The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Theosophical Path Illustrated Monthly Volume 1, July-December, 1911, by Katherine Tingley This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Theosophical Path Illustrated Monthly Volume 1, July-December, 1911 Editor: Katherine Tingley Release Date: December 24, 2020 [eBook #64121] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 Produced by: Alan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY VOLUME 1, JULY-DECEMBER, 1911 *** THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY EDITED BY KATHERINE TINGLEY Volume I July — December, 1911 PUBLISHED BY THE NEW CENTURY CORPORATION POINT LOMA, CALIFORNIA, U. S. A. THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL PRESS Point Loma, California Index to The Theosophical Path VOLUME I JULY — DECEMBER, 1911 A America, Ancient (ill.) An Archaeologist 323 American Nation, an Unknown (ill.) H. S. Turner 347 American Woman in Poetry, The Grace Knoche 56 Archaeologists, Recent Admissions by Student 107 Aroma of Athens, The (ill.) Dramatic Critic 39 Aroma of Athens, Notes on The (ill.) Kenneth Morris 42 Art, The Scope of R. W. Machell 20 Astral Body, The H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 24 Astronomy, Ancient (No. 1) F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E. 64 Astronomical Notes C. J. Ryan 287 Australian Marsupials (ill.) Nature Lover 296 B Birth of Day, The (verse) A. F. W. 27 "Black Age," The Ariomardes 196 Blavatsky, H. P., and the Theosophical Society (with portrait) W. Q. Judge 28 Blavatsky's Teachings, Recent Confirmation of H. P. H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 172 Blavatsky a Plagiarist? Was H. P. H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 271 Bluebells of Wernoleu, The: A Welsh Legend (verse) Kenneth Morris 404 Book Reviews: Life of Leonardo da Vinci (Osvald Sirén) Carolus 233 Il est ressuscité (Charles Morice) H. A. Fussell 307 Commentary upon the Maya-Tsental Pérez Codex (W. E. Gates) C. J. Ryan 378 A New Magazine 383 The Strange Little Girl 385 Les derniers Barbares: Chine, Tibet, Mongolie (d'Ollone) (ill.) H. A. Fussell 452 The Plough and the Cross (W. P. O'Ryan) F. J. D. 456 Bridges of Paris, The (ill.) G. K. 96 British Association, The Soul at the Henry Travers 406 Bronze, Incorrodible Henry Travers 148 Brynhyfryd Garden, Old (verse) Kenneth Morris 97 Buckingham Palace, London (ill.) 275 C Calendars, Ancient Henry Travers 205 Cathedrals in Ancient Crete a Student 262 Christianity, The Rebirth of H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 11 Christmas Kenneth Morris 387 Confines of Science, The Investigator 349 Conflict of the Ages, The (verse) S. F. 435 Copán, and its Position in American History (ill.) W. E. Gates 419 Counterfeits vs. Reality, Tempting Lydia Ross, M. D. 126 Crucifixion, The Parable of the Cranstone Woodhead 328 Current Topics Observer 447 Cycle, The New H. P. Blavatsky 165 Cyrene, Classical Ariomardes 280 D Dipylon and the outer Ceramicus, The (ill.) F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 189 Drama, Open-Air (ill.) Per Fernholm, M. E. (Roy. Inst. Tech., Stockholm) 415 Dutch House Court by Pieter de Hooch, A (ill.) 338 E Education Wasted? Is H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 102 Egyptian Art, 26th Dynasty (ill.) C. J. 200 Egyptology, and the Theosophical Records, The New (ill.) C. J. Ryan 15 Ekoi: Children of Nature, The H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 344 Energy, Intra-Atomic H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 417 English Lady's Letter, An (ill.) F. D. Udall 442 Eros: Painting by Julius Kronberg (ill.) R. W. Machell 125 Eucalypts? Who Made the (ill.) Nature Lover 295 Evolution in the Light of Theosophy H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 311 F Fairylands, The Two Kenneth Morris 115 Folk-music, The Origin and Nature of Kenneth Morris 174 Forest Waste, Saving Student 34 G Geniuses, The Incarnation of H. Travers 339 Genius for Music, Cultivating E. A. Neresheimer 182 Glaciation, Past and Present (ill.) T. Henry 209 God and the Child (verse) 211 H Hawthorne's Psychology C. T. 51 Heredity and Biology H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 145 Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia (ill.) P. A. Malpas 299 House of Lords, London, The (ill.) R. 201 Humanity and Theosophical Education Elizabeth C. Spalding 375 I Illusion and Reality Lydia Ross, M. D. 362 Irish Scenes (ill.) F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E., M. INST. C. E. I. 400 K Karma, Reincarnation, and Immortality H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 243 Killarney, Ireland (ill.) F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E., M. INST. C. E. I. 282 L Lands now Submerged, The D. Churchill 305 Lapland (ill.) P. F. 180 Light Corpuscular? Is T. Henry 332 Light, Physical and Metaphysical H. Coryn, M. D. 122 Linnaeus and the Divining Rod P. F. 154 Lomaland Cañons (ill.) W. J. Renshaw 155 Lorelei, The (ill.) Student Traveler 225 Louisiana Sugar Plantation, A Visit to a Barbara McClung 223 M Magic Boat, A D. F. 399 Magic Place, A: A Forest Idyll for Young Folks (ill.) M. Ginevra Munson 443 "Magnetons," Force and Matter H. Travers 267 Man and Nature R. Machell 410 Man, The Real H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 229 Modern Civilization, A Japanese Writer's Views on E. S. (Tokyo, Japan) 418 Music and Life William A. Dunn 22 Music Notes C. J. Ryan 202 Music of the Spheres, The H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 258 Mysteries of Eleusis, The (ill.) H. T. E. 207 N Names in Art, Great (ill.) Art Student 111 Natural History Museum, London (ill.) 270 Nirvâna Mean Annihilation? Does T. H. 261 P Path, The: Some Words by William Q. Judge 32 Path, The Gertrude van Pelt, M. D. 68 Peace on Earth: Good Will towards Men R. Machell 391 Photography and the Invisible P. A. Malpas 142 Platonic Succession, The Golden Chain of F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 276 Poetry and Criticism Kenneth Morris 247 Point Loma Notes C. J. R. 