Frans Wittemans, Vrijmetselaar, Theosoof, Rozenkruiser, Martinist en Pacifist
Door Christian Vandekerkhove
232 Bladzijden | 2023 | Softcover | Sharanam Books | ISBN 9782808325738
Frans Wittemans is bekend als de auteur van de “Geschiedenis der Rozenkruisers”. Hij was inderdaad Rozenkruiser, maar ook Vrijmetselaar, Theosoof, Martinist, Advocaat, Senator en Pacifist. Frans Wittemans heeft zijn stempel gedrukt op de cultuur, de politiek en het spirituele leven van België en Europa. Dit boek is gebaseerd op de herinneringen van reeds lang overleden vrienden van Wittemans, aangevuld met opzoekingen in een aantal archieven, onder meer het persoonlijk Wittemans-archief van de auteur.
For a Wayfarer
Poems by Joy Mills (1920 – 2015).
182 Pages | First Quest Edition 2017 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835609432.
Joy Mills, past president of the American and Australian Theosophical Societies, received the Subba Row Medal from the Society’s General Council in 2010, honoring her major contribution to Theosophical literature. Joy’s poems in this collection were found after her passing. Written over decades, they reveal a love for nature, a keen understanding of life’s complexities, and a deep spiritual Wisdom.
From the front cover:
And Unto Us
” Some-soon upon a high
Far distant hill
Beneath the Sky
We shall find
The fragments of a faith
Lost time out of mind.
‘And unto us . . .’ shall be,
Familiars of the Stars,
The dawning of Infinity. “
CWL Speaks – C.W. Leadbeater’s Correspondence concerning the 1906 Crisis in the Theosophical Society
By Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1934), compiled by Pedro Oliveira with a Foreword by Robert Ellwood.
316 Pages | Second printing 2018 | Paperback | Olive Tree Publishing ISBN: 9780646973050.
Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1934) joined the Theosophical Society in 1883 in London and travelled with H.P. Blavatsky (1831 – 1891) to India in 1884. He helped Col. Henry S. Olcott () in his work for Buddhist education in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. While at the Headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, in India, he was taught some meditation exercises by one of Madame Blavatsky’s spiritual Teachers, who had accepted him as a Chela (disciple), in 1884. The exercises helped him to develop the faculty of clairvoyance.
From 1900 to 1905 he was a popular international lecturer for the TS, concentrating his visits to the United States. Some American families wanted their sons to accompany him in his travels to be trained in Theosophical work by him. In 1906, he was charged by the leadership of the American Section of the TS with giving sexual education to some boys under his care. Something still taboo in those days, but nowadays considered to be part of a normal curriculum. Following an enquiry in London, presided over by Col. Olcott, he resigned his membership of the Society.
For many, the episodes of 1906 sealed his image as an immoral man, although he was never charged or prosecuted in any country. He never defended himself of the accusations. After 110 years, all his relevant correspondence regarding that crisis is gathered together in this book. For the first time, his full thoughts and views about those events are presented to the public. Here, CWL speaks.
From page 274:
” One evening, Mr. Leadbeater, on our return to his room after our swim, told me that one of the boys had a remarkable aura. I asked which one, and he said it was the boy named Krishnamurti. I was surprised, for I already knew the boys, as they had been coming to me and to Subramanyam in the evenings to help in connection with their school home work, and it was evident that Krishnamurti was not one of the bright students. Then Mr. Leadbeater told me that Krishnamurti would become a great spiritual leader and a great speaker. I asked, ‘How great?’ As great as Mrs. Besant’? He replied, ‘Much greater’. And shortly after that he said that Krishnamurti would be the vehicle for the Lord Maitreya, the coming Teacher, who inspired Jesus. He was directed to help in training the boy for that purpose, which would be fulfilled, he told me, ‘unless something goes wrong’. This, I want to emphasize, in justice to Mr. Leadbeater. ” (Ernest Wood)
Madame Blavatsky and Soobiah
By an anonymous author.
