Alice Bailey Groups

★1796 ★

Aquarian Educational Group

Box 267
Sedona, AZ 86336

The Aquarian Educational Group is a religious and educational orgnaization founded by the Rev. Torkom Saraydarian (1915-1997) and based upon his studies of the world's religions, in relation to both the philosophy of the ages and the findings of modern science. The group studies all branches of the Ageless Wisdom tradition and attempts to be an inclusive response to human aspirations and needs. The Ageless Wisdom is defined by the group as the treasury of human knowledge and experience in all fields of human endeavor. Members are advised to study all the religions of the world and the teachings of the East and West such as the Puranas, Vedas, and Upanishads (of the Hindus), and the works of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Alice Bailey, and Helena Roerich. Strong emphasis is also given to the study of the teachings of Christ.

Members are also advised to consider the discoveries of modern science and are educated through various regular meetings, seminars, correspondence lessons, and regular scientific meditation. The group also performs services for Christian baptism, matrimony, and last rites.

The group is headed by a nine-person Board of Trustees. During his lifetime, Saraydarian, who had authored numerous books, as well as the teaching materials of the group, also served as its president. The group is identified by a symbol described as a five-pointed star surrounded by three concentric circles. The circles stand for the infinity of light, love, and beauty. The points of the star symbolize Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, and Freedom. Within the star is an arrow pointed upward, a symbol of the striving toward perfection.

Membership: In 1995 there were approximately 150 members.

Periodicals: Fiery Synthesis.

Sources:

Saradarian, Haroutiun. The Magnet of Life. Reseda, CA: Aquarian Educational Group, 1968.

——. The Science of Meditation. Reseda, CA: Aquarian Educational Group, 1971.

Saraydarian, Torkom. Christ the Avatar of Sacrificial Love. Agoura, CA: Aquarian Educational Group, 1974.

——. A Commentary on Psychic Energy. West Hills, CA: T.S.G. Enterprises, 1989.

——. The Flame of Beauty, Culture Love, Joy. Agoura, CA: Aquarian Education Group, 1980.

——. Sex, Family, and the Woman in Society. Sedona, AZ: Aquarian Educational Group, 1987.

——. The Symphony of the Zodiac. Agoura, CA: Aquarian Education Group, 1980.

——. Woman: Torch of the Future. Agoura, CA: Aquarian Educational Group, 1980.

★1797 ★

Arcana Workshops

Box 506
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Among the largest of the groups promoting the teachings of Alice Bailey in Southern California is Arcana Workshops. The group has developed a meditation training-program based upon Bailey's writings and the Agni Yoga Series (published by the Agni Yoga Society). It offers meditation training via its home page on the Internet. Through the workshops, offered in the Los Angeles area, groups of people around Southern California have formed full-moon meditation groups. Through correspondence courses, numerous pamphlets, books, and regular mailings, the organization has been able to establish a network around the country. The Arcana Workshops pioneered the intergroup cooperation that led to the annual celebration of the three linked festivals of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini among occult groups in southern California every spring.

The organization's Internet is http://www.meditationlearning.org.

Sources:

The Full Moon Story. Beverly Hills, CA: Arcana Workshops, 1974.

For Full Moon Workers. Beverly Hills, CA: Arcana Workshops, n.d.

What Is Arcana? Beverly Hills, CA: Arcana Workshops, n.d.

★1798 ★

Arcane School

120 Wall St., 24th Fl.
New York, NY 10005

The original group continuing the work and thought of Alice Bailey is the Arcane School, founded by Alice and Foster Bailey. It remains the largest of the full-moon meditation groups. All of the Alice Bailey books are published through its Lucis Publishing Trust, which publishes her books for the entire movement.

Several subsidiary programs were created to implement the program of the hierarchy. Triangles was founded in 1937 to build groups of three people who would unite daily in a mental chain radiating energy into the world. World Goodwill was established in 1932 with the purpose of establishing right human relations in the world. It is an "accredited non-governmental organization" with the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

Students of the Arcane School are now found in all the major countries of the world but relate to the school through one of the three headquarters in New York, London, or Geneva. The Alice Bailey books have risen in circulation as a result of recent paperback editions. Beginning in 1923, Alice, with the help of some leading students, began the preparation of correspondence lessons which are now mailed out to students internationally. They are based on Alice's books and lead the student through various degrees. Following Alice's death in 1949, Foster Bailey took charge of the work.

