One more piece of the puzzle centering on the reasons for the establishment of the Theosophical Society has been added: the discovery of the earliest newspaper article reporting its inauguration by the curator of the Emma Hardinge Britten Archive, Marc Demarest. The article, “Latter-Day Magic,” appeared in The Daily Inter-Ocean of Chicago on November 13, 1875, but no likely it probably appeared earlier in the New York Mercury or Sunday Mercury. Its importance validates what appears to be the true purpose of the Society: “the mastery of practical occultism” (Demarest: 1) “tied up with and implicated in the epistemological crisis of Modern Spiritualism, and focused on the establishment of practical occultism as the successor of Modern Spiritualism” (13-14). There is a growing amount of evidence that suggests this to be the true reason behind the establishment of the Society. As strong as this evidence is, however, one must still proceed with some caution and a degree of skepticism. The problem in achieving a full and accurate understanding of the origins of the Society is not the lack of data but rather which data are likely to be more factual and more convincing. Furthermore, there is always that conundrum of determining the likely motivations of its founders and formers. Lastly, we have to accept the fact that commentators and historians often interpreted both the data and the motivations of the principal actors from a romantic or idealized perspective.
When examining the sources, we must also take into account the reaction of those who are confronted with the evidence. Facts can be manipulated for a variety of reasons, one very common reason being ideological. Henry S. Olcott himself admits that there had been from the early years a “growing tendency within the Society to deify Mme. Blavatsky, and to give her commonest literary productions a quasi-inspirational character” (Old Diary Leaves, Vol. I, viii). He states elsewhere that
“[t]he formation of the society was heralded with no parade or clamor. No celestial portends appeared, nor did the earth show by seismatic tremors that she was giving birth to another great evolutionary agency. There was just an impromptu meeting in a private drawing-room in New York of a handful of ladies and gentlemen to listen to a discourse on the Egyptian Canon of Proportion, which resolved itself finally into an assemblage which adopted a proposition to form a society for specific purposes—in short, that known as the Theosophical Society (“Theosophy and Theosophists,” The Overland Monthly [May 1901]: 992).
This seems straightforward and plausible; furthermore, Olcott states in this same article that he was the one who proposed forming a society, a recommendation verified in the entry of the Minute Book of the T.S., dated September 8, the main reason being to pursue the type of study that was discussed by the lecturer on the Egyptian Canon of Proportion, George Henry Felt, who claimed to be able to evoke the spirits of the elements or elementals.
The Minute Book was recorded not by Olcott but by William Q. Judge, the Secretary of the fledgling T.S., so this event carries weight due to this second source. What is more is that Olcott’s suggestion came spontaneously, inspired by Felt’s lecture.
There is no doubt that some will reject Mr. Demarest’s determination of the reasons for the Society’s origin. Yet, for a number of years the evidence has slowly been mounting that the origin of the Theosophical Society was instigated by the desire to acquire the capacity to implement esoteric practices or feats of genuine magic such as astral projection. Of course, it is also just as important to understand the reasons behind such practices, not as easy as one might surmise since there are most probably many agendas of its founders, not necessarily in conflict but certainly varying in degree.
This is not the place to rehearse the opinions of the founders and formers of the Theosophical Society. My only purpose here is to consider “Latter-Day Magic” as one more additional building block contributing to an edifice still under construction. We know what it will become, but we do not yet know its final form.
The author-commentator of “A School for Sorcery,” Marc Demarest, is the curator of the Emma Harding Britten Archive (www.ehbritten.org), and a principal in Noumenal, Inc., an international management consulting firm. Mr. Demarest did his graduate work in Victorian Studies at the University of South Carolina, under the supervision of Patrick Scott, and is currently writing a biography of Emma Hardinge Britten and preparing a Victorian Spiritualist reader, both slated for publication in 2011.
Michael Gomes continues his series of contributions, “From the Archives,” with “H.S. Olcott’s Marginalia to Blavatsky’s From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan,” taken from Olcott’s copy of the book that is currently housed in the archives of The Theosophical Society at Adyar. As Mr. Gomes writes, Olcott’s annotations provides “another clue for deciphering the character of Mme. Blavatsky.”
Mr. Gomes is well known to readers of Theosophical History for his numerous and insightful contributions to the field of Theosophical history. Among these contributions are the sixteen-part series entitled “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to W.Q. Judge” (V/2 ([Apr 1994]–VI/5 [Jan 1997]) and three Occasional Papers: Witness for the Prosecution: Annie Besant’s Testimony on Behalf of H.P. Blavatsky in the N.Y. Sun/Coues Law Case (Theosophical History Occasional Papers, Vol. I), W.T Brown’s “Scenes in My Life” (Theosophical History Occasional Papers, Vol. 4), and The Coulomb Case (Theosophical History Occasional Papers, Vol. X).
The remainder of the issue consists of a communication from Stephan A. Hoeller and three book reviews, two devoted to the last Occasional Paper (Vol. XII)—Agarttha: A Guénonian Manipulation?—and the third entitled De la philosophia perennis au pérennialisme américain. The reviewers are, respectively, William Quinn, Jean-Pierre Laurant, and Joscelyn Godwin.