22 Pages | Published during the International Convention 1991 | Booklet | The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN:
SOOBIAH CHETTY’S REMINISCENCES OF MADAME H.P. BLAVATSKY
When Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891) and Henry Steel Olcott (1832 – 1907) visited Madras in 1882 and lectured in the Georgetown area, Grandhi Muthuswami Chetty who was a judge, listened to them. Though he was a rich man, he was spiritually dissatisfied, and though a Hindu desired to be converted to another religion. Muthuswami’s enquiring mind was kindled by the two foreign lecturers. He wrote down several questions about whether he should opt for another religion and left those papers in a cupboard in his house before he went to sleep in the night. Next morning, when he woke up and looked in the cupboard, to his amazement he found that all his questions had been answered. Muthuswami was convinced by the answers and never became a convert, for he joined the Theosophical Society.
From page 18:
” Good bye dearest Soobhiya & may the Masters bless and protect you. If you do come it will be the happiest day I will have had in these three years of exile! . . . I hope your dear wife and children are all well. Give them my blessing if they accept it.
Yours ever affectionately,
H.P. Blavatsky
I send you my Lucifer, Love to all friends – if there are any left.
H.P.B. “
H.P. Blavatsky the Light-Bringer – The Blavatsky Lecture 1970
By Geoffrey A. Barborka.
67 Pages | Blavatsky Lecture 1970 | Softcover | The Theosophical Publishing House, London. | No ISBN.
This Lecture commemorates the coming to the Western world of one who was the representative of a great Brotherhood – a Brotherhood which is known by many names. One of its epiphets, especially in connection with its origin, is a symbolic one; the Sons of Ad or Sons of Fire-Mist. Little has been written about these Sons. However, the meaning associated with the term is clear enough; for it links up with the name given to those Divine Beings who came to the assistance of humanity during one of its most critical periods. These are the Agnishvatta Pitris, the awakeners of the fire – which signifies the Mind-principle.
Geoffrey A. Barborka (1897 – 1982) was brought up at Point Loma, California. He had a classical education to which were added modern languages / German, French and Spanish+ and these were later supplemented by a study of Hebrew and Sanskrit. He is the author of a number of books, including The Divine Plan, H.P. Blavatsky, Tibet and Tulku and The Pearl of the Orient.
Annie Besant (1847 – 1933) – Struggles and Quest
By Annie Besant (1847 – 1933).
325 Pages | Published in 2017 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, London | ISBN: 9781999815707.
Social and political reformer, women’s rights activist, prolific writer and orator extraordinaire, was one of the best-known opinion-formers in late 19th-century- and early 20th century Britain and beyond. As president of the Theosophical Society from 1907 until her death, she made a major contribution to the occult and spiritual revival of the time.
In this new biography by Dr. Muriel Pécastaing-Boissière – senior lecturer in British civilization (Victorian Studies) at Sorbonne University, Paris – links are explored between Besant’s freethinking socialism, feminism, criticism of the Empire and conversion to Theosophy.
Annie Besant – A Character Sketch
By William Thomas Stead (1849 – 1912).
100 Pages | First edition 1946, first reprint 1993 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170592440.
Well-known humanist and journalist W.T. Stead writes of Annie Besant (1847 – 1933): ‘there are few living women, who have in them more of some elements of the Christian saint, than this fiery assailant of the Christian creed.’ He traces the various phases of her search for truth as also the challenges she faces.
From the Foreword by C. Jinarājadāsa (1875 – 1953) (p. viii):
” At last, sitting alone in deep thought as I (Annie Besant) had become accustomed to do after the sun had set, filled with an intense but nearly hopeless longing to solve the riddle of life and mind, I heard a Voice, that was later to become to me the holiest sound on earth, bidding me take courage for the light was near. A fortnight passed, and then Mr. Stead gave into my hands two volumes. ‘Can you review these? My young men all fight shy of them, but you are quite mad enough on these subjects to make something out of them.’ I took the books; they were the two volumes of The Secret Doctrine written by H.P. Blavatsky. . . . I wrote the review, and asked Mr. Stead for an introduction to the writer, and then sent a note asking to be allowed to call. I received the most cordial of notes, bidding me to come (pp340 – 1). “
Search for Values
19 Pages | Besant Lecture delivered at Adyar, Dec. 1992, first published in 1995 | Booklet | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170592623.
