various other organizations such as the White Eagle Lodge (1936) and the Aquarian Christine Church Universal, Inc. (2006).^[7][11]

Beliefs about Ascended Masters

Originally presented by H. P. Blavatsky in the 1870s, the idea of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom or „Mahatmas“ was adopted by people who at some point had had a connection with the Theosophical movement, such as Alice Bailey, Helena Roerich, and Manly P. Hall. Later on many other organizations, especially in the United States, developed the concept of Ascended Masters, which departs from the theosophical one in several aspects.

It is believed that Ascended Masters are individuals who were formerly embodied on the Earth and learned the lessons of life during their incarnations. They gained mastery over the limitations of the matter planes, balanced at least 51% of negative karma, and fulfilled their Dharma (Divine Plan). An Ascended Master, in such an understanding, has become God-like and a source of unconditional „Divine Love“ to all life, and through the Ascension has united with his or her own „God Self,“ the „I AM Presence.“

It is further claimed by various groups and teachers that the Ascended Masters serve as the teachers of mankind from the realms of Spirit, and that all people will eventually attain their Ascension and move forward in spiritual evolution beyond this planet. According to these teachings, they remain attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity, and act to inspire and motivate its spiritual growth. In many traditions and organizations, they are considered part of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Earth, and members of the Great Brotherhood of Light, also known as the Great White Lodge, Great White Brotherhood, or Universal White Brotherhood (per Peter Deunov).^[12]

According to Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme there are sixty Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, defined as beings who have reached the Fifth Level of Initiation or above, with Djwhal Khul in a pivotal role as the master who telepathically dictated the many esoteric teachings in Baileys‘ books. Elizabeth Clare Prophet revealed, by taking „dictations“ from them, the names of many dozens of additional Ascended Masters that were previously unknown.

The concept of recognizing the spiritual self, one’s own psychological and karma battles and how to overcome them, and eventual Ascension of all humanity is covered in James Redfield‚s Celestine Prophecy and its sequels, The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision and The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight. These books, while controversial, are recent popularizations of the concept of Ascension.

In Ascended Master teachings there is also mention of Serapis Bey a being who was incarnated as a high priest in one of the „Temples of the Sacred Fire“ on Atlantis who migrated to Egypt at the time of the destruction of Atlantis.^[13] It is also believed that he was incarnated as the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III (who constructed the Temple of Luxor to the god Amon) ^[14] and also as Leonidas, the King of Sparta^[15], who was killed in 480 BC defending the pass of Thermopylae against the invasion of Greece by Xerxes I, Emperor of the Persian Empire. According teachings of Agni Yoga,^[16] Serapis Bey was in past lives the roman King Numa Pompilius, the philosophers Confucius, Plato and Lucius Anneus Seneca. He is referred in the book Supermundane as „The Thinker“.

Universal All-Pervading Presence of Life

Students of the Ascended Master Teachings believe that there is One God, the „Universal All-Pervading Presence of Life“, „The One“, Who is the Source of all Love, Light, and Love in existence, and that all forms of existence and consciousness emanate from this „Allness of God“ – „The One“. The Voice of the I AM states „All Life is One“ ^[17] and that there is „One Substance, One Energy, One Power, One Intelligence“ as the Source of all consciousness and creation.^[18] This Divine Being and Mind is considered to be above and distinct from all creation (in the sense of classical theism), transcending all creation yet interpenetrating all existence. Belief in this ONE GOD stresses the essential unity of the spiritual and material components of the universe. God creates through Individualized Identities that have distinct Self-Consciousness and that make up the Spiritual Hierarchy of Creation, yet remain connected through the flow of the „River of Life“ and „Lifestream“ to the ONE UNDIVIDED GOD – the ALL in ALL – the GOOD – the Source from which all Life, Light, and Love come. There is always an uninterrupted Oneness that is maintained with the ALLNESS of God. From the ONE GOD all other realities, including Hierarchy, humanity and the material universe, are the result of a process of emanation.

The Individualized „I AM“ Presence

Adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings believe that each person is an incarnation of an „Individualized Presence“ of the „Most High Living God“ – the „Mighty I AM Presence“ – as part of our very Nature and Being. God (as Life and Love) manifests in the 7 octaves of the created universe through individual Divine Identities. As embodied individuals, we are the outer expression of that God Self in form. It is our unique and immortal True Identity, yet always sharing in the Allness of the ONE GOD.

