A

Theosophy

★1787★

Aquarian Foundation

(Defunct)

Not to be confused with the presently existing Spiritualist reorganization of the same name, the theosophical Aquarian Foundation was established in 1927 by Edward Arthur Wilson. The previous year, Wilson reported that he had been "translated in spirit to the higher realms in order to meet the eleven masters of Wisdom." As head of the foundation, Wilson assumed the name "Brother XII." Wilson initially placed his work in the context of the major program of the Theosophical Society of the time, the announcement of the arrival of the World Teacher in the person of Jiddu Krishnamurti. Brother XII denied Krishnamurti's assigned role and suggested instead that preparation for the coming World Teacher would be made through the foundation. A community was established in British Columbia in Canada. Over 100 theosophists left England with him at the beginning of 1927 to become the community's initial residents. Brother XII authored several books detailing the foundation's basic theosophical teachings and perspective.

The foundation was planted near Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. Residents turned over their worldly possessions, and many friends of the work contributed additional sums. The colony flourished in spite of the introduction of some new teachings not otherwise disclosed in Brother XII's books. The immediate goal of the foundation was to give birth to a new generation of advanced human beings. To accomplish this end, each of the colony females, no matter what their present marital status, was to have sexual relations with Brother XII, and the resultant children raised by the colony were to be the individuals who would actually receive the coming World Teacher in 1975. Brother XII also designated one colonist, Myrtle Baumgartner, as the mother of the World Teacher. Baumgartner did not produce a male child, however, and was soon replaced by Mabel Skottowe, known to her fellow colonists as Madame Zee.

The work continued until 1934, when two former members filed suits claiming that Wilson had treated them harshly and had misused the funds entrusted to him. The trials, which received sensational coverage in the press, were both decided for the plaintiffs, who were awarded both property and money. Wilson and Madame Zee soon disappeared, and the colony dissolved.

Sources:

Brother XII. Foundation Letters and Teachings. Akron, OH: Sun Publishing Co., 1927.

——. The Three Truths. Akron, OH: Sun Publishing Co., 1927.

Oliphant, John. Brother Twelve: The Incredible Story of Canada' False Prophet. Toronto: Mc Clelland & Stewart, 1992.

——. "The Teachings of Brother XII." Theosophical History 4, 6/7 (April/July 1993): 194-219.

Santucci, James. "The Aquarian Foundation." Communal Societies 9 (1989): 39-61.

Wilson, Herbert Emmerson. Canada's False Prophet. Richmond Hill, ON: Simon & Schuster, 1967.

★1788★

Hermetic Society for World Service

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Hermetic Society of World Service was founded in 1947 for the study of the Hermetic gnosis or ancient wisdom. While much of the teaching of the society is esoteric, and hence reserved for members only, its general perspective includes several basic truths. The society asserts human brotherhood, irrespective of race or nationality as a realizable condition essential for life on earth. Humans evolve through the process of reincarnation, and the moral order is dictated by the law of karma, the law of ethical causation. Salvation is attained only by the conscious effort of the individual through a process of spiritual growth over a number of lifetimes. The Society is headed by its hierophant and spiritual guru who is believed to be in contact with the Sirian Brotherhood, the spiritual hierarchy dedicated to the dissemination of the Light of Spiritual Knowledge throughout the world.

The society maintains that earth is in a period of change into the New Age, which is operating in the world process and is bringing about changes in science, religion, philosophy, civilization, and the way of life for humanity. What was termed the Battle of Armageddon in the Bible is currently being fought out on the Inner (invisible) Planes between the righteous and unrighteous and will soon descend to the visible realm and manifest in a period of war, tribulation, and crisis. The Society offers resources for individuals to live through the changing times and proceed to greater levels of attainment. Those without these resources will be cast aside from the mainstream of human evolution. Those who adopt the New Age spiritual techniques will have the opportunity to prepare themselves for entry into the Spiritual Universe as partakers of the Divine Nature.

The Society seeks to return humanity from the Path of Outgoing (directed away from their divine origins) to the Path of Return to God and the soul's eternal home. In this endeavor, the society teaches a technique of soul immortalization and methods to manifest the powers latent in the individual human soul, and the law governing the technique and disciples required to bring about the regeneration of human nature, preparatory to the gaining of liberation from the necessity of reincarnation and the operation of the law of karma. To achieve liberation, the individual must atone and liquidate the effects of past sins of body, mind, and speech, and undertake a process of spiritual regeneration. In the end the individual soul will gain immortality. Immortality must be sought for in accordance with the principles of esoteric science.

