Hey /x/, I'm interested in reading the works of H.P. Blavatsky.

Oh. I was just asking about this sort of thing in /omg/ - I wonder if I should bump your thread too.

I thought there was a selection of her works in the Library but I guess I got my stuff elsewhere.

>>19229605
I have copies of The Secret Doctrine, Vol 1, 2, and the ridiculous Index. That really covers Blavatsky in a nutshell. Volume 3 was published after her death by a friend, but we only have the friend's word that the contents were from Blavatsky herself.

They're... Scattered and undeveloped. I mean there's nothing "wrong" with them; they're a creative achievement and as good as any "channeled" stuff ever is. But it really feels like the developments that came afterward, stuff written by Israel Regardie and Robert Anton Wilson take those concepts and put them together in a much more cohesive framework.

But... I mean, I'm a fan and all... It's just... It's not practical. (Occult geeks would kill me for saying that but...)

Ultimately save yourself a bit of time and just study Tao. It'll get you where you need to go faster, transform you from balls to bones into a manifestation machine.

And there is no growth without fundamental change to who you are. Don't kid yourself. There are fools who try to have it both ways. You can spot them a mile away - they're the guys who talk a big game but drive busted cars and have constant health problems.

Or if you just want to commune with spirits, just practice being kind to people in your daily life. That's actually quite a bit more potent, even if it isn't flashy or impressive to the geeks. Kindness has opened way more spiritual doors for me than formal practice ever did, blown open my senses and asserted my authority in a very non-tryhard way that's still gentle at the same time.

But you know, whatever you feel like doing. You do you. :)

>>19229678
Based anon knows

>>19229678
Assume I am just curious about spiritualism and theosophy from an academic perspective, wanting to study the beliefs of the era. What should I read?

>>19229678
Thank you. I'll look into Tao before making my decision. As for being kind to people in my daily life, I'm quite a social person so that isn't much of a problem to begin with. Quite honestly at the moment I'm interested in it from a mostly academic perspective. I'm of course willing to open my mind and ready to learn.

>>19229690
If you want to focus on that ERA, going way back to late 1800s, early 1900s, then look into Hermetics. The "seminal" work on that would be 1908's "The Kybalion", found here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/kyb/index.htm

This was hugely influential during that era, and was kind of an outward expression of a lot of the earlier work in Alchemy that people had been doing.

Also look around a bit for the term "new thought". Strictly speaking that was something that could be traced back to Quimby's mentalism of the early 1800s, but it really saw its heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Regardie wrote a good summary of the movement in the book "Spirits in Rebellion", although finding a copy of that might be tough... to be honest I'm not even sure where I got mine...

Anyway, "new thought" all came to a head with William Walker Atkinson's book "Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World". Yep, that was the big precursor to all the surface-level "law of attraction" stuff you see today.

But if you want to get a better grip on how PRACTICAL people applied that stuff, then believe it or not you want Napoleon Hill's 1937 "Think and Grow Rich". This is an excellent read and I highly, highly recommend it. It is basically him running around interviewing rich people asking them what they do to get rich, and a lot of what they said echoes what was written in "The Kybalion".

Honestly, while all of this is entertaining, if you want to change your life then stick to "Think and Grow Rich". It's bloody brilliant.

Any other questions?

>>19229605
Although Blavatsky had a vast well of knowledge to draw from, her writing is erratic, as it tends to jump from one subject to the next. Still good reading though.
Read Isis Unveiled & Secret Doctine here:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/the/index.htm

>>19229751
>if you want to change your life
Nah man, I just want to know about what was going on in the community at the time.

>>19229678
Where should one start in studying Tao? Any recommended books or videos? I have zero knowledge of it.

Hi guy,

I ve read every book of blavatsky, and a many articles she wrotes. Now i m in the second lecture of the secret doctrine. I can say that my first reading of secret doctrine was a big shock.
If you have some question i can answer it if you want. I open a thread month ago on her. But it seems that people on x are more interested by spectacular, or magical in the external meaning.
As you can see on post before, people drive you to material magic. HPB and all the magic stuff from crowley and inheritant are similar on some side but quite different on many. HPB was not a supporter of this kind of teaching. And that why some occultist as guenon of this time try to break her down. Because she refuses to reveal to them another thing than you can find in secret doctrine. You just have to study this book all your life and your father will give you what you need in time. Spiritual have nothing to do with material, every thing is av-bstract and can work just as concept. The gods are concepts.

By the way, for a guy who know nothing on occultism, it s quiet hard to read, but even for occult guy iit s hard to understand all the concept. It s a kind of book that ask for one life to study, because it s also a comparative existing theory necissiting to know at least all the big opus of past philosophy.

To finish, HPB have nothing to do with chaneling, she condamned many time this practice as you hurt your higher pieces, your will

>>19230776
Thanks for your insight. I'll keep that in mind.