66 body, soul and spirit) adopted wherever possible instead of the more complicated seven-fold division. There has been nothing added to the text, except a few notes and one or two diagrams, all marked Ed.," and it is hoped that what is transposed and what is altogether omitted will render the book-by reducing its difficulty as well as its cost-more available to the general reader, and to the seeker after truth prove a guide and stimulus to the study of the original work. KATHARINE HILLARD, Editor. INTRODUCTION In the twelfth chapter of the second volume of Isis Unveiled (p. 587) the fundamental principles of Eastern Philosophy are laid down in a very simple but comprehensive manner, so that, rightly understood, these principles form a key to many of the more complex and difficult statements of the Secret Doctrine, especially as they avoid the complicated details of the septenary division of man's nature, and base the analysis of both man and the manifested universe upon the trinity in each. "The trinity of nature is the lock of magic; the trinity of man the key that fits it " (Isis, II. 635). These words are in italics in the original, as being peculiarly important, and should be read in connection with the second clause of "the fundamental principles of Eastern Philosophy." The first reads: I. "There is no miracle. Everything is the result of law. II. "Nature is triune; there is a visible, objective nature; an invisible, in-dwelling and energizing nature, the exact model of the other, and its vital principle, and above these two, Spirit, source of all forces, alone, eternal, and indestructible. The lower two constantly change; the higher third does not. III. “Man is also triune; he has his objective, physical body; his vitalizing astral body (or soul), the real man; and these two are brooded over and illumined by the third, the sovereign, the immortal Spirit. When the real man succeeds in merging himself with the latter, he becomes an immortal entity. IV. 66 Magic as a science, is the knowledge of these principles; as an art, its application in practice. V. "Arcane knowledge misapplied is sorcery; beneficently used, true magic, or WISDOM. VI. "Mediumship is the opposite of adeptship, one is controlled, the other controls. VII. "All things that were, that are, or that will be, are recorded in the astral light, and are visible to the initiated adept. VIII. "Races of men differ in spiritual gifts. IX. "One phase of magic is the voluntary and conscious withdrawal of the astral body from the physical. Inert physical matter may be disintegrated, passed through walls and recombined-in certain cases and under certain conditions-but not living, animal organisms. X. "The corner-stone of MAGIC is an intimate, practical knowledge of magnetism and electricity, their qualities, correlations and potencies, and a familiarity with their effects on animals and men, as well as a knowledge of the qualities of plants and minerals." These ten" fundamental principles " are slightly condensed from the original, and simple as they appear upon the surface, comprise, if rightly understood, all the most important teachings of occultism, or Magic, the Great (maha) Science, while the tenth demands a knowledge of what we call " the natural sciences," as is possessed in its completeness by no one living man. The Secret Doctrine, as published in 1888, was an epitome of the religious and philosophical teachings underlying the various ancient systems of religion (though necessarily fragmentary and incomplete), and had for its aim (1) to show that Nature is not a fortuitous concourse of atoms "; (2) to assign 66 |