The Future Schools of Meditation

Over a century ago the Tibetan outlined a “plan” for the future schools of meditation.

It is well known that “no plan survives first contact”.

I was involved in a new age group at the turn of the millennium we met for retreats initially in Wales and later in Scotland. I am aware of other experiments in the antipodes and Scandinavia.


September 28th, 1920

Today our second point comes up for consideration, and we shall in the elucidation of it enter into the realms of prophecy. I would here point out to you that the thing which is indicated as existing in the future may not always work out in detail as foreseen. I but seek to lay before you the big general plan in its outline. The working out in the future will depend upon the intuition or high perception of the thinkers of the race and upon the ability of the incarnating jivas to seize upon the opportunities and fulfil their destiny.

We touched yesterday upon the one fundamental school with its four branches. Today I would take up:

2. The National Subdivisions of the One School

At the outset I would point out to you that not every nation in the world will have its occult school. Only as the causal body of the national group has reached a certain rate of vibration will it be possible to found and institute these schools. Only as the educational work of the nation has reached a certain height will it be possible to use the mental equipment of the nation as a stepping stone for further expansion, and to use it as a basis for the occult school. And, curiously enough, only those nations which originally had a training school for the mysteries (with three exceptions) will be again, during the earlier stages, permitted national schools.

  1. Great Britain.
  2. Canada and the United States.
  3. Australia.

And even these exceptions might be considered only one, the case of Australia, for the other two in Atlantean days had their occult foundations when they formed part of the earlier continent. In the turning of the wheel, earth itself reincarnates; places pass into pralaya and emerge into manifestation, holding within them the seeds that will eventuate in similar vibration, and bring into being again similar modes of expression, and similar forms.

It will be found later on, when the Occult Schools are founded, that they will be situated where some of the old magnetism yet lingers, and where in some cases certain old talismans have been kept by the Brotherhood with just this aim in view.

Branches, affiliated with one of the four central divisions of the one occult foundation, will be found in the following countries:

  1. Egypt. This will be one of the later schools founded and will be profoundly occult and an advanced school in direct communication with the inner grades. This will be touched upon later.
  2. The United States will have a preparatory school somewhere in the southern part of the Middle West, and an extensive occult college in California in a place later to be revealed. This school will be one of the first started when the Great Lord begins His earthly career, and during the next five years the seeds of it may be laid if students rightly apprehend the work to be done.
  3. There will be one school for the Latin countries, probably in Italy or Southern France, but much depends on the political and educational work of the next ten years.
  4. Great Britain. At one of the magnetized spots in either Scotland or Wales, a branch for occult training will be begun before so very long, which will lay the foundation and embrace the curriculum for the earlier grades. After it has been in existence for a few years and has proved the effectiveness of its training, and after troubled Ireland has adjusted her internal problems, a school for the more advanced grades, and for definite preparation for the mysteries will be started in Ireland at one of the magnetized spots there to be found. This school will be very definitely a school where preparation for a major initiation may be taken, and will be under the eye of the Bodhisattva, preparing the pupil for initiation upon the second ray. The first school in Egypt will be for those who take initiation on the first ray in the occident.
    Those who take initiation on the line of the Mahachohan, or on the third ray, will take it at the advanced occult school in Italy. In this way the occident will have its center where active instruction may be given according to the three lines of approach, and which will give preparation in the inner mysteries.
  5. A preparatory occult school will be found, too, in Sweden, for those of the northern and German races who seek the Path, and when it has been extant for some time Russia may then be in a position to house the headquarters for the more advanced school affiliated to the preparatory one in Sweden. In connection with the Egyptian advanced school will be a preparatory one in Greece or in Syria.

You have, therefore, the following schools as planned, and must bear in mind that the schools wherein the preparatory work and earlier grades are found will be first in order of time, and are in process of founding now, or will be founded during the period immediately preceding the Coming of the Great Lord. The founding of others will be definitely the outcome of His work, and that of His Masters, and will depend upon Their decision as to the success of the earlier endeavor.

Preparatory GradesAdvanced School
Greece or Syria leading toEgypt
Middle West, USACalifornia, USA
Southern FranceItaly
Scotland or WalesIreland
SwedenRussia
New ZealandAustralia

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Excerpted from “Letters on Occult Meditation – Letter IX – Future Schools of Meditation”

By Alice Bailey and Djwhal Kuhl

Shamballa – Tunnel – Trealaw – Prince William – Serpent of Wisdom Dream 05-12-2024

At around 4:50 AM having difficulty nodding off I started meditating building the Shamballa thought form starting by arriving at night. I then work on the outer chamber and then the inner chamber. I triangulate with the second ray masters. I then concentrate on building the inner chamber thought form from various points in the room. I can hold the form and bring it “back” with me into the bed. I managed to get a very good 3d full scale model thought form. I drift off. The first segment of dream ends at exactly 7:30 AM because I hear the central heating click on

I am travelling down a circular winding tunnel at tremendous speeds. The foreground is pitch black and the walls are stone-like as they rush by. There is no sense of corporeal just an awareness travelling. I sense that this tunnel pertains to time.

