Tag: Theosophical Society

January 11, 2025

California Fire Destroys Theosophical Archives and Building in Altadena

IN LOS ANGELOS — A LARGE COLLECTION OF MATERIALS ON NINETEENTH-CENTURY ESOTERICISM were claimed by the raging fires in California. Prof. Wouter Hanegraaff (professor of the History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam Netherlands) on Facebook this Thursday stated that “the entire property of the Theosophical Society in Altadena near Pasadena has been…
May 10, 2021

The Reluctant Messiah: Truth about Jiddu Krishnamurti and Theosophy

INTRODUCTION Jiddu Krishnamurti, “Great Liberator or Failed Messiah,” asks Luis S. R. Vas in his highly insightful book about the relations between Jiddu Krishnamurti and the Theosophical Society. This story is about a young boy that became an important philosophical teacher throughout the 20th century. Groomed by theosophists, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater to…
October 9, 2020

Olcott’s Strained Relationship with Blavatsky and the Judge Case

STRAINED RELATIONSHIP WITH HELENA BLAVATSKY AFFECTS ADEPT CONNECTIONS TO THEOS. SOC. During a period that The Secret Doctrine was being written, Olcott’s relationship with H.P.B. had become more strained, and it is said K.H. materialized a letter on Olcott’s table saying of H.P.B., that the Adepts have no favorites. K.H. adds, despite H.P.B.’s personality and…
September 1, 2020

Tamil Swami Ramalingam Pillai’s Prophecy

YOGI RAMALINGAM PILLAI PROPHECY Daleep Singh and Thakur Singh had a prophecy related to Russia and the West, but so did a well-known swami in Southern India, Vallalār, also known as Ramalinga Swamigal and Ramalinga Adigal. This important figure in Tamil history is mentioned as Chidambaram Ramalingam Pillai Avergal (also called Arulprakasa Vallalare) in Theosophy, and this yogi…
June 19, 2018

‘The snub-nosed Saxons’ [Borderland Magazine, 1894]

THE SNUB-NOSEDSAXONS Borderland Magazine, October 15th, 1894 tributehighlights influence of Blavatsky in the successful periodsof the theosophical movement on the cultural milieu. “If everything be true that Dr. Hodgson and the Psychical Research Society say about her, it only heightens the mystery, and adds to the marvel of the influence which Madame Blavatsky undoubtedly has exercised,…
May 18, 2018

Adepts in America in 1776: William Q. Judge’s Speculations prompt Blavatsky to Question “Illuminati” Theory

ADEPTS IN AMERICA IN 1776 CONTROVERSY William Q. Judge article in the Theosophist (1883) was his own theories. A respondent puts forth the claims of Adepts in America in 1776 to Helena Blavatsky who explains the European and American Revolution was an independent effort, though not from the men she is associated with. First Published…
January 17, 2018

U.G. Krishnamurti: Recollects the Second-Generation Theosophical Society

Second Generation refers to a shifted leadership in the Theosophical Society, with international headquarters in Adyar, Madras, post-1890’s, and led by Annie Besant in 1907 til her death. The second generation Theosophists drift from a teaching of progressive evolution to a program of “progressive millenialism,” says Catherine Wessinger, in her The Second Generation Leaders of…
December 19, 2017

NYT calls H.P. Blavatsky an Anti-Semitic influence on Nazis

The New York Times profiles Tony Hovater, a white nationalist, and uses a poor source accusing H.P. Blavatsky of being an Anti-Semitic influence on the National Socialists. In this last month’s New York Times profile article “I Interviewed a White Nationalist and Fascist, What Was I Left With?” its journalist, Richard Fausset claimed that Helena Blavatsky was…
August 30, 2017

Eric Kurlander on German and Austrian Occultism, and the Politicization of Populist Folkdom

The National Socialists tried to subvert German Theosophists to support the Reich. “There’s a general trend toward a post-traditional spiritualism or transcendentalism in France and Britain (and there are many good books that look at those movements in parallel to Germany). The difference I think is that it was more privatized and apolitical. The kind…
July 13, 2017

Jiddu Krishnamurti repudiates the Convergence of Theosophy and his Teaching

The most comprehensive collection of Krishnamurti’s true thoughts on Theosophy. Gathered by the Rishi Valley Study Centre (Working Paper #4, May 1995, Revised October 1996 by Hans and Radhika Herzberger). Jiddu Krishnamurti utterly rejected the convergence of his thought and Theosophy, and his wishes should be respected. Contemporary Theosophists have to let go of Jiddu Krishnamurti, and trying to…
March 27, 2017

“The Great Master’s Letter”: Theosophy and the Future of Religion

The Maha-chohan letter, or “The Great Master’s Letter” is about the ‘Truth’ of Divine Enlightenment and the real mission and cause of Theosophy. The letter explains the view on the role of Theosophy in aiding a revival or revolution. Chohan means “lord,” “chief,” or “master.” It comes from the word chos (doctrine, law, teaching) and khan (abbot).‘’…
March 8, 2017

Theosophy and Freemasonry: Esoteric Schools within the Theosophical Society

HISTORY OF ESOTERIC SCHOOLS WITHIN THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY The Theosophical Society did not become a secret, or occult fraternity, but it is true that the ideal for the Society was not to be a mere intellectual or literary society. The current condition of the Theosophical Society and its divided branches survive, though like a shell.…