Theos-Talk Archives (March 2002 Message tt00581)

Isis Unveiled marks not only an overt incorporation of Egypt in the 
Esoteric historical narrative, but also the beginning of the process
by which it would begin to lose its privileged role as a focus of
religious projection. As I have mentioned before and which will be
the subject of some later postings about an "invent ed Orient",
Blavatsky had already begun to orient her religious creativity further, 
towards the Indian subcontinent.

The shift is underpinned mythologically by the assumption that the 
Egyptians were actually descendants of the Aryans, whose spiritual 
traditions should thus represent a purer form of the ancient wisdom 
religion. He refers approvingly to baron Bunsen's (father of the so 
called "Chevalier Louis" mentioned in Olcott's Old Diary
Leaves) imaginative history of Egypt as a source for this hypothesis.

Among the suggestive traits linking the two, Blavatsky notes 
sun-worship, theocratic and sacerdotal government and a number
of (spurious) etymologies. The transitional Mahatma Letters retain 
references to Egypt, to its mysteries, priests and "occultists". In a 
historiography that points forward to the fully elaborated doctrinal 
position expounded in the SD, Egypt is seen in the Mahatma Letters as 
one of a series of historic cultures to have transmitted elements of
the primeval wisdom religion.

Egypt continues to play a complex role in theosophy. In his 
popularization of theosophy, William Q Judge summarizes the esoteric 
history of Egypt. The connection between Egypt and other major 
cultures is also explained, whereby the mythic foundation of the 
theosophical shift from Egypt to India is further elaborated on.
India and Egypt had regular contacts, and therefore the perennial 
philosophy was equally well preserved by both nations. Due to a
series of historical accidents, these contacts were severed and Egyptian 
civilization foundered. The ancient wisdom was retained in India, 
whereas judge claims that most of Egyptian philosophy was lost in the 
process of transmission to the Jews. However, spiritual wisdom has 
other ways of surviving history: the success of theosophy in Europe
and America during judge's own lifetime is explained by the wave of
Egyptian souls beings reincarnated there.


=
Bri.

> In the Masters Revealed Paul writes:
> IN JANUARY 1886, OLCOTT PROPOSED to HPB that she assist in 
> establishing a collaboration between the Brahmin Theosophist T. 
Subba 
> Row and some Masters of the Egyptian brotherhood. This never came 
to 
> fruition, but Olcott's letter is fascinating:
> 
> Subba Row is getting keen on a collation of Indian and Egyptian
> esoteric philosophy and symbolism .... He keeps coming here and 
> always asks for books which deal with Egyptian Mythology etc. Now do 
> this:through Borj, or Twitit B: or III: or someone, arrange to
> organize at Cairo a couple like Subba Row and Oakley, who would 
keep 
> in regular correspondence with these two, and exchange ideas, 
> questions and answers .... Maspero is anxious to make just such a 
> correspondence, but he is too thundering busy, If there were an
> Oakley there to go at him, hunt up the books he would indicate, and 
> write the letters, enormously good results would follow all around, 
> for Maspero would put it all in his books and Reports, and we would 
> put it into the Th.and books. Would Gregoire d'Elias be any good? I 
> think not. Would Isurenus B. help you?
> 
> This passage gives three now names to investigate in the search for
> the Masters. It is interesting in itself that Olcott refers to
> Hilarion, Tuitit Bey, and Isurenus Bey (who signed Olcott's first
> letter from the Masters as Polydorus Isurenus) in such matter of fact 
> terms, But far more useful to researchers are the names of Borj- A
> Borg appears in one of the most important of all Mahatma 
> communications, the one K.H. made materialize in Olcott's hand when 
> he appeared in his tent outside Lahore in November 1883. It accuses 
> Olcott of being overly suspicious, "sometimes cruelly soof Upasika, 
> of Borg, of Djual.K.,even of Damodar and D. Nath, whom you love as 
> sons."
