Frequently asked questions about
the Arcane School
What is the origin
of the Arcane School?
What is the
purpose of the School?
How is the School
administered?
What is the School
curriculum and what is a student’s responsibility?
What are the requirements for entry into the School?
Can a student be affiliated with other groups
too?
What is the cost
of the School training?
What is the origin of the Arcane School?
The founding of the Arcane School was Alice Bailey’s
soul chosen project to train disciples for cooperation with
the Hierarchy and part of a dual service she performed for
the Hierarchy, the other half of which was the writing the
books of the Ageless Wisdom in cooperation with the Tibetan
Master. Foster Bailey wrote of this work, “The Arcane
School was her chosen contribution to hierarchical work and
was approved by her Master. Neither K.H. nor D.K. ever controlled
her or the creation of the Arcane School. That was her privilege,
win or lose.”
The School began in 1923 following the
publication of the books Initiation, Human Solar and Letters
on Occult Meditation when Alice A. Bailey found herself in
receipt of many letters and enquiries. The writers wanted
to know more about meditation and how to practise it. They
asked for guidance in their search for truth without being
subjected to the usual limitations of dogmatic creeds and
without pledging allegiance to some new cult or ism, some
personality of authoritarian teaching. In order to meet this
demand, Mrs. Bailey began writing a monthly letter dealing
with esoteric teaching and methods of personal training. Upon
this basis the courses and work of the Arcane School have
been developed.
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What is the purpose of the School?
The Arcane School exists to provide training
for those who feel impelled to realise the fuller measure
of their innate spiritual capacities for the benefit of humanity.
It is assumed that applicants wish to fit themselves for a
sacrificial life of active service in some area of human need.
The function of the School is to assist
those at the end of the probationary path to move forward
on to the Path of discipleship, and to assist those already
on that path to move on more quickly and to achieve greater
effectiveness in service.
“The Adept”, we are told,
“is self-taught and self-initiated.” The School
can only place in the student’s hands the methods and
rules whereby others have achieved; the burden of proof and
achievement lies with the student, and also the capacity to
relate the unfolding spiritual powers to the life of outer
service. This is fundamental to discipleship in the New Age
and constitutes the underlying purpose of the Arcane School.
Emphasis is laid upon group work and the requirements for
discipleship in the Aquarian Age. Esotericism is a practical
way of life.
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How is the School administered?
The work of the Arcane School is carried
on by correspondence through the headquarters group in New
York, London and Geneva. The School will soon be offered electronically in
English through London and New York and in Spanish through New York.
The headquarters exist to guide, help and advise
in the work and spiritual life of Arcane School students and
to assist in the right trends and expansion of the group life
and work in conformity with need and opportunity. The discipleship
value of the worldwide group as a whole to the work of the
Hierarchy is dependent upon the quality of the entire School
membership, and all students in the Arcane School accept their
right share of responsibility for the maintenance and development
of the group work as an instrument of service. There are no
classes, no examinations and there is no competition. The
work is individual and confidential. Each student’s
progress is evaluated individually and not compared with or
measured against the spiritual growth of another. Each student
is expected to think, meditate, and search out the truth for
himself according to his own need and understanding, learning
through acquired spiritual independence the significance of
interdependence in group work. Each student is also assigned
to a Secretarial Group. A Secretary is a student in the School
who has agreed to work with students in the earlier degrees
and oversee their work. The Secretary corresponds with the
student and is available to answer any questions that might
arise.
Students in different parts of the world,
who may never meet or know one another, work together in the
service of group meditation and study, helping to precipitate
the ideas on which the new civilisation and culture will be
founded. Students living in the Americas and parts of the
Far East who work in English or Spanish are served through
the headquarters in New York; those in Great Britain and the
Commonwealth through the London headquarters; and all students
working in the different European languages through headquarters
in Geneva. Postal library services are available at each headquarters.
A free lending library of occult and esoteric
books is maintained by the Arcane School at each headquarters
for the benefit of students. Its services are also available
to the public and books may be borrowed by mail. It is not
possible, however, for books to be sent abroad.
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What is the School curriculum and what is a student’s
responsibility?
The Arcane School provides a practical
training which will help the aspirant in his self-initiated
efforts to “know himself” and his place of service
in relation to those ahead of him in evolution to whom he
may look for help, and to those whom he in turn can serve.
Essentially, the Arcane School puts into the hands of the
student tools and methods successfully applied by others,
and leaves it to them to experiment with application in their
own lives.
The work of the School falls basically
into three interdependent parts, no one of which can be carried
forward successfully without the other. They are: meditation,
study and service. The nature and form of individual service
is left entirely to the student to decide on the basis of
motivations and inclinations, and of personal circumstance.
The role of the headquarters group and
those who act as secretaries in handling the work of students,
is to help them do their own thinking, and to make available
to them the pooled experience of the worldwide group, in the
form of a steadying and guiding influence.
The formal courses of study extend over
several years. The first, or preparatory, course normally
spans six months’ work. It includes a study of the Constitution
of Man and of certain basic occult facts relating to the life
of discipleship. A rhythm of meditation and the process of
reorientation and evaluation of the daily life are established.
The second course of work concentrates
on the means whereby the personality is integrated and aligned
and the emotional nature brought under the control of the
mind by the use of “the magical powers of the soul”.
At this time also a study of the “Problems of Humanity”
is introduced complementing the occult work. This study continues
in varying form throughout the School training programme.
All disciples are in training for service to humanity.
The purpose of the next course of study
and meditation is the integration of soul and personality,
thereby creating a sensitive instrument of service for the
Masters’ use.
During the following years further instruction
and guidance are given on the building of the Antahkarana—the
bridge of consciousness between the soul-infused personality
and the Spiritual Triad. Related courses of study accompany
this work and emphasis is placed on a recognition of the right
sphere of discipleship service appropriate to each student’s
ray and equipment.
The training offered throughout the School
in the different courses of study and meditation is, therefore,
eliminative of the unready and of those unwilling to make
the needed effort and adjustments. The Arcane School is a
place for hard work and is a long-term course of study. Depending
upon one’s application to the work, the training can
take between 8-13 years or more to complete. Students are
sent regular study sets that they work with. Each month students
are asked to send in a report on their meditation work and
regular study papers as well.
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Admission Requirements
What are the requirements for entry into
the School? Can a student be affiliated with other groups
too?
The Arcane School does not require students
to sever connection with organisations or churches with which
they may be affiliated. The only requirement that must be
imposed concerns the adherence to the technique of occult
meditation presented in the School courses of work. No student
should attempt to follow the meditative practices presented
in the Arcane School concurrently with any others. Should
this injunction not be regarded, the School cannot be responsible
for the confusion and impasse that may result, and would feel
free to drop from its membership any student who disregarded
this warning. It should be borne in mind that in occult meditation
the student is literally learning dexterity in the reception,
handling and transmission of energies, and that only one method
and technique can safely be used at a time.
The work in the School is not elementary
or on a probationary path level and a certain familiarity
with the esoteric science is therefore assumed. Should this
not be the case, a course of preparatory reading is often
recommended.
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What is the cost of the School training?
The Arcane School is supported entirely
by the voluntary contributions of students. There is no established
fee for the courses of training. Students are expected to
give what they can, but decide themselves what to give. Annually
a statement of the financial condition of the School is sent
to all students so that they may be kept informed. The sustained
and regular contributions of the students are the means by
which the work of the School has been carried on through its
many years of growth.
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