I am now in a much larger tunnel which I view through a grey night vision. I am travelling in a vehicle of some kind, a car. Ahead of me on the road is a white van. The tunnel twists and turns. I know that it is meant to be one way only. There will be no oncoming traffic. There does not seem to be room to pass. The van senses my desire to overtake. So, he pulls over as close to the walls as he can. I start to overtake and there is a rush to make it before the next bend. I just squeeze by. I flash my hazards to thank the van driver. I continue to hurtle through the tunnel.

 I am now at my grandfather’s house in Trealaw Road. M and J are there as somewhere, is nan. M is working in the upstairs bathroom which was not there in real life. She is working on a blocked toilet which has no seat, and it is full. She goes over and breaks a joint in the supply plumbing. Water gushes everywhere. She manages to find the stop cock. She is unwilling to accept my help. I know that there is another blocked toilet on the raised patio in the garden. It is open plan and without a seat. I ask her if I should use my plumber’s rods to unblock it. She does not want me to do this yet.

The scene changes and I am jumping down onto a triangular raft like boat not much bigger than one of our armchairs. It is a clumsy construction of twigs held together by straw. It starts to leave the bank. I reach out and pull the boat back to the bank. On the other side of the river in a garden is Debs. She is behind a wire fence that has a hessian panel occluding ~80% of the fence. She is huge and menacing and she is verbally threatening to destroy me. She comes close to the fence and sees me. She relaxes and attains her normal size. I see on the raft a triangle of blue medical capsules ~ 20 in number but in a very neat triangle. As I move to get off the boat and back on dry land the capsules fall through a gap in the raft into the water.

I am now back in Trealaw and start to work on the outside toilet. Using a plunger I unblock the outside toilet with ease. I go back into the house, there is a sense of expectation. I hear a knock on the door and there kneeling tying a shoelace is Prince William. I say welcome. I say that I suppose I should bow. I do this and he inspects the top of my head. He jokes that I have a little more hair there than he. He stands up and I say, “welcome William come in.” He says that it is nice to be treated the same way that he is treated in the unit. He goes upstairs.

I see everyone else on the floor pointing firearms up to the street and the gap between the terraces. I say to my father that I had better have a weapon. He hands me a UK electricity distribution board with four sockets. I put this to one side and pick up a black assault rifle with a telescopic sight. I kneel down and look out back towards the garden and the gap in the wall. I see a number of people in UK army fatigues. I call William to have a look and ask him who they are. I hand him the rifle and he looks down the sight. “I recognize those two, they are my royal close protection cover. It is they who have surrounded the building.” Everyone relaxes.

I wake and hear the central heating. It is 7:30 AM. I decide to go back into the dream to check the ordering of the dream.

I arrive at the outdoor toilet. I look into the pan and can see the tail of a snake. I reach into the toilet and gently grasp the tail of the snake. I start pulling and the snake comes willingly with my left hand. It coils a little around my left arm. I continue to pull and more of the snake’s body comes out. I reach down with my right arm to support the snake’s body as it comes out. I walk backwards a bit and ease the snake’s body down to the ground. The snake is ~3-4metres long and in part as thick as my thigh. It is a lustrous dark vibrant green, shiny. On its head are yellow-orange-brown markings a bit like cheekbones. It tastes the air with its forked tongue. We are at peace and relaxed in each other’s company. I know this snake to be the serpent of wisdom. It is he who has been blocking the toilets.

Dream ends.

Mistaken Identity – Jersey Arms – Dream 04-12-24

Here is this morning’s dream after an unsettled night in which I came downstairs twice, once for biscuits and milk and then ~4 AM for some Rennies. This dream is from ~5 AM.

The dream starts in a communal office on an elevated floor in London. I am at an institution of education which is being visited by some dignitaries. There is a special meal put on for all the staff.

I have brought some broad beans and green beans from our garden to give to a colleague of mine. I say to him that I will put them in some water to soak so that they are good for him to take home. I make my way to the kitchenette area and fill a glass bowl with water. I place the beans in the bowl and go back to the office. I put the beans on his desk.

In walks a large boisterous woman with a small entourage. She is the head of department. She asks who is going to celebratory lunch given that everyone is invited. A number of people raise their hands. She turns to me. I explain that it is extremely unlikely that I would have subscribed to the invite list so I will not be going. They head off.

I am quite happy to go off campus to buy some lunch items.

The setting changes and I am in a wood approaching a gap in a dry-stone wall. Coming in the opposite direction is a taller version of Helen L. She is much younger than she would be now. In the dream I know her to be a Southerly Dreamer (she was assigned 19).  As I pass her, I say that there has been a mistake and that I have the same predilection as her, namely south. This brings an inordinate amount of joy. She smiles and we pass through the gap in the wall.

The scene is back in the office, and I make my way through the building to the staircase which leads down into the atrium and by passing through that out of the campus and into London. On the stairs I see a woman a bit younger than me coming up. She has a fluffy beige-brown jacket on. She has light brown/blonde wavy hair and is heavily made up with bright red lip-stick. She says that I remind her of Ant and Dec, a sort of collage. She says that we were getting on famously, implied snogging, in The Jersey Arms the other night. I say that I have no recollection. She insists that it is me. I say that I have never been to The Jersey Arms and that there is no such pub nearby. We cross each other on the stairs, both confused.

