We ventured to suggest a few days ago that the newly discovered Mahatma - known, however, only to the select and occult few - was either the young Theosophist Secretary, Claude Falls Wright, or the Philadelphia Thaumaturgist, John E. W. Keely, and - referred to some circumstantial evidence which seemed to point to the renowned motor-maker in the City of Brotherly Love. Mr. Wright must now be excluded, for at the marriage ceremony in which he appeared on Sunday last as one of the high contracting parties the new Mahatma was present as officiating Occultist, but so concealed by veils and robes that his identity was not disclosed. This impressive and mysterious person with Theosophic rites united these two interesting beings who, we are told, have been seeking each other for the last 5,000 years through a long series of re-incarnations.

Are this Mahatma and Keely one and the same person? It may be so, for we notice that President Hargrove, the young English adept, in his long address at the beginning of the services made frequent reference to vibration and that vibratory force which Keely manipulates so profitably. We pointed out a few days ago that at the annual convention Acting President Buck had eulogized Keely as a great Theosophic mechanic and seer, because he was about to usher in a new cycle by applying the vibratory essence of the atom to street cars as a motive force. And President Hargrove, having spoken on Sunday of what was going on in Egypt 5,000 years ago - "the time when our present teacher and one other in our midst were leading workers" - went on to say:

"In those days they understood the meaning of vibration; they dealt with essences instead of appearances. Remember, then, that what you will witness is not a show; that the garments and emblems worn here are not for display, but are used to hide the personal form and to start vibrations by means of color and motion that will be far-reaching in their effect and beneficial to all concerned. Remember, too, that the sounds you will hear are not to provoke applause or to please the ear; they, too, are vibrations, and they, too, belong to the magic of antiquity, which it will before long become our duty to revive."

To what did these remarks refer, if not to Keely's "vibratory force," his "polar and depolar sympathy," his "thought waver," and his "astral essences"? Is it not clear that Mr. Hargrove had in mind, when he spoke of those "beneficial" vibration and the approaching "revival" of vibratory magic, the impending utilization of Keely's motor on the street cars of Philadelphia and New-York? Was the venerable form of John E. W. Keely concealed in those flowing robes and behind that veil? We offer these question for what they are worth.
Published: May 5, 1896
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