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A Blavatsky Quotation Book: being an Extract for each Day of the Year

By

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May

May 1

Nature (in man) must become a compound of Spirit and Matter before he becomes what he is; and the Spirit latent in Matter must be awakened to life and consciousness gradually. The Monad has to pass through its mineral, vegetable and animal forms before the Light of the Logos is awakened in the animal man. Therefore, till then, the latter cannot be referred to as “man” , but has to be regarded as a Monad imprisoned in ever-changing forms.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 45

May 2

Sorcery is any kind of evil influence exercised upon other persons, who suffer, or make others suffer, in consequence.

Practical Occultism, Page 48

May 3

Intimately, or rather indissolubly, connected with Karma, then, is the Law of Rebirth, or of the reincarnation of the same spiritual Individuality in a long, almost interminable, series of Personalities. The latter are like the various characters played by the same actor, with each of which that actor identifies himself, and is identified by the public, for the space of a few hours.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 320

May 4

Occultism embraces the whole range of psychological, physiological, cosmical, physical, and spiritual phenomena.

Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, XLIII

May 5

We may designate the spirit as the centrifugal, and the soul as the centripetal, spiritual energies. When in perfect harmony, both forces produce one result; break or damage the centripetal motion of the earthly soul tending toward the centre which attracts it; arrest its progress by clogging it with a heavier weight of matter than it can bear, and the harmony of the whole, which was its life, is destroyed.

Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 318

May 6

Karma-Nemesis .... punishes the evil-doer, aye, even to his seventh rebirth, so long, indeed, as the effect of his having thrown into perturbation even the smallest atom in the Infinite World of Harmony has not been finally readjusted.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 704

May 7

The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is but a series of historical records of the great struggle between White and Black Magic, between the Adepts of the Right Path, the Prophets, and those of the Left, the Levites, the clergy of the brutal masses.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 221

May 8

Where do we find in history that “Messenger”, grand or humble, an Initiate or a Neophyte, who, when he was made the bearer of some hitherto concealed truth or truths, was not crucified and rent to shreds by the “dogs” of envy, malice and ignorance? Such is the terrible Occult law; and he who does not feel in himself the heart of a lion to scorn the savage barking, and the soul of a dove to forgive the poor ignorant fools, let him give up the Sacred Science.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 3, Page 90

(H.P.B. died May 8, 1891)

May 9

Slavery to State and men has disappeared only to make room for slavery to things and Self , to one's own vices and idiotic social customs and ways .... Where, then, is the Wisdom of our modern age?

Lucifer, September, 1890

May 10

Through joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure,the soul comes to a knowledge of itself; then begins the task of learning the laws of life, that the discords may be resolved, and the harmony be restored.

Lucifer, September, 1887

May 11

Prayer is an ennobling action when it is an intense feeling, an ardent desire rushing forth from our very heart, for the good of other people, and when entirely detached from any selfish, personal object.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 3, Page 51

May 12

The building of the Temple of Solomon is the symbolical representation of the gradual acquirement of the secret wisdom or magic; the erection and development of the spiritual from the earthly; the manifestation of the power and splendour of the spirit in the physical world, through the wisdom and genius of the builder. The latter, when he has become an adept, is a mightier king than Solomon himself, the emblem of the sun or Light himself — the light of the real subjective world, shining in the darkness of the objective universe.

Isis Unveiled, Volume 2, Page 391

May 13

Thou shalt not let thy senses make a playground of thy mind.

The Voice of the Silence, Page 70

May 14

The radical unity of the ultimate essence of each constituent part of compounds in Nature — from star to mineral atom, from the highest Dhyân Chohan to the smallest infusorium, in the fullest acceptation of the term, and whether applied to the spiritual, intellectual or physical worlds — this unity is the one fundamental law in Occult Science.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 145

May 15

What constitutes real knowledge? The question lies at the very threshold of occult study.

