Alice Ann Bailey | |
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Alice Bailey
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Born |
Alice LaTrobe Bateman June 16, 1880 Manchester, England |
Died | December 15, 1949 New York City |
(aged 69)
Nationality | British and American |
Occupation | Esoteric author |
Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949) was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice LaTrobe Bateman, in Manchester, England. She 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 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 the "Ageless Wisdom". Though Bailey's writings differ in some respect to the Theosophy of Madame 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 to a wealthy aristocratic British family and, as a member of the Anglican Church, received a thorough Christian education.
Her autobiography states that at the age 15, on June 30, 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 into "practically all the countries of the world". (p. 63-64)
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 Episcopalian priest. The marriage did not last and Bailey pushed for and received a divorce. She left with their three children after formal separation in 1915. Then followed a difficult period in which she worked in a sardine factory to support herself and the children.