The moral worth of a society or a community is reflected in its aspirations and the ideals it pursues, the values it cherishes and its sincerity in upholding those values, Throughout history, humanity’s chief concern has been the disovery and preservation of values, which impart grace and significance to civilization and also to individual human lives. One of the cruellest paradoxes of our times is that an age that has witnessed tremendous scientific progress and technological development has at the same time also witnessed unprecedented decline in moral and spiritual values.
From page 17:
” If I can stop one heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one life the aching or cool one pain
Or help one fainting robin unto its nest again
I shall not live in vain. “
Waarheid is een Land zonder Paden – Een Reis met Krishnamurti
Door Ingram Smith.
230 Pagina’s | 1991 Editie | Softcover | Uitgeverij der Theosofische Vereniging in Nederland | ISBN: 9789061750659.
Engels origineel: Truth is a Pathless Land – A Journey with Krishnamurti | Uitgegeven in 1989 | Theosophical Publishing House.
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986) reisde tijdens zijn leven de hele wereld rond om met mensen uit alle continenten de problemen des levens te bespreken. Daarbij stond hem steeds voor ogen, dat geen enkele organisatie of georganiseerde godsdienst de mens tot waarheid kan brengen. In spirituele aangelegenheden bestond er voor hem geen autoriteit, geen leider of goeroe. In plaats daarvan moet ieder mens zijn eigen leraar en leerling zijn.
Zijn toespraken zijn verschenen in talloze boeken, en over zijn levensloop zijn een aantal biografieën verschenen. De Australische radiopresentator Ingram Smith raakte in de veertiger jaren betrokken bij het opnemen en uitzenden van Krishnamurti’s toespraken. Jarenlang zou Smith van dichtbij meemaken hoe Krishnamurti omging met de vele zoekers naar waarheid, die naar hem toe kwamen.
In dit boek geeft Smith een persoonlijk verslag van zijn ervaringen met Krishnamurti. Hierin wordt op indringende wijze duidelijke gemaakt hoe men – met vallen en opstaan – iets van de visie van Krishnamurti in zijn eigen leven gestalte kan geven.
Afkomstig van bladzijde 224:
” Op andere momenten (zoals me onlangs overkwam) komt de oude vraag weer op: wat moet ik doen? Moet er iets worden gedaan? Is er iets dat ik kan doen? Ik vroeg het hardop, direct aan mezelf: Wat..kan..ik..doen? Ik luisterde. Geen antwoord. Ik wachtte. Er kwam.. niets. De leegheid bleef. Toen, in de stilte, heel plotseling kwam het besef dat de heelheid, die ik gezocht had (maar niet gevonden) aanwezig was – niet ‘daarbuiten’ in tijd en ruimte, niet ergens anders, maar werkelijk hier en nu. De stilte danste door me heen. Ik zag dat, zodra het brein/denken stopt met malen en stil is, de gezochte gelukzalige dimensie er al is.
