Category: Sarah Stanley Grimké

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Gemini by Sarah Stanley Grimké

This is the twelfth and final lesson from the series which began with the Cancer lesson shared earlier this year. At the conclusion I will share this one comment based on my narrow expertise as an author whose only book in the 21stc was about the Civil War experiences of ancestors in a small area.

Sarah’s lessons are a valuable record of how the Civil War influenced the spiritual literature of the rest of the 19th century in America.

LESSON VIII.

THE AIRY TRIPLICITY.

♊   ♎  ♒

♊,  OR CARRYING ARMS.

The signs of the Airy Triplicity have especial reference to motion. ♊, more especially, or directly, is concerned with projecting, hurling, etc.; ♎ with balancing, maintaining equilibrium between opposites; ♒ with floating and undulating, as represented by the action of air upon the surface of the water, producing waves.

♊ implies, first, a grasping of the hands, or combining forces (Gemini), the effects of knowledge gained so far on his journey; second, an impulsive force from the will, directed to the muscles of the shoulders and arms, by means of which the object is hurled through the air. Therefore I can be no warrior and hurl my lance until I understand the meaning of these twins and how to train and use them effectually.

First, I discern that these twins are not two of the same kind, but they are opposites, or counterparts, and fit together like two hemispheres of one sphere. The one is right, the other left; the one positive, the other negative.

Ancient mythology allegorized one, the right half, the positive, as Castor, a star of the first magnitude, the Immortal, while the other, the left, the negative, was Pollux, the lesser star in brilliancy, the Mortal; and thus they expressed the fact that it is the positive, active force of the soul which, reaching out, attains immortality; i. e., there must be action before there could be reaction. But, again, as the action itself must have its reaction in order to complete its orbit, as the positive pole of the battery is nothing without its negative pole, just so the immortal Castor is represented in the myth as one-half of the time foregoing his privilege among the Celestials in order to pass the other half of the time with his brother, who was mortal, yet whom he so dearly loved; or, in other words, they were polar opposites, which mutually implied each other, and were utterly meaningless and unthinkable apart.

(And one quite noticeable fact of twins is that, even while of the same sex physically, in temperament and disposition one is more positive, the other more negative. Usually this difference is very marked.)

In regard to the hands, I observe that, while the right is positive to the left, yet the different parts of each hand are relatively positive and negative to each other, Thus the knuckles are positive in relation to the palm, the nails positive in relation to the balls of the fingers, etc. The elbows are aggressive, while the muscles of the inner arm are indrawing and caressive.

The hands are the great avenues of the sense of touch. The hands are the means by which we grasp at treasures, reach out for that which we wish to attain, manipulate, formulate materials about us in order to provide for the necessities, comforts and luxuries of physical life.

And from these two, following the law of correspondences, I discern the esoteric meaning of the hands, and from thence the application of bearing arms. The right hand has been educated almost to the exclusion of the left (or female) in our present generation. Otherwise it would be self-evident to us that sensation is not completely obtained only through the right, and when we examine anything critically we instinctively use both hands. Our right hand gives us more the external, intellectual, positive qualities of an object, the left the interior, intuitional, negative qualities; and thus the first great use of the hands is to teach polar opposites, the Twins. All the infinite variety of weapons or arms the warrior can ever have to deal with can be classed under these two words — Polar Opposites. Every force throughout the boundless universe has its pole, or Divine center, which embraces the positive and negative attributes in one, and in order to correspond to that pole all life is evolved in pairs — twins, male and female. Whenever they appear to be separated it is only in seeming, and because the external eye is blinded to the shadow of illusions.

Again, just as we have neglected the education of the left hand, just so have we lost, through this neglect, that inner consciousness of the esoteric meaning of the thousands of exoteric, or physical, uses with which we daily employ our hands. Our treasures are accumulated only for this world, regardless of the swift-coming subjective state, upon whose borders we may this very instant be drifting.

This, then, is the lesson for the warrior. The arms of warfare are polar opposites. Bearing arms is learning their esoteric uses.

Right here, for the warrior, must come his great renunciation. He must come to care for the external only for the sake of the interior. He must “renounce luxury and be chaste.” But chastity is by no means celibacy nor asceticism. For the true soul love is in very truth the purest chastity.

The word chaste is here, however, used in its true and larger sense. Polar opposites is only another word for sex; hence the word chaste applies to every word and ought.

Let the warrior, then, cleanse his hands and remember that the blessings of the Lord are promised to one who “hath clean hands and a pure heart.”

The force which binds polar opposites together, the point of equilibrium where the two are one, is love, and from love is evolved life, while truth may be defined as knowledge, or understanding, of the relation of polar opposites. The warrior must first comprehend truth, and truth must be in him and he in the truth before he can possibly know anything whatever of life and of love. But he must renounce the things of sense and seeming in order to say: u Oh, Truth! Thy Kingdom Come.”

But it directly follows the fact of the uneducated left hand, and the consequent non-comprehension of polar opposites, that mankind to-day can have no conception whatever of the Law of Unity, or the love by which the two polar opposites are one. And thus the world has utterly lost the esoteric meaning of the love which exists exoterically between man and woman. Marriage is only a name and a form, a legal, conventional and mechanical union, and the empty symbol no longer teaches the spiritual reality.[i] With the Divine element of love lost to our sight, atheism and materialism at once follow. The days of true chivalry are the days of true religious growth.

Man cannot know God without knowing love, for God is love, and if the exoteric symbol of love does not lead to an insight to spiritual truth, to an actual knowledge of truth (which is also God), then that exoteric symbol is the grossest unchastity, and leads to perdition and damnation.

But the warrior, having put aside, or renounced, all the showy and glittering weapons of sense and seeming, arming himself only with truth, as symbolized in his lance, with its two ends, and, balancing this trusty lance in his hands, he discerns the sublime truth of the Twins (II), and knows that somewhere in the vast universe there exists a missing half, from whom his soul, in reality, never has been and never can be separated.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Taurus by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON V.

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉  ♍   ♑

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉, OR LISTENING.

The signs of the Earthy Triplicity express the crisis, or fixed point, wherein the shadows seem to come to a crust and harden. They are illusions, reaching their ultimate. And this Earthy Triplicity follows the fiery, just as ashes follow fire, or, as geology tells us, our Earth has resulted from a ball of fire, and all the solids now visible from molten liquids. To the warrior, this Earthy Triplicity (triangle) is the battlefield, a field of three equal sides. Its first side he takes possession of and holds as soon as he comprehends the sounds proceeding from it. He must listen for its strains of martial music, its distant rumbling of artillery and the tramp, tramp of marching troops, its shouts of victory and courage, its groans of anguish, defeat and retreat.

Having learned to watch, he must now learn to listen. The ear must be trained as well as the eye. In order to have both sides of the contradictories we must know the results of things seen, hence must hear the effects through vibration, or motion. Thus listening is essential.

But Taurus ♉ is the sign of the neck and throat as well as the ear, and this is so because of the subtle connection between the ear, neck and throat. In a former analysis I saw the relation of ear to voice (of which the throat is but the instrument), and now, as I listen to the sounds from the battlefield, I discern the relation of ear to neck.

At the first sound of martial music the steed arches his neck, and none the less, as its strains inspire the warrior, does his neck respond to the sounds, drawing up the head and stiffening the entire vertebral column. He pants for prowess, renown, praise, promotion and unending fame and honors. But the true warrior, who from the sentry’s watch-tower discerned the shadows to be delusions, now listens for the bugle-call, the clear note which, cleaving the awful din and confusion of the battlefield, gives out the key-note according to which the discordant sounds are evolved into a majestic symphony. As long as the warrior fights for fame of self and to hear all men speak well of him, instead of striking the keynote he only strikes its exact contradictory.

Therefore, if I am to be a true warrior I must renounce praise and learn true humility. Not only must I renounce praise, but must even rejoice when all men speak evil of me. If I am cast down when I am reviled and persecuted, then I have not yet learned humility. To be cut to the quick by censure is as far from humility as to be stiff-necked with praise; for so long as blame crushes me, just so long will praise elate me. Therefore, in order to renounce praise I must also renounce blame.

The point of equilibrium between, or indifference to, either praise or blame is the only point I can strike which will give out the true vibration which enables me to detect the key-note.

This is a hard lesson, and one I can never learn until mine eyes have seen the unreality of the shadows, until I have sacrificed to the Divinity within and obtained its responses; or, in other words, if I have not fully and comprehensively encompassed the first syllogism, or triplicity, I cannot intelligently and courageously step upon the next rung of the ladder in my watch-tower. But if I have realized the war-cry of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, then, in proportion as I realize humility, renouncing alike praise and blame, in just that proportion I shall now be able to see that my war-cry is also my key-note. I now have my key, which is two-sided, one from the first syllogism and the other from the second, Watching and Listening. This is a marvelous key, which unlocks both ways. Turned one way it reveals color symphonies; the other gives out sound harmonies, and as I become skillful in turning this key the visible will be the notes of a musical composition, which my soul at once reads into sound while the audible vibrations round out into forms and colors. But the visible and the audible united form the Orange Ray of my Seven-Point-Star, and the spiritual quality corresponding to orange is the understanding, and when I am armed with this ray-ment of true understanding, then the bow of prismatic colors and the octave of chromatic sounds will interpret to my soul that larger octave of the heavens called the Zodiac, or Wheel of Life. Upon the steps and half-steps of this Zodiacal octave the Sun, Moon and planets go on, giving out now strong major chords, now plaintive minor vibrations, both of which the rightly attuned soul translates into higher symphonies of the purposes and laws of the Infinite Mind, grand oratorios of “Creation” and “Messiah.”

When this spirit of understanding is mine, then these vibrations, struck by the swiftly revolving orbs on the Zodiacal octave, will as surely reach my external ear as they now do my external eye, and my soul will as surely recognize a primary chord from the larger octave as now from the smaller, for the intervals of one correspond exactly to the intervals of the other. All these intervals are expressed by numbers, but as long as numbers represent only dollars and cents, or the shadows exchangeable for money, the results or returns only looked for on the material plane, just so long will the “music of the spheres” remain an unmeaning myth to my soul.

We must ever remember that the effects must correspond to the plane of the cause. Esoteric wisdom cannot be utilized in exoteric gains (the law of contradictory opposites would soon take the place of affinity opposites) and rise in the scale of progress. Harmony is the law of progression. The contest of the ages is upon us.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Aries by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON IV.

THE FIERY TRIPLICITY.

♈ ♌ ♐

♐, OR JUDGING.

As the victims have been slaughtered and consumed by the flames, the warrior must carefully collect together the ashes, or remnants, into the Sacred Urn of Pure-Heart, and then, placing them before the bar of conscience, await the responses.

These responses are judgments, proceeding from the Divinity within. If the offerings have been good and acceptable, and the rites properly observed, then the replies will surely be auspicious. But if the two former duties have not been properly performed, then am I guilty of the most awful sacrilege in approaching the Divinity profanely.

According to my own actions am I judged; my own conscience is the arbiter. This judge must give the decisions according to the manner in which the sentinel and the sacrificial priest have performed their tasks, for the judgment follows as inevitably as when, having placed two sides of an equilateral triangle together at the proper angle, the third side is the response, depending upon the other two.

Again, this response is the third note in the primary chord. If I have struck the first two, there is only one other which possibly can complete the chord.

Again, this response is the conclusion, or third term, in the perfect syllogism. The sentinel upon the watch-tower, having properly performed his duty, states the major premise; the sacrifice, with its implied suffering, gives out the minor note or premise; the Oracle speaks out the conclusion. Although the conclusion of a syllogism is its third term, yet it expresses the mystery of the trinity, for it is a trinity, and at the same time an organic unity. It combines the major and minor premises into a higher unity, which differs from either of them, just as the molecule of water combines two dissimilar elements into a unity differing from its component parts, and also as H and O combine with a lightning flash of soul which accompanies the combining together of the two premises of a syllogism into their higher unity, and is an intuitive spark from the altar of Divinity.

This altar is my Hearth ♐ of Pure- Heart. Unless this Urn is sufficiently purified by properly accepting (not rejecting) the experiences of life, it cannot receive the ashes of the sacrifice and impart to them the Divine Spark which makes them over into a living, organic unity, on a higher plane than they were before, nor raise in power and might the ashes of actions sown in weakness and watered with tears of suffering. This expresses the mystery of the re-birth, whereby the physical body is raised to the plane of spiritual body while yet in the possession of the physical.

This is that which constitutes the spiritual plane upon which one is born. There is a Divine correspondence, and the latent possibilities of the soul have the corresponding possibilities in the brain, which can be brought forth to usefulness while in the physical body. Bringing about the harmony between the two constitutes re-birth.

There is only one way of being re-born, just as there is only one way to be born into the physical, and this one way is revealed through the fiery syllogism (triplicity), the major premise of which is Truth Realized from the Sentry’s Watch-tower, the minor premise of which is Love Actualized by the Sacrifice of Burnt Offerings, the conclusion of which is Life Immortalized, or lifted from the plane of Time to Eternity. This conclusion is the Immaculate Conception of the re-birth, which is conscious son-ship with the Father.

Truth realized frees from every illusion of sense and casts out every error and all diseases. Truth realized is liberty, for from or by the power born of Knowledge you can be free.

Love actualized, or practiced, recognizes the Divine origin of every soul, and that every form of life and condition is necessary to the unfoldment of the soul in its evolutionary steps of progress, and, comprehending the law of contradictories, knows only universal charity and communion of saints, those who have passed through the fires of purification and learned the lessons therein taught, without prejudice, sentiment or pain. Love actualized is Fraternity. Then are we able to look upon all life as one Divine Whole, recognizing all as one fraternity, each filling the necessary notes in the Anthem of Creative Life.

Life eternalized, making every moment eternity, lifts the soul to a plane above illusion. Realizing the realities of life leaves no room for illusions where, grasping the equality of ratios, it knows only Oneness. But this true equality with God distinguishes between thoughts and thinkers. The recognition of God’s variety of life, form, color, etc., are each equally necessary to the fulfillment of the Divine plan. This is the only law of equality. Life, thus eternalized, is equality.

Liberty, Fraternity and Equality must ever be the war-cry of the true warrior. But if the offerings, or truths, seen from the watch-tower through the first side of the Fiery Triangle are not acceptable, nor the sacrifices of our past ideas and illusions properly observed or parted with, then, instead of liberty, comes renewed bondage to error and disease; instead of fraternity, failures, strife and murder; instead of equality with Divinity, there is a descent to the lower sphere and union with demons and fiends.

On the other hand, the Ascetic who mutilates, denies, the truths realized in the major premise from the sentry’s watch-tower, and destroys the offerings, the knowledge thus revealed, and who refuses the experiences of the sacrifices can never hear the responses nor know the mystery of re-birth. In either case, remorse and repentance, in themselves, are perfectly stupid, and only delay realization.

The suffering implied in remorse is not a true and acceptable sacrifice, for the major premise is still wrong, for truth never brings remorse. Remorse implies a misconception of the nature of reality. If I have struck the wrong note in my chord, and experienced inharmony, I only make the more haste to strike the right note. I waste no time in groaning over the dismal sound.

Categories
Blog Elbert Benjamine Genevieve Stebbins Norman Astley Sarah Stanley Grimké

Carmel and the Brotherhood of Light (1918-1932)

This 1916 photograph of a Carmel landmark appears on a timeline of historic photographs on the admirable website of the local visitor center.

The epilogue below appears in the new reprint of The Quest of the Spirit.

The Brotherhood of Light was headquartered in Los Angeles throughout its fourteen years of public work, led by Elbert and Elizabeth Benjamine and Fred Skinner. Writing of the 21 volume Brotherhood of Light lessons and private meetings commenced in 1914, with public work beginning on November 11, 1918, the Armistice Day that ended the first world war.

Its successor organization The Church of Light was formed the week of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election to the presidency in November 1932. The Brotherhood of Light lessons were complete by 1934, although revisions continued until Elbert’s death in 1951. Its predecessor organization the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor had splintered in America due to divisions among the leaders, but continued in France, Algeria, and Israel as Max Theon’s Cosmic Philosophy for decades. Genevieve Stebbins returned to her native California in 1917 after more than thirty years in the eastern United States and England.

She returned with a second husband, Norman Astley, whom she had married in 1892 in Boston and who became the manager of her New York School of Expression and collaborator in its programs until they retired to England in 1907. Her first husband, Joseph Thompson, was the brother of her business partner Mary Thompson. The marital and business partnerships dissolved by 1892; Norman Astley filled both vacancies admirably, managing her investments and artistic endeavors with equal skill.

Their choice of Carmel-by-the-Sea as a place to retire after a life of international travel raises questions related to Astley’s former life as Thomas H. Burgoyne, who had collaborated there as a co-author with Sarah Stanley Grimké. His later life, in which he spent forty years as husband of Genevieve Stebbins included the lifespan of the Brotherhood of Light, whose lessons reflect his writings as well as hers and those of Grimké.

Elbert Benjamine’s writings reflect not only the influence of his mentors the Astleys, but also literary figures in the Monterey Bay milieu, including permanent residents Lincoln Steffens and Robinson Jeffers as well as Jack London and Upton Sinclair who visited the area and wrote about it.

Thomas Henry d’Alton (Dalton, Alton) was born April 14, 1855 in Douglas, Isle of Man. He was the son of chiropodist Thomas Henry d’Alton and Emma Rice, who had him christened in Grisham, Lancashire on July 1. He married Betsy Bella Prince May 12, 1878 in Lancaster, Lancashire and was the father of a son Thomas and a daughter Veda in Burnley, Lancashire when he adopted the pseudonym T.H. Burgoyne in 1884. Soon after Burgoyne was named Secretary of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, it was revealed by Theosophists that he had convicted in 1883 of obtaining money under false pretenses in West Riding, Yorkshire and had served six months in prison. Leaving his wife and children, he arrived in White County, Georgia as Burgoyne with Peter Davidson and family in 1886. Burgoyne’s periodical writings appeared solely in HBofL-related publications between 1885 and 1888: first The Occultist and The Occult Magazine in England and then Thomas Moore Johnson’s The Platonist.

After the first edition of The Light of Egypt was published in Chicago by Religio-Philosophical Publishing House in 1889, Burgoyne was published exclusively by Astro-Philosophical Publications of Denver, which released Celestial Dynamics in 1896 and Language of the Stars in 1892. All three were published as works of Zanoni, identified finally as Burgoyne only in the 1900 expanded edition of The Light of Egypt. The influence of Burgoyne’s writings was greater in continental Europe than the English-speaking world, with translations and paraphrases of The Light of Egypt in French, Russian, German, and Spanish, and the Paris occultist Papus promoting Burgoyne’s astrological teachings in his own works. Burgoyne’s letters to Thomas Moore Johnson published in Letters to the Sage are significant evidence of HBofL practices and teachings, but later he becomes the subject of others’ letters that reveal the confusion unleashed by revelation of Burgoyne’s real name and history. Theosophical leaders saw it as a way to discredit a rival organization, and the ensuing controversy destroyed the HBofL in England, but not in France where it continued to thrive, nor in America where Peter Davidson pursued his studies in Georgia independently of Council President Johnson and Secretary Burgoyne.

Zanoni was a pen name derived from a Rosicrucian themed 1842 novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in which the adept teacher of the title character was named Mejnour. Peter Davidson, Provincial Grand Master of the North of the original HBof L, had written in the Scottish Highlands under the latter pen name. On July 12, 1886 the HBofL Council met in Kansas City without Burgoyne present to deliberate on evidence that d’Alton and Burgoyne were the same person. They agreed unanimously that they were identical and advised all members to avoid contact with Burgoyne and Davidson until further investigation. In St. Louis they met again on September 5, reinstating Burgoyne who was present this time as a member. Peter Davidson, on the other hand, is never mentioned again by Johnson and colleagues in the letters. This evidence implies that Burgoyne escaped the ostracism of his colleagues in the HBofL, but Davidson was blamed for the pseudonymous intrigues. Burgoyne first traveled to California in 1887, after visiting Topeka, Kansas with HBofL board member W.W. Allen, and in Denver with what was becoming the largest local group of members. He became a United States citizen in Shawnee County, Kansas in 1887. Ten years later in 1897 he obtained American citizenship as Norman Astley in New York City.

Meanwhile, in early 1887 Sarah Stanley Grimké had sent her daughter Angelina to live in Massachusetts with her father, after which she appears to have spent at least the next year in California. She left abruptly for New Zealand in 1888 before publication of her collaborative project with Burgoyne. The precise contribution of Grimké to The Light of Egypt was later described by Elbert Benjamine as assisting with The Science of the Stars portion of the 1889 edition.

One of the most salient echoes of Chevalier Louis in The Light of Egypt is Zanoni’s claim to have made “personal investigations, extending over a series of years in England, France, Germany, Austria, and the United States, with various types and phases of mediums.” In The Key to Theosophy, Blavatsky notes the continuity of adepts “used as sledge-hammers to break the theosophical heads with” which “began twelve years ago, with Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten’s `Louis’ of Art Magic and Ghost-Land, and now ends with the “Adept” and `Author’ of The Light of Egypt.” [H. P. Blavatsky, Key to Theosophy, 239.]

Letters to the Sage includescorrespondence from Burgoyne mailed in Monterey, California in the late 1880s, but none thereafter. He did, however, live briefly in Mendocino County and advertised a forthcoming book with a Cummings mailing address in 1891. When Norman and Genevieve Astley began acquiring property in North Carolina, they were described in a February 1894 Morganton newspaper story that mentions his having lived on a California ranch, which he claims to have owned. Bureau of Land Management records for patents, which are purchases of land directly from the federal government rather than from an individual owner and show that in January 1891 160 acres of ranch land in Mendocino County was patented to a John H. Burgoyne. The land is in the northwestern portion of the county, and just twenty miles as the crow flies from Cummings where he was receiving mail in 1891.

Born in San Francisco in 1857 the only child of a lawyer James Cole Stebbins who had relocated there from upstate New York with his young wife Henrietta, Genevieve lost her mother in infancy and was cared for by her aunt Louisa. She became a successful actress in New York in her twenties and by thirty had become an acting teacher. After further studies in England and France she emerged as a public figure, becoming the most prominent American teacher of the Delsarte method of elocution and acting. She combined Delsarte methods with yogic breathing learned from a swami at Oxford, as well as exercises involving stretches and postures adapted from yoga. With her marriage to Astley in 1892 he became her business manager and in addition to running the Manhattan school they traveled up and down the east coast giving classes and performances. Between 1894 and 1906 the Astleys owned property in the Blue Ridge mountains.

After her retirement in 1907 Stebbins traveled with Astley, settling in England for several years before returning to the US in 1917. Norman Astley is far more elusive than his famous wife, and no record prior to their marriage can be solidly linked to him. We find the couple in a boarding house in Asbury Park, New Jersey in the 1900 census. Retiring first to Dittisham, Devon in 1907, they moved to St. Peter Port, Guernsey by 1911 and by 1913 were living in Slindon, Sussex which was listed as their most recent residence in the 1917 ship passenger list that recorded their return to the United States. Documentation of the Astleys’ American travels and citizenship provides dozens of such pieces of evidence of a man living more than fifty years as Norman Astley, leaving traces in five states as well as England. Thomas Henry Burgoyne, on the other hand, leaves far fewer traces, being recorded as name of an author of books and letters but appearing in no public documents other than those described above.

The thesis of Mark Singleton’s Yoga Body is that “the reciprocal influence of `harmonial’ gymnastic systems (like the American Delsartism of Genevieve Stebbins…) and modern hatha yoga is enormous.”ii While Stebbins is remembered now almost entirely as a pioneer in the history of women’s exercise and dance, the “gentler stretching, deep breathing, and `spiritual’ relaxation colloquially known in the West today as `hatha yoga’ are best exemplified by variants of the harmonial gymnastics developed by Stebbins…and others— as well as the stretching regimes of secular women’s physical culture with which they overlap.”[Mark Singleton, Yoga Body, 71.]

Stebbins’s Dynamic Breathing and Harmonic Gymnastics: A Complete System of Psychical, Aesthetic, and Physical Culture (1892) is as described by Singleton “a combination of calisthenic movement, deep respiration exercises, relaxation, and creative mental imagery within a harmonial religious framework. It is, in Stebbins’s words, `a completely rounded system for the development of body, brain and soul,’ a system of training which shall bring this grand trinity of the human microcosm into one continuous, interacting unison and remove the `inharmonious mental states’ that lead to discord.”[Ibid, 160.]

The Quest of the Spirit argues that “a true philosophy of life is the work of the future, in which the great philosophical systems of the past will form but a very subordinate part of the structure. We are convinced that the chief foundation-stones will be discovered in the works of Eucken, Bergson, and James.” Henri Bergson and William James were not just philosophical colleagues but close friends, and James was intending to write the introduction to the English translation of Bergson’s Creative Evolution but died before it was completed. The language about creation and evolution in the Brotherhood of Light lessons is strongly reminiscent of Bergson’s vitalist themes, and Bergson’s younger sister Moina Mathers was one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Like James, Bergson was interested in parapsychology; at the time of James’s death, Bergson was president of the British Society for Psychical Research. James was evidently a personal friend and not just an admired philosopher, in light of the Astleys’ residence in Boston in the early 1890s and longstanding interest in psychical research. Researcher Kelly Mullan reports that James became a friend of Stebbins at a Chautauqua conference where he and Genevieve were both speakers.

In the appendix to her magnum opus, written for this 1892 edition, Stebbins summarizes the conclusions reached in her decades as a teacher in a nine-point “my credo” of which the first three are quoted below: First—All faculties lie deep within the soul and are there potential as the oak in the acorn. Second—These faculties cannot be manifested without the cooperation of the brain, each portion of the brain having its own function. Third—Through the nervous system is established communication between brain and body; each function in the brain sympathizing with some part of the body, and corresponding surfaces also having corresponding meanings,—the upper with the upper, the lower with the lower, the anterior with the anterior, the posterior with the posterior, and so on. [Genevieve Stebbins, Dynamic Breathing and Harmonic Gymnastics, 146]

Poetics of Dance by Gabriele Brandstetter, first published in German in 1995, explains that “Stebbins’s main contribution to modern dance– her emphasis on the dynamics of dance movement– is still underestimated even today. She was the first to no longer regard dance from the perspective of dance technique, muscular training, or the systematic development of articulation, emphasizing instead its energetic principles. Stebbins’s elaboration of the Delsarte system heralded a paradigm shift in modern dance in an attempt to redefine dance movement on the basis of a vitalist understanding of dynamics. [Gabriele Brandstetter, Poetics of Dance, 4.]

Genevieve’s death in 1934 coincided with the completion of Benjamine’s Brotherhood of Light lessons and Norman’s immediate remarriage ushered in a period of discord and confusion in his personal life. He married the nurse who had cared for Genevieve within a week of her death, and his new wife Nellie Dougan immediately moved to seize his assets and declare him mentally incompetent. They relocated to Devon where she died five years later, leaving Norman to survive until 1943 living first in Plymouth and finally dying in Gloucestershire.

Carmel Neighbors

Donna Marek’s Crème de Carmel is a charming guide to local history.  She reports: “The first Spanish mission in the area was the Presideo Chapel built in 1770 in Monterey, but the following year it was relocated on the Carmel River and renamed the Mission San Carlos de Borremeo.” [Donna Marek, Crème de Carmel, 8.]  Monterey became the capital of both Californias in 1770, and continued as capital of only Alta California under Spanish rule in 1804, continuing as capital under Mexican sovereignty from 1822 through 1846. Carmel remained undeveloped except for the Carmel Mission and nearby ranches until 1888 when eighty acres in Carmel Woods was subdivided into lots. The community of Carmel-by-the-Sea was created in 1903 and rapidly developed with home sites and businesses. It was incorporated as a town on October 31, 1916.

By the late 1920s the atmosphere had changed, as it was no longer an artist colony but a popular beach resort, as reported by biographer Justin Kaplan. It continued to attract famous writers but Kaplan reports that by 1927, when Lincoln Steffens arrived, “the real colony had disappeared” but Steffens welcomed visits from Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. “Steffens also knew John and Carol Steinbeck, and suggested that Steinbeck write a series of articles for the San Francisco News about the Oklahoma migrants and how they were treated in Monterey County. Over the next four years, those articles led to Steinbeck’s writing The Grapes of Wrath.” [Justin Kaplan, Lincoln Steffens,]

Robert Louis Stevenson had lived for several months in Monterey in 1879 and wrote articles for the Monterey Californian.  Carmel is featured in Treasure Island.  The poet Robinson “Jeffers moved to Carmel in 1916 where he and his wife raised their two sons…Jeffers built their home—called Tor house—near the ocean, an undertaking that took five years.” [Donna Marek, Crème de Carmel, 30.]

The Benedict Cottage in Carmel on Scenic Drive was the site of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson’s 1926 scandal. The stories that surfaced about her affair threw Carmel into the national limelight.”[Ibid, 31.]

The Sea Lion Point Trail at Point Lobos is the most easily accessible short walk to scenic overlooks where the rocky shoreline and sandy beaches can be viewed from above.  The name Point Lobos would seem to imply that wolves inhabited the area, but the Spanish term for what we call Sea Lions translates to Sea Wolf, which Jack London used as a title for a book about seafarers based in the central California coast. [Jerry Emory, Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide, 254-55.]

Lincoln Steffens relocated to Carmel-by-the-Sea several years after the Astleys moved there. He is not often associated with “the occult” but his biographer Justin Kaplan commented “Despite his later claim that he had shunned the fraternities as all bunk and pretension, Steffens was glad to belong to Zeta Psi, the oldest of Berkeley’s Greek-letter societies.  And it was on his urging that Frederick Willis, his closest friend in college, also joined. Willis was interested in theosophy, the survival of the soul after death, ‘sacred occultism,’ and parapsychology, and considered himself an expert mesmerist. Like many other students he has given himself over to the passion that motivated William James, in 1884, to establish an American Society for Psychical Research with its various committees on Thought Transference, hypnotism, and Apparitions and Haunted Houses.  In the Zeta Psi fraternity house near Bancroft Way, Steffens took instruction from Willis and began his own experiments with mesmerism, clairvoyance and thought transference.” [Justin Kaplan, Lincoln Steffens, 30.]

When Steffens was an undergraduate, Berkeley was not the thriving intellecual community it later became. Kaplan reports that “as an intellectual community, as a breeding place for philosophers, William James had said in 1883, ‘it’s a poor place’; and some of his disciples who had been invite to teach there with a sense of going into exile. Yet it was at Berkeley, fifteen years later, that James, reading his paper ‘Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results,’ first announced pragmatism as a theory of truth and formulated his subsequent creed. (Ibid, 29.]

Sources Cited:

Helena P. Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1889,

Brandstetter, Gabriele, Poetics of Dance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Emory, Jerry, Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Kaplan, Justin, Lincoln Steffens. New York: Simion and Schuster, 2013.

Marek, Donna, Crème de Carmel. New York: Roberts Reinhardt, 1994.

Singleton, Mark, Yoga Body. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Stebbins, Genevieve, Dynamic Breathing and Harmonic Gymnastics. New York: Edgar S. Werner, 1892.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Pisces by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON XIII.

THE WATERY TRIPLICITY.

♋   ♏ 

♓, OR VANQUISHING.

As the mists and the shadows of the battlefield clear away the warrior pauses, and from his height views the mighty field of conflict and weighs and considers the results from the twelve mansions of his dominion. Each has been penetrated and the fruits gathered and garnered and he has partaken thereof. The illusions and delusions of the battlefield have been perceived and their nothingness realized, and the warrior has now to vanquish them by the laws he has learned in watching, listening, patient and cautious advancement and reconnoitering, aspiring while attacking, and in his engagements in battle.

He has plenty of time to reflect while the atmosphere is clearing. His journey has led him to the last rung of the exoteric ladder.

The mists of seeming and sense begin to pass away, all preconceptions have vanished, he has climbed the exoteric ladder, and now he is about to face the realms of realities and to place his foot upon the first rung of the esoteric ladder.

Has he been released from all exoteric burdens, his bundles of loves, of hates, of revenge, of false conceptions and conclusions that were drawn from the realm of effects and dropped by the wayside? These are the mists and shadows of the battlefield, that have clung so tenaciously to the warrior’s outward self.

What are the considerations of his reflections?

Knowledge has been his lot and portion, and he is now fitted to proclaim his kingship, his queen by his side, the equilibrium gained, the fight for freedom won.

