March 2022 Newsletter
The following articles are reproduced from the March 2022 Newsletter to members. Non-members may or may not be able to relate to the contents.
Geoffrey Hodson and the Master Polidorus Isurenus
We celebrate the birth of Geoffrey Hodson in the morning of 12 March 1886 at 6 a.m. in Wainfleet-St Mary’s, Lincolnshire, England, and the remarkable life he lived until his passing to higher life in the early morning on 23 January 1983 in Auckland, New Zealand. In that incarnation of almost 97 years, 71 years of his life were dedicated to the service and cause of the TS. He made invaluable contribution to Theosophical literature. He is the author of over 60 books and booklets starting from the publication of his first book in 1925. Notable among them being those on the Angelic Hierarchy, biblical interpretation, and symbolism. In addition to these publications, Geoffrey Hodson wrote almost 400 articles for the magazines of various countries.
In that fruitful incarnation, Geoffrey Hodson received communications and was guided by more than 10 Adepts. One of Them was the Master Polidorus Isurenus.
MASTER
POLIDORUS ISURENUS
We first heard of the Master Polidorus Isurenus (Section of Solomon) as one of the three Adepts who looked at Col. H. O. Olcott in 1875 prior to the founding of the TS. Geoffrey knew him as an Adept of the Egyptian Branch of the Great White Brotherhood (the Brotherhood of Luxor). According to Geoffrey Hodson, Master Polidorus Isurenus is the “Recorder of the Luxor Brotherhood” which corresponds to the Maha-Chohan’s Office in the Inner Government of the World, and in reality the great Egyptian Adept is on the Staff of the Lord the Maha-Chohan.
The Master revealed that they had met in Rome in a Jewish life. He (Master Polidorus Isurenus as Philo Judaeus in that life) and Aristobulus were Geoffrey Hodson’s friends at that incarnation. Geoffrey Hodson sometimes referred to Master Polidorus Isurenus as Master Philo Judaeus. He once said, “May I live up to and never forfeit this most highly treasured association with one of the world’s Adepts Who was my old friend Philo Judaeus.”
On Geoffrey Hodson’s 60th birthday on 12 March 1946, he received a special birthday message from Master Polidorus Isurenus:
You came down to earth sixty years ago today. You came to earth with a mission to teach humanity and an impulse to inquire into Truth. You were born from the temples of Chaldea, Egypt, Greece, and destined to pick up the threads, skandhas, and knowledge of those temple lives. The intermediate appearances in Rome, India, and England were less occult than temporal, though a thread of occultism ran through them.
But the last temple life was the Jewish one of the first century, when
we met. Your Mother Egypt received you then in your last days and gave
you her peace, received you into the Sanctuary and laid you to rest . .
. Aristobulus was your friend and re-Initiated you in your old age.
Worldly life then tested and strengthened you. Rome gave you stability,
India metaphysical faculty, for you were a doctor there of the
Ayurvedic law, studied herbs and minerals in both their occult and
their physical properties, but lived out in the world, save for a
learned guru. This was in the tenth century, and followed after a
long devachan. Then came the English life in Tudor times as a
landed gentleman, which ended tragically in middle age. That death paid
many karmic debts, and cleared the way for this most fruitful
life in which the wheel turns full circle and you are back in occultism
again. The Path is straight before you now and you are back "Home".
For the current incarnation, the Master Polidorus Isurenus had this to say:
Your whole life in this incarnation was mapped out for you from the beginning, and you, as an Ego, accepted the plan. You had earned a healthy body in your life to stand the strain of disaster and later occultism. Your boyhood was watched over and you were saved from death more than once, as when you swallowed a penny and when your pony galloped away. Your entry upon the Path was the sole consideration with you and you were ready to work and to suffer, as indeed you have done. But your reward is sure and draweth nigh. Together with your old friend, you are going to take up the occult life in real earnest before very long. The shackles are falling away already, and you have made your own road by your exertions. Soon you will be free to follow wholly your own chosen path, the path of Light and of the Light-bringer.
MASTER POLIDORUS
ISURENUS' TEACHINGS
Geoffrey Hodson’s first Master had advised him:
It is I (Master Kuthumi) Whose attention has been arrested by your perusal of My letters of the early days and by your thoughts and memories of Me. You do well to make the most of this waiting time to study under Our Egyptian Brother (Master Polidorus Isurenus) Who is very learned in the Kabbalah and the scriptures of the Jews and of other civilizations. He is a sure and admirable Adept Guide, and you are fortunate to have His assistance; for He will take you far into Our Mysteries and help you greatly in your yoga and your work. Trust Him and He will lead you to great heights. He is free as I am not and has the necessary time to watch over you as you develop. Earnestly study all He gives you and put it instantly into practice, as that is the way to make progress and to earn more teaching.
