A Brief History of Theosophy

It is not enough to say that Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, a.k.a. Madame Blavatsky, was the primary force behind the emergence of the esoteric tradition called Theosophy*. Indeed, Blavatsky might well be called the matriarch of the New Age and the catalyst for the current revival of the paranormal in all aspects of American society.

Allegedly trained in occult philosophy in Tibet and influenced by Hinduism in India, Madame Blavatsky, a Russian-born psychic, settled in the United States in 1873. She claimed she had been sent to America by her Lodge (populated by members of the Universal Mystical Brotherhood) to share truth and unveil error. Two years after her arrival, she cofounded the Theosophical Society of New York City with Colonel Henry Steele Olcott, a lawyer with a keen interest in psychic phenomena.

Theosophy was dedicated to the blending and promotion of ancient and occult religions and philosophies. These included, but were not confined to, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, the Egyptian Hermetic traditions, Neoplatonism, the Cabala, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, mesmerism, and spiritualism.

Spiritualism in particular was a major player in Blavatsky’s early efforts to convert and disciple the West. In 1848, Margaret and Kate Fox had officially launched the spiritualist movement by claiming they could communicate with the spirit of a murdered peddler buried beneath their upstate New York home. The art of mediumship caught on quickly and séances to contact deceased loved ones became a popular pastime in the years surrounding the Civil War.

Blavatsky was not impressed. She scoffed at American spiritualism’s lack of sophistication, labeling it necromancy and a sacrilege that dishonored the dead.

It was not that Blavatsky was opposed to mediumship (she was a medium), but she insisted that the spirits she channeled bore little resemblance to anyone’s deceased relatives. She claimed those she contacted were super human adepts or “Masters” eager to impart esoteric information to select human beings who would help their generation gain a right understanding of the occult. These adepts were considered to have evolved spiritually to the point where they had merged into the universal environment, unseen but ever present.

In her book Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky developed the notion of an emanational cosmology, a reverse Darwinism with a meta physical twist. According to this world view, humans have not evolved but have devolved or descended into matter (a physical body) and are now in the process of returning to a spiritually pure state of at-One-ment with the universal, impersonal Absolute from which they originally sprung. The true aim in life is to return to a realization of one’s godhood.

Accompanying this view of humanity is a belief in reincarnation that, for most people, means seemingly endless return visits to earth in different human bodies until all of their moral or karmic debt has been paid. Blavatsky believed the whole universe was reincarnating toward higher levels of consciousness, including animals and inanimate objects.

Blavatsky’s view of reincarnation was responsible for a shift in spiritualist thinking and practice. If people reincarnated there was not much point in trying to conjure up deceased Aunt Mabel. It was appropriate, however, to try to contact highly evolved souls who already attained cosmic consciousness and could offer those still cycling through mortal existence some tips on how to get off the karmic wheel more quickly.

The 20th century channeling phenomenon is rooted and grounded in Theosophical thought. Current fascination with angels also reflects the Theosophical and Gnostic notion of highly evolved beings who serve as intermediaries between the seen and the unseen worlds, between flesh and spirit.

After Blavatsky died in 1891, the Society she founded split into various branches and splinrls5059ter groups. The most notable branch was led by Annie Besant, an Englishwoman who had converted to Theosophy in 1889 after reading Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine. A colleague of Besanit was C. W. Leadbeater, an ex-Anglican minister turned Buddhist and clairvoyant. Leadbeater and Besant attempted to strengthen the ties between Theosophy, science, and psychic phenomena, coauthoring a book called Occult Chemistry.

Besant spent a number of years in India developing the society Blavatsky had founded in Adyar, Madras. She was joined by Leadbeater, who had been expelled from the Theosophical Society earlier following charges of pedophilia, but was readmitted by Besant after she became president. In India the two began to groom a young boy named Krishnamurti to be the next vehicle of the Supreme World Teacher or Christ. (Theosophists believe the “Supreme World Teacher” periodically enters the body of a human disciple to provide new revelation and guide the spiritual evolution of humanity.)

An attempt by Besant to surround Krishnamurti with twelve “apostles” (including herself) failed when he renounced Theosophy and his own claim to any special title. Four years later Besant died but Theosophy continued to thrive, as did the now famous Krishnamurti. The foundation named after him is dedicated to the propagation of individual mystical self-validating experiences and the rejection of any authority outside the self.

Although she was rejected by Annie Besant’s Adyar-based Theosophical Society, Alice Bailey (1880-1949), divorced English wife of an Episcopal priest, was another influential leader in the Theosophical tradition. Her contribution carried out in the context of her own Theosophical splinter group, the “Arcane School” — was some two dozen books on occult philosophy, allegedly channeled through her by the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul. Distinctive New Age themes began to surface, combining sociopolitical concern, spirituality, and the notion of a centralized world government led by a New Age Christ and administered by a spiritual hierarchy of Masters.

Alice Bailey died without realizing her vision, but the Theosophical tradition lived on. In 1975 Dora Kunz, a psychic with reputed healing powers, became president of the Theosophical Society in America. Headquarters were now in Wheaton, Illinois. The Theosophical Publishing House was established (Quest Books) with publications supported by The Kern Foundation. Under Kunz’s leadership, Theosophy reflected a greater interest in both physics and psychic healing specifically, healing through touch. Theosophical thought thus began its subtle and steady move into main stream health care in America.

— Sharon Fish

* theos (god) + sophos (wisdom). Sources for this summary include the writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and primary and secondary sources on the history of spiritualism and Theosophy from the Rare Books Collection, Rush Rhees Library, Rochester, New York.