[Die Neue Lotusblüten und die Gefahren des “Okkultismus.”
Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl.[1]
Motto: “What use is a science which is not also a religion?”—Jacob Böhme.
Since this issue begins a new year of the “Lotusblüten,” it seems fitting to say a few words about the purpose of this journal, which is to bring clarity not only to the theosophical teachings commonly known today, but also to draw attention to the dangers which the misunderstanding of the same and the devotion to a pseudo-occultism, which unfortunately is spreading everywhere, entails.
When the “Lotusblüten” first appeared in 1893, the teachings of the sevenfold constitution of man and the universe, the teachings of reincarnation, karma, the astral plane, etc. were still little known, and spiritualism also had only a few followers. The main concern was to spread the ancient sciences which had been rediscovered by the genius of H. P. Blavatsky and to create space for a new and better world view by clearing up errors. The seed sown at that time has borne abundant fruit, for there are now a great many magazines devoted to this task, so that a resurrection of the “Lotusblüten” seems superfluous, so to speak.
But in the wake of the theosophical teachings, occult science also made its entry into people’s minds, and with it a certain pseudo-occultism, the dangers of which cannot be warned enough. Occult facts, which the initiates had prudently protected from the profane for the best of mankind, were now proclaimed with a blare of trumpets, so to speak, from the rooftops and in the public marketplace, countless curious people crowded and still crowd, the secrets of the “astral plane” to get to know practically and to develop the magical powers hidden in man in order to use them for personal purposes and to the detriment of others. As a result, many of the adherents of this tendency, without knowing or wanting to, made themselves accessible to the influences of the media and perished from it; for, as occult science teaches, “according to the wise laws of nature, each is shrouded in an akasic {ākāśik} wall, which keeps the soul from conscious communication with the astral world until it acquires strength to conquer and dominate the inhabitants of that world.” Anyone who breaks through this wall on their own and thus gives access to the inhabitants of the astral world, whom they do not know and cannot control, exposes themselves to much greater dangers than a person who goes blind and unarmed into a pit of murderers, because these dangers are related and refer not only to the loss of the body, but to the irreplaceable loss of the soul, the immortal self, “spiritual death.” If you want to control the spirits which invade you, you must first learn to control your own mind; magic is a sacred art, but to use it properly one must be a saint, and not everyone is ready for that.
It is therefore also the task of the “Neuen Lotusblüten” to help teach those who wish to study magic and the occult arts that Theosophy, or knowledge of God, and “occultism,” as practiced today, are two different things, and that true occult knowledge belongs to the divine part of man (Atma Budhi Manas) and can only be properly apprehended by realizing it, and that consequently inner purity and sanctification is the first step to true knowledge, because only “the pure in heart shall see God.” Only when man has come to the full conviction that he is divine in his innermost being can he think, want and act in accordance with this divine nature. In the awakening of this true self-awareness consists true Theosophy, which cannot be “studied” but must be “lived.”
Far be it from us to underestimate true knowledge. It is well known that reason and science are “man’s supreme power,” but above the earthly human understanding, which investigates the appearance of external things, stands divine wisdom, which recognizes the essence of everything. Wisdom is knowledge of the truth. Of what use is science without true knowledge, knowledge of supernatural things without true religious feeling? Knowledge without experience puffs up but gives no spiritual power, no spiritual life; indeed, an overload of the intellect and too deep immersion in the sensual and material can even result in the loss of all understanding for the spiritual and ideal and thus spiritual death. This will be an unwelcome truth to some, but it needs to be grasped. One Adept writes about it as follows:
{Note from the translator. There is a slight variation of Dr. Hartmann’s German to English translation due to paraphrasing. It seems fit to extract the original English, below, from Isis Unveiled. vol. II, page 369.}
. . . the brain feeds and lives and grows in strength and power at the expense of its spiritual parent. Then the already half-unconscious soul, now fully intoxicated by the fumes of earthly life, becomes senseless, beyond hope of redemption. It is powerless to discern the splendor of its higher spirit, to hear the warning voice of its “guardian Angel,” and its “God.” It aims but at the development and fuller comprehension of natural, earthly life; and thus, can discover but the mysteries of physical nature. Its grief and fear, hope and joy, are all closely blended with its terrestrial existence. It ignores all that cannot be demonstrated by either its organs of action, or sensation. It begins by becoming virtually dead; it dies at last completely. It is annihilated. Such a catastrophe may often happen long years before the final separation of the life-principle from the body. When death arrives, its iron and clammy grasp finds work with life as usual; but there is no more a soul to liberate. The whole essence of the latter has been already absorbed by the vital system of the physical man. Grim death frees but a spiritual corpse; at best an idiot. Unable either to soar higher or awaken from lethargy, it is soon dissolved in the elements of the terrestrial atmosphere. . . . Our present cycle is preeminently one of such soul-deaths.
