Issues of Theosophical History:
Description of Contents

By the Editor: Dr. James Santucci

 

Vol. X

Issue 1

January 2003

Vol. X 

Issue 2

April 2003

Vol. X

Issue 3

July 2003

Vol. X

Issue 4

October 2003

 

Back to Past Issues Description of Contents INDEX

 

Vol. X, Issue 1(January 2004)

One of the more interesting and important episodes in Theosophical history was the conflict that grew between the two Outer Heads of the Eastern School of Theosophy – William Q. Judge and Annie Besant – in the mid-1890s. The main reason for this conflict was the public accusation that Judge was forging letters allegedly written by the Masters or Mahatmas. This allegation of Judge’s dishonesty led to a resolution brought before the convention of the T.S. in Adyar by Mrs. Besant in December 1894, demanding that Judge resign his vice-presidency of the T.S. Instead, the American Section Convention declared in April 1895 its autonomy from the Adyar administration (i.e. Olcott) and appointed Judge president for life of the “Theosophical Society in America.” This whole episode is treated at some length in Brett Forray’s article. Although it is important for the historian to establish the validity of the arguments raised by either party, admittedly no easy task, what is more important vis-à-vis Mr. Forray’s article was Judge’s persistent conviction that he was in communication with the Masters during the earliest years of The Theosophical Society. This claim and other revelations, among which included Judge’s practice of the occult or magical sciences as revealed in his lecture of 1876 (Theosophical History, vol. IX, no. 3 [July 2003]), his conviction that his body was in the possession of a Hindu sage—this inner self he identified as “Rajah”—and his mention of undergoing past incarnations in India, establish him as no ordinary administrator within the Society but rather an individual who helped to articulate and to develop an interpretation of Theosophical esotericism. In some regards, Judge was to Blavatsky what Sariputta was to the Buddha: an extremely learned and articulate interpreter and propagandist of Blavatsky’s teachings and one who helped define the boundaries of Theosophy.

In this role, Judge exhibited high expectations for some selected members within The Theosophical Society to advance the Theosophical cause. It is in this context that Judge was sharply critical of the Theosophist Brahmins within the Indian Section for not sufficiently contributing to the advancement of Theosophical teachings. Much of Mr. Forray’s paper covers this topic, pointing out the Brahmins’ lack of translations from their religious tradition, their philosophies and psychical sciences. Additionally, what was commonly not well known was Judge’s view that a more Western slant to the esoteric tradition was essential due to the degeneration of the spiritual in the India of his day. Nonetheless, he was still of the opinion that the India of yesteryear had much to offer the West. This, coupled with his (and Blavatsky’s) conviction that the United States would be the location for a new sub-race, could only lead to a clash with the blatantly pro-Indian stance of Mrs. Besant and the importance she gave to its members and philosophies. Their attitude toward one another was partially based on a misunderstanding of the motives of each. This was apparently more so with Mrs. Besant than with Mr. Judge.

This discussion is important because it helps to define the esotericism that exists within the Theosophical Movement. It is now becoming obvious that the distinction between Christian theosophy and the Theosophy of the T.S., initially proposed by Antoine Faivre in his “The Theosophical Current: A Periodization” (Theosophical History, Jan. 1999: 168 – 169) is not as divergent as is commonly assumed. Furthermore, we can now detect degrees of dissimilarities, with Mrs. Besant’s brand of Theosophy reflecting more emphasis on Eastern (Hindu) esotericism and Judge’s brand reflecting more emphasis on Western esotericism, albeit with an acknowledgement of the validity of the ancient compositions of India. There is still a need to know how much education Judge and Besant acquired in the esotericisms of East and West prior to their contact with Blavatsky and how much understanding they actually possessed in this subject. Such studies are bound to reflect biases of the investigators, so there is a definite requirement to develop a methodology and hermeneutic designed to correct and restrict such biases.

In addition to Judge’s fractured relationship with Mrs. Besant was his contentious relationship with Col. Olcott. This was due in part to Judge’s perception that Olcott failed to appreciate his psychic abilities and to acknowledge his allegedly close relationship with the Masters. This is the subject of the second contribution: Olcott’s letter to Judge dated September 28, 1893 together with Michael Gomes’ historical introduction. Mention is made in the letter of Judge’s special occult status through communications received from the Masters between 1875 and 1879 (of which Olcott claims Blavatsky was ignorant) and Judge’s “elementary psychic power.” Two political or administrative issues are mentioned: the first referring to Elliott Coues’ (1842 – 1899) attempt to gain a position of authority within the newly reorganized Theosophical Society in America in 1886 at Judge’s expense and the troubles that arose with his failure to do so, and the second referring to Olcott’s preference for Mrs. Besant and not Judge to become his eventual successor to the presidency of the T.S.

One additional issue raised was the Panjab seal, which was embossed on the letters from the Masters to Judge in the 1890s. Olcott contended that he did “not for one moment believe that any genuine Mahatma ever used the bogus seal of Punjab, or ever made such an excuse for using it as your [Judge’s] report their having made.” Indeed, Olcott, who had the seal made in India while on tour in 1883, reported that Blavatsky recognized that the cryptogram containing the Master M.’s initials was inaccurate. To have the seal appear in the Master’s communications was in Olcott’s opinion “sheer swindle.”

To conclude with a word about the two contributors, the first, Brett Forray, is a member of the Board of Directors of Alexandria West, a non-profit educational organization. An earlier communication of his appeared in the October 2003 issue of Theosophical History. Michael Gomes is a frequent contributor to Theosophical History. His last contribution also appeared in the October issue, a historical introduction and transcription of an article, “More About Materialization,” extracted from the November 19, 1874 issue of the Spiritual Scientist.

