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The Theosophical Movement 1875-1950

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Continuing Current

THE COURSE OF EVENTS in the Theosophical world after the death of Mr. Judge—or after 1898, which seems to have been a year of crucial decision, at least in the United States—presses one great question upon the inquirer into Theosophical history. What, actually, is the Theosophical Movement, and can it be said to have any real existence during the twentieth century? If the Movement is a continuing force in the modern world, where should its manifestations be sought? How may they be recognized?

Even before the betrayal of William Q. Judge, first in life, by Mrs. Besant and Col. Olcott, then after his death, by the claims of various “successors,” it had become evident that the history of the Theosophical Movement is by no means the history of the one or several societies going by that name. When H.P.B. left India in 1885, the Adyar society quite evidently lapsed to the status of a religious organization, subject to all the weaknesses and defects of organizational sectarianism. Thereafter, the chief function of Adyar seems to have been to harass H.P.B. and to impede her work, and, after her passing, to do the same to William Q. Judge. To continue the history of the Adyar society in detail after 1900 would be to perform a melancholy ritual in the name of historical “completeness,” while neglecting the vital currents of Theosophical influence, if any, arising from other sources. The same general analysis applies to other organizational “branches” of the movement. If anything is to be learned from the Theosophical history of the last ten years of the nineteenth century, it is that organizations and organizational claims, whether “exoteric” or “esoteric,” have no necessary connection with the original inspiration and meaning of the Theosophical Movement.

The year 1898 in particular began a period prolific in the production of new Theosophical sects and cults. Shortly after the split of the American Society into the Hargrove group and the majority wing of the Society headed by Mrs. Tingley, an other society was formed in New York, by Dr. J. H. Salisbury, who had known Mr. Judge well, and Donald Nicholson, managing editor of the New York Tribune, another early friend of H.P.B. and Judge. This group called itself the Theosophical Society of New York and was mildly active in that city for many years. It was represented among Theosophical magazines by the Word, edited by Harold C. Percival. Also connected with this group were Dr. Alexander Wilder, the Platonic scholar who had helped H.P.B. obtain a publisher for Isis Unveiled, and Mrs. Laura Langford (previously the Mrs. Laura Holloway mentioned in Chapter xx).

Another offshoot of the break-up of the American Society was the “Temple of the People,” which began in 1899 with a circular letter issued from Syracuse, New York, signed by Dr. W. H. Dower and Frances J. Meyers. According to “Temple” literature, a “Master” visited “two students of occultism” in an eastern city (Syracuse) and instructed them that their “astral” development was such that they could be used to establish a “true center of occultism.”

Since that time [a Temple leaflet continues] there has been almost constant intercommunication between some of those Masters and the two above mentioned, as well as with the group which has been formed according to direction, as the years have passed. No great scientific discovery has been made since the year 1898 without some previous knowledge of the same 1 being given to the aforesaid group. . . .

Mrs. Francia A. La Due was the “chela” of the “Temple,” who, early in this century, was “ordered” to establish a colony at Halcyon, California. Mrs. La Due’s “messages from the Masters,” given out under the pseudonym, “Blue Star,” were the inspiration of the Temple until her death in 1923. For a time, the “Temple” achieved a considerable following, branches being established in various cities by ex-members of the T.S. in A., and of the “Universal Brotherhood,” but as competing “initiates” elsewhere offered new “messages” from the Masters, the Temple lost what unique distinction it might have possessed, and is now but one of the various remaining fragments of the “successorship” delusion. Among the more notable of the Temple’s claims to “occult” distinction was a pamphlet issued in 1928 by Dr. W. H. Dower, Mrs. La Due’s successor, containing, according to its sub-title, “More Stanzas 2 Unsealed from The Book of Dzyan.” (The Stanzas of Dzyan are the ancient verses upon which Madame Blavatsky based The Secret Doctrine.) This somewhat lurid offering speaks of a day when birds and beasts will feed upon “purple grain, the gift direct of the Gods,” and entails a curious zoological fantasy in the account of how a wild white Bull sired a White She Calf (out of Great Red Cow) with three horns, one diamond-tipped, which grew many cubits a day.

