Blavatsky's first major work on theosophy, examining religion and science in the light of Western and Oriental ancient wisdom and occult and spiritualistic phenomena.
CONTENTS
DETAILED CONTENTS, VOLUME 1 and VOLUME 2
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Volume 1: THE "INFALLIBILITY" OF MODERN SCIENCE.
CHAPTER 1: OLD THINGS WITH NEW NAMES (pages 1 - 38)
The Oriental Kabala / Ancient traditions supported by modern research / The progress of mankind marked by cycles / Ancient cryptic science / Priceless value of the Vedas / Mutilations of the Jewish sacred books in translation / Magic always regarded as a divine science / Achievements of its adepts and hypotheses of their modern detractors / Man's yearning for immortality
CHAPTER 2: PHENOMENA AND FORCES (pages 39 - 73)
The servility of society / Prejudice and bigotry of men of science / They are chased by psychical phenomena / Lost arts / The human will the master-force of forces / Superficial generalizations of the French savants / Mediumistic phenomena, to what attributable / Their relation to crime
CHAPTER 3: BLIND LEADERS OF THE BLIND (pages 74 - 99)
Huxley's derivation from the Orohippus / Comte, his system and disciples / The London materialists / Borrowed robes / Emanation of the objective universe from the subjective
CHAPTER 4: THEORIES RESPECTING PSYCHIC PHENOMENA (pages 100 - 125)
Theory of de Gasparin / [[Theory]] of Thury / [[Theory]] of des Mousseaux, de Mirville / [[Theory]] of Babinet / [[Theory]] of Houdin / [[Theory]] of MM. Royer and Jobart de Lamballe / The twins -- "unconscious cerebration" and "unconscious ventriloquism" / Theory of Crookes / [[Theory]] of Faraday / [[Theory]] of Chevreuil / The Mendeleyeff commission of 1876 / Soul blindness
CHAPTER 5: THE ETHER, OR "ASTRAL LIGHT" (pages 126 - 162)
One primal force, but many correlations / Tyndall narrowly escapes a great discovery / The impossibility of miracle / Nature of the primordial substance / Interpretation of certain ancient myths / Experiments of the fakirs / Evolution in Hindu allegory
CHAPTER 6: PSYCHO-PHYSICAL PHENOMENA (pages 163 - 205)
The debt we owe to Paracelsus / Mesmerism -- its parentage, reception, potentiality / "Psychometry" / Time, space, eternity / Transfer of energy from the visible to the invisible universe / The Crookes experiments and Cox theory
CHAPTER 7: THE ELEMENTS, ELEMENTALS, AND ELEMENTARIES (pages 206 - 252)
Attraction and repulsion universal in all the kingdoms of nature / Psychical phenomena depend on physical surroundings / Observations in Siam / Music in nervous disorders / The "world-soul" and its potentialities / Healing by touch, and healers / "Diakka" and Porphyry's bad demons / The quenchless lamp / Modern ignorance of vital force / Antiquity of the theory of force-correlation / Universality of belief in magic
CHAPTER 8: SOME MYSTERIES OF NATURE (pages 253 - 292)
Do the planets affect human destiny? / Very curious passage from Hermes / The restlessness of matter / Prophecy of Nostradamus fulfilled / Sympathies between planets and plants / Hindu knowledge of the properties of colors / "Coincidences" the panacea of modern science / The moon and the tides / Epidemic mental and moral disorders / The gods of the Pantheons only natural forces / Proofs of the magical powers of Pythagoras / The viewless races of ethereal space / The "four truths" of Buddhism
CHAPTER 9: CYCLIC PHENOMENA (pages 293 - 337)
Meaning of the expression "coats of skin" / Natural selection and its results / The Egyptian "circle of necessity" / Pre-Adamite races / Descent of spirit into matter / The triune nature of man / The lowest creatures in the scale of being / Elementals specifically described / Proclus on the beings of the air / Various names for elementals / Swedenborgian views on soul-death / Earth-bound human souls / Impure mediums and their "guides" / Psychometry an aid to scientific research
CHAPTER 10: THE INNER AND OUTER MAN (pages 338 - 378)
Pere Felix arraigns the scientists / The "Unknowable" / Danger of evocations by tyros / Lares and Lemures / Secrets of Hindu temples / Reincarnation / Witchcraft and witches/ The sacred soma trance / Vulnerability of certain "shadows" / Experiment of Clearchus on a sleeping boy / The author witnesses a trial of magic in India / Case of the Cevennois
