“We cast our gauntlet at the dogmatic theologians who would enslave both history and science; and especially at the Vatican, whose despotic pretensions have become hateful to the greater portion of enlightened Christendom.” – H. P. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled” Vol. 2, p. iv (Preface)

“It [i.e. Roman Catholicism] not only obstructs the way to Theosophy and Occultism but threatens to throttle both.” – “The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett” p. 232

“The opposition represents enormous vested interests, and they have enthusiastic help from the Dugpas – in Bhootan and the Vatican!” – Letter from the Master K.H.

“The Jesuits have practised not only Occultism, but BLACK MAGIC in its worst form, more than any other body of men; and to it they owe in large measure their power and influence.” – H. P. Blavatsky, “Theosophy or Jesuitism?” article

“The Society [was] founded to remedy the glaring evils of Christianity.” – H. P. Blavatsky, “The Theosophical Mahatmas” article

“The Theosophical Society . . . recognizes and knows of, and therefore avoids its representatives in its ranks – but one enemy – an enemy common to all, namely, Roman Catholicism.” – H. P. Blavatsky, “Force of Prejudice” article

~ * ~

One subject freely spoken and written about in the days of the original Theosophical Movement was that of the Jesuits, otherwise known as the Society of Jesus, a controversial religious order within the Roman Catholic Church and founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola.

Strangely – or perhaps not so strangely, when the facts are examined – nothing was ever said about them or against them by later leaders of “The Theosophical Society – Adyar” such as Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater or by Adyar Theosophist Alice Bailey who went on to found her own organisation, the Lucis Trust.

Indeed, these three even spoke favourably of Catholicism, with Leadbeater eventually co-founding a so-called Theosophical church known as the Liberal Catholic Church (complete with confession and absolution of sins by its priests and an affirmed belief in the apostolic succession of the Church of Rome!) and announcing the impending Second Coming of Christ and Alice Bailey informing her readers that the “Master Jesus” was planning to eventually travel to Rome in order to become the new Pope, whereupon a glorious new era could begin for the Catholic Church, not to mention the almost enforced Christianisation of the Adyar Society and its literature by Annie Besant under Leadbeater’s dominating influence.

H. P. Blavatsky had written: “The present volumes have been written to small purpose if they have not shown . . . that the apostolic succession is a gross and palpable fraud.” (“Isis Unveiled” Vol. 2, p. 544)

But C. W. Leadbeater wrote: “My clairvoyant investigation into those early periods absolutely confirms the contention of the Roman Church. They know that there has been no break in apostolic succession.” (“Science of the Sacraments” p. 286)

Meanwhile, Alice Bailey declared that “the whole field of religion will be re-inspired and re-orientated from Rome because the Master Jesus will again take hold of the Christian Church in an effort to re-spiritualise it and to re-organise it. From the chair of the Pope of Rome, the Master Jesus will attempt to swing that great branch of the religious beliefs of the world again into a position of spiritual power.” (“The Destiny of the Nations” p. 59)

Purposely suppressing, criticising, altering, depreciating and distorting the teachings and work of H. P. Blavatsky after her death, Besant (who had previously been married to a Church of England minister) and Leadbeater (who had previously been a Church of England priest) deliberately turned the attention and focus of the Theosophical Society away from the Eastern Esoteric Philosophy which had originally characterised it and towards a peculiar form of psychically inspired Christianity.

Happily allowing HPB’s books such as “The Key to Theosophy,” “Isis Unveiled,” and even her major work “The Secret Doctrine” to go out of print, they instead began publishing such tomes as Leadbeater’s weighty work “The Science of the Sacraments”, “The Christian Creed” and “The Hidden Side of Christian Festivals” and Besant’s “Esoteric Christianity” and “The Coming Christ.” Just like the later Alice Bailey (who had previously been an evangelical Christian missionary and, in her own words, formerly “a rabid, orthodox Christian worker”) books, the dominant and central theme was the impending reappearance on the world scene of the “Lord Christ” and of the validity, role, and importance of the Christian Church.