The school's Internet site is found at http://lucistrust.org/arcane.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Beacon. • World Goodwill Newsletter. Available from World Goodwill, 113 University Pl., 11th Fl., Box 722, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276.

Sources:

Bailey, Alice A. The Unfinished Autobiography. New York: Lucis Publishing Company, 1951.

Sinclair, John R. The Alice Bailey Inheritance. Wellingsborough, North-amptonshire: Turnstone Press, 1984.

Thirty Years' Work. New York: Lucis Publishing Company, n.d.

★1799 ★

Meditation Groups, Inc.

Box 566
Ojai, CA 93023

One of the several groups inspired by the writings of Alice Bailey, Meditation Groups, Inc. (MGI) assumed the task mentioned in Discipleship in the New Age of establishing a worldwide group devoted to mediation on the Laws and Principles that prepare the world for the coming new order and the jurisdiction of the Christ. It was formed in 1950 by Florence Garrique (1888-1985) and was headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. With the assistance of Ray Whorf MGI was moved to a mountain precipice overlooking the Ojai (California) Valley in 1968, and the site became known as Meditation Mount. The Mount has held full-moon meditation gatherings every month since its dedication in 1971. The overall purpose of Meditation Groups, Inc., is to promote meditation on the Laws and Principles of the New Age as an act of service to the world.

While following the same teachings as the Arcane School, that centered its activities on the books of Alice Bailey, Meditation Groups, Inc., has developed three major programs: Meditation Groups for the New Age (MGNA), Group for Creative Meditation (GCM), and Specialized Groups. MGNA is the instructional arm of Meditation Groups, Inc. It teaches an introductory three-year course in meditation, as a service to Humanity, introducing the student to an esoteric perspective on life from the books Alice Bailey received telepathically from the Tibetan Master of the Spiritual Hierarchy, with whom she had extensive contact. After completion of the three-year course, students may elect to continue with the work of GCM, which offers a more intensive course of occult study and meditation. MGNA holds an annual fall symposium at Meditation Mount and communicates every tow months with MGNA members and study groups across the world.

The Group for Creative Meditation encompasses worldwide meditation groups actively working on a program of service to Humanity, the Spiritual Hierarchy, and the Christ. The world group follows a cycle of meditation based upon the call of the Tibetan Master, for unanimous and simultaneous meditation on the Laws and Principles that must condition the consciousness of Humanity and usher in the New Age. The group provides a number of materials for conducting full-moon meditation group gatherings (Community Meditation Service, Meditation at the Time of the Full Moon, etc.) and meditation calendar (Ritual of the Year) with full information on the exact time of the full moon with the various time zones in the United States. More importantly, the group publishes a continuing course based upon the Alice Bailey books and a Bimonthly Newsletter mailed to members every two months, and holds an annual spring conference at Meditation Mount.

Conceived as the subject of the three activities, the specialized groups combine disciplined meditation with a focus upon a particular area of endeavor, one of ten originally discussed by the Tibetan: Telepathic Communication, Recognition of Reality, Heling, Education, Politics, Religion, Science, Psychology, Finance, and Creativity. Advanced students of GCM are invited to take part in the work of one of these specialized groups.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Moore, Frances Adams. A View from the Mount. Ojai, CA: Group for Creative Meditation, 1984. Whorf, Raymond B. The Tibetan's Teaching. Ojai, CA: Meditation Groups, n.d.

★1800 ★

School for Esoteric Studies

58 Oak Terrace
Arden, NC 28708-2820

The School for Esoteric Studies was established in 1956 by former close co-workers of Alice Bailey. The School is located in New York City and offers training for discipleship in the New Age. Its courses, given via correspondence to English speaking students throughout the world, focus on study of the ageless wisdom teachings, meditation, and service as a way of life. Discipleship is seen not as devotion towards any individual or group, but as intelligent cooperation with the Spiritual Hierarchy (i.e., the Masters of the Wisdom or the Christ and His Disciples) towards the working out of the Plan of Light and Love within humanity.

The curriculum of the school is based on the methods and various texts by Alice Bailey and others. Apart from the courses for students, the school has made available a series of small introductory booklets for the interested public on such subjects as the Spiritual Hierarchy-Inner Guidance of the World; There is a Plan-Cooperation of Humanity with the Spiritual Hierarchy; the Externalization of the Hierarchy; and Building and Bridging-the New Group of World Servers.