Het was volkomen duidelijk dat zolang de zoeker doorgaat met zoeken, de zoeker ‘ikzelf’, zal blijven bestaan. En verder, dat de zoeker het gezochte is. Want wat je zoekt is de projectie van de zoeker. Ik had de zoeker gezocht, het ‘ik’. Dit zag ik allemaal doordat het bewustzijn niet met iets bezig was. Dat was alles. Een opwindende levendigheid was een dynamische leegheid geworden, die niet niet leeg is – ruimte gevuld met energie. Terwijl ik daar zat vloeiden plotseling innerlijke en uiterlijke ruimte in elkaar over en waren ondeelbaar een. Later besefte ik dat iedere ademhaling, iedere in- en uitademing de tijdloze eenheid herstelt. “
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) reisde tijdens zijn leven de hele wereld rond om met mensen uit alle continenten de problemen van het leven te bespreken. Daarbij stond hem steeds voor ogen dat geen enkele organisatie of georganiseerde godsdienst de mens tot waarheid kan brengen. In spirituele aangelegenheden bestond er voor hem geen autoriteit, geen leider of goeroe. In plaats daarvan moet ieder mens zijn eigen leraar en leerling zijn. Zijn toespraken zijn verschenen in talloze boeken, en over zijn levensloop zijn een aantal biografieën verschenen. De Australische radiopresentator Ingram Smith raakte in de veertiger jaren betrokken bij het opnemen en uitzenden van Krishnamurti’s toespraken. Jarenlang zou Smith van dichtbij meemaken hoe Krishnamurti omging met de vele zoekers naar waarheid die naar hem toe kwamen. Ingram Smith is verbonden geweest aan de Australische omroeporganisatie ABC en is auteur of redacteur van vele boeken. Hij werd in Australië bekend als producent van het programma Scope (zienswijze).
An Enduring Philosopher (T. Subba Row) – A Sequel to A Lonely Disciple
61 Pages | First limited edition 1995 | Softcover | Prapti Books, Madras, India | No ISBN.
T. Subba Row, an outstanding figure in the early days of the Theosophical Society after the Founders, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891) and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832 – 1917) came to India, was highly respected for his wide-ranging erudition and knowledge of esoteric philosophy and practice. He had many things to reveal on Occult Science and Philosophy. This slim volume, second in the series, includes seven essays vividly written.
From page VI:
” . . . You are wrong in distrusting Subba Row’s writings. He does not write willingly, to be sure, but he will never make a false statement. – Ten to one – it will never receive the attention it deserves – Why? Simply, because his statements contain sober facts, and that what your prefer generally is fiction so long as the latter dovetails with, and answers preconceived theories. ”
- Master K.H. in: ‘Letter No. 93’ (Winter 1883) The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett.
Subba Row – A Lonely Disciple
By N.C. Ramanujachary.
59 Pages | First edition 1993 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170592151.
T. Subba Row, an outstanding figure in the early days of the Theosophical Society after the Founders, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891) and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832 – 1917) came to India, was highly respected for his wide-ranging erudition and knowledge of esoteric philosophy and practice. Such, he played an important role during the formative years of the Society. His speeches and writings contained in two publications, The Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gītā and Esoteric Writings, strike the reader even today by their range and depth.
N.C. Ramanujachary born in 1935 at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, India, is a long-standing member of the Theosophical Society. A member of the Authors Guild of India, he is well known as short-story writer in Telugu, with the nom de plume SRIVIRINCHI.
From page 42:
” Madame Blavatsky had to face the accusation, that ‘Isis Unveiled’ was written with the help of Subba Row. She countered this in a letter dated January 9 1886:
I made Subba Row’s acquaintance on the day I first arrived to Madras, in 1882. Saw him for a week and then when we left Bombay for Madras to live, in January 1883, had exchanged with him a few letters till then. How could I write ‘Isis’ with his help, I in New York, he at Madras and perfect strangers to each other? “
Some Mystical Adventures
By George R.S. Mead (1863-1933).
338 Pages | Photo copy of the first 1910 edition, J. Watkins, London | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana U.S.A. | ISBN: 1564593592.
From Chapter I – ‘As Above, So Below’:
“Heaven above, heaven below; stars above, stars below; all that is above thus also below.”
– Kircher, Prodrom. Copt. pp. 193 & 275.
‘As above, so below’. Is this great ‘word’ a sacramental phrase, a saying of wisdom, an aphorism, a mystic formula, a fundamental law; or a two-edged sword of word-fence, that will probably do the wielder serious damage, if he is not first put through careful training in its handling – which?
Whether this saying is of Hermetic origin or no, we will not stay formally to inquire. In essence it is probably as old as human thought itself; and, as probably, the idea lying underneath it has been turned topsy-turvy more frequently than any other of the immortal company.