Mrs. Alice L. Cleather, who supported Mrs. Tingley for a time, quietly withdrew from the Universal Brotherhood in 1899. In later years Mrs. Cleather gathered a group of pupils to whom she imparted her own version of Theosophical history and teachings. After traveling on the Continent for a time, she removed to India. When, in the early 20’s, dissensions regarding Mr. Leadbeater were renewed in the Adyar Society, Mrs. Cleather published some booklets in defense of H.P.B. They include H. P. Blavatsky: A Great Betrayal, H. P. Blavatsky: Her Life and Work for Humanity, and H. P. Blavatsky as I Knew Her, all issued in Calcutta in 1922-23. These works, unfortunately, are marred by the assumption that Mr. Judge had been deluded and dominated by Mrs. Tingley—a view apparently shared by H. N. Stokes, publisher of the O. E. Library Critic, of Washington, D. C., and William Kingsland, author of The Real H. P. Blavatsky, published in London in1928. Associated with Mrs. Cleather for many years was Mr. Basil Crump, who shared in her activities, one of which was to issue a reprint of the original edition of The Voice of the Silence, published, according to a superscription, “by request of the Tashi Lama” of Tibet. Mrs. Cleather and her associates also formed a Blavatsky Association to “perpetuate the memory and work” of H.P.B., to which members of Mrs. Besant’s society were denied entrance.

The modern movement known as Anthroposophy also stems from the Theosophic trunk, as a result of differences between Mrs. Besant and Rudolph Steiner, who was General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society. While Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society in 1912, the actual break with Adyar did not come until 1913, when Mrs. Besant, disapproving Steiner’s failure to support the “Order of the Star of the East,” dischartered and expelled the entire German Section with all of its branches, cancelling the 3 diplomas of more than two thousand members. Within a few months, the loss of these members grew by a thousand more, due to the resignations of members in various European countries in protest against Mrs. Besant’s high-handed procedure. Steiner, it should be noted, offered his own distinctive “teachings,” his present followers claiming that he always followed “his own line,” even while in association with the Adyar Society. In any event, the Anthroposophical Society gained considerable influence in Germany and grew to a large membership throughout Europe. The inspiration of this s o c i e t y h a s d e p e n d e d l a r g e l y u p o n t h e “ o c c u l t ” communications and instructions of Dr. Steiner, who died in 1925. A phase of Steiner’s influence deserving notice has been through the reforms he accomplished in agriculture. In the United States, this work is known as Bio-Dynamic gardening, having much in common with the organic gardening movement founded by Sir Albert Howard. A large and influential center of the Steiner-inspired movement exists in New York City.

George R. S. Mead, after siding with Mrs. Besant in the “case against William Q. Judge,” remained her devoted assistant until the death of Colonel Olcott. However, the subsequent “Adyar manifestations,” declaring Mrs. Besant the President-Founder’s successor, were more than he could stand and he parted from her, later on establishing the Quest Society, devoted to comparative religions and psychical research. His magazine, the Quest, published from 1909 to 1930, was widely circulated, earning respect for the activities and objectives of the Society. Mr. Mead died in 1934.

Max Heindel, originally a member of Mrs. Besant’s Society and a lecturer in its American Section, came under the influence of Steiner’s works, and after a time blossomed forth on his own account with a new “Rosicrucian” society, and a book entitled The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. Like Dr. Steiner, Mr. Heindel placed a special emphasis on the mission of Jesus, adding the glamorous idea of Rosicrucian “mysteries.” He established headquarters at Oceanside, California, building up a flourishing association with members in all parts of the world. After Mr. Heindel’s death, his wife continued to direct the efforts of this group, but since her passing, this branch of modern Rosicrucianism has shown little activity.

Fortunately, as the years went by, the new apostles and revealers of “occultism” made less and less reference to Theosophy, although it was to the books of the founders of the Theosophical Movement that they turned for material from which to construct their “teachings.” Theosophy no longer had the appeal of a “novelty,” and Mrs. Besant and Mrs. Tingley had already used the methods of sensationalism almost to exhaustion. A roster of the activities of those who split off from the existing Theosophical societies of the early decades of the twentieth century would have to include scores of individuals and groups, ranging from honest efforts to carry on the work of the movement to almost brazen attempts to exploit the religious weaknesses and susceptibilities of human beings. Two members of the Besant Society in the United States, Alice A. Evans and Foster Bailey, joined forces in marriage, formed the “Arcane School,” and for many years held classes and correspondence courses under the ostensible guidance of a “Tibetan” teacher. Subscribers to Mrs. Bailey’s communications, fruit of automatic writing, were favored with a series of “prophecies” covering various terms of years, and an increasing emphasis on “Prayer” and God’s “Plan of Love and Light.” Mrs. Bailey died in at the age of seventy. The following extract from a bulletin from Mrs. Bailey to her students of the Arcane School indicates the financial aspect of her activities:

Please continue to keep up the meditation for Right Direction of Money for the work of the Hierarchy, as you have been doing. . . . I notice . . . that students who for years have given $10 a month are now giving $15 . . . . we all have to do our utmost by meditation, by interesting others, and by self4 sacrifice in preparation for the Coming of the Christ.

One of the better known figures on what may be called the “fringe” of the Theosophical Movement is Manly P. Hall, who has been lecturing on “occult” subjects in Los Angeles since the early 1920’s. Mr. Hall has written a number of books dealing with mystical lore, and some of his volumes show a strange lack of reticence concerning matters that the Founders of the Movement never spoke or wrote about publicly. Perhaps the best evidence of Mr. Hall’s indifference to the lines of work established by H. P. Blavatsky is his activity as a hypnotist, which brought him considerable publicity some ten years ago, when an actor hypnotized by Mr. Hall tore apart a 5 movie set in the delusion that he was dying for lack of air. Of late, Mr. Hall has been associated with other Theosophists in publishing the complete works of H. P. Blavatsky.

The most lurid of all pseudo-occult movements of recent years was the “I Am” movement of the Ballards. From about 1936 to 1940, the Ballards—Mr. and Mrs. George Washington Ballard and son, Donald—with headquarters in Los Angeles, gained a large following on the West Coast, and elsewhere, by making blatant claims as to the powers possessed by Mr. Ballard (who said he was a reincarnation of George Wa s h i n g t o n ), a n d b y a ss e rti n g t h a t t h e y we r e i n communication with “The Ascended Master, Saint Germain,” 6 “The Master, Jesus,” and various other Personages. The Ballards asserted that the psychological forces exerted by themselves and their followers prevented the entire California Coast from sliding into the Pacific ocean. For a time, the Ballards were able to fill the Shrine auditorium in Los Angeles with bewildered, wonder-seeking enthusiasts. Their books contain garbled and distorted fragments of Theosophical doctrines and numerous “messages” from the “Ascended Ma st e rs.” The Ba ll a rds tour ed the countr y a s “The Messengers,” issuing invocations, and “decrees” against their enemies, and promising extraordinary benefits that were to result from their work. Mr. Ballard died in December, 1939, and while Mrs. Ballard and son Donald continued “his work,” two trials in the federal courts on the charge of using the mails to defraud brought considerable discouragement to both the Ballards and their followers. Although convictions were not obtained, the “I Am” movement has since subsided into relative obscurity.

There seems to be no end to the ramifications of the appeal of the “occult” and the “mystical” for those whom the traditional religious organizations have ceased to attract. The Rosicrucian Brotherhood (AMORC) at San Jose, California, offers an imposing literature and course of instruction in “The Secret Heritage.” The advertising program of this organization is so extensive as to include even scientific periodicals. The invitation is very largely to the desire of the individual for power. “The Rosicrucians,” says a prospectus of this organization, “know how to accomplish wondrous things with this natural power, but the subject cannot be broached to everyone. One must be ready for this knowledge, be ready to go beyond what he already knows.” For a price, the Rosicrucians offer courses in personal development, leading finally, from degree to degree, to the Rosicrucian sort of “adeptship.”

The Lemurian Fellowship, devoted to “the Lemurian TheoChristic Philosophy,” had its origin in Wisconsin in 1936, and located in California in 1942. This group, which erected a “Temple of the Jewelled Cross” in Los Angeles, calls itself “the direct representative and channel for the release of all information, advice, and plans for the integration of the New Civilization and Order.” The Lemurian Fellowship, we are told, is responsible for the “transmission of the plans and suggestions of the Elder Brothers.” The slogan for membership drives is: “Be Lemurian and Rank Yourself with the 7 Race which Aspires to be Royal.”

