Manly P. Hall

Manly Palmer Hall (18 March 1901  –  28 August 1990) was a Canadian-born American author and mystic. He is perhaps most famous for his work The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy (1928).

The Lost Keys Of Freemasonry (1923)

 * What nobler relationship than that of friend? What nobler compliment can man bestow than friendship? The bonds and ties of the life we know break easily, but through eternity one bond remains — the bond of fellowship — the fellowship of atoms, of star dust in its endless flight, of suns and worlds, of gods and men. The clasped hands of comradeship unite in a bond eternal — the fellowship of spirit.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)

 * The great materialistic progress which we have venerated for so long is on the verge of bankruptcy. We can no longer believe that we are born into this world to accumulate wealth and abandon ourselves to mortal pleasures. We see the dangers and realize that we have been exploited for centuries. We were told the twentieth century was the most progressive that the world has ever known, but unfortunately the progression was in the direction of self-destruction.
 * Preface to the Diamond Jubilee Edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages


 * To avoid a future of war, crime, and bankruptcy, the individual must begin to plan his own destiny, and the best source for the necessary information comes down to us through the writings of the ancients. The greatest knowledge of all time should be available … in a book that would be a monument, not merely a coffin.
 * Preface to the Diamond Jubilee Edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages


 * European mysticism was not dead at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government for the signature of the mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United states of America. Careful analysis of the seal discloses a mass of occult and Masonic symbols chief among them, the so-called American Eagle. … the American eagle upon the Great Seal is but a conventionalized phoenix... Not only were many of the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few.  The Great Seal is the signature of this exalted body —unseen and for the most part unknown — and the unfinished pyramid upon its reverse side is a trestleboard setting forth symbolically the task to the accomplishment of which the United States Government was dedicated from the day of its inception.
 * p. xc


 * Philosophy is the science of estimating values. The superiority of any state or substance over another is determined by philosophy.  By assigning a position of primary importance to what remains when all that is secondary has been removed, philosophy thus becomes the true index of priority or emphasis in the realm of speculative thought.
 * Introduction, p. 4


 * Like nearly  all  schools  of  the  Mysteries,  the  teachings  of  the  Druids  were  divided into two distinct sections. The simpler, a moral code, was taught to all the  people,  while  the  deeper,  esoteric  doctrine  was  given  only  to  initiated  priests.  To  be  admitted  to  the  order,  a  candidate  was  required  to  be  of  good  family and of high moral character. No important secrets were intrusted to him until he had been tempted in many ways and his strength of character severely tried.
 * The Druids  taught  the  people  of  Britain  and  Gaul  concerning  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  They  believed  in  transmigration  and  apparently  in  reincarnation. They borrowed in one life, promising to pay back in the next. They believed in a purgatorial type of hell where they would be purged of their sins, afterward passing on to the happiness of unity with the gods. The Druids taught that all men would be saved, but that some must return to earth many times to learn the lessons of human life and to overcome the inherent evil of their own natures.
 * The Secret Teachings of All Ages,The Druidic Mysteries of Britain & Gaul, p. 46, 


 * The esoteric  doctrines  for  which  the  Eastern  lotus  stands  have  been  perpetuated  in  modern  Europe  under  the  form  of  the  rose.  The  rose  and  the  lotus  are  yonic  emblems,  signifying  primarily  the  maternal  creative mystery, while the Easter lily is considered to be phallic. The  Brahmin  and  Egyptian  initiates,  who  undoubtedly  understood  the  secret systems of spiritual culture whereby the latent centers of cosmic energy in man may be stimulated, employed the lotus blossoms to represent the spinning vortices  of  spiritual  energy  located  at  various  points  along  the  spinal  column  and called chakras, or whirling wheels, by the Hindus. Seven of these chakras are  of  prime  importance  and  have  their  individual  correspondences  in  the  nerve ganglia and plexuses.
 * The Secret Teachings of All Ages p.306


 * The yoni and phallus were worshiped by nearly all ancient people as appropriate symbols of God's creative power.


 * A nation with culture is blessed. To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books. It has always seemed to me that symbolism should be restored to the structure of world education. The young are no longer invited to seek the hidden truths, dynamic and eternal, locked within the shapes and behavior of living beings.
 * Quoted in the tribute of The Lost Symbol (2009) by Dan Brown


 * The accepted theory that the serpent is evil cannot be substantiated. It has long been viewed as the emblem of immortality. It is the symbol of reincarnation, or metempsychosis, because it annually sheds its skin...It was also believed that snakes swallowed themselves, and this resulted in their being considered emblematic of the Supreme Creator, who periodically reabsorbed His universe back into Himself.
 * Chapter: Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and Birds

Other quotes

 * The Comte de St.-Germain...His linguistic proficiency verged on the supernatural. He spoke German, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French with a Piedmontese accent, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese with such fluency that in every land in which he visited he was accepted as a native...The Comte was ambidextrous to such a degree that he could write the same article with both hands simultaneously. When the two pieces of paper were afterwards placed one upon the other with the light behind them the writing on one sheet exactly covered the writing on the other. He could repeat pages of print after one reading... By something akin to telepathy this remarkable person was able to feel when his presence was needed in some distant city or state and it has even been recorded of him that he had the disconcerting habit of appearing in his own apartments and those of his friends without resorting to the conventionality of the door.... He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of departure, then said 'I am leaving (ich scheide) do not visit me. Once again will you see me. Tomorrow night I am off; I am much needed in Constantinople, then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will have in the next century—trains and steamboats'."
 * The most holy trinosophia of the Comte de St.-Germain,, Introduction, p. 12-14 (1933)


 * In one of his tales concerning vampires, St.-Germain mentioned in an offhand way that he possessed the wand or staff with which Moses brought water from the rock, adding that it had been presented to him at Babylon during the reign of Cyrus the Great. The memoir writers admit themselves at a loss as to how many of the Comte’s statements could be believed. Common sense, as then defined, assured them that most of the accounts must be fashioned out of whole cloth. On the other hand, his information was of such precise nature and his learning so transcendent in every respect that his words carried the weight of conviction. Once while relating an anecdote regarding his own experiences at some remote time and suddenly failing to recollect clearly what he considered a relevant detail, he turned to his valet and said, "Am I not mistaken, Roger?" The good man instantly replied: "Monsieur le Comte forgets that I have only been with him for five hundred years. I could not, therefore, have been present at that occasion. It must have been my predecessor."
 * The most holy trinosophia of the Comte de St.-Germain,Introduction, p. 14-15, (1933)


 * We are the gods of the atoms that make up ourselves but we are also the atoms of the gods that make up the universe.
 * Think on These Things (1998), compiled by Clarke E. Johnston, p. 22

Meditation Symbols in Eastern & Western Mysticism (1988)

 * The alchemical tradition assumes that every physical art or science is a body of knowledge which exists only because it is ensouled by invisible powers and processes. Physical chemistry, as it is practiced in the modern world, is concerned principally with pharmaceutical or industrial research projects. It is confined within the boundaries of an all-pervading materialism, which binds labor to the advancement of physical objectives.

Quotes about Hall

 * Manly Hall's great work is a classic in the world's literature. It will guide historians, philosophers, and lay seekers of esoteric wisdom for centuries.
 * Edgar Mitchell, Apollo Astronaut, on The Secret Teachings of All Ages