Rescued (by an Adept?) from Rudolf Steiner

The following is from the correspondence archives of the United Lodge of Theosophists in London, England. Antony Philip Halas, who lived in Athens, Greece, was for some years in written communication with the London ULT, having become a ULT associate in 1954. This particular letter of his was undated but was affixed to other letters dating from 1965-1966. We make no interpretation or explanation of Mr. Halas’ account but leave that entirely to the reader.

It would be useful to read it in conjunction with our article

Rudolf Steiner’s Lies about H. P. Blavatsky and The Mahatmas.

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THE TREMENDOUS DANGERS

OF UNTIMELY CLAIRVOYANCE

THE PREMATURE APPEARANCE

OF THE WATCHER OF THE THRESHOLD

By Antony Philip Halas (author and journalist)

“Beware of false prophets. Ye shall know them by their fruits. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” (Matthew 7, 16-18)

– – –

Bewildered by the strange facts and astounding rumours concerning the work and achievements of that extraordinary man and prolific writer Mr. Rudolf Steiner (the famous founder of the University of Occultism “Goetheanum” at Dornach, Basel, Switzerland, and of the epoch-making School of “Anthroposophy”); and being since my earliest youth devoted to the pursuit of Knowledge and Truth concealed both in the Universe or Macrocosm and in Man or Microcosm – I thought it advisable to obtain all his existing works in German, as a matter of fact the original writings are preferable to their translations.

One of Rudolf Steiner’s works, which particularly attracted my attention and predilection was: “Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der hoheren Welten” (i.e. How can a man obtain consciousness or knowledge of the higher Worlds). [Note: This book is today published in English as “How to know Higher Worlds” and “Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment.”]

As soon as I obtained possession of the book in question, I began studying it with the enthusiasm and transport of a neophyte, carried away by the mastery of the great writer, the originality of its contents and the acuteness and convincing of its argumentation.

When I came to that portion of the book, where the author gives with painstaking examples and facts all desirable details for those who wish to become clairvoyant, – I blessed my good luck and stars for coming across such an unexpected treasure, the more so as I was athirst to be once for all deprived of my spiritual blindness and obtain at last the intensely longed for Internal Sight and regain the function of my Third Eye, atrophied and lost since the Fall: I was engrossed in the hope of reaching soon the Paradise Lost and of becoming the citizen of the Promised Land!

Alas! How far away I still was from that “consummation, devoutly to be wished”! How little I suspected what was ahead of me! How uninformed and unaware was I of the horrible dangers that were lurking around me, more repugnant and venomous than sharks, vipers or vampires!

With avidity and eagerness I devoured every page, fervently perusing every detail, ready to fulfill every instruction and commandment, as was in ancient times the case with divine decrees or oracles! As I was told in that book that I ought to buy a multifaced crystal, I immediately did so; and though more than thirty years have elapsed since that time, my life was full of startling events and adventures and in the meantime I left Constantinople, where the story which is here described took place, and came and established myself in Athens, – I still have in my possession this precious relic, which I preserve as a sacred memorial and a token of gratitude towards my greatest Benefactor, who, as I will narrate soon, intervened miraculously at the right moment and checked me in time from continuing to put in practice to their full extent the most dangerous methods and weapons a man may ever have to deal with.

Strictly and faithfully following Rudolf Steiner’s instructions, I used to get up early in the morning, an hour before the rising of the Sun and for more than a fortnight I was deeply and earnestly meditating on the seed’s evolution and development, i.e. on its germination, on its embryo, integuments and endosperm, on its growth, which gives rise to the stem of the plant. To cut it short, having before me the seed, and carefully complying myself with Rudolf Steiner’s instructions, I mentally followed the whole evolution of plant life: birth or germination, growth, blooming, flowering, marriage, impregnation or perpetuation of kind, fruit bearing or seed bearing, waning, withering or decline, old age, death.

A similar exercise consisted in meditating on the sperm of an animal and man: namely, on the whole evolution of animal life from birth to death. Needless to say that I did not miss be it one single exercise of those promising to endow me with the Second Sight, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience or Spiritual Sight and Hearing.