One added feature of the psychic scene in the United States, due, indirectly, to the Theosophical Movement, has been the 8 success of visiting “swamis” and “yogis” from the East. The best known, perhaps, of these enterprising orientals is “Paramahansa Yogananda,” whose autobiography was recently published in this country. In1940, Yogananda was sued for $500,000 by a former associate, Nirad Ranjan Chowdhury, who claimed that the two had originally been partners in the SelfRealization Fellowship Church, Inc., with an agreement to 9 share equally in the profits. Swami Yogananda previously had been sued by another of his partners, Dhirananda, who in 1935 won a judgment of $7,900 against Yogananda, on a note for 10 $8,000 which the latter had failed to pay. Such financial squabbles among the swamis, however, have had little effect upon their faithful followers. Yogananda’s “Yogoda” cult gives every evidence of continued prosperity, having an elaborate “ashram” overlooking the ocean at Encinitas, California, and offering for sale numerous books and a magazine.

The mysterious East has also served Western expositors of supposed “occult” secrets. From Paul Brunton, with his romantic version of Oriental secrets and powers, to Edwin J. Dingle and his Los Angeles Institute of Mentalphysics, there is apparently no limit to the diversity of fascinations which anything labelled “Eastern” holds for the naïve and wonderseeking Westerner. A trip to India, or to Tibet, as was the case with Theos Bernard, is sufficient to clothe the traveler in an atmosphere of occult enchantments. He may cater to the bored intellectuals and sophisticates of Europe, in the manner of the strange Russian, Gurdjieff, or dress himself up in a turban and satin jacket and appear, flanked by burning incense, before a more proletarian audience—in either case, a following is assured.

One effect of this gradual “assimilation” of Theosophical and pseudo-Theosophical ideas into the popular culture of the twentieth century has been the secularization, or even the “paganization,” of Theosophy. The Theosophical Movement under the leadership of H. P. Blavatsky and Mr. Judge was militant, if not revolutionary, in relation to the religious, intellectual, and social status quo. It challenged the dogmas of religion, the materialism of science, and the hypocritical morality of everyday life in the West. But as the atmosphere of sectarianism seeped back into the organizations calling themselves “Theosophical ,” priestly claims and “occult” posturing took the place of moral courage, while the authority of new Theosophical “Revelations” discounted vigor in individual reflection and the application of Theosophical principles. When the members of Theosophical Societies began to speak reverently of “God” and “God’s Plan,” or to resort to similar forms of religious anthropomorphism, the Movement was no longer a threat to the security of the churches—it had become a mere imitator of the churches—and the criticisms which both science and Theosophy had once directed at organized religion now became logically applicable to the Theosophical societies themselves. No scientist, therefore, need take Theosophy seriously, so long as it was represented to him by such societies. Eighteenth-century skepticism and nineteenth-century agnosticism had dealt effectively and sufficiently with this brand of supernaturalism. In contrast to such “Theosophy,” it was the scientists—or many of them—who stood for moral courage in the search for truth, while the Theo sophists had become a sect of mild conformists, having, perhaps, a new theological vocabulary, but offering no real challenge to the mind of the age.

The spread and penetration of the influence of the Movement, however, had other and more constructive phases. In Ireland, for example, the poet George Russell, better known as “Æ,” withdrew from any open connection with Theosophical organizations, after the split between Annie Besant and Mr. Judge, but continued to infuse his writings with a mystical quality that was plainly of Theosophical inspiration, although he seldom if ever spoke of Theosophy directly. Æ was one of the group of Irish Theosophists who remained faithful to Judge, as the pages of the Irish Theosophist make clear, and this loyalty may have contributed to the beneficent effect of the poet’s work on behalf of the Irish peasant movement, and for a general renaissance of Irish culture, in later years. Another Irish poet, W. B. Yeats, was also a Theosophist in his youth, but Yeats lapsed into Spiritualism as be grew older, thus fostering, through his fame in literar y circles, some unfortunate misconceptions of the nature of Theosophy. James Stephens, too, was affected by Theosophical ideas, as his stories, particularly The Demi-Gods, reveal, but in Stephens the elements of fancy, Irish folklore and legends of magic and sorcery predominate, so that the influence of Theosophy in his works is verbal or mechanical rather than philosophical.