America has a special place in the New Age. It is the place designated as the new Holy Land of Earth. It is the domain designated by the spiritual hierarchy who guide human destiny for the preservation of the seeds for the continuation of human life. It is the grail that will hold the Great Cosmic Light that will illumine the whole world.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Browne, Robert T. Introduction to Hermetic Science and Philosophy. Hermetic Society, n.d. 4 page tract.

★1789★

International Group of Theosophists

(Defunct)

The International Group of Theosophists is a small group which grew out of the American Theosophical movement in southern California. It was founded in the 1940s by Boris Mihailovich de Zirkoff (1902-1981), the grand-nephew of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Its objectives were to uphold and promote the original principles of the modern Theosophical movement and to disseminate the teachings of the esoteric philosophy as set forth by Blavatsky and her teachers. The group has tried to operate outside of the disagreements of the more established lodges and has cooperated with them in Zirkoff's major life work, the editing and publishing of Blavatsky's collected writings. For over thirty years it published Theosophia, a quarterly journal (1944-1981), but issued a final volume in the summer of 1981 as a tribute issue to its founder.

★1790★

Temple of the People

Box 7095
Halcyon, CA 93420

The Temple of the People began in Syracuse, New York, during the period of the disruption of the American branch of the Theosophical Society following the death of founders Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and William Q. Judge. Following Judge in the leadership of the American society was Katherine Tingley, who many, including the group in Syracuse, rejected. Under the leadership of William H. Dower (1866-1937) and Francis A. LaDue (1849-1922), they became independent and formed the Temple of the People in 1898. Within a few years, they purchased a tract of land at Halycon, California, (near Pismo Beach) and moved there in 1903. In 1904, Dower opened a sanatorium, which became famous during the generation of its operation for its treatment of tubercular patients, alcoholics, and drug addicts. In 1903, the temple organized the Temple Home Association as a cooperative colony. The Temple Home Association existed through 1949 when it was reorganized as set forth in its original bylaws into the Home of the Temple Associated, Inc. The HTA was dissolved in 1992 and all properties are administered by the Temple Corporation.

The temple began with the contact from the Mahatmas, or Masters, through LaDue and Dower, known respectively as "Blue Star" and "Red Star," the designations given them by the Masters. They were told to abandon the Tingley-led society, and through their reception and publishing of continuing materials from the Masters, to carry on the work begun by Madame Blavatsky. Over the years, they produced an impressive set of materials, including a large volume, Theogenesis, a third volume of commentaries on the Stanzas of Dyzan. Madame Blavatsky wrote The Secret Doctrine, the two volumes of which were entitled Anthropogenesis and Cosmogenesis, as a commetary on those parts of the Stanzas that were known to her.

According to the temple, the spiritual hierarchy is led by the Central Spiritual Sun, the Christos, the expression of the Infinite Godhead. Other Masters, members of the Great White Brotherhood, embody aspects of the divine light, key members being the Masters of the Seven Rays (of the color spectrum). Integral to the original teachings given to the Temple's founders from the Master Hilarion, Regent of the Red Ray, was a prophecy concerning the soon-to-occur birth of an avatar, an incarnation of the Christos, an event which only happens every 2,000 years. The first generation of the temple was to a great extent motivated by that expectation and the belief that members were the spearhead of the Messianic Age into which humanity was moving. These emphases, which still undergird the temple's understanding of its educational mission and work in the world, are summarized in the three Teachings of the Temple volumes.

During the first generation, the life of the community at Halcyon revolved around the sanitorium and the building of the temple. Groups that received and studied the material produced through the Temple sprang up around the country, and every summer a national convention was held. Dower succeeded LaDue as guardian-in-chief of the temple. He was in turn succeeded by Pearl F. Dower, and she by Harold Forgostein. The present Guardian-in-Chief is Eleanor L. Shumway. The temple has kept the material originally received by Dower and LaDue in print and their work revolves around it.

The Temple of the People is still headquartered in the community at Halycon, which has consistently been home to approximately 100 residents. There is a lively group following in both England and Germany, and individual members around the world. The temple is led by the guardian-in-chief (Eleanor L. Shumway) and a board of four officers appointed yearly.

Membership: An estimated 350 people are actively participating in Temple activities worldwide as of 1997.

Periodicals: The Temple Artisan.

Sources:

Burns, Bob, et al. The Temple of the People. Halcyon, CA: California Polytechnic State University, 1972.

