It’s important for people, especially students of Theosophy, to understand and be aware that –
* Ceremonial Magic has no legitimate part or place in Theosophy or the Theosophical Movement.
* H. P. Blavatsky was consistently and persistently opposed to Ceremonial Magic.
* The original Theosophical literature repeatedly warns against Ceremonial Magic and describes it as a harmful, foolish, and dangerous practice.
* Ceremonial Magic is strongly opposed by the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood and all other genuinely initiated Adepts and Masters of the Wisdom.
The reason for stating all this in such clear and simple terms is because some so-called Theosophists – some of whom are sincerely and naively misled, whilst others are wilfully ignorant of genuine Theosophy and its actual teachings and philosophy – promote the idea that Ceremonial Magic is something good, positive, and endorsed by the Masters.
They claim that we are now entering into the evolutionary period of the Seventh Ray and that this Ray revolves around the influence of Ceremonial Magic. The necessity and potency of Ceremonial Magic will increase, they say, and it must be promoted and encouraged, including in the Christian Church and in various so-called “Theosophical rites.” They assert that all of this is beneficently presided over by the so-called “Chohan of the Seventh Ray,” who they call the Master R. or Rakoczy.
Since many people are not aware of the true history and background of the modern Theosophical Movement, they remain unaware that absolutely nothing of what has been described in the above two paragraphs is actually representative of Theosophy. It is the very antithesis and opposite pole to the true teachings of the Mahatmas.
All of these things – (1) the concept that we are entering the era of the Seventh Ray, (2) the idea that the Seventh Ray is connected with Ceremonial Magic, (3) the notion that the Christian Church has any legitimate connection with the Masters and the Theosophical Movement, (4) the idea that there is such a role as “Lord of the Seventh Ray”, (5) the supposed existence of a “Master Rakoczy” or “Racokzy,” however one may spell it – all of these are the invention of the controversial and infamous English Theosophist C. W. Leadbeater, over two decades after HPB had passed away.
These ideas, along with a multitude of others which originated from Leadbeater, were blindly and unquestioningly accepted as true by Annie Besant and thus became part of the central teachings of “The Theosophical Society – Adyar.” An Adyar Society member named Alice Bailey eventually left to start her own organisation, the Lucis Trust and Arcane School, and her own books promulgate the above ideas at length, along with masses of other things derived from the self-proclaimed clairvoyant revelations of Leadbeater, albeit presented in the Bailey books as if endorsed and even “dictated” by a Tibetan Adept and carrying the full seal of approval and authority of the Great Brotherhood.
It is not for us to waste our time arguing and debating with blind votaries. Those who really care about the facts are invited to read The Case against C. W. Leadbeater, Dharmapala on Besant and Leadbeater, 14 Good Reasons to Question the Alice Bailey Teachings, Tibetan Master or Christian Priest?, Alice Bailey and her Christianised Pseudo-Theosophy, The “Etheric” Body Does Not Exist, The Final Mahatma Letter, Who wrote “The Secret Doctrine”?, The “Third Volume” of The Secret Doctrine, The Closing Cycle, Christos – The Christ Principle, What is a Chohan?, and Theosophy, The Jesuits & The Roman Catholic Church and then make up their own minds for themselves.
In this article, it will suffice to quote just a few statements from HPB and conclude with a very clear explanation and warning from William Quan Judge, HPB’s closest and truest colleague and a founder with her of the modern Theosophical Movement.
“The Tantras, as they now stand, are the embodiment of ceremonial black magic of the darkest dye. A “Tantrika,” he who practices the Tantras, in their dead letter, is synonymous with “Sorcerer” in the phraseology of the Hindus. Blood – human and animal – corpses and ghosts have the most prominent place in the paraphernalia used for the practical necromancy and rites of Tantrika worship. But it is quite true, that those Kabalists who dabble in the ceremonial magic as described and taught by Eliphas Levi, are as full blown Tantrikas as those of Bengal.”
– H. P. Blavatsky, “Qabbalah”
“”Ceremonial Magic” according to the rules mockingly laid down by Eliphas Levi, is another imagined alter-ego of the philosophy of the Arhats of old. In short, the prisms through which Occultism appears, to those innocent of the philosophy, are as multicoloured and varied as human fancy can make them.”
– H. P. Blavatsky, “Occultism versus the Occult Arts”
“The Oriental initiates believe in no “miracles,” and the “ceremonial magic” of the Theosophists and hermetic philosophers of the Middle Ages is repudiated by them with . . . much vehemence.”
– H. P. Blavatsky, “Theosophy and Spiritism”
“Having neither dogma nor ritual – these two being but fetters, a material body which suffocates the soul – we do not employ the “ceremonial magic” of the Western Kabalists; we know its dangers too well to have anything to do with it.”
– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Beacon Light of the Unknown”
And from p. 72-75 of “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita” by William Q. Judge:
“In the practice of ceremonial magic, where certain geometrical and other figures are to be used with the aid of prayers and invocations, there lies positive danger. This danger is increased if the student follows the practice for the sake of gain or glory or power or mere wonder seeking, – all of these being selfish. In this ceremonial the operator, or self-styled magus, surrounds himself with a circle or an arrangement of triangles, the use and purpose of which are to protect him from whatever sprites he may arouse. Mark that well! It is for protection. Protection of this sort would not be needed or thought of unless a fear lurked inside that the shades or demons had power to hurt. So at the onset, fear, the product of ignorance, is fully present. The next important thing to be noted is that a sword has to enter into the conjuration. This is advised because the demons are said to fear sharp steel. Now Jesus said that he who lived by the sword should perish by the sword. By this he meant just what we are talking about. Ceremonial magic involves at almost every step the use of a sword. After the invocator or magus has used the ceremonial, say with success, for some time, he at last creates within his aura, or what Swedenborg called his sphere, a duplicate of what he had previously used and pictured on the floor or walls. In this he is no longer master, for, it being placed in that part of his nature of which he is ignorant, the sword of metal becomes an astral sword with the handle held by the demons or influences he unwisely raised. They then attack him where no defense can be interposed – on the astral and mental planes, and, just as surely as the wise man’s words were uttered, he at last perishes by the weapon he himself used. This danger, thus roughly outlined, is no mere figment of the brain. It is positive, actual, immanent in the practice. No book study will give a man the power to make the constitutional changes, as well as psychical alterations needed before he is commander of immaterial forces. But these latter may be temporarily evoked and made acquainted with us by pursuing certain methods. That is the beginning. Their turn is sure to come, and, obeying a law of their nature, they take what has sometimes been called their “revenge.” For all such practices call upon the lower, unspiritual part of our nature, and that clothes such beings with corresponding attributes. Their “revenge” consists in bringing on inflammations in the moral character which will eventuate in a development of evil passions, atrophy of concentration, destruction of memory, ending at last in a miserable conclusion to life, and almost total failure to use the opportunities for progress presented by that incarnation. Therefore I said, it is all either useless mental lumber or positively dangerous.”
T H E O S O P H Y 