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THE THEOSOPHY WALES WEBSITE
THAT JUST WON’T WAIT
Bangor, Cardiff,
Conwy & Swansea
Swans at Llyn Padarn,
Snowdonia,
Theosophy Wales
has no controlling body
and is made up of
independent groups
Sunset over Gospel Pass in the black
Mountains
in South East Wales near the border with
_________________
The Seven Principles of Man
By
Annie Besant
Principle III
Prana, The
Life
All universes, all worlds, all men, all brutes, all vegetables, all
minerals, all molecules and atoms, all that is, are plunged in a great ocean of
life, life eternal, life infinite, life incapable of increase or diminution. The
universe is only life in manifestation, life made objective, life
differentiated.
Now each organism, whether minute as a molecule or vast as a universe,
may be thought of as appropriating to itself somewhat of life, of embodying, in
itself as its own life some of this universal life.
Figure a living sponge, stretching itself out in the water which bathes
it, envelops it, permeates it ; there is water, still the ocean, circulating in
every passage, filling every pore ; but we may think of the ocean outside the
sponge, or of part of the ocean, appropriated by the sponge, distinguishing
them in thought if we want to make statements about each severally.
So each organism is a sponge bathed in the ocean of life universal, and
containing within itself some of that ocean as its own breath of life.
In Theosophy we distinguish this appropriated life under the name Prâna,
breath, and call it the third principle in man’s constitution. To speak quite
accurately, the "breath of life" – that which the Hebrews termed
Nephesh, or the breath of life breathed into the nostrils of Adam – is not
Prâna only, but Prâna and the fourth principle conjoined. It is these two
together that make the "vital spark" (Secret Doctrine, vol. i., p.
262), and that are the "breath of life in man, as in beast or insect, or
physical, material life" (ibid., note to p. 263).
It is "the breath of animal life in man – the breath of life
instinctual in the animal" (ibid., diagram p. 262) . But just now we are
concerned with Prâna only, with vitality as the animating principle in all
animal and human bodies. Of this life the etheric double is the vehicle,
acting, so to say, as means of communication, as bridge, between Prâna and the
dense body.
Prâna is explained in the Secret Doctrine as having for its lowest
subdivision the microbes of science ; these are the "invisible lives"
that build up the physical cells (se ante, p. 8,9) ; these are the
"countless myriads of lives" that build the "tabernacle of
clay," the physical bodies (Secret Doctrine vol. I, p. 245).
"Science, dimly perceiving the truth, may find bacteria and other
infinitesimals in the human body, and see in them only, occasional and abnormal
visitors to which diseases are attributed.
Occultism – which discerns a life in every atom and molecule, whether in
a mineral or human body, in air, fire, or water – affirms that our whole body
is built of such lives; the smallest bacterium under the microscope being to
them a comparative size like an elephant to the tiniest infusoria" (ibid.,
p. 245). The "fiery lives" are the controllers and directors of these
microbes, these invisible lives, and "indirectly" build, i.e.., build
by controlling and directing the microbes, the immediate builders, supplying
the latter with what is necessary, acting as the life of these lives; the
"fiery lives" the synthesis, the essence, of Prâna, are the
"vital constructive energy" that enables the microbes to build the
physical cells.
One of the archaic commentaries sums up the matter in stately and luminous
phrases: "The worlds, the profane, are built up of the known elements. To
the conception of an Arhat, these elements are themselves collectively a divine
life; distributively, on the plane of manifestations, the numberless and
countless crores – ( a crore is ten millions) – of lives.
Fire alone is ONE, on the plane of the One Reality ; on that of
manifested, hence illusive, being, its particles are fiery lives which live and
have their being at the expense of every other life that they consume.
Therefore they are named the Devourers….Every visible thing in this
universe was built by such lives, from conscious and divine primordial man,
down to the unconscious agents that construct matter…..From the One Life,
formless and uncreate, proceeds the universe of lives (Secret Doctrine, Vol. I,
page 269).
As in the universe, so in man, and all these countless lives, all this
constructive vitality, all this is summed up by the Theosophist as Prâna .
____________________________
Annie Besant with Mahatma Gandhi
___________________________
_____________________________
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and there’s always
a cup of tea afterwards
The Cardiff Theosophical Society Website
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Wales Theosophy Website
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If you run a Theosophy Group, please feel free
to use any of the material on this site
The Most Basic Theosophy
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A quick overview of Theosophy
and the Theosophical Society
If you run a Theosophy Group you
can use this as an introductory handout.
Shaolin
Student
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as it separates
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heard of. Let’s
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Links to Free Online Theosophy
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The main criteria
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Topics include
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A selection of articles
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Provided in
response to the large
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Theosophical Society on this subject
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Judy Show, Llandudno.
