Warnings to Would-Be Occultists

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky · Higher Ethics and Devotion Series · 10 pages

A ten-page compilation built around what the abstract calls an open letter by H.P. Blavatsky such as few can write, with an abstract and train of thoughts at the front and suggested reading at the back. The frontispiece is by Lady Yana Dhyana. It belongs with the chelaship material in batch 1 of this section, and states in the negative what those files state positively.

The letter opens on an observation about opposition rather than about study: that people will never conspire except against real power, and that in their blind ignorance the mysteries and the Unknown have been and ever will be objects of terror. The first warning to the aspirant is against a particular illusion — that no one should lure himself with the idea of becoming a practical occultist by mere book-knowledge. What is required instead is set out without softening. Study, and you will believe; but be prepared to devote your whole life; be prepared for martyrdom; give up personal pride and all selfish purposes; and be ready for everlasting encounters with friends and foes alike. The longest warning concerns public opinion, described as an invisible, intangible, omnipresent and despotic tyrant, a thousand-headed hydra made the more dangerous for being composed of mediocrities, and not an enemy to be scorned by any would-be occultist however courageous. The closing passage tells the student to expect barrier upon barrier and obstacles in every form and shape — an unusually discouraging conclusion for a document whose purpose is to attract the right sort of reader by deterring the wrong sort.

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