Another effect of the Movement was the opening up of modern scholarship and literature to the influence of occult ideas. George R. S. Mead, for one, devoted himself to researches in Oriental literature after he became disillusioned with Annie Besant, and William Kingsland wrote a book endeavoring to present Theosophical ideas in the guise of a speculative synthesis of science and modern philosophy. The pages of the English literary and critical journals show that Theosophy—or, at any rate, some of the Theosophical ideas—gradually became part of the background of cultivated individuals in England. By a filtering process of thought, even Theosophical terms or doctrines began to emerge in the literature of the twentieth century—as, for example, in the tales of Algernon Blackwood, and the books and plays of J. B. Priestley. In the field of learned research, Dr. W. Y. Evans Wentz published an English translation of Bardo Thödol, or the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a work which has exercised an extensive influence on modern thought. While Dr. Evans Wentz may not admit to having been affected by Theosophical teachings, his work has been part of the general current of occult inquiry begun by the Theosophical Movement. Perhaps because of the many Englishmen who served as civil servants in India, there have been several books on the subject of “Yoga” published in England, some giving evidence of a Theosophical background, some derived from the instruction of Indian swamis. Yeats-Brown’s popular volume on this subject is an example of the more lighthearted and somewhat impudent attempts in this direction.

In the United States, William James anticipated the modern academic interest in Eastern yoga powers, and was also concerned with the phenomena of the Spiritualists. He wrote essays on both subjects: in one, called “The Energies of Men,” he recounted the experience of a European follower of Vivekananda, who undertook a course of yoga exercises; in the other, he vouched, after twenty-five years of sporadic investigation of mediums and seances, for “the presence, in the 11 midst of all the humbug, of really supernormal knowledge.” Vivekananda was a disciple of the Indian religious reformer, Ramakrishna, and since the days of Vivekananda’s visit to the United States, in 1893, to attend the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, the Vedanta Society and Ramakrishna Mission have attempted to instruct the West in the Hindu religion, as found in the commentaries of Sankaracharya and in the later works of Ramakrishna.

It is more than coincidence, perhaps, that these “missions” of Eastern religion to the West have coincided with Western progress in psychic research and with the reviving interest in Western mysticism, or quietism. With the break-down of the Roman Empire, Stoicism and Neoplatonism became the “religions” of the cultured members of the Hellenistic Society of the time. But in the anxiety-ridden twentieth century, all that modern Europe and America possessed as part of their cultural inheritance to correspond to the inward philosophical religion of the ancient world wa s the mysticism of medieva l Christianity. After the first world war, there was a definite re vival of Christian mysticism, marked by interest in researches such as the books of Evelyn Underhill. How the modern investigations of psychical powers, the influence of Christian mysticism, and the new knowledge of Eastern psychology and yoga have been combined by the Western mind is well illustrated in the books of Aldous Huxley, in his Ends and Means, and The Perennial Philosophy. While Huxley has been more of a writer than a practitioner in the field of this new mysticism of the West, another Englishman, Gerald Heard, has developed into a sort of religious leader on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Mr. Heard was at one time a commentator on science for the British Broadcasting Company; his experience includes a background of interest and, apparently, experiment in Spiritualistic phenomena; and he is author of a number of books dealing with the problems of Western civilization. In one of these volumes, The Third Morality, Mr. Heard informed his readers that breathing exercises are “the most instant and powerful of all the physical methods of affecting, altering and enlarging consciousness.” While admitting the dangers of “Hatha” or “Body” Yoga— in which breathing exercises play a major part—and warning that “no one can say what the casualty rate may be,” Mr. Heard asserted that “it is a risk we have to take.” Mr. Heard may have since revised his opinion of the desirability of undertaking Hatha Yoga disciplines, in view of the high incidence of obsession and other types of aberration which may overtake the curious and over-eager Westerners who dabble in Hatha Yoga practices.

Heard’s counsels on how to “meditate” have been widely circulated among the Christian groups in the United States where dissatisfaction is felt with traditional modes of “worship,” and have been advertised, even, in the American Theosophist, the monthly journal of the American branch of the Adyar Society. He also maintains a close relationship with the Ramakrishna Mission, and on the occasion of the induction of a group of young Americans into the order as monks, Mr. Heard made an address as part of the ceremony. Christopher Isherwood, an English poet, has also allied himself with the Ramakrishna or Vedanta movement. He is one of the editors of Vedanta and the West, and collaborated with Swami Prabhavananda of the Hollywood Ramakrishna Mission in producing a new English translation of The Bhagavad Gita, which was published during the war.

