"If this work is of men it will come to nothing: but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it " -Rabbi Gamaliel, Acts 5:38?39 Was Theosophical Society founder Helena P. Blavatsky a prophetess or charlatan? Since the 1870's detractors have lambasted both her character and ideas. Yet, H.P.B.'s reputation has continued to grow. Theosophy's non-dogmatic and ecumenical approach to spirituality offers 21st Century seekers a viable alternative to religious fundamentalism. Today thousands of people on every continent belong to the Theosophical Society. All of Madame's books and articles remain in print. The freshness and wit of her letters make them seem as if they were written yesterday. Though controversial, she's withstood time's test. Madame Blavatsky Revisited tells H.P.B.'s remarkable story in an entertaining manner.

Selections from the Works of Rudolf Steiner Without the spiritualist movement and the amazing personality of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the creator of the Theosophical Society, the spiritual revolution of the twentieth century--the so-called New Age, with all its movers and shakers--would be unimaginable. And the work of Rudolf Steiner, G.I. Gurdjieff, René Guénon, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sri Aurobindo, R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, and C.G. Jung could not have become what it was. In this fascinating volume on the Theosophical movement, Rudolf Steiner, one of its primary participants, tells his story in his own words. We are told of the origins of the theosophical movement in spiritualism and somnambulism. We are given Steiner's own version of the relationship between Anthroposophy and Theosophy through his White Lotus Day Lectures, given over several years on the anniversary of Madame Blavatsky's death. Steiner then moves into the realm of occult history, where he relates Theosophy to its historical ground in Western esotericism, especially Rosicrucianism. He reveals events from the seventeenth century that led to the emergence of Freemasonry and other secret societies, as well as the hidden history of the creation of Theosophy in the nineteenth century and the conflicts that still reverberate today between the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic occult streams.

A sizeable minority of people with no particular connection to Eastern religions now believe in reincarnation. The rise in popularity of this belief over the last century and a half is directly traceable to the impact of the nineteenth century's largest and most influential Western esoteric movement, the Theosophical Society. In Recycled Lives, Julie Chajes looks at the rebirth doctrines of the matriarch of Theosophy, the controversial occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891). Examining her teachings in detail, Chajes places them in the context of multiple dimensions of nineteenth-century intellectual and cultural life. In particular, she explores Blavatsky's readings (and misreadings) of Spiritualist currents, scientific theories, Platonism, and Hindu and Buddhist thought. These in turn are set in relief against broader nineteenth-century American and European trends. The chapters come together to reveal the contours of a modern perspective on reincarnation that is inseparable from the nineteenth-century discourses within which it emerged, and which has shaped how people in the West tend to view reincarnation today.

Early associates such as Rudolf Hess, Ernst Hanfstaengl, and Hermann Esser all claimed that Hitler revered alcoholic playwright Dietrich Eckart more than any other colleague. Eminent German historians Karl Dietrich Bracher, Werner Maser, Georg Franz-Willig, and Ernst Nolte have confirmed this assessment. Hitler not only dedicated Mein Kampf to Eckart, he hung his portrait in Munich's Brown House, placed a bust of him in the Reich Chancellery next to one of Bismarck, and named Berlin's 1936 Olympic stadium the Dietrich Ekcart Outdoor Theater. Yet British-American scholarship has virtually ignored "Nazism's Spiritual Father." J. H. Tyson weaves Eckart's biography into a colorful account of modern German history.

The life and times of Helena Blavatsky, the controversial religious guru who cofounded the Theosophical Society and kick-started the New Age movement. Recklessly brilliant, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky scandalized her 19th century world with a controversial new religion that tried to synthesize Eastern and Western philosophies. If her contemporaries saw her as a freak, a charlatan, and a snake oil salesman, she viewed herself as a special person born for great things. She firmly believed that it was her destiny to enlighten the world. Rebelliously breaking conventions, she was the antithesis of a pious religious leader. She cursed, smoked, overate, and needed to airbrush out certain inconvenient facts, like husbands, lovers, and a child. Marion Meade digs deep into Madame Blavatsky’s life from her birth in Russia among the aristocracy to a penniless exile in Europe, across the Atlantic to New York where she became the first Russian woman naturalized as an American citizen, and finally moving on to India where she established the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society in 1882. As she chased from continent to continent, she left in her aftermath a trail of enthralled followers and the ideas of Theosophy that endure to this day. While dismissed as a female messiah, her efforts laid the groundwork for the New Age movement, which sought to reconcile Eastern traditions with Western occultism. Her teachings entered the mainstream by creating new respect for the cultures and religions of the East—for Buddhism and Hinduism—and interest in meditation, yoga, gurus, and reincarnation. Madame Blavatsky was one of a kind. Here is her richly bizarre story told with compassion, insight, and an attempt to plumb the truth behind those astonishing accomplishments.