The more willingly I strictly and unwaveringly conformed myself with Rudolf Steiner’s instructions, as in the Eleusinian Mysteries Demeter (called “Ceres” by the Romans: hence the word: “cereal”) – one of the great Divinities of the Greeks – was the goddess of earth’s fruits, especially of the corn. The ear of corn (representing the conarium and pineal gland) with its stem (symbolising the vertebral column) played in the mentioned Mysteries a predominant role, as their aim was the “telestic or perfecting work,” by which the candidate to initiation was transformed into a Seer, a Prophet or Son of God or Christ. The symbol in question had the same occult portent, as the Thyrsus, the wand carried by Dionysus and his attendants and candidates to initiation, “the Bacchae,” also called Maenades and Thyiades. To Plato’s students and those who are engaged in the study of the Greek Mysteries, well known is the proverb:

“many are those who carry the magic wand, but very few are the true seers or prophets!”

Also Hermes’ or Mercury’s Caduceus symbolized the same telestic or perfecting potentialities, as it represents Pingala, Ida and Sushumna, the Serpentine Power or Kundalini (the “speirema” or Serpent Coil of the Gnosis) or the Holy Ghost.

Side by side with the above mentioned exercises, always in strict accordance with Rudolf Steiner’s instructions, I was earnestly engaged in crystal gazing. Since my boyhood was this practice unconsciously known to me, when, at the age of five, I was fascinated and attracted by the strange visions which I happened occasionally to observe, when gazing in a crystal stopper of a bottle. It was far from me at that time to guess that I was endowed with clairvoyant powers or latent seership and very little was I aware of my being apt to get into serious trouble if not properly guided in the treacherous labyrinth of astral visions, lavishly offered by crystal gazing at that early and tender stage of my life.

Under such circumstances, predispositions and tendencies or “gifts” was I devoutly engaged in the dangerous practices, so light-heartedly and copiously lavished and described with every possible detail and without any precaution or restraint in that treacherous and misguiding book. The catastrophe was imminent. I was doomed to unrepairable wreckage, to which I was approaching at full speed and as sure as two and two are four.

Fortunately some one was watching over me! Many a time before and afterwards have I been conscious of being overshadowed by an Invisible Protector and Benefactor. This of course is not a privilege bestowed by Divine Providence but to me, as if I were an exceptional human being. I am far from being an exception in the wide wide world: I am a common mortal. All human beings, without any exception, have their Guardian Angel, but most of us do not believe in Invisible Things and Beings or do not pay due attention each time our Invisible Benefactor lavishes on us his services and protection.

A fortnight or so since I had started the above mentioned exercises one unforgettable night (thirty years ago or more) I was visited, when in Spirit, by a dark haired and bearded Man, in the full of his manhood, whose blooming health and exuberant vitality brought in my memory the Count of Saint Germain and the Elixir of Life.

He addressed me in French and said in an imperative and convincing voice:

“Je suis occultiste et je vous suis. Prenez garde! La mort ou la maison des alienes vous attendent.” (“I am an occultist and I shadow you. Beware! Death or Bedlam wait for you.”)

I, at once understanding the meaning of his warning, replied:

“Comment donc pourrais je satisfaire ma soif irresitible de conaissance?” (“How could I satisfy my unquenchable thirst for knowledge?”)

My benevolent Thrice-Greatest Benefactor replied:

“Je vais vous repondre par un vers de votre grand Pindare.” (“My answer will be given you by means of a verse of Pindar.”) And, saying so, he recited in ancient Greek the following quotation:

“When the Sun shines in the vastness and chaos of Heavens, and you, my Soul, want to sing, praise, and celebrate the deeds, fame, and merits of a Hero or Heroine, you will in vain seek therein another star worthy of more exaltation or glorification: no rival dares to appear before the unsurpassed Glory of the Lord of Sky.”

And he continued, quoting so to say from the Bible: “Quiconque boit de l’eau que vous buvez, aura encore soif; mais celui qui boira de l’eau que je lui indiquerai n’aura jamais soif, et l’eau que je lui donnerai deviendra en lui une source qui jaillira jusque dans la vie eternelle.” (“Whosoever drinketh of the water which you are drinking, shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”)

And when I asked him to point out to me the Intellectual or Spiritual Hero, who could so fully, satisfactorily, and radically quench my thirst for knowledge, my Thrice-Greatest Benefactor put his right hand in the inner pocket of his jacket and took something, which he showed me:

. . . It was a Portrait, shining with glory, of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky!

Antony Philip Halas

(translated into English from my corresponding article in Greek, published in the “Scientific Encyclopaedia,” Athens, 1958)

NOTE: Mr. Halas added this note to his typewritten document: “Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s Works eclipse all other human writings, as the noontide Sun all other stars.”