RE: Theosophy Reborn
Almost forgot, good morning Sol and all you lovely people, the sun is shining and all is well with the world!
AQ
RE: Theosophy Reborn
ORIGINAL: AngelQuartz
By the way, who is that gorgeous fella in the picture?
Just a holiday snap from last year...
No, really, I didn't even recognise it, but someone here told me it's a character from Lord of The Rings.
RE: Theosophy Reborn
Venetian -
No, really, I didn't even recognise it, but someone here told me it's a character from Lord of The Rings.
Hi AQ...
I hear 'via the grapevine' that our Venetian is very 'dishy' 😉
[sm=offtopic.gif] ...I know, sorry, but you did ask about 'that gorgeous fella...' 😉 , I will get my bag now...
Amber
RE: Theosophy Reborn
I'm giggling now. I have spent the whole morning on this blessed contraption, (roll on broadband!!) catching up with emails, paperwork etc and I suddenly noticed I was frowning - so time to leave and do something lovely. Then I checked here and you made me giggle - so thanks for that (now I'll just have laughter lines instead of so many wrinkles I have to screw my hat on. If I had a hat. Which I don't.)
Hope you have a wonderful afternoon!
AQ
RE: Theosophy Reborn
I just received this by email, notification of a new book which attempts to chart how Theosophy, or more specifically its publishing endeavours, were the main origin of the New Age movement.
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Title: Publishing in the Fifth Dimension: Theosophy and the
Birth of Mind, Body and Spirit Publishing
Author: Kimberley Morgan
COMPLETE book is online at:
[DLMURL] http://www.train4publishing.co.uk/content/oncourse/pitfd.pdf [/DLMURL]
ABSTRACT:
The founder of the Theosophical Society, the enigmatic Madame
Blavatsky, became famous almost overnight with the publication of
her first book Isis Unveiled, published in 1877 by J. W. Bouton in
New York. Isis Unveiled took the Victorian readers by storm,
leading them to avenues of thoughts they never imagined could exist.
A few years later, the first Theosophical publishing houses were
created.
The Theosophical publishing houses, in London, India and America
opened the way to a new publishing genre, Mind, Body and Spirit,
as it is popularly known today. These entities were originally
founded to disseminate the teachings of Blavatsky, and of
her 'Masters', and as their lists grew, more authors followed.
In this dissertation, I shall argue that H. P. Blavatsky was a
catalyst for a renaissance, with the publication of Isis Unveiled.
Using various sources, I described the growth of this movement.
While assessing today's market and climate, I reached the
conclusion that Madame Blavatsky, Theosophy, and the various
Theosophical publishing houses were the forerunners of the New Age
movement.
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Venetian: The distinction is made here that Theosophy paved the way for the current Mind/ Body/ Spirit interest but that this doesn't mean everything called the 'New Age' today is carrying on the intended direction of Theosophy. But to be able to trace so much back to Theosophy at the origin is interesting. Perhpas those currently with an interest in New Age matters would gain from reading up on what it was all intended to be about? (The writings of Theosophy.) Blavatsky is, frankly, a very difficult read for most people, certainly me included, and I'd recommend others such as C.W. Leadbeater (especially 'The Masters and The Path'), Annie Besant, Geoffrey Hodson. For the first-ever publication of the words of the Masters (whose names are so often used by people rightly or wrongly today) there are 'The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnot'.
P.S. On the subject of Theosophical publishing houses and the New Age, for over a decade now these publishers have been requesting their authors not to use the term 'the New Age' if wishing to refer to the modern upsurge of interest in spiritual matters. This is because so much today is called 'New Age' which isn't spiritual, healthy or authentic at all. There's therefore a policy to avoid the 'New Age' term now, as so much of this has gone of the rails, and to find some other term that hasn't been tainted by association! This was a new idea to me when I first encountered it, but now I agree: 'New Age' today means something just totally different to the heady and idealistic, pure meaning of the late 1960s or through the 1970s.
Venetian