Bearing in mind that HPB, William Quan Judge, the actual Masters, and all the proponents of the original genuine Theosophy viewed and spoke of the Christian religion – and especially the Catholic Church – as a major enemy of humanity and emphasised that it was Eastern spiritual philosophy alone that could save the Western world…and that HPB once explained that one way the Jesuits work to destroy a potentially powerful spiritual movement is to infiltrate it and then gradually weaken it from within by means of replacing its authentic teachings and practices with a weak and insipid form of Christianity…those Theosophists who have concluded that Leadbeater, Bailey, and Besant were either themselves Jesuits or agents of the Jesuits can hardly be blamed for arriving at such an opinion. On top of that, Theosophical researcher Morten Sufilight (author of the extensive article “Are the books by Alice A. Bailey dangerous?”) has found specific evidence linking Alice Bailey’s husband Foster Bailey with the Jesuits via Freemasonry.

But leaving all that aside, what do H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters actually have to say about the Jesuits? There is a whole section about them in the second volume of HPB’s first book “Isis Unveiled,” in which known facts, quotations, and references regarding them and their activities are presented alongside emphatic statements and pieces of information provided by some of the Masters and Adepts who aided her in the writing of the book.

There we are informed that the Roman Catholic Church is today almost completely under the control of the Jesuits, who are “the hidden enemy that would-be reformers must encounter and overcome.”

“The Church is henceforth an inert tool, and the Pope a poor weak instrument in the hands of this Order. But for how long?” . . . “That crafty, learned, conscienceless, terrible soul of Jesuitism, within the body of Romanism, is slowly but surely possessing itself of the whole prestige and spiritual power that clings to it.” . . . “The Jesuits have done more moral harm in this world than all the fiendish armies of the mythical Satan. Whatever extravagance may seem to be involved in this remark, will disappear when our readers in America, who now know little about them, are made acquainted with their principles (principia) and rules as they appear in various works written by the Jesuits themselves.”

Quoted on the same page of “Isis Unveiled” is an excerpt from the report about the Jesuits delivered to the King of France in 1762 by the Commissioners of the French Parliament, who wrote of “the perversity of this doctrine. . . . A doctrine authorizing Theft, Lying, Perjury, Impurity, every Passion and Crime, teaching Homicide, Parricide, and Regicide, overthrowing religion in order to substitute for it superstition, by favoring Sorcery, Blasphemy, Irreligion, and Idolatry… etc.”

HPB also quotes from Mackenzie’s “Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia,” which says about the Jesuits that “The Order has secret signs and passwords, according to the degrees to which the members belong, and as they wear no particular dress, it is very difficult to recognize them, unless they reveal themselves as members of the Order; for they may appear as Protestants or Catholics, democrats or aristocrats, infidels or bigots, according to the special mission with which they are entrusted. Their spies are everywhere, of all apparent ranks of society, and they may appear learned and wise, or simple or foolish, as their instructions run. There are Jesuits of both sexes, and of all ages, and it is a well-known fact that members of the Order, of high family and delicate nurture, are acting as menial servants in Protestant families, and doing other things of a similar nature in aid of the Society’s purposes. We cannot be too much on our guard, for the whole Society, being founded on a law of unhesitating obedience, can bring its force on any given point with unerring and fatal accuracy.”

This would of course be casually dismissed by most people nowadays as nothing more than paranoia, ignorance, and a dated forerunner of today’s many lurid conspiracy theories. Yet suspicion of the Jesuits was relatively widespread amongst all classes of Western society until fairly recently. The only real reason this is no longer the case is due to repeated strenuous efforts by the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuits themselves to repair their tarnished image and to present themselves as decent and respectable in the eyes of the world.

One way of doing this is to repeatedly laugh to scorn any criticism and condemnation, no matter how valid or undeniably legitimate, until eventually the unthinking masses will just join in and put it all down to crazy conspiracy theories and overactive imaginations…just as the Jesuits would want them to.