The same family
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A Winter View
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Setting
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Prisoner
Cardiff
Theosophists on an outing to
Caerleon in Gwent, South Wales.
No Aardvarks were harmed in the
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A B C D EFG H IJ KL M N OP QR S T UV WXYZ
Complete Theosophical Glossary in Plain Text Format
1.22MB
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Quick Explanations with Links to
More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy ? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis
Anthropogenesis
Root Races
Karma
Ascended Masters After Death States Reincarnation
The Seven Principles of Man Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical Society
History of the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical Society Emblem
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
The Tabernacle, Efail Isaf,
Mid-Glamorganshire,
______________________
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
Coleg
Menai Performing Art students
as
‘human statues’ in
This idea began in
round
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Tekels Park to be Sold to a Developer
Concerns are raised about the fate of
the wildlife as
The Spiritual Retreat, Tekels Park in
Camberley,
Surrey, England is to be sold to a
developer.
Tekels Park is a 50 acre woodland
park, purchased
for the Adyar Theosophical Society in England
in 1929.
In addition to concern about the
park, many are
worried about the future of the Tekels Park
Deer
as they are not a protected species.
____________________
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
An Outline of Theosophy
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known? The Method of Observation
General Principles The Three Great Truths The Deity
Advantage Gained from this
Knowledge The Divine Scheme
The Constitution of Man The True Man Reincarnation
The Wider Outlook Death Man’s Past and Future
Cause and Effect What Theosophy does for us
The Unity Underlying all Religions
The Physical
Plane The Astral Plane
Kamaloka The Mental Plane Devachan
The Buddhic and
Nirvanic Planes Reincarnation Karma
The Three Kinds of Karma Collective Karma
The Law of
Sacrifice Man’s Ascent Building a
Cosmos
Annotated Edition Published
1885
Preface to the Annotated Edition Preface to the Original Edition
Esoteric Teachers The Constitution of Man The Planetary Chain
The World Periods Devachan Kama Loca
The Human Tide-Wave The Progress of Humanity
Buddha Nirvana The Universe The Doctrine Reviewed
A Juggler in action on
at the 2009 Welsh Juggling convention
held on the pier.
Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky 1831 – 1891
The
Founder of Modern Theosophy
Index
of Articles by
By
H P
Blavatsky
Is the Desire to Live Selfish?
Ancient Magic in Modern Science
Precepts Compiled by H P Blavatsky
Obras
Por H P Blavatsky
En
Espanol
Articles
about the Life of H P Blavatsky
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Your Own
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A Guide to
starting your own
Theosophy Group
These are
suggestions and pointers for forming
your own
independent Theosophy Group and
not instructions on
how to form a branch of a
larger Theosophical
Organisation.
The subject of
affiliation to a larger body is
covered but as
affiliation may mean compromise
and nobody owns
Theosophy anyway, we leave
that decision
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General pages
about Wales, Welsh History
and The History
of Theosophy in Wales
Wales is a
Principality within the United Kingdom and has an eastern
border with
England. The land area is just over 8,000 square miles.
Snowdon in North
Wales is the highest mountain at 3,650 feet.
The coastline is
almost 750 miles long. The population of Wales
as at the 2001 census is 2,946,200.
________________
Bangor Conwy
& Swansea Lodges are members
of the Welsh
Regional Association (Formed 1993).
Theosophy Cardiff
separated from the Welsh Regional
Association in
March 2008 and became an independent
body within the Theosophical Movement in March 2010
High Drama & Worldwide Confusion
as Theosophy Cardiff Separates from the
Welsh Regional Association (formed 1993)
Theosophy Cardiff cancels its Affiliation
to the Adyar Based Theosophical Society
Nature is infinite in space and time -- boundless and eternal,
unfathomable and ineffable. The all-pervading essence of infinite nature can be
called space, consciousness, life, substance, force, energy, divinity -- all of
which are fundamentally one.
2) The finite and the infinite
Nature is a unity in diversity, one in essence, manifold in form. The
infinite whole is composed of an infinite number of finite wholes -- the
relatively stable and autonomous things (natural systems or artefacts) that we
observe around us. Every natural system is not only a conscious, living,
substantial entity, but is consciousness-life-substance, of a particular range
of density and form. Infinite nature is an abstraction, not an entity; it
therefore does not act or change and has no attributes. The finite, concrete
systems of which it is composed, on the other hand, move and change, act and
interact, and possess attributes. They are composite, inhomogeneous, and
ultimately transient.
