Back
in the day, Blavatsky could write a mean New Year's message. Some are
quite epic in scope. Why not begin the New Year in style with all the
proper esoteric gravitas from one of the eminent occult philosopher's of
recent times?
People usually wish that their friends
shall have a happy new year, and sometimes "prosperous" is added to
"happy." lt is not likely that much happiness or prosperity can come to
those who are living for the truth under such a dark number as 1888; but
still the year is heralded by the glorious star Venus-Lucifer, shining
so resplendently that it has been mistaken for that still rarer visitor,
the star of Bethlehem. This too, is at hand; and surely something of
the Christos spirit must be born upon earth under such conditions. Even
if happiness and prosperity are absent, it is possible to find something
greater than either in this coming year. Venus-Lucifer is the sponsor
of our magazine, and as we chose to come to light under its auspices so
do we desire to touch on its nobility. This is possible for us all
personally, and instead of wishing our readers a happy or prosperous New
Year, we feel more in the vein to pray them to make it one worthy of
its brilliant herald. This can be effected by those who are courageous
and resolute.
Neither
happiness nor prosperity are always the best of bedfellows for such
undeveloped mortals as most of us are; they seldom bring with them
peace, which is the only permanent joy. The idea of peace is usually
connected with the close of life and a religious state of mind. That
kind of peace will however generally be found to contain the element of
expectation. The pleasures of this world have been surrendered, and the
soul waits contentedly in expectation of the pleasures of the next. The
peace of the philosophic mind is very different from this and can be
attained to early in life when pleasure has scarcely been tasted, as
well as when it has been fully drunk of.
The American Transcendentalists discovered that life could be made a sublime thing without any
assistance from circumstances or outside sources of pleasure and
prosperity. Of course this had been discovered many times before, and
Emerson only took up again the cry raised by Epictetus. But every man
has to discover this fact freshly for himself, and when once he realised
it he knows that he would be a wretch if he did not endeavour to make
the possibility a reality in his own life. The stoic became sublime
because he recognised his own absolute responsibility and did not try to
evade it; the Transcendentalist was even more, because he had faith in
the unknown and untried possibilities which lay within himself. The
occultist fully recognises the responsibility and claims his title by
having both tried and acquired knowledge of his own possibilities.
And let no one imagine that it is
a mere fancy, the attaching of importance to the birth of the year. The
earth passes through its definite phases and man with it; and as a day
can be coloured so can a year. The astral life of the earth is young and
strong between Christmas and Easter. Those who form their wishes now
will have added strength to fulfill them consistently.
Lucifer, January, 1888
H. P. Blavatsky
