Secret Doctrine

Use in the book

Clymer presents the doctrine as preserved by initiates despite changing institutions and periods of suppression. It explains the Lost Word, divine names, scripts, and ritual forms. Several historical narratives then supply proposed channels through which this teaching reaches later orders.

Places to read

1. Original Introduction · Block 15… “Occult Fraternities, Masonry could never have existed. The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion of the Ancient and prehistoric world. Proof of its diffusion, authentic records of its history, a” …
2. Mystic Masonry · Block 47“47. "The Secret Doctrine is the Complete Philosophy of Masonic Symbolism. So long as this philosophy is unknown to the Mason, his symbols are, to a great extent, dead letters. The” …
3. Mystic Masonry · Block 59… “other nations of antiquity, was known as the secret doctrine. The reason for such a name is fully revealed in what has been shown hitherto.”
4. Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 89… “and unbiased student of history knows why the Secret Doctrine has been heard of so little since the days of Constantine. An exoteric religion, and belief in a personal God blotted” …
5. Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 121“156. "Those associates who still remained over from the collapse (the 'Magian Brothers,' who followed Manes, the Reformer,) of the community of Initiates, and who were scattered about the world, began” …

In this edition

The capitalized expression is retained; quotations are not rewritten to make every Secret Doctrine an explicit reference to Blavatsky.

Reading the argument

The term can name a presumed content, a particular literary work, or an explanation of continuity. A reference to the named work should not be treated as a direct ancient witness to every component of the system.

Related texts

The original introduction's postulates can be compared with the three fundamental propositions in Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, vol. I, Proem, pp. 14–20. The comparison identifies a philosophical context.²

Secret Doctrine

“Secret Doctrine” — 13 occurrences in 12 text blocks: I.15–16, 19, 28; M.26, 47, 52, 59, 69–70; F.89, 130.

Secret Science

“Secret Science” — 4 occurrences in 3 text blocks: F.49–50, 53.

secret teaching

“secret teaching” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.128, 130.

secret teachings

“secret teachings” — 3 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.76, 130.