This Book Consists Of Twelve Papers Which Focus On The Nilgiri Region And Its People As A Whole, Which Provides A Broad Canvas For Understanding The Various Communities That Live There.

Mahatmas can travel in their inner or astral body, preserve full command of all their intelligence, and condense their “phantom” form into visibility or dissolve it into invisibility. But They are not accident-proof for They are living men in living bodies. Their Mayavi-Rupa is furnished by the Auric Egg. At death, Their apparitional or astral body becomes as solid and tangible as was the late physical body. – When the body of an Adept is entirely at the command of the Inner Man, – When the Spiritual Self is completely reunited with its seventh principle even during the lifetime of the personality, — When the Astral Man or Personal Self has become so purified that he has gradually assimilated all the qualities and attributes of the middle nature (Buddhi and Manas in their terrestrial aspect), Then it can be said that the material lower self substitutes itself for the spiritual Higher Self, and is thenceforth capable of living an independent life on earth. Mahatmas are able to desert their bodies, which live on from that point until the day of death of the body entirely devoid of a soul. But the influence of the Adept on the atoms, and consequently on all new physical atoms coming into the form, is such that no evil influence enters and the life led by that body is harmless and often actively good. There are two types of voluntary and conscious incarnations: those of Nirmanakayas, and those undertaken by the probationary chelas who are on trial.

Early associates such as Rudolf Hess, Ernst Hanfstaengl, and Hermann Esser all claimed that Hitler revered alcoholic playwright Dietrich Eckart more than any other colleague. Eminent German historians Karl Dietrich Bracher, Werner Maser, Georg Franz-Willig, and Ernst Nolte have confirmed this assessment. Hitler not only dedicated Mein Kampf to Eckart, he hung his portrait in Munich's Brown House, placed a bust of him in the Reich Chancellery next to one of Bismarck, and named Berlin's 1936 Olympic stadium the Dietrich Ekcart Outdoor Theater. Yet British-American scholarship has virtually ignored "Nazism's Spiritual Father." J. H. Tyson weaves Eckart's biography into a colorful account of modern German history.

The Third Reich proves Lord Byron's maxim that truth is stranger than fiction. Hitler's mania made the Reich surreal. This book documents his neuroses, charisma, ruthlessness, and "storybook" rise to power. It's alarming that an astute psychopath with acting ability became an absolute dictator in a modern European state. German political naivety contributed to his miraculous ascent. During election campaigns between 1927 and 1933 Hitler posed as an anti-Communist savior, while concealing his real agenda of war, genocide, and quack "eugenics." The Surreal Reich closely examines all leading Nazis. It shows how Hitler had different sets of favorites at various times. Dietrich Eckart, Rudolf Hess, and Ernst Rohm in the early years; Hermann Goering and Josef Goebbels through the middle period, then Heinrich Himmler and Martin Bormann from 1939 to 1945. Nazism's heyday occurred during an era of supposed progress. Yet escalating war casualties in that "enlightened age" tell a different story. 620,000 people died in America's Civil War, only 5% of them civilians. World War I caused approximately 16 million fatalities. Most of the 5 million non-combatants succumbed from starvation or Spanish Influenza. World War II resulted in 60 million deaths, 52% of them civilians. One warped "idealist" sparked that fruitless orgy of destruction: Adolf Hitler.

Colin Wilson’s classic work is an essential guide to the mind-expanding experiences and discoveries of the occult in the 20th century. He produces a wonderfully skillful synthesis of the available material—one that sees the occult in the light of reason and reason in the light of the mystical and paranormal. The result is a wide-ranging survey of the subject that provides a comprehensive history of magic, an insightful exploration of our latent powers, and a journey of enlightenment. “I am very impressed by this book, not only by its erudition but…above all for the good-natured, unaffected charm of the author whose reasoning is never too far-fetched, who is never carried away by preposterous theories.”—Sunday Times