HPB explains that “The cry of an outraged public morality was raised against this Order from its very birth. (It dates from 1540; and in 1555 a general outcry was raised against them in some parts of Portugal, Spain, and other countries.) Barely fifteen years had elapsed after the bull approving its constitution was promulgated, when its members began to be driven away from one place to the other. Portugal and the Low Countries got rid of them, in 1578; France in 1594; Venice in 1606; Naples in 1622. From St. Petersburg they were expelled in 1815, and from all Russia in 1820. It was a promising child from its very teens. What it grew up to be every one knows well.” (see chapter titled “JESUITRY AND MASONRY” in “Isis Unveiled” Vol. 2, p. 348-404)

In HPB’s “The Trial of the Sun Initiate,” we come across the following insight:

“The Jesuits . . . To give one instance of their success in throwing dust into the eyes of ordinary individuals to prevent their seeing the truths of Occultism, we will point out what they did in what is now called Freemasonry. This Brotherhood does possess a considerable portion of the symbolism, formulae, and ritual of Occultism, handed down from time immemorial from the primeval Initiations. To render this Brotherhood a mere harmless negation, the Jesuits sent some of their most able emissaries into the Order, who first made the simple brethren believe that the true secret was lost with Hiram Abiff; and then induced them to put this belief into their formularies. They then invented specious but spurious higher degrees, pretending to give further light upon this lost secret, to lead the candidate on and amuse him with forms borrowed from the real thing but containing no substance, and all artfully contrived to lead the aspiring Neophyte to nowhere. And yet men of good sense and abilities, in other respects, will meet at intervals, and with solemn face, zeal and earnestness, go through the mockery of revealing “substituted secrets” instead of the real thing.”

Her article “Theosophy or Jesuitism?” informs the reader that “The Roman Catholic [Church] is rapidly decaying from within. It is honeycombed throughout, and is being devoured by the ravenous microbes begotten by Loyola. It is no better now than a Dead Sea fruit, fair for some to look at, but full of the rottenness of decay and death within. Roman Catholicism is but a name. As a Church it is a phantom of the Past and a mask. It is absolutely and indissolubly bound up with, and fettered by the Society of Ignatius Loyola.”

“It is vain to argue and claim a difference between Jesuitism and Roman Catholicism proper,” she continues, “for the latter is now sucked into and inseparably amalgamated with the former.”

The same article goes on to say:

“What was the origin of that order? It may be stated in a few words. In the year 1534, on August 16th, an ex-officer and “Knight of the Virgin,” from the Biscayan Provinces, and the proprietor of the magnificent castle of Casa Solar – Ignatius Loyola, became the hero of the following incident. In the subterranean chapel of the Church of Montmartre, surrounded by a few priests and students of theology, he received their pledges to devote their whole lives to the spreading of Roman Catholicism by every and all means, whether good or foul; and he was thus enabled to establish a new Order. Loyola proposed to his six chief companions that their Order should be a militant one, in order to fight for the interests of the Holy seat of Roman Catholicism. Two means were adopted to make the object answer; the education of youth, and proselytism (apostolat). This was during the reign of Pope Paul III, who gave his full sympathy to the new scheme. Hence in 1540 was published the famous papal bull – Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (the regiment of the warring, or militant Church) – after which the Order began increasingly rapidly in numbers and power.”

Today the Society of Jesus numbers around 20,000 members throughout the world. Since there are various levels and degrees of the Order, the average Jesuit no doubt has no idea whatsoever of the true nature of the association to which he belongs and is most probably a good, sincere, and perfectly harmless and decent person.

The Wikipedia entry states that “The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. Jesuits work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes and promote social justice and ecumenical dialogue.” – which sounds harmless enough.

Loyola’s opening statement in the fundamental charter of the Order declares:

“Whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God beneath the banner of the Cross in our Society, which we desire to be designated by the Name of Jesus, and to serve the Lord alone and the Church, his spouse, under the Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ on earth, should, after a solemn vow of perpetual chastity, poverty and obedience, keep what follows in mind. He is a member of a Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defence and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine, by means of public preaching, lectures and any other ministration whatsoever of the Word of God, and further by means of retreats, the education of children and unlettered persons in Christianity, and the spiritual consolation of Christ’s faithful through hearing confessions and administering the other sacraments. Moreover, he should show himself ready to reconcile the estranged, compassionately assist and serve those who are in prisons or hospitals, and indeed, to perform any other works of charity, according to what will seem expedient for the glory of God and the common good.”

Niccolini, however, wrote that “There is also a secret class, known only to the General and a few faithful Jesuits, which, perhaps more than any other, contributed to the dreaded and mysterious power of the Order.”