CHAPTER 11: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL MARVELS (pages 379 - 416)
Invulnerability attainable by man / Projecting the force of the will / Insensibility to snake-poison / Charming serpents by music / Teratological phenomena discussed / The psychological domain confessedly unexplored / Despairing regrets of Berzelius / Turning a river into blood a vegetable phenomenon
CHAPTER 12: THE "IMPASSABLE CHASM" (pages 417 - 461)
Confessions of ignorance by men of science / The Pantheon of nihilism / Triple composition of fire / Instinct and reason defined / Philosophy of the Hindu Jains/ Deliberate misrepresentations of Lempriere / Man's astral soul not immortal / The reincarnation of Buddha / Magical sun and moon pictures of Thibet / Vampirism -- its phenomena explained / Bengalese jugglery
CHAPTER 13: REALITIES AND ILLUSION (pages 462 - 514)
The rationale of talismans / Unexplained mysteries / Magical experiment in Bengal / Chibh Chondor's surprising feats / The Indian tape-climbing trick an illusion / Resuscitation of buried fakirs / Limits of suspended animation / Mediumship totally antagonistic to adeptship / What are "materialized spirits"? / The Shudala Madan / Philosophy of levitation / The elixir and alkahest
CHAPTER 14: EGYPTIAN WISDOM (pages 515 - 574)
Origin of the Egyptians / Their mighty engineering works / The ancient land of the Pharaohs / Antiquity of the Nilotic monuments / Arts of war and peace / Mexican myths and ruins / Resemblances to the Egyptian / Moses a priest of Osiris / The lessons taught by the ruins of Siam / The Egyptian Tau at Palenque
CHAPTER 15: INDIA THE CRADLE OF THE RACE (575 - 628)
Acquisition of the "secret doctrine" / Two relics owned by a Pali scholar / Jealous exclusiveness of the Hindus / Lydia Maria Child on Phallic symbolism / The age of the Vedas and Manu / Traditions of pre-diluvian races / Atlantis and its peoples / Peruvian relics / The Gobi desert and its secrets / Thibetan and Chinese legends / The magician aids, not impedes, nature / Philosophy, religion, arts and sciences bequeathed by Mother India to posterity
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Volume 2: THE "INFALLIBILITY" OF MODERN RELIGION.
CHAPTER 1: THE CHURCH: WHERE IS IT? (1-54)
Church statistics / Catholic "miracles" and spiritualistic "phenomena" / Christian and Pagan beliefs compared / Magic and sorcery practised by Christian clergy / Comparative theology a new science / Eastern traditions as to Alexandrian Library / Roman pontiffs imitators of the Hindu Brahm-atma / Christian dogmas derived from heathen philosophy / Doctrine of the Trinity of Pagan origin / Disputes between Gnostics and Church Fathers / Bloody records of Christianity
CHAPTER 2: CHRISTIAN CRIMES AND HEATHEN VIRTUES. (55-122)
Sorceries of Catherine of Medicis / Occult arts practised by the clergy / Witch-burnings and auto-da-fe of little children / Lying Catholic saints / Pretensions of missionaries in India and China / Sacrilegious tricks of Catholic clergy / Paul a kabalist / Peter not the founder of Roman church / Strict lives of Pagan hierophants / High character of ancient "mysteries" / Jacolliot's account of Hindu fakirs / Christian symbolism derived from Phallic worship / Hindu doctrine of the Pitris / Brahminic spirit-communion / Dangers of untrained mediumship /
CHAPTER 3: DIVISIONS AMONGST THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. (123-166)
Resemblance between early Christianity and Buddhism / Peter never in Rome / Meanings of "Nazar" and "Nazarene" / Baptism a derived right / Is Zoroaster a generic name? / Pythagorean teachings of Jesus / The Apocalypse kabalistic / Jesus considered an adept by some Pagan philosophers and early Christians / Doctrine of permutation / The meaning of God-Incarnate / Dogmas of the Gnostics / Ideas of Marcion, the "heresiarch" / Precepts of Manu / Jehovah identical with Bacchus
CHAPTER 4: ORIENTAL COSMOGONIES AND BIBLE RECORDS. (167-211)