Origins

The founder of the Theosophical Society, H. P. Blavatsky, in the late 19th century brought attention to the idea of secret initiatory knowledge, by claiming her ideas were based on traditions taught to her by a group of highly enlightened yogis which she called the Mahatmas or Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. These Mahatmas, she claimed, were physical beings living in the Himalayas, usually understood as Tibet:

… they are living men, born as we are born, and doomed to die like every mortal. We call them “masters” because they are our teachers; and because from them we have derived all the Theosophical truths … They are men of great learning, whom we call Initiates, and still greater holiness of life.^[19]

After Madame Blavatsky’s death in 1891, the concept of the Mahatmas was developed by her successors in the Theosophical Society leadership, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater, who described them in great detail and added Jesus and Maitreya. In Leadbeater’s book, The Masters and the Path (1925), the Masters are presented as human beings full of wisdom and compassion, albeit still limited by human bodies, which they choose to retain in order to keep in touch with humanity and help in its evolution.

Later organizations that used many of the teachings of Theosophy for their own purposes, developed concept of Ascended Masters which bears some important differences with the Theosophical one.

Other beliefs about Ascended Masters

It is believed that Ascended Masters are individuals who were once embodied on Earth and learned the lessons of life in their incarnations. They gained mastery over the limitations of the matter planes, balanced at least 51% of negative karma, and fulfilled their Dharma (Divine Plan). An Ascended Master has become God-like and a source of unconditional Love to all life, and through the Ascension has united with his or her own God Self, the „I AM“ Presence. It is claimed that they serve as the teachers of mankind from the realms of Spirit, and that all people will eventually attain their Ascension and move forward in spiritual evolution beyond this planet. According to these teachings, they remain attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity, and act to inspire and motivate its spiritual growth. In many traditions and organizations, they are considered part of the Spiritual Hierarchy for Earth, and members of the Great Brotherhood of Light, also known as the Great White Lodge or Great White Brotherhood.

Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the beliefs of various organizations that have continued and expanded the concepts released in the original Saint Germain instruction in the 1930s through The „I AM“ Activity.^{[20][21][22][23][24]} Examples of those believed by the ones proposing these teachings to be Ascended Masters would be the Master Jesus, Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Mary the Mother of Jesus, St. Paul of Tarsus (aka Hilarion), Melchizedek, Archangel Michael, Metatron, Pope John Paul II, Kwan Yin, Saint Germain and Kuthumi, as well as dozens of others.^[25]

Unveiled Mysteries records:

Truly the Great Ascended Masters are Gods. It is no wonder in the mythology of the ancients that their activities have been brought down to us in the guise of myth and fable. They wield Tremendous God Power at all times because they hold with unwavering determination to the Great God Presence and hence all Power is given unto them for they are All-Perfection.
„When Jesus said, ‚All these things I have done, ye shall do and even greater things shall ye do,‘ he knew whereof he spoke,“ continued Saint Germain. „He came forth to reveal the Conscious Dominion and Mastery that it is possible for every human being to attain and express while still here on Earth.“^{[citation needed]}

Comparison of Masters of Wisdom and Ascended Masters

There is considerable difference between the concept of Masters of the Ancient Wisdom in Theosophy (as described by Blavatsky, Olcott, Sinnett, and others) and the current concept of Ascended Masters, developed by Guy Ballard and Elizabeth Clare Prophet fifty-five years after the Theosophical Society was founded.

They added more than 200 new „Ascended Masters“ that they claimed to receive dictations from in addition to receiving dictations from the original Masters of the Ancient Wisdom of Theosophy.^[26]

The Ascended Masters, as their name suggests, are supposed to be Masters who have experienced the miracle of ascension, as it is said Jesus did. The original teaching, channeled by Guy Ballard, was that a new Ascended Master would not die but would take the body up with him. This teaching of ascension is in direct opposition to the Theosophical teachings. Mahatma K.H. refers to the idea disparagingly in one of his letters to Sinnett:

There was but one hysterical woman alleged to have been present at the pretended ascension, and … the phenomenon has never been corroborated by repetition.^[27]

Mme. Blavatsky also rejects ascension as a fact, calling it “an allegory as old as the world.”^[28] In the Theosophical view, the Masters of Wisdom retain their physical bodies.

