Quest Magazine

Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle

By Daniel Stashower
New York: Henry Holt, 1999. Hardback, xv+472pages.

Most people know that Conan Doyle was not Sherlock Holmes, but the two names arc so intertwined that they arc almost interchangeable. Stashower's book helps separate the two and gives us a lot more of Doyle than of Holmes. We are told that Sherlock Holmes is based on Doyle's old medical school lecturer, Dr. Joseph Bell. Also we find that Doyle wan red to be known and recognized as a historical novelist rather than as the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Alas, this was not to be, and he had to bring Holmes back from his supposed death not only to satisfy his fans, but to financially support his other, and not so successful, literary projects.

Most Theosophists will read this book to understand Doyle's crusading zeal for Spiritualism, and his involvement in the Cottingley fairies. Unfortunately, I can give only a lukewarm recommendation for the book in this area. In his preface, Stashower declares himself to be a cordial disbeliever in the psychic realm. There is nothing wrong with this, but his lack of depth seems to get in the way. A telling example is his definition of the Theosophical movement as "a Western reconstruction of Tibetan Buddhism made famous by Helena Blavatsky and Annie Besant" (351). In view of this superficial definition, I can see that Stashower also lacks the background to do justice to Spiritualism.

For someone who loves to read Sherlock Holmes and wants to know more about the man who created him, this is a great book. For a Theosophist who wants to gain some insight into Spiritualism and Doyle's relationship with Theosophy it may not be very satisfying.

-RALPH HANNON

May/June 2001

Theosophy As the Masters See It: As Outlined in the Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom

By Clara M. Codd
Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 2000. Paper, xx+249pages.

This revised edition of a work first published in 1953 is the summary of the teachings of the Mahatmas by a noted Theosophist and feminist. Topics covered include the Theosophical Society; religious, social, and political reform, including the women's movement; Lodge work; the path to the Masters; and a variety of other subjects, including vegetarianism, the Esoteric School, incense, and the Society's seal. This new edition is an attractive, clear, readable presentation of the Masters' own words with Codd's sensible commentary.
-J. A.

May/June 2001

Ed. Alexander Markin
American supplier: Joseph Polansky, P 0. Box 7368, North Port, FL 34287. Quarterly.

This delightful new astrological quarterly from Britain, edited by a Theosophist, is "designed to promote spiritual awareness among astrologers and to explore the many different ways in which the spiritual dimension can be shown in the chart." Unlike many current" 'rubbishy' or badly written" astrological publications, this one emphasizes quality, for "the subject matter itself demands, and deserves, no less." The first: issue (May 1999) is small, a mere fourteen pages, but full of fresh promise, pithy wisdom, and gems of esoteric insight from six astrologers, British and American. It has no distracting advertising.

One hundred years ago, British Theosophical astrologers like Alan Leo, Bessie Leo, and C. E. O. Carter planted seeds in the field, but astrology in the early twentieth century soon reverted to event-oriented, predictive, and mundane interpretation. Just before the inrush of the "new" astrologers in the late 1960s, a handful may have read Alan Leo's or Alice Bailey's books on "Esoteric Astrology," but hardly anyone understood the concepts. In the early 1970’s no self-respecting astrological convention acknowledged the subject. This began to change by the late 19705. Dane Rudhyar gave a new Theosophical interpretation to Marc Edmund Jones's Sabian Symbols. Steven Arroyo talked about: clues to karma and reincarnation in the horoscope. By the early 1980s, the Seven Rays crept into astrological delineation, with works by Mac R. Wilson-Ludlam and Alan Oken. Finally, by the 1990s, spiritual astrology was openly talked of, and a "general" Theosophical approach was appearing in astrological literature. Because of this evolution in the late twentieth century, it seems only fitting that this journal should have appeared in 1999 as a culmination or fruition of spiritual growth in astrological circles rather than wait to appear in the new millennium.

Beginning astrologers as well as professional ones can benefit from this journal. Both its astrological and Theosophical approaches are sound. And it may whet the appetite for neophytes in either area and help bring astrology and Theosophy closer together since they both deal with the laws of the universe.

-AMY W. FURNANS

May/June 2001

Afterwards, You're a Genius: Faith, Medicine, and the Metaphysics of Healing

By Chip Brown
New York: Riverhead, 1998. Hardcover, 398 pages.

This book, with its odd title, is nevertheless an entertaining excursion into alternative medical practices by a journalist who apparently started out as a hard-headed and skeptical investigator of the subject but ended up convinced that there is much that conventional medicine does not know and that spirituality and healing go together in ways that we can hardly grasp.

As Brown entered into his exploration of healing techniques on the fringe of conventional medicine, he focused on those approaches that fall under the rubric "energy medicine." He was curious about the concept: of the "ghost in the machine," the idea of an animating soul or spirit in the body that is crucial to healing.

One could certainly conclude that Brown is very much persuaded of the truth of Voltaire's remark that "the art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." And amuse Chip Brown does, as he describes his explorations into psychism, aura balancing, subtle energies, healing prayer, hands-on healing, and other alternatives to conventional medicine.

A former staff writer for the Washington Post, the author has also written for a number of national magazines including the New Yorker, Harper's, and Esquire. He starts out skeptical, finds himself frequently puzzled at how he gets drawn into the peculiar ways of unconventional healing, and finally concludes, "Maybe there is also real magic in magical thinking."

He learns "not to clutch too tightly this idea that there is an intrinsic meaning in all events .... And yet the idea of intrinsic meaningfulness is central to the metaphysics of healing. At times nothing seems more powerful than the Willful disavowing of chance precisely because it does turn every misfortune into a lesson; it does render meaning; it docs ask you to search the flux of events for your complicity. Maybe the very effort to live by such a code creates its own meaning. You learn to pretend that everything happens for a reason and you are astonished to find that meaning appears.”

-WILLIAM METZGER

May/June 2001