From the Mountain Top. 3 vols. Halcyon, CA: Temple of the People, 1974-1985.

Kagan, Paul. New World Utopias. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1975.

Teachings of the Temple. 3 vols. Halcyon, CA: Temple of the People, 1947-1985.

Theogenesis. Halcyon, CA: Temple of the People, 1981.

★1791★

Theosophical Society

PO Box C
Pasadena, CA 91109-7107

The Theosophical Society (TS) is a worldwide association dedicated to practical realization of the oneness of all life and to independent spiritual search. It was founded in New York City in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), Henry S. Olcott, William Q. Judge, and others. Its stated objectives are: to diffuse among men a knowledge of the laws inherent in the universe; to promulgate the knowledge of the essential unity of all that is, and to demonstrate that this unity is fundamental in nature; to form an active brotherhood among men; to study ancient and modern religion, science, and philosophy; and to investigate the powers innate in man. Beyond supporting its objectives, members need not accept any particular beliefs and may belong to any religion or to none. The society is unsectarian and nonpolitical, open to all people regardless of race, nationality, class, creed, or gender.

The works of Blavatsky and her teachers express the principal concepts of theosophy ("divine wisdom"), a contemporary presentation of the perennial wisdom underlying the world's religious traditiosn. Embodying the concepts of karma, reincarnation, and the essential divinity of all beings, it holds that life exists everywhere because everything originates from the same unknowable divine source, expressing itself cyclically through various ranges of consciousness and substance. Evolution consists of an emerging self-expression which individualizes into material forms through the various kingdoms until each being develops self-consciusness and spiritual awareness on its return to the divine source.

In 1877, Blavatsky published Isis Unveiled, her first major work showing the universality of the wisdom tradition and its basis in nature. The following year Blavatsky and Olcott left America for India, where they worked for recognition of Oriental religious and philosophies, especially among the educated who were rejecting their own traditions in the face of modern Western education. Blavatsky's fame, however, rested largely on accounts of paranormal phenomena she had produced privately over the years. In 1885, the Society for Psychical Research published a report—since refuted in that Society's Journal—declaring Blavatsky an impostor. Earlier that year Blavatsky moved to Europe, and settled in London. There she published her masterwork, The Secret Doctrine, which presents a comprehensive view of cosmic and human evolution, bringing together mythic, religious, and scientific material from many cultures in support of theosophy's basic concepts. She also issued The Key to Theosophy, The Voice of the Silence, and the magazine Lucifer ("lightbearer").

When Blavatsky died in 1891, William Q. Judge and Annie Besant became joint head of the esoteric work, while Olcott continued his post as president of the society internationally. A number of problems concerning leadership and administration arose which eventually led to the American Section to declare complete autonomy in April 1895, and elect Judge president for life. The resulting division in the society reached into all national sections.

After Judge's death in 1896, Katherine Tingley headed the esoteric work and soon laid the groundwork for a School for the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity. In 1898, she founded the Universal Brotherhood Organization and the TS was renamed the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, with Tingley as leader and official head. In 1900, she moved the headquarters from New York City to Point Loma, California, near San Diego, where she founded a school, academy, and college, and in 1919, the Theosophical University. Education for all residents of Point Loma included a balanced development of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual qualities, with emphasis on character training, music, drama, and the arts. Tingley lectured in the United States and abroad while pursuing philanthropic activities, among them international peace, education and prison reform, the rehabilitation of prisoners, and abolition of capital punishment.

After Tingley's death in 1929, Gottfried de Purucker, a scholar whose literary legacy of thesophic literature is well known, became leader. The original name "The Theosophical Society" was resumed and formed after securing the financial footing of the TS through the Depression, in 1942, he moved the society's headquarters, including the press, university, and library facilities, to Covina, near Los Angeles.

Arthur L. Conger followed Purucker as leader in 1945. Conger had joined the society while at Harvard during the time of Judge, and was president of the American Section under Purucker. He maintained a strong publishing program and fostered a more practical expression of theosophy. In 1950 he moved the headquarters to the Pasadena area, and closed the esoteric section to help prevent crystallization.

After Conger's death in 1951, James A. Long continued this policy. He founded Sunrise Magazine as a bridge between the public and the deeper teachings of theosophy and urged members to express these principles in their daily lives and in simple nontechnical language. On Long's death in 1971, Grace F. Knoche became leader of the TS. She opened Theosophical University Library to the public and has encouraged translation and publishing activities, library centers, public discussions, and study groups worldwide. Theosophical correspondence courses are offered free of charge except for study materials and postage, and cassette versions of Sunrise and books are made available gratis to the visually impaired. Theosophical University Press and its overseas agencies feature the theosophic classics of Blavatsky, Judge, de Purucker and Long, among other writers, while adding new titles to their lists. In addition to Fellows-at-Large worldwide, national sections exist in Australasia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Scandinavia, South Africa, and North America.

