Welcome to another entry in my continuing series on the metaphysical or philosophical aspects of the occult. Technically, I have so far been addressing the esoteric as opposed to the practical aspects of the occult of which I plan to address eventually. This is the fifth entry in the series—but who’s counting?
Preface
I must admit that I’ve never heard of theosophy until learning about the background of Gérard Anaclet Vincent Encausse, a.k.a., Papus. Papus founded the modern Martinist Order and was a member of the Theosophical Society but resigned shortly afterwards because he disliked the Society’s emphasis on Eastern occultism, namely Hinduism and Buddhism.
The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott. Blavatsky became initiated by the “Masters of the Wisdom”1 and her writings are quoted by Theosophists as Scripture.
Introduction
I’ve taken a different approach to the organization of this installment whereas in previous writings the sections are organized by topic but in this writing the sections are organized by author. Yes, there will be some overlap but each author’s style and topical emphases are somewhat unique. I’ve also decided to omit a separate section on Blavatsky’s writings since I felt her work deserved a separate installment.
According to Robert Ellwood: “[n]o philosophical or theological doctrine is mandated, not even a concept as fundamental to the ‘consensus’ as Oneness and the omnipresence of consciousness”2 giving the impression that the society is a “big tent.” However, according to H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophists “will have nothing to do”3 with the God of the Christians which is a direct contradiction of statements made by Ellwood. H. P. Blavatsky goes on to say that the “God of theology…is a bundle of contradictions and a logical impossibility.”4 Therefore, the reader should be aware that many Theosophical writers freely quote Scripture and make reference to God and Jesus but not according to the tenets of biblical Christianity.
The Authors
The following sections should not be construed as providing an exhaustive study of all teachings on Theosophy either in the general sense or within each author’s writings.
Catherine W. Christie—Theosophy for Beginners
According to the prevailing consensus, the term theosophy, derived from the Greek theos (“god”) and sophia (“wisdom”), is generally understood to mean “divine wisdom.” Christie is emphatic about where this divine wisdom originated, that it was given by divine kings before the Genesis Flood and before Noah; hence the aforementioned Divine Wisdom declared to be the “Ancient Wisdom.”5
Compare the Theosophical theory of the Divine Kings with the narrative in the Book of Enoch which purports that certain ancient wisdom was given to men by rogue angels. (Enoch 8.1-2) Again, Christie proposes that these divine men were originally “godlike in appearance, and of great stature [giants], with a majesty born of purity, knowledge, power, and love…they were kings by nature, by divine right.”6 Theosophy teaches that after the kings departed, men and women abandoned their teachings and began to practice evil, thereby bringing about the great Flood.7 Personally, I tend to favor the Theosophical view over the Enochian view given the objections I presented in my Occultism: The Book of Enoch post.
As a side note, Christie points out that the lost continent of Atlantis was destroyed by the Genesis Flood.8
The 1993 film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell can be viewed as an allegory for reincarnation. However, unlike reincarnation, Bill Murray’s character relives his same life again in the same body and on the same day in order for him to correct all his character faults and learn from his mistakes. Theosophical reincarnation teaches that “Your body is yours, not you”9 therefore, a reincarnated person forgets all previous lives since they will “get a new body, a new brain, a new mind, different parents and surroundings, and often a new religion.”10 So how does the reincarnated person know what he/she needs to correct or improve? The answer, according to Christie, is that “between every two lives we have a beautiful holiday in Devachan—Heaven—in which we think over all that happened while we lived in our last body. This makes us wiser, so that when we return, we have grown in many ways.”11 Okay, but what does the Bible teach? Consider the following sobering verses:
Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’
But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ (Luke 16:22-26 [NASB95])
There’s a saying that “you get what you deserve and deserve what you get,” which leads us to an introduction to Karma, “a Sanskrit word meaning action.”12 And so it follows that every action has its consequences, that is, the “law of cause and effect”13 taken directly from the Hermetic Principle of Cause and Effect.14 Eventually, “the effects of our actions come back to us,”15 “what goes around comes around.” (For additional commentary on this principle or law, see my blog post on Hermetic Philosophy.)
