Part 1. Aether is the Father of the Universe and the all-vivifying Spirit of Cosmic Matter. Myths always speak to those who listen. In Kosmos there are three higher principles: Chthonia (Chaos), Æther (Zeus) and Chronos (Time). Æther is the Spirit of Cosmic Matter, represented by Zeus, Osiris, and other androgynous deities; Astral Light is their shadow on earth. Fire is the unity of Æther in its universality. But there are two Kosmic “Fires,” and a distinction is made between them in the Occult teachings. Æther and Hemera are the light of the superior and the light of the inferior or terrestrial regions. Æther–Chaos–Akasha is Deity. The Æther of the Greeks is the Akasha of the Hindus; the Ether of modern physics is one of Æther’s subdivisions on our plane. Æther and Chaos (Plato’s Mind and Matter) are the two primeval and eternal principles of the universe, utterly independent of anything else. Æther is the all-vivifying intellectual principle; Chaos, a shapeless liquid principle, without “form or sense,” from the union of which two sprung into existence the Universe the first androgynous deity — the chaotic matter becoming its body, and æther its soul. Chaos–Theos–Kosmos are aspects of the Unknown Space. Deity, in the shape of Æther–Chaos–Akasha, Soul of the Universe and noumenon of Astral Light, pervades all things. The Theurgists called it the Living Fire, and the Spirit of Light. The science of physics, and of metaphysics for that matter, know nothing of Æther. Yet Father-Æther is re-welcomed with open arms; and wedded to gravitation. Æther is the source and cause of all forces, whether cohesive, chemical, thermal, electric, or magnetic. Æther is septenary, whether Akasha is meant by the term, or its lower principle — Ether. Akasha is the Matrix of the Universe and the “Mysterium Magnum,” from which all that exists is born by separation or differentiation: it is the cause of existence; it fills the infinite Space; and is Space itself, in one sense. But as the finite within the Infinite, this light must have its shadowy side — the “Astral Light,” which is no light. Individual human beings can overpower that “fatal light” but only by the holiness of their lives, and by acts of kindness and brotherly love. In Buddhism there are no compulsory beliefs. We are to believe only when the writing, doctrine, or teaching is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness. But then, we have to act accordingly and abundantly. Nihil is synonym for the impersonal divine Principle, the Infinite All, which is neither “being” nor “thing.” It is the Parabrahman of the Vedantist, The One Life of the Buddhist, “That” of the Chhandogya Upanishad, the Ain-Soph of the Kabbalah, The Absolute of Hegel. Lord Buddha taught that the Primitive Substance is eternal and unchangeable. Its vehicle is the pure, luminous Æther, boundless, infinite Space — still a creation of maya. Mastery of Buddhist dogmas can be attained only by following the Platonic deductive method, i.e., proceeding from universals to particulars. In Buddhist philosophy annihilation implies only a dispersion of matter in whatever form or semblance of form it may be. Even our astral bodies, pure ether, are but illusions of matter, so long as they retain their terrestrial outline. Æther is incorruptible. The spirits of creatures, who are emanations of the most sublimated portions of Æther, are Breaths not forms. The body of Jesus was abandoned to the earth while Christos, the Inner Man, was clothed with a luminous body made up of Æther. Part 2. Ether is the Mother of differentiated matter vivified by the formless Fire of Aether. When we recall pictures from the ether, the returning current meeting the outgoing wave of crystallised sound takes it up by magnetic attraction, and returns to us simultaneously the images of the past and the vibrations of its sounds. Each particle of matter is the register of all that has happened and previsionally apprehends even unspoken thought which, once conceived, displaces the particles of the brain by setting them in motion, and scatters its ideas throughout the universe, thus impressing them indelibly upon the eternal and boundless expanse of ether. The Divine Intellect is veiled in man. His animal brain alone philosophizes. When “astral light” circulates in harmony with the divine spirit, the occult powers of plants, animals, and minerals magically sympathize with the “superior natures,” and the divine soul of man attunes with the “inferior” ones. But during the barren periods, the latter lose their magic sympathy, and the spiritual sight of the majority of mankind is so blinded as to lose every notion of the innate powers of its divine lineage and essence. Spirit is the personal god of each mortal and his only divine element. The dual soul, on the contrary, is semidivine, i.e., potentially divine. It is only when the human individuality, soiled with earthly impurities, overcomes separateness and identifies itself with the divine intelligence within, that the aroma of personal experience can become immortal. Although invisible, thought is a material force. Let the least cerebral motion reverberate in the Ether of Space and it