Modern Panarion, Page 450

May 16

Shiva, the Destroyer, is the Creator and the Saviour of Spiritual Man, as he is the good gardener of Nature. He weeds out the plants, human and cosmic, and kills the passions of the physical, to call to life the perceptions of the spiritual, man.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 495

May 17

A man must believe in his innate power of progress. A man must refuse to be terrified by his greater nature, and must not be drawn back by his lesser or material self.

Practical Occultism, Page 66

May 18

It is only through observing the law of harmony that individual life hereafter can be obtained; and the farther the inner and outer man deviate from this fount of harmony, whose source lies in our divine spirit, the more difficult it is to regain the ground.

Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 317

May 19

As the white ray of light is decomposed by the prism into the various colours of the solar spectrum, so the beam of divine truth, in passing through the three-sided prism of man's nature, has been broken up into vari-coloured fragments called Religions .... Combined, their aggregate represents one eternal truth; separate, they are but shades of human error and the signs of imperfection.

Isis Unveiled, Volume 2, Page 639

May 20

The will of the Creator, through which all things were made and received their first impulse, is the property of every living being. Man, endowed with an additional spirituality, has the largest share of it on this planet. It depends on the proportion of matter in him whether he will exercise its magical faculty with more or less success.

Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 213

May 21

Any person of average intellectual capacities, and a leaning towards the metaphysical; of pure, unselfish life, who finds more joy in helping his neighbour than in receiving help himself; one who is every ready to sacrifice his own pleasures for the sake of other people; and who loves Truth, Goodness and Wisdom for their own sake, not for the benefit they may confer — is a Theosophist.

Practical Occultism, Page 3

May 22

This Law (Karma-Nemesis, or the Law of Retribution), whether Conscious or Unconscious, predestines nothing and no one. It exists from and in Eternity, truly, for it is Eternity itself; and as such, since no act can be co-equal with Eternity,it cannot be said to act, for it is Action itself. It is not the wave which drowns a man, but the personal action of the wretch who goes deliberately and places himself under the impersonal action of the laws that govern the ocean's motion.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 319

May 23

The “Doctrine of the Eye” is for the crowd; the “Doctrine of the Heart ” for the elect. The first repeat in pride, “Behold, I know”; the last, they who in humbleness have garnered, low confess:“Thus have I heard ”.

The Voice of the Silence, Page 45

May 24

Real philosophy cannot make any choice arbitrarily; there is but one eternal verity, and, in pursuit of that, thought is forced to travel along one road.

Modern Panarion, Page 450

May 25

For this “Astral”, the shadowy “double” (in the animal as in man), is not the companion of the divine Ego, but of the earthly body. It is the link between the personal Self, the lower consciousness of Manas and the body, and is the vehicle of transitory, not of immortal life.

Practical Occultism, Page 42

May 26

The immediate work, whatever it may be, has the abstract claim of duty, and its relative importance or non-importance is not to be considered at all.

Practical Occultism, Page 68

May 27

Purity of deed and thought can alone raise us to an intercourse “with the gods” and attain for us the goal we desire.

Modern Panarion, Page 268

May 28

From Gods to men, from Worlds to atoms, from a Star to a rush-light, from the Sun to the vital heat of the meanest organic being — the world of Form and Existence is an immense chain, the links of which are all connected. The Law of Analogy is the first key to the world-problem, and these links have to be studied coordinately in their Occult relations to each other.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 662

May 29

If, on the one hand, a great portion of the educated public is running into atheism and scepticism, on the other hand we find an evident current of mysticism forcing its way into science.

Five Years of Theosophy, Page 307

May 30

We produce Causes, and these awaken the corresponding powers in the Sidereal World, which are magnetically and irresistibly attracted to — and react upon — those who produce such causes; whether such persons are practically the evil-doers, or simply “thinkers” who brood mischief.

The Secret Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 149

May 31

No man does right who gives up the unmistakable duties of life, resting on Divine command.

Practical Occultism, Page 77