Membership: As of 1992, the student body fluctuates between 200 and 400 students of which approximately 80 percent resided in the United States and Canada. It is not organized into local groups.

Sources:

Building and Bridging. New York: School for Esoteric Studies, n.d.

Gregor, Norman. Whither Man?. New York: School for Esoteric Studies, n.d.

★1801 ★

School of Light and Realization (Solar)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The School of Light and Realization (Solar) dates to 1969, when the concept of the school emerged in a conversation between Hamid Bey of the Coptic Fellowship in America and Norman Creamer, the founder of Solar. Following the conversation, Creamer, who had been searching for the right course for his life, and his wife, Katy Creamer, purchased a farm north of Traverse City, Michigan. The vision of Solar emerged largely out of a reading of the works of Alice Bailey and Theosophy. There is strong belief in the imminent reappearance of the Christ and coming of the Aquarian Age. Solar is conceived to be one of the "New Group of World Servers" that will create the new society on the principles of goodwill and basic human character.

Solar's program is centered upon training men and women for life in the new age, and training them to raise the level of consciousness in order to come in touch with the world of ideas and intuition. Solar teaches the growth of the communal ideal; the coming of the one Christ; the removal of limitations and the development of potentials; that there is no original sin, that each individual has his own set of liabilities, assets and responsibilities; that to give the soul its freedom is the goal of human life, that discipline is self-imposed and that Eastern philosophy is useful for Western man.

A school for both children and adults is being established on the farm near Traverse City. The first session of the adult training school was held in the summer of 1972. Centers for the dissemination of Solar concepts are being established across the country; the first is in St. Petersburg, Florida. Solar offers correspondence lessons in its teachings.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Solarian.

Sources:

Creamer, Norman. The Aquarian Cosmic Vision. Suttons Bay, MI: School of Light and Realization, n.d.

——. Song of Solar. Sutton's Bay, MI: School of Light and Realization, 1972.

★1802 ★

Tara Center

Box 6001
North Hollywood, CA 91603

Alternate Address Affiliate offices: Share International, Box 41877, 1009 DB Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Box 3677, London NW4 1RW, United Kingdom.

Within the Theosophical tradition, Charles W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant first promoted the expectation of a world teacher whose appearance was equated with the Second Advent of Christ and the arrival of Lord Maitreya, the Buddhist bodhisattva who would assist humanity in making its next evolutionary step. They identified Jiddu Krishnamurti as the vehicle for the world teacher and organized the Order of the Star of the East to communicate their message. In 1948, almost two decades after Krishnamurti had renounced his messianic role, Alice Bailey, founder of the Arcane School, published The Reappearance of the Christ, in which she argued that the time was ripe for the appearance of a new world teacher (avatar) who would come as both Son of God and head of the Spiritual Hierarchy, the group of exalted beings believed by Theosophists to stand behind and oversee the evolution of the planet. She also suggested that preparatory work for the appearance would begin in 1975.

In 1959, Benjamin Creme, an artist born Scotland (1922) but residing in London, made contact with the Spiritual Hierarchy when he received a message telepathically from one of its masters. A short time later he was informed that Maitreya, the Christ, would return to earth some 20 years in the future. In 1975, having been offered the task of announcing Maitreyas appearance, he began to state that truth publicly. In 1977, he began to receive telepathically and speak messages from Maitreya to the general public. The messages suggested that humanity had reached a dangerous crisis and must either change course or face self-destruction. Humans must begin to manifest their divinity through love and justice, and specifically by sharing the worlds resources with the poor and starving. In 1980 Creme came to the United States for the first time to speak of behalf of Maitreya. At that time, the Tara Center was founded by some of those who responded to his message.

It is the general teaching of Tara Center and the other affiliated groups responding to Cremes message that humanity is one and united with all life. All religions reflect spiritual truth and as such all are acknowledged and respected. It is also possible for those who have no religion to come to truth. In common with theosophy, Tara Center teaches that the evolution of earth and its people is guided by a Spiritual Hierarchy made up of individuals who have evolved from humanity. Maitreya is considered the head of the hierarchy.

According to Creme, Maitreya manifested 2000 years ago by overshadowing his disciple Jesus. Maitreya, himself, reappeared in the world in 1977, as did other members of the Spiritual Hierarchy, an event described in theosophical literature as the externalization of the hierarchy. The externalization process comes, in part, as a response to the unconscious invocation by humanity.