Such is the fate of some of our luminaries of materialism and rationalism, ossified scholars, cruel vivisectionists, and others whose brains have consumed and gorged themselves with all their mental powers while their loveless hearts have atrophied, and it was high time indeed that the Theosophical teachings came to at least partly do away with these excesses of scientific curiosity and ambition.
But if the sinking of the intellect in the swamp of the sensual and material entails the loss of the spiritual and immortal even during life, then the consequences of the spiritual being pulled down into the material and its desecration are even more to be lamented, like the wise claim that these victims of their greed and ignorance are subjected to the most horrific torments of the soul even after the death of the body, before they are completely destroyed by slow decomposition. The legend that after the death of the black magician the devil takes the soul of the magician he served and that it must now serve him has a true background; the existence of human souls who have become devils, black magicians, sorcerers and hideous inhabitants of the astral world, who eke out their existence like vampires at the expense of the living and approach people in the most diverse forms in order to draw them into their net, are no fable. If our spiritists would recognize certain of the “dear ones before” with whom they think they associate, i.e., see their “larvae,” they would often find opportunity to dread it, and no one would desire to breathe the atmosphere of the lower astral plane poisoned by the fire of passion and the plague of selfishness.
One “in the know” writes: “Certain persons, endowed with all the essential elements of manliness, also possess a strong disposition for powerful acts of selfishness and greed. They represent the highest level of intellectuality combined with a powerful will and mediumistic temperament. These prevailing conditions predispose them to the study of psychology and the occult. This makes them easy prey for the adepts of black magic and the inverse brethren of the astral realm. Their selfishness, combined with their boundless ambition and thirst for power, plunges them headlong into the most horrific practices where, surrounded by the hellish rites of their diabolical seducers, they become immediate slaves to the very powers they seek to dominate. Therefore they are lost forever. Their penalty is death and they know it, and so for their own safety they strive to remain loyal to the brotherhood which brought them down.”[2]
To say nothing of swindlers, purse snatchers, and those who haggle in sacred things, there are also in this class a multitude of perhaps benevolent but inexperienced people who consider themselves “theosophists” or “occultists” but are like children playing with matches in a powder room. Those who see this will see that the ancient sages had good reason to hide their sacred secrets from the eyes of the curious profane. Physical illness, moral depravity, spiritual death either in this life, or agonizing decomposition in the darkest state of the disembodied souls,[3] these are the results of a wrong knowledge and misuse of occultism, hypnotism, magic, so-called “Christian Science” or “health prayer” and similar pseudo-scientific experiments, which are now everywhere propaganda and publicity, and to which innumerable people are drawn, partly from curiosity, partly from greed, partly from dissatisfaction with themselves, to be like the butterfly attracted by the splendor of light, to find their downfall in the flame. God is the truth. Without true knowledge there is also no perfect and true natural science in the realm of phenomena. How much less can one know the mysteries of God without knowledge of God. That is why the Bible also says: “Seek first of all the kingdom of God (the kingdom of the knowledge of truth within you). All the rest will then be given to you, for the natural man does not hear of the Spirit of God, it is foolishness to him.” (I Corinth. II, 14.)
What science in general, but especially occultism, spiritualism and the so-called “occult sciences” need above all today is not an accumulation of theories, but a truly religious basis, and this is not in a blind, dogmatic church faith, but in and of “Theosophy, or knowledge of the truth which springs from the true religious feeling in man’s heart. The “Neuen Lotusblüten” are therefore not intended to satisfy scientific curiosity and encourage pseudo-occultism, or to serve as “theosophical” gimmicks and occult pastimes, rather its purpose is to dispel dangerous errors and to be a guide on the way to self-knowledge for those who strive for the light. The key to the sanctuary is love of the highest; the light illuminating the temple is the knowledge of the truth. Anyone who strives for this light and strives to spread it should be welcome as a friend and collaborator.
Notes:
[1] The New Lotusblüten and the Dangers of “Occultism” [Die Neue Lotusblüten und die Gefahren des “Okkultismus.” Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 2, no. 1-2 (January-February 1909), 1-10] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos, translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
[2] Raphael, Hermetic Lessons. P. 131.
[3] Hermes Trismegistus.