354 Power Lydia Ross, M. D. 212 Powers, Misused R. W. Machell 98 Psychism, a Study in Hidden Connexions H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) 393 Pythagoras, Life and Teachings of F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 52, 130 Pythagorean Solids, The F. J. Dick, M. INST. C. E. 194 R Reincarnation? What are the Bases of an Intelligent Belief in F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 317 Rotation, The Mysteries of Student 316 S Salamander, The Western four-toed (ill.) Percy Leonard 227 San Diego (ill.) Kenneth Morris 70 Scandinavian Mythology, Glimpses of Per Fernholm, M. E. 184 Scientific Brevities Busy Bee 427 Scientific Oddments Busy Bee 149 Sokrates (ill.) F. S. Darrow, A. M., PH. D. (Harv.) 215 Spade of the Archaeologist, The Ariomardes 303 St. Paul's Cathedral, London (ill.) Carolus 293 Sun-Life and Earth-Life Per Fernholm, M. E. (Stockholm) 300 T Theosophy and Modern Scientific Discoveries C. J. Ryan 87 Theosophical Torch, The Grace Knoche 190 Theseus, The Temple of, Athens (ill.) R. 106 Tower of London, The (ill.) Carolus 352 Turkish Woman, The Grace Knoche 439 U Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, The J. H. Fussell 77 V Venice (ill.) Grace Knoche 366 Victory of the Divine in Man, The Rev. S. J. Neill 320 Vivisector, The Plight of the H. Coryn, M. D., M. R. C. S. 341 Vrbas Defile, The, Bosnia (ill.) F. J. B. 286 W Warwick Castle (ill.) C. J. Ryan 409 Will as a Chemical Product, The Investigator 413 Womanhood, The World of Grace Knoche 264 Woman's International Theosophical League A Member of the League 357 Women who have Influenced the World Rev. S. J. Neill 436 ILLUSTRATIONS A Alaskan Views 209 Albert Memorial, London: Five Panels of Decorative Frieze 111 Amsterdam, Views 143, 306 Archaic Colossal Statues of Kiang-K'eu 454-455 Aroma of Athens, Groups in The 254, 255, 266, 267, 311, 322 Aroma of Athens, Scenes from The 35-38, 47-50, 87, 243, 246, 247, 316, 317, 324 Athens, Greece, Ruins of Dipylon Gate 188 Athens, Greece, Stoa, Gymnasium of Hadrian 108 Athens, Greece, Temple of Theseus 107 Australian Scenes 298 B Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna 29 Bosnia, Seraejevo, Capital of 434-435 Buckingham Palace, London 275 C Copán (six illustrations) 418-423 Coronado, San Diego, California, The Surf at 434 Cuba, Avenue of Royal Palms; Country Scene 222-223 D De Lesseps, Monument of, Port Said 110 D'Ollone, Commandant 454 Dutch House Court by P. de Hooch, A 338 E Eleusis, Part of the Ruins of 208 Eros: Painting by Julius Kronberg 125 F Farmhouse on the Norfolk Broads, England, A 274 Florida, Palm Beach 223 Forest, In the 443 G Giants' Causeway, Antrim, Ireland 403 Grant Hotel, San Diego, California 72 H Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia 299 Horus, Symbolic Statue of 18 House of Lords, London, The 201 Houses of Parliament, Dublin, The Old 402 Houses of Parliament, London, The 353 I Irish Farmer, An 402-403 Irish Peasant Woman, An 402-403 K Karnak, Egypt, Hall of Columns 17 Killarney, Ireland, Views of 282, 283 Klamath Reclamation Project, Oregon-California 435 Kronberg Julius: Family Group 125 L Lapland, Sweden, Views of 180 Leaders of the Theosophical Movement, The 30 Lolo Men, and Warrior 454-455 Lomaland Cañons 154, 173 Lorelei, The Rock of 226 M Mammoth Cave, La Jolla, San Diego, California, The 434-435 [Pg 5] Miao-Tseu Dancing 455 N Natural History Museum, London 270 Neshoron, Statue of 200 O Oil Creek Falls, Canada 307 P Paris: Pont au Change and the Palais de Justice 96 Paris and the Seine 97 Pérez Codex, Maya-Tzental 379, 380 Pevensey Castle, Ruins of 442 Portraits: Heads of Departments at the International Headquarters, and Contributors to The Theosophical Path 4-9 Point Loma, Looking Eastward 172 Point Loma, A Eucalyptus Grove 295 Point Loma Hills at Eventide 339 R Râja Yoga College, Point Loma, S. E. View of 387 Rocking-Stone Pinnacle, Tasmania 287 Rothenburg, Germany, Views of 390-391 S Salamander, Western four-toed 227 San Diego, California, View of 71 San Juan Teotihuacán, Panoramic View of 327 Sarpi, Fra Paolo 366 Seminole Indians 346, 347 Sokrates and Seneca (Berlin Museum) 222 St. Paul's Cathedral, London 294 Sweden, Trollhättan Canal 142 Sweden, Visingsborg Castle, Visingsö 142 Switzerland, Views of 271 T Temple in the Greek Theater, Point Loma, California 165 Tombs, Ancient Athenian 189 Tower of London, The 352 Trafalgar Square, London 353 V Venice, Views of 367, 370, 371, 374, 375 Vikings, The Noble 414-415 Vrbas Defile, Bosnia, The 286 W Warwick Castle, from the Avon 408 Warwick Castle, Inner Court and Tower 409 Y Yucatan, "Governor's House," Uxmal 327 Yucatan, "The Castle," Chichén Itzá 326 Front cover. [Pg 6] [Pg 7] [Pg 8] T THE PATH HE illustration on the cover of this Magazine is a reproduction of the mystical and symbolical painting by Mr. R. Machell, the English artist, now a Student at the International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, California. The original is in Katherine Tingley's collection at the International Theosophical Headquarters. The symbolism of this painting is described by the artist as follows: The Path is the way by which the human soul must pass in its evolution to full spiritual self-consciousness. The supreme condition is suggested in this work by the great figure whose head in the upper triangle is lost in the glory of the Sun above, and whose feet are in the lower triangle in the waters of Space, symbolizing Spirit and Matter. His wings fill the middle region representing the motion or pulsation of cosmic life, while within the octagon are displayed the various planes of consciousness through which humanity must rise to attain to perfect Manhood. At the top is a winged Isis, the Mother or Oversoul, whose wings veil the face of the Supreme from those below. There is a circle dimly seen of celestial figures who hail with joy the triumph of a new initiate, one who has reached to the heart of the Supreme. From that point he looks back with compassion upon all who still are wandering below and turns to go down again to their help as a