CONTENTS:
- As Above, So Below
- Heresy
- The elasticity of the permanent body
- The immensities
- Heirs of the Ages
- The Master
- Initiation
- A measure of what Wisdom means to me
- Adumbrations
- The heroic life
- On the track of Spirituality
- Guesses at what to expect
- On the art of symbolism
- The Self-taught
- On the way of the Path
- Mystic reality
- The deathless race
- Mystic cosmogony
- Some elementary speculations
- On the nature of the Quest.
Quests Old and New
By George R.S. Mead (1863-1933).
338 Pages | Photo copy of the first edition in 1913 by G. Bell & Sons, Ltd, London | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana U.S.A. | ISBN: 0922802793.
from the Preface:
” All the studies or sketches in this volume are illustrative of the quest of reality, the search for truth, or the restless striving of the human soul for the satisfaction of its needs, spiritual or philosophical, mystical or psychical. The subjects are gleaned from the past and present, from east and west; and all of them, each in their different ways, seem to the writer to be of deep interest and great importance, even though some are little known and may appear on first acquaintance somewhat strange. “
CONTENTS:
- The Way of the Spirit of ancient China
- The Doctrine of the true Man in ancient Chinese mystical philosophy
- Spiritual reality in progressive Buddhism
- The ideal life in progressive Buddhism
- Some features of Buddhist psychology
- The doctrine of reincarnation ethically considered
- Some mystical experiments on the frontiers of early Christendom
- The meaning of Gnosis in the higher forms of Hellenistic religion
- ‘The Book of the Hidden Mysteries’ by Hierotheos
- The rising psychic tide
- Vaihinger’s philosophy of the ‘As If’
- Bergon’s intuitionism
- Eucken’s activism.
Concerning H.P.B. (Stray Thoughts on Theosophy)
By George R.S. Mead (1863-1933).
Pages | Photo copy | Reprinted from The Theosophical Review, Vol. XXXIV , 1904/1919 | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana U.S.A. | ISBN: 1564592529.
“ I (Wisdom) love them that love me – Prov. viii, 17. Where there is mystery, it is generally supposed that there must also be evil. ” – Lord George Gordon Byron (1788 – 1824).
Let us for a few minutes turn our thoughts together to the woman without whom, in every probability, there would have been no Theosophical movement to-day as we understand it. Let us consider briefly the crude and blundering question: ‘Do you believe in Blavatsky?‘
To me this question sounds strange, sounds even if I may say so, vulgar. ‘Blavatsky’ No one who knew her, knew her thus tout court. For her enemies even, while she lived, she was Madame Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), or at least H.P. Blavatsky; while for her friends and lovers she was Helena Petrovna, or H.P.B., or the ‘Old Lady’ – which last once gave occasion to a pretty witticism of a friend, who slyly remarked that it would have been awkward had Madame been Monsieur.
How Theosophy Came to Me
Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1934).
154 Pages | Reprinted 2001 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170590132.
Eminent clairvoyant Leadbeater relates in this autobiographical sketch how he came into contact with H.P. Blavatksy (1831 – 1891) and other leading Theosophists in England, and what curious events and phenomena occured during the voyage he made with her to India. The reader will find also vivid world-pictures of Adyar in the early days of the Theosophical Library, an account of Leadbeater’s journeys with H.S. Olcott (1832 – 1907) in Buddhist countries, and of the occult training he received from an Adept.
Bibliography of H.P. Blavatsky
By Jean-Paul Guignette.
12 Pages | Softcover/leaflet | First British Edition June 1987 | Theosophical History Centre, London | ISBN: 0948753056.
This bibliography consists of biographical studies on Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), the main founder of the XIXth Century Theosophical Movement. This is the second edition and it includes corrections, changes and a few additions. As the contents of the books herein quoted are often very diverse in nature, they have been dealt with under several chapters according to their characteristics. Apart from some rare exceptions, only original editions of these works have been mentioned. The subsequent reprints (except if they involve important changes, or corrections) and the various translations into foreign languages have been omitted.
