Alice Bailey
Alice Bailey
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Alice Bailey

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Alice Bailey

Alice Ann Bailey (16 June 1880 – 15 December 1949) was a British and American writer. She wrote about 25 books on Theosophy and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. She was born Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchester, England and moved to the United States in 1907, where she spent most of her life as a writer and teacher.

Bailey's works, written between 1919 and 1949, describe a wide-ranging neo-theosophical system of esoteric thought covering such topics as how spirituality relates to the Solar System, meditation, healing, spiritual psychology, the destiny of nations, and prescriptions for society in general. She described the majority of her work as having been telepathically dictated to her by a Master of Wisdom, initially referred to only as "the Tibetan" or by the initials "D.K.", later identified as Djwal Khul. Her writings bore some similarity to those of Madame Blavatsky and are among the teachings often referred to as "Ageless Wisdom". Though Bailey's writings differ in some respects from the Theosophy of Blavatsky, they have much in common with it. She wrote on religious themes, including Christianity, though her writings are fundamentally different from many aspects of Christianity or other orthodox religions. Her vision of a unified society included a global "spirit of religion" different from traditional religious forms and including the concept of the Age of Aquarius.

Bailey was born into a wealthy middle-class British family and, as a member of the Anglican Church, received a thorough Christian education.

Her autobiography states that at the age of 15, on 30 June 1895, Bailey was visited by a stranger, "...a tall man, dressed in European clothes and wearing a turban" who told her she needed to develop self-control to prepare for certain work he planned for her to do. This turned out to be the creation and publication of 19 books, together with educational and meditation work that reached "practically all the countries of the world".

At the age of 22, Bailey did evangelical work in connection with the YMCA and the British Army. This took her to India, where, in 1907, she met her future husband, Walter Evans. Together, they moved to America, where Evans became an Episcopal priest. The marriage did not last, and Bailey pushed for and received a divorce. She left with their three children after their formal separation in 1915. Then followed a difficult period in which she worked in a sardine cannery to support herself and the children.

Bailey discovered the Theosophical Society and the work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. The Theosophical Society states that Bailey became involved in 1917. Theosophist Joy Mills states that in 1918 she became a member of the Esoteric Section of the society. Theosophist Bruce F. Campbell notes, "She quickly rose to a position of influence in the American Section of the Adyar society, moving to its headquarters at Krotona in Hollywood. She became editor of its magazine, The Messenger, and member of the committee responsible for Krotona." In 1919, Foster Bailey (1888–1977), who was to be her second husband, became National Secretary of the Theosophical Society. They married in 1921.

The Theosophist published the first few chapters of her first work, Initiation, Human and Solar, (p. 762) but then stopped for reasons Bailey called "theosophical jealousy and reactionary attitude". Bailey "objected to the 'neo-Theosophy' of Annie Besant" and worked with Foster Bailey to gain more power in the American Section. According to Theosophist Josephine Maria Davies Ransom, she became part of a progressive "Back to Blavatsky movement, led mainly by Mr. and Mrs. Foster Bailey". She outlined her vision for the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society; however, her efforts to influence the society failed, and she and her husband were dismissed from their positions.

According to historian of religion Olav Hammer, Bailey's early writings on communications with the Tibetan were well received within the society, but society president Annie Besant questioned Bailey's claims of communications with "the Tibetan" and allowed the Baileys to be expelled from the organization. According to Bailey, she had come to see the society as authoritarian and involved with "lower psychic phenomena".

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