Throughout the centuries a whole mass of evidence has been amassed in every nation and even in the Catholic Church itself by priests who have dared to speak out and expose the evil, that the public front of the Jesuits is indeed just that – a public front. In one part of the Jesuit “Extreme Oath of Induction,” the Superior is required to say the following to the would-be initiate:

“My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a Reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant; and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope. You have been taught to plant insidiously the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and to incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace; to take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means. You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope’s sake, whose servants we are unto death. You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labours with the blood of the heretic; for “without the shedding of blood no man can be saved”.”

And if that be thought so incredible as to seem implausible or impossible, bear in mind that Alberto Rivera, who escaped from the Jesuit Order in 1967, confirmed that the text of this particular oath was identical to the above. The oath is also quoted by Charles Didier in his book “Subterranean Rome,” published in 1843 as well as being recorded in February 1913 in the Journals of the 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, of the United States Congressional Record, from which it was later torn out, never to be seen again.

There is a very profound and emphatic letter published by Theosophical University Press in the book “The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett,” in which the Jesuits are unhesitatingly called “the enemies of the human race.” It was thought by Alice Leighton Cleather – one of HPB’s trusted friends and disciples in her final days in London and one of the specially chosen twelve members of her “Inner Group” of esoteric students – that this particular letter (No. CVI, p. 230-233) was in fact dictated to HPB by the Master K.H. The letter was unsigned and the style, tone, and phraseology bear many of the distinctive hallmarks of the K.H. Letters that later became well known, thus giving credence to this theory.

We quote here some of the most interesting and important parts of that letter, which deals solely with the subject of the Jesuits:

“Their plottings have a much wider scope and embrace a minuteness of detail and care of which the world in general has no idea. Everything is done by them to bring the mass of mankind again to the state of passive ignorance which they well know is the only one which can help them to the consummation of their purpose of Universal Despotism.”

“In former times, at least, no country has better and more successfully withstood the encroachments and treacherous designs of Popery than England. Consequently, there is no country the Jesuits would so much like to dismember and destroy.”

“They have openly avowed they will put an end, at any rate, a stop to the wheels of the English political machine by making converts of her chief men. All the world knows they have secured a few of the richest, noblemen and others.”

“These particulars are given that not only Occultists, but also Nations, Communities and individuals may be aware and forewarned against what we have no hesitation in saying are the enemies of the human race. It is generally known that the College of Jesuits is at Rome. It is not so well known that virtually, for some years, their Head Quarters are in London and were so even before they were expelled from Republican France. They then flocked to England in greater numbers and were allowed to come, the English showing their usual apathy.”

“Students of Occultism should know that while the Jesuits have by their devices, contrived to make the world in general, and Englishmen in particular, think there is no such thing as Magic and laugh at Black Magic, these astute and wily schemers themselves hold magnetic circles and form magnetic chains by the concentration of their collective WILL, when they have any special object to effect, or any particular and important person to influence. Again, they use their riches lavishly also to help them in any project. Their wealth is enormous.”

“The time may come, when their wealth will be violently taken from them for the poor, and they themselves mercilessly left to be destroyed amidst the general execrations of all Nations and peoples. There is a Nemesis called KARMA, tho’ often it allows evil-doers to go on successfully for centuries. Meanwhile, who has ears – “let him hear”.”

Although this letter was written over 120 years ago, the main facts of the matter will not have changed since then. If we give any credence at all to H. P. Blavatsky and to the Masters who trained her, taught her, and sent her to the West on her Theosophical mission, then we would do well to think twice before laughingly dismissing or forgetting about such notions as the Jesuits being the “enemies of the human race.”

It would not be amiss here to mention that during the time HPB was busily engaged in writing “The Secret Doctrine,” a member of the Roman Catholic Church was sent to offer her 25,000 Francs (a tremendous amount of money in those days!) if she would agree not to say anything about Christianity and the Church in the book. Naturally she furiously refused the offer or, to be more precise, the bribe. Her good friend Countess Wachtmeister, who was staying with her during that time, wrote about this and added that “They are fighting for life, for the S.D. has that which will give them their death blow, they may be a long time in expiring, but they surely will in time.” (“The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett” p. 265)

Later on in the “Theosophy or Jesuitism?” article, HPB asks “But what are we to think of the future of Society if it is to be controlled in word and deed by this villainous Body? What are we to expect from a public, which, knowing the existence of the above mentioned charges, and that they are not exaggerated but pertain to historical fact, still tolerates, when it does not reverence, the Jesuits on meeting them, while it is ever ready to point the finger of contempt at Theosophists and Occultists? Theosophy is persecuted with unmerited slander and ridicule at the instigation of these same Jesuits, and many are those who hardly dare to confess their belief in the Philosophy of Arhatship. Yet no Theosophical Society has ever threatened the public with moral decay and the full and free exercise of the seven capital sins under the mask of holiness and the guidance of Jesus! Nor are their rules secret, but open to all, for they live in the broad daylight of truth and sincerity. And how about the Jesuits in this respect?”

