The Story of the box | Alice Bailey Archive

The

Alice Bailey Collection

Steven Chernikeeff - Custodian

Early in 2020 I was told by The Initiate that he would send me something tangible, as he had done in the 1980s, something that could be vouchsafed with me and would speak to us of the physical and ashramic link just as DK had done with Alice Bailey via Henry Carpenter.

Knowing his exactness and that he would do so I watched out for the last few months in my mailbox and around my house expecting his promise to appear. I could not expect the spectacular fashion that would herald its eventual arrival.

Whilst assisting friend and author Isobel Blackthorn with research for her new book on Alice Bailey a male made himself known to her and declared he had a collection of Alice Bailey documents. Nothing came of it until very recently when all roads to him were blocked despite his having this collection for 25 years. I was given his email and made contact. His story follows:

He had a friend who moved into an apartment in Ronkonkoma, a suburb of Long Island New York in 1993 and discovered and old box in the closet. Presuming they were the previous tenants she had no interest in the contents and gave them to her friend, let’s call him Max, as he had some metaphysical interests. He recognised the name of Alice Bailey.

Max tells me he approached the Lucis Trust only to receive a legal threat if he did not return the collection to them. Max sought legal advice and was told there was no case and Max ignored them and forgot about the documents, not knowing what to do until he decided to approach Sotheby’s who were uninterested.

25 years had passed, and he felt the urge to find their ‘home’. After I made contact, we agreed I would acquire the collection and hence I now have this trove and the ashram guided this unique and important lineage back to an ashram member. The collection remained with him until everything fell into place, levers pulled, and magnets worked, and the way was cleared for it to come ‘home’. Thus, the Hierarchy often works.

It is the most important collection since the passing of AAB and belongs to our genre. I will ensure it is catalogued and ALL of it will be published – no ‘secret’ hoards or caches.

I was told there was something ‘in there’ for me and it turns out that the box contained the original letters on occult meditation that Alice typed up from DK in 1920 and a couple of those related to my present group work.

The box arrived on 15th December 2020 and I forwarded to my friend and coworker Phillip Lindsay the DHL forward delivery note with that date. He remarked that this was the anniversary of Alice Bailey’s passing and I had forgotten this fact – and so the box arrived on 15th Dec one hundred years after the letters were typed by Alice – truly remarkable!

Another strange occurrence was my research in finding out the origination of the box – who could have owned it? I can honestly say I have looked at every inch of the packing materials and thought there was nothing there. After a few days I noticed some writing on the box and a name – ‘Walter’ and as I re-examined the box, I found the name ‘Walter’ not once but THREE times. How is this possible? How could I have missed it? A Hierarchal blind?

Now we know that this box belonged to Marian Walter and must have formed part of the collection she ‘acquired’ before she left Lucis Trust in the 1950s. Did she give it to someone else? We do not know and probably never will know.

It was discovered, as stated previously, in 1993 and given to Max in 1995 and then onto me in 2020. What does the box contain?

The Letters on Occult Meditation (originals including The Stanzas of Dyzan which would form the basis of TCF + unpublished text) and the MS of the same title
Esoteric Astrology MS
From Intellect to Intuition MS
The Light of the Soul MS
The Soul and its Mechanism MS
Seventeen Fragments of Alice Bailey handwriting
One double page of DK transmission