I am back in the office starting my foray for lunch again. I head towards the stairs. Now the clearance between the stairs and the ceiling is small. I have to lean very far back to descend. As I turn the corner onto a more open part of the stairs the same woman is there. She is similarly dressed. Again, she insists that we were getting it on and having a great time at The Jersey Arms. I say to the best of my knowledge I have never been to The Jersey Arms. She says that she will show the pub to me.

We leave and exit the campus into South Kensington. We walk down some of the grand streets which are being repaired and come to a sort of square around which are shops. I joke that I will probably be on CCTV. In the corner of the square is a tiny pub front with a sign saying The Jersey Arms. I know 100% that I have never seen that pub before nor been in it and that the woman has mistaken my identity. I do not recognise her.

Dream ends

On waking I put “Jersey Arms” into google and it comes up with multiple results for a pub in Middleton Stoney near Bicester. There are no Jersey Arms in Kensington

Vis Viva – A Journey to Sirius – Preface

Frontispiece

The prophet is not diverted by illusions of past, present and future. The fixity of language determines such linear distinctions. Prophets hold a key to the lock in language. The mechanical image remains only an image to them. This is not a mechanical universe. The linear progression of events is imposed by the observer. Cause and effect? That’s not it at all. The prophet utters fateful words. You glimpse a thing “destined to occur”. But the prophetic instant releases something of infinite portent and power. The universe undergoes a ghostly shift. The wise prophet conceals actuality behind shimmering labels. The uninitiated then believe the prophetic language is ambiguous. The listener distrusts the prophetic messenger. Instinct tells you how the utterance blunts the power of such words. The best prophets lead you up to the curtain and let you peer through it yourself.

– The Stolen Journals [1]

Frank Herbert “God Emperor of Dune” Gollancz, Orion Publishing, London. Page 297 ISBN 0 575 07506 6



1st May 2008


Preface

As they say, “Every journey begins with a single step!”

I am heretic, a heretic to the church of reason. Though it was there that I began my genesis, there I found nemesis and where, I no longer belong.

This very morning as I mulled over koans and Leibniz, Lao Tzu and Newton, I stepped out of my front door. I looked down at our beautiful garden, now partially tamed and resplendent in the spring-ness of spring. Two beautiful white gulls flew overhead filling me with peace. I, yes I, had to return to the source and for me at least a part of the source of all this, is the second law of thermodynamics and that fate full night on a beach in Negril.

Over the last few days I have been waiting on a image from a lady in Australia to arrive and yesterday it did; a rose of deepest blue touched by the tears of heaven. This rose will adorn the cover of this book; “Vis viva – a journey to Sirius”.

Later, pondering on whether to start today or tomorrow and looking to clear my head, I took a stroll around the block. The wet earth rich in aroma from yesterday’s rain, the sun shining down on the fields nearby raised my spirits. And, as I paused to smoke on the bench, much as my grandfather had done, gazing out across the valley to Clydach, I saw a black crow chasing a red tailed kite into the sun. I followed them by eye until I could not bear it. I looked away and then only a few seconds later they were no where to be seen. The skies around here are big and there is no place to hide. But they were gone and I knew. I had to begin. It was an omen.

This book is not a book of answers. It is a book of beginnings. In these pages I will hope to outline a way of thinking that strays from the concretised thought patterns so prevalent today and in doing so will set myself up, for as we know, heretics are never welcome at the altar. Each church has for itself a bane of some kind and the bane of the church of reason is, proof. This is the catch 22 of a limited philosophical and dare I say “scientific” study of life. Here I mean science in the sense of knowing and knowledge and not in the sense of what has become the extension of technology which currently masquerades as science. How can I prove anything to you in the absence of a shared context? I cannot. It is only in reference to your knowledge and the veil of perception which is both yours and mine that I can attempt to communicate. In any case it is not things per se that I want to talk about, though of course things will be a part of this discourse. Proof itself is a concept. Proof is not really a reality but more often a mental construct within a thought pattern or collection of thoughts. In a sense proof requires a theory. In the absence of theory proof itself is only a potential construct of the mind which has yet to come into being.

Whether we like it or not the great philosophical, scientific, psychological and religious schools of thought have all influenced how we as mankind behave. They, along with the media, our peers and parents condition us to behave in certain ways. For example if lots of people agree on something then it becomes a truth and a lie told often enough becomes the truth.

Je pense donc je suis or cogito ergo sum, has permeated much of our thoughts and whether intentionally or otherwise has raised thought onto the high altar of existence, there perhaps to challenge the Divine for supremacy in the minds of man. If there is not thought then how can there be existence? Yet life itself is way beyond the scope of man’s petty intellect, it is so much more than that.

I feel therefore I am, is perhaps a better way of putting it. After all and once all that analytical thinking is done, life is much more of a feeling than a thought. Isn’t it?

Or even better still, simply, I am. Existence and life do not require logic or proof. There is no need for because, donc or ergo. At one level there just is.

The invention of these reasoning words pre-supposes a thought pattern upon the nature of communication that limits one in the exploration of being-ness. These words themselves hint at a direct and linear causality in life and constrain, implying the social conditioning inherent in the use of should and ought.