In Christie’s discussion on Magic, she claims Jesus practiced “White Magic.”16
Christie asserts that Theosophy teaches that the constitution of man consists of four bodies: the physical, the astral, the mental, and the causal. (The physical body consists of both the natural body and the etheric double.)17 Not surprisingly, Christie incorrectly states that the Bible only mentions two bodies;18 however according to a well-known verse of Scripture, man consists of three bodies, if you will.
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12 [NASB95])
From the above verse, we can see that man consists of soul, spirit, and flesh (physical). Obviously, the flesh or physical body dies; the soul departs either to Abraham’s Bosom or Hades depending on the spiritual condition of the person; the spirit stays attached to the soul of a regenerated person. Refer to my Modes of Salvation: Election post for additional discussion on regeneration.
Of the four Theosophical bodies, the causal seems to be the most difficult to understand. This is understandable since H. P. Blavatsky herself declared that the “complete and unveiled truth and reality of the matter”19 should not be disclosed to the general public. Even so, Robert Crosbie is quoted as saying, ‘Everything that occurs to us is within that [causal] body.’20 Christie concludes with the affirmation that conscience being the “memory of past experiences.”21
The themes of the Astral Plane and Astral Travel have been adopted in popular music (“Legend of a Mind”) and in film (Insidious and A Nightmare on Elm Street). Christie confirms the concepts presented in the song and films suggested above:
We shall then at will leave our physical body asleep, even during the daytime, and go away to any part of the world in our astral body, and in that body visit the whole of the astral plane.22
Christie elaborates even further on the reason for astral travel:
You are a spirit, so you cannot sleep. You never want to sleep, for you are never tired; but your physical body gets very tired, because it is an animal, therefore it needs rest and sleep, and, if you did not let it sleep, it would die. Now, it cannot sleep while you are in it, for you keep it awake; so when it needs a rest you quietly slip out of it, and use your astra body instead. [emphasis mine]23
In the above quote, Christie claims that man’s physical body is that of an animal. So, just to be “fair and balanced;” I’ve included some Scriptures that appear to validate Christie’s claim:
I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? [emphasis mine] (Eccles. 3:18-21 [ESV])
In verse 18 of the above quote, King Solomon writes that God is testing the “children of man” to show that they are beasts—by nature in their fallen state. If man and beast were of the same flesh or species as it were, then He wouldn’t need to test them, would He? I won’t quote the usual verses from Genesis but to point out that God created all the animals before He created man (Adam and Eve). (Gen. 1:24-25 [NASB95]) Only man was created in God’s image and then given authority to rule over the animal kingdom. (Gen. 1:26 [NASB95])
I’ve heard many sermons where preachers, who deny the imputation of Adam’s sin, use 2 Samuel 12:23 to justify salvation by free will by attempting to show that there is an “age of accountability.” The sermons always stop short of declaring the actual age. Theosophy teaches something similar where the reincarnated soul doesn’t take full possession of its new body generally until seven years old.24 In Judaism—the Oral Torah—the Bar Mitzvah for boys and Bat Mitzvah for girls happens at 12 and 13 years old respectively; these are the ages “when they become accountable for their religious lives.”25
I’ll close out this section with some of Christie’s heretical and blasphemous quotes about God’s will, man’s ultimate destiny, thoughts, and reincarnation.
The will of man is part of the will of God. Your will is part of God’s will; and when you know that, are quite sure of it, you can make your future bodies, your future lives, what you will.26
Thoughts are real things, made of mental matter.27
Our final aim is Divinity: the becoming perfected human beings first, then joining the ranks of the Elder Brothers of Humanity, members of the Great White Lodge of Adepts, to grow in knowledge, compassion and power, till we are as gods and become one with God.28
No teacher of Theosophy will try to terrify you with thoughts or threats of hell, if you choose to reject them…29
L. W. Rogers—Elementary Theosophy
“I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another… (Isa. 42:8 [NASB95])
As far as Christianity is concerned, undoubtably, L. W. Rogers is the most hostile of all the writers included in this installment. Rogers is guilty of one of the most common mistakes made by those attempting to understand Scripture and that is to interpret parts of Scripture without taking into consideration the whole of Scripture.
