Rising Up into the Divine: World Mystics on the Ascent of Your Soul
by Lucia Lena Hodges
Winchester, Ore.: Inner Sound Press, 2023; 420 pp. paper, $19.99.
H.P. Blavatsky declared that her work was a synthesis of philosophy, science, and religion. The same might be said for Lucia Lena Hodges’ newly self-published book, Rising Up into the Divine: World Mystics and the Ascent of Your Soul. Like HPB’s work, Hodges traces the various paths laid down by earlier mystics and spiritual teachers and how they influenced the teachings of subsequent followers.
Hodges, who describes herself as a “spiritual seeker” and “independent scholar,” presents us with a well-researched book that is a journey through many spiritual traditions and beliefs, philosophical systems, and science, from ancient Eastern and Middle Eastern understanding to modern quantum physics.
Hodges begins with her own experience at age twelve, when she felt the need to look up and had the realization that many of the adults in her life had “forgotten about the most important Person in the world.” When she looked a bit higher, she “realized in awe that some part of me actually was God.” In her exploration through libraries, Hodges encountered far more than her Catholic upbringing taught her, and she began to question.
Over the course of four years—much of it during the isolation of the pandemic—Hodges researched how each of these great teachers and traditions “reflected a bit of the beautiful light of the One in their own particular shade of vibrancy.” She came to “realize that ultimate Truth is not relative but rather a Divine constant, analogous to the speed of light which shines true in all frames of reference.” She intuitively weaves the threads of many of the worlds’ mystics, philosophers, and scientists from ancient to modern times to reveal the inner path.
Quoting extensively from the best-known writings and spiritual teachers, Hodges shows the similarity of their revelations through the ages as their traditions evolved, each building on themes that came before: heaven and the idea of ascent; the “universal framework” of the Trinity, including a personal Trinity; levitation and miracles; inner light and sound; spirit and soul; and many others. The word “up” especially seems to fascinate Hodges as she explores the etymology of that word in relation to God (One chapter is entitled “So Why Is God Up?”).
In the section titled “Steps into the Science of Spirituality,” Hodges begins with the eighteenth-century Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg, a true Renaissance man who not only mastered many of the arts and sciences of his time but became aware of both the inner and outer worlds as a mystic. Many spiritually guided people who came after Swedenborg were greatly influenced by his writings, including Emerson, whose essay on Swedenborg paid homage to his greatness.
Hodges covers Theosophy extensively throughout the book (one chapter is “Why Should We Believe Theosophists?”). HPB’s writings, including The Secret Doctrine and The Voice of the Silence, play a large role in Hodges’ book. Hodges also refers to the ideas of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in their book Occult Chemistry and in Leadbeater’s books The Monad, The Inner Side of Things, and The Inner Life, as well as others. On the topic of levitation and whether it is possible, Hodges quotes Leadbeater’s book The Astral Plane: “Occult science is acquainted with a means of neutralizing or even entirely reversing the attraction of gravity, and it is obvious that by the judicious use of this power all the phenomena of levitation may be easily produced.”
She includes several twentieth-century influencers of the modern spiritual path, including Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the Summit Lighthouse, under whom Hodges studied for many years, and Ernest Holmes, founder of the Science of Mind (aka Religious Science), and she traces the history of the New Thought tradition. Many of these groups were clearly affected by the Theosophical Society and adopted ascended Masters as part of their teachings, as Hodges notes.
Hodges includes quantum physicists in her collection of those contributing to the spiritual path. For example, John Hagelin, a Harvard particle physicist who is the leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement in the United States, “proposed that consciousness is the ultimate unified field theory.”
Theosophists will find Hodges’ book an interesting journey, filled along the way with familiar names and teachings. Like HPB in her day, she astutely connects the dots, offering a comprehensive view of the three prongs of science, philosophy, and religion. Her hope for this book is that it will help the reader “ascend into your own higher consciousness, should you choose this challenging but exciting adventure.”
Clare Goldsberry
Clare Goldsberry’s latest book, The Illusion of Life and Death, was reviewed in Quest, spring 2022.