Having triumphantly conquered all upon the field of warfare and conflict he rests, to behold his victories’ trophies. The law of contradictories and correspondences guides him in judging of results, in drawing conclusions from being able to see both ends of his simple staff that he started out with. Cause rests upon one end and effects upon the other. Both lie within his grasp, and are obedient to all commands.

The last external life of the embodied human soul has been experienced, the lessons learned, the fruits of good and evil partaken of and fully accepted as the Divine Fiat of God; “Man, know thyself, and thus know thy God.”

As the warrior steps from the last rung of the exoteric onto the first rung of the esoteric ladder his works do follow him, and these will constitute the enemies and friends of the new battle ground in another sphere. But when he consciously realizes which are the illusions and delusions, that which is mortal from the immortal, the seeming from the real, then all foes are put to Right and he henceforth dwells in the land of realities.

The mists of the battlefield having passed away, the country lies exposed to the scanning eye of its king. He looks upon his works. It calls forth the resolute courage of a well-trained, unfaltering will to behold and to hold in check the emotions of awe, consternation, sadness and joy that would fill his heart.

His own creations stand at his feet. The children created, born and reared in matter appeal to his care.

Can his soul fly from its own creations, whether of good or evil? No. And while some may be beautiful, encouraging and divinely inspiring, others will prove rebellious, and cling as a millstone about his neck, impeding his progress in his spiral Mazy Wheel of Necessity.

Vanquishing is the next step, the spirals have become large and expansive, taking in a vast domain, for he has not been a slothful warrior. His days of traveling have been filled with an unceasing activity that grew and broadened as he journeyed. He chose to know as he proceeded, and knowledge gained expands the field of vision, investigations and creations.

Now his domains have become a mighty kingdom. His aspirations set his mark high. The Pole-Star of Truth is his goal, and that star stands in the center of his empire, and when each spiral of the exoteric ladder has been traversed with but one motive, and that motive Truth, he can view, from the outward circle, or spiral of his ladder, the center.

This Pole-Star, which illumines the whole field of battle, exposes to the esoteric vision his possessions. Is it as he would wish? If it were so, vanquishing would not be necessary.

We have followed him thus far. The veil is drawn to other eyes than his own.

What his visions are we cannot see; but, taking courage, we can begin to prepare to enter on an investigating tour of our own country, and learn its circumference, the health of its soil and the products that may belong to it.

The Pole-Star of Love is in the center, filled with the radiance that can only be seen by climbing, and thus obtain “the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Aquarius by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON X.

THE AIRY TRIPLICITY.

 ♊   ♎  ♒         

♒, OR PROVIDING RATIONS.

The three duties of Bearing Arms, Obeying Orders and Providing Rations, comprised under the Airy Triplicity, relate more to the special training and individual discipline of the warrior, yet none the less necessary and important to his success, for the properly drilled and thoroughly disciplined warrior, having completed the three sides of the Airy Triplicity, stands forth as the wonder-working magician, able to transform light into the bread of Heaven, or the power to put into use the knowledge gained.

First, if he knows how to bear arms, i. e., to properly formulate with his esoteric hands; second, if he has thoroughly vitalized his purposes from a strict obedience to the laws of polar opposites and equilibrium; third, then he has only to strike the third note of the chord to realize his undertakings completed and actualized, and himself nourished and sustained as are the angels of light themselves.

Properly formulated and vitalized, his thoughts cannot return unto him void. Herein is the awful, the divinely and unspeakably awful force of this law of equilibrium or balance. They cannot return void, and if they have been revengeful, malicious or covetous, and have worked out results of sorrow and suffering to others, then, as he has measured so will it be measured out to him. Sooner or later will they complete their orbit and find him out. Polar opposites, vitalized, are the same things as centrifugal and centripetal forces set in motion. They will describe a circle. Mortal cannot annul Divine law.

The warrior has now reached a point where he must become a breadmaker. First, the loaves must be kneaded and formulated with the hands (♊); second, the loaves must be vitalized, fomented by an understanding of (♎) the equipoise of the two opposite forms of force, in order that, third, he may realize himself nourished and sustained and finally thus self- sustaining (♒).

His bread must be either life-giving or life-destroying, for, once formulated and fomented (vitalized), his loaves cannot return to him void.

It is perfectly possible for him to formulate expressions or images for what is absolutely impossible and unthinkable. It is also possible for him to seemingly vitalize his phantoms, but the awful results of this kind of breadmaking are sure to follow. His phantoms become vampires, which feed upon him, and even upon all who ignorantly come within his mental atmosphere. Yet this possibility must not deter the warrior, for he must be a breadmaker. He must put into practical use that which he has made himself acquainted with; he must let his cup overflow, so as to benefit those who walk with him. Inaction is as fatal as to create vampires for unthinkables and impossibilities. Therefore, let the work rely upon the purity of his motive, which is soul unfoldment and the attainment of his celestial heritage knowing that, sooner or later, the law will be revealed to him from within, how those loaves which turn out failures and abortions can be neutralized and nothingized.

If he is free from covetousness, vainglory and sensuousness, then let him work only to know truth and realize justice, and he will find himself self-sustaining and able to command in emergencies, and finally find within himself an image of that creative force which, in its turn, images the Divine creative will, or center of the universe.

This law of the creative, or bread-making, syllogism is universal in its application, from the most seeming and external life up to the highest symbolic form of our present phase of Earth life, or child creating, in which the human approaches the nearest to the Divine parent.

To a certain extent, the warrior must have a varied and large experience throughout all the worlds of form-making. He must work unceasingly, as does the Great Creator. Herein is the import of the command to be “fruitful, increase and multiply;” not that man and woman are to devote their whole time, thought and energies to populating the globe, as the selfish sensualist proclaims from the house-top in order to procure a license for his own secret sins, but through that equilibrium gained by the harmonious blending and fusing of polar opposites, or twin souls.

His thoughts, truths, or bread, will be his children, who will guide and sustain him as well as those who partake of such royal dainties, born from the union of formulation and vitalization. Thus the bread-winner becomes the bread-distributor, and the loaves of understanding will not be void.

The consciousness of his dual self evolved through his journey on the first side of the Airy Triangle ♊, and where he learns to formulate, and on the second side (♎), where the creative principles are balanced — then, and not until then, does he become capable of breadmaking, or creating self-sustenance; and when he is able and strong enough to walk alone he must support others, for we cannot receive unless we also give. Thenceforward the warrior can enjoy the promise of his Creator: “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath,” and cast forth upon the universal currents the life-sustaining rations of his own winning, not in floods or great downpours, but as the gentle, soothing, rippling waves of (♒).

In bearing arms the warrior is subject to the higher commands of his being, and is, in action, manipulated by the arms — not the arm, but the arms, implying the utter uselessness of one alone. The brave, positive Castor must be balanced by his mate, Pollux; thus the training and culture necessary for bearing arms correctly, as a skilled warrior, every movement known, and at what moment to so execute the laws of his will that they will not conflict with Nature’s laws and bring failure and sorrow for his ignorant disobedience.

Herein self is forgotten, self is lost in the recognition of the two as one, equalized, blended as one.

This awful mystery of self, this life-destroying monster, when alone, stalking about as the imperious I. Selfishness of the past must be lost, for now he becomes the man; that selfishness that ruled and regulated the life of the lower forms through which the soul was gaining experience before the plane of reason and intuition had been reached, and then only can perfect obedience and equilibrium be attained.

Bearing arms is wearisome, obeying orders difficult, and demands an indefatigable exercise in Watching, Listening and patient advancement that the balance is not tilted by misjudgements.

Then the warrior can traverse his kingdom and scan the circumference of his ground in so far as he has reached in his watch-tower. More climbing is to be done, hence sustenance is required; therefore he must utilize his balanced forces and provide his own self-sustaining rations. Another’s winnings or knowledge would not sustain and give him the freedom in exploring his universe in search of the object of his journey — Truth.

What constitute the Rations?

The attributes evolved on each side of the four equilateral triangles of Fire, Air, Earth and Water.

Providing Rations is externalizing the twelve manners of fruits, each division of his own kingdom providing the necessary material.

The truths that spring from every side of the triangles in the fourfold elements are food and sustenance to his soul.

His journey is not yet complete. He is now in the realm of Imagery. Knowledge and experience are necessary in this creative realm.

He must bear arms with caution. The Lance of Light and Truth must be borne aloft constantly, that impossible imageries may not be formulated and spring into active expression to impede his progress.

His desires and loyal aspirations make him charitable to all life. Yet the true warrior must not hesitate at sacrifices. He must become master of his own kingdom, hence must make the lives born from his own thoughts subject and useful to his Divine will.

The higher he ascends into the tower the brighter becomes his Ray of Light, the expanse of country broader, and new things appear to his vision, new conditions present themselves. A new stimulus to action is received. Responsibility is increased and more knowledge is required, and ever on and on.

Life is motion, as the Airy Triplicity symbolizes, and motion is eternal.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Capricorn by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON VII.

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉  ♍   ♑

♑, OR ADVANCING.

When the Sun enters the sign of ♑, where lived the framers of the Zodiac, then the Goats advanced up the mountain sides, for the time of grazing was at hand. The fruits of labor were beginning to spring up and be realized by the laborer. So now advances the warrior into the region of winter, toward the point where shadows are congealed or hardened into the substances called matter and solids; where the indigo ray passes almost to black — the exact antipodes of soul and summer, the white light. Here the black of negation mixes with blue to form the indigo of righteousness.

But with his faithful compass (Cross) he advances, undismayed. His knees do not knock together through the weakness of fear; fear belongs to immature natures. The patient waiting acquired as a reconnoiterer has admitted him into the laboratory of Mother Earth, and he has there armed himself with the force which solves solids and transmutes matter into its correlatives of spirit — black to white, death to life.

The Rod and the Knee express the two extremes of Power and Submission. The monarch who sways the rod enforces the homage of the bended knee from his subjects. Never was there such a despot as fear, and the victim swayed by fear is the most craven and knock-kneed object in existence. The one who has not learned to wait is still the slave of fear, and is held bound in the bowels of Earth, and has yet to break the bars of iron and steel which hold him a prisoner of pomp, splendor, honor and dignity, and this also implies its exact opposite. Yet, the one whom the world delights to honor is not the one who advances, a conqueror, into the realm of realities. Ah, no! He is the one most overcome by fear and that grim, monster-shadow called Death. But the true warrior, “compass” in hand, even though despised and rejected by men advances undismayed, knowing before-hand the exact nature of that which he is to explore. He knows the grim monster-shadow, death, to be but Nature’s initiation into the great mysteries of existence, whose realms he, like Virgil and Dante and others before him, have invaded while yet embodied.

He will find it possible to go, and, returning, give a clever and entertaining account of adventures, hairbreadth escapes, etc., to a gaping crowd. He may bring back a lot of curios, to dispose of for money to the highest bidder, for curiosity mongers to “Oh!” and “Ah!” over.

Or he may transform his knowledge into a comfortable “Sale of Indulgences,” proclaim: “There is no such thing as Death; he is only a scarecrow; all is life; there is no such thing as Evil, all is good. Therefore gormandize, cheat and steal to your heart’s content. You are one with God, and your soul can never be lost!” But he strikes a note which grates on the purely trained ear, and he communicates a conclusion which does not accord with, nor follow, the premises. With the major premise of Taurus (humility) and the minor premise of Virgo (patience), sooner or later will he trip in the meshes of his false syllogism and be brought in abject terror before the awful Voice of the Mighty One, whose Ineffable Name he, himself, has attempted to assume, instead of, in true humility, saying ” Hallowed be Thy Name,” and, as a penitent reconnoiterer, he must add, ” Forgive us our trespasses,” and upon his knees confess, “For Thine is the Kingdom.”

But not thus with the warrior who has the first two premises correctly formed. His conclusion is incontrovertible. At the very outset of his advance he learns his immortality, his heritage; also discerns the conditions upon which they are won. He realizes the dignity, grandeur and meaning of life, and knows that he is saved, crowned and Deified in spite of himself; whether he will or no. Neither for the simple wishing on his part, but with the knowledge obtained in Dame Nature’s laboratory he has but to hold up the Mystic Cross, which combines in its significance polar opposites and contradictory opposites, and the most fixed becomes volatile. Baser metals are changed to gold, and gold transmuted to Sunlight, the Water of Soul to the Wine of Spirit, the mask to reality, shadows to substance, error to truth, hate to love, death to life.

He also knows that the direct ray is Truth Absolute, while the oblique ray is Truth Relative, and will be refracted and reflected indefinitely from one plane to another and soon bewilder him in a labyrinth of shadowy reflects unless he sternly adheres to his knowledge and boldly clings to his Cross.

And, while he knows that it is his duty to realize and actualize all that he possibly can of truth absolute, he also knows it is likewise his duty to recognize the different planes of expression, and remember that truths on different planes are relative to each other, but that each is absolute on its own plane, and that, in order to advance from one plane to another, or higher, like water he cannot rise above his level until he find the point of equilibrium of that plane upon which he is, by means of which, like water vaporized, he rises to the plane above him.

But, until he does actually rise to the plane above him, he is ruled by the laws of that plane, and he is its subject until he, by rising to the plane above, becomes ruler of the plane below.

Poison, calumny and malice are absolute monarchs on their own special plane, but to the warrior, armed with the force which solves and transmutes, they become relative, and finally obedient.

Neither do I become ruler by simply repeating, parrot-like, “There is no such thing as malaria; malaria does not rule me, I rule malaria,” etc., but I must have within me the force which, having divined the meanings of things, has made them a part of me, having neutralized (nothing-ized) it by counterbalancing it with its polar opposite.

Thus, from ♑ of the Earthy Triplicity, do I arrive at true Progress, Advancing. The Fiery trip showed the perfect syllogism — the righteous judgment of Sagittarius, deducted from the major premise of Aries and the minor premise of Leo.

The Earthy syllogism, analogous to the Fiery, is symbolized in terms of a chemical compound, in which the sharp and stinging acids of censure and uncharitableness, leading to humility (Taurus), fuse and blend with the alkalies of patience (Virgo) under afflictions, and from this fusing and blending arising to a higher plane, or Capricorn.

From this Earthy syllogism I have learned from Taurus: “Hark!” from Virgo: “Wait!” from Capricorn: “Be Strong!”

Listening in true Humility for Thy hallowed name, I have found that even sorrow and failure, if accepted in patience, although they may seem like the reconnoiterer’s path, too often go back instead of forward, are, after all, accomplished progress, and are but seeming bonds, from which my soul, “like a hind let loose” all the more swiftly advances up the mountain steeps when the time for grazing arrives. Then he has reached that point where he can utilize the power and knowledge gained while passing through the first syllogism, Fire, and the second, Earth.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Sagittarius by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON IV.

THE FIERY TRIPLICITY.

♈ ♌ ♐

♐, OR JUDGING.

As the victims have been slaughtered and consumed by the flames, the warrior must carefully collect together the ashes, or remnants, into the Sacred Urn of Pure-Heart, and then, placing them before the bar of conscience, await the responses.

These responses are judgments, proceeding from the Divinity within. If the offerings have been good and acceptable, and the rites properly observed, then the replies will surely be auspicious. But if the two former duties have not been properly performed, then am I guilty of the most awful sacrilege in approaching the Divinity profanely.

According to my own actions am I judged; my own conscience is the arbiter. This judge must give the decisions according to the manner in which the sentinel and the sacrificial priest have performed their tasks, for the judgment follows as inevitably as when, having placed two sides of an equilateral triangle together at the proper angle, the third side is the response, depending upon the other two.

Again, this response is the third note in the primary chord. If I have struck the first two, there is only one other which possibly can complete the chord.

Again, this response is the conclusion, or third term, in the perfect syllogism. The sentinel upon the watch-tower, having properly performed his duty, states the major premise; the sacrifice, with its implied suffering, gives out the minor note or premise; the Oracle speaks out the conclusion. Although the conclusion of a syllogism is its third term, yet it expresses the mystery of the trinity, for it is a trinity, and at the same time an organic unity. It combines the major and minor premises into a higher unity, which differs from either of them, just as the molecule of water combines two dissimilar elements into a unity differing from its component parts, and also as H and O combine with a lightning flash of soul which accompanies the combining together of the two premises of a syllogism into their higher unity, and is an intuitive spark from the altar of Divinity.

This altar is my Hearth ♐ of Pure- Heart. Unless this Urn is sufficiently purified by properly accepting (not rejecting) the experiences of life, it cannot receive the ashes of the sacrifice and impart to them the Divine Spark which makes them over into a living, organic unity, on a higher plane than they were before, nor raise in power and might the ashes of actions sown in weakness and watered with tears of suffering. This expresses the mystery of the re-birth, whereby the physical body is raised to the plane of spiritual body while yet in the possession of the physical.

This is that which constitutes the spiritual plane upon which one is born. There is a Divine correspondence, and the latent possibilities of the soul have the corresponding possibilities in the brain, which can be brought forth to usefulness while in the physical body. Bringing about the harmony between the two constitutes re-birth.

There is only one way of being re-born, just as there is only one way to be born into the physical, and this one way is revealed through the fiery syllogism (triplicity), the major premise of which is Truth Realized from the Sentry’s Watch-tower, the minor premise of which is Love Actualized by the Sacrifice of Burnt Offerings, the conclusion of which is Life Immortalized, or lifted from the plane of Time to Eternity. This conclusion is the Immaculate Conception of the re-birth, which is conscious son-ship with the Father.

Truth realized frees from every illusion of sense and casts out every error and all diseases. Truth realized is liberty, for from or by the power born of Knowledge you can be free.

Love actualized, or practiced, recognizes the Divine origin of every soul, and that every form of life and condition is necessary to the unfoldment of the soul in its evolutionary steps of progress, and, comprehending the law of contradictories, knows only universal charity and communion of saints, those who have passed through the fires of purification and learned the lessons therein taught, without prejudice, sentiment or pain. Love actualized is Fraternity. Then are we able to look upon all life as one Divine Whole, recognizing all as one fraternity, each filling the necessary notes in the Anthem of Creative Life.

Life eternalized, making every moment eternity, lifts the soul to a plane above illusion. Realizing the realities of life leaves no room for illusions where, grasping the equality of ratios, it knows only Oneness. But this true equality with God distinguishes between thoughts and thinkers. The recognition of God’s variety of life, form, color, etc., are each equally necessary to the fulfillment of the Divine plan. This is the only law of equality. Life, thus eternalized, is equality.

Liberty, Fraternity and Equality must ever be the war-cry of the true warrior. But if the offerings, or truths, seen from the watch-tower through the first side of the Fiery Triangle are not acceptable, nor the sacrifices of our past ideas and illusions properly observed or parted with, then, instead of liberty, comes renewed bondage to error and disease; instead of fraternity, failures, strife and murder; instead of equality with Divinity, there is a descent to the lower sphere and union with demons and fiends.

On the other hand, the Ascetic who mutilates, denies, the truths realized in the major premise from the sentry’s watch-tower, and destroys the offerings, the knowledge thus revealed, and who refuses the experiences of the sacrifices can never hear the responses nor know the mystery of re-birth. In either case, remorse and repentance, in themselves, are perfectly stupid, and only delay realization.

The suffering implied in remorse is not a true and acceptable sacrifice, for the major premise is still wrong, for truth never brings remorse. Remorse implies a misconception of the nature of reality. If I have struck the wrong note in my chord, and experienced inharmony, I only make the more haste to strike the right note. I waste no time in groaning over the dismal sound.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Scorpio by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON XII.

THE WATERY TRIPLICITY.

♋   ♏  ♓

♏ OR ATTACKING.

The early morning of the great day has at length arrived. The hour so long awaited and so carefully prepared for has come, and the warrior now descends from the heights of his watch-tower, armed with the Ray-of-Light of Lance and Knowledge to meet the enemies of the battle ground. The war-cry is sounded, and echoed from center to circumference.

He has descended into matter, into the shadows of nothingness, but from this plane they are real as long as the shadow lasts.

He steps forward, well armed, and the first phantom to conquer and put to flight is Self. Fear is the shadow of the real man. He must be fearless, for “he who hesitates is lost.” Caution guides his steps, and his lamp, or Divine Ray, illumines his path. Step by step he progresses; foes, real and unreal, are met with unyielding will, and a determination to return home the Master, the King, the Lord and Ruler of his own Kingdom. All must be brought to obedience and service of his Divine will.

Not forgetting the possibility of slipping too far on either side of the point of balance and becoming a tyrant on the one hand or a slave on the other, he keeps keenly alive to all conditions and wide-awake to all temptations that might prove pitfalls or unconquerable obstacles, and thus losing the freedom he seeks.

He is now traversing and experiencing another angle of the Watery Triangle — the realm of creative forms. On this side of the triangle is the fierce struggle for life going on. Life is sweet to the lowest forms of existence, and the battle to defend and preserve it is a battle to the death. This the warrior seeks to avoid — the premature cutting off of life, for that would rob him of their service and his rule.

Utilization is the secret of success, not waste nor abandon.

The greatest wisdom must be displayed in this realm of creation, where man imitates or obeys the command of his God: “Increase, multiply and replenish the Earth” — not with false images, that will eventually take form and become the shadows on the plane of matter, but truths, that will be solid stepping stones to higher rounds of being, and be of that nature where he can set them up as mile-stones to guide correctly the travelers who may follow him in adjoining countries.

The life-giving force that is generated on this side of the triangle is threefold in its influence and power of utilization.

Does the warrior want all his creations in material forms? Does he want only the fruits of matter, that so soon perish? Does he want to be buried in nothingness, from which eternal things cannot be born? No!

Allurements of the shadows are great, and he must constantly pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” The Balance must be brought into constant use, the Magic Lance ever borne aloft, so that in an unguarded moment he may not lose his way and be overcome by the snares ever lurking on this side of the triangle.

His first formulations, or conceptions, are here to take form and become active, living realities upon or in his kingdom.

Here comes the test of his work in the realms visible. The mystical sign of this Triplicity is revealed to the warrior as he enters its sphere. Unknown and undreamed-of trials and temptations, real and apparent obstacles will spring up at every step as he goes forth to attack, subdue, conquer and master.

To master is the watchword of the true warrior, knowing that in the sacrifice of forms new lives spring into existence, more formidable than those he sacrifices.

It is man’s duty to evolve, not destroy, and his creations must have the wings of the eagle, to bear them aloft above the illusions of matter.

Here the mind rises superior to the lower self; the lower must and will become the servant of the higher. Terrible will be the attack; not a moment must he rest; looking back will be fatal. In no part of the warfare must one stand so resolute, so steadfast, so courageous. No other part of the field is so boggy. The creations of sense and seeming are his enemies. No part of the journey is so full of rebellion, warring incessantly, until the whole circumference encircling his dominions is encompassed.

The vantage is not great in the realm ruled by Scorpio. The spark of light at the point of his lance will not pierce the darkness far, but each advancing step drives back to humble submission the lurking forms of the shadows.

At last what transpires? Instead of the creeping, slimy serpent, the aspirations have given it wings. The Scorpion has been transformed. It is now the eagle, able to soar in the water of the Infinite Waters of Life instead of creeping upon the battle ground of matter.

The work is done. The innocent, ignorant warrior returns the conqueror. He is bid to come up higher, and again he ascends to the top of his watch-tower and awaits his heritage.

[Having already shared the profiles of Libran and Scorpio US politicians, this follows up with profiles of the signs as described by SSG.]


Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Libra by Sarah Stanley Grimké

THE AIRY TRIPLICITY.

♊   ♎  ♒

♎, OR OBEYING ORDERS.

The spirit of mortal, alas, is proud. Not realizing itself as nothing but a shadowy reflect, it arrogates to itself, while yet a minor, its birthright of Divinity and heritage of immortality, as if it had already attained its majority and come into possession of its estate.

Obedience is a difficult attainment, perhaps the most difficult of all, and yet all the boasted free will of a mortal ends in his obedience, in spite of himself, for one grand command comprises all the lesser orders. The others are but copies, or reprints, of the original.

This One Supreme is that Divine love principle which binds polar opposites into one. And true is the command: “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder,” for mortal cannot put it asunder. He cannot accomplish the impossible and unthinkable, and there is but one punishment for attempted disobedience. He does not alter the law, but, as far as he himself is concerned, he realizes the results in accordance with his disregard of the law, whether intentional or not.

To fulfill this great law of love is peace, equilibrium, harmony and life; to ignore or defy it is strife, confusion, discord and death.

And thus the mortal obeys the law in spite of himself, for death is not a change preparatory to another state or condition of life, in which the mortal, or reflect, is given another chance to obey the order which comprises all orders.

THE EQUILIBRIUM OR EQUALITY OF RATIOS.

                                    Love.

                                    ♎

                                    Justice.

In walking, which is propelling the body through the air, the process of locomotion is threefold, or triune; i. e., there are three great centers of locomotion. First, the arms and shoulders; second, the legs, especially the muscles of the calves, and the third is that portion of the body which is the point of equilibrium between the two, and this portion perfectly describes an old-fashioned balance, or pair of scales, ♎. It includes the reins, or kidneys, and extends to the loins, or hips. Now, in walking, as the weight of the body is thrown on one leg the opposite hip, like one end of the beam of the scales, comes up and the other hip goes down, then vice versa, and so on. This is so in true, natural walking; but alas! the fine, true, harmonious, stately gait is very rare in this degenerate age. Yet if this perfect equipoise of the body were maintained at every step, walking could be continued indefinitely without fatigue.

But to one who understands the esoteric meaning of symbols there can be no more significant and saddening sight than to watch for a moment the hurrying, swaying, shuffling throng of a crowded street.

Truly is the world blind to the knowledge of soul poise, and disobedient to the law which binds polar opposites into a unity.

On the reflected and phenomenal plane this law has special reference to the forms of union called marriage and partnership. The same law which governs marriage governs partnership, no matter whether the parties are composed of nations or only two individuals, and looking out into the world to-day, with its teeming millions, a very serious state of affairs is presented to the eyes of the warrior.

Inharmony, discord, strife everywhere. No marriage, all lust; no partnership, all monopoly. And nowhere is this more apparent than among those who profess to have found Truth — to know the real from the unreal.

However, as the warrior rises to a higher plane, and regards the present condition of humanity in a larger sense, he only sees them with pitying and tender eyes, as infants learning to walk, tottering, and in constant danger of losing their balance; swayed first by one strong passion and then another, and then he knows just how far it is possible for one soul to help another — only in so far as a child can be helped to walk. But the child must walk for itself; no one can walk for it. I can, by my understanding of truth, influence another person to do a virtuous deed. This deed would be the result of an action on my part; so, unless there is also a reaction on the part of the person performing the deed, there has been no equilibrium established whereby any inner purity has been evolved on his part, and he has not, consciously, taken a single step for himself toward truth. I have only lifted him up and carried him, and perhaps delayed him in the process of walking. He will look for some one else walking for himself. The soul cannot grow vicariously, anymore than the child can so walk.

Now this belief in the possibility of a vicarious union of polar opposites, or At-one-ment, is the great delusion of the age. Truly there is but one way under the Sun whereby men can be saved. It is by obedience to the law of equilibrium. Not a stupid, passive obedience, for, like everything else under the Sun, obedience is dual — active and passive, positive and negative. Therefore, while I accept the fact that every soul must walk for itself, yet at the same time I remember that it must have its seeming props and helps, while learning to walk, until it attains its majority. So I must help all about me. Thus, for the time being, I seem to hinder, but only in order to help. This is that awful law of contradictories, so bewildering to the child soul, wherein we seemingly disobey in order to obey. Herein consists the duality of obedience. In order to realize absolute good I must, for the time being, accept relative, or seeming, evil; but it is only in accordance with the higher law, which evolves the perfect harmony out of seeming discord, whereby I gain my spiritual insight and read aright the esoteric meaning from the exoteric symbol. If I accept seeming evil for any other purpose, I am at once bound in chains of sense and seeming and sink deeper and deeper in the shadows, until that which should be a symbol for the very highest, following the law of contradictories, becomes the very lowest and foulest, as is now so generally the case with symbolic marriages.

In the particular phase of soul unfoldment through which humanity is at present passing, the last and highest symbol for mortal to comprehend is marriage — the union of man and woman. The very fact that there is a symbol proves there is a reality. The fact of a shadow proves there must be a substance. Just so the exoteric form we know as marriage proves, of necessity, a true soul marriage, and further, for the warrior this is a most significant fact and means another lesson, which cannot be omitted. The reason this At-one-ment is seldom or never realized is, as we have just seen, humanity has not yet developed to the point of soul equilibrium. It cannot yet walk; therefore this soul union can only take place in the next phase or condition of development. Man can no more realize soul marriage than our domestic animals could live our present family life.

But right here, at this point, the warrior who has mastered the former lessons, stands forth in the strength of his God-given heritage, scorning the shadow symbols, determined to know only the real; he foregoes all the sensuous and seeming and becomes the true celibate. He sees that one of the factors in the attainment of his celestial heritage is the union with his polar opposite. The immortality of his soul is an utter unthinkability without this At-one-ment. He can never come into possession of his Kingdom until he places a Queen upon the Throne by his side. He cannot be knighted until he has found and won his lady. Thus is he justified in putting aside earthly ties, only in order to realize the celestial union which follows obedience to the love which binds together polar opposites.

(This continues the series of excerpts from the Sarah Stanley Grimke Collected Works. Having already shared posts on Henry Wallace and Theodore Roosevelt as examples of Libran and Scorpio politicians, I will comment on Elbert Benjamine’s Sagittarian perspective in December. But have another Scorpio esotericist to feature next month, Alexandra David-Neel. SSG’s Tour of the Zodiac resumes in October with her Scorpio chapter. The “dauntless, intrepid explorer of dangerous territory” and “author of travel narratives” theme fits this woman as well as it does Theodore Roosevelt.)

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Virgo by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON VI.
THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.
♉ ♍ ♑
♍, OR RECONNOITERING.
(PATIENCE — WAIT.)

LESSON VI.

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉  ♍   ♑

♍, OR RECONNOITERING.

(PATIENCE — WAIT.)

The green ray is formed by the union of yellow and blue, so the spiritual quality corresponding to green is the blending of the yellow flame, from off the altar of trial and sacrifice, together with the blue of knowledge. The spiritual green resulting from this blending is that peculiar, burning, zealous knowledge which makes the warrior powerful and strong, or, in other words, “mighty in battle.”

But the warrior can never be mighty in battle in the midst of wholly unknown country. He must know the mountain passes, the location of bogs and quicksands, rivers and springs. He must understand all the physical and natural advantages and disadvantages of the enemy’s position and strongholds, or fortifications. And all this can be accomplished only by the union of skill (knowledge, blue) with daring (sacrifice, yellow). The union of these two results in green of power, a kind of knowing by which the whole vast field of warfare stands out, illuminated, to the mind’s eye of the warrior. Now the work of mixing together skill and daring, by means of which the country becomes known, is the work of reconnoitering.

Reconnoitering is therefore the subject of this lesson and the second side of my triangle. In planning for the work in hand I must first draw upon the knowledge already obtained of this perilous region of shadows and illusions.

Virgo is the symbol for the process of assimilation, which takes place in the intestines, or bowels, and if this process be incomplete or inharmonious, loss of strength is the immediate result. I become weak-kneed, unable to walk or even stand. Just so our Mother Earth (the Green Planet) has stored away for the use of her children, down in the caverns and spacious recesses of her bowels, a vast and complete laboratory, with all materials and chemical appliances at hand where daring reconnoiterers become the daring alchemists. Knowledge has been gained, and power obtained through assimilation to put that knowledge into practical use.

But where are those who do not assimilate the food provided by Mother Nature, who are indifferent to conditions, and fail to see and hear, who lack that burning zeal to reconnoiter so that they may make themselves acquainted with the various aspects of the country, hence fall into the refuse bogs and morasses and lose what strength they do have, become unable to walk, or even stand, and are finally cast out into the outer darkness of nothingness? Our Mother Earth is a just planet, and no goodie-goodie, stuffing obedient and disobedient alike with confectionery. Each attracts to himself the just compensation for the energy put forth, whether that be much or little, good or evil.

If I am deceived by the will-o’-the-wisps, or follow wandering doctrines, not only must I ask to be forgiven for my trespasses, but I am also sure to suffer some punishment or reprimand for my mistakes. Yet, if I am wise, I accept them thankfully and cheerfully, without repining, for thus are accomplished two things: First, the suffering is the healing remedy, which repairs the mischief; second, just as the mother takes more closely to her heart than ever before the truly penitent child, just so Mother Earth reveals her most precious secrets to her right-minded offspring, those who are patient under suffering and affliction and learn the lessons of remorse, suffering and humility, knowing that Nature is only asking, or demanding, a just retribution for violation of her laws.  Ignorance excuses not. Nothing but knowledge can enable one to escape the bogs and morasses of ignorance.