Savior of Men. Below him is the red wing of the guardians who strike down those who have not the "password," symbolized by the white flame floating over the head of the purified aspirant. Two children, representing purity, pass up unchallenged. In the center of the picture is a warrior who has slain the dragon of illusion, the dragon of the lower self, and is now prepared to cross the gulf by using the body of the dragon as his bridge (for we rise on steps made of conquered weaknesses, the slain dragon of the lower nature). On one side two women climb, one helped by the other whose robe is white and whose flame burns bright as she helps her weaker sister. Near them a man climbs from the darkness; he has money bags hung at his belt but no flame above his head and already the spear of a guardian of the fire is poised above him ready to strike the unworthy in his hour of triumph. Not far off is a bard whose flame is veiled by a red cloud (passion) and who lies prone, struck down by a guardian's spear; but as he lies dying, a ray from the heart of the Supreme reaches him as a promise of future triumph in a later life. On the other side is a student of magic, following the light from a crown (ambition) held aloft by a floating figure who has led him to the edge of the precipice over which for him there is no bridge; he holds his book of ritual and thinks the light of the dazzling crown comes from the Supreme, but the chasm awaits its victim. By his side his faithful follower falls unnoticed by him, but a ray from the heart of the Supreme falls upon her also, the reward of selfless devotion, even in a bad cause. Lower still in the underworld, a child stands beneath the wings of the foster mother (material Nature) and receives the equipment of the Knight, symbols of the powers of the Soul, the sword of power, the spear of will, the helmet of knowledge and the coat of mail, the links of which are made of past experiences. It is said in an ancient book: "The Path is one for all, the ways that lead thereto must vary with the pilgrim." THE PATH The Theosophical Path An International Magazine Unsectarian and nonpolitical Monthly Illustrated Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, the promulgation of Theosophy, the study of ancient & modern Ethics, Philosophy, Science and Art, and to the uplifting and purification of Home and National Life Edited by Katherine Tingley International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, California, U.S.A. The Secret Doctrine is the common property of the countless millions of men born under various climates, in times with which History refuses to deal, and to which esoteric teachings assign dates incompatible with the theories of Geology and Anthropology. The birth and evolution of the Sacred Science of the Past are lost in the very night of Time.... It is only by bringing before the reader an abundance of proofs all tending to show that in every age, under every condition of civilization and knowledge, the educated classes of every nation made themselves the more or less faithful echoes of one identical system and its fundamental traditions—that he can be made to see that so many streams of the same water must have had a common source from which they started. What was [Pg 9] [Pg 10] [Pg 11] this source?... There must be truth and fact in that which every people of antiquity accepted and made the foundation of its religions and its faith.—H. P. Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, II, 794 VOL. I NO. 1 THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH KATHERINE TINGLEY, EDITOR JULY, 1911 THE REBIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY: by H. T. Edge, B. A. (Cantab.) MONG ideas which Theosophists have been proclaiming for many years, and which are now finding expression through other channels, though in piecemeal and modified form, are those connected with the Christ story and Christianity. Current Literature, in reviewing "The Christ Myth," by Professor Dr. Arthur Drews of Karlsruhe, says: In essence the argument of the book is that all the main ideas of Christianity existed in the world prior to the birth of Christ, and that the hero of the New Testament is an imaginative conception rather than an actual personality. The opening chapters illuminate the history of the Messianic idea. This idea, Professor Drews contends, is rooted in Persia and Greece, as well as in the Jewish consciousness. The Persians dreamed of a divine "friend" or "mediator" who should deliver them in the eternal struggle between light and darkness, between Ormuzd and Ahriman. The Greeks conceived a mediatory "Word" or Logos which should come to the aid of human weakness and identify man with God. Even more strongly, among the Jews, persisted the thought that "a Son of God" must intercede with Jehovah in behalf of his people. Such utterances as the above are growing common, both from without the churches and from within. People are beginning to realize that they have not made the most of their religious traditions; that there is more in them than they have so far gotten out of them. They suspect that the Gospel narratives contain valuable truths that have been missed. The Christ is not merely a personality, but also a symbol, as is shown by the above writer; a symbol of the Divine in Man, recognized by the world ages before the Christian era. The importance of the Christian Gospel today consists in its power to help us to realize that we are Divine in essence, and to aid us on the Path or Way which leads to a realization of that Divinity. Is it possible that now, for the first time, after all these centuries, the real import of that Gospel is about to be grasped? that the age-long worship of a wrong ideal—that of the personal God and his rewards and punishments, his propitiations and forgivenesses—is about to depart and make room for a more virile and ennobling, as well as more rational and holier faith? Is it possible that a Resurrection is in progress, a Resurrection of Christ from the tomb in which we have buried him?