Alice Bailey

Alice Bailey entered my life in 1993. I was thirty-one years old and studying for a diploma in Transpersonal Counselling in Fremantle, Western Australia. I wasn’t at all sure what I wanted to do with my life and my orientation back then was gaining a better awareness of who I was. Transpersonal, along with Jungian Psychology, spoke to me. The 1990s witnessed an upsurge of seeking. People searched for healing and alternative ways of knowing under the broad banner of the New Age movement. I was very much a part of that scene.

It was around October of that year when a fellow student on the course presented me with a second-hand copy of her Esoteric Astrology. I had only discovered I had a natural talent for astrology three years prior so the text represented quite a leap. I describe the experiences here https://isobelblackthorn.com/how-i-came-across-alice-a-bailey/

Back then, I had no idea that I had entered two worlds, one coloured by the orthodoxy of the astrological establishment, the other coloured by its own orthodoxy, one determined to remain to the letter of the Bailey doctrine as set down in the texts written in telepathic rapport with the Tibetan or Djwhal Khul. Maverick that I am, I existed then as I do now, outside both of these orthodoxies.

I have a close association with Alice Bailey, and at times I pay a high price for this. After all, how dare this maverick outsider have anything to say about Alice Bailey! Who on earth does she think she is!

Well, I do dare to voice my own view, in the written word and sometimes in spoken word. Perhaps some of my own perspective has filtered into this rare radio interview I gave on Alice Bailey in June 2024. https://www.abetterworldcommunity.com/post/isobel-blackthorn-on-alice-a-bailey

You can listen to this interview which I gave in Spanish, too. https://isobelblackthorn.com/2024/09/02/entrevista-alice-bailey-madre-de-la-nueva-era-con-isobel-blackthorn/

My Writing on Alice Bailey

I began writing about Alice Bailey in 2003 when I embarked on my doctoral thesis. Writing a PhD is always a remarkably intense experience. Mine was especially so as I was a full-time student receiving an ample scholarship, and I spent my days reading not only Alice Bailey but an enormous quantity of academic literature on philosophy, metaphysics, the history of Western esotericism, Theosophy, and psychology, not to mention texts supporting my research methodology. I describe my PhD story here https://isobelblackthorn.com/my-alice-bailey-phd-thesis-story/

It took me a long time to realise that I needed to turn my PhD into a book. The number of downloads of my PhD on the university website alone tops 13,000 (they’ve now removed the download counter which is a pity), and I wanted to provide readers with something more reader friendly. A PhD is not meant for a wide readership. It is submitted for examination to be read by three examiners who assess its merits based on the student’s ability to conduct rigorous research. I completed my thesis in three years and was commended by all three examiners, yet no ordinary reader wants to wade through lengthy justifications of the research methodology. I also took the trouble to improve one of the chapters, rewriting my chapter on A Treatise on Cosmic Fire for submission to the Esoteric Quarterly. The piece was peer-reviewed, and I have included it in my revised doctoral thesis which you can find below.

Experiencing the Texts of Alice A. Bailey

From a biographical novel to a formal biography of Alice Bailey

My PhD was granted in 2006. A year later I was employed as personal assistant by literary agent and former senior editor at Norton and Penguin/Random House Mary Cunnane. The moment she heard about my doctoral thesis she urged me to write a biography of Alice Bailey. At first, I did not feel equipped. I lacked the creative writing skills, and access to vital material. Ten years passed, ten years dedicated to the craft of creative writing, and then Mary urged me again, this time with impatience. “I don’t know why you won’t write a biography of Alice Bailey.” This time, I knew I had the literary credentials. I had recently reached the shortlist for a prestigious creative writing fellowship with the Australian National Library for another project. With this confidence, I set to work.

Only, all doors to any research material remained closed. I wrote what I could based on Alice Bailey’s own autobiography along with anything else I could find online. I ended up with a lot of material on conspiracy theories. The resulting draft didn’t satisfy me. Then I had the idea to turn what I had into a fictional narrative. The result is The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey

No sooner was this book published than a key figure in the Theosophical milieu made himself known to me by criticising a review someone had left of The Unlikely Occultist on Goodreads. I replied and the result was an important opening into the world of theosophists that I had remained outside of.

The man, Steven Chernikeeff, urged me to write the full biography. This time, when I cast around for research material, some doors opened, perhaps just a crack but it was enough for me to embark on the project. Suddenly, all sorts of material came my way, sometimes by happy accident, sometimes thanks to a book newly published by someone else. I remain disappointed that I wasn’t able to travel the world visiting key locations, gaining access to the personal papers of key figures in Bailey’s life. That sort of biography is funded by a university or some other institution. I received no such funding. And yet I was able to place Alice Bailey in her historical context, bring her to life, display her contributions to the world, and expose some controversies. The result, fully referenced, is Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy Available in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print and audiobook formats. Also available in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

I have been accused of grifting. Of aiming to profit from book sales. Whenever I hear this, I laugh. It would be a miracle were I ever to be financially recompensed for the tens of thousands of hours I have put into my Bailey work. But it isn’t work. It’s service.

Spiritual Leadership

It was an honour to write the introduction to this important book by Alice Bailey on the matter of spiritual leadership. https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Leadership-Alice-Bailey-ebook/dp/B09M77QN9X