will produce a disturbance reaching to infinity. Akasha is not the Holy Ghost, because it would then be Shekh?nah (M?laprakriti). Akasha is the noumenon of the Cosmic Septenary, whose soul is Ether. Ether is the lining of Akasha, and Akasha is the Anima Mundi and Mother of Kosmos. Akasha, whose lowest form is the Ether of Space, is entirely different from the medium of Science. Fire is the Spirit of Deity, the active, male, generative principle; and Ether, the Soul of Matter, is the light of the Fire, the passive female principle from which everything in this Universe emanated. Hence, Ether or “Water” is Mother, and Fire is Father. Sound is the characteristic of Akasha (Ether): it generates air, the property of which is touch, and which, by friction, generates colour and light. The ether of Science is the grossest manifestation of Akasha, though on our plane, it is the seventh principle of the astral light, and three degrees higher than “radiant matter.” When ether penetrates or informs something, it may be molecular because it takes on the form of the latter, and its atoms inform the particles of that “something.” We may perhaps call matter “crystallised ether.” There is no such things as light, heat, sound, or electricity. There is nothing but radiant energy due to one thing — Motion of Ether. Modern Science may divide its hypothetically conceived ether in as many ways as it likes; the real Ether of Space, i.e., Æther, will remain as it is throughout. Ether is the vibrating sound-board in Nature, in all of her seven differentiations. Where there was no Ether there would be no sound. The “Astral Light,” or Ether of Space, preserves the images of all beings and things on its sensitised waves. An occult explanation of “Spirit” photographs is that they are objective copies from subjective photographs impressed upon the ether, and constantly thrown out by our thoughts, words, and deeds. There exists an infinite ocean of ether, in which all material substance floats, and through which are transmitted all forces in the physical universe. So long as “Spirit” photography, instead of being regarded a science, is presented to the public as a new revelation from the God of Israel and Jacob, the jury will go on deliberating much longer. The mediumistic rapping is a correlation of vital force, emitted from the person of the rapper, with the potential energy of the ether. Cyprianus, the reformed sorcerer of Antioch, confessed that he knew of the Chaldæan division of ether into parts. Part 3. The Seven Cosmic Elements, with their numberless sub-Elements, are modifications of One Element. There is but One Element in Nature, and at its rootless root is Deity. The so-called Seven Elements, of which five have already manifested and asserted their existence, are the fabric veiling Deity. Father-Æther has pre-eminence over, and is the synthesis of, all elements. Chaos-Theos-Kosmos is Unknown Space, producing the four primary Elements, which are known on the terrestrial plane as Seven Cosmic Elements. The attempt to derive God from the Anglo-Saxon word “good” is an abandoned idea. God is Jod, a phallic hook. He may be the creator of physical man, “out of nothing,” but not the spark of divine intelligence that “fell” in order to make animal man divine. The Seven “immortal gods who give birth and life to all” are constantly forming matter under the never-ceasing impulse of the One Element. The Seven Cosmic Elements, with their numberless sub-Elements, are modifications and aspects of the One and only Element. Four are entirely physical, and the fifth (Ether) semi-material. Akasha, of which Ether is the grossest form, is the Fifth Cosmic Principle which corresponds to, and from which unfolds, the human Manas. The first four numbers in German are named after four elements. But the Ancients represented the world by five elements. Had they been ignorant of the heterogeneity of the elements they would have had no personifications of Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Æther. Of the Seven Elements on our Earth, four are now fully manifested, while the fifth — Ether — is only partially so, as we are hardly in the second half of the Fourth Round and, consequently, the Fifth Element will manifest fully only in the Fifth Round. It will only be in the next, or Fifth Round, that Ether, the gross body of Akasha, will become a familiar fact of Nature to all men, as air is familiar to us now. Cosmic Elements are the noumena of the terrestrial elements. “Water” is Matter in its precosmic state. Ether contains all other states of matter and their properties. The “waters” of creation are not the liquid we know, but Æther — the Fiery Waters of Invisible Space. Fohat is the “Son of Æther,” in its highest aspect. From Mahat-Intelligence proceeds ether; from ether, air; from air, heat; from heat, water; and from water, earth with everything on her. Æther is universal Fire — imponderable power and potency. Ether is one of Seven Cosmic Principles. Akasha is the synthesis of Æther; and Ether, an aspect of Akasha. The Astral Light is no “light,” it is the dark side of Ether, teeming with conscious, semi-conscious, and unconscious entities.

