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The Great White Brotherhood, in some
Theosophical and New Age belief systems, is a group of
supernatural beings of great power who spread the true religious teachings
through selected humans.[1]
The members of the Brotherhood are sometimes
called the Ascended Masters.[1]
Various religious leaders have said they have
received messages from these beings, including Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
(Theosophy), Guy Ballard ("I AM" Activity ), and
Benjamin Creme (Share International).[1]
History
The idea of a secret organization of enlightened mystics, guiding the
spiritual development of the human race, was pioneered in the late
eighteenth century by Karl von Eckartshausen in his book The Cloud
upon the Sanctuary; Eckartshausen called this body of mystics, who
remained active after their physical deaths on earth, the "council of
light".[2][3]
Eckartshausen's proposed communion of living and
dead mystics, in turn, drew partially on Christian ideas such as the
Communion of the Saints, and partially on previously circulating
European ideas about secret societies of enlightened, mystical, or magic
adepts typified by the Rosicrucians and the Illuminati.[4]
The Mahatma Letters began publication in 1881 with information supposedly
revealed by "Koot Hoomi" to Alfred Percy Sinnett, and were also
influential on the early development of the tradition. Koot Hoomi,
through Sinnett, revealed that high ranking members of mystic organizations
in India and Tibet were able to maintain regular telepathic contact with one
another, and thus were able to communicate to each other, and also to
Sinnett, without the need for either written or oral communications, and in
a manner similar to the way that spirit mediums claimed to communicate with
the dead. The letters published by Sinnett, which proposed the controversial
doctrine of reincarnation, were said to have been revealed through this
means.[5]
Eckartshausen's idea was expanded in the teachings of H. P. Blavatsky
as developed by C. W. Leadbeater,
Alice Bailey and Helena Roerich.
Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society,
attributed her teachings to just such a body of adepts; in Isis Unveiled,
she called the revealers of her teachings the "Masters of the Hidden
Brotherhood" or the "Mahatmas". Blavatsky claimed that she had made physical
contact with these adepts' earthly representatives in Tibet; but also, that
she continued to receive teachings from them through psychic channels,
through her abilities of spirit mediumship.[6]
Ideas about this secret council of sages, under several names, were a widely
shared feature of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century
esotericism. Arthur Edward Waite, in his Book of Black Magic and
of Pacts, hinted at the existence of a secret group of initiates who
dispense truth and wisdom to the worthy.[7]
A young
Aleister
Crowley, reading this, wrote Waite and was directed to read
von Eckartshausen's book. Crowley's search for this secret wisdom eventually
led him to become a neophyte in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,
which represented itself to be the visible and earthly outer order of the
Great White Brotherhood.[8]
Within the Golden Dawn itself, its
teachings claimed to be derived from a similar body of initiates which in
that tradition were called the Secret Chiefs.[9]
The actual phrase "Great White Brotherhood" appears to have been popularized
in Leadbeater's 1925 book The Masters and the Path.[10]
Since the introduction of the phrase, the term "Great White Brotherhood" is
in some circles used generically to refer to any concept of an enlightened
community of adepts, on earth or in the hereafter, with benevolent aims
towards the spiritual development of the human race, and without strict
regard to the names used within the tradition.[11]
Dion Fortune adopts the name to refer to
the community of living and dead adepts.[12]
The ritual magicians of the Western mystery tradition sometimes refer to the
Great White Brotherhood as the "Great White Lodge", a name that
appears to indicate that they imagine it constitutes an initiatory hierarchy
similar to Freemasonry. Gareth Knight describes its members as
the "Masters" or "Inner Plane Adepti", who have,
"gained all the experience, and all the
wisdom resulting from experience, necessary for their spiritual
evolution in the worlds of form."
While some go on to "higher evolution in other
spheres", others become teaching Masters who stay behind to help
younger initiates in their "cyclic evolution on this planet". Only a few of
this community are known to the human race; these initiates are the
"teaching Masters."[13]
The AMORC Rosicrucian order maintains a
difference between the "Great White Brotherhood" and the "Great White
Lodge", saying that the Great White Brotherhood is the "school or
fraternity" of the Great White Lodge, and that "every true student on
the Path" aspires to membership in this Brotherhood.[14]
Some of Aleister Crowley's remarks appear to
indicate that Crowley identified the Great White Brotherhood with
the A∴A∴, his magical secret society.[15]
The term Great White Brotherhood was further developed and
popularized in 1934 with the publication of "Unveiled Mysteries"
[16] by Guy Ballard's "I
Am" Activity.[17]
This Brotherhood of "Immortal Saints and Sages"
[18] who have gone through
the Initiations of the Transfiguration, Resurrection, and the Ascension
[19]] was further popularized by Ascended Master
Teachings developed by The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit Lighthouse, and
The Temple of The Presence. [20]
Other esoteric traditions, however, dismiss or deny the existence of a Great
White Brotherhood. Neo-Pagan author Isaac Bonewits has been sharply
critical of the concept; in his 1971 book Real Magic, Bonewits
dismisses the "Great White Brotherhood" as part of his rejection of what he
sees as the Manichean dualism of the implied opposition of whiteness and
darkness, white magic versus black magic.
