Alice A. Bailey, not only was a disciple of the ascended Master Koot Hoomi, and the amanuensis of the ascended Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, but she was the founder of the Arcane School, which has branches worldwide. She was a brilliant esotericist, lecturer, and author.
She was born on June 16, 1880 in Manchester, England, into a family of wealth and social aristocracy. Her father was an engineer in the firm of his father, who was responsible for the many municipal water systems in Great Britain.
At the age of six, her mother died of tuberculosis. Two years later her father died of tuberculosis.2 She had an unhappy childhood.
She was not a very nice child. She had a tendency to anger. One time, when she was fourteen, she threw all of her governess's jewelry: rings, brooch, wristwatch, in the toilet and then flushed the toilet.3
She had many governesses. Every twenty minutes of her life was arranged for. Until she was twenty years old, her life was disciplined by people or by the social conventions of the time. Inwardly she rebelled at the restriction and discipline. She inwardly yearned for FREEDOM. She had been taught the narrowest type of Christianity. Unless people thought as she did, they could not be saved.
When she was fifteen, a tall gentleman with a turban, visited her. She was so petrified at the sight of the turban, that she could not make a sound or ask what he was doing there. He told her there was some work that was planned that she could do in the world, but that it would entail her changing her disposition. She would have to give up being such an unpleasant little girl and must try to get some measure of self-control.5 Later she learned his name. He was the ascended Master Koot Hoomi.
The troops in Quetta, India had taken possession of the Soldiers' Home. A gang of them, night after night, tried to break the place up. They would go into the coffee shop, order cocoa and fried eggs and then spend the rest of the evening shying jugs of cocoa and fried eggs at the walls. When she had discovered just who the ring leaders were, she sent an orderly up to the barracks, to ask those of them, who were not on duty, to come down to the soldiers' home at a certain hour. She loaded them into native carriages, put in, all the makings for a picnic, and drove to a place that was lovely. They made tea and told silly stories. They asked riddles and never once did they talk 'religion' and never once did she refer to their iniquities. The next afternoon, the coffee shop manager asked her to come to the coffee shop for a minute. She found all these men cleaning the walls and painting them, scrubbing the floors and making the place nicer than it had ever been before 7.
In 1906 her health began to break down. The migraine headaches had increased. She was shouldering too much responsibility for her years. She was worn to a frazzle. She was also undergoing a psychical disturbance. For the first time she was in LOVE with Walter Evans. He was exceedingly good looking, had a brilliant mind and was highly educated; BUT he was a private in an Hussar Regiment. She knew a relationship was impossible, because of his social status and told him so.8 She was so ill with constant migraine headaches, that the doctors sent her back home. She cried all the way from Bombay to Ireland, where she had been stationed.9
Eventually a marriage was arranged. Walter Evans became a rector of a church in the United States. Her duties as his wife in America were boring. There were endless calls upon her time. She had to attend the Ladies' Aid, had to hold Mothers' meetings and always had to go to church and ceaselessly had to listen to her husband's sermons. For the first time she was left alone with a small baby and all the housework to do. Up to that time she had never boiled an egg or washed a handkerchief.10
She started a bible class which was a huge success. People from other churches attended her bible class. Numerically, it outnumbered her husband's Sunday morning congregation. This may have added to the trouble which was steadily growing worse. He was jealous. He was developing an APPALLING TEMPER. She was unhappy. There was disharmony in the home.
When her second daughter was born she had been exceedingly ill. She woke up to the astounding fact that it was not the people of the place who were wrong, but that it was she. She had been so occupied with the problems of herself, 'Alice La Trobe-Bateman', who had made an unfortunate marriage, that she had forgotten to be Alice Evans, a human being 10a.
When she was pregnant with the third child, he threw her down the stairs. The baby when born was "blue" and had a leaking heart valve.11 The Bishop and the people of the city, learned of his vicious temper.
The Bishop transferred him to a small town in the west. They lived in a shack with no bathroom and no indoor toilet. She collected wood for the fire in the surrounding woods. She kept chickens and sold eggs. She felt she was deserted by God and man. After six months, when she reported to the Bishop that he had changed, her husband was given church work in Montana, with the understanding that part of his stipend would be sent monthly to Alice. 12 This was in 1915. She never saw her husband again. He sent her no moneys, only abusive letters.
To earn a living to feed her three children, she worked in a sardine factory in Pacific Grove, California packing sardines in a can. There, she met two English women, with the same social background as herself. 13 Through them she learned of the Theosophical Society in Pacific Grove. From then on, her whole life changed. She was taught Theosophy by two former students of Madame Blavatsky.
After the war, in 1919, she obtained a divorce. At that time she was working with Foster Bailey in the Theosophical Society. They married the following year 14. He became a loving father to her three daughters.
In 1920 the Theosophical Society held a convention. This was a time when the liberals and progressives in the organization were in conflict with the conservatives. The liberals believed that anyone who joined, did not have to sever their relation with other organizations and pledge loyalty to the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society.15
Foster Bailey founded and organized a Committee of 1,400 in New York City to swing the Theosophical Society to its original purpose, to wit: to teach the public16.
In November, 1919, the ascended Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, asked Alice Bailey if she would work with him. She said "No." When her own Master, Koot Hoomi, suggested that she do so, she agreed. She was assured that it would be through mental telepathy. She would not be a medium.17Together they wrote about nineteen books. The Tibetan Master proofread all that was written. Alice wrote seven books on her own.
Inquiries were being received from people who read her books. Ten Thousand letters had to be answered. They learned how to organize the work, send out the lessons, and train the staff. This was the start of the Arcane School in April 1923.16 They were on the way to success.
Marguerite dar Boggia presently serves as Secretary and Membership Chairperson of ISAR (the International Society for Astrological Research). She formerly served as publisher of Kosmos, the ISAR Journal and as Secretary and Director of ISAR and UAC, (the United Astrology Congress). She is a co-founder of UAC. Her articles are published in the ISAR journal and in other publications.
References:
1 Alice A. Bailey was born on June 16, 1880 in Manchester, England at 7:42 AM. Lois Rodden says that Rudhyar's corrected chart has 11 Leo Ascendant and 20 Aries MC, with 0 Gem on 11, 11 Can on 12, 28 Leo on 2, and 19 Virgo on 3 (rounded degrees only). This is consistent with a birth time of 7:42 GMT.
2 Bailey, Alice A. The Unfinished Biography, 1951, Lucis Publishing Co. p. 16
3 Ibid p. 30
4 A decanate or decan is one third (10°) of a 30° arc of a sign. It has a sub-influence according to the trilogy or element it is in. If a planet is at 9:50° Gemini, the first decanate of the sign, Gemini, has an influence. The second decanate 19:50° in the air element, going counter-clockwise, is Libra. The third decanate in the air element 29: 50° going counter-clockwise, would be Aquarius..
5 Ibid, Bailey pp. 34,35
6 Ibid, Bailey p. 84
6a A declination equivalent planet is one whose degree in latitude above or below the celestial equator, is converted into degrees of longitude. The software does this for the astrologer.
7 Ibid, Bailey pp 73,74
8 Ibid, Bailey, pp. 86, 87
9 Ibid, Bailey p. 93
10 Ibid, Bailey p. 110
10 aIbid, Bailey pp. 111-112
11 Ibid, Bailey p. 114
12 Ibid, Bailey p. 124
13 Ibid, Bailey pp. 133, 134
14 Ibid, Bailey p. 180
15 Ibid, Bailey p. 173
16 Ibid, Bailey p. 188
17 Ibid, Bailey p. 162
18 Ibid, Bailey p. 198
Comments