Category: Isis Unveiled: H. P. Blavatsky (1877)

"Putting aside the purely metaphysical teachings of the Kabala, if one would devote himself but to physical occultism, to the so-called branch of therapeutics, the result might benefit some of our modern sciences; such as chemistry and medicine.   Says Professor Draper: "Sometimes, not without surprise, we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves originated [...]

"The greatest teachers of divinity agree that nearly all ancient books were written symbolically and in a language intelligible only to the initiated. The biographical sketch of Appolonius of Tyana affords an example.   As every Kabalist knows, it embraces the whole of the Hermetic philosophy, being a counterpart in many respects of the traditions [...]

"Magic is as old as man. It is as impossible to name the time when it sprang into existence as to indicate on what day the first man himself was born.   Whenever a writer has started with the idea of connecting its first foundation in a country with some historical character, further research has [...]

"Into their sacred groves - natural academies built by the hand of the Invisible Architect - the initiates assembled at the still hour of midnight to learn about what man once was and what he will be.   They needed no artificial illumination, nor life-drawing gas, to light up their temples, for the chaste goddess [...]

"In the oldest documents now in our possession - the Vedas and the older laws of Manu - we find many magical rites practiced and permitted by the Brahmans. Tibet, Japan and China teach in the present age that which was taught by the oldest Chaldeans.   The clergy of these respective countries, prove moreover [...]

"Maimonides, the great Jewish theologian and historian, who at one time was almost deified by his countrymen and afterward treated as a heretic, remarks, that the more absurd and void of sense the Talmud seems the more sublime is the secret meaning.   This learned man has successfully demonstrated that the Chaldean Magic, the science [...]

"So far our modern positivists have been anticipated by thousands of ages, in their cautious philosophy. What the Hermetic adepts claim to demonstrate is, that simple common sense precludes the possibility that the universe is the result of mere chance.   Such an idea appears to him more absurd than to think that the problems [...]

"Our modern science acknowledges a Supreme Power, an Invisible Principle, but denies a Supreme Being, or Personal God. Logically, the difference between the two might be questioned; for in this case the Power and the Being are identical.   Human reason can hardly imagine to itself an intelligent Supreme Power without associating it with the [...]

"As well as those who lived in the days of the Psammetics, our present-day philosophers "lift the Veil of Isis" - for Isis is but the symbol of nature. But, they see only her physical forms. The soul within escapes their view; and the Divine Mother has no answer for them.   There are anatomists, [...]

"The ancient Kabalist rested upon no hypothesis till he could lay its basis upon the firm rock of recorded experiment. But the too great dependence upon physical facts led to a growth of materialism and decadence of spirituality and faith.   At the time of Aristotle, this was the prevailing tendency of thought. And though [...]