Right from the get-go, Rogers argues for the proposition that man and God are “one eternal life;”30 which is the basis for the Theosophical teaching on universal brotherhood. Furthermore, Rogers states that “This conception [emanation] makes man a part of God, having potentially within him all the attributes and powers of the Supreme Being.”31 Again, in another place he states that “The purpose of evolution, then, is clear. Man is a god in the making—not actually, but only potentially a god…”32 There was a time when a spirit being thought that he could be one with God; the “star of the morning, son of the dawn” (Isa. 14:12 [NASB95]) thought to himself “‘I will ascend to heaven…I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isa. 14:13-14 [NASB95])
Leading up to his discussion on evolution, Rogers eloquently denies the entire Book of Genesis in a single sentence: “The immanence of God is a conception of the universe that puts science and religion into perfect harmony with each other because miraculous creation disappears and evolutionary creation takes its place.”33 (Note that Kabbalah mirrors the Theosophical view of creation.34
Rogers speaks of evolution as “settled science” exemplified in the following statements:
Evolution is an established and generally accepted fact. No educated person now thinks of questioning it. It is settled beyond dispute that all things in the physical world have become what they are through a long, slow, gradual evolution and that organisms the most perfect in form and most complex in function have evolved from simpler ones. The age of miracle has passed and belief in miracle has passed so far as its relation to the material world is concerned.35
Does evolution act in reverse; that is, should knowledge acquired say six thousand years ago become lost? According to occult science the ancients knew of many of our modern discoveries such as the law of gravity, electricity, and gunpowder to name a few.36
Rogers refers to the Hermetic Principle of Vibration a total of 15 times: “vibrations” 11 times and “vibration” 4 times.
Since reincarnation is a manifestation of evolution, Rogers, therefore, gives a pretty clear description of the path the soul takes after leaving Devachan (Heaven).37
| Stages | Plane | Man’s State |
| Death | Physical | Consciousness shifted |
| Purgative Process (Purgatory)38 Astral Soul’s nature is “purged of its impurities”39 | Astral | Soul’s nature is “purged of its impurities”40 1. Soul is freed from grades of astral matter; higher levels of consciousness achieved 2. Physical body is lost 3. Astral body wears away; soul loses connection with the astral world 4. Consciousness shifted |
| Assimilation of Experience | Mental | Consciousness extracts the essence from life experiences Essence recovered for future ability and power Causal body acquires net gains from assimilation Mental, astral, and physical bodies dissipated |
| Causal Body | ? | Mental, astral, and physical bodies perished Soul or ego then functions through the causal body Ego emanates forces outward; rebirth process initiated |
| Rebirth Process | ? | Mental body formed |
| Mental | Mental body assimilates matter from the lower mental plane | |
| Astral | New astral body secured | |
| Formation Process | Physical | Another infant body possessed Rebirth |
In discussing the Bible story of the “woman of Endor,”42 Rogers writes that he has “no intention of suggesting that it is always undesirable to communicate with those who have passed over…”43 in clear violation of Deuteronomy 18:9-14.
In Chapter XI. “REBIRTH: ITS NECESSITY” of Rogers’ book, he goes on a tirade about the biblical teaching of predestination. I won’t debate him here but instead refer the reader to my blog post Modes of Salvation: Election.
Theosophy, just like all other non-Christian belief systems, denies the atoning work of Christ. As Rogers brazenly states: “…the old idea of special creation and special salvation fail to satisfy our sense of justice and of consistency.”44 Rogers preaches that belief in a “vicarious atonement” is a way for people to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.45 Again, according to the point I made at the beginning of this section, this being another example of someone interpreting Scripture verses without considering all of Scripture’s teaching.
This erroneous thinking on Christ’s atonement was anticipated in Scripture:
For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness… (1 Cor. 1:22-23 [NASB95])
I’d like to end this section on a positive note since I’ve been disagreeing with most everything Rogers has written. So, I agree with his position on luck as follows:
If by luck we mean chance, there is no such thing in this world. Chance means chaos and the absence of law…the universe is a stupendous proclamation of the all-pervading presence of law. It is a mighty panorama of cause and effect. There is no such thing as chance.46
William Q. Judge—The Ocean of Theosophy
I claim no originality for this book. I invented none of it, discovered none of it, but have simply written that which I have been taught and which has been proved to me. It therefore is only a handing on of what has been known before.47
Judge make a bold claim that he’s only written about what he has been taught and what has been proven to him. I’m not certain how a teaching such as reincarnation can be proved, at least in the conventional sense of the word; so this section on Judge’s writing should be interesting.