As part of this book I am going to attempt to reclaim some language before I use it. Words by their very nature, veil the truth and explicitly so. They take on a meaning or life of their own as they are used again and again. Certain sub cultures, let’s say for example the physical sciences use words in highly specified circumstance and within definitional frameworks, as such they cannot for them, have a meaning other than their context specific usage. Energy is a classic here. Ask any scientist what energy actually is and they will gloss over the subject calling it a capacity to do work. So what is this capacity that is energy? Does it really exist?

Here then is the beginning of the borders of a Kurukshetra, the Chautauqua of a journey into perception. Written by a man, in his mid forties, who has published in the physical science literature, co-founded a successful high technology spin out company and who was until recently a senior lecturer in chemistry at a top university. This means because of my qualifications that I am an initiate of a certain degree within the school of concrete science, the new religion of mankind.

Please, bear with me on this journey and let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes

Talking – Effective Personality Disorder – INFJ Dream 27-11-2024

This dream is from between 3 and 5 AM this morning. This is out of the blue.

The dream starts in the front room of my old house in Brixton. I am initially sitting on the coir carpet. It then shifts to a meeting room with psychological professionals discussing a case. I am to assist. One turns to the others and says about me, “I know that he is not a qualified professional, but he has an uncanny knack of putting people at their ease and getting them to talk freely. He is utterly nonjudgmental and very empathic.”

The scene changes and I am in a single bedded hospital ward. On the bed dressed in a hospital gown is a young man with wavy blonde hair which needs a trim. I say, “hi” and he replies. I go over and sit on the bed. I introduce myself. Implicit is that he has just survived a suicide attempt and is recovering. He is in a bad way. I ask how he is and what medication they had already tried. He says, “Xanax but it did not work very well!” I ask if they have a tentative diagnosis and he says, “effective personality disorder.” I already knew this in the dream.

The next day the staff wheel his bed down to the swimming pool. They are using water to help him walk again. I am dressed in my speedo swimming trunks. I lift him off the bed in my arms and walk into the water until such time that he can float. I let him float off my arms. He is smiling and very happy. We walk a few widths of the pool in the water and then I help him out of the pool. The healthcare assistants dry him and help him change into a new gown. I lift him back onto the bed.

The next day the scene is repeated but I also help him to swim a few lengths of breaststroke.

He asks me how I can make him relax. I say that we INFJs have tremendous and sometimes painful depths of empathy. We can feel the suffering of other beings and sometimes tune into it. We want that suffering to cease.

Dream ends.

A passing thought after the dream was, “is this pointing at helping others again”. A while back I started the process of joining Samaritans but was unsure of the other people seeking to join

The Superpower of Patience

I’ll speculate that immediacy and the immediacy of gratification are part of the modern way of life for many. People do not like to wait and many suffer badly from premature conclusion which can be messy. The concluding kangaroo can be found easily on all sides and people jump great distances to form dodgy yet firm conclusions without real basis. Many rely on what “they” say and are unwilling or too lazy to look into things themselves.

Śāntideva in the Bodhicharyâvatâra has a whole chapter on the virtues of forbearance which is a close ally of patience. The jewel of awareness forbearance is depicted by tarot 12.

Sometimes you are required by karma to bear whatever life brings and to do so in as cheerful a manner as possible without pissing and moaning or whingeing like a stuck record. Often there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a TGV train oncoming.

This urge for immediacy means that long term policy making is neglected and life is governed by knee jerk reactions and sticking plaster temporary “solutions”. If it can’t be “sorted” quickly people lose interest. This condemns life to the shallows and the profound depths are never plumbed. It is a natural law that depth needs time and application. Concentration without distraction for extended periods brings insights more meaningful than a short flashy TikTok video. If you wait long enough an insight might come along and then just like with busses you may get several.

Humanity is in a rush like never before in some senses.

This means that the superpower of patience is fading and heading towards a mass extinction event. Being patient is not fashionable, nor is it good clickbait. Being patient is for losers. Gimme, gimme, gimme.

Aligning a complicated dye laser to give the best balance of laser power output and narrowness of spectral linewidth is nearly an art form. I refer to it as Zen and the Art of Laser Alignment. If you get twitchy and impatient it can go badly wrong and you are returned back to the start. All the good work can be undone by one or two impatient tweaks of a mirror positioning knob. If you note that you are losing patience, best to stop go out of the room and then come back calm to start again. In the past I could work at laser alignment in four hour sessions.

This loss of patience and hasty reaction is fairly prevalent. If gratification is not immediate interest is lost.

In Buddhism theory even after one has entered the stream it takes several lifetimes to complete liberation. Patience then is a scale. If one can work over many lifetimes that is patient. If one gets annoyed by the slow loading of a Netflix film, that is less patient. We boomers had ~50 kilobyte per second modems, we were initiated into patience thereby.

Pavlovian society is now conditioned to immediacy, buying in a click and getting food delivered to the doorstep in many places.

I wonder if I could survive the massed impatience and accompanying ire / agitation of London these days. For a long time, I was immersed therein. I doubt I could hack it now.

I think it fair to speculate that I am more patient than average. I can sit in a hospital waiting room without my comfort beads, by smartphone. I do not have to scroll frantically.

