Translation of an article that appeared in the Gothenburg paper GÖteborgs Handels- och SjÖfarts Tidning for August 23, 1911, written by the literary and dramatic critic of the paper, J. Atterbom.

THE first number of a new international magazine which seems worthy of recognition is now out in a Swedish edition. The publication is called Den Teosofiska VÄgen (The Theosophical Path) and the ultimate direction is in the hands of Katherine Tingley, the Leader of the international Theosophical Movement. The editor of the Swedish edition is Dr. Gustaf Zander, Stockholm.

This monthly magazine is intended to continue, on a broader scale, the work of the former magazine Theosophia, which has been published for a good many years. The interest in Theosophy has grown steadily of late, not only in our country but in all civilized countries. And the more attention the Theosophical Movement has attracted through its propaganda and educational activities, the more the need has been felt of a publication which, instead of devoting most of its space to theoretical Theosophy and the deeper teachings of its philosophy suited to advanced students, would serve primarily to enlighten and inform all genuine seekers of Truth upon the essential character of this Theosophical Movement throughout the world, and indicate the path along which its workers are trying to make Theosophy a living power in the world's life, as well as in the daily life of each of them.

The new international magazine, which is published in America at the Center of the Movement, Point Loma, California, and in England, Germany, Holland, and Sweden in the respective languages, will thus be a valuable source of information for all who wish to know what Theosophy, as understood in the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society and as an ideal power for good, is really doing in a practical way. The magazine seems to have an important mission to fulfil towards the public in dispelling divers prejudices which the Movement has encountered in its progress; prejudices of which its adversaries have readily sought to avail themselves. And all who would like to see better established those principles of compassion and helpfulness that lead to practical results have in this magazine an excellent means of reaching and helping new fellow-travelers on the path of Theosophy.

The international character of the magazine ensures contributions from prominent foreign writers on problems and questions of general human and international interest. And the intimate connexion with Point Loma, it is stated, will allow it to present some views of the life of the Students there, and to show some of the causes that have made the RÂja Yoga College at Point Loma an educational institution of world-wide significance.

Not long ago Mrs. Tingley secured an estate on VisingsÖ, as all know, in order to establish a school there on the same lines. As a reminder of this the Swedish publication opens with a picture of the ruins of Visingsborg Castle. Under the heading "The Path" are given some quotations from William Q. Judge, who was a Student and co-worker of H. P. Blavatsky, the Founder of the Theosophical Movement. Later he became her successor. He passed away in 1896 and was followed by Mrs. Tingley. General information regarding the early days and growth of the Theosophical Movement can be found at the end of the magazine, where a rÉsumÉ is given.

H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society is the subject of a special article. Then follow under the heading "On Firm Basis Stands the Doctrine of Karma" some profound thoughts of Viktor Rydberg. He says in part:

Our acts and their effects constitute a series as everlasting as all other series of causes in nature. If you think that death on earth is able to break it, do not for confirmation plead the judgment of natural science. Science has its own ground and method, and knows that it has to explain the quantitative series of causes; beyond these it is unable to go. If you have not conviction with respect to the unseen, beware of the contrary shallow idea, that everything which cannot be seen does not really exist.... The doctrine of Karma has sprung from the depths of righteousness, which are indeed those of truth. No one escapes the effects of his acts.

An article by the editor, Dr. Zander, is on "The Power of Imagination Inherent in Man." Professor Osvald SirÉn gives a profusely illustrated description of Point Loma; and Mr. Per Fernholm, M. E., who is living at that place, gives some thoughts on Sweden in the Stone Age, elucidating some points in our ancient history in the light of Theosophical chronology, which seems to differ somewhat from that still adopted by archaeologists and geologists.

The American publication presents perhaps a still fuller outline of the field proposed to be covered by the magazine, as also of the resources that the Theosophical Movement possesses for the realization of its objects. A prominent place is evidently given to Art—music, painting, and sculpture, literature and drama—as a means to reach a wider circle; serving as a mediator between the supersensible and the sensible, the immaterial spiritual life and the material physical life.

The object of the magazine is placed in a special light by a quotation from H. P. Blavatsky, chosen as motto in the American edition. It reads:

The Secret Doctrine is the common property of the countless millions of men born under various climates, in times with which History refuses to deal, and to which esoteric teachings assign dates incompatible with the theories of Geology and Anthropology. The birth and evolution of the Sacred Science of the Past are lost in the very night of Time.... It is only by bringing before the reader an abundance of proofs all tending to show that in every age, under every condition of civilization and knowledge, the educated classes of every nation made themselves the more or less faithful echoes of one identical system and its fundamental traditions—that he can be made to see that so many streams of the same water must have had a common source from which they started. What was this source?... There must be truth and fact in that which every people of antiquity accepted and made the foundation of its religions and its faith.

A full list of general Theosophical literature is found in the magazine.