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Overview
Madame Blavatsky's masterpiece of occult philosophy is now scaled down to its essentials, providing the most readable, accessible experience ever of modern history's seminal work of esoterica.
The Secret Doctrine, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's magnum opus on the origin and development of the universe and humanity itself, is arguably by the most famous, and perhaps the most influential, occult book ever written. Its publication in 1888 generated in the West a groundswell of interest in esoteric philosophies, the effects of which are still being felt in literature and philosophy, in alternative and mainstream religious traditions, and in popular culture around the world. Yet the book's availability typically has been limited to hefty, expensive, two-volume editions, its length and price long eluding the grasp of most readers.
Now this single-volume edition, abridged and annotated by historian and Theosophical scholar Michael Gomes, places the ideas and key sections of The Secret Doctrine within reach of all who are curious. In particular, Gomes provides a critical sounding of the book's renowned stanzas on the genesis of life and the cosmos-mysterious passages that Blavatsky said originated from a primeval source and that form the heart of The Secret Doctrine. Gomes meticulously scales down the book's most important writings on symbolism to their essentials, and offers notes and a glossary to illuminate arcane references. His historical and literary introduction casts new light on some of the book's sources and on the career of its brilliant and enigmatic author, one of the most intriguing personages of recent history.
At once compact and representative of the work as a whole,this new edition of The Secret Doctrine brings unprecedented accessibility to the esoteric classic of the modern era.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781101992586 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 10/25/2016 |
Sold by: | Penguin Group |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 1296 |
Sales rank: | 827,981 |
File size: | 13 MB |
Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
COSMIC EVOLUTION.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Secret Doctrine"
by .
Copyright © 2009 H.P. Blavatsky.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction xvii
The Need of such a Book xix
The Antiquity of Documents and MSS xxiii
What the Book is intended to do xxviii
Volume First. Cosmogenesis.
Proem 1
The Oldest MSS. in the world and its Symbolism 2
The One Life, Active and Passive 3
The Secret Doctrine-Pantheism-Atheism 5
"Space" in all Religions and in Occultism 7
Seven Cosmic Elements-Seven Races of Mankind 9
The Three Postulates of the Secret Doctrine 10
Description of the Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan 14
Book I.-Part I Cosmic Evolution.
Seven Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan 21
Stanza I The Night of the Universe 27
The Seven Eternities 28
"Time" 28
The Universal Mind and the Dhyan Chohans 29
Nidana and Maya: The Causes of Misery 29
The Great Breath 33
Being and Non-Being 34
The Eye of Dangma 36
Alaya, the Universal Soul 37
Stanza II The Idea of Differentiation 40
The Absolute knows Itself not 41
The Germ of Life was not yet 43
The Universe was still concealed in the Divine Thought 46
Stanza III The Awakening of Kosmos 46
The Great Vibration 47
Nature's Symbols 49
The Power of Numbers 50
The Logoi and the Dragon 54
The Astral Light 56
Primeval Radiations from Unity 59
The Web of Being 61
Conscious Electricity: Fohat 63
Stanza IV The Septenary Hierarchies 63
The Sons of the Fire 63
The Vehicle of the Universe-the Dhyan Chohans 65
The Army of the Voice 68
Speech and Mind 70
The Ogdoad and the Heptad 72
The Stellar "Sons of Light" 75
Stanza V Fohat: The Child of the Septenary Hierarchies 77
The Fiery Whirlwind and the Primordial Seven 77
They Produce Fohat 78
The Correlation of the "Gods" 82
Evolution of the "Principles" of Nature 86
The Mystery of the Fire 87
The Secret of the Elements 89
The Square of the Tabernacle 90
The Planetary Spirits and the Lipika 92
The Ring "Pass Not" 93
The Sidereal Book of Life 94
The Soul's Pilgrimage and its "Rest" 96
Stanza VI Our World, Its Growth and Development 97
The Logos 97
Mystery of the Female Logos 98
The Seven Layu Centres 99
The "Elementary Germs" 100
The Evolution of the Elements 100
The Building of the Worlds 102
A Neutral Centre 105
"Dead" Planets-The Moon 106
Theosophical Misconceptions 108
The Planetary Divisions and the Human Principles 109
The Moon 110
Transmigrations of the Ego 113
The Septenary Chain 115
Relation of the other Planets to the Earth 116
Explanations Concerning the Globes and the Monads 121
The Lunar Chain and the Earth Chain 123
The Earth, the Child of the Moon 124
Classification of the Monads 125
The Monad Defined 126
The Lunar Monads-the Pitris 127
A Triple Evolution in Nature 129
Stanza VI Continued 136
"Creation" in the Fourth Round 136
The "Curse," "Sin," and "War" 138
The Struggle for Life and the Birth of the Worlds 144
The Adepts and the Sacred Island 149
Stanza VII The Parents of Man on Earth 151
Divisions of the Hierarchies 152
Correlations of Beings 159
What incarnates in Animal Man 166
Formation of Man: the Thinker 169
Occult and Kabalistic Pneumatics 173
Akasa and Ether 182
The Invisible "Lives" 183
Occult Vital Chemistry and Bacteriology 185
The Watcher and his Shadow 188
Earth peopled by the Shadows of the Gods 189
Summing Up 190
The pith and marrow of the Secret Doctrine 193
Hermes in Christian Garb 202
Some Occult Aphorisms 205
The Seven Powers of Nature 208
Book I.-Part II The Evolution of Symbolism in its Approximate Order.