The Masters of the Wisdom are not like the Ascended ones, who are said to become Godlike, all-powerful beings beyond the laws of nature. In their teachings, the Theosophical Masters even denied that such beings exist. Mahatma K.H. wrote:

If we had the powers of the imaginary Personal God, and the universal and immutable laws were but toys to play with, then indeed might we have created conditions that would have turned this earth into an Arcadia for lofty souls.^[29]

In their letters, the Mahatmas constantly talk about the “immutable laws” of the universe, and that they can help humanity only within the limits of these laws.

Proponents of the Ascended Masters sometimes attempt to account for these discrepancies by claiming that when the Theosophical Society (TS) was founded most of the Theosophical Mahatmas were still “unascended Masters.” This leaves room to detach the Ascended Masters from the limitations. However, the Mahatma K.H. wrote: “We are not infallible, all-foreseeing ‘Mahatmas’ at every hour of the day.”^[30] As he explained: “An adept—the highest as the lowest—is one only during the exercise of his occult powers.”^[31] In fact, according to the Theosophical teachings, the higher the adept, the less we are likely to hear from him:

The more spiritual the Adept becomes, the less can he meddle with mundane, gross affairs and the more he has to confine himself to a spiritual work … The very high Adepts, therefore, do help humanity, but only spiritually: they are constitutionally incapable of meddling with worldly affairs.^[32]

In the Theosophical view the Masters do not pay attention to personal desires. Theosophy teaches that the psychological ego is false, that the idea that we are this body, emotions, and mind is a mistake of perception and the source of sorrow. It says that real happiness comes only as an unsought by-product of reducing rather than increasing our attachment and identification with the personal. Blavatsky wrote that “Occultism is not . . . the pursuit of happiness as man understands the word; for the first step is sacrifice, the second renunciation.” ^[33] K.H. agreed with this when he wrote: “We—the criticized and misunderstood Brothers—we seek to bring men to sacrifice their personality—a passing flash—for the welfare of the whole humanity.”.^[34] During the early times of the Theosophical Society, some members, misunderstanding the nature of the Mahatmas, would bring HPB some personal requests to ask of them. In a letter Blavatsky explained:

The Masters would not stoop for one moment to give a thought to individual, private matters relating but to one or even ten persons, their welfare, woes and blisses in this world of Maya [illusion], to nothing except questions of really universal importance. It is all you Theosophists who have dragged down in your minds the ideals of our Masters; you who have unconsciously and with the best of intentions and full sincerity of good purpose, desecrated Them, by thinking for one moment, and believing that They would trouble Themselves with your business matters, sons to be born, daughters to be married, houses to be built, …^[35]

This kind of interest is a very marked feature of the Ascended Masters. The Ascended Masters Teachings teach ways to attract material or emotional possessions to a person’s life, and also how to dissolve unpleasant karma, a conception that the Theosophical Mahatmas emphatically opposed. For example, K.H. wrote: „Bear in mind that the slightest cause produced, however unconsciously, and with whatever motive, cannot be unmade, or its effects crossed in their progress—by millions of gods, demons, and men combined.“^[36] In fact, the Ascended Masters are portrayed as cosmic fathers who will take care of their followers’ problems. In contrast, Mahatma M. said: “ We are leaders but not child-nurses.”^[37]

Maitreya

Maitreya or Lord Maitreya is described in Theosophical literature of the late 19th-century and subsequent periods as an advanced spiritual entity and high-ranking member of a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, the so-called Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. According to Theosophical doctrine, one of the Hierarchy’s functions is to oversee the evolution of Humankind; in accord with this function Maitreya is said to hold the so-called Office of the World Teacher. Theosophical texts posit that the purpose of this Office is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge about the true constitution and workings of Existence. Humanity is thereby assisted on its presumed cyclical, but ever progressive, evolutionary path. Reputedly, one way the knowledge transfer is accomplished is by Maitreya occasionally manifesting or incarnating in the physical realm; the manifested entity then assumes the role of World Teacher of Humankind.

The Theosophical concept of Maitreya has many similarities to the earlier Maitreya doctrine in Buddhism. However, they differ in important aspects, and developed differently. The Theosophical Maitreya has been assimilated or appropriated by a variety of quasi-theosophical and non-theosophical New Age and Esoteric groups and movements. These have added, and advanced, their own interpretations and commentary on the subject.