Periodicals: SUNRISE: Theosophic Perspectives (also in Dutch and German editions). • Teosofiskt Forum in Swedish.

Sources:

de Purucker, Gottfried. Fountain-Source of Occultism. Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1974.

——. H. P. Blavatsky. San Diego: Point Loma Publications, 1974.

Judge, William Q. Echoes of the Orient. San Diego: Point Loma Publications, 1975.

——. The Ocean of Theosophy. Point Loma, CA: Aryan Theosophical Press, 1926.

Ryan, Charles J. H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement. Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1974.

Tingley, Katherine. Theosophy: the Path of the Mystic. Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1977.

★1792★

Theosophical Society (Hartley)

℅ Blavatskyhius
de Ruyterstratt 74
NL-2518 AV Gravenhage, Netherlands

In 1951, the Theosophical Society, headquartered in Pasadena, California, split. The former leader of the society, Arthur L. Conger (d. 1951) had designated William Hartley (d.1956) to be his successor. However, the society's ruling council rejected Hartley in favor of James A. Long. Long and his supporters retained control of the society and its library and properties; thus Hartley and his followers were forced to reorganize. New headquarters were established in Covina, California. This branch gained few members from among American theosophists and eventually died out in the United States. But it found some measure of support in the Netherlands, and there it survives. Hartley was succeeded as head of the group by D. J. P. Kok. The present leader is Herman C. Vermeulen.

The society has these objectives: to diffuse among people a knowledge of the laws inherent in the universe; to promulgate the knowledge of the essential unity of all that is and to demonstrate that this unity is fundamental in nature; to form an active brotherhood among people; to study ancient and modern religion, science, and philosophy; and to investigate the power innate in humanity. The society promulgates its teachings in strict accordance with The Secret Doctrine by Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and the writings of the other original leaders.

The society flourishes in Holland, with an active program of public lectures, classes, and lodge work. Much effort is being made to translate theosophical works into other languages and to publish theosophical material. Blavatskyhuis, the headquarters, houses a library. Publishing is done through the Society's corporation, the International Study Center for the Independent Search for Truth.

Membership: Not reported. In 1987, there were five lodges, all in The Netherlands.

Periodicals: Lucifer.

★1793★

Theosophical Society in America

Box 270
Wheaton, IL 60189-0270

Alternate Address International headquarters: Adyar, Madras 600 020, India.

History. The Theosophical Society in America is the American Branch of the international Theosophical Society headquartered in Adyar, Madras, India. It was founded in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Col. Henry S. Olcott, William Q. Judge and others. In 1879, the two principal founders, Olcott and Blavatsky, moved to India, and in 1882 established the international headquarters in Adyar. Olcott, as the first president of the society, took the lead in administrative duties and during his lifetime it became a truly international organization with lodges that circled the globe. Blavatsky became the great teacher of the movement and the founder of an independent sister organization called the Esoteric Section (associated primarily by the requirement that one must be a theosophist to be a member). The international headquarters chartered the American Section in 1886, and Judge organized the then scattered branches at an organizational convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following Blavatsky's death, Judge led a movement among American members to become independent of the international headquarters, and persuaded most members to join with him in the formation of what is now known in the United States as simply the Theosophical Society, with headquarters in Pasadena, California. Those lodges that remained loyal to the international headquarters were known as the American Section of the Theosophical Society.

Beginning with 14 lodges, the American society rebuilt through the first decades of the twentieth century reaching a peak in the late-1920s at around 8,000 members. During these years the society was led internationally by Annie Besant who had succeeded first Blavatsky and then Olcott in the top leadership positions of the society and the Esoteric Section. The low point of the society came as World War II began when membership was slightly more than 3,000. It resumed a slow growth after the war and reached a second peak about 1972 with more than 6,000 members.

Beliefs. The society emphasizes its nondogmatic nature and the freedom it allows members in interpreting theosophical teachings. However, it does present in its literature an explicit worldview which is generally shared by theosophists and is taught in classes, seminars, and lectures by the leadership. The worldview affirms that One life pervades the universe and keeps it in existence. The universe is an expression of an eternal Principle with transcends human perception. Ultimate Reality manifests in two aspects, generally referred to as spirit (or consciousness) and matter. Spirit, matter, and their interaction, constitute a trinity which produce a multitude of universes.