“Theosophy is a scientific religion and a religious science.”48 So then, are we to believe that evolution is a scientific fact along with reincarnation, its handmaiden? Proponents of evolution are quick to point out antibiotic resistance in bacteria as observable proof of evolution.49 Yes, but they are still bacteria.
Judge writes concerning the keepers of this ancient knowledge as “elder brothers.”50 Judge describes these elder brothers as moving among ordinary men incognito or at other times coming out as “rulers of men, some teachers, a few great philosophers, while others remain still unknown except to the most advanced of the body.”51 Although Judge doesn’t explicitly name any of the elder brothers, I’m sure he would include Marx and Darwin as elder brothers.
Compare Judge’s teachings on the elder brothers to the Kabbalistic writings of Christian D. Ginsburg who taught that a theosophic school was formed in Paradise by God for a select company of angels.52
Judge introduces the “elemental beings”53 who “can be communicated with and thus can tell why the rain falls and what it falls for, whether the earth is hollow not…which implies a knowledge of the very foundation of nature…”54 This Theosophical teaching closely aligns with the notion of the Elementals in the film The Chronicles of Riddick who are “’a race that calculates the balance of the universe and works to preserve that balance by any and all means, though always with a neutral eye.’”55
The “cyclic law” is mentioned by Judge to describe the disappearance and reappearance of the “true philosophy” in the “history of the mind,”56 a teaching taken directly from Hermeticism.57
Not unlike Rogers, Judge wastes no time displaying his contempt towards Western culture and the Mosaic tradition while repeatedly exposing his bias towards “Orientals”58 illustrated by the following quotes:
It is admitted that Egyptian civilization flourished many centuries ago…and perhaps because the Jews ‘came out of Egypt’ to fasten the Mosaic misunderstood tradition upon modern progress…the ignorant monks and theologians of Asia Minor and Europe succeeded in imposing the Mosaic account of the genesis of earth and man upon the coming western evolution…the Theosophist knows why the Hebraic tradition came to be thus an apparent drag on the mind of the West; he knows the connection between Jew and Egyptian…59
Is it any surprise that Papus resigned from the Theosophical Society since he associates the ancient knowledge with the Egyptian Initiates.60
Judge rejects the biblical exoteric teaching of Adam being the first man created by God; but instead takes a Kabbalist esoteric view that the “kings of Edom” preceded Adam and that “previous worlds and creations” were taught by “early Christian fathers.”61
Within Judge’s discourse on evolution, he makes an utterly false statement that around God’s “pavilion there is darkness.” I’m assuming Judge uses pavilion to mean throne. The following is what the Bible really says:
Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.
And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.
Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;
and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. (Rev. 4:2-6 [NASB95])
In Judge’s continuing discourse on evolution, he declares:
The passions and desires [Kama] are not produced by the body, but, on the contrary, the body is caused to be by the former. It is desire and passion which caused us to be born, and will bring us to birth again and again in this body or in some other. It is by passion and desire we are made to evolve through the mansions of death called lives on earth.62
Again, another Theosophical teaching directly in opposition with biblical teaching:
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. (2 Pet. 18-19 [NASB95])For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2. 16-17 [NASB95])
Evolution and reincarnation permeate almost every chapter of Judge’s book, since these are the bedrock teachings of Theosophy. However, in his first chapter on reincarnation he makes many more blasphemous and heretical statements concerning God’s purposes, God’s nature, man’s soul, and sin: “…religion offers an explanation both illogical and unmeaning and acceptable but to the bigot, as it requires us to consider the whole of Nature as a mystery and to seek for the meaning and purpose of life with all its sorrow in the pleasure of God who cannot be found out.”63 Really? What does he think the 66 books in the Protestant Bible are for?
I’m fully aware that quoting Bible verses to a person such as William Q. Judge is most likely futile since he believes that “The educated and enquiring mind knows that dogmatic religion can only give an answer invented by man while it pretends to be from God.”64 So, is his statement that “evolution carried to its highest power…makes of man a god…”65 blasphemous or not?