The need, it seems, for constant distraction is having a detrimental effect on mental health. The data dealers keep pushing more deal baggies of gigabytes at us, encouraging us to use high definition cameras like junkies to make huge files and selling ever more data to satisfy this addiction.

If people could go cold turkey on the taking and publication of all that imagery, the climate would not get so hot.

I think that were we all to better develop our superpower of patience, the world would be a better and perhaps more tolerant place. It would stop being so knee jerk reactive and it might even try to understand differing views and perspectives. It might ease the pervasive malady of premature conclusion.

Dragon Lore Dream 23-11-2024

This is a short but very intense dream from ~ 4 AM

I am with MF whom I knew as an undergraduate. We are sat in the front room of a British house in which I am living temporarily. He is sat on leather bound armchair. We have invited him over for dinner. We have eaten and are relaxing in front of an open fire.

I am lying on my stomach on the floor. My legs are bent at the knee and moving freely. I am reading my beat-up copy of “The Mists of Dragon Lore”. I can see the well-thumbed yellowed pages. I turn to the back of the book. Inside the hard cover is attached a vellum high quality cream envelope, the flap of which is sealed down with a fine bright red braided fabric. I slowly unwind the fabric and open the flap of the envelope.

With utmost care I pull out a card like piece of paper which is like artist’s paper. Embossed into the paper is an exquisitely drawn oriental dragon. It is in jet black ink and is something to behold. Next to it in fine black calligraphy is written in Kanji is “the famed black dragon”. I show the dragon to M he admires it and thinks it odd that such a print is stored in such a tatty old book.

In the dream I note that this is the very first black dragon I have encountered. I have seen many other colours.

With greatest care I return the artwork to its envelope and retie the seal.

The scene changes and I am now with M in a freight railway carriage. The carriage is empty of goods. M turns to me and says that the mullahs are talking about the coming of a new buddha. I ask if he is referring to the Islamic mullahs. Yes. I say that I know a little bit about Buddhism.

M gets out a prayer mat and places it in one corner of the carriage. He sits on it. Two young white boys, young teenagers, follow suit sitting next to him. Without a prayer mat, I sit next to the youngest boy. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

The scene changes again and I am no longer in the carriage nor bound by the rails. I can go wherever I want.

Dream ends.

Initiation, Human and Solar

INITIATION DEFINED

The question anent initiation is one that is coming more and more before the public. Before many centuries pass the old mysteries will be restored, and an inner body will exist in the Church – the Church of the period, of which the nucleus is already forming – wherein the first initiation will become esoteric, in this sense only, that the taking of the first initiation will, before so very long, be the most sacred ceremony of the Church, performed esoterically as one of the mysteries given at stated periods, attended by those concerned. It will also hold a similar place in the ritual of the Masons. At this ceremony those ready for the first initiation will be publicly admitted to the Lodge by one of its members, authorized to do so by the great Hierophant Himself.

Four Words Defined

When we speak of Initiation, of wisdom, of knowledge, or of the probationary Path, what do we mean? We use the words so glibly, without due consideration of the meaning involved. Take, for instance, the word first mentioned. Many are the definitions, and many are the explanations to be found as to its scope, the preparatory steps, the work to be done between initiations, and its result and effects. One thing before all else is apparent to the most superficial student, and that is, that the magnitude of the subject is such that in order to deal with it adequately one should be able to write from the viewpoint of an initiate; when this is not the case, anything that is said may be reasonable, logical, interesting, or suggestive, but not conclusive.

The word Initiation comes from two Latin words, in, into; and ire, to go; therefore, the making of a beginning, or the entrance into something. It posits, in its widest sense, in the case we are studying, an entrance into the spiritual life, or into a fresh stage in that life. It is the first step, and the succeeding steps, upon the Path of Holiness. Literally, therefore, a man who has taken the first initiation is one who has taken the first step into the spiritual kingdom, having passed out of the definitely human kingdom into the superhuman. Just as he passed out of the animal kingdom into the human at individualization, so he has entered upon the life of the spirit, and for the first time has the right to be called a “spiritual man” in the technical significance of the word. He is entering upon the fifth or final stage in our present fivefold evolution. Having groped his way through the Hall of Ignorance during many ages, and having gone to school in the Hall of Learning, he is now entering into the university, or the Hall of Wisdom. When he has passed through that school he will graduate with his degree as a Master of Compassion.

It might be of benefit to us also if we studied first the difference or the connection between Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. Though in ordinary parlance they are frequently interchanged, as used technically they are dissimilar.

Knowledge is the product of the Hall of Learning. It might be termed the sum total of human discovery and experience, that which can be recognized by the five senses, and be correlated, diagnosed, and defined by the use of the human intellect. It is that about which we feel mental certitude, or that which we can ascertain by the use of experiment. It is the compendium of the arts and sciences. It concerns all that deals with the building and developing of the form side of things. Therefore it concerns the material side of evolution, matter in the solar systems, in the planet, in the three worlds of human evolution, and in the bodies of men.

