The Theosophical Society is an esotericist and occult international organization founded in New York City on 17 November, 1875 by a group of intellectuals and aristocrats including Russian mystic Helena Blavatsky, American former soldier and Buddhist Henry Steel Olcott, former Anglican priest turned Liberal Catholic Bishop C.W. Leadbeater, English suffragist Annie Besant and William Judge. The Society’s declared intent is:
- 1. To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour.
2. To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science.
3. To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.
The organization quickly moved its headquarters to Adyar, India, then part of the British Empire, where they (i.e. what is considered by most people the "original" Society) are still located. The organization suffered a lot of schisms throughout its history, though most of the splinters did not attain the same weight or international reach as the ST-Adyar.
Some of the most notable splinterings:
William Judge separated from the group and founds its own Theosophical Society in Pasadena, California. So then there were two: Theosophical Society-Adyar and Theosophical Society-California. However, the Californian one (that then suffered further splits that even further diminished their numbers) does not have nearly as great a membership and practically does not exist outside the US.
Rudolf Steiner, head of the German and Austrian branch of the Society eventually split, creating his own organization: the Anthroposophical Society. This was much more successful than Judge’s splinter and, although still not at the same level as the ST-Adyar, it has a healthy international membership and quarters in many countries.
Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian teenager when the leadership of the Society (then at the hands of Besant) declared him to be the Maitreya (in Mahayana Buddhism, the next Bodhisattva who would found the Dharma, as Gautama Buddha did in the past, in Theosophic doctrine, or, at least according to Besant, the Messiah of the Age of Aquarius or New Age). Krishnamurti later denied being any kind of Messianic Archetype and left the Society, albeit that he remained in good terms with most of its members and took part in some of their activities. He founded the Order of the Star. Rejection of Krishnamurti as this Messiah is what led Steiner to depart as previously mentioned, especially as his devotees said that he'd been Jesus in a past life. Steiner incorporated far more Christian influence in his philosophy, and viewed Jesus as unique, never to physically incarnate more than once.
Some tropes associated with the Theosophical Society are:
- Akashic Records: A belief developed by the Theosophists.
- All Myths Are True: Not literally, but many of Blavatsky’s works imply that most legends, myths and creatures have an origin in esoteric truths, and also that all religions have a part of the truth in themselves.
- Another Dimension: The Seven Planes, an important part of Theosophic Cosmology.
- Astral Projection: This is the explanation on how Blavatsky was able to consult gigantic amounts of ancient books and scriptures in order to write her own, since Theosophists believe they (along with all else) have copies on the astral plane as the Akashic Records.
- Atlantis: Said to be the civilization that predated modern humanity. There's also a similar lost land, Lemuria, which Theosophists teach existed as well.
- Black Magic vs White Magic: Blavatsky was a strong believer in the Black vs White magic dichotomy.
- Devolution Device: Blavatsky said that, contrary to evolutionary theory, apes has actually devolved from humans rather than the opposite, due to "putting themselves on the animal level".
- Great Big Book of Everything: The Secret Doctrine. Literally, a book of thousands of pages and several volumes explaining the history of the universe.
- Hitler Ate Sugar:
- A common misconception is that the Theosophical Society had links with Nazism or had influence over Nazi Occultism, even when this was the Thule Society, and although some concepts of both organizations might be similar, in some other regards they are entirely conflicting. The Theosophical Society was also one of the many organizations that were outlawed once Hitler came to power (he distrusted occult/secret societies in general, especially if they didn't align to Nazism).
- Another case is the use of the word Aryan, which in the case of the Theosophical doctrine is not a racial term, it is a spiritual term and applies to modern humanity.
- Hollow World: The Theosophists originally believed in the now debunked Hollow Earth theory. Most modern Theosophists no longer do, except for the more orthodox.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: According to the Theosophists, the ghosts that we see in some haunted houses are actually people in their astral bodies. When someone dies their consciousness passes from the physical body to the astral body and remains there for a while (how long depends on the person’s inability to accept they're dead or attachment to the physical world, but it can take centuries in some cases), then passes to the etheric body and so on until it goes through all the seven bodies, then moves on to the next life.
- Our Giants Are Different: Lemurians were giants, according to The Secret Doctrine.
- Our Vampires Are Different: According to Blavatsky, dark wizards in astral form can drink the blood of the living and thus retain their connection to the physical world after death indefinitely.
- Paranormal Investigation: Their third stated goal: to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.