> 
> In the diary she kept in New York, HPB referred to someone whose 
> name is transcribed as "Boag" from whom she had received mail. The 
> entry for 6 December reads, "A letter from Richard and Boag 
informing 
> of the arrival from Russia of a parcel."' Again, questions of
> handwriting confuse the issue, giving thTee spellings of what would 
> seem to be the same name. But of the variant spellings it becomes 
> apparent that Borg is correct when we examine Nikki Keddie's
> biography of Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani. She writes that "Afghani and a 
> group of his followers first joined an Italian lodge in Alexandria,
> but wereinfluenced by English Vice-Consul Ralph Borg to join an 
> English lodge, whose numbers reached 300, including many leaders of 
> the nationalist movement of 1878-1882. 
> (K.Paul Johnson "The Masters Revealed" p.71/72.)
> 
> In fact at first, the Freemasons displayed no interest in Egypt;
> rather, they sought, even in their symbolism, to attach themselves to
> biblical traditions, especially the temple of Solomon, and Hiram, who 
> had it built. Nevertheless, in 1728, the seal of the Perfetta Unione 
> lodge in Naples already displayed a pyramid and sphinx.
> 
> Masonic usages and symbols were now reinterpreted. There were 
also 
> influences from alchemy, for the stone that the mason symbolically 
> worked was also viewed as the Philosopher's Stone. The Freemasons 
> also adopted cabala and the teachings of the Rosicrucians, taking
> over the supposed history of the latter.
> 
> They constructed a chain of traditions that led back, via temple 
> masters, cabalists, gnostics, and Pythagoreans, to Solomon, whom 
they 
> revered as the ruler of the spirit world, and finally, via Moses, to
> Adam. 
> 
>  
> The Egyptian component was not elaborated until the latter part of
> the eighteenth century, at a time when the origins of all religion
> were often being sought in Egypt. A lasting influence was also 
> exerted by the description of an "Egyptian" initiation in the novel 
> by Jean Terrasson, a Hellenist at the College de France who also
> translated Diodorus. His novel was published anonymously in 1731,
> after which it was widely reprinted and translated. As a young man of
> sixteen, the hero of the novel is initiated into the Isis mysteries 
> inside the Great Pyramid of Giza; midway, he passes through all four 
> elements, which are elaborately staged inside the pyramid. This trial 
> by the elements renders Sethos worthy of participating in 
> the "mysteries" of the great goddess Isis. 
> 
> Antoine-Joseph Pernety founded a "Rite hermetique" in Avignon in
> 1766; two years later, he was summoned to Potsdam to be the 
librarian 
> of Frederick the Great.The year 1775 saw the appearance in 
G6ttingen 
> of Georg Christoph Meiners' "Versuch Uber die Religionsgeschichte 
der 
> Altesten Voelker besonders der Egyptier" (Attempt at a history of the 
> religions of the most ancient peoples, in particular the Egyptians),
> which articulated the growing criticism of Hermetism and paid fresh 
> honor to Casaubon.
> 
>  
> Hermetism withstood this blow, as it had Casaubon's late dating
> of the Hermetic texts. Magic, belief in the supernatural, and alchemy 
> continued to flourish, even after Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
> laid the foundations of modern chemistry with his TraW 616mentaire 
de 
> Chimie (Elementary treatise on chemistry, 1789). In 1783, the Leipzig
> physicist Christlieb Benedict Funk had published a work on
> "Natuerliche Magie" (natural magic) that "could be taught by 
> professors," and in 18o8, Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling, whose 
> Heimweh will concern usbelow, would write a "Theory of 
Pneumatology".
> 
>  
> Even independently of Cagliostro, Egypt had by now solidly anchored 
> itself in Freemasonry. In 1784, the geologist and mineralogist Ignaz
> von Born inaugurated the new Journal fuer Freimaurer with a 
> fundamental essay, "Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier" (On the 
> mysteries of the Egyptians). The year before, in his book Horus, C.
> E. Wunsch had proclaimed that the secret society of the Egyptian
> priests had initiated Moses into its arcana. 