Wisdom is the product of the Hall of Wisdom. It has to do with the development of the life within the form, with the progress of the spirit through those ever-changing vehicles, and with the expansions of consciousness that succeed each other from life to life. It deals with the life side of evolution. Since it deals with the essence of things and not with the things themselves, it is the intuitive apprehension of truth apart from the reasoning faculty, and the innate perception that can distinguish between the false and the true, between the real and the unreal. It is more than that, for it is also the growing capacity of the Thinker to enter increasingly into the mind of the Logos, to realize the true inwardness of the great pageant of the universe, to vision the objective, and to harmonize more and more with the higher measure. For our present purpose (which is to study somewhat the Path of Holiness and its various stages) it may be described as the realization of the “Kingdom of God within,” and the apprehension of the “Kingdom of God without” in the solar system. Perhaps it might be expressed as the gradual blending of the paths of the mystic and the occultist, – the rearing of the temple of wisdom upon the foundation of knowledge.

Wisdom is the science of the spirit, just as knowledge is the science of matter. Knowledge is separate and objective, whilst wisdom is synthetic and subjective. Knowledge divides; wisdom unites. Knowledge differentiates whilst wisdom blends. What, then, is meant by the understanding?

The understanding may be defined as the faculty of the Thinker in Time to appropriate knowledge as the foundation for wisdom, that which enables him to adapt the things of form to the life of the spirit, and to take the flashes of inspiration that come to him from the Hall of Wisdom and link them to the facts of the Hall of Learning. Perhaps the whole idea might be expressed in this way:


Wisdom concerns the one Self, knowledge deals with the not-self, whilst the understanding is the point of view of the Ego, or Thinker, or his relation between them.

In the Hall of Ignorance the form controls, and the material side of things has the predominance. Man is there polarized in the personality or lower self. In the Hall of Learning the higher self, or Ego, strives to dominate that form until gradually a point of equilibrium is reached where the man is controlled entirely by neither. Later the Ego controls more and more, until in the Hall of Wisdom it dominates in the three lower worlds, and in increasing degree the inherent divinity assumes the mastery.


Aspects of Initiation

Initiation, or the process of undergoing an expansion of consciousness, is part of the normal process of evolutionary development, viewed on a large scale, and not from the standpoint of the individual. When viewed from the individual standpoint it has come to be narrowed down to the moment wherein the evolving unit definitely apprehends that (by dint of his own effort, aided by the advice and suggestions of the watching Teachers of the race) he has reached a point wherein a certain range of knowledge of a subjective nature, from the physical plane point of view, is his. It is in the nature of that experience wherein a pupil in a school realizes suddenly that he has mastered a lesson, and that the rationale of a subject, and the method of procedure, are his to use intelligently. These moments of intelligent apprehension follow the evolving Monad throughout his long pilgrimage. What has been misinterpreted somewhat at this stage of comprehension is the fact that at various periods the emphasis is laid on different grades of expansion, and always the Hierarchy endeavors to bring the race to the point where its units will have some idea of the next step to be taken.

Each initiation marks the passing of the pupil in the Hall of Wisdom into a higher class, marks the clearer shining forth of the inner fire and the transition from one point of polarization to another, entails the realization of an increasing unity with all that lives and the essential oneness of the self with all selves. It results in a horizon that continuously enlarges until it includes the sphere of creation; it is a growing capacity to see and hear on all the planes. It is an increased consciousness of God’s plans for the world, and an increased ability to enter into those plans and to further them. It is the effort in the abstract mind to pass an examination. It is the honor class in the Master’s school, and is within the attainment of those souls whose karma permits and whose efforts suffice to fulfil the aim.

Initiation leads to the mount whence vision can be had, a vision of the eternal Now, wherein past, present, and future exist as one; a vision of the pageant of the races with the golden thread of pedigree carried through the many types; a vision of the golden sphere that holds in unison all the many evolutions of our system, deva, human, animal, vegetable, mineral, and elemental, and through which the pulsating life can be clearly seen beating in regular rhythm;

  • a vision of the Logoic thought-form on the archetypal plane,
  • a vision that grows from initiation to initiation until it embraces all the solar system.

Initiation leads to the stream that, once entered, sweeps a man onward until it carries him to the feet of the Lord of the World, to the feet of his Father in Heaven, to the feet of the threefold Logos.

Initiation leads to the cave within whose circumscribing walls the pairs of opposites are known, and the secret of good and evil is revealed. It leads to the Cross and to that utter sacrifice which must transpire before perfect liberation is attained, and the initiate stands free of all earth’s fetters, held by naught in the three worlds. It leads through the Hall of Wisdom, and puts into a man’s hands the key to all information, systemic and cosmic, in graduated sequence. It reveals the hidden mystery that lies at the heart of the solar system. It leads from one state of consciousness to another. As each state is entered the horizon enlarges, the vista extends, and the comprehension includes more and more, until the expansion reaches a point where the self embraces all selves, including all that is “moving and unmoving,” as phrased by an ancient Scripture.