The numerous articles on H.P. Blavatsky published in magazines, as well as the vast number of books mentioning her incidentally, have been purposely left out. No doubt, as it stands, the present bibliography does not cover the whole ground and may be improved upon in the future – thus, all suggestions are welcome.
NB: No quote; the bibliography solely consists of book titles.
Nicholas & Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers
By Ruth A. Drayer.
357 Pages | First Quest Edition 2005 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835608435.
The world has never before so needed Nicholas and Helena Roerich’s vision of universal brotherhood. Early twentieth-century Russian mystics, they sought to unite humanity through art and culture. Nicholas created over 7.000 paintings, some of which appear here in full color. Helena, a gifted healer, wrote the revered Agni Yoga series. Ruth Drayer weaves their teachings with their journeys to the most dangerous regions of Central Asia, where they were the first Caucasians many people had seen.
A Noble Peace Price nominee, Nicholas inspired the Roerich Peace Pact signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and twenty-two countries. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, who admired Roerich, sent him to Mongolia to find drought-resistant grasses. But the true mission (did Wallace know?) was to locate Shambhala and create a ‘New Country’ to usher in an era of world peace. In a way the couple could not foresee, the venture did indeed change the course of history.
Here is the definite work – the only one that reveals how intimately the Roerich’s beliefs directed their lives and that features Helena as a leading spiritual force and pioneering feminist.
From Chapter 15 – ‘Into Tibet’:
” The Master explained, ‘Truly the experience of journeying gives the best key to the realization of cosmic lives. The true traveler reflects lucidly on the path, which lies behind and clearly expresses the desired direction. He will appraise former circumstances and will foresee the better possibilities. “
In Memory of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky – By Some of Her Pupils
By Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891).
198 Pages | Original Edition 1891, Death Centenary Edition 1991 | Softcover | Theosophy Company Private LTD., India | ISBN: 817059037X.
PREFACE
The articles on Helena Petrovna Blavatsky that appeared in the monthly magazine ‘Lucifer’, after her death in 1891, were published the same year in a Memorial Volume. In 1931, to commemorate the centenary of her birth, a reprint of that book, with some additional material, was published by The Blavatsky Association of London.
Both the earlier editions have long been 0ut of print. The present photo-offset reprint is being published in the year of the hundredth anniversary of her passing as a tribute to this greatest Theosophist of our age.
THE PUBLISHERS.
Bombay, 8th May 1991.
From page XI:
” The inspiration given by Madame Blavatsky has indeed been incalculable in regard to this inborn desire and determination to find the PATH, and to attain, at whatever cost, the realisation of the true SELF. For she showed, as has been shown from time immemorial, that the WAY lies within; that each man has the power to work out his own salvation without the intervention of any deity other than his own highest SELF. In the Doctrines of Reincarnation and Karma with which Madame Blavatsky familiarised the West, are to be found the arbiters of Man’s fate – wholly just, yet, when rightly understood, wholly merciful, and the ultimate appeasers of mortal sorrow. “
In Honour of Dr. Annie Besant – Lectures by Eminent Persons (1952 – 1988)
By Annie Besant (1847 – 1933) with a Foreword by Radha Burnier – 7th international president (1980 – 2013) of the Theosophical Society. Preface by Dr. C.V. Agarwal, general secretary of the Indian Section of the Theosophical Society.
339 Pages | Published in 1990 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | No ISBN.
This publication highlights lectures delivered by eminent persons (1952 – 1988) in memory of the great servant of India and of humanity, Dr. Annie Besant (1847 – 1933) – ‘Lover of Truth’ and ‘Friend to all Creatures’. Twenty-four lectures by for instance I.K. Taimni (1898–1978), Achyut Patwardhan (1905 – 1992), Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (1917 – 1984) and C.P. Ramaswami Iyar (1879 – 1966) are included, dealing with:
- The role of India
- Man: his problems and role
- Philosophical presentations
- The modern crisis.