3) Vibration/worlds within worlds
The one essence manifests not only in infinitely varied forms, and on
infinitely varied scales, but also in infinitely varying degrees of
spirituality and substantiality, comprising an infinite spectrum of vibration
or density. There is therefore an endless series of interpenetrating,
interacting worlds within worlds, systems within systems.
The energy-substances of higher planes or subplanes (a plane being a
particular range of vibration) are relatively more homogeneous and less
differentiated than those of lower planes or subplanes.
Just as boundless space is comprised of endless finite units of space,
so eternal duration is comprised of endless finite units of time. Space is the
infinite totality of worlds within worlds, but appears predominantly empty
because only a tiny fraction of the energy-substances composing it are
perceptible and tangible to an entity at any particular moment. Time is a
concept we use to quantify the rate at which events occur; it is a function of
change and motion, and presupposes a succession of cause and effect.
Every entity is extended in space and changes 'in time'.
All change (of position, substance, or form) is the result of causes;
there is no such thing as absolute chance. Nothing can happen for no reason at
all for nothing exists in isolation; everything is part of an intricate web of
causal interconnections and interactions. The keynote of nature is harmony:
every action is automatically followed by an equal and opposite reaction, which
sooner or later rebounds upon the originator of the initial act. Thus, all our
thoughts and deeds will eventually bring us 'fortune' or 'misfortune' according
to the degree to which they were harmonious or disharmonious. In the long term,
perfect justice prevails in nature.
Because nature is fundamentally one, and the same basic habits and
structural, geometric, and evolutionary principles apply throughout, there are
correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm. The principle of analogy -- as
above, so below -- is a vital tool in our efforts to understand reality.
All finite systems and their attributes are relative. For any entity,
energy-substances vibrating within the same range of frequencies as its outer
body are 'physical' matter, and finer grades of substance are what we call
energy, force, thought, desire, mind, spirit, consciousness, but these are just
as material to entities on the corresponding planes as our physical world is to
us. Distance and time units are also relative: an atom is a solar system on its
own scale, reembodying perhaps millions of times in what for us is one second,
and our whole galaxy may be a molecule in some supercosmic entity, for which a
million of our years is just a second. The range of scale is infinite:
matter-consciousness is both infinitely divisible and infinitely aggregative.
All natural systems consist of smaller systems and form part of larger
systems. Hierarchies extend both 'horizontally' (on the same plane) and
'vertically' or inwardly (to higher and lower planes). On the horizontal level,
subatomic particles form atoms, which combine into molecules, which arrange themselves
into cells, which form tissues and organs, which form part of organisms, which
form part of ecosystems, which form part of planets, solar systems, galaxies,
etc. The constitution of worlds and of the organisms that inhabit them form
'vertical' hierarchies, and can be divided into several interpenetrating layers
or elements, from physical-astral to psychomental to spiritual-divine, each of
which can be further divided.
The human constitution can be divided up in several different ways: e.g.
into a trinity of body, soul, and spirit; or into 7 'principles' -- a lower
quaternary consisting of physical body, astral model-body, life-energy, and
lower thoughts and desires, and an upper triad consisting of higher mind
(reincarnating ego), spiritual intuition, and inner god. A planet or star can
be regarded as a 'chain' of 12 globes, existing on 7 planes, each globe
comprising several subplanes.
The highest part of every multilevelled organism or hierarchy is its
spiritual summit or 'absolute', meaning a collective entity or 'deity' which is
relatively perfected in relation to the hierarchy in question. But the most
'spiritual' pole of one hierarchy is the most 'material' pole of the next,
superior hierarchy, just as the lowest pole of one hierarchy is the highest
pole of the one below.
Each level of a hierarchical system exercises a formative and organizing
influence on the lower levels (through the patterns and prototypes stored up
from past cycles of activity), while the lower levels in turn react upon the
higher. A system is therefore formed and organized mainly from within outwards,
from the inner levels of its constitution, which are relatively more enduring
and developed than the outer levels. This inner guidance is sometimes active
and selfconscious, as in our acts of free will (constrained, however, by karmic
tendencies from the past), and sometimes it is automatic and passive, giving
rise to our own automatic bodily functions and habitual and instinctual
behavior, and to the orderly, lawlike operations of nature in general. The
'laws' of nature are therefore the habits of the various grades of conscious
entities that compose reality, ranging from higher intelligences (collectively forming the universal mind) to
elemental nature-forces.