Judge, like many other writers, loves to take Scripture verses out of context and neglects to consider the whole of Scripture when he attempts to explain difficult verses. Judge uses Matthew 17:1-13 to demonstrate that Jesus not only “assented to” but approved the doctrine of reincarnation.66 I won’t attempt to debate Judge’s points here because this installment is long enough already, but I will quote two short verses to put this matter to rest, once and for all.
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. [emphasis mine] (Heb. 9:27-28 [NASB95])
Judge, as with other Theosophical writers, never tires of attempting to prove evolution and reincarnation through reason. His final attempt at this, more or less, is to question God’s motives concerning life and the universe when he states: “To say that we have one life here…is to make the universe and life a huge and cruel joke perpetrated by a powerful God…playing with puny man just because that man is small and the creature of the Almighty.”67 All Theosophists should read the Book of Job before accusing God; otherwise, they should continue believing that “[w]ith reincarnation the doctrine of karma explains the misery and suffering of the world…”68 therefore, “…it is only because that mankind has ever shut its eyes to the great truth that man is himself his own savior as his own destroyer.”69
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.70
Robert Ellwood—Theosophy: A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages
Robert Ellwood, in his work Theosophy: A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages, states that his book was intended more as a “summary of teaching in the Blavatsky tradition as it has developed in the Theosophical Society headquartered at Adyar, Madras India.”71 Ellwood includes many quotes throughout his book from the writings of H. P. Blavatsky.
Ellwood also states quite emphatically that “there are no ‘required dogmas’ in theosophy.”72 I believe that Ellwood’s statement is somewhat of a misinterpretation of Theosophy given the considerable emphasis other writers place on evolution and reincarnation.
Elwood rejects the #1 principle of Hermeticism which is “THE ALL is MIND; the universe is mental”73 when he declares that “theosophy is not some form of metaphysical idealism or mentalism which says that consciousness is prior to matter…[b]ut that matter in some form is always present…”74 Hermeticism teaches that “all the phenomenal world or universe is simply a Mental Creation of THE ALL subject to the Laws of Created Things…”75
Despite the fact that the traditional writing seems to emphasize Masters [Rogers refers to them as elder brothers] who appear in masculine guise, authors like Leadbeater also stress that the hierarchy has a feminine side. There is a World Mother, who incarnated as the Virgin Mary, and the higher entities embrace both masculine and feminine powers, who, like the universe itself, are beyond gender as we know it.76
For an additional discussion on gender, see my post on Hermeticism where I apply the Principle of Vibration to the question of gender identity.
In order to illustrate the path a spirit or soul travels through on their “pilgrimage”77 through Involution, successively denser matter, to Evolution, successively refined matter, Ellwood presents a V-Model, if you will, to express the soul’s journey through various states of matter.78 I’ve attempted to transpose Ellwood’s model into the table below.
| Planes (states of matter) | Seven Worlds (Globes) | Involution↓ | Evolution↑ |
| Being Wisdom | |||
| Mind | ↓ | ↑ | |
| Intuitive Existence | (1) | ↓ | |
| Mental Existence | (2) | ↓ | |
| Feeling Existence | (3) | ↓ | |
| Intuitive Existence | (7) | ↑ | |
| Mental Existence | (6) | ↑ | |
| Feeling Existence | (5) | ↑ | |
| Physical Existence | (4) |
Rogers and Ellwood both provide detailed explanations of man’s evolutionary process confirming the importance the teaching is to Theosophical belief.
Ellwood goes to great lengths in his book to describe the origin of the races which he refers to as “Root Races…seven in number.”80 I’m not going to elaborate on these except to extract a few tidbits that I found interesting since I provided an exoteric discussion of this topic in my World War II Reconsidered page.
According to Ellwood, “The Fourth Root Race is the Atlantean, a name derived from the celebrated lost continent of Atlantis.”81 Ellwood also points out that according to Blavatsky, Atlantis wasn’t just a single location but were several areas across the earth.82 “Those who departed Atlantis…became the nucleus of the Fifth Root Race, the Aryan.”83
Ellwood ties in the origin of races with reincarnation with the statement that “traditional theosophical doctrine holds each individual self has been incarnated several times not only in each Root Race but in each of the forty-nine subdivisions…”84 Henceforth the doctrine of the “universal brotherhood”85 of man.
