The books by Alice Bailey continue to inform and inspire individuals and groups all over the world. For readers who would like to explore some of the most extensive discussions of the Ageless Wisdom and esoteric philosophy, it could be time to explore her work. The following article, somewhat re-edited, first appeared in the December 1994 phenomeNEWS.

Ever since childhood when I listened to my grandmother speak about “adepts,” “masters” and “initiates,” I wondered who these individuals were. They sounded so mysterious. I pictured saintly creatures probably not much different from the concept little Roman Catholic children have of the blessed saints of the church. My curiosity has led me throughout my adult life to read biographies about special people of all kinds. The result is usually enlightening but in unexpected ways. Whether the subject is Eleanor Roosevelt, Saint Theresa of Avila, Saint Francis of Assisi or Helena P. Blavatsky, I discover a real person who lived a real life that was often terribly difficult and strained, filled with problems and pain. The person is very human with all the faults and weaknesses all humans have. Nevertheless, the person contributes something special to the world. If this insight isn’t exactly enlightening, at least I find it consoling and inspirational.

Such a book recently drew my attention. I had heard of Alice A. Bailey since childhood because she was one of my grandmother’s favorite authors. I well remember Nana’s bookshelf of dark blue volumes. In fact, I have on my library shelves many of those very books, heavily annotated in my grandmother’s writing. Because they are so very challenging to read and understand, for years I read only bits and pages and then lovingly returned them to their shelves.

Later I was excited to discover complete sets of the Alice Bailey books in the metaphysical sections of not only “New Age” bookstores but also those large super bookstores popping up in all major cities. Among the set I found a wonderful compilation of the Bailey/Tibetan books, called Ponder on This (Lucis Publishing Company, 1971). This little tome contains neat “bites” and segments of the significant ideas and concepts from the longer works. I enjoyed them so much, I bought several more books including the author’s autobiography. I always want to know about the person who wrote all this great stuff. Bailey’s book is called The Unfinished Autobiography (Lucis Publishing Company, 1951) and indeed it is unfinished because Mrs. Bailey passed on before she completed her story. But as usual, the work consoled me with its humanness, while it inspired me with its insights.

Her personal life, at first glance, was hardly what one would associate with either discipleship or great accomplishment. Born into an upper class English family in 1880, Alice “wanted for nothing” until age 28, from which time for many years she only knew extreme poverty. Both parents died before she was nine, yet she lived a protected aristocratic childhood. Even with this sheltered environment, from her early years she sought for “the world of meaning.” Her religious orientation was that of a strict Christian, so strict she constantly tried to “save” people. Yet at age 15, on a particular Sunday, she was visited by a tall man in a turban who turned out to be the Master K.H., Koot Hoomi, who told her there was some work in the world for her to do. Writing her autobiography many years later, Bailey identifies herself as one of the senior disciples in his group (Ashram). But she never claimed to be an “initiate.” For Alice the word “disciple” meant only the word for anyone occupied with “world work.” As the Tibetan says, “Status and title, place and position count for nothing. It is the teaching that counts – its truth and its intuitive appeal.”

But unlike my rather romantic notions about “special” people, Alice didn’t just dance off into the sunset of good works benevolently guided by her beloved Master. She had a long, difficult road ahead. Admittedly, the idea of good works was always dominant in her mind. But the reader is amazed when her desire to save souls for Jesus led the overprotected, naive young Victorian woman, still in her late teens, to go to India all by herself to work in and administer Soldiers Homes, a kind of rest home for British soldiers on duty in India. There she ultimately broke down physically at about age 26 and also she fell in love with an “inappropriate” man.

