Victory of the Soul (Manly P. Hall)

➡ The Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, founded by Manly P. Hall in 1934, is a free public center that houses a vast library of rare books and hosts events on various subjects. Hall, a Canadian-born author and mystic, made significant contributions to esoteric philosophy and comparative religion, writing over 150 works and delivering thousands of lectures. He believed in the concept of ‘vril’, a hidden force or energy associated with higher states of consciousness, and explored this in his writings. Hall’s work continues to resonate with those seeking spiritual and philosophical understanding beyond mainstream religion.
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I’m here at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, California, founded by Manly P. Hall in 1934. It’s free, open to the public, and houses a unique library containing over 30,000 rare volumes, as well as hosts seminars, classes, and concerts on mythology, the humanities, and metaphysics. Manly P. Hall was a Canadian-born author, lecturer, astrologer, mystic, and freemason, renowned for his extensive contributions to esoteric philosophy, symbolism, and comparative religion. Over his 70 year career, he delivered thousands of lectures and authored over 150 books, essays, and journals, with his most famous work being The Secret Teaching of All Ages, published in 1928, when Hall was just 27 years old.

This encyclopedic text explores ancient philosophy, mysticism, and symbolism, earning him widespread recognition. Born in Ontario to a chiropractor mother with Rosicrucian ties and a dentist father whom he never knew, Hall was raised by his maternal grandmother after his parents’ divorce. In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles to reunite with his mother and soon immersed himself in mysticism and esoteric studies. His early works included The Initiates of the Flame and The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, written before he became a freemason. Hall traveled globally, amassing a vast collection of rare books and manuscripts on alchemy and esotericism.

In 1934, he founded this non-profit center dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, and the occult, which houses a massive library and lecture hall. Though he wrote extensively about freemasonry early in his career, Hall wasn’t initiated into a lodge until 1954, advanced to the 32nd degree in the Scottish Rite in 1955, and honored with the 33rd degree on December 8th, 1973. Though the modern world may know a million secrets, the ancient world knew one, and that was greater than the million, for the million secrets breed death, disaster, sorrow, selfishness, lust, and avarice, but the one secret confers life, light, and truth.

Without the mysterious keys carried by the hierophants of the Egyptian, Brahmin, and Persian cults, the gates of wisdom cannot be opened. I already showed you the lecture hall. Now let’s go outside and visit the library. Just look for the beautiful hand-carved wood panel doors of Confucius and Plato. Manley Hall believed that the concept of vril, as presented in Edward Bueller Lytton’s novel The Coming Race, was not merely fiction, but a symbolic representation of a powerful, hidden force or energy. He associated vril with ancient esoteric traditions, suggesting that it was a secret known to various groups throughout history, including the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Aryans, and even Atlanteans.

Hall did not believe vril was a physical substance, but rather a spiritual or psychic energy, also known as chi or prana, that could be amplified, harnessed, and used to awaken higher states of consciousness and ability, as was done by various esoteric practitioners of Tantra and internal alchemy. He believed that the knowledge of vril was present in ancient esoteric traditions and had been preserved by certain groups throughout history, which found its way into European secret societies established on mystical traditions such as the Kabbalah, introduced into Europe by groups such as the Knights Templar.

Hall’s exploration of the Kabbalah in the secret teachings of all ages emphasizes its role in unveiling the hidden wisdom of the universe and the spiritual journey of the soul. By initiation into the mysteries and a certain process known as operative theology, this law of birth and death is transcended, and during the course of physical existence, that part of the spirit which is asleep in form is awakened without the intervention of death. This is at once the primary purpose and consummate achievement of the mysteries. That man shall become aware of and consciously be reunited with the divine source of himself without tasting of physical dissolution.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And there is another statement in another place that says, but the spirit returns to God who gave it. And the problem of the difference between these two definitions has been a confusion to theologians for a long time. Actually, according to the ancient beliefs in these matters, the soul was a vestment, the golden wedding garment, the garment that was to be worn to the wedding of the lamb, and actually was a phase of the magnetic field of the human body. In other words, the golden wedding garment, or the soul, was a construction that arises within the magnetic field of the human aura.

In other words, as the works of goodness, as the desire to grow increases, and the individual makes certain changes and improvements in his own life pattern, there are changes in the magnetic field. Gradually, there becomes a transformation, and there appears in the field a luminous quality which represents the goodness of our peace in righteousness. And in the end, it becomes a luminous vestment within the magnetic field, or within the aura. And when it attains to this magnitude, it is called the golden wedding garment. Now this is the garment of righteousness, the garment that is earned by the labors of the life.

It becomes also part of the great protection which guards the individual from within himself as he increases in understanding and insight. In all practical purposes, therefore, the story of the golden wedding garment, or the soul, is the story of the visible changes in the unfoldment and development of the being that has that body. Also, the electromagnetic field does manifest to some degree in the visible world. And the works of the golden wedding garment are the labors of righteousness. As the individual increases in spiritual integrities, these integrities become a part of his essential consciousness.

They are not moods that arise and fail. If the growth is genuine, these moods grow and continue until the individual’s inner life is transmuted and transformed. Therefore, in a sense also, the soul becomes the stone of the philosopher, the mysterious alchemical mystery of the transformation of all base substances into the gold of wisdom. Therefore, when we speak of the victory of soul over circumstance, we refer to the growth of inner light over the pressures and problems of outer living. We find gradually that the strength to do it right develops within ourselves.

We are not saved, so to say, by some outside force or by some legal or legislative change. We grow from within, and as we grow stronger from within, the adversities of the outside become less. The golden wedding garment, therefore, is also this mysterious elixir of life, one drop of which transforms 10,000 times its own weight. These terms, which are used in mysticism to guard the secrets from the profane, are also in a way mysteriously correct, for they represent the tremendous increase of inward power resulting from the transmutation of the base elements of life.

And in the mysterious wedding of the lamb, which is described in the book of Revelation and which is part of our Christian heritage, those who attain the golden wedding garment come as great hosts of souls, luminous and beautiful, to attend the marriage of the lamb. And this is the idea of it all. The marriage of the lamb is simply the union of the individual soul with the world soul and the return of the individual spirit to the spirit which is all spirit, always and forever the guiding power of life. Manly P.

Hall passed away shortly after this final lecture on August 29, 1990, leaving behind a wealth of written material and audio lectures that are freely available online. He is remembered for the scholarly depth and breadth of his knowledge concerning esoteric traditions, including hermeticism, alchemy, and ancient religions, as well as his unique ability to distill obscure and arcane subjects into clear, engaging prose, making esoteric wisdom approachable for the layperson, democratizing access to mystical traditions. His work resonated during a time of growing interest in spirituality and alternative thought, particularly in the early 20th century, and his emphasis on universal truths appeal to those seeking meaning beyond mainstream religion.

Hall was seen as a genuine seeker of truth, living modestly and dedicating his life to education rather than personal gain. His establishment of the Philosophical Research Society as a non-profit for esoteric study further solidified his reputation as a principled scholar revered among philosophers, mystics, researchers, and those interested in a deeper understanding of the human experience. When the human race learns to read the language of symbolism, a great veil will fall from the eyes of men. They shall then know truth, and more than that, they shall realize that from the beginning, truth has been in the world unrecognized, saved by a small but gradually increasing number appointed by the Lords of the Dawn as ministers to the needs of human creatures struggling to regain their consciousness of divinity.

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