Initiation involves ceremony. It is this aspect that has been emphasized in the minds of men, perhaps a little to the exclusion of the true significance. Primarily it involves the capacity to see, hear, and comprehend, and to synthesize and correlate knowledge. It does not necessarily involve the development of the psychic faculties, but it does entail the inner comprehension that sees the value underlying the form, and recognizes the purpose of pervading circumstances. It is the capacity that senses the lesson to be learnt from any given occurrence and event, and that by means of these comprehensions and recognitions effects an hourly, weekly, yearly growth and expansion. This process of gradual expansion – the result of the definite effort and strenuous right thinking and living of the aspirant himself and not of some occult teacher performing an occult rite – leads to what one might term a crisis.

At this crisis, which necessitates the aid of a Master, a definite act of initiation is performed, which (acting on a particular center) produces a result on some one body. It keys the atoms to a certain pitch, and enables a new rate of rhythm to be attained.

This ceremony of initiation marks a point of attainment. It does not bring about attainment, as is so often the misconception. It simply marks the recognition by the watching Teachers of the race of a definite point in evolution reached by the pupil, and gives two things:

  1. An expansion of consciousness that admits the personality into the wisdom attained by the Ego, and in the higher initiations into the consciousness of the Monad.
  2. A brief period of enlightenment wherein the initiate sees that portion of the Path that lies ahead to be trodden, and wherein he shares consciously in the great plan of evolution.

After initiation, the work to be done consists largely in making that expansion of consciousness part of the equipment for the practical use of the personality, and in mastering that portion of the path that has yet to be traversed.


The Place and Effect of Initiation

The ceremony of initiation takes place on the three higher subplanes of the mental plane, and on the three higher planes, according to the initiation. The five-pointed star, at the initiations on the mental plane, flashes out above the head of the initiate. This concerns the first initiations which are undergone in the causal vehicle. It has been said that the first two initiations take place upon the astral plane, but this is incorrect, and the statement has given rise to a misunderstanding. They are felt profoundly in connection with the astral and physical bodies and the lower mental, and affect their control. The chief effect being felt in those bodies the initiate may interpret them as having taken place on the planes concerned, as the vividness of the effect and the stimulation of the first two initiations work out largely in the astral body. But it must ever be remembered that the major initiations are taken in the causal body or – dissociated from that body – on the buddhic plane or atmic plane. At the final two initiations which set a man free from the three worlds, and enable him to function in the body of vitality of the Logos and wield that force, the initiate becomes the five-pointed star and it descends upon him, merges in him, and he is seen at its very center. This descent is brought about by the action of the Initiator, wielding the Rod of Power, and puts a man in touch with the center in the Body of the Planetary Logos of which he is a part, and this consciously. The two initiations called the sixth and seventh take place on the buddhic and atmic planes; the five-pointed star “blazes forth from within Itself,” as the esoteric phrase has it, and becomes the seven-pointed star; it descends upon the man and he enters within the flame.

Again, the four initiations, prior to that of the adept, mark respectively the attainment of certain proportions of atomic matter in the bodies – for instance, at the first initiation one-fourth atomic matter, at the second one-half atomic matter, at the third three-quarters atomic matter, and so on to the completion. Since buddhi is the unifying principle (or the welder of all), at the fifth initiation the adept lets the lower vehicles go, and stands in his buddhic sheath. He creates thence his body of manifestation.

Each initiation gives more control on the rays, if one may so express it, although this does not adequately convey the idea. Words so often mislead. At the fifth initiation, when the adept stands Master in the three worlds, He controls more or less (according to His line of development) the five rays that are specially manifesting at the time He takes the initiation. At the sixth initiation, if He takes the higher degree, He gains power on another ray, and at the seventh initiation He wields power on all the rays. The sixth initiation marks the point of attainment of the Christ, and brings the synthetic ray of the system under His control. We need to remember that initiation gives the initiate power on the rays, and not power over the rays, for this marks a very definite difference. Every initiate has, of course, for his primary or spiritual ray one of the three major rays, and the ray of his Monad is the one on which he at length gains power. The love ray, or the synthetic ray of the system, is the final one achieved.

Those who pass away from the earth after the fifth initiation, or those who do not become Masters in physical incarnation, take their subsequent initiations elsewhere in the system. All are in the Logoic Consciousness. One great fact to be borne in mind is, that the initiations of the planet or of the solar system are but the preparatory initiations of admission into the greater Lodge on Sirius. We have the symbolism held for us fairly well in Masonry, and in combining the Masonic method with what we are told of the steps on the Path of Holiness we get an approximate picture. Let us enlarge somewhat:

The first four initiations of the solar system correspond to the four “initiations of the Threshold,” prior to the first cosmic initiation. The fifth initiation corresponds to the first cosmic initiation, that of “entered apprentice” in Masonry; and makes a Master an “entered apprentice” of the Lodge on Sirius. The sixth initiation is analogous to the second degree in Masonry, whilst the seventh initiation makes the Adept a Master Mason of the Brotherhood on Sirius.

A Master, therefore, is one who has taken the seventh planetary initiation, the fifth solar initiation, and the first Sirian or cosmic initiation.


Excerpted from:

“Initiation, Human and Solar – Chapter II – Initiation Defined” By Alice Bailey and Djwhal Kuhl

Dice Numerology Mantra and Periodic Table Dream – 20-11-2024

Here is this morning’s dream segment perhaps following on from my Tibetan Dice dream at the beginning of November. I am in a project to carve some dice out of some Apple wood from our “orchard”.