Her first husband, Walter Evans, was a great tragedy in her life. He became an Episcopal priest in the United States, but his position and title concealed a violent, uncontrolled temper. After giving birth to two daughters and enduring many beatings from her abusive husband, Alice ultimately did the unthinkable for her and the times: she divorced Walter Evans. In the next years she worked canning sardines in California fishing canneries in order to feed her children. Ultimately Alice discovered Theosophy and the man to become her second husband, Foster Bailey. Eventually she began her great lifework of writing down the words of “the Tibetan,” the Master Djwhal Khul, often referred to in the works as “D.K.”

Once again, the reader of this autobiography is amazed by a life both ordinary and grand. Alice Bailey helped give seekers on the path resources beyond measure. Yet she herself was typically human, trying to survive, helping her loved ones and searching for meaning at the same time. Her comments about fears, for example, are worth mentioning because they speak to each human being. She said, “I know that I have spent a great deal of my life worrying over things that never happened.” And yet she notes that “Everybody is afraid... Fear is nothing to be ashamed of and very frequently the more highly developed you are and the more sensitive you are, the more fears to which you may react.” Her personal approach was, “I never attempt to combat fear. I take the positive position that I will live with my fears if necessary and I just pay no attention to them... Concentration on service can and does lead to self-forgetfulness.”

Her “words of wisdom” are sometimes amusing: “It is better to eat beefsteak and have a kind tongue than to be a strict vegetarian and, from a pedestal of superiority, look down upon the world.” Other times she is down to earth and practical. “I was no believer in sacrificing your family and their welfare to your own spiritual urges.”

She said there was “far too much of” those who further their “spiritual realization at the expense of their family or friends.”

Over a period of 25 years, as part of her discipleship service to humanity and to the hierarchy who guide human evolution, Alice A. Bailey, often referred to as A.A.B., wrote 24 deeply esoteric works as a “transcriber” for the Tibetan Master named Djwhal Khul. Today we would probably call this process conscious channeling. Similar writings would seem to be those such as A Course of Miracles. Bailey specifically denied, however, that her writing was in any way related to “automatic writing.” Condemning automatic writing as “very dangerous,” she said she was fully conscious in her work. “I assume an attitude of intense, positive attention. I remain in full control of all my senses of perception.... I simply listen and take down the words that I hear and register the thoughts which are dropped one by one into my brain.” The Tibetan himself states unequivocally that the writings were accomplished through “telegraphic rapport” and “that (Bailey) was not either clairaudient or clairvoyant and never would be.”

In fact, Alice originally refused the Master’s proposal because she had “no experience in writing for the public” and had a “profound dislike... of psychic work” Alice Bailey’s books with the Master D.K. include A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, A Treatise on White Magic, Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I and II, The Destiny of Nations, Problems of Humanity, and A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volumes I-V. All of these are in print and available locally as well as internationally. Many have been translated into Dutch, German, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and other languages. For those unfamiliar with the Bailey works, I would recommend getting acquainted, as I did, with Ponder on This, and The Unfinished Autobiography.

For the second aspect of her service Alice Bailey and her husband Foster Bailey, following the suggestions of her masters, also developed the Arcane School, founded in 1923 but still very active today, a school whose purpose is to train a disciple in the principles of the Ageless Wisdom “through esoteric meditation, study and service as a way of life.” Studies are accomplished by correspondence only, with coordinating centers in New York City, London and Geneva. Another part of the Bailey work is World Goodwill, an accredited Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the United Nations. Its purpose is to help establish right human relations throughout the whole human race. Its publications are translated into many languages. All the Alice Bailey books are published by the Lucis Press, which also publishes The Beacon, a bi-monthly magazine of esoteric philosophy. Bailey’s writings and organizations teach and encourage meditation and promote service to humanity through cooperative, intelligent goodwill to all.

NOTE: See www.lucistrust.com for further information about World Goodwill, Triangles, the Arcane School and the Great Invocation prayer.

Gayl Woityra, a retired high school English and Humanities teacher, now resides in Arizona where she continues to pursue her eclectic metaphysical studies in consciousness, the Ageless Wisdom, astrology, flower essences, music, color and alternative medicine.