On April 24-25, 1982, through advertisements taken out of a number of the worlds prominent newspapers, Creme announced that Maitreyas "Day of Declaration" would occur within two months. Followers expected it on or before June 21, 1982. When Maitreya did not appear as anticipated, Creme pointed to disinterest in the subject by the media as a sign of general human apathy. He also announced that the Day of Declaration was still imminent and could take place any time the sincere interest of the media—as humanitys representatives—drew Maitreya forward. In the meantime, followers were urged to continue their main task of announcing that Christ is in the world, and is soon to appear.

In August 1987, Creme announced that Maitreya was working to bring about a breakthrough in international relations. During the next month a new armament agreement was announced by the United States and the U.S.S.R. Since that time major political totalitarianism has disintegrated throughout the world, as exemplified by the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany, the ending of apartheid and introduction of democracy in South Africa, and steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian homeland. Next to go, according to Creme, will be economic totalitarianism, beginning with the collapse of the Japanese stock market.

In 1988 Maitreya appeared in Kenya and allowed himself to be photographed. That picture has subsequently been reproduced and widely circulated. Meanwhile, Maitreya has appeared to hundreds of fundamentalist religious groups worldwide, while simultaneously potentizing water sources near each location with healing properties. Many other signs of Maitreyas presence are being documented (and/or exploited) by the still-skeptical media as unexplained phenomena or miracles. Such "signs" include visions of the Virgin Mary, angelic encounters, "crosses of light," crop circles, and the September 1995, worldwide Hindu "milk miracle."

Those who wait in expectation of Maitreyas appearance do not postulate that he will build a new religion around himself but that he will teach humanity the art of self-realization, the first steps of which are honesty of mind, sincerity of spirit, and detachment. Maitreya has also communicated through Creme a strong social concern with specific priorities that include an adequate supply of food and shelter for all, and health care and education as a universal right. It is the movements belief that sharing is the key to proper human relations and is reflected in their motto, "Share and save the world."

Membership: Tara Center is not a membership organization. As of 1996 there was an 8,000 name mailing list for the United States and over 100 transmission meditation groups. Affiliated groups are currently functioning in Canada, England, Holland, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Romania, Poland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

Periodicals: The Emergence. • Share International. • The Emergence Quarterly.

Sources:

Bailey, Alice. The Reappearance of the Christ. New York: Lucis Publishing Company, 1848.

Creme, Benjamin. Maitreya's Mission. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Share International Foundation, 1986.

——. Messages from Maitreya the Christ. Los Angeles: Tara Press, 1980.

——. The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Center, 1980.

——. Transmission, A Meditation for the New Age. North Hollywood, CA: Tara Center, 1983.

A Master Speaks: Articles from Share International. Amersterdam, Netherlands: Share International Foundation, 1985.

Update on the Reappearance of the Christ. North Hollywood, CA: Tara Center, 1983.

★1803 ★

Upper Triad

PO Box 2248
Leesburg, VA 20177

The Upper Triad project was begun in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in January 1974 by a group of twelve students of the Alice Bailey material. Originally a meditation group, they began the Upper Triad Journal, which became the major group effort. In 1976 the headquarters was moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey, and incorporated the following year. In 1979 headquarters were moved to Virginia.

The Upper Triad follows the general Alice Bailey emphases on world goodwill, right human relations, and the awareness of humanity. It has not been the group's intention to compete with or duplicate other theosophical groups, and it has limited the circulation of its Journal to serious students rather than use it as an instrument for promulgating the esoteric philosophy. The assumptions upon which the teachings are based include an affirmation of the unity of all life, the evolution of consciousness as the purpose of life, reincarnation and karma, the relativity of truth which may be perceived at many levels, the problem of life as the elimination of illusion and glamour, the essence of the self in the soul as opposed to the personality, and the higher stages of human evolution as being on the spiritual path.

Members of the Upper Triad conduct a meditation program which includes daily personal meditation, several weekly meditations, and the monthly full moon meditation. Those individuals who receive the Journal are invited to coordinate their meditation with the group's meditation. Members of the group in Virginia periodically give classes and lectures, and hold public meditation sessions. Besides the Journal, the group has published a series of brief commentaries on the esoteric philosophy.

Membership: Formal members consist of a small number of workers in the Upper Triad project, all of whom reside in close proximity to the headquarters. Informal members who receive the Journal (numbered in the hundreds) live around the United States and the world.

Periodicals: Upper Triad Journal. Send orders to Box 280, Springfield, VA 22150.