It is of more than passing interest that, in an article published in 1895, Mr. Judge warned the American Theosophists that— The Hindu of to-day is a talker, a hair-splitter, and when he has not been altered by contact with Western culture he is superstitious. Such we do not want as teachers. We will hail them as brothers and co-workers but not as our Magisters. But those Hindus who come here are not teachers. They have come here for some personal purpose and they teach no more nor better than is found in our own theosophical literature: their yoga is but half or quarter yoga, because if they knew it they would not teach a barbarian Westerner. What little yoga they do teach is to 12 be read at large in our books and translations.

At issue was the fact that, although the religions and religious sects of India are far more “metaphysical,” in many respects, than the traditional Christianity of America and Europe, they are nevertheless religions, and not the self-reliant philosophical inquiry into the nature of things that the Theosophical Movement has endeavored to inaugurate. Madame Blavatsky, Judge maintained in many places in his writings, understood the needs of the Western World and sought to present the materials for moral self-education in the West, while the Swamis, although having in some measure a common vocabulary with Theosophy, represent Eastern traditionalism, and even Eastern sacerdotalism—not the dynamic principles of occultism and practical brotherhood that are to be found in The Secret Doctrine and The Key to Theosophy.

At this point, then, there is need for a reconsideration of the basic ideas and purposes proclaimed by Madame Blavatsky at the outset of her mission—and repeated by her throughout the years of her work as a public figure—for without her impact upon the world, there would have been no Theosophical Movement, no history of it to relate. According to the terms she used to describe her work, the Theosophical Movement is the conscious impulse of moral and intellectual evolution; its origin is with the vanguard of human evolution on this planet—the fraternity of perfected men, the adept-brothers, who were her teachers, and whom she represented as their agent in the world. The Theosophical Movement is, more over, a tidal phenomenon in human history. It has been the underlying cause behind every great moral and religious reform in the past, the inspiration of every great attempt at liberation of the mind of man from the shackles of ignorance, whether that ignorance be the result of blind religious belief or of spirit-denying materialism. Finally, the working capital of the Theosophical movement is the body of philosophical principles and ideas known as the Wisdom-Religion. Common property of the Initiates of all ages, this “teaching” or “ gnosis ” finds its wa y into the world through the representatives of the occult fraternity, who come as religious teachers, reformers, physicians, patriots, educators—who adopt whatever channel may be a propitious one at the time that their work is undertaken. The Theosophical Movement of the nineteenth century, therefore, may be regarded as one of the cyclic efforts of this Brotherhood to stimulate the human race to a further reach of evolutionary achievement, and it may be distinguished from previous such efforts by its endeavor to meet with clear metaphysical teachings the awakening self-consciousness of the epoch.

That H. P. Blavatsky intended the Movement of her time to be so understood is clear from numerous passages throughout her writings, and from several hints and occasionally forthright statements concerning the coming of another Messenger, one like herself, when the hundred-year cycle of her mission has run its course—that is, in 1975. Her final vindication as a public interpreter of the larger currents of human evolution, lies, therefore, in the future, and may safely be left with the future. In the present, however, for those who admit the reality of occultism, the question that is naturally of greatest importance deals with the real continuity of the cycle begun by H.P.B. If the life of the Movement is not to be found among the various “successors” and their claims and assertions, where is it to be sought?

The analogy of nature suggests that with the departure of the Teacher from the field, a redistribution of responsibility takes place. This is the true successorship—a succession to responsibility, not to “authority.” With both H.P.B. and Judge gone from the physical scene, the responsibility for the future of the Movement lay with those who were left. Then, when the individuals most prominent in the work gave unmistakable evidence of having lost their balance, the major responsibility again shifted, this time to the rank and file of theosophists throughout the world. It was now no longer a matter of “membership” or of affiliation with the “true” society. There were no “true” societies, in the organizational sense, but only more or less true individuals, men and women who realized that the spread of Theosophy meant the spread of Theosophical ideas, and not the numerical growth of some Theosophical organization. Just as, in other periods of history, once a great movement has fallen into sectarianism and dead-letter creeds, its vigor is transferred to the heretics and dissenters, so the vigor of the Theosophical Movement passed into the hands of individuals who broke away, some completely, some only partially, from their organizational ties. One of the most encouraging aspects of the Theosophical Movement in the twentieth century has been the frequency with which individuals have declared themselves independent of the conflicts, claims and personality worship of organizational Theosophy and have endeavored to return to the original inspiration and lines of work. Another consideration that may easily be lost sight of is the fact that in every society, regardless of leadership and organizational pretensions, are members who were attracted by the teachings themselves, and who do what they can to give the basic doctrines of Karma and Reincarnation a wider currency. These are the liberating ideas of the Theosophical philosophy, and as they are spread about the world, the leaven of the Movement works its subtle effects, gradually extending the radius of Theosophical influence, opening men’s minds to receive conceptions of moral self-reliance and individual responsibility.