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Book Notes
Since historical studies on the Theosophical societies infrequently appear in print, it is important to acknowledge those authors and works that contribute significantly to our understanding of the Theosophical movement. Two such authors are Joseph E. Ross and Ted G. Davy.
Joseph Ross’ main interest is the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, which is the headquarters for the Esoteric School of Theosophy and during the early years of the 20th century the headquarters of the American Section of the T.S. and the American headquarters of the Order of the Star in the East, the latter organization that advanced the idea of the coming of the World Teacher through his Vehicle, J. Krishnamurti. Mr. Ross is best known for his early study, Krotona of Old Hollywood: Volume I, 1866–1913 (Montecito, CA: El Montecito Oaks Press, 1989). Four additional volumes have appeared, advancing the history of the Krotona Institute to 1931. The titles are as follows:
Krotona of Old Hollywood: Volume II, 1914–1920. Self-published, 2004).
Krotona: The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai: Volume III, 1921–1922. Self-published, 2009.
Krotona: Krotona in the Ojai Valley: Volume IV, 1923–1926. Self-published, 2009.
Krotona, Theosophy and Krishnamurti, 1927-1931: Archival Documents of the Theosophical Society’s Esoteric Center, Krotona, in Ojai, California. Vol V of the Krotona Series. Self-published, 2011.
A review of Krotona of Old Hollywood: Volume I, appeared in Theosophical History, Vol. III, No. 5 (Jan. 1991): 153-55. In that review, I concluded the following:
. . . the original source material reproduced therein is enough to make the book required reading for all historians of theosophical, communal, and Californian history. Mr. Ross is to be especially commended in shedding light where only lacunae previously existed. It is my fervent hope that succeeding volumes will offer as much insightful material as this . . . initial effort.
Reviews of Volumes II, III, IV, and V will appear in subsequent issues.
All volumes are available from the author at <http://krotonaarchives.com/krotona-series.htm>.
The second author of note, Ted G. Davy, is well known in Canadian circles, mainly due to his tenure as editor of The Canadian Theosophist from 1961 to 1991. Over the course of his editorship, Mr. Davy often included articles on various aspects of Theosophical history, thus making him the rare editor of a Theosophical journal taking an active and continued interest in this field of study. Indeed, Leslie Price sums up Mr. Davy’s contributions very nicely: “Ted was a Theosophical historian before the term was generally used, and quite apart from his editorial work, his correspondents have benefited from a wealth of practical advice and information in their researches” (quoted from Keeping the Link Unbroken: Theosophical Studies Presented to Ted G. Davy on His Seventy-fifth Birthday, edited by Michael Gomes, TRM [Theosophical Research Monographs], 2004, iii).
Many of us were aware that Mr. Davy was working on a major study of the history of the T.S. in Canada. Much to my delight, his efforts have come to fruition with the recent publication of Theosophy in Canada: “The Split” and other Studies in Early Canadian Theosophical History and Some Early Canadian Theosophists (Edmonton, Alberta: Edmonton Theosophical Society, 2011). The title summarizes quite well the contents of the book. “The Split,” mentioned in the title, refers to the events occurring in 1923 and 1924 involving the resignation of some twenty-five percent of the members of the Theosophical Society in Canada and the eventual formation by the spring of 1924 of the Canadian Federation, TS.
The book is divided into two parts: the first part discussing the early years of Theosophy in Canada, the formation of the “Toronto Theosophical Society” in 1891, the years leading to “The Split,” the three visits of Annie Besant to Toronto (1893, 1897, and 1926), and the closing chapter on “The World Religion.”
The second part contains biographical sketches of prominent pioneer Canadian Theosophists, including Dudley Barr, Algernon Blackwood, Charles Lazenby, Roy Mitchell, and Albert E.S. Smythe.
A review of Theosophy in Canada will appear in a future issue.
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Theosophical History Vol XV/2 (Apr. 2011)
The lesson learned from the article appearing in this issue is the realization that one need not be a Theosophist to be influenced by Theosophy or that Theosophy must be understood through the insight of Theosophists. Dr. Eugenia Victoria Ellis’ “The Red Square: Frank Lloyd Wright, Theosophy, and Modern Conception of Space” offers revelatory insights in understanding both the Theosophy of the quintessential Theosophist H.P. Blavatsky and the vision of the apparent non-Theosophist and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Although the label “Theosophist” cannot be applied to Mr. Wright, he nonetheless exhibited an insight and skill that illuminated the Theosophical vision. Wright’s introduction of the notion of interiority, his emphasis on space and light, rather than form, guided from “within outwards,” coalesce in his description of his Unity Temple of 1905: “The sense of the room is not only preserved—it may be seen as the soul of the design… the ‘inside’ becoming ‘outside’….” Compare this observation with Blavatsky’s statement appearing in The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 274: “The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards. As above so it is below, as in heaven so on earth; and man—the microcosm and miniature copy of the macrocosm—is the living witness to this Universal Law and to the mode of its action.” And so we find Wright’s vision conforming to that of Blavatsky’s perspective.