In the dream I am shown a 3d image of a wooden die rotating in space. I note that the pairs of faces are 1 and 6, 3 and 4, 5 and 2. Each opposing pair adds up to 7 which in the dream I know to be the jewel of awareness 7, or need for guidance. I know that the maximum score of two dice is 12.

In the dream I know that 6 represents Carbon and 1 is Hydrogen. They are chemically fond of each other. Carbon plus Hydrogen is 7.

I picture a periodic table of elements and see 1 – Hydrogen, 2 – Helium, 3 – Lithium, 4 – Beryllium, 5 – Boron and 6 – carbon. I know that 7 is Nitrogen.

I understand that the dice represents the Mantra of Manjushri and chant it in the dream.

Om ah ra pa tsa na dhi.  

Wisdom ripens all sentient beings. Om 1 2 3 4 5 6

In the dream I know that Li and Be are highly reactive but I do not know much about Boron. Lithium is the basis of many batteries but it is very flammable in metallic form. Lithium is 3 mixed abundance.

I understand in the dream that I need to complete the manufacture of the dice and work on the Manjushri mantra.

Dream ends.

Note in Mo the numbering goes Om 6 5 4 3 2 1

Shamballa and the Great White Lodge

Judging from my recent foray on Twitter/X conspiracy theories continue to circulate. The New World Order where an elite exerts financial control and runs the world is one. Another theory in circulation for nearly a century and a half is that there is a grouping of spiritually advanced beings called by some The Great White Lodge / Brotherhood who work behind the scenes to uplift and advise humanity towards the New Age putatively of Aquarius. In some circles they are spoken of with bated breath and there are more than a handful of people who have claimed telepathic rapport with members of this grouping. There is a doctrine of continuous revelation of “teachings” from Blavatsky and Leadbetter, through Alice Bailey and continuing to this present day.

In one of these recent transmissions given around 2020, the upcoming year 2025 is predicted pivotal and that Shamballa force or “energy” will come swiftly into play. This grouping of beings is, according to the teachings, coming into incarnation and starting to sow the seeds of the new age. They are externalising. The grouping entails people learning the teachings, starting to work with them and so-called initiates of various degree. Those beings having taken the fifth initiation are often referred to as masters or masters of ageless wisdom, sometimes even ascended masters. My scientific mind asks if they ascended, whereto?

I personally read everything with a pinch of salt and as little prejudice as I can muster. I will have by training a measure of scepticism. If one tries to translate there can be more truth than the face value occludes. Just as physical science may be sceptical of new agers, so are new agers suspicious of scientists, like me. {This is my generalisation based on limited personal interaction.}

Given the recent world events and the election in USA, the world is on tenterhooks and very edgy just now. One cannot accurately accuse Trump of being an altruistic and inclusive being. There are two cauldrons of human barbarism via high explosive ordnance regularly in the news. There is also Sudan and Myanmar where humanity is not excelling. Humanity is not acting on climate change and there are those who soap box about it not being real. There is head in the sand complacency. Inconvenient truths are ever the unwelcome leper. People are not willing to forego luxury, they want to have their cake and eat it. They are unprepared to change ways of living as A humanity. It will need to get very bad before most are ready to act. My own theory is that insurance will get so prohibitively expensive and that this will be a key motivator for change.

The prediction for 2025 being pivotal looks to be sound.

In the books by Bailey and Khul the great white lodge is due its centennial meeting in 2025.

Much of the spirit of genuine cooperative internationalism is being eroded by the undermining of the United Nations for petty political national purposes. The EU has been damaged by the UK exit. The urge for the United Nations came after the horrors, bloodshed and destruction of the 1914-1945 war. The USA has not had widespread backyard war since 1865. It seems people have forgotten.

I doubt the new age will be all sunshine and smiles like in Hair, certainly not at first.


This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius

Age of Aquarius

[Bridge]

Harmony and understanding

Sympathy and trust abounding

No more falsehoods or derisions

Golden living dreams of visions

Mystic crystal revelation

And the mind’s true liberation


It seems to me that the urge to good arises only when the shit has truly hit the fan and things have gotten very bad indeed. Humanity does not learn adequately from history and repeats the same mistakes over and over. In a sense there needs to be darkness before light. That darkness might need to be very dark indeed.

Unfortunately, the lead provided by the USA is not a good one, it is dominated by power over, threat, bullying and not diplomacy. The troubles and iniquity there, at home, are not addressed, blame is apportioned. The scapegoat of immigration does not hide the division already present. Blame the people who build your skyscrapers and clean your toilets. Smart.

It would be ironic if the age of Aquarius is the age of widespread flooding due to climate change and sea level rises, water everywhere.

In the blue books opus Shamballa acts by way of a distributive node whereby the impulses and ideas flow out into the global centres of humanity. The “masters” decide what they believe humanity needs and project this outward into wider society, via Shamballa. There is no requirement for humanity to enact what is offered but theory goes that those sensitive to impulse will choose to.

If this so-called externalisation is underway how might human beings respond to members of the white lodge?

I suspect humans being how they are, those in power will act to preserve that power and maintain the status quo, which is always a high inertia thing.

It could get very messy indeed next year.