> 
> Also indicative is the title of a work by Johann Gottfried Bremer,
> which was issued by Karl Philipp Moritz in 1793: Die Symbolische 
> Weisheit der Aegypter aus den verborgensten Denkmdlern des 
> Altertums, ein Theil der Aegyptischen Maurerey, der zu Rom nicht 
> verbrannt worden (The symbolic lore of Egypt from the most hidden 
> monuments of antiquity, a part of the Egyptian Masonry that was not 
> burned in Rome). In it, the ceremonies of the "Egyptian" mysteries 
> unfold in seven stages. 
> 
> In Egypt itself, many lodges appeared at this time, which in part
> aimed at directly taking up the tradition of the ancient Egyptian 
> mysteries. And to which "Borg" mentioned by Olcott in India (see 
> above) belonged.
> =
=
> Bri.
>  
>  
> Bri.
> --- In theos-talk@y..., "bri_mue" <bri_mue@y...> wrote:
> > The idea for Hermes Trismegistus stems from the Egyptian God 
Thoth 
> > who is frequently written about in connection with the goddess
> > Maat, embodiment of the order of the cosmos. 
> > 
> > Thot was originally personified by the ibis, and millions of
> > carefully wrapped ibis mummies testify to the worship of this
> animal 
> > sacred to Thoth.
> > 
> > In spell 167 of the Book of the Dead, where Thoth is said to
> "pacify"
> > the eye, we have a reference to his bringing home the Distant 
> Goddess.
> > 
> > A few tausend years later in the later Egyptian periods Thoth then
> > was transformed into the universal Hermes Trismegistus, the "thrice
> > great." 
> > A first step was his designation as "twice great" , which he
> already 
> > bears on a stela, now in Lausanne (Switzerland), which is dated to
> > year 20 of King Apries, that is, 570 B.C.E., and records a grant of 
> > land by Pharaoh to Thoth, the "twice great," lord of Hermopolis (in 
> > the delta). 
> > 
> > From the same reign comes the title "overseer of the prophets of
> > Thoth, the twice great, lord of Hermopolis," born by Ankhhor, an 
> > official of Nitocris, God's Wife of Amun in Thebes. The 
> > epithet "twice great" appears written in Dernotic beginning with
> the 
> > reign of Darius 1, and from the third century B.C.E. on, it is 
> > intensified by means of the adverb wer, "exceedingly," leading to
> the 
> > development of "thrice great" beginning with the late second
> century 
> > B.C.E. We even find a "five times great" in the First Story of
> Setne 
> > and other texts. From the Egyptian form "thrice great, exceedingly" 
> > (the language had no grammatical form for the superlative)
> > 
> > The Tabula Smaragdina , also called "Kybalion," , is the work of an 
> > Arab alchemist of the ninth century, its first western publication,
> > in the form of a Latin text, was first published in 1541. And 
> > certainly was not of any influence on Plato, but the other way 
> > round , the 9e century "Kybalion," was influenced by neo-Platonism, 
> > that also did not have much to with Plato directly but this
> movement 
> > at least borrowed his name.
> > 
> > The Sabaeans in Harran, who were without a sacred scripture 
under 
> > Islam, in order to count as a "people of the Book," elevated the
> > Corpus Hermeticum into such a holy book in the ninth century,
> thereby 
> > contributing to the continued existence of Hermetic texts among the 
> > Arab writers. M. Ullmann has published an example of such a
> tractate, 
> > the Serpent Book of Hermes Trismegistus, a dialogue of Hermes 
with 
> > Asclepius. In this text, we are informed, among other things, that
> > his grandfather, the "Hermes of Hermes," built the temples of Egypt 
> > and deposited timeless knowledge in them. Other Arab writers offer
> > similar accounts; al-ldrisi (d. 1165) stresses that this was
> Hermes' 
> > way of keeping his knowledge alive after the Flood. In particular,
> the
> > temple of Akhn-dm was constructed by Hermes "several years 
before 
> > the Flood" (Ibn Duqmaq, d. 1407), and on its walls, "all the 
> > Egyptians'knowledge of alchemy, magic, talismans, medicine, 
> > astronomy, and geometry were set down" 
> > 
> > And later we have a "the perfectly preserved corpse" of 
> > "Christian Rosenkreutz" bears a close resemblance to the tale given 
> > in the Tabula Smaragdina, in which the Emerald Tablet is said to
> have 
> > been found in the hands of Hermes as he lay in state in his tomb.