[1] The reader of course will not think any allusion is here made to a possible physical appearance of Christ. Such preposterous suggestions are made in some quarters, but it is needless to say Theosophy has nothing to do with them.—H. T. E. What we understand by a Resurrection of Christ is the Resurrection of the ancient but buried truth that Man is essentially Divine—to replace the idea that he is essentially evil. This latter idea emphasizes the lower side of man's nature and actually weakens his faith in the Divine Power. Having thus lost his faith, he assumes an attitude of expectation and deprecation, praying to an imaginary deity instead of invoking by action the real Divinity within. Ancient symbology, to which the above writer refers as being substantially identical with that of the Christian Gospel, speaks of the "Father" and the "Son." By the word "Father" was understood the Supreme; the "Son" was the Word, the Divine life in Man, which turned him from an animal being to what he is. Through the Son we approach the Father; that is, man must invoke the power of his own Higher Self. Another ancient teaching, taught in fables as well as sacred allegories, is that only by acting can man invoke the Divine aid. The Divine gift to Man is the Will, and he himself is the only one who can exert it. The fable tells that a carter invoked Hercules to lift his cart out of a rut, and Hercules told him to put his own shoulder to the wheel. For Hercules means strength, and strength is invoked by exerting it. In the same way we have to assert our Divinity by acting in a Divine way; and it seems that the Gospels give us ample instructions. It may be that this was after all the real message, and that those who gave it have been waiting all this time for man to get up off his knees and be somebody. There are many religious gospels in the world, but they are all modifications of one great eternal gospel. That one gospel, clothed in many garbs, legendary, allegoric, theological, is the Drama of the Soul in its pilgrimage through life, its struggles with great adversaries, and its final victory. Christianity contains the same ancient wisdom; it has been covered over with accretions of theology and ecclesiasticism; it is now being disentombed. The process is a long and eventful one; for people cling fondly to old habits, and many still hope that they will be able to admit everything and yet set early medieval theology on the summit as the crowning revelation. The success with which they can do this depends upon what they can make of Christianity, for the less cannot contain the greater. The personal Christ and the doctrine of the Atonement (in its familiar theological form) together constitute the rock on which there is most likelihood of a split. But this doctrine (that is, in its present form) will have to go, for it is inconsistent with the views of life that are now gaining ground. For one thing, it is not sufficiently international; it is too much like a gospel of salvation peculiar to Western civilization. Eastern religions are already amply provided with similar machinery [Pg 12] [1] [Pg 13] in their own systems, and are not likely to give up their own for ours. Again, the theological doctrine of Atonement includes the remission of sins, in the sense that the sinner is relieved from the consequences of his sins by a special act of intercession and vicarious suffering. It is useless for Christians to deny that such is the teaching, for it is expressly stated thus by eminent authorities whom we might quote; besides it is this very fact of remission that lends force to the appeal made to our weak desires and hopes; it is held up as a great advantage possessed by Christianity. This teaching is repugnant to our innate sense of justice, to our manliness, and to our best conceptions of Divine Wisdom. It is felt to be more in harmony with Law that man should work out the full consequences of all his acts, both good and bad, reaping the consequent joy and grief. The remission of sins does not mean an excusing from the penalty, but a purification of the man so that he will not commit any more sins. Man is justified, sanctified, and saved, by the Divine grace acting within and changing his heart—not by a propitiatory sacrifice and a mere formal act of belief. And so the real doctrine of Atonement will have to take the place of the other. The making one, or reconciliation, between the human soul and its Divine counterpart—that is the real Atonement. By it, man repudiates his false "self," and recognizes his real Self; deposes the animal nature from the throne of his heart and establishes the kingdom of righteousness therein. But in the world just now there is a mighty battle between powers that tend to enslave man and keep him down, and powers that tend to liberate him. The former will try to perpetuate theological dogmatism and man's fear of himself. The latter will ever strive to give him back his self-respect and faith in his own Divinity. Christians love to speak of the greatness of their religion, but little do they realize how great it is. The Bible is printed in hundreds of millions, and enthusiastic evangelists place a copy in every hotel room; but it is a more precious treasure than they wot of. Enshrined within the verses of that strange literary compost, preserved in the misunderstood symbols of that religion, are records of the Wisdom-Religion, the world's eternal gospel of Truth. Its teachings can indeed "make us free," for they show us how to evoke the power of the "Word." Unless we can use our Will—the Spiritual Will, not the feeble, selfish, personal will—we cannot be saved; else would the Creator have his heaven furnished with rescued dummies. When Man was gifted with Divine prerogatives of Will and Intelligence, he was thereby made a responsible self-acting being; he must redeem himself by his own (God-given) volition, not lay aside his initiative in weak reliance on some other will. And the Spiritual Will is of the Heart; and of the Heart also is Wisdom; yet man in his unredeemed state obeys the leading of the desires and the false images they breed