Discrepancies in the Pentateuch / Indian, Chaldean and Ophite systems compared / Who were the first Christians? / Christos and Sophia-Achamoth / Secret doctrine taught by Jesus / Jesus never claimed to be God / New Testament narratives and Hindu legends / Antiquity of the "Logos" and "Christ" / Comparative Virgin-worship
CHAPTER 5: MYSTERIES OF THE KABALA. (212-250)
En-Soph and the Sephiroth / The primitive wisdom-religion / The book of Genesis a compilation of Old World legends / The Trinity of the Kabala / Gnostic and Nazarene systems contrasted with Hindu myths / Kabalism in the book of Ezekiel / Story of the resurrection of Jairus's daughter found in the history of Christna / Untrustworthy teachings of the early Fathers / Their persecuting spirit
CHAPTER 6: ESOTERIC DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM PARODIED IN CHRISTIANITY. (251-290)
Decisions of Nicean Council, how arrived at / Murder of Hypatia / Origin of the fish-symbol of Vishnu / Kabalistic doctrine of the Cosmogony / Diagrams of Hindu and Chaldeo-Jewish systems / Ten mythical Avatars of Vishnu / Trinity of man taught by Paul / Socrates and Plato on soul and spirit / True Buddhism, what it is
CHAPTER 7: EARLY CHRISTIAN HERESIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES. (291-347)
Nazareans, Ophites, and modern Druzes / Etymology of IAO / "Hermetic Brothers" of Egypt / True meaning of Nirvana / The Jayna sect / Christians and Chrestians / The Gnostics and their detractors / Buddha, Jesus, and Apollonius of Tyana
CHAPTER 8: JESUITRY AND MASONRY. (348-404)
The Sohar and Rabbi Simeon / The Order of Jesuits and its relation to some of the Masonic orders / Crimes permitted to its members / Principles of Jesuitry compared with those of Pagan moralists / Trinity of man in Egyptian Book of the Dead / Freemasonry no longer esoteric / Persecution of Templars by the Church / Secret Masonic ciphers / Jehovah not the "Ineffable Name"
CHAPTER 9: THE VEDAS AND THE BIBLE. (405-476)
Nearly every myth based on some great truth / Whence the Christian Sabbath / Antiquity of the Vedas / Pythagorean doctrine of the potentialities of numbers / "Days" of Genesis and "Days" of Brahma / Fall of man and the Deluge in the Hindu books / Antiquity of the Mahabharata / Were the ancient Egyptians of the Aryan race? / Samuel, David, and Solomon mythical personages / Symbolism of Noah's Ark / The Patriarchs identical with zodiacal signs / All Bible legends belong to universal history
CHAPTER 10: THE DEVIL-MYTH. (477-529)
The devil officially recognized by the Church / Satan the mainstay of sacerdotalism / Identity of Satan with the Egyptian Typhon / His relation to serpent-worship / The Book of Job and the Book of the Dead / The Hindu devil a metaphysical abstraction / Satan and the Prince of Hell in the Gospel of Nicodemus
CHAPTER 11: COMPARATIVE RESULTS OF BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. (530-586)
The age of philosophy produced no atheists / The legends of three Saviours / Christian doctrine of the Atonement illogical / Cause of the failure of missionaries to convert Buddhists and Brahmanists / Neither Buddha nor Jesus left written records / The grandest mysteries of religion in the Bagaved-gita / The meaning of regeneration explained in the Satapa-Brahmana / The sacrifice of blood interpreted / Demoralization of British India by Christian missionaries / The Bible less authenticated than any other sacred book / Knowledge of chemistry and physics displayed by Indian jugglers
CHAPTER 12: CONCLUSIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. (587-640)
Recapitulation of fundamental propositions / Seership of the soul and of the spirit / The phenomenon of the so-called spirit-hand / Difference between mediums and adepts / Interview of an English ambassador with a reincarnated Buddha / Flight of a lama's astral body related by Abbe Huc / Schools of magic in Buddhist lamaseries / The unknown race of Hindu Todas / Will-power of fakirs and yogis / Taming of wild beasts by fakirs / Evocation of a living spirit by a Shaman, witnessed by the writer / Sorcery by the breath of a Jesuit Father / Why the study of magic is almost impracticable in Europe / Conclusion
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