Wisdom of the Disenchanted
Three Spiritual Festivals 2018
Dear co-worker,
One of the most intriguing features of the natural world is mimicry: harmless insects mimic the design of more noxious types to deter their predators; female fireflies flash out the mating signals of other species to attract eager males to their doom; praying mantises lure prey by imitating flowers and pebble plants avoid being eaten by resembling stones. The list goes on. What is not so often understood is that the art of deception that is implicit in Nature’s design is also a feature of the inner worlds. The path to the soul is strewn with many pitfalls for the unwary seeker.
Clearly discrimination is essential on the path as it is all too easy to fall prey to the deceptive sights and sounds of the astral world and the many mimics who reside there. Amongst these enchanters are soulless imitators of the Masters of the Wisdom and other spiritual luminaries. Many of these present trite teachings and commentaries on human affairs, tinged with a comforting sentimentality. These shells are animated by elemental lives in the astral world that are energized by human interaction with them.
It is because of the distractions and deceptions that are such a feature of the astral plane that Atma-Vidya, ‘knowledge of the soul’, has been recommended as the esoteric science for our times. Helena Blavatsky calls all the other Vidyas “arts based on the knowledge of the ultimate essence of all things in the Kingdoms of Nature.” This essence links the phenomena of outer, physical nature, to the psychic nature of the astral world and is why contact with it is not advisable. These lesser Vidyas include “knowledge of the occult powers awakened in Nature by the performance of certain religious ceremonies and rites… The magic of the Kabalists and of the Tantrika worship…[and]…knowledge of the mystic powers residing… in chanted prayers or incantations… in other words a magical performance based on Knowledge of the Forces of Nature and their correlation.”1
The recommended goal for all seekers today is soul fusion through the practice of Atma-Vidya, otherwise we may unwittingly deviate from the direct path to the soul and enter into a realm of ‘enchantment’. To ‘enchant’ means to bewitch and charm. It is a word derived from the Latin ‘incantare’, meaning to chant a magic spell upon, and is closely related to the word ‘glamour’ which has medieval Scottish roots from a time when practitioners of the darker side of the occult arts were said ‘to cast the glamor’.2
Alice Bailey explains that glamour is the outstanding characteristic of the astral plane, which is “simply the name given to that sum total of sentient reactions, of feeling-responsiveness, and of emotional substance which man has himself so powerfully created and so successfully projected that he is today the victim of that which he has made.”3 In the present era, the substance of glamour is widespread in popular culture and the entertainment industries, regarded as something to be actively sought after.Glamour is generally understood as the quality of being “more attractive, exciting or interesting than ordinary people or things.”4 In truth, it is a distorting veneer on reality to which the emotionally polarized are more susceptible. In its more subtle guises, it misleads many intelligent people and aspirants on the path, as is discussed extensively in Alice Bailey’s book Glamour, A World Problem.
On the path of Atma-Vidya, disenchantment – the stripping away of glamour – is a hard lesson but it steadily brings the spiritual seeker under the direct control of the soul, which is the mediating principle between spirit and matter. The soul fuses these two great streams of energy – the masculine and feminine principles in life – into harmonious rapport. Only then can the magical work of creating “the new heavens and the new earth” begin in earnest. We will be considering the esoteric laws of nature as they work through sound, vibration and electricity at the upcoming Arcane School conferences. We will also be reflecting on how the esotericist can learn these rules while remaining detached from their activities through the guiding sound of the soul – a sound which leads directly into the spiritual kingdom of light, love and power. All who receive this letter are warmly invited to attend and participate in this group work.
In this materialistic technological age, the theme seems an appropriate one to address as humanity is experiencing a growing urge to reconnect more deeply with Mother Earth and the divine feminine. The way forward is clearly demonstrated by those who express the light and love of the soul, the group of world servers, many of whom are working with the lower kingdoms of nature. The clarity of the soul’s light pours through them, revealing laws that operate in nature and awakening humanity to the need for a new relationship with the environment. Likewise, the work that we do in meditation throughout the three spiritual festivals involves contact with the soul to help light, love and power descend on earth – through humanity and into the lower kingdoms of nature in the great work of planetary redemption.
Those who engage in this one great work are members of the group of world servers, whether conscious of the fact or not, and are all working to a greater or lesser extent with the knowledge of the soul – Atma-Vidya – the wisdom of the disenchanted.
In the light, love and power of group service,
Headquarters Group, Lucis Trust
1. Collected Writings Vol IX. pp. 251-252. H.P. Blavatsky
2. www.etymonline.com/word/glamour
3. The Reappearance of the Christ, p. 130. A.A. Bailey
4. www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/glamorous