THEOSOPHY

THEOSOPHY is defined by its expounders as a religion-philosophy-science brought to America by "messengers of the guardians and preservers of the ancient Wisdom-Religion of the East." Its founder was an eccentric Russian noblewoman, Helena P. Blavatsky. In July 1848, at age sixteen, she was married to a forty-one-year-old government official. She ran away after three months to Constantinople and joined a circus. After extensive travels in the Far East where she claimed to have received instruction from "Sages of the Orient," she came to New York City on 7 July 1873 and, two years later, with William Q. Judge, Henry Steel Olcott, and fifteen others, formed the Theosophical Society. The purpose of the organization was to further a universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, color, sex, caste, or creed; to further the study of the ancient scriptures and teachings such as Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian; and to investigate the "unexplained laws of Nature" and the psychic and spiritual powers latent in man.

At first, the theosophists displayed an interest in spiritualism but later repudiated it, stating that spiritistic phenomena "were but a meagre part of a larger whole." Later, Madame Blavatsky formed what she termed an "esoteric section," which was a select group of promising students gathered to study the more profound teachings of theosophy. Madame Blavatsky left the United States in 1878 and formed theosophical societies in England and India, which recognized her leadership until her death in 1891.

The teachings of theosophy stress universal brotherhood to be a fact in nature on which its philosophy and religion are based. Theosophy proclaims a "Deific Absolute Essence, infinite and unconditioned … from which all starts, and into which everything returns." Man has an immortal soul, but the soul is a tenant of many different bodies in many different lives. Every soul must become perfect before the next stage of existence can be entered upon, and those who go forward most rapidly must wait for all. For this, many reincarnations are necessary. Theosophy accepts the miracles of Jesus but denies their supernatural character, holding that they were accomplished through natural laws.

As of 2001, there were 130 theosophical study centers and theosophical societies—known as lodges—in the United States.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Campbell, Bruce F. Ancient Wisdom Revised: A History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

Greenwalt, Emmet A. The Point Loma Community in California, 1897–1942: A Theosophical Experiment. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1955.

Washington, Peter. Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: Theosophy and the Emergence of the Western Guru. London: Secker and War-burg, 1993.