in the imagination. Therefore he will remain enslaved to these desires and will fail to understand the meaning of life unless he cultivates the impersonal Divine life within him. The teaching of the Gospel is directed to showing us how to enter this Way. To the ignorant the Master speaks in parables; but "to you it is given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom." A priceless privilege, but how repudiated! If we would but carry out the injunctions of Jesus the Christ, instead of making his personality into a God—which surely he himself would never have wished—we should be worthier disciples and the greater gainers. [Pg 14] [Pg 15] Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. THE NEW EGYPTOLOGY AND THE THEOSOPHICAL RECORDS: by Charles J. Ryan HE interesting problem of the origin of Egyptian culture is still unsolved by archaeologists, though many new facts have been recently discovered which seem to be leading to something definite. Nestor L'Hôte said sixty years ago: The further one penetrates into antiquity towards the origins of Egyptian art, the more perfect are the products of that art, as though the genius of the people, inversely to that of others, was formed suddenly.... Egyptian art we only know in its decadence. M. Jean Capart, the eminent Belgian Egyptologist, Keeper of the Egyptian Antiquities at the Royal Museum, Brussels, supports that opinion, saying, in his recent work on Primitive Art in Egypt, that M. L'Hôte's conclusion was and remains legitimate. Since L'Hôte's time fine works of art and astonishing beauty have been found in tombs of the Third Dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs, about whom nothing—or next to nothing—was known until lately; even the Fourth Dynasty, the so- called Pyramid Builders, being historically very obscure, no agreement as to their date having been come to yet. It is fairly decided that they lived more than four or five thousands years b. c. Maspero, speaking of some paintings of the extremely ancient Third Dynasty, says: The Egyptians were animal painters of the highest power, and they never gave better proof of it than in this picture. No modern painter could have seized with more spirit and humor the heavy gait of the goose, the curves of its neck, the pretentious carriage of its head, and the markings of its plumage. The human figure was also represented with great artistic skill at the same early period. Even then the characteristic full- faced eye in the profile face was a firmly established convention. We do not know the reasons for this, but it cannot have been accidental. According to Dr. Petrie, the great Egyptian explorer, the commencement of the Egyptian civilization that we call classical, the Egypt of the Pharaohs with its hieroglyphs, its established style of art, its complicated religion and philosophy, dates back to not less than b. c. 5000. This would be the time of the First Dynasty. Think what that means! A stretch of splendid civilization before the beginning of the Christian era about five times as long as the period that has elapsed since the time of King Alfred to this day, a period which has included almost or quite all that we look upon as worthy of consideration in our history! And yet back of Dr. Petrie's First Dynastic age we now find ourselves face to face with a prehistoric Egyptian civilization or civilizations of absolutely unknown age, possibly of a hundred thousand years duration. The one that immediately preceded the Dynastic or Pharaonic is supposed to be of Libyan origin. The possibility at least of a civilization of a hundred thousand years' duration should offer little difficulty even to the most critical, now that we have found a well-formed skull and skeleton near London differing very little from the modern type of Englishman, and estimated to be at least 170,000 years old. Long ago H. P. Blavatsky said in The Secret Doctrine and elsewhere that some form of Egyptian civilization had existed for an immensely longer period than the archaeologists imagine, and Katherine Tingley has reasserted this most emphatically, saying that Egyptian civilization will be proved to be even older than the (historic) Indian. Archaeologists have always felt a great and peculiar difficulty in comprehending the sudden appearance of the high culture of the first Dynastic periods. It is impossible to believe that Egypt's greatness arose full-fledged, without long preparation, and yet where are the evidences of development? M. Jean Capart, the Belgian authority referred to above, has devoted great attention to this problem, and his conclusions are of interest to the student of Theosophy. He considers it exceedingly probable that gradual invasions or colonizations of a highly cultured race broke into the simpler Egyptian civilization from the South or South-east. These people, coming from the "Land of the Gods," Punt, which is commonly supposed to be Somaliland, he thinks came originally from some Asiatic country, bringing with them their arts and sciences and religion. As they blended with the Libyan inhabitants of Egypt, who possessed their own distinctive civilization, they established their already formed culture, and the combination produced what we call the Dynastic or classic Egyptian civilization. This would explain the origin of the classic Egyptian forms on reasonable grounds, and furthermore would make it clear why the Egyptians had so many things in common with the Hindûs in matters of religion, such as the respect paid to the Cow as a symbol of Divine Power. HALL OF COLUMNS, KARNAK, EGYPT SYMBOLIC STATUE OF HORUS, SON OF OSIRIS AND ISIS IN THE ACT OF PURIFYING A KING MUSÉE NATIONAL DU LOUVRE, PARIS H. P. Blavatsky, in Isis Unveiled, quotes the following from the ancient Hindû historian, Kullûka-Bhatta: Under the reign of Viśvâ-mitra, first king of the Dynasty of Soma-Vanga, in consequence of a battle which lasted five days, Manu-Vina, heir of the ancient kings, being abandoned by the Brâhmans, emigrated with [Pg 16] [Pg 17] [Pg 18] [Pg 19] all his companions, passing through Ârya, and the countries