One should not assume, however, that Frank Lloyd Wright worked in a vacuum or that he knowingly and purposefully was guided by Blavatsky’s teachings and observations. The larger theme of Dr. Ellis’ article is that of the esoteric or occult milieu permeating the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Theosophical Society was part of the Western esoteric tradition or as Dr. Ellis identifies it, the Ancient Wisdom, which she describes as “divine knowledge conjoining science with religion.” This phrase can be interpreted in different ways, but in the Theosophical sense beginning with Blavatsky, the Ancient Wisdom denies that science and religion are in any way contradictory since both reveal the Divine. To do so, Wright applied architectural technique to achieve occult (i.e. esoteric) results. Examples of this technique discussed in the article include the Susan Lawrence Dana House, the Darwin D. Martin House, and the Unity Temple.
Dr. Ellis is an Associate Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. With degrees from Virginia Tech, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Illinois at Chicago, she is a partner of BAU Architecture, a practice in Philadelphia dedicated to sustaining, preserving and cultivating the natural and built environment.
Three other entries are included: one a communication from Dr. S. Lloyd Williams responding to Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller’s comment on Dr. Williams’ article appearing in Vol. XIV, No. 3–4, “Did J. Krishnamurti Write At the Feet of the Master?” This subject is almost as contentious as the Judge Case in some Theosophical quarters, so the reader should not be surprised at Dr. Williams’ spirited response.
The other entries are two book reviews, including the latest title from Joscelyn Godwin, Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions and Occult Revelations, followed by the second edition of Dara Eklund’s compilation of William Q. Judge’s writings, one of the more important primary resources on Theosophical teachings. The respective reviewers are John Patrick Deveney, the author of Astral Projection or Liberation of the Double and the Work of the Theosophical Society (Theosophical History Occasional Papers, Vol. VI) and Paschal Beverly Randolph, and Dr. John Algeo, the former General Secretary of The Theosophical Society in America and former Vice-President of The Theosophical Society (Adyar). Dr. Algeo is also the editor of H.P. Blavatsky: Collected Writings: The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. I (2003).
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Adele S. Algeo
Dr. John Algeo has recently informed me of the passing of his wife, Adele, on March 15, 2010 after a long illness. Mrs. Algeo was a longtime editorial collaborator with Dr. Algeo in both Theosophical and linguistic pursuits. Regarding the latter, she assisted Dr. Algeo in the publication, Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms: 1941–1991 (1991), based upon the column appearing in American Speech, “Among the New Words.” She also contributed a significant article to this journal (XI/3, July 2005), “Beatrice Lane Suzuki and Theosophy in Japan,” significant because it contains six letters written by Mrs. Suzuki in her capacity as an officer of the Theosophical Society. I noted in the Editor’s Comments of that issue introducing her article that this was her first solo venture in publishing, and a worthy one it was. Our condolences to Dr. Algeo and family for their loss.
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A New Theosophical History Occasional Paper
A new publication in the Theosophical History Occasional Paper series is planned for the Winter of 2011 with the publication of John Patrick Deveney’s Free Love, Universal Reform and Fraud: The Economics and Transformation of American Spiritualist Camp-Meetings in the Nineteenth Century. As one might expect from Mr. Deveney, there is a great deal of original research in Spiritualist literature that introduces a number of surprising observations and insights in a number of areas directly and indirectly connected with Spiritualism. More information will be given regarding the publication date and contents of this latest offering.
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Rene Guenon (1886 – 1951) continues to wield immense influence through his "Traditionalist" principles and the "Perennialist" school that follows them. A secret Islamic initiate from his early years, he later lived openly as a Muslim, and his Western followers have mostly chosen the same path. A fierce opponent of Theosophy (see his Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion), of Spiritualism, and of all occultist movements, Guenon laid down a rigid principle: that spiritual seekers must follow one of the great realigions, and that esoteric aspirations are worthless without exoteric practice.
Marco Baistrocchi (1941 – 1997), a diplomat by profession, was a traditionalist of a contrary kind: a scholar and enthusiast for the Greco-Roman tradition, its revival in Renaissance Neoplatonism, and for Asiatic wisdom, especially Buddhist. Respectful of Guenon's achievement and insights, he wondered how such an intelligent man could have fallen or the absurd myth of Agarttha, the underground kingdom with its science-fiction trimmings and apocalyptic "King of the World." Baistrocchi puts the Agarttha myth's origins and Guenon's agenda under merciless scrutiny , and concludes that the whold affair was a deliberate manipulation, designed to shut off Western seekers from Eastern wisdom and to divert them, first into Catholicism, then into Islam.
Whether or not the reader agrees with all of Baistrocchi's arguments, they are an education in the uses of myth and the undercurrents of modern estoericism.
This Occasional Paper includes a Foreword by Dr. Piero Fenili, collaborator with the author on the journal Politica Romana, and Afterword by the Translator, Joscelyn Godwin.