And thus right here, I see, comes the application of my lesson on the discipline of the ear. Reconnoitering puts to the test listening, or true humility. If the first and the second sides of this Earthy triangle are rightly constructed, then the second note of the chord will harmonize with the first, and I know that so far my work is well done.

But if I find discord, then it is an absolute certainty that the third side of my triangle will not fit, and if I undertake to advance upon the enemy’s territory, swift and sure defeat is before me. Therefore in all humility I set diligently to work to construct a map of the country I am about to invade, and procure a compass, so that I may not lose my way amidst the false doctrines which encompass me on every hand, at every turn, and the dense forests of “isms,” which bewilder and perplex.

This compass is but a simple Cross, which always points to the Pole-Star of Truth, arid indicates the four cardinal points of the Universe, and the fourfold division of both Macrocosm and Microcosm.

Aries, the Fiery, rules the Eastern terminus of this Rosy-Cross; Libra, the Airy, the Western; Capricorn, the Earthy (the most fixed and material), the Southern, while Cancer, the Watery, pure desire, forever aspires to the North of Truth and Freedom.

Thus the four points of the compass also express the four elements. Each element also expresses the fourfold constitution of man: Earth, Body; Fire, Finite Mind, or Fiery Body; Water, Soul; Air, Spirit.

There is nothing so penetrating as air, and no element so essential to life. In every form of life air is the potent, animating principle, and without the air (spirit) the other four elements would be useless. The spirit is one and indivisible, but the other three divisions of man are each dual, and thus results the sevenfold division of the Microcosm, or, going back to the four elements, I can regard each as triune, and from this division map out the Zodiac, this mazy wheel of life, and thus completing the reconnoiter of my great field of battle I boldly advance, clinging to my simple Solar Cross.


Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Leo, by Sarah Stanley Grimké

[Through May 2025 a chapter of A Tour Through the Zodiac will be published at the middle of each month and an astrological profile of a native of each sign– most found in the Brotherhood of Light Lessons– will be published at the beginning of the following month; next up is Herbert Hoover for August.]

LESSON III.

THE FIERY TRIPLICITY.

♈ ♌ ♐

♌, OR SACRIFICING.

Fire is the great purifier. So action is that form of the Fiery Triplicity (yellow-ray side) which is the great purifier. According to the former analysis, all action is sacrifice, passion and oblation, and it is through this trial by fire, and the sacrifice and suffering implied in it, that I gain my spiritual sight (insight) . And it is a delusion that my eyes can ever be opened to the nature of fire, except by experiencing it; for how can I ever know that illusion is illusion unless I experience its nothingness?

I may stand up before the enemy and repeat the words: “There is only one Mind; there is no illusion of finite personality,” but, as far as vain repetition goes, I would better take some other creed, for herein is a great mystery. This awful law of contradictories works (when actually evoked) in spite of my unbelief, and even when I, in my blindness, do not see the results. This is the true creed of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and of the Tree of Life; and to partake of the fruit of this tree, tempted by the serpent of the lower nature, or self-mask, is to surely die.

If the lower self stumbles upon this true creed, or is entrusted with it unpurified by the trial of fire and suffering, the lie of personality is only accentuated. The mask thinks it has become as the Gods, and its fall is inevitable. It has taken exactly the opposite road for truth, and instead of realizing its oneness with the Divine Spirit it will fall to the very depths of the shadows of nothingness, even while mumbling the true creed. Yet this seeming and so-called fall is but the first form of action, without which there could be no reaction, and inaction is as fatal to insight as personality, accentuated to nothingness.

Since, in order to rise, there must be a seeming fall, so, in order to realize there is no such thing as illusion, I accept it as an hypothesis to get rid of it, just as it is necessary to demonstrate certain propositions in geometry to be untrue by assuming them to be true, for thus only can their untruth become self-evident; and in order to realize the Infinite One I am forced to postulate the finite personalities.

And yet I also know that to even momentarily accept illusion chains me to it (for the time being); for I am where I locate myself, as One with the All, or as seemingly projected outside the All, where, like a soap-bubble, I shall speedily realize the lie of self-mask; the harder I blow this bubble the quicker it bursts into nothingness. Like a child, I can keep on blowing personality bubbles, only to see these finite Egos burst, one after another; or I can put away the childish things, resolving to be no longer deceived by them, and blow them only to understand the law according to which they come and go. Therefore I accept finite personalities solely to demonstrate their utter impossibility, and when I know that time is also an illusion, I rise to the plane where even the Sun itself will stand silent upon Gibeon, and the Moon stay in the valley of Ajalon until I avenge myself upon all my enemies.

Hereafter let me act, or refrain from acting, simply to know truth, and no longer conform to finite and worldly codes of morality or mere social traditions and usages.

Just as in a former lesson I accepted the visible Universe in its unity and in its infinity as a grand universal language, its sentences, letters and punctuation marks all symbols for thought and traced with the finger of God, so now I accept all terrestrial action as purely symbolic action, possessing no moral quality in itself, but simply descriptive of spiritual acts, which I cannot possibly comprehend until I have faithfully performed all the symbolic acts. To refrain from these symbolic acts before I grasp the real acts is to deliberately bar and bolt the only door by which I can enter the temple, expecting thus to gain admittance. To refrain from flesh eating, from wine drinking and from social and family life, simply for the sake of abstinence, is to play the part of a stupid tyrant and not of the King. On the other hand, to debauch myself in all these acts, simply because they satisfy my senses, is to become the slave of suffering and death. The mob must not rule, yet the tyrant who devastates his kingdom and puts all the inhabitants to death by fire, torture, or slow starvation, ends by having no kingdom to rule. If I destroy the mob because I fear it, I do not overcome fear by the process nor obtain wisdom.

I therefore sacrifice to idols, or shadowy images, simply to eliminate melody out of discord, to realize the “Octave of Purification,” whereby the fire, which on the lower plane is destructive to life, is raised from the key-note C to the chemical, life-giving C of the scale.

From out this fiery furnace of trial this right action, knowledge and wisdom are born. The Christ-Truth must be born of this Tribe of the Lion (si). It can only come from this Royal Action, and is itself the highest and supreme sacrifice, whereby the Son of Man becomes the Son of God.

But I can never comprehend this last sacrifice until I have learned the meaning of all the other sacrifices, and how to make them. I must learn the meaning of eating, whereby the plant life and animal life are sacrificed, before I can comprehend the awful mystery of the sacrifice of human life, called death, even up to that sublime death on the Cross. But sacrificing is not destroying, and to comprehend the meaning of eating, or sacrificing, or action, is to realize the absolute unthinkability of the illusion called death. Therefore, let me never take a morsel of food into my mouth without reflecting that I am performing the ceremonials of sacrifice within the temple of my body, just as the rites of public temple worship were formerly observed.

And let me study the meanings of all the correspondences of these temple rites.

And, also, let me engage in all the acts of finite life; of trade, politics and social life, etc., until I learn the reality which makes the shadow, and thus burn every idol upon the altar of truth.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac- Cancer, by Sarah Stanley Grimké

LESSON XI.

THE WATERY TRIPLICITY.

♋   ♏  ♓

♋, OR ASPIRING.

The signs of the Watery Triplicity are pre-eminently fruitful signs, and, just as all physical germination, growth, prosperity, maternity and fruition depend for their existence on water, so must the germ seeds of aspiration be moistened by the waters of spiritual life before they will germinate and bear us outward fruit; and we may go further, and say that the very first primordial germ of organic life itself, in the first faint blush of the dawn of God’s creation, had its origin in the element known as water. So, on the higher planes of living there must be the Water of Life, the springs and fountains of which sustain soul fruition.

Desire is the first side of the fruitful triangle, that which the soul ardently longs for, that which the soul will fight for until all obstacles are vanquished, but when there is no desire the soul seed will attract no moisture to enable it to send forth its tiny shoots up toward the Sunlight of Truth. Yet, to the truly aspiring soul this Water of Life is not anything external to the soul itself. On the contrary, it is the very element which, self-generating, flows like an ocean of Infinite love from the celestial, Deific center of its birthplace onward and downward through myriads of solar centers and starry systems until it reaches its perihelion point upon some earth, the external battle ground of matter, whereon it enters the good fight against the blind force of lower nature, to return at the ebb of its own celestial tide, triumphant, through countless spiritual states and spheres of glorious, pulsating life.

Aspiring is breathing, and true breathing creates an atmosphere about the soul germ which will in itself collect together moisture and generate the seed. The seed that is planted at the proper cyclic period can, through desire and aspiration, be watered from time to time until the harvest is most bountiful. Born in water, nourished with water, dissolved again in water, to be born upon higher planes of life. Existence is eternal, but spheres and planes are eternally changing. Promotion is the law of God, and the warrior can, by his own efforts, shorten his warfare upon the battle ground of materiality by becoming familiar with his own country, and, through the knowledge of its layout, the points of vantage and disadvantage, he can soon rise to the apex of the Watery Triangle.

Cancer represents on the Earth the oceans and their correspondences, the broad expanse of the spiritual Water of Life on the spiritual plane. Here the soul is nearing the Divine center of its being. True inspiration here takes place, that Divine respiration, where each inhalation and exhalation is in harmony with the ebb and flow of the tides of spiritual life. Hence inspiration naturally belongs to the signs of the Watery Triplicity. The natural moisture that will bring forth to external life the latent possibilities, or seeds of the soul, is desire, aspirations and creations from material (knowledge) accumulated while traversing the battle ground up to the present plane of warfare.

Through the Water of Life knowledge has been born on the journey, so that his bread is the knowledge of good and evil, of polar opposites, and when his eyes take the observations of the flights of the birds the law of contradictories will direct his judgments and his movements.He has learned the law governing the blind forces of Nature, and now, instead of obeying their orders, he, himself, has become the triumphant master of these forces, and the elements, as well, as the elementals, of each realm are now his servants and slaves, moving and obeying is kingly commands.Another step is taken in the watchtower, and so cautiously has he moved over his ground, and so thoroughly mastered every condition as he proceeded, that now he is monarch of all he surveys from the point of observation that he has reached, and rightly earned, in his fearless march through the field of battle. He now knows the extent of his immediate battle ground, the force of the enemy, the obstacles to surmount, the fortifications to throw up; but, being armed with the Lance of Truth and Knowledge and his path illuminated by his Ray-of- Light, he prepares to descend from his tower and take full possession of his country, or his own individual universe, and, with his queen.

The natural moisture that will bring forth to external life the latent possibilities, or seeds of the soul, is desire, aspirations and creations from material (knowledge) accumulated while traversing the battle ground up to the present plane of warfare.Through the Water of Life knowledge has been born on the journey, so that his bread is the knowledge of good and evil, of polar opposites, and when his eyes take the observations of the flights of the birds the law of contradictories will direct his judgments and his movements.

He has learned the law governing the blind forces of Nature, and now, instead of obeying their orders, he, himself, has become the triumphant master of these forces, and the elements, as well, as the elementals, of each realm are now his servants and slaves, moving and obeying his kingly commands. Another step is taken in the watch-tower, and so cautiously he moved over his ground, and so thoroughly mastered every condition as he proceeded, that now he is monarch of all he surveys from the point of observation that he has reached, and rightly earned, in his fearless march through the field of battle.He now knows the extent of his immediate battle ground, the force of the enemy, the obstacles to surmount, the fortifications to throw up; but, being armed with the Lance of Truth and Knowledge and his path illuminated by his Ray-of- Light, he prepares to descend from his tower and take full possession of his country, or his own individual universe, and, with his queen, reign supreme. “Give us this day our daily food” is herein signified, and it must be drawn by the Divine Center of our being from the infinite ocean of spiritual life.Man can draw, through respiration, all the moisture he wishes to nourish the seeds of immortal life.The breathing known by all true warriors, that breathing of soul to soul, of God to Man, of Man to Woman, of Infinite to Finite, of Great to Small, is the harmonious relationship of polar opposites, and soul affinities will bring the requisite harmony and union of the finite to the infinite.The perfect response of the body to mind, when the interior and exterior breathing is going on alternately, will set the soul free to soar aloft amidst its own special sphere of life, to grow and gain knowledge of its own in the realm of realities, that he may learn their laws, and thus become the master of their reflections on the battlefield of matter.

The wielding of the scepter of aspiration calls forth inspiration, and sets in motion the creative power of thought. Here, again, the warrior is cautioned, in his work of creation, that he create not impossibilities and unthinkabilities, lest they become unconquerable foes on other planes, or rounds, of the esoteric ladder. Is the warrior to create new forms of life, that will prove willing slaves or rebellious tyrants in his kingdom? This is a portion of his breadmaking. This is a generous realm, where the vibrations are set up by the soul’s ardent desires and aspirations, and the creations are limited only by the will.If he has not learned how to watch and wait, listen, and obey the God within, stumbling blocks will surely arise at an unguarded moment, and be as fungi in his kingdom when taking form on the second side of the triangle of this triplicity.In no realm is the reconnoiterer to be more guarded in his movements, for creation follows every action. The Lance is here needed to put to instant flight the false imaginings of the soul before being vitalized and taking on form.

Categories
Blog Elbert Benjamine Genevieve Stebbins Norman Astley Sarah Stanley Grimké

Fact and Fiction in Occult History

The boundaries between fiction and non-fiction are often physical, as in separate sections of public libraries and bookstores. But in the world of occult literature the borders are indistinct between historical novels, authentic memoirs, and fictionalized autobiographies. Most interesting to me are authors who alternate between the genres. Emma Hardinge Britten and Mme. Blavatsky both wrote fiction that was claimed to be non-fiction (Ghost Land, the Mahatma Letters) and non-fiction that discussed some of the same people under their real names (Nineteenth Century Miracles, The Durbar in Lahore.) This has caused endless confusion among Spiritualists and Theosophists, along the same lines as legendary histories of Masonic and Rosicrucian orders. 

27 footnotes were added to the new edition of Tom Clark and His Wife, because Paschal Beverly Randolph’s Rosicrucian novel is full of literary quotes, geographical information about places the author had visited, and historical detail about then-current events during the Civil War and famous people involved in them. All these require explanation to be understood by contemporary readers. Several editions are already in print but none offers any editorial content giving historical context for the 161 year old book.

Sarah Stanley Grimke and Alexander Wilder are finally getting some notice from readers and have good prospects for increasing recognition, thanks to the editorial labors of Patrick Bowen and Ronnie Pontiac respectively as well as my own. Genevieve Stebbins has had considerably more recent scholarly attention, and the new edition of Quest of the Spirit has more new information about her life and partnership with Norman Astley than has ever appeared in print.  Thomas H. Burgoyne and Hurrychund Chintamon were targeted in recent books with outright defamation based on 19th century libels, whereas Grimke and Wilder have been unjustly ignored and forgotten.  The only way to counteract misinformation and disinformation about forgotten authors is to let them speak for themselves to modern readers, which has been the motive for publishing them in new editions. 

Discussion of esoteric groups’ history is frequently distorted by two opposing forces. Propaganda is defined by Oxford Language as “Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” Polemics are defined by the same source as “a speech or piece of writing expressing a strongly critical attack on or controversial opinion about someone or something.” Neither correlates with historical reliability which requires a more neutral and objective tone to be credible.

Categories
Blog Genevieve Stebbins Norman Astley Sarah Stanley Grimké

The Astleys in Carmel Woods

Carmel Woods is an unincorporated community founded in 1922. Although Norman and Genevieve Astley returned to America in 1917, the earliest California address I found was the 1920 census which has them on Del Monte Avenue in Monterey; they first appear in Carmel in the 1926 city directory. They remained here until Genevieve’s death and Norman’s departure for England in 1934.

One remaining puzzle is where Burgoyne and Grimke had lived while writing The Light of Egypt in 1886-88. His mailing address was a post office box in Monterey at the time, but writing a book at Point Lobos would be impractical for someone living in Monterey in 1887, a long horseback ride of fifteen miles round trip, so living in the Carmel area and occasionally going into Monterey to the post office makes sense as a possibility for their living arrangements as co-authors. Here is a community history.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Carmel_Woods

Categories
Blog Genevieve Stebbins Norman Astley Sarah Stanley Grimké

The Monterey Peninsula and The Light of Egypt

This week I visited Monterey and Carmel proceeding to Big Sur and beyond with a friend of many years who now lives in California. Elbert Benjamine’s description of Norman Astley includes Norman taking Elbert to Point Lobos at a place overlooking where T.H. Burgoyne wrote The Light of Egypt. So we went there and were welcomed by docents explaining where an author might have written a book at a place that could be viewed from above. They suggested that this overlook includes the likeliest possibilities.

Categories
Blog Genevieve Stebbins Norman Astley Sarah Stanley Grimké

From Ghost Land to The Light of Egypt

This is the Zoom presentation to the October 2021 International Theosophical History Conference, which opened the proceedings on a rather informal note. The recording I had made for the blog and later posted had audio quality issues which are not a problem here. As for the video, don’t sit in a rocking chair while doing this– but oh well. The following thirteen presentations are all worthwhile and on the playlist.

Categories
Blog Elbert Benjamine Sarah Stanley Grimké

History of the Adepts Book Series in Albuquerque

At the 2019 Church of Light conference I gave a presentation related to the recently published second volume of the Thomas Moore Johnson Correspondence.  In 2021 it became possible to organize a series of publications and to produce affordable hardcovers.  By the end of the year the History of the Adepts Series consisted of five titles by four authors, some paperback, some hardcover.  I have donated copies of each title to the 2022 convention and to prepare conferees would like to explain the relationships among them and my own role in each.   In order of relevance to Church of Light members, in my estimation:

  1. For the Sarah Stanley Grimke Collected Works, I am the sole editor having written all the biographical segments and done all the annotations of the text.  Elbert Benjamine’s mention of Grimke as a co author of The Light of Egypt was the first and only clue in a print book to this effect, but family correspondence at Howard University confirmed it repeatedly.
  2. For Letters to Thomas Moore Johnson, I am the co-editor, indebted to Patrick Bowen for inaugurating the Letters to the Sage project and accomplishing much before I arrived on the scene.  In the second volume, Ronnie Pontiac contributes as much biographical introduction material as Patrick had in the first volume.  For the new hardcover condensation, I am also the publisher.
  3. The Duped Conspirator: Colonel Olcott in the Hodgson Report was originally written for a collection that did not materialize, and grew into a size too large for a chapter and too short for a book.  Hence it is a small booklet featuring Hurrychund Chintamon as pivotal in the Society for Psychical Research Investigation of the Theosophical Society.  For this I am sole author.
  4. Chintamon’s A Commentary on the Text of the Bhagavad-Gita is reproduced as published in 1874 but with new fonts, spacing, etc.  and now available only in hardcover. Here I am publisher but not editor.
  5. Pell Mell: Civil War and Reconstruction in a Carolina Pocosin is not officially listed as part of the series, but the family background of Quakers, Unionists, Native Americans, and Africans in North Carolina all relates to the Grimke family legacy and hence made me sympathetic to writing about them.
  6. Not in print, but online I have published The Quest of the Spirit on academia.edu. for free public access. This 1913 book was edited by Genevieve Stebbins and authored by “A Pilgrim of the Way,” her husband Norman Astley. Before relocating to England after retirement, they had spent twelve years as part time residents of the North Carolina mountains, which ties in to my NC archives research background with Pell Mell.

In future blog posts I will comment on individual cases, but my general comment is that “Religious Studies” or any variation like “Theosophical History” is never a perfect fit for the likes of Wilder, Johnson, Grimke, Chintamon, or the Astleys, all of whom are more interested in philosophy than religion. Interaction among American and South Asian writers and their mutual acquaintances in Europe 1875-1895 about encapsulates all my scholarly expertise. After forty years of immersion in writings of this period it is more clear than ever that the mutual interest and respect was based on philosophy at least as much as religion.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Six new publications

Today marks two years since the initial publication of the Sarah Stanley Grimke Collected Works, following the November 2019 symposium on Thomas Moore Johnson at Missouri State University and the Johnson Library and Museum, in Springfield and Osceola respectively. Initially an essay on the identities of the Chevalier Louis de B was an appendix but later became a prologue, since chronologically Britten influenced Grimke and Burgoyne more than vice versa. The research about Burgoyne presented at the 2019 CofL convention became the epilogue of the new book, and now an appendix about his colleague Hurrychund Chintamon is added. The paperback is now out of print but now the Grimke Collected Works is available as a Kindle ebook at 99 cents. It is also a hardcover priced at $13.99. A new edition of Ghost Land is forthcoming from Typhon Press, and Ronnie Pontiac’s American Metaphysical Religion is forthcoming from Inner Traditions International. Stay tuned for announcements when they are released.

Connected to the newly revised Grimke are two new books. Letters to Thomas Moore Johnson by Alexander Wilder is a $6.99 paperback condensation of the second volume of Letters to the Sage which included a lot of material subsequently published in other books. Finally, my genealogical memoir Pell Mellers (2008, 2013) is now out of print and superseded by a condensation focusing entirely on the late 19th century, Pell Mell: Civil War and Reconstruction in a Carolina Pocosin, which has tie-ins to the Grimke book due to Quaker history in the Carolinas and that of mixed race families (which in both books means triracial, a mix of Native, African, and European ancestors.) It is a $11.99 hardcover.

I intend to be present at the 2022 Church of Light convention and will donate copies of these four paperbacks and three hardcovers for sale at the book table.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Archibald Grimke, Third Leo Decanate

This news story from the summer of 1898 preceded the death of Sarah Stanley Grimke by only a few weeks.

from the First Eighteen Decanates Analyzed:

LEO—3rd Decanate. CORVUS, the Raven, is the constellation picturing the tendencies of people born under the third decanate of Leo. This raven is pictured with wings outspread as if in readiness to fly aloft, but with its feet firmly gripping the back of Hydra, the water serpent. This symbolizes the emotions that are associated with creative energy, for the raven appears to be making a meal from the flesh of the serpent.

In this last portion of Leo we have the love of power and rulership combined with the quality of leadership bestowed by Aries. As a consequence those born under this section of the sky are determined to rise in life regardless of obstacles. And when this tendency is carried to extremes they will sacrifice their associates, their family, and even integrity itself, in order to increase their power. But when their ideals are thoroughly for the welfare of humanity rather than for mere personal aggrandizement, they become of immense service to society through their natural gift of being able to handle others and use them to advantage.

Napoleon I, who attempted to conquer the world by arms, was born with the Sun in this decanate. Dr. Zamenhof, who invented a language, Esperanto, which was to supersede all other languages in the world, had his Moon in this section of the heavens. And Alan Leo, who attempted to give to astrology a world-wide recognition and power, was born with his Ascendant here. It is the decanate of AMBITION.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

From Ghost Land to The Light of Egypt and Back Again

A documentary video based on this presentation is my goal for 2023. As an American whose scholarly research has been almost entirely about US history for 27 years now, I will be most indebted to the European conferees for any light they can shed on the search for Louis de B. Reviewing the list of presenters I see only one fellow American, one Cuban, one Brazilian from the Western Hemisphere. The programme is extraordinarily diverse in European speakers from Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland, two of whom are now in North America.

Categories
Blog Genevieve Stebbins Sarah Stanley Grimké

In Search of Zanoni, 2019 CofL presentation

It was not my intention to create a youtube channel, but posting this conference talk as a video led to that result, and trying to post it on academia.edu put it behind a firewall where only subscribers could see it. So am restoring it as a blog entry with the promise of a sequel by the end of this year.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimke’s Hometown Newspaper on her Marriage

South Bend Tribune

Born April 3, 1850 in the second decanate of Aries. From the Brotherhood of Light lessons, see link in previous post.

ARIES—2nd Decanate. The second decanate of Aries is pictured in the sky by ERIDANUS the River of Life flowing from the never-failing fountain of perpetual youth. Here we find the severity of Mars tempered by the magnanimity of the Sun, which has subrulership over this decanate. It is the Leo section of Aries. And as Leo is natural ruler of the house of love, so the water, symbol of the emotions, bespeaks the affectional influence. Only through the affections, only in the sacred precincts of love, does man quaff the coveted elixir that imparts eternal life. So those born under this section of the sky may well seek this most hallowed source of power. They become rulers of men through their inherent power to sway the minds of others. They are born to lead rather than to serve, for this subinfluence of Leo lends a persistent ambition for power. The heart is somewhat joined to the head, and the more this union is cultivated the better; for the greatest lever for attainment obtainable by the natives of this decanate is a noble affection.

Bismarck, who pioneered in statesmanship, had his Individuality in this portion of the zodiac, the Sun being there at his birth. Le Plongeon, who pioneered in archaeology, deciphering Mayan inscriptions and writing a work on Atlantis, had his Mentality here, the Moon being in this decanate at his nativity. And Annie Besant, leader of the Theosophical Society and economic pioneer, had her Personality in this decanate, it being on the Ascendant when she was born. It is the decanate of EXALTATION.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

The Light of Egypt, 1889, 1900, 1963

Part One of The Light of Egypt, The Science of the Soul, presents itself as the work of a single author, an occultist and astrologer whose themes echo those of Emma Hardinge Britten.  Part Two, Science of the Stars, refers to its authors as “we” and internal evidence as well as correspondence indicates a close collaboration between Burgoyne and Grimké. She had no prior astrological training or background in occultism, while he lacked her philosophical education and training as a writer. They complemented each other’s strengths.

               The 1900 two volume edition added an entire new volume while leaving the first intact as a reprint of the 1889 one volume edition. The publishers took liberties with the name, reputation, and writings of Burgoyne which were expanded in 1963 with a new edition introducing more mediumistic interpolations.   While these editorial actions make most of the writings attributed to Burgoyne  questionable, Sarah appears to have been represented honestly by her publishers other than lack of credit for co-authorship of The Light of Egypt.

               Much of Science of the Stars parallels Grimke’s A Tour Through the Zodiac, as can be seen by comparison of the language and content of the two tomes. The concluding chapter, more metaphysical than astrological in tone, provides the strongest evidence that Grimke played a major role in creation of The Light of Egypt.  This suggestion was originally found in the earliest book publications of Elbert Benjamine from the 1920s, and confirmed by Grimke family correspondence in Washington, D.C.

[this appears as the introduction to a new appendix to the slightly revised Sarah Stanley Grimke Collected Works as available in print on Amazon or online free of charge at academia at the link provided in Recommended Reading]

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Transcript of Interview from June on the Grimkes, Pell Mellers, and Melungeons

The Melungeon Heritage Association is releasing transcripts from its podcast series Melungeon Voices. The fourth episode featuring my interview is now uploaded to academia.edu; the middle section focuses on the Grimke family who have been the subject of many previous blog posts.

Here is that portion of the transcript:

Paul: I got into studying about Sarah, not because of the mixed ethnic heritage of the family that she married into, but because I’m a librarian and even my academic scholarship has had a lot to do with figuring out mysterious literary sources and who wrote this and is it fiction or nonfiction? And that’s…With Madame Blavatsky and Edgar Casey [Cayce], I was working with that. And Sarah is another example where she was only published posthumously in book form a couple of years after her death. But her main claim to fame really was being the anonymous collaborator of a pseudonymous author. And as you get into her family history research, you realize that both of these people were hiding their identities for reasons of family scandal and controversy. And in Sarah’s case, she was a very idealistic young daughter of an abolitionist clergyman from the North who went to Boston and became one of the earliest female graduates of Boston University in 1878, met and married a man who had been an enslaved South Carolinian of a very prominent aristocratic family. His name was Archibald Grimke. Now the interesting thing about why Archie, which I’ll call him henceforth, was in Boston is because he had two aunts who were very celebrated abolitionist firebrands, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, the oldest and youngest daughters of this wealthy planter family who defied Charleston society and the authority of their parents, and the disapproval of everyone around them, to first become Quakers and then become abolitionists and then go up North and never set foot in South Carolina again. So they’re these wonderful heroines of feminism as well, because both of them had a lot to say about that subject. And they discovered in the early 1870s [late 1860s, actually], they read a newspaper story about these two young men named Grimke, who were distinguishing themselves in a scholarly way at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. And Angelina, the younger of the Grimke sisters wrote to them thinking, “There’s got to be some connection to my family.” And he wrote back and said that he and his two brothers were the sons of their brother, Henry Grimke, who had been dead for some years at that point. Well, any other Grimke sister, the ones in South Carolina, would just have been horrified and never communicated again. But these abolitionist ladies were intrigued and said, “We want to make things right to you. We want to help your education.” And they both ended up at Harvard. [Archie at Harvard, Francis at Princeton after earlier connections in Massachusetts.] So this is why Sarah, my Sarah, the second, meets and marries Archie. They have a daughter that they named Angelina, but the marriage breaks up after a few years, basically over a lot of issues, but racial antagonism and conflict had a lot to do with it. And then even after they break up, Sarah wants custody of the daughter, but three more years later, she sends her back to the father saying, “She’s too dark. Everybody’s ostracizing her. She’s really got to live in a black community because it’s scarring her the way people are looking at her and talking to them.”[her] So, Angelina Grimke… And there is a point that I’m coming to about all this… Definitely you look at her, very beautiful, very talented, looks like a black woman in every picture you see, and yet she’s one of those cases where seven of eight great-grandparents was European and only one African. So really knowing what we know about the way things usually turn out the luck of the draw was that Archie and Sarah’s daughter would be somebody who could pass and stay with Sarah, but she didn’t. And this brings up all these traumas in Melungeon history where families split up over color because some people get more discrimination than others and the white ones abandon the darker ones. So that is a very sad element of this. And yet Angelina ends up so much better off because her Uncle Francis, who is the minister, very well respected of a prominent African-American Presbyterian church in Washington, and his wife, Charlotte Fordham [Forten] Grimke had been childless because the daughter  they had right around the time Angelina was born, died in early infancy. So she becomes a surrogate daughter to her uncle and aunt during a period where her father becomes a diplomatic representative to the Dominican Republic and goes away to Santo Domingo for several years of her teenage life. So just a tremendous family. He was a founder of the NAACP. The sister-in-law was a free black, fairly wealthy woman who after the Civil War, decided to go South and become a school teacher in the Sea Islands, helping the Freedmen and has written about it. So, I’ve grown to love every member of this family, even Sarah, who broke the hearts of her husband and daughter, because there’s things to love about all of these people we do research on. But I must say ultimately, it’s the daughter, Angelina Weld Grimke, there’s all this energy from both lines. She writes lots about politics in line with her father and the aunts and everything, but she also writes, is mostly a poet and a playwright. And she has this airy, mystical quality, but very much what we see in Sarah Stanley Grimke. So that’s how I got fascinated. I keep using the phrase going down a rabbit hole because every book I’ve ever written has had this quality of you never realize how far you’re going or where you’re going. You’re just chasing evidence.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Podcast Interview for the Melungeon Heritage Association

The only speaking engagement I had planned for 2020 was cancelled along with the event at which it was to occur, the annual Melungeon gathering. My planned topic for the talk was the Grimke family, but the interview began with a discussion of the last book I authored, Pell Mellers: Race and Memory in a Carolina Pocosin, and concluded with questions about my experience with MHA as past officer. The heart of the interview however focuses on Sarah Stanley Grimke and her husband and daughter. Other interviews in the seven part series are well worth a listen if the topic of the mysterious Melungeons inspires interest in learning more.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNGQ1ODFlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Newspaper coverage of Sarah Stanley’s marriage to Archibald Grimke, Ukiah City Press, May 30 1879

Although each month will bring one astrological update from Horoscope 2020, I also have abundant documents, newspaper stories, etc. involving the Grimkes, the Astleys, and the Benjamines to provide monthly archival updates about them as well. Here is one variation of a story that appeared in newspapers across the nation– still trying to determine the earliest version.

One peculiarity in Sarah’s vital records is that her death was recorded in two counties by two different doctors with different causes of death, on the same day. This gives a new puzzle to solve.

Dropsy in San Diego County according to Dr. Lewis


Chronic mitral insufficiency in Los Angeles County according to Dr. Major
Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah S. Grimke/Thomas H. Burgoyne Synastry

Since we do not have birth times for Sarah’s family members, a more reliable synastry chart for her is with her literary collaborator Thomas H. Burgoyne. Because the Brotherhood of Light Lessons are the sole source of the information about her co-authorship of The Light of Egypt, I am closing this series of Horoscope 2020 reports on Sarah with a synastry chart comparing her chart to Burgoyne’s. He will be the focus of the next twelve months of reports, starting with his own natal chart analysis and proceeding to synastry with relevant others, as well as reviews of his progressions and transits during crucial periods of his life. Below the synastry chart is a grid showing the chart contacts under one degree of orb.

