The present volume features The Esoteric Character of the Gospels, The Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry, written by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; and The Letters of Johann Caspar Lavater to the Empress Maria Feodorovna, translated and annotated by Blavatsky. We have also chosen to include an appendix, for the reader's convenience, containing selected correspondence and articles that Blavatsky recommended reading to understand better her discussion on the gospels and ritualism: The Soldier's Daughter by Rev. T.G. Headley (?); Are the Teachings Ascribed to Jesus Contradictory by Gerald Massey (1828-1907); The Signs of Time and Is Theosophy a Religion by H.P. Blavatsky. Christos is the way and Chréstos "the lonely traveller journeying on to reach the ultimate goal through that "Path." The goal is Christos, "the glorified Spirit of "TRUTH," the reunion with which makes the soul (the Son) ONE with the (Father) Spirit."

Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) is widely celebrated as the leading esoteric thinker of the nineteenth century who influenced an entire generation of artists and intellectuals and introduced Eastern spirituality to the West. Until now, however, readers have been able to know this fascinating woman only through her public writings. Few may have realized that H.P.B. was also a tireless correspondent with family and colleagues, friends and foes, the learned and the simple. Her personal correspondence reveals for the first time the private H.P.B. in all of her sphinx-like complexity rarely visible in her published material. This unparalleled offering contains all known letters H.P.B. wrote between 1860 and the time just before she left for India in 1879. Meticulously edited by John Algeo, former President of the Theosophical Society in America and current Vice President of the international Society, the volume also contains letters to and about Blavatsky, articles, and editorial commentary.

Part 1. The Voice of the Will is the Atomic Point, the Logos of the Silent All, a veil concealing Itself from the perception of lower minds. Part 2. The mediumistic state of passivity is dangerous, for passivity paralyzes the connection between man’s lower and higher principles. Part 3. Life is identical with Will, and Will is a property of the Kabbalistic Astral Light. Part 4. There is no special organ of will, any more than there is a physical basis for the activities of self-consciousness. Part 5. Insights to the laws governing compulsion and obsession. Part 6. The Yogi performs his wonders by exercising his Will-Power and Thought. Part 7. Free will is a nameless Intelligent Force, guiding and shaping the imprisoned intelligence and force inherent in every atom of matter. Part 8. Hypnotism is the new scientific name for the old “superstition” variously called fascination and enchantment. Part 9. Will is the offspring of the Divine, Desire, the motive power of animal life.