In a chapter in the Secret Doctrine dealing with the origin of language, H.P. Blavatsky makes some statements which are quoted here and which should be borne well in mind in considering what follows. “The Second Race had a ‘Sound Language,’ to wit, chant-like sounds composed of vowels alone.” From this developed “monosyllabic speech which […]

Where we sat on the hillside together that evening the winds were low and the air was misty with light. The huge sunbrowned slope on which we were sitting was sprinkled over with rare spokes of grass; it ran down into the vagueness underneath where dimly the village could be seen veiled by its tresses […]

Parvata rose up from his seat under the banyan tree. He passed his hand unsteadily over his brow. Throughout the day the young ascetic had been plunged in profound meditation, and now, returning from heaven to earth, he was dazed like one who awakens in darkness and knows not where he is. All day long […]

Priest Merodach walked with me at evening along the banks of the great river. “You feel despondent now,” he said, “but this was inevitable. You looked for a result equal to your inspiration. You must learn to be content with that alone. Finally an inspiration will come for every moment, and in every action a […]

Chapter I. That we are living in the Dark Age we all know, yet we do not realise half its darkness. We endure physical and moral suffering; but, fortunately or unfortunately, we are oblivious of the sorrow of all sorrows–the Spiritual Tragedy. Such a rust has come over the pure and ancient spirit of life, […]

–A Paper Read Before the Dublin Lodge. In asking you to consider with me the influence of the system of thought called Theosophy upon one’s view of all the things which are included in the term Life, I have to preface my remarks by the confession that I have not extracted my ideas from portly […]

The teaching of the Secret Doctrine divides the period during which human evolution proceeds upon this globe into seven periods. During the first three-and-a-half of these, the ethereal humanity who appeared in the First Race gradually become material in form, and the psychic spirituality of the inner man is transformed into intellectuality. During the remaining […]

We went forth gay in the twilight’s cover;The dragon Day with his ruddy crestBlazed on the shadowy hills hung overThe still grey fields in their dewy rest. We went forth gay, for all ancient storiesWere told again in our hearts as we trod;Above were the mountain’s dawn-white glories;We climbed to it as the throne of […]

I am minded to put down some intuitions about brotherhood and trust in persons. A witty friend writes, “Now that I have made up my mind, I intend looking at the evidence.” A position like that is not so absurd as at first it seems. It is folly only to those who regard reason alone […]

A Reverend and learned professor in Trinity College, Dublin, a cynic and a humorist, is reported once to have wondered “why the old Irish, having a good religion of their own, did not stick to it?” Living in the “Celtic twilight,” and striving to pierce backward into the dawn, reading romance, tradition and history, I […]

[London: W. Stewart and Co.] While one race sinks into night another renews its dawn. The Celtic Twilight is the morning-time and the singing of birds is prophetic of the new day. We have had to welcome of late years one sweet singer after another, and now comes a volume of lyrics which has that […]

They bring none to his or to her terminus or to be content and full, Whom they take they take into space to behold the birth of stars, to learn one of the meanings. To launch off with absolute faith, to sweep through the ceaseless rings and never be quiet again. –Whitman Here is inspiration–the […]

Who are exiles? as for meWhere beneath the diamond domeLies the light on hill or treeThere my palace is and home. We are outcasts from Deity; therefore we defame the place of our exile. But who is there may set apart his destiny from the earth which bore him? I am one of those who […]

–By AE and Aretas (G.W. Russell and James M. Pryse) While our vision, backward cast,Ranged the everliving past,Through a haze of misty things–Luminous with quiveringsMusical as starry chimes–Rose a hero of old times,In whose breast the magic powersSlumbering from primeval hours,Woke at the enchantment wildOf Aed Abrait’s lovely child;Still for all her Druid learningWith the […]

Many are the voices that entreat and warn those who would live the life of the Magi. It is well they should speak. They are voices of the wise. But after having listened and pondered, oh, that someone would arise and shout into our souls how much more fatal it is to refrain. For we […]

It is with no feeling of sadness that I think of this withdrawal. He would not have wished for that. But with a faltering hand I try to express one of many incommunicable thoughts about the hero who has departed. Long before I met him, before even written words of his had been read, his […]

While we live within four walls we half insensibly lose something of our naturalness and comport ourselves as creatures of the civilization we belong to. But we never really feel at home there, though childhood may have wreathed round with tender memories old rooms and the quaint garden-places of happy unthinking hours. There is a […]

When we were boys with what anxiety we watched for the rare smile on the master’s face ere we preferred a request for some favor, a holiday or early release. There was wisdom in that. As we grow up we act more or less consciously upon intuitions as to time and place. My companion, I […]

When twilight flutters the mountains overThe faery lights from the earth unfold,And over the hills enchanted hoverThe giant heroes and gods of old:The bird of aether its flaming pinionsWaves over earth the whole night long:The stars drop down in their blue dominionsTo hymn together their choral song:The child of earth in his heart grows burningMad […]

Our deepest life is when we are alone. We think most truly, love best, when isolated from the outer world in that mystic abyss we call soul. Nothing external can equal the fulness of these moments. We may sit in the blue twilight with a friend, or bend together by the hearth, half whispering, or […]