Development of the concept

The first mention of Maitreya in a Theosophical context occurs in the 1883 work Esoteric Buddhism by Alfred Percy Sinnett (1840–1921), an early Theosophical writer. The concepts described by Sinnett were amended, elaborated on, and greatly expanded in The Secret Doctrine, a book originally published 1888. The work was the magnum opus of Helena Blavatsky, one of the physical founders of the Theosophical Society and of contemporary Theosophy. In it, the messianic Maitreya is linked to both Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions. In the same work Blavatsky was to assert that there have been, and will be, multiple messianic (or messianic-like) instances in human history. These successive appearances of „emissarie[s] of Truth“ are according to the Blavatsky writings part of the unceasing oversight of Earth and of its inhabitants by a physically hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, called Masters of the Ancient Wisdom.

Initiation

Initiation is a concept in Theosophy that there are nine levels of spiritual development that beings who live on Earth can progress upward through. Within these levels, there are four basic levels of spiritual development that human beings on Earth progress through as they reincarnate, although evil acts may cause bad karma which may cause one to temporarily regress. It is believed that when souls have advanced to the fourth level of initiation, they have reached enlightenment and have no further need to reincarnate. At the fifth level of initiation and beyond, souls have the opportunity to become members of the Spiritual Hierarchy. This concept was developed by both C.W. Leadbeater and Alice A. Bailey beginning in the 1920s.

According to C.W. Leadbeater, Initiation is a process by which „we try to develop ourselves not that we may become great and wise, but that we may have the power and knowledge to work for humanity to the best effect.“^[38] According to Alice A. Bailey, Initiation is the „process of undergoing an expansion [toward higher levels] of consciousness„^[39] It is believed by Theosophists that all souls that have reached the fourth level of initiation and evolved beyond the necessity to reincarnate that do not elect to become pratyeka buddhas and go directly into Spiritual Hierarchy governing Nirvana gradually evolve upward through all of these six higher levels of consciousness over thousands or millions of years, and later over billions or trillions of years, other higher levels yet beyond.

The concept of Initiation is also recognized in the Ascended Master Teachings, a group of religions based on Theosophy. In the Ascended Master Teachings, it is referred to as Ascension.

The first six initiations were named by C.W. Leadbeater and Alice A. Bailey after the six most important events in the life of Jesus.

The Great White Brotherhood

The Great White Brotherhood, in belief systems akin to Theosophical and New Age, are said to be supernatural beings of great power who spread spiritual teachings through selected humans.^[40] The members of the Brotherhood may be known as the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom or the Ascended masters.^[40] Various people have said they have received messages from these beings, including most notably Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Theosophy), Aleister Crowley (Thelema), Alice A. Bailey (New Group of World Servers), Guy Ballard („I AM“ Activity), Geraldine Innocente (The Bridge to Freedom), Elizabeth Clare Prophet (Church Universal and Triumphant) and Benjamin Creme (Share International).^[40]

The Masters are collectively called the „Great White Brotherhood“ in Theosophical system. The use of the term „white“ refers to their advanced spirituality (i.e., that they have a white colored aura) and has nothing to do with race. Blavatsky described many of the Masters as ethnically Tibetan or Indian (Hindu), not European.^[41] She did, however, describe them as being from all cultures and races, such as the „Greek gentleman“ known as Hilarion.^[42]

Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the syncretistic teachings of various organizations that have taken the Theosophical philosophical concepts and added their own elements.^[43] Examples of those believed to be Ascended Masters by these organizations are Jesus, Sanat Kumara, Gautama Buddha, Maitreya, Confucius, Lord Lanto (Confucius‘ historical mentor), Mary the Mother of Jesus, Lady Master Nada, Enoch, Kwan Yin, Saint Germain, and Kuthumi, to name but a few.^[20] It is believed that all of these put aside any differences they might have had in their Earthly careers, and unite instead to advance the spiritual well-being of humanity.^[44]

Dictations

Within The „I AM“ Activity, contact and cooperation with the Ascended Masters became a central part of each member’s life. Through the Ballards as „Messengers“, the Ascended Masters were believed to have regularly communicated with the students of The „I AM“ Activity. Those Addresses (known as „Dictations“) were delivered before gatherings of members in Conclaves held throughout the United States of America, published in the monthly periodical, The Voice of The „I AM“, and some were collected and reprinted in the books of The Saint Germain Series. In all, 3,834 Dictations from the Masters were received through Guy and Edna Ballard. Other „Ascended Master Activities“ believed that the Ascended Masters, Cosmic Beings, Elohim, and Archangels continued to present a program for both individual development and spiritual transformation in the world.^[45] They believe that further instruction from the Ascended Masters and the rest of the Spiritual Hierarchy continued through new Dispensations with new Messengers, such as The Bridge to Freedom,^[46] The Summit Lighthouse, and The Temple of The Presence.