Bonewits mentions the Brotherhood as an
example of his larger thesis, that,
"(t)he whole idea of White as Good and Black
as Evil is purely the result of cultural bigotries."[21]
Great Brotherhood of Light
The Great White Brotherhood, also know as Great Brotherhood of
Light, is perceived as a spiritual organization composed of those
Ascended Masters who have risen from the Earth into immortality, but still
maintain an active watch over the world. [22]
[23]
The Great White Brotherhood also includes
members of the Heavenly Host (the Spiritual Hierarchy directly
concerned with the evolution of our world), Beneficent Members from other
planets that are interested in our welfare, as well as certain unascended
chelas. [24]
The Ascended Masters are believed to be joined together in service to
the Earth under the name of the Great White Brotherhood. The use of the term
"white" is supposed to refer to their advanced spirituality (i.e.,
that they have a white colored aura) and has nothing to do with race.
The later versions of Blavatsky described the
masters as [25] ethnically
Tibetan or Indian (Hindu), not European. Recent research indicates, however,
that this description was used by Blavatsky to hide the real identity of her
teachers, some of whom were well known Indian rulers of her time.
[26]
Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the
syncretistic teachings of various organizations that have continued and
expanded the Theosophical philosophical concepts.
[27] [28] [29] [30] [31]
Information given by the Summit Lighthouse
and the I AM movement is suspect, since none of the writers of these
groups are Masters of any Brotherhood. Examples of those believed to be
Ascended Masters are Jesus, Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Mary the
Mother of Jesus, Pope John Paul II
[32], Kwan Yin, Saint Germain and Kuthumi.
It is believed that all of these put aside any
differences they might have had in their Earthly careers, and unite instead
to advance the spiritual well-being of humanity.
[33]
Founding of the Great White
Brotherhood
In 1952, Geraldine Innocente, Messenger for The Bridge to Freedom,
delivered this Address purported to be from Sanat Kumara describing
the founding of the "Great White Brotherhood":
" . . . I had nothing to work with but Light
and Love, and many centuries passed before even two lifestreams applied
for membership - One, later became Buddha (now, Lord of the World, the
Planetary Logos Gautama Buddha) and the Other, became the Cosmic
Christ (Lord Maitreya, now the Planetary Buddha). The Brotherhood
has grown through these ages and centuries until almost all the offices
are held now by those belonging to the evolution of Earth and those who
have volunteered to remain among her evolution. . .. "
[34]
On July 4, 1954 it is believed that Sanat
Kumara stated through Geraldine Innocente:
" . . . Thus We took Our abode upon the
sweet Earth. Through the same power of centripetal and centrifugal force
of which I spoke (cohesion and expansion of the magnetic power of Divine
Love), We then began to magnetize the Flame in the hearts of some of the
Guardian Spirits who were not sleeping so soundly and who were not too
enthusiastically engaged in using primal life for the satisfaction of
the personal self.
"In this way, the Great White Brotherhood began. The Three-fold Flame
within the heart of
Shamballa, within the Hearts of the
Kumaras and Myself, formed the magnetic Heart of the Great White
Brotherhood by Whom you have all been blessed and of which Brotherhood
you all aspire to become conscious members. . . . "
[35]
Esotericism and Theosophy
The Great White Brotherhood is the name given in some
metaphysical/occult circles to adepts of wisdom in or out of earthly
incarnation who have assumed responsibility for the cosmic destiny of the
human race, both individually and collectively. Nicholas Roerich and
his wife, Helena Roerich, inspired by the Theosophical writings of
H.P. Blavatsky, published the "Agni Yoga" series of books.
Their contents, claimed to be inspired by the
Master Morya, described the work of the Brotherhood and the Spiritual
Hierarchy. Most occult groups assign a high level of importance to the
Brotherhood, but some make interaction with the Ascended Masters of the
Brotherhood a major focus of their existence.
Of these several, the most prominent are the
"I Am" Activity - the original Ascended Master organization founded in
the 1930s, The Bridge to Freedom, the Church Universal and
Triumphant, and The Temple of The Presence.
[36]
Notes
-
Barrett, David (1996). Sects, 'Cults', and
Alternative Religions: A World Survey and
Sourcebook. London: Blandford.
-
von Eckartshausen,
K., The Cloud upon the Sanctuary
(Isabelle de Steiger, translator). (Weiser:
2003)
-
The Cloud on the Sanctuary
(accessed Dec. 14, 2007)
-
Godwin, J. The
Theosophical Enlightenment (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1994), ch. 1.