Every solar system is governed by natural law with the planets being the densest aspect. There are also exceeding fine material parts of the system, the whole of which is undergoing a process of evolution. The spirits (or souls) of humans are in essence identical with the supreme Spirit and undergoing a process of unfolding the essential divine nature. That process is by a means called reincarnation in which the spirit passes through periods of activity (embodiments) followed by periods of rest/assimilation. Closely related to reincarnation is the Law of Karma, in which each soul creates its fate by its actions. The spirit's pilgrimage begins in unity, moves to an experience of the manyness of this life and back to conscious union with the One Divine Source of all.

Organization. Olcott, the administrative center of the American Section is located in Wheaton, Illinois, on a 40-acre tract purchased in the 1920s. The society is headed by a president and a board of directors consisting of the vice president and district directors elected regionally. The board oversees a number of administrative departments and the national program. Also located at the headquarters complex is the Olcott Library now housing more than 20,000 volumes on a wide variety of subjects on theosophy and related topics. The Theosophical Publishing House is a major publisher of esoteric literature and has in recent decades extended its influence through a series issued under the imprint of "Quest Books," made possible by generous donations by the Kern Foundation. A string of bookstores, Quest Bookshops, are located in Wheaton, New York City, Seattle, and elsewhere.

The society is an open membership organization, and anyone who is in sympathy with its general principles may join. Also nonmembers may join its library and benefit from its use. The current president of the society in America is Betty Bland. Among those who have served as president are Alexander Fullerton, Weller Van Hook, A. P. Warrington, L. W. Rogers, Sidney A. Cook, James S. Perkins, Henry A. Smith, Joy Mills, Ann Wylie, Dora Kunz, Dorothy Abbenhouse, and John Algeo.

Membership: In 2002, the society reported 5,580 members and 140 centers in the United States, and approximately 400 members and 18 centers in Canada. There were 40,000 members worldwide.

Educational Facilities: The Olcott Institute, Wheaton, Illinois.

Periodicals: • The Quest. • The Messenger.

Remarks: There are several organizations closely associated with the Theosophical Society in America which, while largely composed of members of the society, are in fact completely independent of it. These include the Esoteric Section, Krotona School of Theosophy, and the Theosophical Order of Service. The Esoteric Section and the Krotone Institute now serve the society as an educational arm.

Sources:

Ellwood, Robert. Theosophy. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1986.

Mills, Joy. 100 Years of Theosophy. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987.

Perkins, James S. Through Death to Rebirth. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973.

Rogers, L. W. Elementary Theosophy. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Press, 1929.

★1794★

United Lodge of Theosophists

245 W. 33rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90007

The United Lodge of Theosophists (U.L.T.) is an association of students of theosophy founded by a small group of Theosophists dissatisfied with what they perceived as organizational formalities and distractions within the larger Theosophical movement. The conception of U.L.T. as a vehicle for Theosophical work derived mainly from the experience and insight of Robert Crosbie (1848-1919), who through his many years with the movement witnessed the schisms and divisions that he attributed to conflicting organizational claims, controversy over authority, and the conceptions of personal leaders. In 1909, with the help of a few others who had come to share his "unsectarian" view of Theosophy, Crosbie founded the United Lodge of Theosophists—an organization defined by a simple statement of policies and intentions—and set about the task of restoring the record of Theosophical teachings available to the public and inaugurating a program of practical Theosophical education. The statement of purpose, called the "Declaration," has remained unchanged to the present, and the modes of work established by Crosbie have remained unaltered in principle.

Beliefs. The lodge teaches that there is but one life; all life is spirit or consciousness evolving toward greater individualization and toward a greater awareness of identity and unity; and this evolution proceeds under an inherent law—an order that is native to human understanding. Believing that the mind, in its highest sense, is the place of realization and growth, individual students come to regard these general principles as meaning that human life is a continuous process of learning, and that this learning involves unceasing revision of the terms of individual understanding as men gain awareness of its operations.

Organization. According to its "Declaration" the U.L.T. is devoted 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 difference of individual opinion." The basis of union among Theosophists is a similarity of aim, purpose, and teachings, and to that end, the U.L.T. has neither a constitution, by-laws, nor officers. Those affiliated with the lodge sign a statement of sympathy with the "Declaration" at the time of their becoming an associate (member) of the U.L.T. Members may found autonomous lodges.