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The Blavatsky Archives
Daniel Caldwell has recently added an important series of articles to his online site, Blavatsky Archives. Nine articles by the editor of the O.E. Library Critic, Dr. Henry Newlin Stokes, are included in this series under the title:

An Analysis of the Controversy Surrounding W.Q. Judge’s Diary Entries about “Promise” and the Dead H.P.B.
including Material on the Close Relationship between Mr. Judge and Mrs. Tingley


A helpful introduction to the Series by Mr. Caldwell is also included. In addition, over 40 appendices are provided, including entries by Robert Crosbie, Joseph Fussell, David Green, Emmett Greenwalt, Ernest Hargrove, William Q. Judge, Katherine Tingley, and Cyrus Field Willard.
These items provide a treasure-trove of information that can only enhance the importance of this site for historians. Such accessibility also demonstrates the increasing importance of the Internet as a major source of historical material.
The address to the site is http://blavatskyarchives.com/stokeswqjktcon.htm.

 

Vol. X, Issue 2 (April 2004)

Although Mabel Collins (1851 – 1927) has played a peripheral role in the history of the British Theosophical Society, she is certainly one of its more fascinating characters. Remembered today as the author of Light on the Path, Mabel was a prolific writer of such works as When The Sun Moves Northward: The Way Of Initiation, The Scroll of The Disembodied Man, The Blossom and The Fruit: A True Story Of A Black Magician, Through The Gates Of Gold: A Fragment Of Thought, The Awakening, The Star Sapphire, and The Idyll Of The White Lotus, the latter being her first Theosophical work. Introduced to Theosophical teachings in 1881, she became acquainted with H.P. Blavatsky in 1884, who became Mabel’s guest in her home, Maycot, after arriving in London from Ostend in 1887. This was a particularly significant time in the history of the Society. The Blavatsky Lodge was established three weeks after Blavatsky’s arrival and the magazine, Lucifer, was inaugurated a few months later (September 1884). Besides serving as its co-editor, Mabel also helped in the editing of Blavatsky’s seminal work, The Secret Doctrine. All came to an untimely end in 1889, however, after Blavatsky discovered questionable conduct – described alternately as a “flirtation” by W.B. Yeats and as “Tantric worship and black magic” by Vittoria Cremers’ in her unpublished memoirs – involving Mabel, Archibald Keightley and his nephew, Bertram Keightley. Collins’ involvement in this type of activity was but a portent of what was to occur in her later life.
In the article appearing in this issue, “The Life and Works of Mabel Collins” by Kim Farnell (a modified account of a paper originally presented at the London Theosophical History Conference in June 2003), we find in addition to the information provided above an interesting reference to Mabel’s encounter with Robert Donston Stephenson, whom Collins suspected to be Jack the Ripper, thus involving Mabel, though indirectly, in Britain’s most sensational crime of the nineteenth century. On a more sober note, Ms Farnell recounts Collins’ involvement with the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and the establishment of its journal, The Abolitionist.

In 1913, she was to suffer a loss of her assets when her bank went into liquidation, an event that was to affect the remainder of her life.
One may come to differing assessments of her life. She did leave a body of work that has stamped her place in the literary world, albeit in a minor fashion. During the years when she was a member of the British Theosophical Society, she displayed the potential of becoming a major influence, perhaps as an inspirational leader, had she chosen to do so. Indeed, Annie Besant’s influence as a propagator of Theosophical teachings could have been duplicated by Mabel Collins had she applied herself in this direction. Although she left two spiritual works (Light on the Path and The Idyll of the White Lotus) that will ensure her notoriety, one wanders what she could have accomplished had kinder circumstances occurred and had she responded to these opportunities.

We shall know more about Mabel Collins when Kim Farnell’s One Mystic Vampire: A Biography of Mabel Collins,” appears later this year.

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During the 1994 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, I had the occasion to visit the Helen I. Dennis Collection at the University of Chicago Library at the behest of the author of the second contribution in this issue, Michael Gomes. The Helen I. Dennis Collection, though not generally well known in Theosophical circles, first received mention in the January 1993 issue of Theosophical History, wherein Mr. Gomes reported a discovery of a manuscript by Blavatsky. Since the documents in this collection detail the allegation against C.W. Lead beater for teaching masturbation to young boys, this highly charged piece of Theosophical history is effectively reexamined in the light of the collection by Michael Gomes. A detailed account of the scandal has not appeared in print since Gregory Tillett’s biography of Leadbeater, The Elder Brother (1982), so Michael Gomes’ account is particularly significant since it includes novel research in this area.
The last contribution is a book review by Robert Boyd, of Joscelyn Godwin’s The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance, published by Phanes Press in 2002.* * *
The contributors of the above have all appeared in Theosophical History in previous issues. Kim Farnell, whose previous contribution, “Walter Richard Old: The Man Who Held Helena Blavatsky’s Hand” (VIII/2, April 2000), is a professional writer, astrologer and researcher focusing on occult movements and astrology in the late nineteenth century. She is the author of a number of books, her latest being Reading the Runes and Illustrated A-Z of Understanding Star Signs. She has also written a biography of Walter Old, The Astral Tramp: A Biography of Sepharial (Ascella Publ., 1998). Ms Farnell is presently completing her Masters degree in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at Bath Spa University. Kim lives in London, UK.
Michael Gomes is a frequent contributor on Theosophical history. His “Letter from Henry Steel Olcott to William Q. Judge, September 28, 1893, last appeared in the January 2004 issue. He also inaugurated the Occasional Papers series with his Witness for the Prosecution: Annie Besant’s Testimony on Behalf of H.P. Blavatsky in the N.Y. Sun/Coues Law Case (1993).
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