Master Polidorus Isurenus first came to Geoffrey Hodson and commenced teaching on 30 September 1944. The teachings thus begun. Master Polidorus Isurenus henceforth became the Teacher-Guru and Adept Collaborator of Geoffrey Hodson for the rest of that incarnation – the next 38 years. The teachings constitute the task of interpreting allegories and Egyptian symbolism. Master Polidorus Isurenus begins interpretations of Bible from Genesis on 5 June 1945. This culminated in the publications of The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible, Volume I in 1963, Volume II in 1967, Volume III in 1971 and Volume IV in 1980 and The Christ Life from Nativity to Ascension in 1975. In Geoffrey own words, “Master Polidorus Isurenus, blessed be His name, daily elevates and expands my consciousness and floods my mind with teaching based on Egyptian symbology.” At the Sign of the Square and the Compasses was published in 1976. The Concealed Wisdom in World Mythology in 1983 and posthumously Illuminations of the Mystery Tradition in 1992.
INTERPRETATIONS OF
THE BIBLE
The four volumes of The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible were interpretations of the Old Testament which we now know to be incomplete. There is a fifth volume. For whatever reason, it was not published at the time of its writing and was only recently rediscovered. It is edited by Elizabeth Sell and published as Initiates, Initiations and the Path, Biblical Allegories Unveiled by TPH Auckland in 2021. This rediscovered volume starts where volume IV finished, partway through Exodus, and continues on to the end of the Old Testament with the Book of Malachi. At the end of this work Geoffrey Hodson says that the New Testament interpretations would follow it i.e. The Christ Life from Nativity to Ascension which was in fact published in 1975. It would be noted that all these books have this same dedication,
“This work is dedicated to Philo Judaeus, the great Alexandrian Sage.”
HOW WAS THE TEACHING
DONE?
Geoffrey Hodson would say:
Master Polidorus Isurenus has completed interpretations of Genesis, and apparently Exodus is to follow. But He is graciously dictating The Kingdom of the Gods (new version) giving the Sephirothal origin of the universe and devas.
Receipt of teaching on Exodus continued.
After receiving teaching on cycles, in interpretation of verse 13,
Chapter 12, Exodus.
The daily receipt of teaching from Master Polidorus Isurenus is of the
greatest possible benefit in this connection, and I am greatly
privileged in this most wonderful association.
One may wonder if the teaching was in person, written interpretations or oral dictations. We are told it is a process known as sibylline siddhi, explained as follows.
The Master causes Geoffrey to know the inner meaning of the Scriptures or other literary texts. The procedure of this is as follows: the knowledge within the Master’s mind awakens within Geoffrey’s own mind. It is not a procedure of clairaudience - for no sound is ever heard - but interiorly transferred active understanding and, quite often, with an accompanying state of upliftment. It is the transference from one conscious mind to another fully conscious mind.
Geoffrey comments, saying, “During reception, ideas are caused to arise
and to become established within my own mind in full Self-consciousness
- hyper-Self-consciousness, in fact - as if it were my own knowledge.
The same procedure is undergone when I read a passage to be interpreted.
My mind becomes illumined and inspired with the deep spiritual and
occult significance of the literary passage. Thus, the difference
between mediumistic methods and Self-conscious intuitive reception of
the Masters’ teachings is that the former, mediumistic, is external,
passing from one mind to another unconscious mind, whilst the latter,
origination - the arising of knowledge from the Master within one’s own
mind - is entirely interior.”
The Master clarifies:
Of course, the actual language in which Geoffrey receives My teachings is only the vehicle for instructions which I give him out of his body when we talk over all these ideas and sometimes look up the Akashic Records, and so into the minds of the authors of ancient times, to see what they really did mean and were trying both to reveal and to conceal.
Master Polidorus Isurenus’ last communication with Geoffrey Hodson was on 15 October 1982. Geoffrey passed away on 23 January 1983, a life fulfilled.
All quotations are from Light of the Sanctuary the Occult Diary of Geoffrey Hodson
At the Feet of The Master Intensive Practical Course
At the Feet of the Master Intensive Practical Course (AFOTM Level 1) is organized by our Lotus Circle and will be held every Sunday from 2:45pm to 5:15pm commencing sometime in May 2022. Exact date will be advised later.
As this course is heavily facilitated and requires full participation and interaction, members will be put in groups of 3-5. Only 10 slots available.
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/bYXrRnCpWayvJqS87 .
Living Theosophy Series
The Lotus Circle is launching a series of bimonthly mini-workshops exploring meditation and practical theosophy. Sessions will mostly fall on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month, two hours before the start of the main Lodge meeting. This month it will be on the 12th and 26th of March.