The U.L.T. considers the original and pure message of Theosophy to be recorded in the writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and William Q. Judge, co-founders of the Theosophical Society. The U.L.T. make their works, and other works deemed consistent with them, including a monthly magazine, available to the public.

Membership: There is no formal membership as the lodge is an informal association of students. In 2002, there were 11 lodges in the United States and 11 in other countries.

Periodicals: Theosophy. Send orders to 245 W. 33rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Hermes. Available from the Universal Theosophy Fellowship, Box 1085, Santa Barbara, CA 92102. The Theosophical Movement. Available from the Theosophy Hall, 40 New Marine Lane, Bombay 400 001, India.

Remarks: Among the prominent centers affiliated with the U.L.T. is the center in Santa Barbara, California, which was built up through the 1970s and 1980s by the late Rhagavan N. Iyer, formerly a professor of political science at the University of California-Santa Barbara. It is currently headed by his widow, Nandini Iyer, an instructor in religious studies at UCSB. The center is home to the Concord Press, which pursues an aggressive program of publishing material on theosophy, Eastern religion, and classical philosophy, and the Institute of World Culture, which promotes dialogue on classical traditions, modern science, art, and social structures as they attempt to relate to world culture. The center also issues a periodical, Hermes.

Sources:

Crosbie, Robert. The Friendly Philosopher. Los Angeles: Theosophy Company, 1934.

——. Answers to Questions on the Ocean of Theosophy. Los Angeles: Theosophy Company, 1937.

The Theosophical Movement, 1875-1950. Los Angeles: Cunningham Press, 1951.

The United Lodge of Theosophists, Its Mission and Its Future. Los Angeles: Theosophy Company, n.d.

★1795★

The Word Foundation, Inc.

PO Box 17510
Rochester, NY 14617

Harold W. Percival (1868-1953) was an early theosophist, having joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. The society seemed to serve as a springboard for his own development, and the year after his joining he had a profound experience which he described as being "conscious of Consciousness" during which "Light greater than that of myriads of suns opened in my head. In that instant or point, eternities were apprehended." By a process he called "real thinking", he was able to select any subject, focus the Conscious Light upon it, and when the Light was brought to a focus on a subject, have complete knowledge of that subject.

While a member of the Theosophical Society, but several years after the death of its leader, William Q. Judge, he withdrew and founded the Theosophical Society Independent. He also organized the Theosophical Publishing Company of New York and started a magazine, The Word, which he published from 1904 to 1917.

It was during his years as editor of The Word that he began to outline materials for what was to become his most important work. By the process of "real thinking," Percival wrote Thinking and Destiny, an exhaustive survey of humanity and the world. The text was dictated (primarily to an assistant, Benoni B. Gattell) since his body had to be very still while he thought. He spent more than 30 years dictating and refining the material in Thinking and Destiny.

Thinking and Destiny sets forth an impressive system in which humans are at the center of a universe created by their own thinking and thoughts. In this system, each human being is descended from a Triune Self (Thinker, Knower, and Doer) and is living in a self-induced hynosis and ignorance in a human body. One of the goals of life is to teach beings to awaken to knowledge of themselves and of their purpose, that purpose being to become conscious in ever greater degrees until one knows the ultimate, Consciousness.

Every doer so embodied is bound by the law it has made for itself by its thinking and action. The universal law causes the everyday acts, objects, and events to exteriorize around one's self as destiny. By self-dehynoptization and thinking, one gains an understanding and acquaintance with these inner realities. As one becomes free of the states of feeling and desire that bind one to nature, the way to conscious immortality is shown.

In 1946, Percival and some associates formed The Word Publishing Company and released Thinking and Destiny. In 1950 the foundation was formed to perpetutate Percival's teachings. The next few years saw the publication of three smaller books which provide a more detailed discussion of selected subjects. The foundation, primarily dedicated to the publication and distribution of Percival's writings, became an open membership organization in 1986. That same year, it also revived The Word magazine.

Membership: In 2002, the foundation reported approximately 400 members.

Sources:

Percival, Harold W. Adepts, Masters and Mahatmas. Dallas: Word Foundation, 1993.

——. Democracy Is Self-Government. New York: Word Publishing Company, 1952.

——. Man and Woman and Child. New York: Word Publishing Company, 1951.

——. Masonry and Its Symbols. New York: Word Publishing Company, 1952.

——. Thinking and Destiny. New York: Word Publishing Company, 1950.