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Alice A. Bailey (16th June,1880 ‑ 15th December,1949), writer and lecturer on Neo-Theosophy, was born in England in 1880 as Alice LaTrobe Bateman.
Life
Alice Ann Bailey was born in Manchester, England in 1880. She had a strong Christian education, and went on to do evangelical work in the British Army, which took her to India in 1907, where she met her future husband, Walter Evans. Together they moved to America, where W. Evans become an Episcopalian minister: but their life become harder and harder, and their marriage, after the birth of three daughters, ended in divorce.
In America, Alice Bailey made contact with the Theosophical Society, in which she encountered the work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. This led her eventually to become a member of the Esoteric section of the Theosophical Society.
Some years later, she left the Society, but continued to recognise the importance of Madame Blavatsky's works in her life.
Through her studies of Blavatsky's descriptions of esoteric Masters in Theosophy, Alice Bailey recognised the spiritual guide she believed had helped her from the age of fifteen as the Theosophical Master "Koot Humi" (also spelled Kuthumi). Later in 1919 she claimed to be in touch with another Master, Djwhal Khul, also known as The Tibetan.
This began Alice Bailey's writings, 24 books in which she and her claimed Tibetan Master illustrate a body of esoteric teachings relating to ancient wisdom, theosophical studies, religion, philosophy and contemporary events from 1919 to 1949.
In 1920 Alice Bailey married another theosophist, Foster Bailey, and in 1923 they founded the Arcane School to continue her teachings and form a school for the disciples of the coming new era.
At the end of her life, she began to write her autobiography, although reluctant to celebrate herself, she agreed to write the book only to give others inspiration to follow their own spiritual paths.
She died in 1949.
Nature of Works
Alice Bailey's books are on subjects such as the path of spiritual evolution, the Spiritual Hierarchy, the new discipleship, spiritual meditation as a form of service for human beings, on esoteric astrology, and on esoteric healing
She envisages a new world religion in which every human being, regardless of race religion or sex, could be free to search truth in peace and brotherhood.
It has been said by her supporters that Bailey's books are more inspirational than informational, and that the works themselves are occult artifacts which have a definite effect upon those who read them.
All these books, especially the Treatise of the Seven Rays, are written in a scheme that suggest a spiritual path to be followed to expand mental horizons and gain a new wisdom and awareness on the world and of human beings. The reader is invited to meditate deeply on the theories espoused, and to use intuition to awake the superior mind and fly away from first-glance conclusions.
The introduction, written in 1934, she claimed, directly by The Tibetan explain the purpose of the teachings:
- "The books that I have written are sent out with no claim for their acceptance. They may, or may not, be correct, true and useful. It is for you to ascertain their truth by right practice and by the exercise of the intuition. Neither I nor A.A.B. is the least interested in having them acclaimed as inspired writing or in having anyone speak of them (with bated breath) as being the work of one of the masters If they present truth in such a way that it follows sequentially upon that already offered in the world teachings if the information given raises the aspiration and the will-to-serve from the plane of the emotions to that of the mind; (the plane whereon the Masters can be found) then they will have served their purpose. If the teaching conveyed calls forth a response from the illumined mind of the worker in the world, and brings a flashing forth of the intuition, then let that teaching be accepted. But not otherwise. If the statements meet with eventual corroboration or are deemed true under the test of the Law of Correspondences, then that is well and good. But should this not be so, let not the student accept what is said."
Criticism
Some of Bailey's writings have been criticised for perceived racism and anti-Semitism. For instance, she wrote that the Nazi atrocities against the Jews had come about because "The Jewish race, who loved the possessions of the world more than they loved the service of Light, joined ranks with the rebels against God" and therefore "... the law of racial karma is working and the Jews are paying the price, factually and symbolically, for all they have done in the past." She further claimed that "the Jews are the reincarnation of spiritual failures or residues from another planet..." and that "the word 'love' for others is lacking in Judaism... The Jew has never grasped the love of God." (Esoteric Healing, 1949) She also wrote that only "when selfishness in business relations and the pronounced manipulative tendencies of the Hebrew people are exchanged for more selfless and honest forms of activity" would anti-Semitism cease and that "the Jewish problem will be solved by intermarriage; that of the Negro will not." (Esoteric Healing, p. 263 et. seq.) (ref)
Adherents point out that relationships between many different racial / cultural groups are discussed at various points, and neither Jews nor blacks are singled out for any particular treatment, beyond their natural places in any discussion of history. Also, the phrases "spiritual failures" and "paying the price" are rather misleading taken out of context; within a framework of spiritual evolution, suffering in any given lifetime is not seen as any kind of "punishment", but rather as a necessary working out of karma, leading always to spiritual advancement (in the long-term).
Bibliography
All of Alice Bailey's books are available online in their entirety. Lucis Trust, part of the Arcane School, is the official publisher.
There is a full index available here.
In collaboration with Djwhal Khul:
- Initiation, Human and Solar -- 1922
- Letters on Occult Meditation -- 1922
- A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -- 1925
- Light of the Soul: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali -- 1927 (commentary by Alice Bailey)
- A Treatise on White Magic -- 1934
- Discipleship in the New Age -- Volume I - 1944
- Discipleship in the New Age -- Volume II - 1955
- Problems of Humanity -- 1947
- The Reappearance of the Christ -- 1948
- The Destiny of the Nations -- 1949
- Glamor - A World Problem -- 1950
- Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle -- 1950
- Education in the New Age -- 1954
- The Externalization of the Hierarchy -- 1957
- A Treatise on the Seven Rays:
By Alice A. Bailey:
- The Consciousness of the Atom -- 1922
- The Soul and its Mechanism -- 1930
- From Intellect to Intuition -- 1932
- From Bethlehem to Calvary -- 1937
- The Unfinished Autobiography -- 1951
- The Labors of Hercules -- 1974
- The Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Interpretation -- first published 1982
External links
- Lucis Trust
- The works of Alice Bailey
- BiographyA biography and some summary of the writings.
- Antisemitism and racismˤAlice Bailey: a balanced look
- A Comparison between HPB and Alice Bailey A critical site
- Theosophy's Shadow A Critical Look at the Claims and Teachings of Alice A. Bailey makes rather dubious and often completely erroneous claims on what Bailey's teachings actually were.
- Article from Esotericastrologer.org
- Auckland Goodwill Unit of Service
- Biography
- Anti-Semitism in the Writings of Alice Bailey by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
Esotericism | New Age | New religious movements | English occultists | Occultists | Occult writers | 1880 births | 1949 deaths | Theosophists | Astrologers | Anti-Semitic people | Theosophy
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"Alice Bailey"