The Society of Jesus is “the insatiable monster feeding on the brain and marrow of humanity, and developing an incurable cancer on every spot of healthy flesh it touches,” according to the Master K.H. In one place he writes these very serious and powerful words, contrasting the Masters of the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood and their ways of training disciples with the methods of the Jesuit Masters:

“As I once said before, they know that what they teach is a lie; and we know that what we impart is truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth. They work for the greater power and glory (!) of their order; we – for the power and final glory of individuals, of isolated units, of humanity in general, and we are content, nay forced – to leave our Order and its chiefs entirely in the shade. They work, and toil, and deceive, for the sake of worldly power in this life; we work and toil, and allow our chelas to be temporarily deceived, to afford them means never to be deceived hereafter, and to see the whole evil of falsity and untruth, not alone in this but in many of their after lives. They – the Jesuits sacrifice the inner principle, the Spiritual brain of the ego, to feed and develop the better the physical brain of the personal evanescent man, sacrificing the whole humanity to offer it as a holocaust to their Society – the insatiable monster feeding on the brain and marrow of humanity, and developing an incurable cancer on every spot of healthy flesh it touches. We – the criticized and misunderstood Brothers – we seek to bring men to sacrifice their personality – a passing flash – for the welfare of the whole humanity, hence for their own immortal Egos, a part of the latter, as humanity is a fraction of the integral whole, that it will one day become. They are trained to deceive; we – to undeceive.”

The Theosophical Movement at large has still not recovered from the damage done in the first half of the 20th century by the likes of Leadbeater, Besant, and Bailey, as we have shown in several articles on this site, such as those listed under the heading “PSEUDO-THEOSOPHY/NEO-THEOSOPHY” on the Articles page. Eventually it will but in the meantime it is interesting to note that even today there are numerous “Theosophists” around the world who will readily admit to being enemies of H. P. Blavatsky and her work and teachings. Some of these individuals have even spent years using websites and online Theosophical forums to spread lie after lie and attack after attack against HPB, with the specific intent of discouraging and turning people away from reading her teachings and often directing them instead towards the works of Leadbeater and Besant, which are highly questionable in their own right, regardless of the distinctly Christian theme.

In some Theosophy-themed groups on the internet, members are even banned from mentioning the name “Blavatsky.” Some of these groups are run in dictatorial manner by members of the Liberal Catholic Church, mentioned at the start of this article.

This is certainly shocking and bizarre and such strange behaviour on the part of so-called Theosophists can only be attributed to either psychological imbalance, stupidity, or a definite destructive agenda. In any other situation, if a person hated the founder of a movement and the teachings and ideologies of that movement to such an extent they would avoid having anything at all to do with that particular movement.

The aim of this article is not to get Theosophists imagining that there are Jesuits lurking around every corner – which is most definitely not the case! – but to make readers aware, if they were not aware before, of this matter, which H. P. Blavatsky and her Trans-Himalayan Teachers felt was so serious.

~ BlavatskyTheosophy.com ~

For further articles about Theosophy and Christianity, please see Theosophy on Jesus, Blavatsky on Hell and Christianity, Blavatsky on Vicarious Atonement, Christos: The Christ Principle, Reincarnation and Christianity, The Apostle Paul: Initiate and Occultist, and Salvation from Christianity. Another article, Freemasonry: The Theosophical Perspective, provides insights into Jesuit infiltration of Masonry and shows that according to Theosophy it is the Jesuits who are behind much of the popular “conspiracy theory” accusations which blame Masons for the world’s troubles, as this diverts people’s attention and suspicions away from the real culprits, i.e. themselves.

IMPORTANT NEW ARTICLE – JUNE 2015

Tibetan Master or Christian Priest?

(Uncovering the real inspiration behind the Alice Bailey Books)