10) Consciousness and its vehicles
The core of every entity -- whether atom, human, planet, or star -- is a
monad, a unit of consciousness-life-substance, which acts through a series of
more material vehicles or bodies. The monad or self in which the consciousness
of a particular organism is focused is animated by higher monads and expresses
itself through a series of lesser monads, each of which is the nucleus of one
of the lower vehicles of the entity in question. The following monads can be
distinguished: the divine or galactic monad, the spiritual or solar monad, the
higher human or planetary-chain monad, the lower human or globe monad, and the
animal, vital-astral, and physical monads. At our present stage of evolution,
we are essentially the lower human monad, and our task is to raise our consciousness
from the animal-human to the spiritual-human level of it.
Evolution means the unfolding, the bringing into active manifestation,
of latent powers and faculties 'involved' in a previous cycle of evolution. It
is the building of ever fitter vehicles for the expression of the mental and
spiritual powers of the monad. The more sophisticated the lower vehicles of an
entity, the greater their ability to express the powers locked up in the higher
levels of its constitution. Thus all things are alive and conscious, but the
degree of manifest life and consciousness is extremely varied.
Evolution results from the interplay of inner impulses and environmental
stimuli. Ever building on and modifying the patterns of the past, nature is
infinitely creative.
12) Cyclic evolution/re-embodiment
Cyclic evolution is a fundamental habit of nature. A period of
evolutionary activity is followed by a period of rest. All natural systems
evolve through re-embodiment. Entities are born from a seed or nucleus
remaining from the previous evolutionary cycle of the monad, develop to
maturity, grow old, and pass away, only to re-embody in a new form after a
period of rest. Each new embodiment is the product of past karma and present
choices.
Nothing comes from nothing: matter and energy can be neither created nor
destroyed, but only transformed. Everything evolves from preexisting material.
The growth of the body of an organism is initiated on inner planes, and
involves the transformation of higher energy-substances into lower, more
material ones, together with the attraction of matter from the environment.
When an organism has exhausted the store of vital energy with which it
is born, the coordinating force of the indwelling monad is withdrawn, and the
organism 'dies', i.e. falls apart as a unit, and its constituent components go
their separate ways. The lower vehicles decompose on their respective
subplanes, while, in the case of humans, the reincarnating ego enters a
dreamlike state of rest and assimilates the experiences of the previous
incarnation. When the time comes for the next embodiment, the reincarnating ego
clothes itself in many of the same atoms of different grades that it had used
previously, bearing the appropriate karmic impress. The same basic processes of
birth, death,
and rebirth apply to all entities, from atoms to humans to stars.
14) Evolution and involution of worlds
Worlds or spheres, such as planets and stars, are composed of, and
provide the field for the evolution of, 10 kingdoms -- 3 elemental kingdoms,
mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, and 3 spiritual kingdoms. The
impulse for a new manifestation of a world issues from its spiritual summit or
hierarch, from which emanate a series of steadily denser globes or planes; the
One expands into the many. During the first half of the evolutionary cycle (the
arc of descent) the energy-substances of each plane materialize or condense,
while during the second half (the arc of ascent) the trend is towards
dematerialization or etherealization, as globes and entities are reabsorbed
into the spiritual hierarch for a period of nirvanic rest. The descending arc
is characterized by the evolution of matter and involution of spirit, while the
ascending arc is characterized by the evolution of spirit and involution of
matter.
In each grand cycle of evolution, comprising many planetary embodiments,
a monad begins as an unselfconsciousness god-spark, embodies in every kingdom
of nature for the purpose of gaining experience and unfolding its inherent
faculties, and ends the cycle as a self conscious god. Elementals ('baby
monads') have no free choice, but automatically act in harmony with one another
and the rest of nature. In each successive kingdom differentiation and
individuality increase, and reach their peak in the human kingdom with the
attainment of selfconsciousness and a large measure of free will.
In the human kingdom in particular, self-directed evolution comes into
its own. There is no superior power granting privileges or handing out favours;
we evolve according to our karmic merits and demerits. As we progress through
the spiritual kingdoms we become increasingly at one again with nature, and
willingly 'sacrifice' our circumscribed selfconscious freedoms (especially the
freedom to 'do our own thing') in order to work in peace and harmony with the
greater whole of which we form an integral part. The highest gods of one
hierarchy or world-system begin as elementals in the next. The matter of any
plane is composed of aggregated, crystallized monads in their nirvanic sleep,
and the spiritual and divine entities embodied as planets and stars are the
electrons and atomic nuclei -- the material building blocks -- of worlds on
even larger scales. Evolution is without beginning and without end, an endless
adventure through the fields of infinitude, in which there are always new
worlds of experience in which to become selfconscious masters of life.
There is no absolute separateness in nature. All things are made of the
same essence, have the same spiritual-divine potential, and are interlinked by
magnetic ties of sympathy. It is impossible to realize our full potential, unless
we recognize the spiritual unity of all living beings and make universal
brotherhood the keynote of our lives.
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