Inner wheel Grimke, outer wheel Burgoyne

As background for an upcoming twelve month series on Norman and Genevieve Astley, I have uploaded to my academia page (free access) the chapters of Letters to the Sage consisting of letters from Burgoyne and Johnson at https://www.academia.edu/43234851/Burgoyne-Johnson_Correspondence_in_Letters_to_the_Sage

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah S. Grimke Special Chart Configurations and Analysis for Each Department of Life (the Houses)

 9. Special Chart Configurations

The following paragraphs identify planetary configurations in your chart that are of special interest.

T-Square

Configuration 1 is a T-Square where:

There is an OPPOSITION aspect between Mars in the 12th House and Moon (Á) in the 6th House with Sun, Mercury and Saturn in the 10th House SQUARE both opposition planets forming a “T”.

The total power of this configuration is 50.51 astrodynes, consists of 10 aspects in total and maps a powerful influence in the life.

This is a discordant configuration referred to as a T-Square, where two planets oppose each other (OPPOSITION aspect) and a third planet forms a SQUARE aspect to both planets in the opposition.

This configuration in your chart involves the planets Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Moon, which govern:

  • behavior relating to construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat and amativeness (Mars)
  • mental attitude, the domestic life, psychic impressions and everyday affairs (Moon)
  • vitality, significance, self-esteem and authority (Sun) and your mental interests, the facility and accuracy of expression and the type and intensity of thoughts (Mercury) and your behavior relating to system, organization, hard work, responsibility, the need for economy, or loss (Saturn)

The departments of life involved in this discordant configuration, indicated by the house positions of the planets involved, are:

  • secrets, disappointments and limitations (12th House)
  • work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm (6th House)
  • career, credit, reputation and mother (10th House)

(See the more detailed discussion of each house in the “Analysis for Each Department of Life” section below.)

The Opposition Aspect

The planets in OPPOSITION are Mars opposing Moon affecting the 12th House and 6th House. This aspect also appears in Configuration 2. Though not as violent as the Square aspect, because of its persistence and power, the Opposition aspect is usually considered the worst aspect. The energies of the planets oppose one another, forcing you to make a choice between the two areas of life (houses) involved in the opposition. This constant struggle between the opposing planets develops slowly and unrelentingly.

In your chart, this means the behavior relating to construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat and amativeness (Mars) expressing through secrets, disappointments and limitations (12th House) are in direct conflict with the mental attitude, the domestic life, psychic impressions and everyday affairs (Moon) expressing through work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm (6th House), forcing you to choose one or the other. The result is that the qualities of these planets, in this case the Mars opposing Moon, are brought into great prominence. Your greatest potential abilities are mapped by oppositions. Many highly successful people have oppositions in their birth charts that they must overcome.

The Two Square Aspects

The two Square aspects in this configuration are:

Sun, Mercury and Saturn mapping the vitality, significance, self-esteem and authority and your mental interests, the facility and accuracy of expression and the type and intensity of thoughts and your behavior relating to system, organization, hard work, responsibility, the need for economy, or loss in your 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother SQUARE BOTH

Mars mapping the behavior relating to construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat and amativeness in the 12th House ruling secrets, disappointments and limitations AND

Moon mapping the mental attitude, the domestic life, psychic impressions and everyday affairs in the 6th House ruling work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm

The Square aspect acts abruptly, brings acute crises, and temporary periods of struggle between the things signified by the two planets and the houses they occupy. It signifies positive lack of adaptation to environment, and consequent conflict.

Discordant aspects force you to overcome OBSTACLES (Square aspects) and SEPARATION (opposition aspects), and thereby build powerful mental and emotional muscle that provide the strength and energy required for outstanding achievement.

Opposition Drain

Configuration 2 is an Opposition Drain where:

Neptune  in the 9th House acts as a harmonious conciliating “drain” to the OPPOSITION between Mars  in the 12th House and Moon (Á) in the 6th House with Neptune TRINE Mars  and SEXTILE Moon.

The total power of this configuration is 11.68 astrodynes, consists of 3 aspects in total and maps a powerful influence in the life.

This is a planetary configuration referred to as an Opposition Drain because there is a planet which acts as a harmonious conciliatory factor between two planets making a discordant Opposition aspect. This configuration indicates an especially potent and harmonious source of Rallying Forces (see Glossary in Appendix) because the conciliating planet breaks up the Opposition aspect between the other two planets by making a harmonious Sextile aspect to one and a very harmonious Trine aspect to the other. The Opposition maps an aerial which picks up planetary energy loaded with separative static. But such an Opposition also maps at each terminal, thought cells into which have been built a tremendous amount of energy. This energy, from both groups of thought cells at the ends of the opposition, is tapped harmoniously by the group of thought cells mapped by the planet making the Sextile and the Trine.

The Opposition Aspect

The planets in opposition are Mars opposing Moon affecting the 12th House and 6th House. This aspect is described as part of Configuration 1.

The Conciliating Trine and Sextile Aspects

The beneficial Trine and Sextile aspects in this configuration are:

The conciliating Neptune mapping the imagination, increased sensitivity, psychic impressions, fantasy thinking, romance, apprehension, idealistic visions or schemes in your 9th House relating to religion, philosophy, social media, and long journeys is…

TRINE Mars mapping the behavior relating to construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat and amativeness in the 12th House ruling secrets, disappointments and limitations. The Trine aspect is the most harmonious aspect and the matters ruled by these two planets and the houses (departments of life) they occupy greatly benefit one another, bringing LUCK to the two areas of life.

AND

SEXTILE Moon mapping the mental attitude, the domestic life, psychic impressions and everyday affairs in the 6th House ruling work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm. The Sextile aspect brings OPPORTUNITIES between the two planets and the houses the occupy, which must be cultivated to realize the full benefit.

To benefit from this configuration, spend as much time and effort in the 9th House as possible to maximize the LUCK (Trine aspect) and OPPORTUNITIES (Sextile aspect) to overcome SEPARATION (Opposition aspect).

 10. Analysis for Each Department of Life (The Houses)

The following paragraphs describe the various departments of life mapped by the Houses in your chart. See the appendix for a more detailed description of houses in general. The most astrologically active departments of life in your chart, in order of importance, are mapped by the 10th House, the 12th House, the 1st House, the 3rd House and the 9th House.

1st House – Personal Matters

The 1st House has dominion over activities of life relating to personality, physical body, physical appearance and demeanor, quality of the personal magnetism, personal prowess, personal matters and general health.

The 1st house is powerful relative to the other houses in the chart, is discordant and while it contains no planets, it does include the power and the harmony or discord of the Ascendant, which is discordant. The house is co-ruled by the Moon, which is mildly discordant and is in the 6th House relating to work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm, indicating that those matters have special influence over 1st House matters. So, for example, events relating to work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm, resulting from your domesticity, affect your personal matters, the personality and physical characteristics.

2nd House – Money and Possessions

The 2nd House has dominion over activities of life relating to money, possessions and personal resources.

The 2nd house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is mildly discordant and contains no planets, but is ruled by the Sun, which is mildly discordant and in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, indicating that those matters have special influence over 2nd House matters. So, for example, events relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, resulting from your self-esteem, affect your money and possessions.

3rd House – Personal Interests, Siblings and Social Media

The 3rd House has dominion over activities of life relating to mental activity, education and personal studies, siblings, neighbors, writing, hobbies, local travel and communications.

The 3rd house is moderately powerful relative to the other houses in the chart. This house is the Best House in your chart, is very harmonious and contains one planet: Jupiter. Jupiter is your Best Planet.

Jupiter in the 3rd House

Jupiter is weak and less active but is very harmonious.

Whatever house is occupied by Jupiter experiences abundance, goodwill and optimism. Jupiter maps the Religious Urges in the unconscious mind, so called because these thought-cells tend to express through veneration, philosophical or religious thinking and faith in providence. Jupiter is also considered a business planet because it manifests abundance, goodwill and optimism and rules the professions in general.

Jupiter in Virgo: Jupiter maps the Religious Urges embracing thoughts and actions relating to benevolence, veneration, hope, devotion, generosity and goodwill toward others. With the religious thought-cells expressing from the “I Analyze” attitude of Virgo, have faith in the abilities of others rather than focusing on their weaknesses.

Jupiter in the 3rd House indicates that the Religious thought cells express primarily through personal studies, sibling relationships, relatives and neighbors. This position shows benefit in all these areas. Personal studies may revolve around religion and philosophy. A desire for education may express for the entire life, not just during youth. Hobbies may be financially rewarding. Cultivating clear thinking, critical thinking and a variety of studies will be to your benefit. The natural antidote for a prominent (powerful) and afflicted (discordant) Jupiter, which can be overly-optimistic or indiscriminate, is to exercise Intelligence (Mercury thinking), using analysis and critical thinking to improve decision-making.

Important aspects to Jupiter

The most powerful aspect to Jupiter is Venus Parallel Jupiter. This aspect is also the best (most harmonious) aspect in the chart and, relative to the other aspects in the chart, is powerful. Venus is in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. See the description of this aspect under “Best, Worst and Most Powerful Chart Aspects” in the section on Astrodyne Analysis.

4th House – Home

The 4th House has dominion over activities of life relating to primarily the home and home life, but also the father, real estate, farmland and its production, restaurants and conditions at the end of life.

The 4th house is of average power relative to the other houses in the chart, is mildly discordant and contains no planets, but is ruled by Mercury, which is mildly discordant and in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, indicating that those matters have special influence over 4th House matters. So, for example, events relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, resulting from your communication, affect your home life.

5th House – Children and Love Affairs

The 5th House has dominion over activities of life relating to offspring and pleasures, love affairs, speculation, stocks, bonds and derivatives, children and entertainment.

The 5th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is neutral regarding harmony or discord and contains no planets, but is ruled by Mars, which is discordant and in the 12th House relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations, and Pluto, which is very harmonious and in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, indicating that the matters of these two houses have special influence over 5th House matters. So, for example, events relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations, resulting from your rashness, affect your pleasure, love affairs, children and speculation.

6th House – Work

The 6th House has dominion over activities of life relating to work environment, coworkers, subordinates and employees, food in general, especially those consumed or prepared, small animals and the conditions surrounding illness or places where illness is treated.

The 6th house is moderately powerful relative to the other houses in the chart, is neutral regarding harmony or discord and contains one planet: the Moon.

Moon in the 6th House

Moon is of average power and is mildly discordant.

Whatever house is occupied by the Moon is subject to ebb and flow, has a significant impact on the mental attitude and the emotions and may be the subject of psychic impressions. The matters ruled by this department of life tend to fluctuate and are the subject of small, insignificant events and everyday affairs. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells in the unconscious mind relate to primarily family life, they are referred to as the Domestic Urges.

Moon in Capricorn: seek honors through serving society rather than through attaining self-centered ambitions.

Moon in the 6th House shows fluctuating health (unless other factors in the chart preclude this), and an ever-changing work environment. Many changes in diet is also indicated, and care with diet is important here. An afflicted (discordant) Moon may bring difficulties with workmates or subordinates, particularly women. You may be skilled with food preparation or find favorable employment in restaurants. There may be a fondness for pets and small animals.

Moon is also involved in two special planetary configurations in your chart:

The first special configuration that Moon is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Sun, Mercury, Saturn and Mars in the 10th and 12th Houses.

The second special configuration that Moon is involved in is an Opposition Drain (See Special Configuration #2 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Mars and Neptune in the 12th and 9th Houses.

7th House – Marriage and Partnership

The 7th House has dominion over activities of life relating to marriage, partnership, the attitude of those met in public, open enemies, competitors and lawsuits.

The 7th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is mildly discordant and contains no planets, but is ruled by Saturn, which is discordant and in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, indicating that those matters have special influence over 7th House matters. So, for example, events relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, resulting from your self-interest, affect your marriage and partnership.

8th House – Death, Inheritance and Other People’s Money

The 8th House has dominion over activities of life relating to legacies and inheritance, gifts, partner’s money and other people’s money in general, fiduciary responsibilities, debts owed to you and the ability of those owing to pay, death, life insurance, taxes and the influence of the dead.

The 8th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, is mildly discordant and contains no planets, but is ruled by Saturn, which is discordant and in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, and Uranus, which is harmonious and also in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, indicating that the matters of this house have special influence over 8th House matters. So, for example, events relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, resulting from your self-interest, affect your partner’s money, fiduciary responsibilities and inheritance.

9th House – Religion, Philosophy and Long Journeys

The 9th House has dominion over activities of life relating to teaching, religion, philosophy, social media, teaching, publishing, long journeys and the courts.

The 9th house is moderately powerful relative to the other houses in the chart, is mildly discordant and contains one planet: Neptune.

Neptune in the 9th House

Neptune is weak and less active but is harmonious.

Whatever house is occupied by Neptune is influenced by subtle and visionary factors. There is something elusive and mystical about the section of life denoted by this house. About the things so denoted, the imagination weaves pictures, and these mental pictures influence the attitude toward reality. Neptune expresses through the imagination, romance, increased sensitivity, psychic impressions, wishful thinking, fantasy thinking, daydreaming, apprehension, idealistic visions or by schemes and thoughts of easy wealth or promotion. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells mapped by Neptune relate to images of conditions more perfect, they are generally referred to as the Utopian Urges. The department of life ruled by the house occupied by Neptune is subject to Illusion in that things are not always as they appear.

Neptune in Pisces: Neptune maps the Utopian Urges embracing wishful or fantasy thinking and daydreaming, apprehension, idealistic visions and lofty spiritual ideas, the imagination, romanticism, platonic relationships and thoughts of easy wealth or promotion of schemes. Neptune is at home in the sign Pisces where it can express more harmoniously. With the Utopian thought-cells expressing from the “I Believe” attitude of Pisces, seek idealism through humanitarian plans rather than through charitable endeavors rather than in pursuing and blindly following the advice of invisible intelligences.

Neptune in the 9th House shows that the Idealistic Urges express primarily through religion, philosophy and long journeys. You will tend to express the ideal in your philosophy and religion. Idealistic opinions are shown. If attracted to spiritual teachers and gurus, take care to distinguish the real from the fake. Expect lack of spiritual pride and egotism in those who profess spirituality or religiosity. Cultivate the ability to get your ideals before the public, but when publicly expressing your ideas and opinions, subject them to critical thinking and practical standards. There may be illusions relating to higher education or travel, and things may not always be as they seem, so clear up the vagueness with critical thinking.

Neptune is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Neptune is involved in is an Opposition Drain (See Special Configuration #2 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Mars and Moon in the 12th and 6th Houses, for which Neptune is the conciliating planet making it a potent Rallying Force. (See Glossary in the Appendix.)

10th House – Career, Business, Credit and Reputation

The 10th House has dominion over activities of life relating to honors, business, credit, reputation, career, superiors and mother.

The 10th house is the Most Powerful House in your chart and is the subject of intense feeling, activity and events. This house is also the Worst House in your chart, is discordant and contains six planets: Mercury, Saturn, the Sun, Venus, Uranus and Pluto. The Sun is your Dominant Planet. Saturn is also your Worst Planet, which is described in the “Worst Planet” section under Astrodyne Analysis above.

Mercury in the 10th House

Mercury is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Moon) and powerful and is mildly discordant.

Whatever house is occupied by Mercury becomes the subject of mental effort. The mind expresses itself readily where the things so denoted are concerned. The department of life ruled by the house occupied by Mercury is subject to thought and the subject of conversation. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells in the unconscious mind mapped by Mercury in the chart relate to the intellectual life, they are referred to as the Intellectual Urges.

Mercury in Pisces: With the Intellectual thought cells, governing cerebral processes, perception, comparison and communication, expressing from the “I Believe” attitude of Pisces, the speech, and expression in general, should be positive and good humored rather than timid or fretful. The best quality of Pisces is sympathy, and its worst quality is worry.

Mercury in the 10th House shows the Intellectual Urges expressing through business, career, honors and reputation. A business requiring brains or public recognition of your business acumen, intelligence or writing skills is indicated. Facility with communication can benefit many business pursuits. This position gives political astuteness, talent in speech writing and executive ability. There may be an interest and/or pursuit of communications, telecommunications, media or publishing. An afflicted (discordant) Mercury may indicate miscommunication, speech disabilities or too many irons in the fire. The natural antidote is to cultivate thoughts of goodwill and tolerance toward others and an abiding faith that things will work out for the best.

Mercury is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Mercury is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Mars and Moon in the 12th and 6th Houses.

Saturn in the 10th House

Saturn is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Sun) and powerful and is discordant.

Whatever house is occupied by Saturn experiences hard work, responsibility, and frugality or loss. Saturn maps that area of the unconscious mind referred to as the Safety Urges because these thought-cells relate to hard work, acquisition, persistence, planning, organization and all things which serve to provide stability, safety and security for the individual.

When especially prominent (powerful) in the chart and afflicted (discordant), these Saturn thought-elements can stimulate discordant thoughts of fear, greed, envy, or self-centeredness, and are responsible for loss, hardship and privation and the necessity of working diligently for every advantage. There can be restrictions of various kinds and heavy burdens leading to emotions which can be morose, melancholy or despondent, leading in some cases to clinical depression, depending also on environmental and hereditary factors. You can benefit from an afflicted Saturn by directing your Safety Urges to express in a constructive manner as when harmonious. (See next paragraph.)

When Saturn is powerful in the chart and harmonious or neutral (that is, not too discordant), then you can benefit from efficiency, economy, organization, hard work, shrewdness and your ability to buy to advantage.

Saturn in Aries: Saturn maps the Safety Urges embracing thoughts and actions relating to safety, secrecy, acquisitiveness, buying, trading, worry, fear, system, order and persistence. With the Safety thought-cells expressing from the “I Am” attitude of Aries, seek security through caution, prudence and circumspection and avoid contentious and abrupt action.

Saturn in the 10th House shows that the Safety Urges express primarily through honor, business, career and reputation indicating vast ambition and great responsibilities. This position shows ability to work hard, be shrewd in business and promote system and organization. If Saturn is well-aspected, moral integrity and hard work result in the attainment of authority, high position and leadership. If Saturn is afflicted (discordant), there is a tendency to compromise principle, pursue actions that sully the reputation or there can be failure in business. Avoid putting ambition and success before honor which can lead to disgrace. Promote system and organization that will benefit society instead of self. As an antidote for an afflicted Saturn, nurture Venus thinking relating to business and career through gifts and favors to others, and cultivate pleasure in social activities, the arts and entertainment. To attract better fortune in this area of life, also stimulate Sun thoughts of your importance and self-esteem and the benefit that you provide others.

Saturn is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Saturn is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Mars and Moon in the 12th and 6th Houses.

Sun in the 10th House

Sun is prominent (being in an angular house) and powerful and is mildly discordant.

When a house (department of life) is occupied by the Sun, those matters are vitalized, pursued with vigor and become a dominant motive in the life that affects your significance, authority and self-esteem. Because the chief expression of the thought-elements in the unconscious mind mapped by the Sun in the chart are directed toward gaining and maintaining significance, and their activity strongly influences the relation of the individual to those in authority, as well as influencing his authority over others, they are called Power Urges.

Sun in the 10th House indicates the Power Urges and personal significance seek to express through leadership in business or politics. There is a great desire for honor and recognition and these things are a dominant motive in the life. When the Sun is afflicted (discordant) care must be taken that authority is exercised wisely and avoid difficulties with bosses, employers and those in authority.

Sun is also involved in one special planetary configurations in your chart:

The special configuration that Sun is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Mars and Moon in the 12th and 6th Houses.

Venus in the 10th House

Venus is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Sun) and powerful and is harmonious.

Whatever house is occupied by Venus has a strong influence upon the affections, and through it an appeal to the affections can readily be made. Mating, companionship, affection and love are expressions of the thought cells mapped by this planet. The things denoted by this house tend to prosper not through effort and initiative, but through kindnesses and favors received because of grace of manners, and following the line of least resistance. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells in the unconscious mind mapped by Venus in the chart relate to the social life they are referred to as the Social Urges.

Venus in Aries: With the Social Urges, embracing the emotions, the affections, social relationships and artistic appreciation, expressing from the “I Am” attitude of Aries, the affections can express ardently and harmoniously rather than being rash and impulsive.

Venus in the 10th House maps the Social Urges expressing through honor, credit, career and reputation. This suggests that others will have a good opinion of you. You may also be socially ambitious. Cultivating artistic and refined methods in business will generally be successful. This position also shows an affectionate relationship to the mother. If Venus is powerful and afflicted (discordant), avoid being too eager to please others and to find the line of least resistance. You will benefit by cultivating firmness and asserting strength of character. Both approaches will please others in the long run. For antidotes to an afflicted Venus, practice caution, system, fairness and foresight (Saturn Safety thoughts), along with thoughts and feelings of pride, firmness and self-esteem (Sun Power thoughts).

Important aspects to Venus

The most powerful aspect to Venus is Venus Parallel Jupiter . This aspect is also the best (most harmonious) aspect in the chart and, relative to the other aspects in the chart, is powerful. Jupiter is in the 3rd House relating to personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings. See the description of this aspect under the 3rd House above.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to Venus is Venus Conjunction Uranus. With 7.97 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful and with 1.99 harmodynes is harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. Uranus is also in the 10th. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows the emotions, social relations and artistic appreciation influence, and are influenced by, sudden events, new acquaintances, and abrupt changes. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing sudden attachments, affectional overtures by unusual individuals, and that the individual powerfully attracts others in a sexual way.

The 3rd most powerful aspect to Venus is Venus Square Ascendant. With 7.08 astrodynes of power, this aspect is moderately powerful and with -5.31 discordynes is discordant, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Ascendant is on the cusp of the 1st House that relates to the effect on the personality, health and personal affairs from the aspects made to it, which, in this case, is the Square aspect from Venus. This discordant square aspect shows that these two areas of life experience obstacles and periods of struggle. The aspect shows the emotions, social relations and artistic appreciation influence, and are influenced by, the personality, physical body and health. This discordant square aspect indicates these factors negatively affect each other showing a personality with charm and grace but with a tendency to being overly pliant, yielding and too desirous of pleasing others and in finding the line of least resistance. Develop strength of character and firmness, which other people will find pleasing, by cultivating thoughts of significance and self-esteem and using caution to avoid making poor decisions in social relations.

The 4th most powerful aspect to Venus is Sun Conjunction Venus. With 7.07 astrodynes of power, this aspect is moderately powerful and with 1.77 harmodynes is harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Sun is also in the 10th. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows the vitality, authority and relations with men influence, and are influenced by, the emotions, social relations and artistic appreciation. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing favors from superiors, good vitality, favors from men, and success in affectional and social matters.

Uranus in the 10th House

Uranus is prominent (being in an angular house) although of average power relative to the power distribution in your chart, and is harmonious.

The thought cells mapped by Uranus powerfully influence originality of thought, and the ability to make marked departures from precedence and custom. Because their chief expression relates to originality, they are generally referred to as the Individualistic Urges. Whatever house is occupied by Uranus denotes things about which radical tendencies are likely to manifest. In the section of life indicated by such a house there are sudden changes and developments of an extreme nature, either constructive or destructive. Whatever good is signified in one direction is accompanied by some lesser disadvantage in another and vice versa. To the extent the thought cells mapped by Uranus are active (powerful in the chart), is the life influenced by thoughts of independence, originality, invention, the unconventional, unusual or new methods.

Uranus in Aries: Uranus maps the Individualistic Urges embracing thoughts and actions relating to independence, originality, invention, the unconventional and unusual, new or radical methods. With the Individualistic thought-cells expressing from the “I Am” attitude of Aries, seek originality through political reform and new ideas rather than through dress and personality.

Uranus in the 10th House shows that the Individualistic Urges express primarily through honor and career, indicating original methods in business and sudden changes in fortune. Uranus brings the unconventional, innovative and inventive to business and career and the radical, or even revolutionary, to politics. You tend to be interested in applying the latest science in your career or business pursuits. Concentrate on original or unusual methods that are valuable, rather than merely different. Cultivate Jupiter thinking that relies on providence, optimism, goodwill and tolerance.

Important aspects to Uranus

The most powerful aspect to Uranus is Uranus Conjunction Pluto. With 9.19 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. Pluto is also in the 10th. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows sudden events, new acquaintances and radical changes influence, and are influenced by, groups, subtle force, and coercion or cooperation. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing that new acquaintances, sudden events and original ideas or new methods make it possible to gain through groups and cooperation. However, under certain circumstances, such as adverse progressed aspects to one or both planets, new acquaintances, sudden events and original ideas or new methods may bring difficulty from groups, and coercion. Pleasant thoughts of faith and trust in a higher power need to be associated with thoughts of group activity and cooperation.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to Uranus is Venus Conjunction Uranus. With 7.97 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful and with 1.99 harmodynes is harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. Venus is also in the 10th. See the description of this aspect in this same house, above.

Pluto in the 10th House

Pluto is prominent (being in an angular house and its close aspect to the Moon) although of average power relative to the power distribution in your chart, and is very harmonious.

Whatever house is occupied by Pluto is subject to inner-plane influence, either for good or ill. The activities stimulated include facilities for cooperation with others and for contacting groups of people. Because the chief expression of the thought-cells mapped by Pluto relate to cooperation for the welfare of the group, and spiritual efforts for the benefit of all, they are generally referred to as the Universal Welfare Urges. To the extent the thought cells mapped by Pluto are active, is the life influenced by thoughts of groups, statistics, division of labor, mass production, inner-plane conditions, drastic events, the inside of things, gang methods, cooperation, coercion, or universal welfare. If Pluto is powerful in the chart and afflicted (discordant), there will be undue pressure brought to bear by others to compel such action as they desire relative to the things the house rules.

Pluto in Aries: Pluto maps the Universal Welfare Urges embracing thoughts and actions related to groups, statistics, inner-plane conditions, drastic events, the inside of things, gang methods, cooperation, coercion, and universal welfare. With the Universal Welfare Urges expressing from the “I Am” attitude of Aries, seek cooperation through attaining constructive political leadership rather than in bureaucratic exploitation.

Pluto in the 10th House shows that the Universal Welfare Urges express primarily through honor, credit, reputation, career and business. Pluto has a high side and a low side depending on how well aspected it is. A well-aspect Pluto in the 10th indicates good credit, honors and career or business benefits through cooperation and the influence of groups. When powerful and afflicted there can be discredit, dishonor or adverse effects relating to career or business resulting from coercion. You benefit from cooperation for spiritual welfare.

Important aspects to Pluto

The most powerful aspect to Pluto is Uranus Conjunction Pluto. With 9.19 astrodynes of power, this aspect is powerful but is neutral regarding harmony or discord. Uranus is also in the 10th. See the description of this aspect in this same house, above.

The 2nd most powerful aspect to Pluto is Moon Trine Pluto. With 5.48 astrodynes of power, this aspect is of average power and with 5.48 harmodynes is very harmonious, relative to the other aspects in the chart. The Moon is in the 6th House relating to work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm. This very harmonious trine aspect shows that these two areas of life experience cooperation to bring good luck. The aspect shows the mental attitude, domestic life and everyday affairs influence, and are influenced by, groups, subtle force, and coercion or cooperation. This very harmonious trine aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together showing benefit through groups and cooperation, a sensitivity to inner-plane forces and spirituality.

11th House – Friends, Hopes and Wishes

The 11th House has dominion over activities of life relating to friends, affiliations, hopes and wishes.

The 11th house is weak and less active relative to the other houses in the chart, but is harmonious and contains no planets, but is ruled by Venus, which is harmonious and in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, indicating that those matters have special influence over 11th House matters. So, for example, events relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, resulting from your affections, affect your friends and affiliations.

12th House – Restrictions and Disappointments

The 12th House has dominion over activities of life relating to secrets, sorrows, disappointments, restrictions, hidden enemies, crime, detective work, large animals, unseen forces and astral entities.

The 12th house is powerful relative to the other houses in the chart, is discordant and contains one planet: Mars.

Mars in the 12th House

Mars is prominent (its close aspects to the Sun and Moon) although weak and less active relative to the power distribution in your chart, and is discordant.

Mars here indicates that forcefulness and energy are expressed through this department of life. Advantage is usually gained through initiative and combat. If loss is indicated by an afflicted (discordant) Mars, there is much struggle associated with it. There will be strenuous activity regarding the things ruled by this house. To the extent the thought cells mapped by Mars are prominent, is the life influenced by thoughts of construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat, sex, eating or drinking. Because the chief expression of the thought-elements in the unconscious mind mapped by Mars in the chart relate to attacking obstacles, they are referred to as the Aggressive Urges.

Mars in Cancer: Mars maps the Aggressive Urges, embracing thoughts and actions relating to construction, destruction, initiative, aggression, combat, sex, amativeness, eating and drinking. With the Aggressive thought-cells expressing from the “I Feel” attitude of Cancer, channel your initiative and emotional energy in constructing a pleasant home and avoid outbursts of temper.

Mars in the 12th House indicates that the Aggressive thought cells will tend to express through disappointment, restrictions or secret activity. There may be injury from secret enemies if Mars is afflicted. If health difficulties are indicated elsewhere in the chart, there may be a tendency toward hospitalization. You may be inclined to keep secrets regarding eating, drinking or sexual activity. Depending on environmental conditions, there may be association with criminal activity, either as an active participant or in police or detective work. You may want to look at exposing and dealing with repressed anger. Fighting to aid and protect the needy and working to alleviate their suffering is beneficial for conditioning the aggressive urges to express in the most constructive way.

Mars is also involved in two special planetary configurations in your chart:

The first special configuration that Mars is involved in is a T-Square (See Special Configuration #1 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Sun, Mercury, Saturn and Moon in the 10th and 6th Houses.

The second special configuration that Mars is involved in is an Opposition Drain (See Special Configuration #2 in the Special Chart Configurations section above) involving Moon and Neptune in the 6th and 9th Houses.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimke Astrodyne Report

 8. Astrodyne Analysis

Through Astrodyne analysis one can analyze the power and harmony of the planets, signs and houses in your chart. The objective of this analysis is to indicate which areas will bring the most benefit into the life and which areas need work. Subsequent sections will explore in more detail the various departments of life (The Houses) and associated key aspects between planets. Below you will find the Astrodyne Table for your chart followed by an analysis of the best, worst and most powerful planets, houses and signs.

The astrodyne table, immediately below, analyzes the power and harmony of each planet, house and sign in your chart. The columns show (1) object name, the absolute astrodyne (2) power and (3) harmony, the Zscores indicating (4) relative power and (5) harmony, and the corresponding qualitative assessment of the relative (6) power and (7) harmony of each element in the chart based on the Zscores. Assessing a relative qualitative score is important because absolute values can be somewhat misleading and there are no “population” statistics from which to judge absolute power and harmony. An asterisk “*” in the power or harmony Zscore columns indicates that the value is an “outlier” which skews the distribution, in which case it is removed and the Zscores recomputed to provide a more accurate picture.

The tables below are a reference summary. The planets, houses and signs, and their influence on you character and fortune, are described throughout the report.

Planets, MC and Asc

Power and Harmony for Planets, MC and Asc
(1) Object (2) Power (3) Harmony (4) Power Zscore (5) Harmony Zscore (6) Relative Power (7) Relative Harmony
Sun 59.40 -17.28 1.36 -0.65 powerful mildly discordant
Moon 38.91 -9.17 -0.50 -0.10 average mildly discordant
Mercury 58.83 -14.13 1.30 -0.44 powerful mildly discordant
Venus 56.56 1.09 1.10 0.59 powerful harmonious
Mars 36.59 -27.64 -0.71 -1.36 weak discordant
Jupiter 26.86 14.75 -1.60 1.52 weak very harmonious
Saturn 56.19 -36.95 1.07 -1.99 powerful discordant
Uranus 45.67 1.35 0.11 0.61 average harmonious
Neptune 27.74 1.12 -1.52 0.60 weak harmonious
Pluto 45.43 10.70 0.09 1.25 average very harmonious
MC 36.70 0.29 -0.70 0.54 weak harmonious
Asc 44.51 -16.02 0.01 -0.57 average mildly discordant

Houses (See later section on Departments of Life for more information.)