The concepts of the West are the allegories of the East, and the truths of the Elect. Behind the veil of terrestrial phenomena, the Occultist sees in the Elemental Forces of Nature secondary Causes which are, in themselves, the effects of primary Causes produced and guided unerringly by Divine Intelligences. The idea of anything in Nature being inorganic or dead is materially fallacious, and is utterly rejected by Esoteric Philosophy. When matter appears inert, it is the most active. A stone block is motionless and impenetrable to all intents and purposes. Nevertheless, its particles are in ceaseless eternal vibration which is so rapid that, to the physical eye, the stone seems devoid of motion. Substance is the pre-cosmic substratum of matter, undifferentiated yet interrelated with Ideation, supersensuous but atomic, informed by the Divine Breath of its form. Substance does not mean matter in metaphysics. It is boundless Æther, formless and supernal, the ultimate essence of matter in Space and noumenon of evanescent matter on Earth. Ether is physical and infernal. Kosmos is Eternal Noetic Motion Unmanifested, the Great Breath of One Element. Father-Æther is the source and cause of All Cosmic Forces, which are differentiated aspects of Cosmic Substance, generated by substantial yet super-sensuous Powers. Our Cosmos is ruled by Creative and Intelligent Occult Forces: they are emanations of conscious living entities, acting behind the veil of matter. The forces we know of are but the phenomenal manifestations of realities we know nothing about, but which were known by the ancients. The truths of today are the falsehoods of yesterday. Conceit and prejudice strangle every truth. As only truth can dispel error, Truth should be the sole aim of Science and Justice. It is true that pure Force is nothing in the world of physics; but it is the All in the domain of metaphysics. Inertia is the Greatest of Occult Forces. A flying cannon ball moves only from its own inherent Force of Inertia. Eternal Vibration is the spiritual term for Motion Unmanifested, unconscious, innate, noumenal. It is the “Great Breath” of the One Eternal Element. Vortical Motion is the material term for Motion Manifested, conscious, external, phenomenal. Whatever may be the future name given to the Force of Inertia by scientists, to maintain that that Force does not reside in the atoms but only in the “space between them,” is not true. To the mind of an Occultist it is like saying that water does not reside in the drops of which the ocean is composed, but only in the space between those drops. The Atom belongs wholly to the domain of metaphysics. It is an entified abstraction and has nought to do with physics, strictly speaking, as it can never be brought to the test of retort or balance. Avogadro’s law holds the same place in chemistry as the law of gravitation does in astronomy. Occultists see in gravity only Sympathy and Antipathy, or Attraction and Repulsion, caused by physical polarity on our terrestrial plane, and by spiritual causes beyond our illusive earth. Matter, to the Occultist and to those men of Science who care too much for truth and too little for their vanity to dogmatise, is that totality of existences in the Kosmos, which falls within any of the planes of possible perception. If Scientists could fathom the ultimate nature of these Forces, they would have first to admit their substantial nature, however supersensuous. Science merely traces the sequence of phenomena on a plane of effects, illusory projections from the region that Occultism has long since penetrated. Light and heat, sound and cohesion, are the ghosts or shadows of matter in motion. However, there is no fundamental difference between light and heat, each is merely a metamorphosis of the other. Heat is light in complete repose. Light is heat in rapid motion. When light is combined with a body, it becomes heat; but when thrown off from that body, heat reverts to light. Occult Science may err in particulars but it can never become guilty of a mistake in questions of Universal Laws, simply because Divine Science was born on higher planes, and was brought on Earth by Beings who were far wiser than man will ever be. Occult Science may be less well-informed as to the behaviour of compound elements in various cases of physical correlations: still, it is immeasurably higher in its knowledge of the ultimate occult states of matter, and of the true nature of matter, than all the Academies of Science of our day may possess. Occult Science does not regard either electricity, or any of the forces supposedly generated by it, as matter in any of the states known to physical Science. None of these “forces,” so-called, are either solids, gases, or fluids. An Occultist would even object to electricity being called a fluid, as it is an effect and not the cause. But its noumenon, he would say, is a conscious cause. The force, which materialism considers as the cause of the diversity that surrounds us, is in sober reality only an effect, i.e., a result of that diversity. In other words, the cause of any force is not matter, but motion itself. And thus the great dogma, “no force without matter and no matter without force,” is