of Barria, till he came to the shores of Masra. (Vol. I, p. 627) She adds: Ârya is Eran (Persia); Barria is Arabia, and Masra was the name of Cairo, which to this day is called Masr, Musr, and Misro. (Ibid.) Mitsraîm was the Hebrew name for the land of Cham, Egypt. Dr. E. A. W. Budge, the learned Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum, says he believes that a series of carvings on the walls of the Temple of Edfû, represent the invaders in prehistoric times, who made their way into Egypt, from a country in the East, by way of the Red Sea.... In later times the indigenous priesthoods merged the legendary history of the deified king of the "Blacksmiths" is that of Horus, the god of heaven in the earliest times, and in that of Râ which belonged to a later period. The mythical story of Horus conquering Nubia and Egypt, with which Dr. Budge thinks the true story of incursion was blended, contains the significant assertions that the warriors of Horus, the "Blacksmiths," were armed with weapons of metal, and chains, and were expert builders. According to the Theosophical records the Great Pyramid was built long before the fifth millennium b. c. There are many mysteries connected with that most stupendous work of man which have not yet been suspected by the Egyptologists, not the least of which is the problem of its date and its builder; but, so far as they go, the stories of Horus' invasion and M. Capart's luminous suggestions as to the origin of the Dynastic Egyptian civilization, are not inconsistent with the account of Kullûka-Bhatta; and in the light of the new discoveries of one or more prehistoric civilizations in the Nile Valley, it looks as if the teachings of Theosophy were being vindicated in a way that was not dreamed of by archaeologists in the days when H. P. Blavatsky opened a small window into the mysterious past of glorious Egypt. [Pg 20] THE SCOPE OF ART: by R. W. Machell WRITER in a London weekly (Black and White) makes one or two points in reference to art that are worthy of notice. He says that it is nonsense to talk of art elevating the people, because it is itself the index of their condition. This is just one of those simple fallacies that contain a sufficient amount of the truth to make them misleading. Art is not an index of the condition of the people, but only of a very small part of the people; it would be more true to say that the popular appreciation of art is such an index; but it is not true to say or to imply that the condition of the people governs its range or scope. We are constantly met by the experience of art that is unappreciated by the people in whose midst it appears. It is necessary to understand the complex nature of man and the vast range of human evolution to be able to see how one man may appear in a nation and display a degree of progress far in advance of his fellows, who also are all in varying stages of their long evolution. The progressed soul incarnates perhaps in a body just like those of the rest of the race, because it cannot get a better; and so it is not at once recognized as an older soul, and for want of right education the man himself may be unable to account for the difference between himself and his fellows of which he is conscious; and so, being unaware of his own inherent divinity and of his relation to his fellows, he may not recognize his responsibility to them as a natural leader, fitted by greater experience to show a light on the path of human progress, and required by Karma or by his kinship to his fellows, to use his experience, or his talents, or his genius, for their guidance rather than for his own glory. Then passing to the subject of the recent sale of the famous Rembrandt to an American he very wisely points out that this is a private matter, and not in any way a national or an artistic point of interest. As said, the picture (not an English painting) was not in any sense a national possession, nor was it of any importance in the art-life of the nation that it should be added to the already large collection of the master's works now owned by the National Gallery. What the writer maintains is vital to a nation, is to encourage and to appreciate the art of its own day and of its own artists. Now here we meet the deplorable parochialism that does duty for patriotism, and which is so utterly out of place in connexion with art; for art is not national but universal, and, further, it is not modern or ancient, but again universal; so that an attempt to limit the sympathies of art-lovers to the products of their own age or of their own nation is bound to fail, and can only be tolerated as an antidote to an excessive worship of what is old or of what is foreign, these being matters of perhaps no consequence at all. It is of course well that people should do the duty that lies nearest to hand first, and so if it be a duty to encourage, to endow, or to patronize art, that duty should begin at home. But this again is a very narrow way of looking at the matter. It is not at all essential that art should be national; on the contrary, art is universal and cannot be bound by any such limits. No barriers stand in the way of one who would admire a foreign painting; one may speak no language but one's own and yet find as much beauty, joy, and inspiration in foreign works of art as in those produced by men of one's own nationality. A visitor to a collection of works of art has to be told by a catalog, or he would not know, what country produced any particular work; so it is with music, and largely with architecture; indeed that which is of Art is universal: the national characteristics are limitations imposed by circumstances upon the free expression of the soul. The soul of man is not eternally bound within the limits of one nation, but must, in the course of constant reincarnations upon earth, experience the limitations of many varying nationalities. It is bound to the great human family; and it may be, for a certain period, identified with a special group. Nations are evanescent, though family groups may survive, and though an artist may be