Power and Harmony for the Houses
(1) House (2) Power (3) Harmony (4) Power Zscore (5) Harmony Zscore (6) Relative Power (7) Relative Harmony
1st 63.97 -20.61 1.35 -1.02 powerful discordant
2nd 29.70 -8.64 -0.81 0.09 weak mildly discordant
3rd 56.56 6.11 0.88 1.45 moderately powerful very harmonious
4th 43.56 -6.79 0.07 0.26 average mildly discordant
5th 20.51 -4.23 -1.39 0.49 weak neutral
6th 52.34 -1.79 0.62 0.72 moderately powerful neutral
7th 28.10 -18.47 -0.91 -0.82 weak mildly discordant
8th 25.47 -8.90 -1.07 0.06 weak mildly discordant
9th 53.21 -7.78 0.67 0.17 moderately powerful mildly discordant
10th 381.59 -57.88 * * very powerful discordant
11th 28.28 0.55 -0.90 0.94 weak harmonious
12th 66.01 -34.70 1.48 -2.33 powerful discordant

Signs

Power and Harmony for the Signs
(1) Sign (2) Power (3) Harmony (4) Power Zscore (5) Harmony Zscore (6) Relative Power (7) Relative Harmony
Aries 272.40 -48.00 * -1.87 very powerful discordant
Taurus 28.28 0.55 -0.66 0.77 weak harmonious
Gemini 29.42 -7.07 -0.63 0.36 weak mildly discordant
Cancer 100.56 -48.24 1.31 -1.89 powerful discordant
Leo 59.40 -17.28 0.19 -0.20 average mildly discordant
Virgo 56.28 7.69 0.10 1.16 average very harmonious
Libra 14.14 0.27 -1.04 0.75 weak harmonious
Scorpio 20.51 -4.23 -0.87 0.51 weak mildly discordant
Sagittarius 13.43 7.38 -1.06 1.14 weak very harmonious
Capricorn 67.00 -27.64 0.40 -0.76 average mildly discordant
Aquarius 50.93 -17.80 -0.04 -0.23 average mildly discordant
Pisces 136.93 -8.76 2.30 0.26 very powerful mildly discordant

Your Best Planet, House and Sign

Best Planet

The most harmonious planet in your chart is Jupiter, which maps your Religious Urges, and is in your 3rd House. (Jupiter is often the most harmonious planet in a chart because its benefic nature affects all the aspects it makes in the chart.) Jupiter is weak and less active relative to the other planets in your chart. Your Jupiter is in the sign Virgo, which gives it a(n) discerning, analytical and witty nature. Being in the 3rd House, it expresses through activities related to mental activity, education and personal studies, siblings, neighbors, writing, hobbies, local travel and communications.

An alternative to your best planet is Venus, which has 56.56 astrodynes of power and 1.09 harmodynes. Venus is the 3rd most powerful planet in your chart and the 5th most harmonious. Venus maps your Social Urges and is in your 10th House relating to honors, business, credit, reputation, career, superiors and mother.

Best House (Department of Life)

The most harmonious House (Department of Life) in your chart is the 3rd House, which maps life activities relating to mental activity, education and personal studies, siblings, neighbors, writing, hobbies, local travel and communications. The 3rd House has 6.11 harmodynes, is very harmonious and contains one planet: Jupiter. Jupiter is your Best Planet, which is described in the “Best Planet” section. See the section below on Analysis of Each Department of Life (The Houses) for an explanation of the effect of this planet on the affairs of the 3rd House.

The 3rd house has 56.56 astrodynes of power and is moderately powerful relative to the other houses in your chart and thus has enough power to benefit your life.

Best Sign

The most harmonious zodiacal sign in your chart is Virgo, which is on the cusp of your 4th House, and which contains Jupiter. The following table displays correspondences for the sign Virgo from which you may benefit by association.

Table of Correspondences (adapted from The Sacred Tarot by C. C. Zain)
Category Correspondence
Nature discerning, analytical and witty
Association labor, work, analysis, discrimination, wit and science
Letter Egyptian, Beinthin; Hebrew, Beth; Latin, B
Number II, 2
Color darker shades of violet
Tone low B
Human Function clairvoyance
Remedy such herbs as barley, oats, rye, wheat, privet, succory, skullcap, woodbine, valerian, millet and endive
Mineral the talismanic gem Jasper, and among stones the flints

Your Worst Planet, House and Sign

Worst Planet

The most discordant planet in you chart is Saturn, which maps your Safety Urges, and is in your 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. (Saturn is often the most discordant planet in a chart because its nature easily expresses negatively which can affect all the aspects it makes to other planets in the chart.) Saturn is powerful relative to the other planets in your chart. With your Saturn in Aries, your need for security and sense of order are fiery, energetic, and impulsive, especially relating to career, credit, reputation and mother.

The natural antidote for a discordant Saturn is the application of Venus (Social Urges) thoughts and emotions such as cultivating pleasant social contacts, musical entertainment and the arts in general, especially in relation to 10th House activities including career, credit, reputation and mother. Since both Saturn and Venus tend to be negative polarity, to this thought compound should be added Sun thoughts relating to pride, dignity, conscientiousness and self-esteem.

Worst House (Department of Life)

The most discordant House in your chart is the 10th House, which governs the department of life relating to honors, business, credit, reputation, career, superiors and mother. The 10th house has 381.59 astrodynes of power and is the most powerful house in the chart. The 10th House has -57.88 discordynes and contains six planets: Mercury, Saturn, the Sun, Venus, Uranus and Pluto. The Sun is your Dominant Planet, which is described in more detail in the Dominant Planet section above. Saturn is also your Worst Planet, which is described in the “Worst Planet” section. See the section below on Analysis of Each Department of Life (The Houses) for an explanation of the effect of these planets on the affairs of the 10th House.

Worst Sign

The most discordant zodiacal Sign in you chart is Cancer, which is on the cusp of your 1st House. The sign Cancer has 100.56 astrodynes of power and is powerful relative to the other signs in your chart. It has -48.24 discordynes and contains Mars and the Ascendant.

Your Most Powerful Planet, House and Sign

Most Powerful Planet

The most powerful planet in your chart is the Sun, which is generally referred to as your Dominant Planet. The Sun is in your 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother, and is mildly discordant relative to the other planets in your chart. See the discussion of you Dominant Planet above.

Most Powerful House (Department of Life)

The most powerful house (Department of Life) in your chart is the 10th House relating to honors, business, credit, reputation, career, superiors and mother. The 10th House is also the most discordant house in your chart, and contains Mercury, Saturn, the Sun, Venus, Uranus and Pluto. See the section below on Analysis of Each Department of Life (The Houses) for a detailed discussion of this house.

Most Powerful Sign

The most powerful zodiacal sign in your chart is Aries. Aries is intercepted in your 10th House, is discordant relative to the other signs in your chart, and contains the Sun, Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. See discussion of Aries in the Sun Sign section of “Your Key Chart Points and General Characteristics” above.

Best, Worst and Most Powerful Chart Aspects

The following sections describe the most significant aspects between the planets in the chart. (See the Glossary in the Appendix for more on Aspects and how they express.)

Most Powerful Aspect in the Chart

The most powerful zodiacal aspect in the chart is Mercury Conjunction MC. This is a neutral aspect regarding harmony or discord. Mercury is in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. The MC is also on the cusp of the 10th House that relates to the public recognition, for good or for ill, you receive regarding matters ruled by the planets which make aspects to it, which, in this case, is the Conjunction aspect from Mercury. This conjunction aspect shows that this area of life experiences a powerful association. The aspect shows aspect-mercury-mc-neutral – the mental interests, facility or accuracy of expression and cerebral activity influence public recognition and reputation. This conjunction aspect indicates a powerful association between these factors showing public recognition for intelligence.

The most powerful parallel aspect and the most powerful aspect overall in the chart is Mercury Parallel Saturn. This is also the worst (most discordant) parallel aspect in the chart. Mercury is in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. Saturn is also in the 10th. This parallel aspect shows that this area of life experiences an intense relationship. The aspect shows the mental interests, facility or accuracy of expression and cerebral activity influence, and are influenced by, work, responsibility, and economy or loss. This parallel aspect indicates an intense relationship between these factors showing sound judgment, shrewdness, system and order, but potential loss through the mental attitude of anxiety and worry. Pleasant thoughts of significance and social life need to be substituted for worry and anxiety.

Best Aspect in the Chart

The most harmonious zodiacal aspect in the chart is Moon Trine Pluto. At 12.79 astrodynes, this aspect is very powerful. The Moon is in the 6th House relating to work, coworkers and subordinates and/or illness and the infirm. Pluto is in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. This very harmonious trine aspect shows that these two areas of life experience cooperation to bring good luck. The aspect shows the mental attitude, domestic life and everyday affairs influence, and are influenced by, groups, subtle force, and coercion or cooperation. This very harmonious trine aspect indicates these factors work harmoniously together showing benefit through groups and cooperation, a sensitivity to inner-plane forces and spirituality.

The most harmonious parallel aspect in the chart is Venus Parallel Jupiter. At 12.86 astrodynes, this aspect is powerful. Venus is in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. Jupiter is in the 3rd House relating to personal interests, writing, neighbors and siblings. This parallel aspect shows that these two areas of life experience an intense relationship. The aspect shows the emotions, social relations and artistic appreciation influence, and are influenced by, abundance, optimism and joviality. This parallel aspect indicates an intense relationship between these factors showing great benefit from social life and religion, through the favors of others, and in financial matters. If prominent in the chart, there may also be a predisposition to over-indulgence and the squandering of money on pleasures. A tendency toward sensualism and living too much in the emotions may occur. You benefit by cultivating pleasure in resisting the appetites and the impulses, and in using discrimination to make wise choices. Associate these thoughts with the effort to gain higher appreciation of art and beauty.

Worst Aspect in the Chart

The most discordant aspect in the chart is Mars Square Saturn. At 7.30 astrodynes, this aspect is powerful. Mars is in the 12th House relating to secrets, disappointments and limitations. Saturn is in the 10th House relating to career, credit, reputation and mother. This discordant square aspect shows that these two areas of life experience obstacles and periods of struggle. The aspect shows assertiveness, combativeness, amativeness and expenditure of energy influence, and are influenced by, work, responsibility, and economy or loss. This discordant square aspect indicates these factors negatively affect each other showing a tendency to rush enthusiastically into work, but quickly to crack under the strain. Also, when prominent in the chart, there may be a predisposition to accidents or surgical operation. Pleasant thoughts of significance and self-esteem and of affectional matters need to be associated with thoughts of work and responsibility.

Any astrologer looking at my chart can instantly see that Moon conjunct MC in the 9th with a lot of stressful and harmonious aspects is a writing career with dramatic ups and downs. So I looked JUST at synastry to that Moon/MC 1with six individuals with whom I spent years vicariously. With the keywords of what it was like to spend time in their company:

Pluto/Uranus conjunction and Moon trine from Grimke: Obsession, Adventure, and Empathy
Pluto conjunction from Burgoyne: Compulsion
Neptune conjunction from Cayce and the Theosophical Society: Enchantment/Disenchantment
Mars conjunction from Britten: Motivation and a Fresh Start
Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions from Eddy: Money and Hard Work
Moon Opposition, Mercury trine from Olcott: Mirror Image, Best Informant

I also see a transparent bias in favor of Eddy and Cayce that would render me an unreliable narrator—their Cancer and Pisces Suns trine mine in Scorpio, a harmony that would incline me to give them the benefit of every doubt—something that did not contaminate my treatment of Blavatsky, because the person I most identify with in the entire TS drama is Olcott and my books tell the story mostly from his POV. Why? His Sun and Venus conjunct my ascendant might make me inclined to unconsciously want to be his spokesman. 

Friends in the CofL have watched for a decade as my obsession with Grimke and compulsion to figure out Burgoyne has unfolded through the Letters to the Sage project and now the Grimke Collected Works. So it was eerie to see both their Plutos conjunct my Moon/MC, with a trine from Grimke’s Moon meaning it is HER feelings and not his I convey – his remain opaque to me. Chasing after a couple of Aries wild card renegades with multiple changes of address has been a great adventure nonetheless.

The Mary Baker Eddy Library Fellowship program could not be a more ideal illustration of Eddy’s Jupiter and Saturn conjunction to my natal Moon/MC. They gave me $2100 for three weeks of research and I worked very hard there and thereafter, hands down the best research experience of my life in terms of the quality of the collection and skill of the staff, not to mention the beautiful and inspirational setting.

At the conclusion of the series of chart reports on Sarah, I will discuss her synastry with her daughter and husband, concluding with her synastry with co-author Thomas H. Burgoyne before proceeding to his natal chart report.  Burgoyne will be succeeded by Genevieve Stebbins, then Elbert Benjamine, Emma Hardinge Britten, Alexander Wilder, Thomas Moore Johnson, Bronson Alcott, and Mary Baker Eddy.  This forms a chain of influences on the Brotherhood of Light lessons: Sarah influenced Thomas, who influenced Genevieve, wbo influenced Elbert, who praised Emma as a source of Brotherhood teachings, Emma being the woman who drew Alex into the Theosophical movement while the second Thomas, Johnson, in turn got involved through Wilder; Bronson Alcott influencing both Johnson and Wilder through encounters in the 1870s, the same period when Alcott was becoming a friend and supporter of Eddy. 

Finally a word of praise for two Taurus historians that make my work in old age feel more stable and solid than what I wrote about in my younger years.  Seeing both Cayce and the TS as Neptunian influences that kept me in a New Age fog for years in the 90s, seeing Eddy and Olcott like Cayce as appealing but hardly historically reliable, I end up esteeming Emma Hardinge Britten and Alexander Wilder more than the lot of them because they saw themselves as historians.  

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimke Chart Report, Sections 5-7

These middle sections of the report continue to describe the chart according to various measures. At the conclusion of the series of report excerpts, I will offer some comments related to last month’s remarks about the outline of her life and posthumous reputation– KPJ

5. Chart Topology

Planets East and West

With most of your planets on the East side of your chart, you tend to impress the environment with your personality and personal prowess. That is, the virility of a planet to impress the qualities it rules upon environment is pronounced when the planet is on the east side of the chart. Thus, you tend to mold (rather than being molded by) circumstances.

Planets Above and Below the Horizon

The line formed by the Ascendant and Descendant (opposite the Ascendant) divide the astrological chart in half, where planets and houses above the line are above the horizon and vice versa. The higher, or more elevated, a planet in the chart, the more publicity it gets. Planets below the horizon are more private and relate to activities in the life that are generally hidden from public view.

The planets in your chart are primarily above the horizon, and are related generally to affairs in the life that involve activities and events which tend to get public notice.

 6. Indicators of General Temperament and Disposition

The following analysis shows the distribution of the planets among the various elements and qualities of the zodiacal signs, which provides excellent indicators of general temperament and disposition.

(In the analysis below, note that the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Mercury and the Dominant Planet carry more weight in a sign, triplicity or quadruplicity than the other planets and may override a ranking by astrodynes.)

Distribution of Your Planets Among the Triplicities (Elements): Fire, Earth, Air and Water Signs

*Astrodynes
Element Sign Planets in Sign Element
Power*
Fire signs: Aries Sun, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto 345.23
Earth signs: Virgo Jupiter 151.56
  Capricorn Moon  
Air signs: No planets   94.49
Water signs: Cancer Mars, Asc 258.00
  Pisces Mercury, Neptune, MC  

The distribution of planets in your chart among the four elements is mostly Fire (Sun, Dominant Planet, 4 other Planets) with some Water (Mercury, Asc, 2 other Planets, MC) but very little Earth (Moon, 1 other Planet) or Air (No Planets). Fire signs tend to be enthusiastic, optimistic, self-reliant, zealous, courageous. In the sense that you can command others by arousing initiative and enthusiasm, your characteristic quality is INSPIRATION. With very little Earth or Air, try to cultivate a more practical attitude and try to cultivate an increased interest in mental activities and intellectual ideas.

Distribution of Your Planets Among the Quadruplicities or Qualities: Movable (Cardinal), Fixed and Mutable Signs

The zodiacal signs fall into three types: Movable (Cardinal), Mutable and Fixed. The three types are known as the Quadruplicities (there are four signs in each type) or the Qualities. (See appendix.) The distribution of the planets in your chart among the three types determines your level of adaptability, and is a key determinant of temperament.

*Astrodynes
Quality Sign Planets in Sign Quality
Power*
Movable signs: Aries Sun, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto 454.11
  Cancer Mars, Asc  
  Capricorn Moon  
Fixed signs: No planets   159.12
Mutable signs: Virgo Jupiter 236.05
  Pisces Mercury, Neptune, MC  

The distribution of planets in your chart among the three Qualities shows lots of power in Movable signs (Sun, Dominant Planet, Moon, Asc, 5 other Planets) but with some activity in Mutable signs (Mercury, 2 other Planets, MC). There is little power in the Fixed (No Planets) signs. Many planets in Movable (cardinal) signs indicates great activity. You tend to be very active, energetic, and given to change. You break the trails that others follow, and start the enterprises that others finish. The signs of the Movable quality produce people who are PIONEERS. You also have some of the qualities of the Mutable signs such as adaptability. With very little power in Fixed signs, plan to finish what you start and pay attention to details.

 7. Personal – Companionship – Public

The Houses, or departments of life, are naturally grouped into three categories or domains: Personal, Companionship and Public. This is a good indicator of where your interests, desires and energy naturally incline. This can be especially helpful in analyzing close personal relationships like marriage, where partners interests are largely focused in different domains, e. g., public or personal vs companionship. Cultural gender differences can also ameliorate or exacerbate diverging interests and desires.

Power and Harmony Distribution in the Three Society Domains)
Category Pow Harm Points Assessment Rationale
Personal 216.24 -57.84 7 LittleOrNone Asc, 2 other Planets, 3 astrodyne points
Companionship 144.50 -31.29 5 LittleOrNone Moon, 2 astrodyne points
Public 488.54 -74.02 20 Lots Sun, Dominant Planet, Mercury, 5 other Planets, MC, 6 astrodyne points

The distribution of planets in your chart among the three Societies shows that most of your energy, thought and activity involve the Public houses (departments of life). The Public houses (8th, 9th, 10th and 11th) map thoughts, feelings and desires that express through activities that become widely known including partner’s money and legacies, public expression of religion and philosophy, job, career, credit and friends. Little planetary power in the Personal or Companionship departments of life indicates less interest in purely personal matters and interests or the strength of the desires to associate with others through home, children, work and partnership.

 

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimke Decanates Report

This is the second installment from the Horoscope 2020 report and to help provide context I will introduce it with historical background on the subject, Sarah Eliza Stanley Grimke. Based on published historical evidence and then voluminous documentary research, this is what the world knows of Sarah. Her daughter is a much more recognized author than either Sarah or her husband Archibald; both Archie and Angelina had long lives in the public eye whereas Sarah was mostly out of sight and out of contact with them. Indeed, almost all the literature is from their point of view and depicts Sarah as a bad wife and bad mother whose abandonment of first Archie and then Angelina scarred them for life. But my research in primary sources shows a very strong drive and determination to pursue a writing career, and a willingness to pursue it to the ends of the earth.

Her early life was a series of defiant gestures against male authority. Wanting to go to Boston to college because Ann Arbor was too far from the intellectual action; becoming a Unitarian after graduating from a Methodist-affiliated institution; marrying a former slave to the horror of her parents and family; leaving him abruptly to the horror of HIS relatives; sending their daughter away to live with Archie and never seeing either of them again. All to pursue a writing career that unfolded in secrecy as an anonymous collaborator of a pseudonymous author.

Her writing collaboration with Thomas H. Burgoyne was short-lived in 1887-88 and no information has come to light about her years in New Zealand in the 1890s. So there could be another love interest or literary activity yet unknown to history. She returned to the US around 1896 and was reconciled to her parents but not her husband and child. Only after her death in 1898 did she emerge as an author of a book, but nothing of her personally was revealed in said book or known of her for generations.

She prophesied that no attention would be paid to her work until the 21st century, and my recent new edition of her works is the first since 1900.

4. Key Decanates – Overarching Character and Destiny

Each sign of the zodiac is divided into three sections called Decanates. Each decanate is pictured in the sky by one of the original 36 ultra-zodiacal constellations. The pictograph associated by the ancients with each of these constellations illustrates a spiritual parable or allegory that has special significance to those born with their Sun, Moon or Ascendant in that decanate.

Your Sun is in the 2nd decanate of Aries, the Aries-Leo decanate under the sub-rulership of the Sun. The second decanate of Aries is pictured in the sky by ERIDANUS, the River of life, flowing from the never-failing fountain of perpetual youth. Here we find the severity of Mars tempered by the magnanimity of the Sun, which has sub-rulership over this decanate. It is the Leo section of Aries. Leo is the natural ruler of the house of love; water, symbol of the emotions, suggests the affectional influence. Only through the affections, only in the sacred precincts of love, do humans drink the coveted elixir that imparts eternal life. So those born under this section of the sky may well seek this hallowed source of power. They become rulers through their inherent power to sway the minds of others. They are born to lead rather than to serve, for this sub-influence of Leo lends a persistent ambition for power. The heart is somewhat joined to the head, and the more this union is cultivated the better. The greatest lever for attainment obtainable by the natives of this decanate is noble affection. It is the decanate of EXALTATION.

Your Moon is in the 1st decanate of Capricorn, the Capricorn-Capricorn decanate under the sub-rulership of Saturn. CYGNUS, the Swan, with outspread pinions, wings its way from the frozen north towards the sunny southern skies, pictures among the constellations the first decanate of Capricorn. It symbolizes the first news of a new order or things, a retreat from the crystallizing influence of materialism, and the harbinger of the approaching warmth of a spiritual spring.

So we find those born under this influence, when living at their best, to be forerunners of better conditions. They, better than any others, realize the value of system and organization to effect any worthwhile changes. In business or in politics, both of which are spheres of activity to which they naturally gravitate, their greatest asset is in conciliating different factions and inducing them to join in some large merger which will operate more economically and efficiently than could any one faction alone. These people shoulder responsibility readily and become the managers of the world. To live at their highest, they must be permitted to find expression for their talent of co-ordination. It is the decanate of ORGANIZATION.

Your Ascendant is in the 2nd decanate of Cancer, the Cancer-Scorpio decanate under the sub-rulership of Mars. HYDRA, the water-serpent, commences as the middle decanate of Cancer and extends through the sky all the distance from this home constellation to Scorpio, the constellation of death. Representing the Scorpio, or sex, decanate of the domestic sign, those born under it possess much resource and energy, as well as being strongly emotional. The serpent is the symbol of creative energy and the water in which it dwells is the symbol of the strong emotions displayed by these people. So, the traditional struggle of Hercules with this monster is not without significance, for it represents the struggle with sensual desires, as well as a struggle to overcome the limitations imposed by death.

Thus we find that those born here have a natural aptitude for communion with those who have passed to the spirit side of life. If they do not fall into the destructive forms of mediumship, and retain full control of their bodies and minds, they are guided from the spirit side of life in all their worthy undertakings. It is the decanate of REVELATION.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Horoscope 2020 Sarah Stanley Grimke Natal Report, Sections 2 and 3

The information provided by Horoscope 2020 natal chart reports is so voluminous that it will be divided into six monthly blog posts per individual, starting this month with

Sarah Stanley Grimke
04/03/1850
11:03:00 AM GMT UTC+0h – LMT
Scriba, Oswego, New York
076W25’51 43N27’55

 1. Introduction

 2. Chart-level View of Energy Distribution in Your Chart

The following diagrams show where planet, house and sign energy is most prominent in your chart along with areas that are weak in power and of less importance in your life. The size of each balloon shows the power of each chart element relative to the other elements in the chart. See also the sections on Astrodyne and Department of Life analysis further on in the report.

Power Distribution among Planets & Key Chart Points:

As you can see in the diagram below, the most prominent planets are the Sun mapping the Power Urges, Mercury  mapping the Intellectual Urges, Venus mapping the Social Urges and Saturn  mapping the Safety Urges.

Hover over each Planet power balloon for more information.

planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet

Power Distribution among the Houses:

The Houses map the various departments of life. The amount of power (strong, weak or average) indicates the amount of activity in, and importance of, each Department of Life. As you can see in the diagram below, the most important areas of activity in the life are the 1st House (Personality, Personal Matters, Physical Body), the 10th House (Vocation, Reputation, Credit, Mother) and the 12th House (Secrets, Regrets, Limitations).

Hover over each House power balloon for more information.

planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet

Power Distribution among the Signs:

The quality of energy expressed by each planet is modulated by the Sign in which it falls. The Signs with the most planetary energy have the greatest impact on temperament, disposition and natural proclivities. As you can see in the diagram below, the most powerful Signs in your chart are Aries  indicating a nature that is fiery, energetic, and impulsive, Cancer  indicating a nature that is emotional, receptive and sensitive and Pisces  indicating a nature that is sensitive, impressionable and romantic. See the sections on “Your Key Significators” and “Astrodyne Analysis” for more information.

You can also hover the cursor of each Sign power balloon for a brief description of the sign’s influence in the chart.

planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet planet

 3. Your Key Chart Points and General Characteristics

Your character and temperament are a composite of the following key chart points:

Your Sun (sun sign) is in Aries. The Sun is also your Dominant Planet.

You also have 4 other planets in Aries: Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto – indicating that your character and temperament strongly reflect the characteristics of this sign.

Your Sun in Aries is pictured among the constellations by the Ram. The Ram is combative, uses its head in combat, and is the leader of its flock. Like the Ram, you likely require the zest of competition, feel the need for combat, and always strive for personal leadership. The dominant idea of Aries is I AM.

The first sign of the zodiac, it belongs to the element Fire (enthusiasm). A moveable sign, you are an enthusiastic pioneer. Belonging to the first degree of emanation, you are not to be confined or dictated to by others. Every day is a new day. Extremely optimistic you sometimes undertake more than you can manage. Be conscious of the tendency to have too many irons in the fire.

Possessing an intense will, militant power, executive ability, imperious leadership, and a dauntless pioneer spirit, you are ambitious, enterprising, forceful, self-willed, keen, independent, active, and desirous of being in command. Though you are impulsive and fiery, even in apparent rashness you are guided by intellect. Your inherent enthusiasm can lead you to rush into controversy before you have thoroughly examined all the evidence. Once you espouse a cause, you tend to be reluctant to admit you are wrong. Rash in love, bright and lively in conversation, you are inclined to politics where leadership plays an important role. Whether working constructively or destructively, you use creative power, original thinking and your brain to reach your goals. In business, you may tend to overwork.

LEADERSHIP is the best trait of Aries. Take care that strong desires to expand your territory don’t lead to a diffusion of energies. You may also want to be aware of a tendency to develop OFFICIOUSNESS (worst trait of Aries) which is an inclination to interfere unduly in the affairs of others. People resent bossiness and being told how to do things, especially when they think they are already doing well. Leadership by example and kind advice, when asked, will gain you the leadership you crave, and lead to a more successful life.

The Sun is the most powerful planet in your chart, but slightly discordant, indicating that thoughts and events relating to significance and self-esteem are important and need harmonious reinforcement. Avoid being overbearing and dominating by reinforcing pleasant thoughts relating to pride, firmness, conscientiousness and self-esteem, and strive to express the best qualities of Aries.

Your Moon (moon sign) is in Capricorn.

The Moon in Capricorn indicates a reserved and cautious mentality. This is particularly applicable to your domestic environment. When in a nurturing situation and you slip into being cold or austere, actively seek thoughts that encourage you to feel warm and open. Inclined to be conventional, methodical and highly ambitious, you find value in achieving worldly success, money and station. You have an aptitude for bringing together dissenting factions for synthesis and economy. This ability can be a big benefit in managing harmonious domestic affairs. Remember that when it comes to the home, family, children and domestic matters, cultivate empathy and a nurturing attitude.

At your best when given responsibility, you shoulder it successfully. Your best quality is DIPLOMACY. When expressing your best qualities, your Capricorn Moon predisposes you to be exceptionally honorable, but be alert to the worst quality of Capricorn, which is a tendency to DECEITFULNESS. In domestic affairs honesty and openness contribute to a more harmonious environment. Instead of angling to get the advantage, for which you have talent, be mindful of the needs of others. The greatest spiritual exercise any person can perform is to have integrity of character and devotion to the welfare of others. Thoughts ruled by this sign belong to the, UTILITY series. With the Domestic thought cells expressing from the I Use attitude; the mind benefits by seeking honors through serving society rather than through attaining self-centered ambitions.

The Moon is of average power in your chart but slightly discordant indicating that thoughts and events relating to timing, tune, sublimity, philoprogenitiveness and general domestic affairs are important in the life. Reinforce harmonious thoughts relating to care and nurturing of the young and aggressive thoughts of protecting the weak and needy, and strive to express the best quality of Capricorn.

Your Ascendant (rising sign) is in Cancer.

Cancer is a water sign so your personality is likely to express through emotion. You are sensitive to your environment and the feelings of others. Your moods and yearnings are expressed pronouncedly. You more than make up your lack of aggressiveness with tenacity. You tend to absorb ideas and conditions and after digesting them can divert them to your own use. While Cancer tends to not be physically active, you are intensely active assimilating and redistributing sense impressions. Mediumistic, reflective, dreamy, mild tempered, emotional, domestic, you respond readily to kindness, sympathy, approbation (praise), are fond of publicity, and are strongly influenced by your surroundings. The dominant idea is I FEEL. The best quality of a Cancer Ascendant is TENACITY. Your worst quality is TOUCHINESS. You may become upset on hearing unpleasant news, or when you think you have been slighted. With the Personal thought cells expressing from the I FEEL attitude, you benefit by remembering that taking even a small action to remedy a situation is better for your soul than immobilizing yourself with unpleasant feelings.

The Ascendant is of average power in your chart but slightly discordant indicating that thoughts and events relating to your personality, personal prowess, physical appearance, and, to some extent health, are important factors in the life. Reinforce constructive thinking, and/or make constructive changes, relating to these areas of the life, and strive to express the best qualities of Cancer.

The Ruler of Your Personality

The force of your personality, physical prowess, demeanor and appearance are not only a reflection of the power, harmony and zodiacal sign of your Ascendant, but will also reflect any planets in the 1st house or planets in the 12th house that are conjunct the Ascendant.

Mars is in the 12th House conjunct the Ascendant. This planet has influence over your personality, physical appearance and general demeanor.

The chief ruler of your Personality is Mars in the 12th house conjunct the Ascendant. The Moon, by ruling the sign on the Ascendant, is co-ruler.

Mars gives the personality energy and quickness with a nature both amative and combative but can be harsh.

The Moon gives the personality a mild, impressionable and changeable nature that can be moody.

Your Dominant Planet is the Sun.

With the Sun as your dominant planet, you rarely work for others to advantage, unless you are given full charge of your department. You are in your natural sphere of endeavor when you have received a position of importance. You are always at your best when at the head of something. Your best quality is RULERSHIP. Your worst quality is DICTATIVENESS. It is often important for you to realize that undue assumption of superiority really weakens your authority and that consideration of the opinions of others and sympathy with their views will tend toward getting better service. The thoughts ruled by this Sun are called the POWER thoughts.

Your Dominant Sun resides in the zodiacal sign Aries, which is described above.

Mercury: Habitual Modes of Speech and Communication

The zodiacal sign in which Mercury resides indicates the habitual mode of speech and communication via letters, email, and social media.

Your Mercury resides in the zodiacal sign Pisces. With the Intellectual thought cells, governing cerebral processes, perception, comparison and communication, expressing from the “I Believe” attitude of Pisces, the speech, and expression in general, should be positive and good humored rather than timid or fretful. The best quality of Pisces is sympathy, and its worst quality is worry.

Mercury is powerful in your chart but slightly discordant indicating that thoughts and events relating to conscious mental activity, manner of speech, writing, general social communication and mobility are important factors in the life. Reinforce constructive thinking and strive to express the best qualities of Pisces.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimke Collected Works

En route home from Missouri last month, I conceived the idea of getting into print the collection I had posted online as Esoteric Lessons– the original title under which it was published in 1900.  Thinking it would take months to deal with all the details, I was astonished to end up with a publication date of December 1. It is now available for order on Amazon, and I look forward to the first batch of author copies soon.

