The Cosmic Doctrine

Admittedly its very difficult to gauge and rate a book like this, partly because it's claims are either true or false in certain respects which is very difficult to check. Regardless there are some very interesting and cogent chapters in here that really made me think.A lot of the outlay here was for me reminiscent of the kind of content one would find in Steiner's evolutionary descriptions in 'Outline of the Occult Sciences' just that this zoomed out far more to the macro and attempted to explain the entire cosmos (universe of universes). It follows the trail of simplicity to secondary and tertiary causes to where increasing layers of ripples and interference patterns fill in to create the complexity that we we experience when examining the world on any mystical level or even in comparing the data of world religions.One warning to anyone starting up the path of this book - the terminology can be very off-putting in the first 25 to 30% of the book. What I mean is that what's being described sounds very much like an extremely antiquated, defunct, and irrelevant attempt at physical cosmology as well as particularly trying to cram the 3 mothers, 7 doubles, and 12 singles of the Sefir Yetzirah down over the fundamental construct of the universe - then again for the later point at such a macro scale we really can't know for sure one way or another. If you start reading this part of the book as a conversation on astrophysics this will really dig at you. At the same time as I read it the more the warnings by DF herself became clearer that the channeling draws the best words and concepts available from her vocabulary and that ultimately the material presented is the best approximation of what they want to say even if by analogy. In a current way of thinking the seven circles of her cosmology would be tantamount to claiming six universal shells within our own sphere with something like a three-ring gyroscopic force to the outside of us.What caused me to reconsider my first prejudgment of the book had more to do with the solidity of what comes after the explanations of universal structure - ie. the laws. In particular Impaction was probably the best chapter with the Law of Limitation as a close second. As for philosophical similarities I clearly see the 7 spheres of the vision of Poimandres (Corpus Hermeticum) as well as parallels to AA Bailey, parallels to the Kybalion, but similar to the theosophic literature it seems to have something in common with respect to the involutionary arc preceding the evolutionary. I can also easily see where the question is wide open as to whether this was channeled material or whether it was more of a subconscious firestorm - so much of what is here, while novel, does seem to collide in her time and in decades previous. It's a worthy synthesis of ideas either way.Regardless of what the source, when comparing theosophy, Hermetic doctrine, and a lot of other mystical texts, a great deal rang true to type - ie this fits in as a fine specimen of occult work along these lines. The book presents itself in a very Atomist (eg. Democritus) way and the question occurs as you read - is that how it's properly read or was this strictly those communicating via DF's mind or her subconscious simply using the best analogies available from her vocabulary and knowledge base? Considering that as many people who really know this area of things have little but good things to say about the book it pushes me to go with my instincts and consider the possibility that there's a lot to the content. Even if the fundamental starting block analogy of the universe is horrifically flimsy compared to what words really couldn't express in a 200-some page book there's a lot to make me wonder as to whether something could be very fundamentally on with this book's cosmology.I gave this four stars in that it's very true to genre but at the same time of an extremely speculative nature. If we truly are just passing the nadir between involution and evolution this is the perfect time to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge or land in the Florida Everglades and like other accounts of vast cosmologies beyond our universe the best we can do is chew on them and compare them side by side with others of similar likeness to see what shakes out.

Channeled by Dion Fortune, who had little faith in channeling and had great difficulty in understanding the material. The text asserts that our Universe is the creation of a much more ancient order of being. The first section of the Doctrine begins with a description of the physics of their world, which are quite different from ours. The alien situation is clearly explained but hard to grasp because it is unrelated to anything we know. Indeed, most people find the physics of our own world difficult to understand, so the physics of an alien world is even more so.The forces with shaped the evolution of these ancient beings is described. The paradigm of competition for limited resources seems not to exist there: life is non-Darwinian. There are no species, no reproduction, and no death. Each being evolves individually from the simplest, most primitive form. (Or much more often, does not evolve and remains simple.) In most rare cases a being attains "consciousness," a sort of enlightenment. Such a conscious being can (with difficulty) organize simpler beings to form a huge body. It is like a human body with its cells, but the simpler beings can still leave and continue their independent life.One such organization created our Solar System and closely controls its progress. The second section of the Doctrine describes how this is organized. It is an extreme form of nanotechnology. A horde of tiny beings are created which in turn create yet tinier versions of themselves which in turn create yet tinier versions and so forth. In the end seven layers of nano exist, with our material world at the seventh, tiniest layer. It is like building a ship in a bottle. In that tiny ship is a tiny bottle in which a yet smaller ship is built, and so forth seven times.Why did they do this? The ancient beings are immortal and are motivated by learning and growth. Stagnation is the danger. They have done everything there is to do in their world. Miniature worlds such as ours are created as a means for further challenges with their consequent learning and growth. It seems such beings do not reproduce or have families, so creations are their progeny.Each of we members of the tiny world was created by a being in the greater world. We can never leave and our existence ends with the end of the Solar System, but our memories persist and will be absorbed by that being. Events pass much more rapidly (25,000x times faster?) in our world, so learning takes place much more quickly in our tiny world. This is of great educational benefit in the greater world. The other main goal is the creation of the seven great planetary spirits of astrology. Once the Solar System is finished, these will go on to aid in the creation of yet more systems.The third section is about how all this relates to today's human being. This I did not much understand. The fourth section seems to have been added later by someone other than Fortune.There are also three introductions. The first is trivial, the second is by Fortune about how she went about channeling the work, and the third by one of the channeled beings about the methods and difficulties of transmitting the work.Is it real or a delusion? Fortune herself was unsure and felt it should be put to the test somehow. Myself, I find the work remarkably self-consistent, once one can grasp the alien concepts and peculiar vocabulary. Fiction is never anywhere near this complex and imaginative, I say.

Reading this book reminds us of reading Kierkegaard when we were getting our undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Religion. We'd read a paragraph, shake our heads and read it again slower, and then again more slowly still, gradually letting the light, our at least his meaning settle in on our consciousness.Most folks probably wouldn't care much for this tome. Even those who have found joy in Dion Fortune's works in the past, could possibly find it baffling. Those who enjoy reading Alice Bailey's books, or Blavatsky's works, however, which can also be a challenge, which is to say those who enjoy pondering the esoteric underpinnings of the Universe and Creation, may like it though. We for our own part must admit that although we're glad we read it, we are certain we didn't understand it entirely but that evocation of the Mystery is partly the joy of doing so. Still, an open mind, some knowledge of quantum physics and an intuitive approach will go a long way in making this a satisfactory experience.The Silver Elves authors of  The Elven Way: The Magical Path of the Shining Ones

As the content ended up not being for me, I will focus on the book itself in this review.This book is skillfully edited and well put together. The author has a good command of the English language and is able to effectively communicate their ideas.Whether you agree with the thesis put forth within its pages or not, you will find this book an enjoyable read.

Hard to read

Excellent Book. I read it many years ago. I am absolutelly delighted that I've read it again. I must keep it on my book shelves now. Dion Fortune was a Very excellent magus and her writings are useful for those interested in Occult Arts.

Well thought out chapters detailing what was written by H. Blavatsky and additional information about the Cosmos, the creation and human evolutionNeeds serious study and some fore knowledge of the subject to get full understanding

You are one person before you read this book and a different person after you have read it. Not for the faint-hearted.

Discovering our origins and understanding the mythology of God.

All good. Could have been processed quicker.