dethroned and loses the solemn significance with which materialism has tried to invest it. If nature abhors vacuum, what is atom? To admit the divisibility of the atom, amounts to an admission of an infinite divisibility of substance, which is equivalent to reducing substance to nothingness. If the Universe is composed of atoms, then those atoms must be elastic. Absolutely non-elastic atoms could never exhibit a single one of those numerous phenomena that are attributed to their correlations. Without any elasticity the atoms could not manifest their energy, and the substance of the materialists would remain weeded of every force. Materialism is now enmeshed in a fatal circle of its own making. If the blind inertia of physical Science is replaced by the Intelligent Active Powers behind the veil of illusive matter, motion and inertia become subservient to those Powers. Acceptance of the infinite divisibility of the atom opens limitless horizons to Substance, informed by the Divine Breath of its Soul in every possible state of tenuity, states still undreamt of even by the most spiritually disposed chemists and physicists. But alas, the insanities of materialism and pessimism are incurable. The most Science can do is to assume the attitude of agnosticism. But to do this, requires a boundless love of truth and the surrender of the prestige of infallibility, which the men of Science have acquired among the flippant masses. Dualistic and anthropomorphic may be the philosophy of Vishisht Advaita, when compared with the non-duality of Advaita, it is yet supremely higher in logic and philosophy than the cosmogenesis exalted by Christianity and Science, its great opponents.

A distinctive feature of Philaletheians’ compilations is that headings (and side captions, when available) function as subtitles: when read sequentially, they impart the salient points of the entire compilation. The value of this feature becomes apparent in long and complex analyses, where Contents double as Train of Thoughts. In this book, pages 2-18 provide an outline of the main points, the syllogism of propositions, and further elaborations.

The Visible Sun is a veil of the Invisible Central Spiritual Sun of Truth. The Invisible Sun is the ever-concealed Central Point of all Universes and Solar Systems from which all emerged, and toward which all gravitates. It is the Central Sun’s passive emissions of Creative Light, that impart Motion and awaken Life in the numberless Solar systems of the Infinite Kosmos (manifested worlds). The Atoms of Science are the Vibrations of Occultism: they keep the wheels of life going. The “extra-cosmic” God has killed the belief in intra-cosmic Intelligent Forces, that govern the rotatory motion in the infinitudes of Space. Cosmic Motion, circular and perpetual, is Attraction and Repulsion, not as understood by modern physics and the “law of gravity;” but in harmony with the Immutable Laws of Manvantaric Motion regulated by interhuman (not supernatural) Intelligences within the Cosmic Soul. The Solar Flames are reflections of the Central Spiritual Sun, the Life-giver to Kosmos, radiating from the Central Point which is “everywhere and nowhere,” from whence emanates and whither returns the Kosmic Intelligence (sentient Beings) scattered throughout the manifested worlds. The visible Sun is the Father of the physical man; the Moon is his Mother. The visible Sun is a ball of electromagnetic forces, glowing but not burning. It is not even the proximal source of visible light and heat in our solar system. It is the focus, reflector, and veil of the ever-Concealed Central Spiritual Sun — therefore mere illusion. Our Sun will become a comet in future manvantaras. The Central Spiritual Sun is the storehouse of Vital Force (noumenon of Electricity), those life currents which thrill through Space, as through every creature on Earth. The Vital Force, intelligently guided, radiates around man like a luminous sphere. Suspended like a fœtus within the Macrocosm (Universe or Spiritus Mundi, i.e., Spirit of the visible Universe) the Microcosm (Mankind) is vitalised and energised by the Archæus or Liquor Vitæ, the Fluid of Life (Nerve Aura), through which the Cosmic Forces, regulated and sustained by the never-resting Breaths (Agents of Cosmic Laws) act upon the astral body of man curled in the spleen. Pantheism was known and felt by the whole of antiquity. It manifests itself in the vast expanse of the starry heavens, in the breathing of the seas and oceans, and in the quiver of life of the smallest blade of grass. Esoteric Philosophy rejects the finite and imperfect God in our Universe, as the anthropomorphic deity of the monotheist is represented by his followers. The Vedic Aryans were as familiar with the mysteries of colour and sound as our physiologists are on the physical plane. Moreover, they had mastered the potencies of colour, sound, and number on planes inaccessible to the materialists. The spiritual senses, those that act on higher planes of consciousness, are rejected by physiology because the latter is ignorant of the Sacred Science. Yet mental as well as physical correlations of the senses (seven on the physical, and seven on the mental planes) are