2021-04-27

Lesson I: The Nature of Vril

I n the Arcane Teaching, the term “Vril” indicates the universal principle of vital-energy, life-force, or vital magnetism, as it is sometimes called. The term itself is believed to have had its origin in the language of ancient Atlantis, tradition holding that the Atlantean root vri, meaning life, is the source of the word Vril, the latter expressing the idea of the vital principle or life-energy. This original root term is believed to have influenced similar elementary terms in the Sanscrit, and through this that great source of tongues, the Latin, from which our own language is largely derived. In many languages we find words indicating manly vigor, energy, virility, which undoubtedly owe their origin to the original Atlantean root term vri from which our term is derived.

In the ancient Greek we find the term veros, meaning “a hero.” In the Sanscrit we discover vira , meaning “a hero,” and in the ancient Irish vear, meaning “a man.” The Gothic wair , and the Anglo-Saxon wer, each meaning “a man,” as well as the Latin word vir, meaning “a man,” (from which our terms “virile, virility,” originated,) also appear to have been derived from the Atlantean term vri, or “life.” It was very natural to identify the concept of “man” with “life.” In our own language the terms “virile” and “virility” indicate

life-force or vital-energy, particularly in the sense of procreative power, the usage of these terms bearing out the above stated theory of their origin. Bulwer, who was well-versed in occult tradition and terms, used the term “vril” in one of his novels, to indicate a mysterious form of energy employed by a newly discovered and highly advanced race of people, upon whose doings his story was based. It is almost certain that Bulwer borrowed this term from some of the ancient occult writings, with which he was so familiar, and that the ancient Arcane term “vril” was known to him. In many of these ancient occult treatises we find frequent reference to “Vril,” not only in its sense of the principle of vital energy, but also in that sense of inherent usable energy which we seek to express by the term “human magnetism.” In such writings we find the term employed to explain many of the phenomena of occultism. Nearly, if not all, of the schools of occultism, in all lands and in all times, have taught the existence of this wonderful principle of energy. In Persian mysticism the term glama is used in the same sense; in Hindu occultism we find the word prana serving a similar purpose. Mesmer seems to have stumbled upon this truth when he taught the existence of “the universal fluid,” although he was far from the truth in his deductions therefrom. In the revival of interest in occult science in western lands, so noticeable in the past generation, and which continues to the present time, we find frequent references to “human magnetism,”

“animal magnetism,” “vital magnetism.” And in the schools of “magnetic healing” which attracted so much attention about ten years ago, we heard much of “the magnetic fluid.” The existence of the principle of Nature which we call “Vril” in the Arcane Teaching, has been recognized by many schools of thought throughout human history. Many names have been given to it, and many theories have been advanced to account for its existence, and to explain its purposes and effects. We shall not attempt to go into the history of this idea, nor to consider the many attempted explanations above referred to. We prefer to go to the fountain head, and present the original Arcane Teaching regarding the principle of Vril. In the Arcane Teaching, then, the term “Vril” is used in several senses, general and particular, as we shall see as we proceed. In the first place,