The Secret Doctrine is one of the most influential esoteric and occult books of all time. In the first part of the book the author explains the origin and evolution of the universe itself, in terms derived from the Hindu concept of cyclical development. While in the second part she describes the origins of humanity through an account of "Root Races" said to date back millions of years.

This is the somewhat controversial, third volume of The Secret Doctrine by Helena Blavatsky which was published by Annie Besant after Blavatsky's death. Chapters include: Modern Criticism and the Ancients; The Origin of Magic; The Secresy of Initiates; Some Reasons for Secresy; The Dangers of Practical Magicl Old Wine in New Bottles; The Book of Enoch the Origin and the Foundation of Christianity; Hermetic and Kabalistic Doctrines; Various Occult Systems of Interpretations of Alphabets and Numerals; The Hexagon with the Central Point, or the Seventh Key; The Duty of the True Occultist toward Religions; Post-Christian Adepts and their Doctrines; Simon and his Biographer Hippolytus; St. Paul the real Founder of present Christianity; Peter a Jewish Kabalist, not an Initiate; Apollonius of Tyana; Facts underlying Adept Biographies; St. Cyprian of Antioch; The Eastern Gupta Vidya & the Kabalah; Hebrew Allegories; The Zohar on Creation and the Elohim; What the Occultists and Kabalists have to say; Modern Kabalists in Science and Occult Astronomy; Eastern and Western Occultism; The Idols and the Teraphim; Egyptian Magic; The Origin of the Mysteries; The Trial of the Sun Initiate; The Mystery Sun of Initiation; The Objects of the Mysteries; Traces of the Mysteries; The Last of the Mysteries in Europe; The Post-Christian Successors to the Mysteries; Symbolism of Sun and Stars; Pagan Sidereal Worship, or Astrology; The Souls of the Stars—Universal Heliolatry; Astrology and Astrolatry; Cycles and Avataras; Secret Cycles; The Doctrine of Avataras; The Seven Principles' The Mystery of Buddha' Reincarnations of Buddha; An Unpublished Discourse of Buddha; Nirvana-Moksha; The Secret Books of Lam-Rin and Dzyan; Amita Buddha Kwan-Shai-yin, and Kwan-yin.—What the Book of Dzyan and the Lamaseries of Tsong-Kha-pa say; Tsong-Kha-pa.—Lohans in China; A few more Misconceptions Corrected; The Doctrine of the Eye & the Doctrine of the Heart, or the Heart's Seal; and, Some Papers On The Bearing Of Occult Philosophy On Life.

Madame Blavatsky's Victorian-era masterpiece is now scaled down to its essentials, providing the most readable, accessible experience ever of one of history's seminal occult works. The Secret Doctrine, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's masterwork on the origin and evolution of the universe and humanity itself, is arguably the most famous, and perhaps the most influential, occult book ever written. Published since 1888 only in expensive, two-volume editions of some 1,400 pages, it has long eluded the grasp of modern readers- until now. This single-volume edition, abridged and annotated by historian and Theosophical scholar Michael Gomes, places the ideas of The Secret Doctrine within reach of all who are curious. In particular, Gomes provides a critical sounding of the book's famous stanzas on the genesis of life and the cosmos- mysterious passages that Blavatsky said originated from a primeval source and which form the heart of The Secret Doctrine. Gomes scrupulously scales down the book's key writings on symbolism to their essentials, and offers notes and a glossary to illuminate arcane references. His historical and literary introduction casts new light on some of the book's sources and on the career of its brilliant and elusive author, one of the most intriguing personages of the nineteenth century. At once compact and representative of the work as a whole, this new edition of The Secret Doctrine brings unprecedented accessibility to the key esoteric classic of the modern era.