clearly explained and defined in the Vedas. The seven notes of the scale are the principles of sound. The qualities of every element, as of every sense, are also septenary and to dogmatize upon them, from their likewise septenary manifestation, is whimsical. It is only when Manas (Higher Ego) soars above the mists of ignorance, that the qualities of objects of sense on their dual plane of manifestations (visible and invisible) can be clearly seen and comprehended. The division of the physical senses into five comes to us from great antiquity. But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher has asked himself how these senses could exist, i.e., be perceived in a self-conscious way, unless there was a sixth sense (mental perception) to register and record them; and this, for the Occultist, is the Seventh Sense, that preserves the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as in a Book of Life. Nature shall unveil her mysteries only to those sincere and diligent students of Occult Philosophy — who when pure, impartial, and unexpecting, act as centres of benevolent work — and shall lead them to the contemplation of celestial powers. We keep cycling back and forward. Having lost in spirituality pro rata what we had gained in physicality near the end of the Four Race (Atlantean), we are now cycling forward and upward until we reach the period that will bring the Sixth Race (Enlightened) on a parallel line with the spirituality of the Second (Sweat-born), the long extinct Race of humanity. Then, by cutting the Tree of Life, the slaves of birth–life–death shall be finally freed from the trammels and tyranny of matter. Colours and sounds are associated with the Hierarchy of Compassion, the Manifested Logos. Colour is Spirit (Atman), sound is Voice (Buddhi), and proportion of numbers is Word (Higher Manas). Each prismatic colour is the “Father of the Sound” which corresponds to it; Sound, being the Word or Logos, is his “Father’s Thought.” Thus the Creative Force produces colours, sounds, and numbers, in the shape of rates of vibration, which compound and dissociate atoms and molecules. Perfect knowledge of the correspondences between colours, sounds, and numbers is the first requisite for the student of Occult Philosophy. Who can assume the flower of power, the plant of the golden stem, and the azure blossom? The calamitous error leading to the sum total of mistaken views among the materialists is this: the so-called Nervous Ether is not an animal product, it is the living animal itself. It is the lowest principle of Primordial Essence, which is Life — that animal vitality diffused all around Nature; the flowers of self-consciousness, unfolding from within outwardly, are its products. But beware, under every flower there is a serpent coiled. Even when death arrives the Fluid of Life does not abandon the body. It only changes its state from activity to passivity, assuming dormancy because of the morbid state of tissues upon which it has no more hold. Once the rigor mortis has set it, the Liquor Vitæ reactivates and begins its work on the atoms chemically. The Vital Force radiates within and around a person like a luminous aura. It can be made to act at a distance to poison a fellow human being or, conversely, to heal the sick and restore health.

This volume deals with the underlying structure of occult teaching for the present era and with those vast cosmic processes reproduced through all areas of life from universe to atom. A large section of the book gives a detailed exposition of Solar Fire, the Fire of Mind, since this is the dominant energy to be understood and controlled during this second solar system. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire provides a compact outline of a scheme of cosmology, philosophy and psychology, and serves as a basic reference and text book.

A fountain of esoteric knowledge for deep truth seekers, this classic work examines the birth and structure of the universe and how everything has the Divine as its source. It also traces the development of humanity--drawing from sacred scriptures, mythology, and legends to give a spiritual view of human beings. Volume III is an index to help readers find any topic easily. Illustrations.

This eBook has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. This edition uncovers the fundamental unity from which everything springs and shows the Occult side of Nature that has never been approached by the Science of modern civilization. Isis Unveiled The Secret Doctrine The Key to Theosophy The Voice of the Silence Studies in Occultism From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan Nightmare Tales

Musaicum Books presents to you a meticulously edited Helena Blavatsky collection. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. The works of Helena Blavatsky will reveal you the secrets Theosophy and its mystical teachings. The nature is not "a fortuitous concurrence of atoms," and will assign to man his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe. Content: Isis Unveiled The Secret Doctrine The Key to Theosophy The Voice of the Silence Studies in Occultism From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan Nightmare Tales