> > Kaballa as a Christian Science and for ist integration with
> > Hermeticism came from Pico Della Mirandola (l463-94). And 
continued 
> > with Agrippa Von Nettesheim, John Dee, Reuchlin, Knorr von 
> Rosenroth. 
> > 
> > Blavatsky placed the Corpus Hermetic in early Pharaoh times instead
> > of during the Hellenistic period, place the Kabbala of the middle
> ages
> > in Rabbinistic time periods, and assumed that the Greek mysteries
> had 
> > similar contents as the cabbalist- neuplatonic ideas. Blavatsky
> > therefore whas not so interested in Gnosticism as she was in 
> > Hermetism, because for her, Gnosis derived from Hermetism, 
> whereby 
> > today we know it is the other way around.
> >  
>  
> >  
> =
> > Bri.
> > 
> > 
> > --- In theos-talk@y..., "bri_mue" <bri_mue@y...> wrote:
> > > -Jerry: "Isis is a hodgepodge. The best part is the last chap
> > > which deals with magic, and sadly this is the part that most
> > > Theosophsts 
> > > today ignore."
> > > 
> > > The last chapter is what was obviously at the same time intended
> as
> > a 
> > > sort of advertisement/invitation (in typical Victorian age
> veieled 
> > > fashion) to the newly founded TS that according to Dr. James 
> > > Santucci, Dr. Mathiesen, and Deveney (who wrote a Dr. thesis 
> about 
> > > Randolph), all three claim based on their extensive research that 
> > > the TS started originally as a Theurgic organisation involved 
> > > with "magic", astral projection and with that drug induced
> > > states incorporated in a Masonic type degree system.
> > > 
> > > It should also be noted that Mesmeric, and also the Egyptian
> lodges
> > > of Cagliostro alias Balsamo, where not recognized as Masonic
> lodges
> > > by regular Freemasons, the above belonged to the hundreds of 
> > imitating
> > > so called "frince " Masonic Lodges that where mostly small and
> > > somethimes included charlatans.
> > > 
> > > Following the Frince Masonic degrees Blavatsky and the early TS 
in
> > > New York and India (Adyar) used:  
> > > http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/fringe/appendix2.html
> > > 
> > > The above is obviously rather fake, see also the following letter
> > > reg. the above.   
> > > 
> > > On 25 Jan, 1878 Kenneth Mackenzie wrote to Francis Irwin, co-
> > member 
> > > in the Order of Sikha: 
> > > „I hear that madam Blavatsky is the head of the Order!" (R.A. 
> > > Gilbert "Revelations of the Golden Dawn" '97 p. 5-6, and Ellic 
> > > Howe "Frince Masonry in England" ) This is confirmed in a never
> > > before published letter from Yarker to Blavatsky dated 2 Jan,
> 1879: 
> > > http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a7502210/blavletter.html
> > > 
> > > This is a picture of the co-founder of the order:
> > > 
> > >  
> > > http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a7502210/picture.html
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Blavatsky wrote on Sept. 23, 1875: 
> > > 
> > > "We want to make an experimental comparison between 
> spiritualism 
> > > and the magic of the ancients by following literally the
> > instructions
> > > of the old Cabbalas, both Jewish and Egyptian." (Quoted in
> > Deveney's 
> > > booklet on Astral Travel and the TS)
> > > 
> > > Blavatsky stated in her interview March 1877 to the World 
> > > Newspaper: "This separation, however, is the very last and
> highest 
> > > possible achievement of magic." (A Lamasery in New York. 
