gold & light

Mabel Collins offers her views on reality and the world around us in this superb collection of three of her most popular works: Light on the Path, Through the Gates of Gold and The Illumined Way.

Each of these works offers an inspirational account of both of the tenets of theosophy, and the outlook its members had upon the world. The first part of Light on the Path is comprised of a a series of rules, which briefly cover the behaviors which adherents to spiritualism promoted by the theosophic society should follow.

The second part of the book is more of a simple, instructional guide to the study of the occult. Collins discusses how a person should prepare and undertake their personal study of the supernatural; according to Collins, the laws of ’super-nature’ govern the Earth, its atmosphere, and the wider universe.

Through the Gates of Gold and The Illumined Way further expound on these topics further, detailing how seekers of spiritual insight and occult knowledge may progress. The Illumined Way quotes Light on the Path frequently, building on and clarifying the earlier text.

A celebrated scholar and author in the theosophist movement, Mabel Collins wrote some forty-six separate works, most of them concerning topics of interest to the theosophic and occultist movements of the early 20th century. She was a devotee to theosophism for decades, and became one of the movement’s most distinguished members in London after publishing Light on the Path in 1884.

Collins advocated further studies of the arcane and occult, so as to further the knowledge of the theosophic society. She contributed and co-edited the magazine Lucifer, which was among the most successful periodicals of the occult to appear in the late 19th century. Here the progress of the movement, and major subjects of occult interest, were published regularly to eager audiences: in short, theosophy became fashionable.

Mabel Collins was also rumored to have been the lover of Jack the Ripper. She is said to have discovered five bloodstained ties belonging to Robert Donston Stephenson; a suspect in the police hunt for the notorious serial killer. However, subsequent evidence has eliminated Stephenson from the list of potential murderers.