Ultimately I added so much new material that a new title for the collection seemed appropriate.  Esoteric Lessons was chosen posthumously by the publisher who kept secret the lives of his authors who wrote as “Zanoni.”  The new book has separate introductions to each of Sarah’s publications, an appendix on her relations with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor by Patrick Bowen, another appendix on the Chevalier Louis de B_, and a preface by the editor.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Tour Through the Zodiac

A Tour Through the Zodiac: The Collaborator

(conclusion of Esoteric Lessons of Sarah Stanley Grimke, Appendix A, Letters to the Sage, Volume Two)

Some of the most influential authors in 19th century occultist circles were women writing about male adept heroes, for example Emma Hardinge Britten and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Often they used male alter egos to express claims that were actually reflections of their own experiences. “The adepts” were described in masculine terms, yet their greatest propagandists were women. In the case of The Light of Egypt, to the extent that she was Thomas H. Burgoyne’s co-author, Grimké joined the ranks of female writers giving authorial credit to male adepts. This primary doctrinal book of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor is as mysterious an example of pseudonyms as any book produced by Theosophists, Rosicrucians, or Spiritualists. Burgoyne, the most prolific author associated with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, was its secretary for several years after its founding in 1884. Born in Douglas, Isle of Man, in April 1855 as Thomas Henry Dalton, he was living in Bradford, Yorkshire as of the 1881 census which found him married to Betsy Bella Prince and father of two children. His earliest known correspondence with Brotherhood members was from Burnley, Lancashire in early 1886, but by May of that year he had relocated to White County, Georgia, with the family of H.B. of L. co-founder Peter Davidson, having left his own family in England. Establishing an H.B. of L. colony in America was a failed venture, but the Davidson family successfully established themselves in their new community. Burgoyne continued his journey westward and within a year had arrived in California where he began a collaboration with Grimké.

The name T.H. Burgoyne was a pseudonym adopted around the time the H.B. of L. was founded in 1884; within a short time it was revealed that his real name was Thomas Henry Dalton (sometimes d’Alton), and that he had served six months in prison in England in 1883 for advertising fraud. This news was spread broadcast by Theosophists who saw it as a way to discredit a rival organization. The ensuing controversy destroyed the H.B. of L. in England, but not in France where it continued to thrive, nor in America where Dalton arrived as Burgoyne with Peter Davidson and family in 1886.[i]   Burgoyne had been using Zanoni as a pen name ever since the first issue of The Occultist was published in England in 1885.  Zanoni was a Rosicrucian themed 1842 novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in which the adept teacher of the title character was named Mejnour. Peter Davidson, Provincial Grand Master of the North of the original H.B. of L., wrote under the latter pen name. Zanoni’s identity was so well concealed that Emma Hardinge Britten was twice accused by Theosophists of authoring The Light of Egypt. In response, Britten heaped praise on Burgoyne and scorn on his attackers, and later wrote a glowing review of his book.[ii]

Why would former close associates of Emma Hardinge Britten presume her to be the author? The Light of Egypt continues the occult mythos and doctrines of Art Magic and Ghost Land more than do any of Britten’s own later Spiritualist books. It is also more in line with Isis Unveiled than are any of Blavatsky’s later Theosophical books. Burgoyne’s Zanoni positions himself as successor to Ghost Land’s Chevalier Louis, with Britten’s encouragement and support, in a chain of neo-Hermetic adepts. The 289 page edition of 1889 was succeeded by a 1900 edition, which included an additional 174 page Volume II. Returning after many years to add a second volume in a more mature voice is a parallel feature of Burgoyne’s Zanoni and Britten’s Louis.

Burgoyne first traveled to California in 1887, after time in Georgia with Peter Davidson’s family, in Topeka, Kansas with H.B. of L. member W.W. Allen, and in Denver with what was becoming the largest local group of Brotherhood members. (See Volume One for data on the membership of the H.B. of L.) Meanwhile, in early 1887 Sarah sent her daughter Angelina to live in Hyde Park with her father, after which she appears to have spent at least the next year in California. The precise contribution of Grimké to The Light of Egypt was later described by Elbert Benjamine as assisting with The Science of the Stars portion of the 1889 edition.  It seems the work of a more disciplined and better educated writer than the preceding Science of the Soul portions, which echo Burgoyne’s earlier periodical writings, influenced by the examples of Britten’s Art Magic and Ghost Land.

Like Ghost Land, Isis Unveiled, and other works of the period, the contested authorship of The Light of Egypt invites the reader to distinguish among authorial voices. Book II of the 1900 edition is explained as Burgoyne’s “posthumous contribution” which was “dictated by the author from the subjective plane of life (to which he ascended several years ago) through the laws of mental transfer, well known to all occultists…”[iii] Burgoyne’s Zanoni is a male echoing a succession of female authors, thus a mirror image of Britten and Blavatsky’s adepts and Masters. One of the most salient echoes of Chevalier Louis is Zanoni’s claim to have made “personal investigations, extending over a series of years in England, France, Germany, Austria, and the United States, with various types and phases of mediums.”[iv] In The Key to Theosophy, Blavatsky the continuity of adepts “used as sledge-hammers to break the theosophical heads with” which “began twelve years ago, with Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten’s `Louis’ of Art Magic and Ghost-Land, and now ends with the “Adept” and `Author’ of The Light of Egypt.”[v]

The writings of Sarah’s final decade reflect collaboration with Burgoyne, but the place, time, and circumstances of their association are unknown. A possible clue about her travels written during her lifetime is a letter dated 29 December 1890, in which the Reverend W.A. Ayton wrote from Chacombe Vicarage to Francis G. Irwin:

We knew the whole history of Burgoyne, and that he had been a curse to every one who employed him, a thorough deep-dyed scoundrel. We know all about him since he has been in America. He left a wife and family in England, but has married again there. The last I heard was that if he sees 2 or 3 men in the distance approaching his quarters he turns pale and trembles. It is supposed he has been guilty of something which puts him in mortal fear, and that he contemplates going off to Australia.[vi]

Sarah was posthumously revealed to have lived in the Antipodes in the early 1890s, but not in Australia.

More than ten years passed before Archibald and Angelina received any further news of Sarah. Her death in California was reported to them from Hartford, in a letter dated October 1, 1898, written by Emma Austin Tolles to Angelina.

I am very sorry to be the bearer of sad news though Mrs. Stuart may have told you, for she has been informed of your dear mother’s passing on to higher planes…She never ceased to love you as dearly as ever and it was a great trial to her to have you go away from her, how great God alone knows, but it was the only thing to do…She had every thing done that could be done, she wrote me just as long as she could make a mark but finally grew so weak she could not hold a pencil. The nurse says she wanted her watch sent to you and there may be some thing else- they will send it probably to Mrs. Stuart and she will give it to you.[vii]

However, when Tolles praises Sarah as a distinguished author, she refers not to Mrs. Stuart’s teachings but to The Light of Egypt:

Your mother, dear Angelina was one of the most wonderful souls that ever came to this planet.  When you are old enough to understand I will tell you about her wonderful career.  This world has been a scorching fire through which she has passed and now she has gone to a reward that few of us can conceive of—Her book “the Light of Egypt” is the most wonderful book of modern times though she says it will be one hundred years before the world will recognize it—She nearly lost her life in writing it but her soul never flinched from a duty. She had two or three friends who have stood by her from first to last, who have considered it a privilege to do so.[viii]

Just over a month passed before Moses Stanley wrote to Butler Wilson about complications involving Sarah’s estate. The correspondence seems to imply that neither he nor anyone in the family had yet contacted Archibald directly, and that Sarah had sworn them to secrecy in the matter of her whereabouts, known to Tolles, Stuart, and the Wagners and to her Stanley relatives but concealed from her husband and daughter. Stanley addressed Wilson as the attorney for Mr. Grimké, asking him to consult with the bereaved husband on Sarah’s estate, which consisted of $529 in the Hibernian Trust and Loan Society of San Francisco. “When she realized that she must die she sent her Bank Book to Dr. Wagner her publisher & friend, evidently desiring him to pay her debts and forward the balance to Nana, and so also we instructed him.”[ix] Archibald’s response must have been encouraging of further confidences, as on November 16, 1898, Moses replied to him:

Sarah’s action in regard to the money is to me perfectly unaccountable. When she left for New Zealand, she deposited in the British Columbia Bank of San Francisco $1000 sending me the duplicate draft, with orders, if she died, to draw the money and pay it to Nana.  She knew she was liable to sudden death at any moment. On the street, in Auckland N.Z. near the Post Office, she had a heart failure, and fell. The physician brought her to, and she decided to return home; but he told her she would never live to reach America with such a heart – she surely would be buried in the ocean. But she reached home, and was with us a year and a half and went to San Diego to die of poison.

It was her wish that Dr. Wagner should draw the money – pay her bills and forward the balance to Nana, but sent no check with the Bank Book.

Dr. Wagner is a Physician, Publisher, and literary man.  He published her book on Oriental Philosophy – a book of some 400 pages, which has been through six Editions and some pamphlets – and with the Bank Book she enclosed an unfinished story.[x]

Stanley asked for the cooperation of Archibald Grimké in resolving the need for an estate administrator in California, as Henry Wagner had “relinquished all idea of having anything to do with the money business when he sent the Bank Book to Mrs. Tolles for Nana.”[xi] The last letter that Archibald received from Moses about his late wife’s demise was written in Detroit on February 18, 1899. The bereaved father wrote “I did not tell you, I could not – of the last sad scene of her earthly life – a scene that forever hallows the waves of San Diego Bay. By her request, her friends, at the setting of the sun, gathered on the shores, and a few went out in a boat, carrying the urn that contained her ashes, and scattered them over the limpid waves. So there is not now a vestige of our dearly beloved one remaining.”[xii] He told Archibald that her letters were usually signed Sarah, sometimes S.E. Stanley, and enclosed one written in Auckland, New Zealand, in which Sarah lamented that “O if I only had Nana with me how much happier I should be.”[xiii]

Angelina’s last communication about her mother’s writings from Emma Austin Tolles came on January 3, 1900, a date that inspired enthusiasm about the new century:

My dear Angelina: How queer it seems to write 1900!  – 1881 closed the Cycle and we entered upon a new one, the most important and momentous of our Race- It will last about 2000- years then the 5th race- will begin to go down… It is only natural that you should write for your mother and Father are both talented in that direction—Do you write on the impulse, spontaneously or by deliberate applied effort?  Do you get impressions as you used to get them?  There was a time when you first came to me that you used to see and hear clairvoyantly and clairaudiently?[xiv]

A trace of the Christian Science origins of the Stuart group can be found in the reservations Tolles expresses about material medicine:

I am glad you like your school and studies- I think it an excellent training—and very beneficial to health.  I do not think much of the Medical Profession—M D’s as a profession studying into matter, body, which is the effect, ignoring mind and Soul where causation lies. The human body is a wonderful beautiful instrument, and it is an instrument, that is just what it was intended for the Soul is or should be the operation which this instrument under complete control.[xv]

One of Angelina’s earliest literary works is a poignant expression of grief at the loss of her mother; Sarah’s death being only the final confirmation of a loss that occurred when Angelina was put on a cross country train by herself at the age of seven.  In the Selected Works of Angelina Weld Grimké, the story “Black is as Black Does: a Dream” is classified as fiction, but to the reader familiar with her family history the “story” does not read as fiction. Published in the Colored American Magazine in August 1900, it seems to reflect the encouragement from Emma Austin Tolles earlier that year for Angelina to engage in writing that was impulsive, spontaneous, and perhaps clairaudient and clairvoyant.  It is her encounter with Sarah on the other side:

It came to me one, dark, rainy, morning. I was half awake and half asleep. The wind was blowing drearily, and I listened to the swish of the rain on the glass, and the dripping from the eaves and as I lay listening, I thought many things and my thoughts grew hazier and hazier until I fell into deep slumber.

Then, methought, a great feeling of peace come upon me, and that all my cares were falling from me and rolling away—away into infinity. So I lay with my eyes closed and this great feeling of peace increased and my heart was glad within me. Then some one touched me lightly on the shoulder and eyes, and my heart gave a great bound, for I was not prepared for the loveliness of the scene, that now burst upon my sight. All around stretched a wide, green, grassy, plain. Each little blade of grass sang in the gentle wind, and here and there massive trees spread their branches, and the leaves sang, and the birds, and a river that passed through the meadow sparkled and sang as it sped on its way. And listening, I heard no discord, for all the voices flowed into each other, and mingled, and swelled and made one, grand, sweet, song.  I longed to sing too, and lifted up my voice, but no song came so that I wondered. And a voice at my side, answered, “Thou art not one of us yet.” And the voice was sweeter than the babbling brook, tenderer than the voice of a mother to her erring child, lower than the beating of the surf upon the short. Then I turned to see whence the voice came, and as I looked I fell weeping on my face.

For there stood before me a figure clad in white, and as she moved she seemed like a snowy cloud, that sails over the sky in the summer-time, and a soft light shone above, around, behind, illuminating her, but it was not for this that I fell weeping. I had looked upon the face, and the truth that shone forth from the mild eyes, the sweetness that smiled around the mouth, and all the pity, the mercy, the kindness expressed in that divine countenance revealed to me how wicked I was and had been. But she took me by the hand, bidding me arise, and kissing me on the brow.  And between my sobs I asked, “Where am I?” and the low voice answered, “This is heaven,” and I said, “Who art thou?” and she answered “One of the lovers of God.” And as she she spoke that name, the heavens brightened, the grass sang sweeter, and the leaves and the birds and the silvery river, and looking up I saw that she was no longer by my side, but was moving over the plain, and turning she beckoned to me. And I followed.[xvi]

As Angelina’s experiences of the afterlife continue, she reveals herself as her father’s daughter and introduces the theme of racial injustice that will dominate her drama, fiction, and nonfiction in the new century.  She witnesses a black murder victim being made whole and sent heavenwards, after which his white murderer is condemned to hell. “I saw that his skin was white but his soul was black. For it makes a difference in Heaven whether a man’s soul be black or white!”[xvii] This suggests that her visionary encounter with Sarah reveals the literary legacy of both parents; the introspective style of her poetry and fiction shows traces of Sarah, but the political subject matter of her nonfiction and drama is invariably a continuation of the Grimké-Weld family heritage on both sides of the color line. In her 2016 study Aphrodite’s Daughters, poetry scholar Maureen Honey comments that the effect of her mother’s abandonment was apparent in the way Angelina “not only obsessively returns to moments of longing, regret, and sadness in her poetry” but that “her speakers also commune directly with the dead through transcendental mergers with the natural world.”[xviii] This recurring theme appears in her earliest childhood verses, prompting Honey to comment that “For a young girl to meditate on death in such a lyrical, even romantic, way suggests deep wells of grief and loss soothed by the imagined embrace of lost dear ones in an unseen celestial sphere free of pain.”[xix] She concludes, “These efforts to maintain a loving relationship with her daughter clearly meant something to the seven-year-old Nana, for she kept these letters the rest of her life and they repeatedly express the idea that separated loved ones could fashion an enduring bond in a spiritual realm.”[xx]

 

[i] Ship passenger list, S.S. Manitoba, May 5, 1886.

[ii] The Two Worlds, May 8, 1891, 301, unsigned review by editor Emma Hardinge Britten.

[iii] The Light of Egypt (Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger, 2003), Vol II, xi

[iv] Ibid., Vol. I, 82.

[v] H.P. Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1889), 302.

[vi] The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Christian Chanel, John Patrick Deveney, and Joscelyn Godwin, eds. (York Beach, Me.: Samuel Weiser, 1995), 354.

[vii] Angelina Weld Grimké papers, Series A, Box 38-2, Folder 19.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series A, Box 39-1, Folder 6, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[x] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 39-3, Folder 74, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xi] Ibid.

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] Ibid.

[xiv] Angelina Weld Grimké papers, Series A, Box 38-2, Folder 19.

[xv] Ibid.

[xvi] Angelina Weld Grimké, Selected Works, 213-214.

[xvii] Ibid., 217.

[xviii] Maureen Honey, Aphrodite’s Daughters (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2016), 62.

[xix] Ibid., 72.

[xx] Ibid., 77.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Controversies

Part 4 of 5, Esoteric Lessons of Sarah Stanley Grimke

Controversies

James Henry Wiggin always gave frank advice to Eddy in his role as editor, after giving up the Unitarian ministry which he had long practiced in the Boston area.  He explained to her “If I see a rock ahead in a friend’s track, in one sense it is none of my business which way his craft takes; yet in another sense I feel constrained to speak: and that answering her critics would be beneath her dignity and that of the Journal.” Wiggin was editor of the Christian Science Journal from 1886 until 1889 and worked intermittently as an editor for Mrs. Eddy in the 1890s. He offered advice similar to that provided some years earlier by William Stuart, but perhaps older and wiser in the wake of negative publicity by 1888, she took his advice to heart when he cautioned against engaging in controversy with her enemies. For example, on July 1, 1888 he commented about two such proposed articles “Don’t allow yourself to be led into the printing of these articles. Yr cause can not afford it – There is trouble enough in yr camp, & unwisdom shd not be allowed to aggravate it. Such documents will make outsiders laugh, while yr judicious friends grieve.”[i] The Journal did however repudiate both Stuart and Grimké in 1887.

A debunking 1887 article in the Century entitled “Christian Science and Mind Cure” described the teachings of Stuart and Grimké as well as those of Edward Arens.  The author James Monroe Buckley quoted Stuart making extreme claims for her mental treatments, for example “A woman came to me who had suffered five years with what the doctors called rheumatism. I happened to know that the death of a child had caused this effect. By silently erasing that picture of death and holding in its place an image of Life, eternal Life, she was entirely cured in twenty minutes.”[ii]  In another quoted passage Buckley extends his ridicule of Stuart to her experiments with mental treatment of animals, a case of mange in a dog named Carlo.[iii] In August 1887, the Christian Science Journal (under Wiggin’s editorship) felt compelled to dissociate itself from both Stuart and Grimké in the wake of the critical article in the Century that used the term Christian Scientist to refer to various dissidents. It noted that “Mrs. Stuart studied at Metaphysical College, but also with Mr. Arens, and no longer affiliates with the College Association; and Miss Grimké was never in the Founder’s classes.”[iv]

The only other reference to Sarah in the Journal had appeared in a letter from “M.W.” of Columbus, Wisconsin in the January 1885 issue.  The writer dismissed an unnamed work by “S. S. Grimké,” which would be Personified Unthinkables, along with two other recent Mind Cure publications in which there is “nothing added to your first words which cover all the ground.”[v]  This contrasts sharply with elaborate praise directed at Sarah Moore Grimké and her sister Angelina, as well as the still-living Theodore Weld, in the April 1886 issue.  An unsigned article “Two Noble Sisters,” presumably written by Wiggin who had recently become editor, extolled them in the highest terms from the perspective of a personal acquaintance.

Eddy seems to have been deeply disappointed by Miranda Rice’s defection.  In October 1877 she had a vision of John the Revelator, in which “To Miranda he said, pointing her to me, ‘here is your first duty, to help her, to support her, and for this you have been set apart.’”[vi] Three years after her defection, Eddy forwarded some correspondence to Rice, adding a note which said “I whom you have so DEEPLY wronged can forgive you and rejoice in any good you may do for the cause for which I have laid dowall of earth that you and others might gain heaven.”[vii]   Forgiveness does not seem to have been Eddy’s attitude toward Elizabeth Stuart. The only instance of Eddy relating Stuart to themes in her classes is found in the Joshua Bailey’s notes of her Primary Class of March 1889. It consists of disconnected fragments that are hard to decipher, but the gist is that Stuart’s “cancer” had been caused by mental malpractice and that she “shut her heart against Mrs. Eddy.” She went on to discuss a case of Stuart having gotten a cinder in her eye, which was instantly cured in class when Mrs. Eddy spoke, but thereafter Stuart herself took credit for the healing. Somehow Cyrus Bartol was connected to this incident, and discussed it with Eddy, who told the class that a recent article in the Journal “showed reason of hating Mrs. Stewart, about rabbit, cats, birds…would take children next.”[viii] As extreme as this language seems, Archibald Grimké and his old friend and mentor Frances Pillsbury shared an equally negative view of Mrs. Stuart.

There is no return address on the April 25, 1887 letter in which Sarah announces to Archie that she is returning Angelina to him after two years of sole custody, on grounds of race. Another letter in the Moorland-Spingarn archives suggests that Sarah was in Kansas with Angelina that spring. Angelina received a letter from her former teacher Frances Morehead dated June 26, 1887: “I think you were a brave girl to take such a long trip alone. Did no one have the care of you all the way from Kansas to Boston?”[ix] Sarah wrote:

Within the past few weeks I have been obliged to suspend all work and I now realize that it is for the best good and happiness of little Nana that she should go to you at once. She is so very happy at the prospect of going to see her papa that – I am quite reconciled to resign her to you (at least for the present). She is really much more like you than myself and you can control her better than I have been able to do. In many ways I have been too strict – in others, not strict enough. But just now I am both physically and mentally unfit to have the care of her at all. She needs that love and sympathy of one of her own race which I am sure her father still has for her; but which it is impossible for others to give… I am in hopes to resume my work of teaching in the Fall and may visit Hartford, Ct. during the season still I leave the future to take care of itself, only trying to do the very best possible for the present.[x]

The only dated letter from this period was written July 15, 1887.  Sarah wrote that she was very happy to learn of the Fourth of July celebrations in Hartford where Angelina had been with Mrs. Tolles and friends, “A new doll, – a new dress and a glorious Fourth of July with fire crackers and torpedos etc. etc. makes me feel, too, as though I were having a good time with you in Hartford.  I know of No place which has such a hold upon me as Hartford. I expect I shall come there some time, but not yet. I do not know when.  It may be a long time.  There is some hard work for me to do first.”[xi]

Elizabeth Stuart proclaimed the mission of her new group on the final day of a historic conference that included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass.  Her address was given April 1, 1888 at the International Council of Women convened in Boston by the National Woman Suffrage Association, under the title “The Power of Thought”:

The imaging faculty is the highest known to man; through it he expresses the ideal, and it is the means by which he expresses to the senses whatever intellect accepts, thus forming the relation between mind and body. Through that open door fear enters and stamps upon the body distorted, untrue mental images, which physicians name, then proceed to try to erase from the body….[xii]

It does not appear that Sarah was able to return to Hartford, and just over a year later she announced her intention to leave the United States.  On May 11, 1888 she wrote to Archie asking for a divorce, and informing him that she intended on reverting to her maiden name:

Our marriage relationship exists only in name, and can never be otherwise. These thoughts have recently assumed more definite shape owing to my having received very favorable offers of literary work abroad… In preparing to leave the U.S. I wish to reassume my maiden name, also to have this whole matter settled once and forever, and as promptly as possible…Should you refuse to grant so just a settlement of the inharmony existing between us, I can only say, that it will make no difference to my plans. I shall leave the U.S., and reassume my own name, just the same. Still I would prefer to have our separation made legal, so as to be on friendly terms with you, and to remain in communication with Nana.[xiii]

Sarah’s only book was published two years after her death, without a word of explanation about the author’s life and ideas. It includes two short works published during her lifetime, and one longer work that first appeared in Esoteric Lessons in 1900. Astro-Philosophical Publications of Denver was the publishing arm of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, and Esoteric Lessons was overshadowed by the organization’s major text, The Light of Egypt, published the same year in a newly expanded two volume edition. The 1889 one volume edition of The Light of Egypt was published under the pseudonym Zanoni, which in 1900 was linked to Thomas H. Burgoyne, alleged to have died in 1894. The publishers provided no more information about Burgoyne than about Grimké, and both have remained enigmatic ever since. For the historical detective Grimké is even more elusive in some ways than Burgoyne, and the circumstances of their collaboration remain mysterious despite years of research. Both of their lives during this period are shrouded in mystery, and their writings provide few clues to the historian. Published by a secret society, this book is also the work of a secretive author or authors.

Although Esoteric Lessons is written in the first person, its narrative is devoid of personal attributes and refers neither to individuals nor groups. The purely philosophical tone reveals its author only in terms of her abstract ideas. The Light of Egypt, by contrast, is somewhat more historically revealing about Burgoyne and his sources. Only with the 1995 publication of the compilation The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was much known about the order’s founders in England and its history in France.  The recently published correspondence of Thomas M. Johnson, the Brotherhood’s Council President in the US during the mid-1880s, provides the first detailed portrait of its American membership.  A letter from Burgoyne to Johnson reveals that soon after Grimké joined the Brotherhood in 1886, her published works became required reading for all members. This was despite the fact that they are purely a product of her interests in Mind Cure and Transcendentalism prior to affiliation with the H.B. of L.; only the third treatise in this book was written during her neo-Hermeticist phase.

[i] James Henry Wiggin to Eddy, July 1, 1888, IC 349(a).

[ii] James Monroe Buckley, “Christian Science and Mind Cure,” Century Magazine, July 1887, 423.

[iii] Ibid., 426

[iv] “The Stir in the Century,” Christian Science Journal, August 1887.

[v] Letters, Christian Science Journal, January 1885.

[vi] Eddy to unknown recipient, accession #A10207.

[vii] Eddy to Miranda Rice, March 22, 1884, accesssion #V00809.

[viii] Joshua Bailey Class notes, March 5, 1889, Accession A12065.

[ix] Maureen Honey, Aphrodite’s Daughters (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2016), 76.

[x] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 39-3, Folder 79.

[xi] Ibid., 15 July 1887.

[xii] National Women’s Suffrage Association, Report of the International Council of Women (Washington, D.C.: Rufus H. Darby, 1888), 420.

[xiii] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 79.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

First Lessons in Reality

This is the third consecutive excerpt from Letters to the Sage, Volume Two, from the appendix on the literary career and family history of Sarah Stanley Grimké

Personified Unthinkables, published in Detroit in 1884, reflects the influence of Cyrus Bartol and his doctrine of mental pictures. Sarah’s marriage to Archibald Grimké had brought her into the orbit of his Hyde Park relatives, who like Bartol were Unitarians with a sympathetic interest in Christian Science. Another Hyde Park resident adopted mental pictures as a key element in her own belief system. First Lessons in Reality, published two years later, reflects the influence of Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart, who had treated Sarah for heart disease and attributed her organic illness to her despairing husband. The dissolution of her marriage had begun when Personified Unthinkables was published and was complete by the time First Lessons in Reality appeared. Stuart was part of a group resignation from the Christian Scientist Association in 1881, and had formed an independent New Thought organization, named Light, Love, Truth, in the interval between Sarah’s two publications. J.F. Eby, Printer, of Detroit was the publisher of each, implying that these first two sections were self-published. Only in the final portion of Esoteric Lessons, A Tour Through the Zodiac, do we find evidence of association with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, whose leaders published the collection after Sarah’s death.

The entire record of Elizabeth’s Stuart’s affiliation with Mary Baker Eddy is dated in a single year. In her first letter dated January 25, 1881, Stuart referred to Eddy’s “visit to us and your words of encouragement” and expressed her “earnest desire to heal the sick through the Understanding of Truth” which had already “met with a good share of success” despite the fact that she had been unsuccessful in becoming “free from some old Beliefs.” This was as a result of having had surgery for removal of a fibroid tumor the previous winter, which had left her with residual symptoms that made her fear a recurrence. She asked Eddy for “seven or ten treatments or Lessons, for the unfolding of my spiritual perceptions” and asked the cost.[i]

Two months later, Stuart wrote again following a meeting of the Christian Scientist Association that Eddy had been unable to attend. She alluded to a suggestion by Eddy that Edward Arens was trying to deter her from embracing Christian Science, writing that “I am not easily moved from a firm determination, and I have not the slightest fear of Dr. Arens if my weapons are not stronger than his, then let me go down…we will return Good for Evil and thus disarm all enemies.”[ii] She closed with an expression of desire to take class instruction from Eddy, writing “I will wait with patience the summons to the feast.”[iii]  In April, she and Jane L. Straw addressed a formal joint request to Eddy: “Having become mystified, by one Edward Arens, with regard to the Science of Healing, we now come to you, to learn that which, we believe, him incapable of Teaching, namely, Metaphysics.”[iv] Stuart’s next, undated, letter was entirely focused on Eddy’s struggles with Arens over his plagiarism of Science and Health. She advised Eddy to let the matter “die a natural death,” arguing that “it is too low for your name to be associated with him in the Courts….work silently and we will work with you: vanquish him that way.”[v]  Stuart and Jane Straw issued an undated statement repudiating Arens: “We studied Mrs Eddy’s system of metaphysical healing of Edward J Arens but he did not teach it and we did not understand it as we have since learned. And we did not learn of him how to heal the sick according to metaphysics.”[vi] In June Stuart and Straw were among 22 signers of an affidavit defending Eddy against criticisms from her former students: The signers testified “that we have studied Mary M.B. Eddy’s system of metaphysics” and “know her to be a highly conscientious pure minded Christian woman.”[vii] The same week, Stuart and others personally appeared before a Justice of the Peace in Essex County, and swore under oath to the truth of the affidavit.[viii]

Although Eddy chose not to prosecute Arens for plagiarism, she did denounce him in a revised third edition of Science and Health, which Stuart had advised against doing.[ix] In a third, undated letter, Stuart addressed Eddy as “My Darling,” and explained that her wish to visit her in Lynn had been thwarted by her own health problems. On Monday October 15, she reported being better, able to go into the city by train to visit her own patients, and confident that “the dawn is breaking the clouds are tipped with roseate hues, and soon very soon our horizon will be cloudless. Their poisoned arrows can no more penetrate the armour of Truth than the worm which crawls at your feet can pluck the Stars from the firmament. Each arrow rebounds with double force upon its owner.”[x] Although Stuart had reported to the other students that Arens would “order his students to ‘take up’ Mrs. Eddy mentally,” she was disinclined to believe this had affected Eddy’s health.[xi] The last letter she wrote to Eddy was an undated note written later in October, which closed with assurance of support in the struggle with Arens, but her methods apparently were so repellent that Eddy never replied: “Mrs. S. – and – myself will fasten our fangs into them and Compel them to Stop, I will not leave you night nor day, but will employ my Thoughts like hot Shells unto their camp. God will help the Right and vanquish the foe.”[xii]

The group resignation from the Christian Scientist Association was dated October 21, only six days later. Stuart and seven others signed a proclamation to the effect that Eddy’s “frequent ebullitions of temper, love of money, and the appearance of hypocrisy” left them no choice but to “most respectfully withdraw our names from the Christian Science Association and Church of Christ (Scientist).”[xiii] Five days later on October 26, with Mrs. Eddy in the Chair, the CSA met at her home and unanimously passed a vote to the effect that “your unchristian communication of Oct. 21, 81, renders you liable to Church disipline” and that “You are hereby notified to appear before the Church of Christ (Scintist) at 8 Broad St. Lynn on Monday Oct 31 At 5 P.M. To answer for unjust proceeding.”[xiv] None of the dissidents attended, but ten days later the remaining members voted to expel Howard, Rice, and Rawson for conduct unbecoming a Christian Scientist.

On November 2, Eddy wrote to William Stuart, objecting to his “highly improper language and false statements” to an unnamed male disciple which revealed how he was influenced “by the silent arguments of those lying in wait to fulfill their threats to ruin my reputation and stop my labors for the uplifting of the race.” Eddy protested that she had refused to accept Mrs. Stuart as a patient but accepted her as a pupil after “ceaseless IMPORTUNITIES.”[xv] Less than week later, on November 8, Eddy wrote to Clara E. Choate blaming James E. Howard and Miranda Rice for swaying the other six to resign  “I have learned for a certainty that Howard and Mrs. Rice carried the other five by making you the issue.”[xvi]  When Howard, Rice, and others were subsequently expelled on October 31 for conduct unbecoming a Christian Scientist[xvii] Stuart was expelled on the lesser charge of unconstitutional conduct, yet she was singled out for more criticism in subsequent years than any of the others who resigned simultaneously.

The harshest criticism was made in an article that in its final version concealed the name of Elizabeth Stuart and the author of the piece. Edmund G. Hardy’s “Workings of Animal Magnetism,” published in August 1889 in the Christian Science Journal, was published after extensive editing by Calvin Frye.  The proofs of Hardy’s original text survive in the Mary Baker Eddy Library and are far more revealing than the final product.  Hardy had given a report of his acquaintance with Stuart and Eddy to a recent class instruction and was requested to repeat the information for the Journal.  He wrote:

Six years ago I went for healing to Mrs. William Stuart, then claiming to heal by Christian Science in Hyde Park, Mass. After receiving relief, and as I then believed healing, I sought to know the process by which she was enabled to do this work…This search led me to “SCIENCE AND HEALTH,” and then to Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Eddy very kindly gave me nearly an entire evening, during which I related my experience. She spoke no word denouncing Mrs. Stuart, but did call to my attention the false and the true teaching, and said to me, “I hope, Mr. Hardy, that when you study you will get the truth.” I returned to Mrs. Stuart, joyful in the thought that I had met Mrs. Eddy, but imagine the confusion of mind when I was met by the one whom I believed to have healed me, with the declaration that Mrs. Eddy had departed from the path of Science, into selfishness, mesmerism, &c., and assured me that she had used this power on the very night of my call to make her sick; that she never was so sick in her life as at the very time I was in conversation with Mrs. Eddy.[xviii]

Hardy reveals Stuart in 1883 as intensely antagonistic and competitive towards Eddy, making accusations of mesmerism, just as she was gaining an unhealthy influence over Sarah, according to her husband and his family.