> Practicing 
> > > Magical Rites in a Prosaic Eight-Avenue House. Quoted in 
> > Theosophical 
> > > History 4/2, April 1992, p. 51-55.) 
> > > 
> > > Bri.: So astral travel had a lot to do with it from the beginning
> so
> > > I think that is why Dallas, Caldwell, who also claims astral
> > > visions, so vehemently fight answerring the astral body issue and
> > > reg. The Masters trying to find al kinds of excuses to side track
> > the
> > > issues regarding the impossibility of the astral projection
> stories
> > > if taken litteral.
> > > Those who do have not studied the recent information on this
> > subject.
> > > 
> > >  
>  
> >  
> > >  
>  
> >  
> > >  
>  
> > =
> > > Bri.
> > > Famous esotericist Rene Guenon in his book about the TS as the 
> > > > invention of a pseudo-religion, alleges that HPB and 0lcott were
> > > both 
> > > > members of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor (HBL), as was 
> > George 
> > > > Felt, an early TS associate. Steve Stubbs has argued a similar 
> > > > position.
> > > > 
> > > > K.Paul Johnson in has by now famous book "The Master 
> Revealed, 
> > > > writes on p.32 :
> > > > C. J. jinarajadasa admits that in 1875 HPB used a seal "symbolic
> > of
> > > > the Brotherhood of Luxor" on her notepaper, but denies that
> this 
> > > > Brotherhood was the same as the HBL.
> > > > In May 1875, HPB had attempted to form a "Miracle Club" in 
> > response
> > > > to orders received from Tuitit Bey "to begin telling the public
> > the
> > > > truth about the phenomena and their mediums.
> > > > 
> > > > During the following summer, 0lcott received a series of letters
> > > from 
> > > > Serapis, concerning the prospects of partnership with E. Gerry
> > > Brown, 
> > > > the brief marriage of HPB to Michael Betanelly, and his own
> status
> > > as 
> > > > a disciple of the Brotherhood of Luxor. The only doctrinal
> > > references 
> > > > in these letters arekabbalistic in tone. This tends to support 
> > > > Guenon's hypothesis that Felt's interest in the Kabbalah and 
> > > > Egyptology was an influence during that summer. By the end of 
> > 1875, 
> > > > however, Felt had disappeared from the scene after failing to
> > > produce 
> > > > elementals as he had promised. 
> > > > 
> > > > The possible connection of Paolos Metamon to this series of 
> > > > developments is suggested in a footnote, in which Guenon 
reports
> > > that 
> > > > according to unverified rumors, "Metamon was the father of 
> > another 
> > > > personage who was for some time at the head of the outer 
circle
> > of 
> > > > the HBL and who, since then, has founded a new organization 
of 
> a 
> > > > rather different character, "It would seem, in light of this 
> > > > unconfirmed anecdote, that a change within the HBL took place 
> > which 
> > > > made it impossible for HPB and 01cott to continue as members. 
If
> > it 
> > > > had initially been led in its outer circle by the man
> tentatively 
> > > > identified as Metamon's son, then taken over by another 
element,
> > > this 
> > > > could have led to the expulsion noted bv Guenon. What is 
> > undeniable 
> > > > on the basis of Rawson's account and HPB's own admission, is 
> that 
> > > > Paolos Metamon was her first occult teacher in Egypt, who 
> > continued 
> > > > to be in contact with her into the 1870s. This makes him the
> most 
> > > > likely original for the Master Serapis, and his so-called son a 
> > > > possible Tuitit Bey.(End quote)
> > > > 
> > > > One year ago when I was researching, and attempted to write, 
> > about 
> > > > the Dalip Singh revolt/TS connection that was first brought up
> in
> > > > Paul's TMR, I could not circumvent attempting to research 
> > > > the "secret" Lodge activities of Blavatsky and Dayananda in
> > > > India (see : 
> > > > http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a7502210/dsconspiracy.html )
> > > > 
> > > > It is in this context that I also started to look into the
> > > "beliefs" 
> > > > of these early Theosophists and those around them had, and 
> where 
> > > > these beliefs in turn derived from, which led me to the current 
> > > > study. The "invented-India" discovery I mentioned some 
months 
> ago 
> > > > And if I stay that long on these lists, I might place a series
> of 
> > > > postings going more in detail regarding this "invented India" 
> > > > subject, and after that the "invented Tibet" a series of 
> > > > upcoming postings that I am currently laying the foundation for
> > but 
> > > > still needs a bit more work.
