Something I learned from researching Alice Bailey: That all of the teachings Alice Bailey wrote in telepathic rapport with the Tibetan, Djwhal Khul or DK, are fully edited and crafted re-writes of collated material derived from ‘stream of consciousness’ writing in which Alice Bailey was attuned to a higher source. For some, this is a contentious statement, for others it might be a revelation.
It’s also not immediately obvious which books were written by Alice Bailey as herself, and which are narrated in the voice of DK because they sound similar and all have the same plain blue covers.
Also, it is not the case that, for example, A Treatise of Cosmic Fire was written from start to finish in one go as a discrete text, but rather what we find between the covers is an arrangement of material pulled together to form the treatise out of a vast outpouring of esoteric knowledge/wisdom.
When I first started reading the texts, it was as though DK was speaking directly to me. I really felt that. I felt strongly the spiritual power of the texts. I was indiscriminate, too. I didn’t really know which books were DK and which were Bailey herself. I wonder now if that really matters since the lines between Alice Bailey and DK are blurred. I still feel that pull, that energy that seems to flow out from behind the words and draw me towards them.
I am not writing this to detract from the teachings but rather to praise them and to praise Alice Bailey. (And also her editor Regina Keller) For what she achieved with her output is remarkable. She was so attuned, so aligned with her source, that a sense of spiritual purity comes through each and every word. What a remarkable feat.
When quoting, however, I always attribute any passage to Alice Bailey as she is the author.
Why have I written this? Because I think it is useful to take a step back and understand what we are reading. Even to question it. Or perhaps especially to question it rather than regard any sentence or idea as true because DK says so. That’s not an easy thing to do when dealing with metaphysics or any spiritual or religious texts as they tend to be written authoritatively. It is, however, what the Statement from the Tibetan appearing in the front of many volumes invites readers to do.
Isobel Blackthorn, PhD, is the author of The Unlikely Occultist: a biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey and the biography Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy. Her PhD, polished and rendered much more readable, can be found here https://isobelblackthorn.com/2022/05/31/experiencing-the-texts-of-alice-a-bailey/ She is also the author of Spiritual Changemakers, a documentary memoir of the Twelves meditation group as they advance the work of Alice Bailey’s Triangles.
Isobel Blackthorn 