Theodore Weld had been present with his fellow Hyde Park Unitarian William Stuart at a May 25, 1881 meeting of the Christian Scientist Association, where they both were listed as “visiting friends” who participated in remarks about the “good of the order.”[xix] William Stuart was a pall bearer for Theodore Weld in 1895, but for much of the intervening period there was tenstion between the families. Although Weld was an early Mind Cure enthusiast, his only letter to Mrs. Eddy was a denunciation of gossip in which she had engaged with an unidentified “Mrs. S.,” probably Elizabeth Stuart. He wrote on November 21, 1881, complaining that his niece Mrs. Day had heard reports of gossip that she was regarded as “a perfect disgrace to the family” who “dressed herself as she did in order to attract the notice of gentlemen” and that the family “wished she would go back where she came from.” Weld indignantly denied all these charges, writing “To all of this I have only to say- that none of us ever had the least suspicion that Mrs. Day had in her styles…gait in walking & independent manner, expression of countenance, erect attitude & dignified…presence which distinguishes her the least thought of thereby attracting the notice of gentlemen or any others. That air manners &c were born with her & it is a personal idiosyncracy & nothing else. As to a disgraceful family history connected with her none of us ever heard or suspected the existence of any such thing…ever said that she was a disgrace to us—never thought…never known or heard that some one questioned her moral character in the least particular.  She has always moved in the most respectable circles of society & has always been well regarded & spoken of…entitled to distinguished consideration.”[xx]

Sarah’s involvement with Elizabeth Stuart would lead to the end of her marriage. At the time of her separation from Archibald, the response of Moses Stanley shows that he was no racist opponent of the marriage, but earnestly hoped to save it. In May 1883 Archie wrote to his father in law after Sarah had announced that she did not intend to return to Boston from a vacation she had taken with their daughter Angelina to Michigan:

She seemed unhappy – she was unwell.  I believed that much of her ill health was caused by the inactive & apathetic life she was living – but still I think we might have got from under the cloud but for the happening of one of the most important events in our marriage life.  It was Sarah’s treatment by Mrs. Stuart.  You know about Mrs. Stuart?  Well her theory is that every disease is produced by some fear.  Each patient she treats she endeavors to discover the cause of the disease.  It is no matter what cause she has fastened on as the pregnant one—if she could make Sarah believe it—it of course will produce some effect proportioned to the current of the belief of the patient.  She found the cause and occasion of Sarah’s ailments to be grounded in her relations to me.  What Sarah lacked was something positive—some active principle—Mrs. Stuart declared that Sarah’s relations to me had destroyed her will—her individuality—had reduced her to a state of mental and moral subjection. She held me up before Sarah in the character of an oppressor—a selfish & lordly man—mark you however this woman had never seen us together but once & knew nothing of us except what Sarah had told her & what she had added too by the aid of her imagination…. I felt that to be called an oppressor when I had not scrupled to do all the house work—such as washing dishes—emptying chamber pots—sweeping rooms—making beds—taking in the clothes—in short doing without a murmur every thing which women ordinarily were accustomed to do— & all to save my wife—yes sir to be called an oppressor & the author of my wife’s diseases—seemed more than I could or ought to bear. I called Sarah’s attention to the fact that she had been sick before she knew me at all—that Dr. Sofford [Daniel Spofford—ed] who treated her when a student in Boston University had told me that she was diseased + naturally delicate—that before she left home at all her life had been despaired of by her own statement the Drs. At Ann Arbor had pronounced her disease of the heart organic…[xxi]

Moses replied on May 22, 1883, from Mackinac Island, “You are both dear to me and I earnestly wish & desire to do what shall be for your mutual good. I think you are correct as to the cause of all—poor health & the most extremely sensitive organization.  She has never been well since she had the scarlet fever in her 4th year.  She went to Boston an invalid, & it is ungenerous as it is unjust, for Mrs. Stuart or Sarah or anyone to charge you with her poor health so please stick that arrow in the fire & never let it prick you again. You are conscious of having done what you could to make her happy— let that comfort you.”[xxii]

Archibald Grimké and his old friend and mentor Frances Pillsbury shared an equally negative view of Mrs. Stuart. Pillsbury had been headmaster of the Charleston school in which Archibald and his brothers were enrolled at the end of the Civil War, and was instrumental in arranging for them to study at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Her husband Gilbert, brother of famed abolitionist Parker Pillsbury, had been the Reconstruction mayor of Charleston for several years.  They returned to Massachusetts before Archie went there to study. In an 1873 letter written soon after his arrival at Harvard, Frances exulted in his good fortune to be embraced by his Grimké aunts and Theodore Weld, and recalled the last time she had seen him, sailing away from South Carolina:

Ah! Archie, when I think of you a halo of light and happiness seems to surround you, & a great happiness lightens my thoughts. That you are really at Cambridge drinking from the very fountain you desire, that you are so perfect yourself, winning love & respect from all—that you are beloved & cared for by the noblest and tenderest of families your uncle and aunt Weld is more than a satisfaction…Thank heaven for the flowery harbor into which the storms have driven you!”[xxiii]

Frances Pillsbury became Archie’s closest confidante after Sarah left, judging from his extant correspondence, and she shared his sense of outrage at the role of Elizabeth Stuart in inciting Sarah to end the marriage. The flowery harbor of life in Boston was to become stormy, and Archie blamed the Welds’ friends and neighbors the Stuarts more than he blamed Sarah. In an undated letter from 1883, Archie wrote to Moses Stanley blaming Elizabeth Stuart not just for instigating Sarah’s original departure, but also for undermining Stanley’s attempt to reconcile them. “I wrote Sarah in the terrible agony of my grief to have mercy on me- I prayed her forgiveness- I besought her save me with her love- the appeal touched her her love & tenderness & loyalty reasserted themselves for a moment—Mrs. Stuart hearing that Sarah was irresolute whether to go or return wrote her a pack of falsehoods—about what I had said to my uncle about her. And this the second opportunity slipped by me & was lost.”[xxiv]

In his first letter to Sarah after she announced that she would not return from Michigan, Archie made very clear that he considered the Stuarts to blame:

You are in no condition at present to view this matter dispassionately & fairly. You can only see your side – & your side as it has appeared to your friend Mrs. Stuart. I do verily believe that you are entirely under her control, & cannot think your own thoughts or do your own will if she interferes…Well then dear the morning that you intended to leave- you will remember that I asked you whether you intended to return & I then said that if you stayed in Mass. I would take Nana away from you- & Mrs. S? I had an indefinite apprehension that you & others were plotting against me- that your action for two months or six weeks was the result of some secret understanding between you & others, I felt that the Stuarts were in this – that morning when I said I would take Nana away from you it was because I somehow felt that you might go to live with the Stuarts & take Nana there & defy me to take her or to have any thing to do with her. [xxv]

Evidently Sarah had complained that Archie had induced the Welds to consider her insane, and Stuart had been the bearer of this message, as he continued:

Do not say that I have destroyed or shaken the trust of the Welds in your word or sanity—For Uncle Theodore discovered the above discrepancy between the statement which you made to Mrs. Stuart & the one which you afterwards made to him – & this my dear he volunteered to tell me. And as to the matter of your sanity- he said that he discovered something in your countenance which suggested possibilities in the direction of insanity long before he ever spoke to me about you.[xxvi]

Frances Pillsbury began to serve as a go-between, or informant, as soon as the bad news arrived.  On May 24, she wrote to Archie that she had received a letter from Sarah in Ann Arbor, in which “She said in the letter that I should be surprised to hear from her out West and also should be shocked if you “had written me any particulars,” as he obviously had done.[xxvii]  On June 27 she followed up with a report that she had written Sarah as Archie had desired: “Have written six pages—all about the farm & flowers & carriage house. I told her the carriage was newly painted and covered to be ready to carry Nana & Sarah to ride when they returned! I said not a syllable that would show that I knew anything about affairs.”[xxviii] Her next letter, written October 8, blames Moses Stanley for harboring Sarah rather than sending her home to Archie: “For it is in his power to send your wife & child back to you, if he chooses—Sarah would never stay away in this manner if her relatives showed her the wrong of it. Now Archie I have thought of one way to open the Reverend clergyman’s eyes. This is to write him an anonymous letter giving him an account of Mrs. Stewart’s witchcraft- of her ascribing demonic powers & acts to you – of her outrageous money making & promising patients to nine other weak women in the same village &c &c—I think that kind of ointment for Mr. Stanley’s eyes—would be equal to the clay that Jesus used in the blind man—it would cause him to SEE.”[xxix] It is unclear whether or not she did so, but in November she reported having gotten another letter from Sarah. The reply in question was enclosed and was a terse communication that opened a period of great stress over Angelina’s custody. “Thanks for your kind letter, enclosing one from Archie. In reply I have only to say that I do not intend to ever return to live with Archie….P/S/ I should be glad to know explicitly Archie’s wishes, or intentions in regard to the child, since she is legally his. S.S.G.”[xxx] Although there is no known connection between Gilbert and Frances Pillsbury and Christian Science, Parker was later to write very cordially to Eddy, whose sister had married a Pillsbury cousin in New Hampshire decades earlier.[xxxi] An April 3, 1891 letter from Eddy to Laura E. Sargent ends with a PS asking “How do you like Parker Pillsbury’s pamphlet? [xxxii]  A note in the files of J.C. Tomlinson’s 1907 reminiscences indicates some pride in the association with “the well known Pillsbury family the members of which have attained wide celebrity in business and in Reform movements”.[xxxiii]

Sarah sent Archie a mixed message about Angelina’s support on September 22, 1884, writing “I wish to be assured that you fully relinquish your claim to her person, and freely entrust her care and education in my hands. And, further, I wish to know whether in so doing you would still consider it a pleasure as well as a duty to assist in her maintenance.”[xxxiv] She also asked Archie how much he would be willing and able to contribute monthly or annually. His reply was dated September 26, and he assured her “that I consider your claim to Nana’s person higher than my own, that your wishes and interests in regard to her person and education to take precedence over mine in all respects when yours and mine are in non agreement” and also “that had I the moral right to decide as to her custody & education I know of no one to whom I would more fully & freely commit the dear little girl than to your mother love & dutiful care.” While considering it a duty and pleasure to provide financial support, he was unclear about Sarah’s remark about relinquishing his claims, asking if “in case of your death before me, I am not then to claim my child?” and concluding by asking for a suggested amount needed for Angelina’s support. Although his investments had failed and his income was meagre, he saw prospects for financial improvement in the “public position & reputation” he had recently attained. In a postscript he reminded Sarah of a life insurance policy of two thousand dollars which would be due to her in the event of his death.[xxxv] Four days later she wrote a reply, thanking him for his letter and the enclosed check and proposing two hundred dollars per year as a fair amount for child support. She assured him that “in case of my death before yours, no one will dispute your claim to your child. I only wish to be equally certain that I am not liable to have her taken from me at any moment- even if I should do so unlikely a thing as to visit Massachusetts again.”[xxxvi]

This arrangement was only to last three months, as on January 11, 1885 Sarah changed her mind and wrote to Archie that she had “come to realize that it is not for the best good & happiness of our little girl to be brought up under divided claims. As matters now stand, she is legally yours, and while you support her, you have claims, and also, she is yours in case of my death. But she ought to be either wholly yours or wholly mine. I therefore wish to assume, at once, her entire support & education, & in case of my death I wish her left free to choose between you & my people.” Thanking him for his past services, she concluded with an ominous remark that seems directed at his friendship with the Pillsburys: “And allow me, now, to most solemnly warn you that the one you call your good fairy is your evil genius, in that she prompts you to seek fame & power instead of Peace & Good-will. The Earthly, instead of the Celestial.”[xxxvii] On January 18 he replied that he was greatly surprised by her change of heart, having considered the recent agreement a final conclusion to discussion of competing claims. While he could not understand what motivated this sudden decision, he felt that he “must trust that you understand fully what you wish & that it is indeed for the best good & happiness of our little girl” but left the door open to further reconsideration on her part. Sarah’s change of heart seems to have coincided with a change in Elizabeth Stuart’s status, as she had decided to create her own independent Mind Cure group which would use Sarah’s lessons as part of its curriculum. In December 1884, Sarah H. Crosse wrote a letter to the Christian Science Journal addressed “To Whom it May Concern” warning that “An aggressive outside element of which the public should be informed is this: Many are assuming the name `Christian Scientist’ who never belonged to the Christian Scientist Association; some even who have been expelled from it. This mixes things. Long before the people in Hyde Park heard of metaphysical healing, or Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart was taught it by Mrs. Eddy in 1881, the name was given by Mrs. Eddy to this organization, and none but its members have any right to it.”[xxxviii] This implies that Stuart was seen by Christian Scientists as an unscrupulous usurper, but she seems to have abandoned use of the term “Christian Science” the following year.

In May 1885 Elizabeth Stuart taught a class in Hartford, Connecticut, which was followed in December by her student Leander Edmund Whipple becoming a mental healer there. This ultimately led to Hartford becoming the center for her group’s work, which had already been organized in Massachusetts and New York under the name “Light, Love, Truth.” The triangular symbol adopted by the group was interpreted to mean “Life cannot be manifested apart from Love and Truth. Love cannot be separated from Life and Truth. Without Truth there can be neither Life nor Love.”[xxxix] In August 1885, Sarah announced a correspondence class entitled “First Lessons in Reality, OR The Psychical Basis of Physical Health.”  Pupils were directed to write to her at 31 Milwaukee Avenue, Detroit, her parents’ address. The method of instruction was explained: “Each member will receive a list of questions, together with a copy of the lesson to be studied.  Answers are to be prepared by the student and forwarded for correction, explanation, etc., after which the MS. Of the student will be returned, and a second lesson and list of questions received for study.” The course consisted of thirteen lessons, with a tuition fee of $10.00, “students paying their own postage.”[xl]

At the beginning of 1886, Archie made one final effort to reconcile with Sarah, writing to her that “after two persons are married they should, where it is at all possible, endeavor to live together” and in light of Angelina’s welfare, “I therefore Sarah earnestly write you to return home so that together we may take up life’s duties until death do us part” which he signed “your husband.”[xli] Her reply does not survive and perhaps never was made directly, but that summer she wrote to their former landlady in Hyde Park, Mrs. Leverett. This letter apparently expressed another change of heart about Angelina in light of Archie’s next letter to her, dated July 12. He wrote: “Mrs. Leverett showed me your letter on Saturday morning in answer I desire to say to you that I would be very happy to take our dear little Nana & devote my life to her—You might then remain where you now are or if otherwise inclined return with the dear little one to the home which has had its door open to receive you every day & hour since you left it more than three years ago. My means do not allow me to discharge my duties to Nana by any other arrangement. Tell Nana that her dear Papa wants very much to see her tho.”[xlii]

During the first years of the group Light, Love, Truth, Sarah appears to have been the sole published author of lessons.  Neither Mrs. Stuart nor her close colleague Emma Austin Tolles of Hartford became published authors, but the Grimké correspondence affords several clues to her role as amanuensis for their group.  Most of her letters to Angelina from the period are undated and lack return addresses, but internal evidence shows their sequence. References to Elizabeth Stuart and Emma Tolles are abundant.  In summer 1887 Sarah wrote to Angelina, “My dear little Girl; Your good letters have reached me safely with Mrs. Tolles letters” asking later “Have you been away any where with Mrs. Stuart.”[xliii] Angelina was evidently in the company of both Tolles and Stuart during her years at school in Hyde Park, where the Weld family had apparently reconciled with the Stuarts. Sarah’s initial move to California might have been influenced by the presence in San Francisco of Miranda R. Rice, a former colleague of Mrs. Eddy who had seceded from Christian Science ranks the same day as her sister Dorcas Rawson and Elizabeth Stuart. Sarah did not remain in the Bay Area; although First Lessons in Reality was published in Detroit, its foreword was signed Los Angeles, California, June 1886. Weeks earlier, on April 3, Sarah had signed her pledge in Los Angeles as a member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. While in California, Sarah wrote to her daughter indicating that her friend Mrs. Rice had seen Angelina at Mrs. Stuart’s: “I have just had a letter from Mrs. Rice and she tells me she saw you one day at Mrs. Stuarts.”[xliv] Emma Austin Tolles evidently was concerned that Angelina have proper clothing, as shown by another 1887 letter from Sarah: “If you like the things Mrs. Tolles sent I wish you would write and thank her. She tells me she has some new shoes for you and some other things almost ready to send – you know her address –“[xlv] following up in her next letter:

I most sincerely hope that you can go and see Mrs. Tolles some time in Hartford. She has been a very good friend to you in the past, and will be in the future. You can depend on it…Your good letter made mamma very happy.  I want you to improve in your writing as fast as you can, so as to write lessons and books when you get older, just as mamma does.  Then, you know, you can go to California, or Detroit, or any where in the world you wish. I am glad the things from Mrs. Tolles reached you all right.  Has she sent you shoes yet? I am glad you have such jolly times at Mrs. Stuart’s, with Mr. Stuart, and with Maggie…Mamma is very much better now, and has already gone to writing on the lessons again and hopes to finish them this time.  I hope my little girl is both good and happy in Hyde Park.[xlvi]

[i] Elizabeth G. Stuart to Eddy, January 25, 1881, IC 507.

[ii] Elizabeth G. Stuart to Eddy, March 24, 1881, IC 507.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Elizabeth G. Stuart and Jane L. Straw to Eddy, April 16, 1881, SF-Arens.

[v] Elizabeth G. Stuart to Eddy, undated, IC  507.

[vi] Elizabeth G. Stuart and Jane L Straw to Eddy, undated, SF-Arens.

[vii] James C. Howard to Eddy, June 6, 1881, Accession L09059.

[viii] Ibid, Accession L09059.

[ix] Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1971), 87.

[x] Elizabeth G. Stuart to Eddy, October 15, 1881, IC 507.

[xi] Peel, Years of Trial, 93.

[xii] Elizabeth G. Stuart to Eddy, undated, IC 507.

[xiii] James Henry Snowden, The Truth About Christian Science (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1920), 179.

[xiv] Author A.A. Draper, Hanover P. Smith/Mary Baker Eddy, October 26, 1881, Accession L09677.

[xv] Eddy to William Stuart, November 2, 1881, V0071.

[xvi] Eddy to Clara Choate, November 8, 1881, Accession L02492.

[xvii] Early Organizational Records, EOR 10.3.

[xviii] “Workings of Animal Magnetism,” undated corrected proof, Accession A10422.001.

[xix] Early Organizational Records, EOR 10.01.

[xx] Theodore Weld to Eddy, November 21, 1881; IC 722a, Mary Baker Eddy Library.

[xxi] Ibid., Series C, Box 3, Folder 82.

[xxii] Ibid., Series C, Box 3, Folder 74.

[xxiii] Ibid., Series D, Box 5, Folder 101, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxiv] Ibid., Series C, Box 3, Folder 74.

[xxv] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 81, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxvi] Ibid.

[xxvii] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series 5, Box 5, Folder 101, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxviii] Ibid.

[xxix] Ibid.

[xxx] Ibid.

[xxxi] On March 14, 1893, he wrote from Concord a friendly message about a recent magazine article, concluding “With sentiments of sincere respect and esteem, I am My dear friend, Faithfully & fraternally yours” adding as a postscript “your work on Science and Health is indeed a treasure.” Parker Pillsbury to Eddy, March 14, 1893, Item 111.22.003.

[xxxii] Eddy to Laura Sargent, April 3, 1891. Accession L0598.

[xxxiii] J.C. Tomlinson Reminiscences, note dated April 29, 1907, accession #A11876.

[xxxiv]Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 78, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxxv]Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 81, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxxvi] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 78, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxxvii]Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 78, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xxxviii] Sarah H. Crosse, “To Whom it May Concern,” Christian Science Journal, December 1884.

[xxxix] Ibid, 139.

[xl] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 79.

[xli] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series C, Box 3, Folder 81.

[xlii] Ibid.

[xliii]Angelina Weld Grimké papers, Box 5, Folder 92, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[xliv] Ibid.

[xlv] Ibid.

[xlvi] Ibid.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Personified Unthinkables

Personified Unthinkables: The Pupil (excerpted from Letters to the Sage, Volume Two.)

Bronson Alcott’s acquaintance with Mary Baker Glover (who would become Mrs. Eddy in 1878) began when he read Science and Health in January 1876 and wrote to her in very admiring terms: “The sacred truths which you announce sustained by facts of the Immortal Life, give to your work the seal of inspiration – reaffirm, in modern phrase, the Christian revelations.” [i] On January 30, after meeting Mrs. Glover, he wanted to meet her circle.  He had already promoted her book among Transcendentalist colleagues and was planning to do so among future Unitarian clergy, writing “Last Sunday evening I met a pleasant circle at Mr Emersons and took occasion to speak of yourself, your Science and disciples…Next Wednesday evening, I am to meet the Divinity students at Cambridge for Conversation on Divine Ideas and methods. I think you may safely trust my commendations of your faith and methods anywhere.”[ii] After meeting her circle in Lynn, Alcott continued to be supportive. Three diary entries indicate the rise and fall of Alcott’s enthusiasm for Christian Science. On January 20, 1876 he wrote “I find her one of the fair saints.”[iii] More than two years later, following the death of Mrs. Alcott and the remarriage of Mrs. Glover to Asa Gilbert Eddy, he became involved in a court case involving Christian Science, sometimes called the “Salem witch trial” of Daniel Spofford. Alcott’s diary entry for May 14, 1878 notes that he accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Eddy to Salem for the trial in which Lucretia Brown claimed to have suffered mesmeric attacks from Spofford.[iv] Three weeks later, on June 5, his first reservations about her appear in his diary: “There is perhaps a touch of fanaticism, though of a genial quality, interposed into her faith, which a deeper insight into the mysteries of life may ultimately remove.”[v]

One sermon at Old West Church in which Cyrus Bartol endorsed Eddy’s beliefs was entitled “Mind Cure.”  An excerpt was published in the Christian Science Journal, which included these passages: “A wrong thought disturbs right thinking. Rectify the system with right thoughts. That is the medicine to be taken internally…let us change the thought to faith, confidence in God, and in each other! Take down the upholstery of the pit. In a picture gallery we uncover our heads and are lifted above base longing. Can we not have an art museum in our mind? And spiritual uncovering.”[vi] At the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, May 7, 1884, the Christian Scientist Association members passed a resolution tendering “heartfelt thanks” to “this eminent divine” for having “nobly defended” Christian Science, concluding “as a true watchman on the tower of the world’s progress who sends forth no uncertain sound do we thank him.” [vii]

References to Sarah in the literature of the time are rare, but in 1919 Horatio Dresser recorded her as “one of the earliest of the mental science writers” whose “Personified Unthinkables, 1884, interpreted the practical idealism with special reference to mental pictures and their influence…Quimby sometimes described the mental part of his treatment with reference to the pictures he discerned intuitively in the patient’s mind…”[viii] The influence from Quimby on Grimké’s writings may be minor, however, in light of the insistence of Cyrus Bartol on the same theme of mental pictures. Bartol became but the most visible friend of Christian Science in the Unitarian clergy. Stephen Gottschalk describes his interest in Eddy as based on “his feeling that the new movement represented a recrudescence of the Transcendentalist revolt against materialism.”[ix] He was not Mrs. Eddy’s first Unitarian clerical admirer, a role played by Andrew Ralston Peabody, a Harvard professor affiliated with the orthodox Unitarians. Bartol was by contrast affiliated with the radical wing of the movement, in which “his liberalism partook not of the rationalism of Peabody’s orthodoxy but of the warmth of transcendentalist faith.”[x] Robert Peel notes an intriguing quote from Bartol, who allegedly “listened to Mrs. Eddy’s explanations and declared, ‘I have preached the living God for forty years, but never felt his presence and power as you do.’”[xi] Historian of Transcendentalism Philip Gura describes Bartol as “as a voice of postwar Transcendentalism” who was such “in good measure because of his continuing advocacy of intuitionist beliefs… became a major voice among radical Unitarians.”[xii]

An undated note by Calvin Frye of a recollection by Mary Baker Eddy, headed “Dr. Bartol- 1868,” quotes him as telling her “Well dear sister I can see that you are inspired and your talk about God is beautiful but I cannot <quite>understand it I am afraid others will not I would not try to talk it for people will think you are insane.”[xiii] This indicates that their acquaintance predated her first meeting with Bronson Alcott by eight years. Despite Eddy’s early and lasting esteem for Bartol, the Christian Science Journal in December 1884 rejected his pleas for harmonious cooperation among various branches of the fractious Mind Cure movement. “Observer” commented that “There is no occupant of a Boston pulpit broader in his religious sympathies, or more sensitive in his spiritual fellowship, than the Rev. Dr. C.A. Bartol” who “has always been foremost in the recognition of ecclesiastical progress” and goes on to praise the way “every topic he touches receives from his thought a touch of its own poetic sweetness and light, yet not in such a way as to conceal or warp, in the least degree, the objects upon which he bids us look.” Nevertheless, in a recent sermon Bartol went too far, when he classed Christian Science “with Mesmerism, Mind cure, Spiritualism, as parts of one and the same great movement…When Dr. Bartol, in his kindly way, bids Christian Scientists live in friendly unity with these isms, he asks the impossible.”[xiv]

The mental pictures theme found in Grimké’s writing, as well as her literary style, may owe more to Bartol than to Christian Science. His 1855 collection of sermons, Pictures of Europe, Framed in Ideas, combined travel writing and Transcendentalism. Sally M. Promey describes the book as “inviting ‘pilgrims’ to the ‘shrine,’ the ‘splendid temple of art’” and recommending “what he called ‘picture-language’ as superior to text for its presumed universal legibility.”[xv] The Columbia Literary History of the United States describes Bartol’s style as “strongly didactic, much given to reflection on moral and spiritual truths, aphoristic, dependent on example and analogy rather than on sequential arguments, fond of paradox, highly reiterative yet sometimes compressed to the point of mysteriousness.” [xvi] The Esoteric Lessons of his disciple are equally well described by this summary. The Cambridge American Companion to Travel Writing describes his 1855 book as “affirming the value of a universal religious reverence inherent in human nature and expressed in religious art and architecture.”[xvii] The Sunday school lesson and sermon topics of Old West Church preserved at the Andover Theological Seminary library reveal Bartol emphasizing such visual themes as “The Beauty of Flowers” or “Light” as often as traditional Biblical topics or contemporary political issues.

One early critical Eddy biography describes her as presenting theology “warmer than the Unitarianism which it faintly resembled, less vague than the Transcendentalism with which it was affiliated.”[xviii] Unitarian clergyman Samuel B. Stewart performed the marriage ceremony of Asa Eddy and Mary Baker Glover, who had attended his services with her former colleague Richard Kennedy.[xix] Near the end of her long life, several pieces of evidence suggest that Eddy’s early esteem for Unitarianism was undiminished.  In November 1897, in response to an interview request from a Unitarian minister, she commented that “to my apprehension unity and love are the exemplification of Unitarianism, even as the Christ healing is the demonstration of Christian Science,” adding “My acquaintance with Unitarians has been of a happy sort for their lives have illustrated their religion.”[xx] Six months later, she followed up with another letter praising several Unitarian clergymen by name, writing that “Theodore Parker, Dr. Peabody, Dr. Bartol, Wm. R. Alger, etc. were my model men. They did much towards unchaining the limbs of Love and giving freedom to its footsteps.”[xxi] In recognition of years of friendly relations with the Unitarian Church in Concord, New Hampshire, Eddy left them $5000 in her will.[xxii]

Two points in Unitarian theology are identified by Catherine Tumber as foundational to Christian Science, New Thought, and ultimately the New Age. Drawing on a philosophical tradition of perfectionism, “Unitarianism compelled its followers to achieve ‘likeness to God’ through self-development and social reform” which was combined with a “precarious dualism between the higher and lower faculties, between the spiritual and the corporeal” which “could easily elide from respect for material claims, if legitimate in their proper inferior place, to active disparagement and even contempt.”[xxiii]

 

[i] Bronson Alcott to Eddy, January 17, 1876 (SF-Alcott, Bronson).

[ii] Bronson Alcott to Eddy, January 30, 1876 (SF Alcott, Bronson).

[iii] Journals of Bronson Alcott, Odell Shepard, ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1938), 465.

[iv] Ibid., 487.

[v] Ibid., 489-90.

[vi] C.A. Bartol, “Mind Cure,” Christian Science Journal, December 1884.

[vii] Early Organizational Records, Christian Scientist Association, Mary Baker Eddy Library, EOR 10.03.

[viii] Horatio Dresser, History of the New Thought Movement (New York: Crowell), 138.

[ix] Stephen Gottschalk, Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1973), 208.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Robert Peel, Christian Science: Its Encounter with American Culture (Harrington Park, NJ: R.H. Sommer, 1980), 105.

[xii] Philip Gura, American Transcendentalism (New York: Hill and Wang, 2007), 274.

[xiii] Calvin Frye, Undated note, Accession A11065.

[xiv] “A Late Letter,” Christian Science Journal, December 1884.

[xv] American Religious Liberalism, Leigh E. Schmidt and Sally M. Promey, eds. (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2012), 82.

[xvi] Columbia Literary History of the United States, Emory Elliott, gen. ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 374.

[xvii] Cambridge American Companion to Travel Writing, Alfred Bendixen and Judith Hamera, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 119.

[xviii] Sutherland Bates and John V. Dittemore, Mary Baker Eddy (New York: Knopf, 1932), 153.

[xix] Sybil Wilbur, Life of Mary Baker Eddy (New York: Concord, 1907), 223.

[xx] Eddy to Frank L. Phalen, November 27, 1897, L13282.

[xxi] Eddy to Frank L. Phalen, May 13, 1898, L132880.

[xxii] Eddy to unknown recipient, September 13, 1907, “for MY WILL” L09844.

[xxiii] Katherine Tumber, American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), 117-118.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimké’s Esoteric Lessons

Starting in December 2018 and continuing through June 2019 this blog will serialize the bio-bibliographical appendix of Letters to the Sage, Volume Two on the posthumously published author who was the only collaborator of Thomas H. Burgoyne. Burgoyne’s later career is the topic of my upcoming presentation at the preconference intensive duringthe biennial Church of Light convention.

Sarah Eliza Stanley was born in Scriba, Oswego County, New York in April 1850, the first year of her father’s career as a Free Baptist clergyman.  The following year Moses Stanley became pastor of a Free Baptist church in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; in 1855 he returned to New England to another Free Baptist church in Farmington, Maine, a few miles from Wilton where his wife Sarah Pease Stanley had been born in 1827.  In 1859 Moses was in Two Rivers, Wisconsin as pastor of a Congregational church, and beginning in 1860 he served Episcopal churches in Michigan and Indiana.   In the first ten years of her life, Sarah thus lived in four states with a father affiliated with three denominations. Throughout her life, she formed no stable attachments to any place she could call home nor any Christian denomination, which was foreshadowed in her early childhood. The geographical and spiritual mobility of Moses Stanley’s clerical career was reflected in his daughter’s career as a writer. Another connecting thread for decades was abolitionism. The Free Baptist movement had begun in 1780 in New Hampshire, with the name referring to belief in free will as opposed to determinism. By the 1850s, “Free” for northern Baptists also referred to the divine imperative to end slavery.  This denomination in which Sarah Stanley spent her early childhood had been strongly abolitionist, and Moses Stanley’s commitment to the abolitionist cause continued into his Congregational and Episcopal pastorates. Sarah by marriage became a part of the most renowned abolitionist family of the 19th century.