I Symbolism and Ideographs 219
Emblem and Symbol differ 221
Magic Potency of Sound 223
Mystery Language 225
II The Mystery Language and its Keys 225
Egypt's many Religions 226
The Jews and their System 228
Moses copied from Sargon 233
Identity of Ancient Symbols 236
III Primordial Substance and Divine Thought 238
Divine Thought, or Cineritious Matter? 240
Ether and Intelligence 242
The Seven Prakritis 248
The Mystic Fire 249
One Tree of Knowledge 251
IV Chaos-Theos-Kosmos 251
The Union of Chaos and Spirit 253
The Birth of Mind 254
V The Hidden Deity, its Symbols and Glyphs 257
The Gnostic Idea 259
International Correlation of Gods 262
VI The Mundane Egg 265
Egg-born Logoi 269
The Winged Globe 271
VII The Days and Nights of Brahmâ 273
Human Gods and Divine Men 274
The Rebirth of Gods 275
The Puranic Prophecy 280
VIII The Lotus as a Universal Symbol 282
Exoteric and Esoteric 284
The Purity of early Phallicism 286
The Egyptian Lotus 287
IX Deus Lunus 288
A Glance at the Lunar Myth 289
A Key-note to the Moon 291
Copies and Originals 294
The Moon Bi-sexual 296
X Tree and Serpent and Crocodile Worship 303
Degeneration of the Symbol 304
The Seven-headed Dragons 306
Dragon and Crocodile 308
XI Demon Est Deus Inversus 309
Death is Life 311
The Fall of the Angels 315
Transformation of the Legend 318
XII The Theogony of the Creative Gods 320
The Point within the Circle 322
The Logos or Verbum 325
The Factors of Creation 327
Identity of the Hierarchies in all Religions 331
Difference between the Aryan and Semitic Systems 337
XIII The Seven Creations 337
The Gnostic and the Hindu Versions 340
The Seven Puranic "Creations" 341
XIV The Four Elements 349
The "Gods" and the "Elements" 351
The Language of the Elements 352
Pagan and Christian Worship of the Elements 355
XV On Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin 357
Kwan-Shi-Yin and Phallicism 358
The Real Meaning 359
Book I.-Part III Science and the Secret Doctrine Contrasted.
I Reasons for These Addenda 365
Occultism versus Materialism 367
The Sabbath of the Mystic 368
II Modern Physicists are Playing at Blind Man's Buff 369
III An Lumen Sit Corpus NEC Non? 370
The Hypothetical Ether 372
Scientific Theories of its Constitution 373
IV Is Gravitation a Law? 375
Intelligences or Blind Forces? 378
The Cause of Attraction 382
V The Theories of Rotation in Science 384
Conflicting Hypotheses 386
More Hypotheses 389
VI The Masks of Science 390
What are the "Forces?" 392
The View of the Occultists 393
Scientific and Occult Theories on Heat 397
The Atoms of Science 400
VII An Attack on the Scientific Theory of Force by a Man of Science 404
Ether and Atoms 408
VIII Life, Force, or Gravity? 409
Dr. Richardson on Nervous Ether 411
The Senses and their Action 415
Too much "Life" may Kill 418
IX The Solar Theory 419
The Primordial Element 420
Elements and Meta-Elements 424
The Tree of Life and Being 427
Prof. Crookes on the Elements 429
X The Coming Force 431
Mr Keeley, an Unconscious Occultist 434
Inter-Ethcric Waves 437
The Secrets of Sound and Odour 441
XI On the Elements and Atoms 442
Metaphysical Chemistry 444
What are the Seven Planets? 449
The Cyclic Fall of the Gods 451
XII Ancient Thought in Modern Dress 452
All-Potential Unity 456
The "Seventh" in Chemistry 458
XIII The Modern Nebular Theory 460
Forces are Emanations 465
What is the Nebula? 466
XIV Forces-Modes of Motion or Intelligences? 471
The Vital Principle 471
Occult and Physical Science 474
XV Gods, Monads, and Atoms 478
The Gods of the Ancients-the Monads 481
The Monad and the Duad 484
The Genesis of the Elements 487
Hermes and Huxley 491
The Teaching of Leibnitz 493
The Monads according to Occultism 497
XVI Cyclic Evolution and Karma 498
Karmic Cycles and Universal Ethics 501
Destiny and Karma 502
Karma-Nemesis 508
XVII The Zodiac and its Antiquity 509
The Jewish Patriarchs and the Signs of the Zodiac 513
Zodiacal Cycles 517
Hindu Astronomy 521
XVIII Summary of the Mutual Position 527
Science Confesses her Ignorance 528
Materialism is leading Europe towards a catastrophe 533