In discussing the theosophical conceptual framework of human nature, Ellwood references a “higher part comprised of the Trinity [essence, consciousness, and mind] itself…indwells and…activates or inspires the ordinary mind, feeling, and physical operation of the lower selves, yet does not participate directly in them.” [emphasis mine]86 Grasping the meaning of this statement is a prerequisite for understanding the following confusing quote:
Because the causal body subsumes and gives rise to the physical form, feelings, memory, and ordinary mind, these features are not carried over from one life to another. We do not, therefore, usually remember things from previous lives…87
Ellwood includes Jesus in the list of “public work” Masters along with Buddha and Krishna.88
Theosophists like to quote Scripture for their own purposes. For example, Ellwood uses Jesus’ statement to Peter in Matthew 16:23 to deceive the reader into believing that Jesus denied being given the title “Son of God”89 The following are the correct verses which gives the account of how Jesus responded to Peter’s claim:
He [Jesus] said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’
Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’ (Matt. 16:15-17 [NASB95])
Nowhere do the Theosophical doctrines deviate more from the teachings of traditional biblical Christianity than the “problem of evil”90 as stated by Ellwood. Ellwood proceeds to list all the “theosophical explanations”91 for the problem of or existence of evil but none of those explanations include sin. The following quotes should give the reader all they need to know…but there’s more.
For though the theosophical explanations are several, it is worth noting what they leave out. “None display the defiant personal antagonism in rebellion against the personal patriarchal Father-God of Western monotheism…” [emphasis mine]92
Ellwood, in his list of explanations, includes a section on “Jehovah-Satan”93 who he argues are the same since “[i]n this context, Jehovah is to be distinguished from God as the Infinite Reality…94
They all contain spiritual truth and the power that goes with it. Better, they all hold the power to open up one’s inner awareness of ‘God and immortal spirit.’ Yet they must all be approached critically and without arrogating the claims of one over all others, for they all contain that treasure in earthen vessels.95
Taken as a whole, the doctrine of Theosophy clearly purports that all religions and beliefs can lead to God; or as the saying goes, “all roads lead to heaven.”
I’ll close out this section with some Scripture verses that no Theosophist would quote to explain man’s fallen condition.
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Rom. 8:23 [NASB95])
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed… (Rom. 6:17 [NASB95])
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. (Judg. 17:6 [NASB95])
Wrap Up and Next Steps
First of all, congratulations to any reader who made it all the way to the end of this installment. I know this was a long entry since most of these philosophical topics are not only broad but deep. Even so, in order to keep the length somewhat reasonable, I had to omit many aspects of each authors’ writings.
Based on each authors’ statements as quoted in this installment, it’s clear that Theosophy is not only antagonistic but outright hostile towards biblical Christianity. Nevertheless, their teachings on evolution and reincarnation were interesting enough that I provided extra coverage for both topics.
Ellwood writes that there’s a “path” a person should take in life that rests on “knowing and doing.”96 Jesus also mentioned a way:
‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
‘For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.’ (Matt. 7:13-14 [NASB95])
Could Jesus be describing Theosophy as a broad path? Undoubtably. Which path are you on?
Coming up next, Freemasonry.
2013-2026 Gerard Sczepura. All rights reserved.
Robert Ellwood, Theosophy: A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages, (Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, IL, 1986), 212. ↩
Ellwood, Theosophy: A Modern Expression, 22. ↩
Blavatsky, H.P. (2015). The Key to Theosophy. Editorial Board of Theosophy Trust (Ed.), Theosophy —The Wisdom Religion (pp. 152-155). Norfolk, VA: Theosophy Trust Books. {Original work published 1889} ↩
Blavatsky, 1889/2015, p. 152. ↩
Catherine W. Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, (Square Circles Publishing, Pahrump, Nevada, 2016), 3. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 1. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 2. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 2. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 13. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 11. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 11. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 14-15. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 15. ↩
Three Initiates, The Kybalion: Centenary Edition, (Tarcher, New York, 2018), 23. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 15. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 34. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 36, 54. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 36. ↩
Theosophy, “What Is The Causal Body,” BlavatskyTheosophy.com, https://blavatskytheosophy.com/what-is-the-causal-body/. ↩
Theosophy, “What Is The Causal Body.” ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 44. ↩
Christie, Theosophy for Beginners, 37. ↩
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