The Aquarian Church

The Aquarian Christine Church Universal, Inc. (ACCU) is a denomination founded in 2006 based on The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ transcribed from the Akashic Records by Levi H. Dowling. The Aquarian Christine Church actively promotes Ascended Master Teachings and shares many beliefs in common with the I AM Movement, White Eagle Lodge and New Thought and Theosophical groups. The book „Initiations of the Aquarian Masters: The Theosophy of the Aquarian Gospel“ by ACCU founder Rev. Dr. Jacob L. Watson, expounds on the church’s teachings which draw heavily from the writings of A.D.K. Luk, the Saint Germain Series published Saint Germain Press (The Saint Germain Foundation), and especially from „The Lost Years of Jesus“ compiled by Elizabeth Clare Prophet and published by The Summit Lighthouse.^[47]

Skeptical view

René Guénon wrote a detailed critique of Theosophy titled Theosophy: history of a pseudo-religion (1921). In the book Guenon claimed that Blavatsky had acquired all her knowledge naturally from other books not from any supernatural masters. Guenon points out that Blavatsky spent along time visiting a library at New York where she had easy access to the works of Jacob Boehme, Eliphas Levi, the Kabbala and other Hermetic treatises. Guenon also wrote that Blavatsky had borrowed passages taken from a translation of extracts from the Kanjur and Tanjur published in 1836 in the twentieth volume of the Asiatic Researchers of Calcutta by Sándor Kőrösi Csoma an eccentric orientalist.^[48]

K. Paul Johnson suggests in his book The Masters Revealed: Madam Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Brotherhood that the Masters that Madam Blavatsky claimed she had personally met are idealizations of certain people she had met during her lifetime.^[49]

Also see the article “Talking to the Dead and Other Amusements” by Paul Zweig New York Times October 5, 1980, which maintains that Madame Blavatsky’s revelations were fraudulent.^[50]

Robert Todd Carroll in his book The skeptic’s dictionary (2003) wrote that Blavatsky used trickery into deceiving others into thinking she had paranormal powers. Carroll wrote that Blavatsky had faked a materialization of a tea cup and saucer as well as written the messages from her masters herself.^[51]

See also

• Bodhisattva
• Telepathy

Notes

References

• Braden, Charles S. These Also Believe MacMillan Publishing Company 1960 (Reprint 2000). The classic study of minority religions in the United States of America. ISBN 0-02-514360-3
• Cranston, Sylvia. H. P. B. : The Extraordinary Life & Influence of Helena Blavastsky. G. P. Putnam’s Sons 1993 ISBN 0-9662115-1-0
• Godwin, Joscelyn (1994). The Theosophical Enlightenment. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-2152-X
• Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages „An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings Concealed within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of all Ages“ H.S. Crocker Company, Inc. 1928 (Reprint: Tarcher 2003) ISBN 1-58542-250-9
• Leadbeater, C.W. The Masters and the Path. The Theosophical Publishing House 1925 (Reprint: Kessinger Publishing 1997). ISBN 1-56459-686-9
• Partridge, Christopher ed. New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities Oxford University Press, USA 2004. Describes the Theosophical Society, The I AM Activity, The Bridge to Freedom and The Summit Lighthouse. ISBN 0-19-522042-0
• Saint Germain Foundation. The History of the „I AM“ Activity and Saint Germain Foundation. Saint Germain Press 2003 ISBN 1-878891-99-5
• King, Godfre Ray. Unveiled Mysteries. Saint Germain Press 1934. ISBN 1-878891-00-6
• Saint Germain. I AM Discourses. Saint Germain Press 1935. ISBN 1-878891-48-0

External links

• The Saint Germain Foundation
• The Theosophical Society

• Theosophy
• Ascended Master Teachings
• Esoteric cosmology
• Spiritual evolution
• Theosophical philosophical concepts