In 1875, the Theosophical Movement was a thing apart from the world; it was a focus of energy finding expression through a sma ll handful of de t e rmined individua ls. Today,The Theosophical Movement is a part of the world’s experience; hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have been directly or indirectly affected by the power of the ideas set free by H. P. Blavatsky. A new faith in man, in the powers of the human soul, has been born into the world. Theosophical attitudes, tenets, concepts and terms have filtered into the mind of the race, enriching the vocabulary, adding to the resources of the novelist, deepening the perspectives of the essayist and the poet. It is even restoring, in many cases, a philosophic approach to the once laughed-at subjects of magic and occult powers. Nor is Madame Blavatsky herself a forgotten figure. She is too much alive, today, in the minds of human beings for her to be forgotten. Hardly a decade goes by without some new a rti c l e or book appe a ring about her—usually in the form of a slandering revival of the old calumnies aimed at her in the nineteenth century. But these, far from doing her memory any real harm, only go to prove the continuing vitality of the Movement she founded, through the spirited defense that such attacks evoke from those who are endeavoring to carry on her work. As the years go by, Madame Blavatsky finds more instead of fewer champions, and her books and articles have many more readers, today, than they 13 enjoyed during her lifetime.

With respect to the Theosophical Movement itself, there are still those working in the world who have the original objectives of the Society at heart, and are loyal to the purposes of H. P. Blavatsky, and, in some cases, to the work and memory of William Q. Judge as well. In Australia, the Independent Theosophical Society of Sydney carries on educational work in the spread of Theosophical ideas, with little if any attention to the preoccupations of “organization” or “successorship.” The Canadian Theosophist, currently in its thirty-second volume, has for many years stood for the integrity of Theosophical ideas, as distinguished from organizational claims and pretensions. This organ of the Theosophical Society in Canada, despite its organizational connection with the Adyar Society, maintains a sharply critical view toward all forms of sectarianism in Theosophy. This policy was established by A. E. S. Smythe, who was for many years, until his death in October, 1947, the editor of The Canadian Theosophist, and the journal still continues its constructive work.

A similar effort at impartiality is being made by the Peace Lodge of the (Adyar) Theosophical Society, of Hyde, in Cheshire, England. During the war, the Peace Lodge began to publish a bimonthly periodical, Eirenicon, in order, as was explained, “to keep and extend our links when Lodge meetings were suspended during the war.” The friendly candor of Eirenicon soon won for this paper the respect of all who maintain an interest in the spread of the original message of Theosophy and authentic Theosophical history. A statement of the Peace Lodge Policy affirms that while the Peace Lodge belongs to and is chartered by the Adyar Society, it “does not regard a Lodge of the Adyar Society as superior or inferior to any other Lodge or Society belonging to the Theosophical Movement.. . . The merit of a Theosophical Lodge derives from the quality of the lives of its members and the extent to which it embodies a Theosophical integrity of spirit and 14 intelligence.”

There is also the association of Theosophical students known as the United Lodge of Theosophists, formed in 1909 in Los Angeles, California, under the inspiration and guidance of Robert Crosbie. Mr. Crosbie was a Boston Theosophist during the time of William Q. Judge. He worked very closely with Judge, enjoying his confidence. When, after Judge’s death, the members most active at the New York headquarters raised Mrs. Tingley to the position of Judge’s successor, Mr. Crosbie gave her his loyalty and support. About 1900 he went to Point Loma to be of what assistance he could in the work, there. However, in the course of a few years, he came to feel that nothing constructive was to be accomplished by remaining at Point Loma—that, in fact, the teachings and philosophy of Theosophy had suffered an almost complete eclipse by the methods and sensational prog ram instituted by Mrs. Tingley—and he quietly left the Point Loma Society in 1904 and came to Los Angeles. He was without property or funds, having given all his worldly possessions to the work of the Movement. He secured work in Los Angeles and gradually began to gather around him a few students—most of them entirely new to Theosophy—to undertake once more the task of promulgating Theosophy in the same form as originally presented by the Founders of the Movement. When, in 1909, he had been joined by a small nucleus of persons who shared this ideal, The United Lodge of Theosophists was formed to carry out the purposes in view. Following is the platform then formulated by Mr. Crosbie—very largely from the words of Mr. Judge—and adopted by the associates of U.L.T.:

The policy of this Lodge is independent devotion to the cause of Theosophy, without professing attachment to any Theosophical organization. It is loyal to the great Founders of the Theosophical Movement, but does not concern itself with dissensions or differences of individual opinion.

The work it has on hand and the end it keeps in view are too absorbing and too lofty to leave it the time or inclination to take part in side issues. That work and that end is the dissemination of the Fundamental Principles of the philosophy of Theosophy, and the exemplification in practice of those principles, through a truer realization of the SELF; a profounder conviction of Universal Brotherhood.

It h o l d s t h a t t h e u n a ss a i l a b l e b a sis for u n io n amo n g Theosophists, wherever and however situated, is “similarity of aim, pur pose and teaching,” and therefore has neither Constitution, ByLaws nor Officers, the sole bond between its Associates being tha t b a sis. And it a ims to diss emina t e this ide a among Theosophists in the furtherance of Unity.

It regards as Theosophists all who are engaged in the true service of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, condition or organization, and It welcomes to its association all those who are in accord with its declared purposes and who desire to fit themselves, by study and otherwise, to be the better able to help and teach others.

“The true Theosophist belongs to no cult or sect; yet belongs to each and all.”

The following is the form signed by associates of the United Lodge of Theosophists:
Being in sympathy with the pur poses of this Lodge, as set forth in its “Declaration” I hereby record my desire to be enrolled as an Associate, it being understood that such association calls for no obligation on my part, other than that which I, myself, determine.

As a discussion of the work and progress of the United Lodge of Theosophists forms no part of the purposes of this volume, little more need be said concerning this association, save to note that, during the forty-one years since its formation, it has grown into a world-wide movement with lodges or study groups in the metropolitan centers of many countries. U.L.T. has no “leaders,” in the sense that any personal authority attaches to leadership, and no “teachers” save the literature of the Movement and the principles of the philosophy itself. As in all human endeavors, the influence of individuals is felt in the work of the United Lodge of Theosophists, but this occurs in the natural course of the working together of a number of people, more or less experienced, more or less devoted and schooled in the philosophy, toward a common end. It was the distinctive contribution of Robert Crosbie, in setting going the work of the United Lodge of Theosophists—and he lived until 1919, ten years after the formation of the Parent Lodge in Los Angeles—that the emphasis should always be upon ideas, principles and objectives, and never upon claims or living personalities, though recognition of H. P. Blavatsky and Wm. Q. Judge, through their teachings, was basic to understanding. The magazine started in 1912,Theosophy, contained no signed articles except those reprinted from the original periodical literature of the Movement—from the Theosophist, Lucifer, and the Path—and it continues to be guided by this editorial policy at the present 15 time. U.L.T.’s strong program of education for children is unique in the Theosophical Movement.

While the students who were associated with Mr. Crosbie from the beginning made outstanding contributions to the Movement, they never sought personal recognition, and those coming later also follow the example of Mr. Crosbie in directing attention only to the original teachings and teachers and Theosophical principles. The collected letters and “talks” of Robert Crosbie in the volume entitled The Friendly Philosopher represent the genesis of this movement, and lines of direction then given and since sustained.

As Mr. Crosbie never made any claims in his own behalf, there is no need to defend his “status” in the Movement. What “status” belongs to him is that which might be naturally accorded the man who resuscitated the teachings, the methods and program of work of the Founders of the original Society, and who was able to inspire others to go and do likewise. Finally, it may be said that each Lodge of the United Lodge of Theosophists has local autonomy. The expression, the “Parent Lodge,” is an honorific term bearing no organizational significance. All the Lodges are free and independent, although all share in the common declaration of principles, taking mutual counsel regarding the needs and progress of the work.