-
Godwin, J. The
Theosophical Enlightenment (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1994), ch. 15.
-
Hutton, R. The
Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan
Witchcraft (Oxford, 2000), p. 19
-
Arthur Edward Waite,
The Book of Ceremonial
Magic (first edition title: The
Book of Black Magic and of Pacts),
conclusion. (London, 1913)
-
Aleister Crowley (Symonds,
John and Grant, Kenneth, eds.), The
Confessions of Aleister Crowley (Bantam,
1971), pp. xiv-xv (Symonds introduction)
-
Crowley,
supra, p. 347 et passim.
-
Leadbeater, C. W.,
The Masters and the Path
(Theosophical Publishing House, 1925; expanded,
1927)
-
Crowley,
supra.
-
See generally,
Fortune, Dion, The Training and Work of an
Initiate (1930; rev. ed. Weiser, 2000) and
The Esoteric Orders and their Work
(1928).
-
Knight, G, A
Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism
(1965; repr. Weiser, 1978), v. 1 ch. X "Chesed",
ss. 14-16.
-
Lewis, H. S.,
Rosicrucian Manual (AMORC, 1938), pp.
139-140.
-
Crowley, A.
Liber ABA, book
4. part 3, appendix II; a/k/a Magick in
Theory and Practice (Sangreal, 1969).
-
King, Godfre
Ray. Unveiled Mysteries. Chicago,
Illinois: Saint Germain Press 1934
-
Saint Germain
Foundation. The History of the "I AM"
Activity and Saint Germain Foundation.
Schaumburg, Illinois: Saint Germain Press 2003
-
Vyasa,
Krishna-Dwaipayana.
Mahabharata.
Chapter 23 - Arjuna's Quest: Indra addresses
Arjuna saying: "This area is the abode of
Immortal Saints and Sages. War and war-weapons
are just unknown here."
-
Besant, Annie.
Initiation: Perfecting of
Man. London: Theosophical Publishing
House 1912
-
A History of Ascended
Master Activities The Temple of The
Presence 1999.
-
Bonewits, I, Real
Magic (1971; rev. ed., repr. Weiser, 1989),
pp. 95, 112-113
-
Blavatsky, H.
P. Isis Unveiled Volume 2 page 100: ". .
. the Secret Association is still alive and as
active as ever"
-
Roerich,
Nicholas and Helena Hierarchy Agni Yoga
Society, Inc. 1931 (reprinted 1977): "Certainly,
when the black lodge directs its arrows against
the White Brotherhood, the consequences are
self-destructive, and the manifestation of a
rebounding blow is unavoidable. What you heard
is a consequence of self-destruction, because
the aimed arrow returned to the sender."
-
Leadbeater,
C.W. The Masters and the Path. Adyar,
India: Theosophical Publishing House 1929
(Reprint: Kessinger Publishing 1997).
-
Sinnett,
Alfred Percy. The Occult World. Boston:
Colby & Rich, 1882.
-
K. Paul
Johnson: The Masters Revealed. Madame Blavatsky
and the myth of the Great White Lodge. Albany,
NY 1994: SUNY press
-
I AM
Ascended Master Dictation List Saint Germain
Press Inc., 1995, Listing of those who are
claimed to be Ascended Masters by The I AM
Activity
-
Schroeder,
Werner Ascended Masters and Their Retreats
Ascended Master Teaching Foundation 2004,
Listing of those who are believed to be Ascended
Masters by The I AM Activity and The Bridge to
Freedom
-
Luk, A.D.K..
Law of Life - Book II. Pueblo, Colorado:
A.D.K. Luk Publications 1989, Listing of those
who are claimed to be Ascended Masters by The I
AM Activity and The Bridge to Freedom
-
Booth, Annice
The Masters and Their Retreats Summit
Lighthouse Library June 2003, Listing of those
who are believed to be Ascended Masters by The I
AM Activity, The Bridge to Freedom, and The
Summit Lighthouse
-
Shearer,
Monroe & Carolyn I AM Adorations,
Affirmations & Rhythmic Decrees Acropolis
Sophia Books and Works 1998, Listing of those
who are claimed to be Ascended Masters by The I
AM Activity, The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit
Lighthouse, and The Temple of The Presence
-
Serapis.
Ascension of John Paul the
Great., Serapis Bey announced on May
1, 2005: "John Paul II has entered into the
Oneness of the Eternal Life with his own God
Presence.
-
Sinnett,
Alfred Percy. The Occult World. Boston:
Colby & Rich, 1882.
-
The Bridge
to Freedom Journal November 1953 (Reprinted
by Ascended Master Teaching Foundation).
-
The Bridge
to Freedom Journal November 1955 (Reprinted
by Ascended Master Teaching Foundation).
-
White Paper
- Wesak World Congress 2002. Acropolis
Sophia Books & Works 2003.