intimately bound by many ties with the destinies of some one group or family or race, in its reincarnations and in its varying national appearances, yet the artistic part of his nature is just that higher part that rises beyond such limits and appeals to all humanity, and it is the higher part of human nature that responds to the appeal of art and disregards all other limitations, such as questions of time or place or nationality, rising to what is more broadly human or more divine in the nature of man. For "Brotherhood is a fact in nature," and the soul responds unconsciously to the call of the Soul in all nature and in all humanity in such degree as it is able to throw off for a time the temporary bonds of local conditions. So it is a matter rather of satisfaction to see works of art circulating around the world and awaking the deeper sympathies that tend to unite humanity. [Pg 21] [Pg 22] MUSIC AND LIFE: by William A. Dunn HERE is not a problem which perplexes human life that may not be loosened and solved by the aid of music. Based as it is upon the vibratory movements of Nature, and subject to rigid mathematical law and geometrical ratio, music represents an incorruptible and direct medium between the higher and lower natures of man. Its dynamical and spiritual power proceeds from the blend of its related vibrating numbers; which blend is that living force (within outward harmony) that electrifies the heart and mind and lifts the whole nature to the plane of soul. It is that living field of energy in which all numbers, all forces, all substances, are lost in the unity of least-common-multiple of all possible vibrations. It is the Veil of Isis. No motion can take place without causing sound. This must be equally true of atomic and planetary movements, and all that lies between. All sounds that appear to the senses as different must obviously vibrate in some universal medium which permits movement and unifies their seeming diversity. It is the actual presence of such a medium in man which enables him to perceive that which music is the expression of. Notes and chords are merely alphabetical symbols. These are classified and combined to express ideas as truly as words are combined to convey the thought that lies beyond them. It has been said that "The Universe is built by number." This is obvious truth when all natural forces and elements are conceived of as modes of vibration (as they actually are) blending and interblending in the universal etheric medium, according to the immutable law of harmonious ratios. Why should the etheric world be thought of as an abstraction or a far-off possibility? It is in reality a nearer thing in life than its comparatively trifling contents. All our thoughts and feelings move in it as their medium, and the process of self-conquest is nothing more than to live in this our universal home, and harmonize dissociated thoughts and feelings into musical symphonies. This is not rhapsody, but sober common sense, as true for the field-laborer as for the philosopher. As we all live in and breathe the same physical atmosphere, so do we all think and feel in the same mental ether. This fact explains why "Brotherhood is a fact in nature." To accept this principle of Brotherhood as the point from which life is viewed is equivalent to mounting to the hill-top of life from which the surrounding scenery can be seen. Down in the valley a single wall can shut out the whole prospect. A text-book on chemistry may be consulted with profit as illustrating this fact. A few general principles or laws classify millions of separate facts into harmonious knowledge. The science of chemistry is also the science of true music. Schopenhauer speaks of music as immediate and direct an objectivation or copy of the Will of the world as the world itself is, as the ideas are of which the universe of things is the phenomenon. Music is not the copy of the ideas, but a representation of the cosmical Will co-ordinate with the ideas themselves. The literal truth of this statement is known by all who have had contact with that which creates, and breathes life into, a musical masterpiece. The audible notes and phrases are merely classified symbols which express something beyond them, just as the parts of a dynamo are adjusted as medium for the expression of the universal electrical power. Music, in itself, is the universal life of Nature as she is in vibration. Every movement, from that of planet down to minute atom, emits tone. It is absurd to imagine that our octave of audible receptivity limits the universal fact. It can only do so for us. The refining and extension of receptive range of hearing must undoubtedly reveal the music which ever surrounds our self-imposed deafness. All discoveries and advances in knowledge are simply this: the unfolding of organs of receptivity in which some universal fact may reflect itself. All knowledge and power exist eternally. Man is the only variant (because of his power of choice) and he cripples himself in imagining that the revelation of limited organs of receptivity are equivalent to the universal fact. Let us picture a great music hall in which an orchestra is performing. No matter what sounds proceed from the many instruments, their united tones vibrate through every particle of air in the building simultaneously. Sound waves may be many, but, every atom of air is participant in all these at one and the same instant. The atom therefore is the synthetic point of universal unity. Man is an atom in that grand temple of music—the solar system. Through him passes every movement or sound propagated by planet or sun—and all the lesser movements to which they give rise. We actually participate in the total vibration of solar life, but are blind to this because the brain consciousness is attached to a few external sound waves and sets up a conscious focus amid these. A musician will tell us how easily the mind may select a single orchestral instrument and follow its melody to the exclusion of the adjacent parts. How truly this illustrates our separate personal lives! It is impossible