Sarah Stanley graduated from Boston University with a PhB awarded by the College of Liberal Arts.  Her Senior class of 1878 included twelve women and fifteen men. The “Philosophical course” leading to the PhB was discontinued upon their graduation of the class of 1880. Admission requirements for the College of Liberal Arts were daunting by modern standards, with preliminary examinations involving Greek and Latin Grammar and literature, Arithmetic, Algebra, English Grammar and Rhetoric, Modern History and Geography. Required philosophy courses for all students included Theistic Philosophy, Ethical Philosophy, Evidences of Christianity, and History of Philosophy. Electives in Philosophy included Metaphysics, Logic and Theory of Knowledge, and Aesthetics. All philosophy courses were taught by Borden P. Bowne, remembered today as one of the foremost proponents of Personalism, a theistic Christian philosophy emphasizing the immanence of God. Bowne identified himself as a Berkeleyan idealist modified by Kantian epistemology. He taught psychology as well as philosophy, and published books on all major branches of philosophy as well as on theology.[i] In an obituary for the American Journal of Theology, John Alfred Faulkner lamented Bowne as a “severe loss not only to Boston University and American Methodism…but to American philosophy and theology and well” whose “writings cover almost every important branch of philosophy.”[ii]

Sarah converted to Unitarianism in Boston and was strongly influenced by the Transcendentalist Unitarian clergyman Cyrus Augustus Bartol. In April 1879 Bartol presided at her wedding ceremony when she married Archibald Henry Grimké, a native South Carolinian and the eldest of three sons of a white plantation owner and his enslaved mistress. Sarah’s letters home announcing her engagement have not survived, but her father’s reply dated February 21, 1879 is preserved in the Moorland-Spingarn Center at Howard University. He blamed both Bartol and her prospective in-laws for the engagement:

There is not one of us who finds any pleasure in what seems to elate you.  It may be a source of fun to the Unitarians of Boston but it has filled our hearts with mourning. You speak of the delight of Dr. Bartol and others. Do you think they would find the same delight if it were one of their daughters? We look upon it as a sad day when you went to Boston and especially when you associated yourself with the deniers of Christ and the insane theorizers of that infidel city. Boston will nevermore have any charms for me. We have always prided ourselves in you, but we are sorely, sorely disappointed.  You seem to have lost your reason—deceived by the Weld[s] and the delusive theorizers of the sickly and pestilent sentimentality of Boston. They are not your true friends who urge you on to this cause.[iii]

Moses Stanley’s dismay at his daughter’s associates in Boston might be explained as a consequence of his earlier faith that she was in respectable company there in terms of Christian orthodoxy. Boston University’s philosophy program was strongly theistic and influenced by the Methodist affiliation of the institution. Sarah’s first year of philosophy education at the University of Michigan, in 1872-73 prior to her transfer to BU, was in a department led by another Methodist theologian, Benjamin Franklin Crocker. Hence her conversion to Unitarianism and abandonment of orthodox Christian theism would have been as shocking to her father as her interracial marriage.

Cyrus Bartol was one of the founding teachers of the Concord School of Philosophy. As pastor of West Church in Boston from 1837, and sole pastor from 1861 through retirement in 1889, he was the most visible exponent of Transcendentalism in the city in a career spanning five decades. Although Archibald Grimké was a resident of Boston and recent graduate of Harvard Law School, his aunt, uncle and cousins lived in Hyde Park where they were founding members of the Unitarian congregation. By referring to “the Weld,” Moses Stanley accused his future son-in-law’s white relatives of encouraging the marriage for ideological reasons. When Sarah Stanley married Archibald Grimké she took the surname of the most celebrated abolitionist women of the 19th century. Theodore Weld, like his wife Angelina Grimké Weld and her sister Sarah Moore Grimké, had begun as a traditional Protestant and passed through many phases of belief before finding a spiritual home among Unitarians in Hyde Park. The Grimké sisters’ spiritual beliefs had inspired their long careers as abolitionist speakers and writers. Sarah Moore Grimké’s dedication to the anti-slavery cause emerged after an 1823 conversion to Quakerism following several visits to Philadelphia.  Angelina followed suit eight years later, both in joining the Friends and in support for abolitionists. Later they both developed an interest in Spiritualism, but ended life as Unitarians as did Theodore, who also in his final years embraced “mind cure.”

Sarah Moore Grimké died in 1873 before Sarah Stanley went to Boston University; Angelina Grimké Weld had suffered a stroke the same year and died in 1879. They had discovered their biracial nephews Archibald and Francis, sons of their brother Henry, in 1871, and assisted their educational advancement in Massachusetts. Neither of the famed sisters could have been a direct influence on young Sarah, but Angelina’s husband Theodore Weld was a definite presence in her family life.  In his twenties, Theodore became a fervent apostle of the abolitionist cause, and early in his career he encountered the accusation that abolition of slavery would lead to race mixing, described by his biographer Robert Abzug as “one word, amalgamation, which was code for the mixing of the races.”[iv] Thinking of himself “as the John the Baptist of the antislavery movement,” Weld had worked closely with free blacks for decades.[v] When young Archibald first encountered his aunts Sarah and Angelina, Weld fully supported their embrace of him and his brothers as family members. Abzug writes that Theodore “viewed the discovery of Archibald and Francis as the completion of the fateful union he had entered into so many years before with Angelina, coupling the destiny of the Weld family forever with that of the Grimkés—the black Grimkés—of Charleston…a chance, finally, to put into practice what they had all been preaching for so long.”[vi]

After the death of his wife, Theodore Weld, head of the extended Weld-Grimké clan, was a respected figure in his community. Mark Perry’s history of the family depicts him in the early 1880s “walking slowly, on the arm of Sarah Stanley Grimké, through the streets of Hyde Park, where he had once jogged.”[vii] A 1925 biography of Archibald by his daughter describes the thrilling social network into which he was introduced by his aunts and Theodore Weld: “He met the Fosters, Lucy Stone, the famous Miss Elizabeth Peabody, his old friends the Pillsburys, Judge Sewell, Dr. Bartol, Garrison, Sumner and Phillips, prominent and great men of his own race, such as Lewis Auden and Frederick Douglass.”[viii]

This was the world into which Sarah married in 1879. Child of an abolitionist minister, Sarah Stanley was fifteen years old at the end of the Civil War, and at twenty-nine she married a former slave. Themes of warfare and freeing slaves feature in her lessons written in the postwar era. Although her father Moses Stanley appears as her adversary at the time of her marriage, his moral evolution is apparent in his letters over the next two decades. He immediately saw “amalgamation” as an inevitable consequence, as Theodore Weld had insisted for decades, of abolishing slavery:

It is what has been flung at me scores & perhaps hundreds of times in years past when I have advocated the rights of the colored race but little did I dream it was an arrow that would pierce my heart.  I have advocated every measure for their full enfranchisement to civil & religious liberty & the opening of our schools & colleges for their education & culture, but amalgamation always seemed unnatural & revolting. Toward them I cherish none but philanthropic feelings but to give them my beautiful & accomplished daughter seems perfectly abhorrent, and that they should be willing to throw themselves into their arms for husbands is an infinite surprise & grief.  The very thought of it is withering to all the love, the charm, the ambition, the aspiration of life.  Death seems the only relief. I am ready to welcome death.[ix]

Despite the hard feelings Moses Stanley expressed towards Sarah’s conversion to Unitarianism in Boston and her marriage to Archibald, her geographical and spiritual mobility seems to follow his example.  She moved from Transcendentalism to New Thought to Hermetic astrology, from Massachusetts to Michigan to California, with the same freedom that Moses had demonstrated in his life. Religious and geographical mobility is thus a theme connecting the Stanley and Weld/Grimké families.

The marriage had begun with a great intensity of feeling on both sides, as evident from this May 29, 1879 letter from Sarah to Archibald:

“Love! Lord! ay===Husband!

Art thou gone so?”  And where am I? – I cannot tell who I am, nor what I should be doing here. I no longer have a separate being. My soul has gone and only a dull machine moves about – these rooms or the streets and commons of Boston.  All is an unmeaning haze until my Prince return and revivify with his breath and magic touch…The Moral Education Society meeting this morning was very interesting indeed.  Mrs. Woolson presided, and made a speech. Among the other speakers were Dr. Bartol, Rev. Mr. Withers, Mr. Allcott, &c – I met Miss Eddy on my way there so we were together.[x] (Allcott is Bronson Alcott; “Miss” Eddy is Mary Baker Eddy- ed.)

In this passage we find the best available clue in her letters to the combination of influences behind Sarah’s earliest writings. Her correspondence only refers once to Bronson Alcott and Mary Baker Eddy, but many times to Cyrus Bartol, a recurring presence throughout her married life. Moses Stanley, in response to Sarah’s announcement of her impending marriage, denounced Bartol’s “delight” at the prospect of her marrying Archie. After leaving him in 1883, Sarah mentioned Bartol and his wife as the only Boston acquaintances with whom she wished to remain in contact. The triangular configuration of Alcott, Eddy, and Bartol provides the context in which Sarah, a Unitarian, became a Mind Cure author and later an exponent of Hermetic and Neoplatonic esotericism.

 

[i] President’s Annual Report, 1878, Boston University.

[ii] John Alfred Faulkner, American Journal of Theology, July 1, 1910, 422-425.

[iii] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series A, Box 1, Folder 5, Manuscript Division, Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[iv] Robert Abzug, Passionate Liberator (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 103.

[v] Ibid., 154, 137.

[vi] Ibid., 230

[vii] Mark Perry, Lift Up thy Voice (New York, Viking, 2001), 26.

[viii] Angelina Weld Grimké, “Biographical of Archibald H. Grimké,” Collected Works (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 431

[ix] Archibald H. Grimké papers, Series A, Box 39-1, Folder 5, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

[x] Ibid., Series C, Box 39-3, Folder 76.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah in Boston– 2017 convention presentation updated

sarahinboston

Just as Letters to the Sage Volume Two was published I had the opportunity to talk about Sarah Stanley Grimke to a local audience, sharing the same slides as I had presented to the preconference before the 2017 Church of Light convention but adding a few new ones highlighting the contributors to the new volume.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Aphrodite's Daughters by Maureen Honey

This new study from Rutgers University Press provides the longest and most informative publication to date about Angelina Weld Grimké, one of three Harlem Renaissance poets discussed by Maureen Honey. Here is the summary from the publisher’s website:

The Harlem Renaissance was a watershed moment for racial uplift, poetic innovation, sexual liberation, and female empowerment. Aphrodite’s Daughters introduces us to three amazing women who were at the forefront of all these developments, poetic iconoclasts who pioneered new and candidly erotic forms of female self-expression.

Maureen Honey paints a vivid portrait of three African American women—Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery—who came from very different backgrounds but converged in late 1920s Harlem to leave a major mark on the literary landscape. She examines the varied ways these poets articulated female sexual desire, ranging from Grimké’s invocation of a Sapphic goddess figure to Cowdery’s frank depiction of bisexual erotics to Bennett’s risky exploration of the borders between sexual pleasure and pain. Yet Honey also considers how they were united in their commitment to the female body as a primary source of meaning, strength, and transcendence.

The product of extensive archival research, Aphrodite’s Daughters draws from Grimké, Bennett, and Cowdery’s published and unpublished poetry, along with rare periodicals and biographical materials, to immerse us in the lives of these remarkable women and the world in which they lived. It thus not only shows us how their artistic contributions and cultural interventions were vital to their own era, but also demonstrates how the poetic heart of their work keeps on beating.

Although it provides little new information about Angelina’s mother Sarah, it provides the most insightful discussion available about the impact of her abandonment of Angelina and her father Archibald.

The devastating effect on Archibald of Sarah’s abandonment and his inability to fashion another intimate relationship perhaps became for Angelina a model of failed lasting romance and a foundational template of unrequited love. Although Grimke’s poetry reflects failed relationships in her own life, the examples of her father’s romantic disappointments and her mother’s inability to form a stable intimate bond after she left her husband undoubtedly lurked at the back of her mind when as a young adult she contemplated the likelihood of ever establishing a permanent tie with anyone.

Five years ago when Marc Demarest and I first encountered Sarah’s only book, Esoteric Lessons, we contemplated publishing a reprint with scholarly annotations and a biographical introduction. But last year a photographic reprint was published without any new content, and I concluded that it would be best to publish my own edition as an IAPSOP monograph like those already available from John B. Buescher and John Patrick Deveney. I had considered it complete but find much new material about Angelina’s relationship with Sarah in Daughters of Aphrodite, so will revise the ending. The monograph will be a companion volume of sorts to the Typhon Press publication Letters to the Sage, the second volume of which should be completed next year.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

All Roads Lead to Concord

One strange synchronicity is enough to make me say “hmm, wow” to myself; another involving the same subject is enough to make me write about it. Although my past pattern has been to devote years of concentrated effort to a single subject, and move on to another only after publication, lately I’ve been juggling multiple projects involving three publishers as a chapter author or co-editor rather than as sole author. The advantage of this situation is that I never get bored; the disadvantage is that I stay perpetually disoriented and confused. But sometimes a connection among multiple projects appears which tends to reduce the confusion and help me see them all as part of a larger whole.

Two weeks ago I finished revision of a chapter on the Bengal Renaissance for a forthcoming collection. At nine in the morning I thought to myself, “At last I have the free time to read something for pleasure; surely there must be a new biography of some Transcendentalist to enjoy.” So I went to Amazon and looked around a bit, but didn’t see anything that jumped out at me. At eleven, I heard a thunk and went to the front door where I found a box from a Church of Light friend in California with a letter enclosed along with several books she “thought I might enjoy.” Including, to my pleased consternation, The Lives of Margaret Fuller by John Matteson, whose previous joint biography of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott had given me great pleasure a few years ago. (No more or less than Eve LaPlante’s subsequent joint bio of Louisa and her mother Abigail May Alcott, which was also subject of a previous blog post.) Like many readers and as noted in Matteson’s introduction, most of what I knew about Fuller involved her tragic death. Now halfway through the biography, I find it as absorbing as his previous book, and even more enlightening about possible role models for Sarah Stanley Grimke who was born the year that Fuller died, 1850.

Synchronicity number two occurred this morning as I got in my car after hiking at the lovely Lauren Mountain Preserve in Bassett, Virginia. Just as I was leaving, on the radio Scott Simon of Weekend Edition welcomed author A.J. Jacobs, who electrified me with the opening line “My favorite teacher is Bronson Alcott.” Jacobs went on to joke that Alcott was really his children’s favorite teacher, and then discussed other pedagogical subjects. One reason I was intrigued by this line was that Fuller’s first real job was as a teacher in Alcott’s short-lived, ill-fated, but fascinating Temple School in Boston. But in addition to tying into my current reading, Alcott also figures in three different writing projects in which I’m involved. He was an acquaintance of both Sarah Stanley Grimke and Mary Baker Eddy, and hence figured in my research last year in Boston for a future reprint of Grimke’s Esoteric Lessons. But more immediately, he was a major influence on both Thomas Moore Johnson and Alexander Wilder. The first volume of Johnson’s incoming correspondence is now in the hands of the publisher and represents 48 authors who wrote to Johnson in the 1880s; the second volume is almost entirely letters to Johnson from Wilder and the editorial team has at least a year ahead of us working on annotations, introductions, appendices, etc. But we just finished the first arduous round of transcriptions, a relief because Wilder’s handwriting was more inscrutable than any of the 48 correspondents of volume I.

Johnson was inspired to create his journal The Platonist by acquaintance with Alcott during one of his “Western tours” and traveled to Concord to pursue the relationship and meet other Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson. Wilder was one of the lecturers at Alcott’s Concord School of Philosophy, to which he regularly refers in his letters. The Bengal Renaissance chapter I just finished also ended up with a focus on Boston during the twilight of Transcendentalism, due to the connection between the Brahmo Samaj and Unitarians.

When I read about  Spiritualism, Theosophy, Christian Science, or New Thought my enthusiasm is purely that of a historical researcher. Duty rather than pleasure calls me to pursue those branches of literature. But the Transcendentalists, to my reading tastes, transcend the bounds of time and space and speak with voices as fresh today as in the mid-19th century. Not just their words, but biographies about them, inspire me with a sentiment akin to what Alfred North Whitehead said about Plato. If the history of Western philosophy is a “succession of footnotes to Plato”—which Wilder and Johnson would surely applaud—then the history of late-19th century American spiritual movements is a succession of footnotes to Transcendentalism.

The legacy of the Transcendentalists is apparent in New Thought, Theosophy, Christian Science, and of course Unitarian Universalism. But the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and its modern heir The Church of Light are arguably even more profoundly indebted to this movement—which I hope to explain further in future blog posts. (post edited, 9/11/15.)

Photo of Hillside Chapel, Concord, Massachusetts, from Wikipedia

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

A Research Adventure in Boston


The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity

Upon returning from the most rewarding and enjoyable research adventure of my life, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude towards the many people involved in this pilgrimage to a place I never imagined visiting, pursuing research on a person I had never heard of until a few years ago. The most rewarding aspect of the journey is that I’m returning with copies of several dozen letters to and from Eddy, along with a dozen new ones from the Grimke collections at the Moorland-Spingarn Center, that revolutionize my understanding of Sarah Stanley Grimke’s milieu. These are supplemented by articles and organizational records from the 1870s through 1890s, and notes from several books that shed light on Boston during the period. Having only requested a one week Fellowship, I was granted three, and the resources available justify a return in the fall to spend another week in the collections after absorbing the information gathered during the past two weeks.

It all started in 2011 when John Patrick Deveney, in response to the information that I was looking into the authorship of The Light of Egypt, advised that portions were written by Sarah Stanley Grimke, and thus that the pseudonym “Zanoni” included both her and Thomas H. Burgoyne. In light of Pat’s suggestion that this longterm partnership was both literary and personal, Marc Demarest purchased a rare copy of Sarah’s only book Esoteric Lessons for my examination. And when I opined that this material was far too abstruse and convoluted to be of interest to contemporary readers, Marc patiently countered with the opinion that Sarah’s unique voice and perspective merited a second look—and republication with me as editor.

My friend Marvin T. Jones of Washington, D.C. encouraged the Grimke family as a subject deserving further research based on its eminence in the nation’s capital. He assisted my first visit to the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University where I discovered, with the assistance of Curator Ida B. Jones and Director JoEllen el-Bashir, the great wealth of correspondence and documents of Sarah’s husband Archibald H. Grimke and her daughter Angelina Weld Grimke.

After a couple of years with Sarah on the back burner while I worked on other collaborative projects, my editorial colleague Patrick Bowen suggested that the Mary Baker Eddy Library Fellowship program offered an ideal opportunity to investigate Sarah’s beginnings as a writer, in the Boston milieu of Transcendentalists and Mind Cure proponents including her philosophy professor Cyrus A. Bartol. With only two weeks left before the application deadline, Fellowship Coordinator Sherry Darling generously helped me organize the proposal, and Mitch Horowitz and Jeff Lavoie wrote the needed (and appreciated!) recommendation letters with only a few days notice.

After two weeks in Boston, I cannot say enough about the professionalism and helpfulness of the Mary Baker Eddy Library staff, and their patience with my many questions and requests. Mike Davis and Kurt Morris were called upon many times daily to explain various points of Christian Science history and the archival holdings, while Judy Huennecke shared her own excellent research on James Henry Wiggin and encouraged my pursuit of the broader question of Eddy’s dealings with Unitarian clergy. Jonathan Eder hosted a Fellowship program in which I was able to share my findings in a friendly, informal atmosphere with the Library and Publications staff over lunch last Thursday. It was pure pleasure to get acquainted with authors Paul Ivey, Jeff Lavoie, and Lisa Stepanski during the most enjoyable and illuminating lunch breaks I can recall, ever. Paul’s work on Christian Science and the Temple of the People, Jeff’s on Theosophy and Spiritualism, and Lisa’s on Bronson and Abba Alcott all inspire me with admiration and curiosity to fill in the many blanks in my knowledge of these topics.

Last but far from least, I’m grateful to my brother Richard for companionship and relaxation in the evenings in Boston over dinner, and to my sister Wendy for recommending the novel that I completed on the train home from Boston. The differences and similarities between Sarah Moore Grimke (1792-1873), once infamous and now famous and celebrated, and Sarah Stanley Grimke (1850-1898), once infamous and now forgotten, were the theme of my Fellows presentation at the Library last Thursday. Sarah the elder was an unmarried Southerner who sacrificed herself to the welfare of her sister’s family; Sarah the younger was a married Northerner who sacrificed her daughter’s and husband’s well-being to her own independence as a writer. But in this passage from Sue Monk Kidd’s masterpiece The Invention of Wings, the author captures what united both as 19th century women defying racial and gender norms to find their unique missions in life. After Sarah (the elder) and her sister Angelina have received the fateful invitation to be trained as aboliitionist lecturers and agitators, Sarah experiences anxiety over her limitations as a public speaker, compared to her eloquent and passionate younger sister:

What I feared was the immensity of it all—a female abolition agent traveling the country with a national mandate. I wanted to say Who am I to do this, a woman? But that voice was not mine. It belonged to Israel, to Catherine, and to Mother. It belonged to the church in Charleston and the Quakers in Philadelphia. It would not, if I could help it, belong to me. (p. 322)

Sarah Stanley Grimke’s father Moses blamed her loss of orthodox Christian faith on her philosophy professor Cyrus Bartol. He blamed her defiance of racial norms on her in-laws Theodore and Angelina Weld. Sarah’s husband Archibald Grimke blamed her leaving him on Elizabeth Stuart’s advice as a Christian Science dissident with strange notions about the cause of Sarah’s heart ailment. If they had known the details of her years in California co-authoring The Light of Egypt, both Moses and Archibald would likely have blamed Thomas H. Burgoyne for diverting her literary career into Hermetic astrological channels. But in truth, Sarah’s defiance of convention and flouting of tradition were her own character and destiny, from start to finish. And in this she is a spiritual heir of the other, famous, honored Sarah Grimke.

(photo cropped from the website of the Mary Baker Eddy Library)

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Sarah Stanley Grimke in her element, Marston's book catalogue, 1887

Thanks to Marc Demarest for this find.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography by Susan Cheever

Louisa May Alcott: a Personal Biography, Susan Cheever’s 2010 bestseller, sheds light on the influences surrounding Sarah Stanley Grimke in Boston. In last week’s blog post I quoted Thomas M. Johnson’s journal The Platonist, mentioning the Concord School of Philosophy as an example of the kind of gathering that would promote the future value of Platonic and neo-Platonic thought. Subsequently I found this article from 1967 (limited view, but a first page filled with useful info) which makes it clear that Johnson was a fervent disciple of Amos Bronson Alcott. A website sponsored by the historic site where the Concord School was located, Orchard House, offers this wonderful introduction to Alcott family history, partly narrated by Louisa herself.

There will be much to report in future about the connections between Johnson and his mentor, as well as on the close ties between the Bartol and Alcott families. All of this is relevant to the question of how Sarah Stanley Grimke got acquainted with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. But for now I want to highlight Bronson Alcott’s relationship with Mary Baker Eddy as relevant to the milieu in which Sarah Stanley Grimke emerged as a thinker and writer. Both were mentioned as acquaintances in Sarah’s 1879 correspondence. In her final chapter on Louisa’s last years, Cheever describes a tension between father and daughter on the subject of Christian Science and Mind Cure:

In her rejection of the mind cure and the theories of Mary Baker Eddy, Alcott was also rejecting her father, who was a fan and disciple of Mrs. Eddy…In her early years of practice, Mrs. Eddy’s patients were limited to local people, including the millworkers in and around Lynn, Massachusetts where she had moved in 1864. Her first visitor from the world of the intellect, the Boston world, was none other than Bronson Alcott…he was to pay many visits. Bronson was favorably impressed by Mrs. Eddy. He wrote in his journal that he found her one of the “fair saints.”(p. 248)

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Esoteric Lessons announcement, Typhon Press catalog

catalog update:

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Moses Stanley and Free Baptists

The Native Ministry of New Hampshire, Nathan Franklin Carter

To begin at the beginning, an explanation of Sarah Stanley Grimke’s spiritual roots must start with Free Baptists.  Moses Clement Stanley, a New Hampshire native born in January 1826, was in the first year of his first pastorate when Sarah was born in Scriba, Oswego County, New York in April 1850.   In 1851 Moses became pastor of a Free Baptist church in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; in 1855 he went back east to another Free Baptist church in Farmington, Maine, a few miles from Wilton where his wife had been born Sarah Pease in 1827.  In 1859 Moses was in Two Rivers, Wisconsin as pastor of a Congregational church, and from 1860 onwards he served Episcopal churches in Michigan and Indiana.  The trajectory from Free Baptist to Episcopalian via Congregationalist raises many questions about the Stanley family as a spiritual environment for young Sarah.  Active in three denominations, Moses served in five states and demonstrated even more mobility geographically than spiritually.  Despite the hard feelings Moses Stanley expressed towards Sarah’s marriage to Archibald Grimke and her Unitarian associations in Boston, her own geographical and spiritual mobility seems quite continuous with that of her father.  She moved from Transcendentalism to New Thought to Hermetic astrology, from Massachusetts to Michigan to California, with the same freedom that Moses had demonstrated in his life. Fluidity seems one of the main themes in exploring both the Stanley and Weld/Grimke families. One of the more inspiring characters in my research has been Moses Stanley due to his ultimate embrace of his African-American son-in-law and granddaughter despite his initial opposition to Sarah’s marriage.  The struggle between conscience and tradition is painfully evident in his letters to her.  Ultimately the better angels predominated, and the Stanleys loved their biracial granddaughter dearly despite having dreaded the *idea* of race mixing.

Some biases from my early environment made me think of “free” and “Baptist” as opposites, but in the nineteenth century their role in American culture was quite different.  Brought up a Methodist in the South in the era of Civil Rights and Vietnam, I saw the Baptists as “more conservative” at every level—theologically, politically, culturally. That bias was upended in recent years by the discovery that in North Carolina Civil War history, my father’s Baptist ancestors had been largely Unionist while my mother’s Methodist forebears were Confederates.   Nineteenth century Baptists in the South were not quite the traditionalists that they became in the twentieth.  Having heard of Free Will Baptists all my life but seen Free Baptists only in history books, I found that they are names for the same movement which began in North Carolina in 1727. In the South the term “Free Will Baptists” has been near universal terminology and there are now about 300,000 Free Will Baptists headquartered near Nashville, TN.  But in New Hampshire,  Benjamin Randall began a Free Baptist movement  in 1780, most of whose congregations were ultimately absorbed into the Northern Baptists in 1911.  It had been strongly abolitionist in orientation.  This is the denomination in which Sarah Stanley spent her early childhood.  “Free will” refers to the belief in freedom as opposed to determinism, the Calvinist notion that God chooses who shall be saved and damned with no human power to affect the outcome.  The Free Baptist General Conference minutes for 1889  are available on Google books.  This 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica article on Free Baptists gives a summary of the denomination as the northern members were being absorbed into the mainstream northern Baptists.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Theodore Dwight Weld in Lift Up Thy Voice by Mark Perry

Theodore Dwight Weld

One of the insistent themes of Sarah Stanley Grimke’s writing is slavery and freedom.  Her own father the Rev. Moses Stanley had been an abolitionist throughout Sarah’s childhood, and when she married Archibald Grimke she took the surname of the most celebrated abolitionist women of the 19th century.  Sarah Moore Grimke, Archibald’s aunt, had died in 1873 before Sarah Stanley went to Boston University; Angelina Grimke Weld had suffered a stroke the same year.   Neither of the famed Grimke sisters could have been a direct influence on young Sarah, but Angelina’s husband Theodore Dwight Weld was definitely a presence in her life.

The best secondary source now in print for background on Sarah Stanley Grimke is Mark Perry’s Lift Up Thy Voice.  This acclaimed 2002 biography of the Grimke family first describes the famous sisters, and concludes with a section on the Grimke brothers, Archibald and Francis.  But the middle section on the Grimke family focuses on Angelina’s husband Theodore Weld as the central figure in the extended family.  Weld became in his 20s a fervent apostle of the abolitionist cause, and early in his career he encountered the accusation that abolition of slavery would lead to race mixing:

The great fear that his movement occasioned was contained in one word, amalgamation, which was code for the mixing of the races.(p. 103)

While many abolitionists shrank from the full implications of their crusade, “Weld thought of himself as the John the Baptist of the antislavery movement.”(p. 154)  “..wherever Weld went, he insisted on inviting free blacks to hear him.”(p. 137)

In the 1870s when young Archibald first encountered his aunts Sarah and Angelina, Weld fully supported their embrace of him and his brothers as family members:

Theodore was pleased by the meeting.  He viewed the discovery of Archibald and Francis as the completion of the fateful union he had entered into so many years before with Angelina, coupling the destiny of the Weld family forever with that of the Grimkes—the black Grimkes—of Charleston.  Here was a chance, finally, to put into practice what they had all been preaching for so long.”(p. 230)

After the death of Angelina Grimke Weld, Theodore was the head of the extended Weld-Grimke clan, and developed a close relationship with his niece-in-law Sarah:

Of the great lights of the abolitionist movement, only one nationally known figure, Theodore Dwight Weld, remained.  Now alone, he would dedicate his remaining years to his family and could often be seen walking slowly, on the arm of Sarah Stanley Grimke, through the streets of Hyde Park, where he had once jogged.”(p260)

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Trinity Episcopal Church, Mackinac Island, built 1882

interior of Trinity Episcopal Church

Sarah Stanley Grimke left her husband Archibald in Boston for a vacation with her parents in Mackinac Island, Michigan, from which she never returned.  Her father the Rev. Moses Stanley was the first pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church, which continues even with a winter membership of eight, as detailed in this recent news story.  Sarah pursued a writing career that took her to California and New Zealand, but it was on Mackinac Island that she decided to end her marriage.  I look forward to reading her letters of the period soon, but meanwhile find this interior photograph of the church her father built on Mackinac to be a window into her world of 1883.  He transferred to a church in Dexter, Washtenaw County, Michigan when Personified Unthinkables was published in Detroit.

Categories
Blog Sarah Stanley Grimké

Going to Extremes: Sarah Stanley Grimke from Maine to California

As 2012 opens, my research and writing focus is shifting from Ghost Land to Esoteric Lessons. One of the major differences is that Sarah Stanley Grimke’s writing never appeals to the authority of mysterious adepts in the way that Britten did. Nor is there any overt autobiographical content; we have to read between the lines to discern the personality behind the words. Yet once we know the basic outline of Sarah’s life, some of the references to slavery read as autobiographical. This passage, from the opening of A Tour Through the Zodiac (the third and final portion of Esoteric Lessons), is the most suggestive in that regard:

As a slave, in bondage to sense and seeming, with a simple staff in my hand, I started out in my first studies in search of the Pole-Star of truth– for truth implies freedom…Now a scepter has two ends; a head, or master, who wields it, and a foot, or slave, who is “under the rod,” and since these two ends cannot be detached, the ruler and the serf are two halves of a unit, while at this point of Unity is the true King.

So, in my own individual case, at the same time that I am a slave I am also a master.  I comprise the two within my system.  If I have been a slave of some, I must also have been a tyrant to others.

Therefore, since the King alone is free, before I can realize freedom I must be able to maintain the point of equilibrium between the tyrant and the slave, and it will, most assuredly, be an incessant warfare until this harmony is experienced.

 Finding a point of equilibrium appears to have eluded Sarah in a lifetime of going to extremes.  Astrologers may find her natal chart of interest in this regard. In 1879, the daughter of a white abolitionist minister married a former slave over the strenuous objections of her family.  Parental opposition to the marriage continued even after the birth of Sarah’s daughter. Any biographical sketch of Sarah must treat race relations as a key issue, since both her husband Archibald and daughter Angelina were prominent African American writers. But another aspect of her life that strikes me as significant, and symbolic, is the succession of places she lived. 

Born in upstate New York in 1850, Sarah moved with her family to Farmington, Maine, in early childhood. This was a few miles from the home of her maternal grandparents, and her father served as a minister there for several years before moving on to Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Three years after her marriage, Sarah left Archibald in Boston to visit her parents in Mackinac Island, Michigan, bringing her daughter Angelina along for the visit. Sarah never saw her husband again, but four years later she returned Angelina to her father’s custody. The next we know of her, she is living in California and collaborating with Thomas Burgoyne on the lessons of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.  She died in 1898 in San Diego, in circumstances that remain obscure. Thus her life took her from the northeasternmost to southwesternmost points of the country. Her husband Archibald was a South Carolinian, and their daughter spent most of her life on the border between North and South, in Washington, D.C.  Sarah fled a failed marriage between North and South, black and white, settling in California and collaborating with an Englishman to make a major contribution to a spiritual movement that has been based in the West since the 1880s.