> > > > 
> > > > The last two decades of the eighteenth century as a period of
> > major 
> > > > religious innovation. Science and faith were syncretized by the 
> > > > mesmerism of for example the Marquis de Puysegur and his 
> > > followers. A 
> > > > non-Christian form of religiosity had become an increasingly 
> > > > available option in Europe by the end of the same decade. Since
> > > then, 
> > > > dozens of successful prophets have explained that their 
message
> > is 
> > > > logical and accords with the latest findings of science; that
> > their 
> > > > doctrines are not their own innovations but the fruits of
> ancient 
> > > > tradition; and that they can be experienced in the life of
> every 
> > > > person.
> > > > 
> > > > I mentioned the"Crata Repoa", mentioned in my previous 
posting 
> on 
> > > the 
> > > > subject, of which I studied a copy in the one year ago re-
> > > > opened "Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica" in Amsterdam, 
> > > > (http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/) where anybody can look it up.
> > > > The "Crata Repoa" (misspelled "Napoa") in Isis of Blavatsky, 
was
> > the
> > > > constitution of the "Afrikanische Bauherren". The book describes
> > > the 
> > > > seven Grades of Egyptian Initiation in the system of Koeppen as
> I 
> > > > explained earlier.
> > > > 
> > > > The Order influenced the esoteric and Egyptian rites of France,
> > > rites
> > > > which would finally develop into the "Ancient and Primitive Rite
> > of 
> > > > Memphis-Misraim". And lodges where also founded in Egypt, 
> which 
> > in 
> > > a 
> > > > way is ironic. Blavatsky imported standard motifs of Western 
> > > > esotericism into India and speedily arrayed them in local forms,
> > > thus 
> > > > fashioning an Indicised esotericism.
> > > > 
> > > > As the founders of Theosophy imported the purely English, 
> pseudo-
> > > > Indian Sat B'hai with as its upper degrees the Royal Order of
> > > > Sikha into India the TS imported the "psuedo Egypt" that I have
> > been
> > > > referring to into India.
> > > > I also showed how the invented Egypt sickered trough to books
> > like 
> > > > Evant-Wentz "Tibetan Book of the Death", and that Blavatsky
> > > > while she was in India probably had connections to people
> related
> > to
> > > > "Memphis- Misraim" Egyptian Masonry: 
> > > > 
> > > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/5041
> > > > 
> > > > But not only within Egyptian Masonry as such , but also within
> the
> > > > Yarker circle in particular, to which first Sotheran and then
> also
> > > > Blavatsky belonged 
> > > > (http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a7502210/blavletter.html)
> > > > there was a mistaken impression and an "inextricable reverie"
> > that 
> > > > existed in relation to the "De Theosophia Aegyptiorum" of
> Michael 
> > > > Maier supposedly having to do with the early Rosicrucians. 
> > > > 
> > > > But instead Maier's "Rosicrucian" Leipzig manuscript is an 18th
> > > > century myth arising within the Gold- und Rosenkreutz 
> Freemasonic 
> > > > order, first "exposed" by "Magister Pianco", then associated
> via 
> > > > Yarker with the tale of Agrippa's secret society. 
> > > > De Theosophia Aegyptiorum is in fact a rough draft for Maier's
> > > Arcana 
> > > > Arcanissima (1614), and therefore dates to Maier's
> > pre-Rosicrucian 
> > > > period, there is no other manuscript of Maier's to be found at
> > the 
> > > > University of Leipzig
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > >  
>  
> >  
> > > Bri.