to lose anything by detachment from the personal grooves to which so much importance is attached. We can only fall into That which gives the utmost blessing. That silence and solitariness which usually follow the storm of true effort, is the womb of fuller life. The old life has passed, the new not yet born, and we are apt to despond. But courage and patience will surely lead to living joy, for the new life dawns when the inner self is ready to receive it. Right thought, right feeling, and unending patience, will without doubt make all things clear, and from the heart will arise the total music of life, vibrating in tune with all that is. [Pg 23] [Pg 24] THE ASTRAL BODY: by H. A. W. Coryn, M.D., M.R.C.S. T is safe to say that science will never accept the astral body—by that name: at any rate not until philosophy accepts the prototypal Ideas of Plato. Yet the evidence, if not for them, then for something discharging the same function and therefore after all for them—is irresistible. One thinks first of the growth of living animal tissues in glass jars, demonstrated at the Rockefeller Institute. Removed from the body to which they belong and placed in nutritive fluids which they can absorb, they attain a size that would constitute them fatal diseases if they were in situ at home. They would in fact be malignant growths of highly organized types. Why don't they grow to that size? Because "the nervous system" restrains them within the limit of usefulness. How does "the nervous system" know that limit? Has it a picture in its "mind," a plan according to which it works, according to which it variously restricts or encourages? When some of the molluscs are cut in two each half grows the part it has lost, the head an after-part, the after-part a head. Two animals result, each exactly like the original. As the severed cells are called upon to perform and do perform new and unexpected work, what and where is the architectural plan by which they do it? The cells of a leaf have finished their growth. Now comes their work, the fixing of carbon from the air, transpiration, and so on. But cut off, say, a begonia leaf and place it on damp soil properly protected. It proceeds at once upon a wholly new program, sending down roots, sending up stalk, fresh leaves, and finally flower. It is obviously working according to a plan. When a germ cell or seed does that the problem can be concealed by talking about its chemical constitution and so forth. We are told that the seed behaves as it does because it is constituted by nature to do so, molecularly arranged for just that function. But the cells of the leaf were not arranged for that but for quite other functions. How come they to be able to stop their proper line of work and follow this one, generating not only leaves like themselves but all other parts of the plant including seeds? We are of course pressing the problem of heredity, the persistence of racial and family type. But heredity is only a word that expresses the observed facts without a gleam of explanation. The consciousness of the mollusc, as an individual, and that of the leaf on a lower plane, can be only sensational. They do not intelligently arrange and design what they are doing. But to ascribe it to molecular mechanism only, is no better than to say God did it. Either is such a form of mere words as unwise parents throw at a too questioning child to stop, without satisfying, its mind. No idea corresponds. The gap in conception remains exactly what it was. When a chimney is blown down, the builder notes the gap and builds another. His mind contains a picture of what ought to be there. An architect does not deliver the whole plan of his building to each of the workmen. Each follows his ordinary work, being merely told where to begin and when to stop. When all of them have done their part the building is complete. Why may we not suppose that the cutting-in-two of a mollusc constitutes some such appeal to some intelligence somewhere in nature as the missing chimney constitutes to the builder? The force flowing in the cells of the injured animal is thereupon directed to the work unexpectedly required. Science now speaks freely of human "subconsciousness," meaning sub-mental consciousness in man. And it knows that that sub-mental consciousness can, when properly called upon (and also habitually on its own account), do reparative work upon the body whose method is not comprehensible to the man himself. It is, within its limits, intelligent; it knows what it has to do and what it is wanted to do; and it commands the necessary forces—which are beyond the man's reach, owner of them as he may be or think he is. This subconsciousness is embodied with the man, but is not the man and is not an ego. May it not be regarded as a part of nature-consciousness, focused in an organic body and with the intelligence necessary to do its work? And it does not follow that the lower down the scale of mental intelligence is an organism, the lower down a parallel scale is this intelligence. What we call, when in our own bodies, the subconscious, may be just as fully present and just as intelligently at work, in the bodies of plants and animals. If we say that the plan of repair and the plans of hereditary type are in the conscious intelligence of this diffused nature- mind, we are at any rate reasonably proceeding from the known and not glossing the unknown with mere words. The astral body of any plant or animal is its plan of structure in this nature-mind. It is subjective substance, just as is a picture in our own mind. And it contains the vital energy necessary for the guidance of the protoplasmic matter that will clothe it, an energy that guides but is not one of the physical forces. As an analogy from higher up the planes of being, conscience guides mental thoughts and desires but is not among their number nor of their nature. It is the divine-astral form or plan, of what the thinking man should be. On both planes the form and the guiding energy setting from it become the negative and positive aspects of one thing. [Pg 25] [Pg 26] [Pg 27]