What it worshipped and taught
The MAHATMAS or Masters of the Ancient Wisdom — hidden adepts (Koot Hoomi, Morya, Djwal Khul) in Tibet, said to guide humanity and to communicate with Blavatsky by precipitated letters appearing in a shrine cabinet. Doctrine: root races, karma, reincarnation, an underlying single truth behind all religions, and cyclical cosmic evolution set out in Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888).
Its people
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
HPB; Madame Blavatsky
Co-founder, the Theosophical Society · 12 August 1831 – 8 May 1891 · active 1875–1891
Russian-born aristocrat, traveller and occultist who founded Theosophy in New York in 1875 with Colonel Olcott. She claimed contact with hidden Masters in Tibet — Koot Hoomi and Morya — whose letters materialised inside a shrine cabinet at the Adyar headquarters. In 1884 her housekeeper Emma Coulomb revealed the sliding panels behind it, and the Society for Psychical Research investigator Richard Hodgson concluded she was one of the most accomplished impostors in history. She left India permanently and wrote The Secret Doctrine in London. Whatever the fraud, her influence is enormous: the entire New Age movement, the Ascended Masters genre and, by a darker route, Ariosophy all descend from her.
Before the law. Never prosecuted. IN APRIL 1986 THE SPR JOURNAL PUBLISHED VERNON HARRISON'S CRITICAL ANALYSIS attacking the Hodgson Report's methods; this is commonly called a retraction, but THE SOCIETY NEVER FORMALLY WITHDREW THE 1885 REPORT, and most of the accessible commentary on the rebuttal comes from Theosophical publishers.
Where things stand. Deceased 1891.
- 17 November 1875 Founds the Theosophical Society in New York.
- 1877 Isis Unveiled published.
- 1879 Moves to India; Adyar headquarters from 1882.
- 1884–85 The Coulomb affair; the Hodgson Report of December 1885 declares her a fraud.
- 1888 The Secret Doctrine published.
- 8 May 1891 Dies in London.
Checked
Henry Steel Olcott
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Co-founder and first President, Theosophical Society · 2 August 1832 – 17 February 1907 · active 1875–1907
An American lawyer, Civil War veteran and agricultural journalist who served on the commission investigating Lincoln's assassination — an unusually respectable background for this dossier. He supplied the organisational competence Blavatsky lacked. His most lasting work had little to do with Theosophy: in Ceylon he took Buddhist vows, designed the Buddhist flag still used worldwide, founded hundreds of schools, and is credited in Sri Lanka with reviving Buddhism against colonial missionary pressure. He is honoured there to this day.
Before the law. None.
Where things stand. Deceased 1907. Commemorated in Sri Lanka with statues and a national holiday observance.
- 17 November 1875 Co-founds the Theosophical Society in New York.
- 1879 Moves to India with Blavatsky.
- 1880 Takes Buddhist vows in Ceylon — among the first Westerners to formally convert.
- 1885 Designs the international Buddhist flag.
- 17 February 1907 Dies at Adyar.
Checked
Annie Besant
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President, Theosophical Society · 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933 · active 1889–1933
One of the most consequential public figures in this dossier and the hardest to categorise. Before Theosophy she was a militant secularist, birth-control campaigner — prosecuted for obscenity in 1877 for publishing a contraception pamphlet — and the organiser of the 1888 London matchgirls' strike, a landmark in British labour history. She converted to Theosophy in 1889 after reviewing The Secret Doctrine, later became President, and promoted the boy Krishnamurti as the vehicle of the coming World Teacher. She was also President of the Indian National Congress in 1917 and a serious force for Indian home rule.
Before the law. Convicted of obscenity in 1877 (overturned on appeal). Lost custody of her daughter for atheism.
Where things stand. Deceased 1933.
- 1877 Prosecuted with Charles Bradlaugh for publishing a birth-control pamphlet.
- 1888 Organises the London matchgirls' strike.
- 1889 Converts to Theosophy.
- 1909 With Leadbeater, identifies the boy Krishnamurti as the World Teacher.
- 1917 Elected President of the Indian National Congress.
- 1929 Krishnamurti dissolves the Order of the Star, repudiating the role she built for him.
- 20 September 1933 Dies at Adyar.
Checked
Charles Webster Leadbeater
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Bishop and leading theorist, Theosophical Society · 16 February 1854 – 1 March 1934 · active 1883–1934
A former Anglican curate who became Theosophy's most prolific describer of the invisible — chakras, auras, thought-forms, past lives — and much of the modern New Age vocabulary of subtle bodies traces directly to his books. He co-identified Krishnamurti in 1909. He was twice engulfed in scandal over teaching masturbation to boys in his charge, resigning in 1906 and being readmitted in 1908 over strong internal objection; further allegations followed in Australia in the 1920s. He was never prosecuted.
Before the law. NEVER PROSECUTED, despite investigations on two continents.
Where things stand. Deceased 1934.
- 1883 Joins the Theosophical Society.
- 1906 Resigns after allegations of teaching masturbation to boys under his supervision.
- 1908 Readmitted at Besant's insistence, splitting the society.
- 1909 With Besant, identifies Krishnamurti.
- 1922 Further allegations in Sydney; a police investigation produces no charge.
- 1 March 1934 Dies in Perth.
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Jiddu Krishnamurti
the World Teacher (renounced)
Designated messiah, Order of the Star in the East — who walked away · 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986 · active 1909–1929
Discovered as a malnourished 14-year-old on a beach at Adyar by Leadbeater, who declared him the vehicle of the coming World Teacher. He was removed from his father, educated in England, and built an international organisation of tens of thousands around his own divinity. On 3 August 1929, before 3,000 members at Ommen, he DISSOLVED THE ORDER, returned the properties and money donated to him, and said: 'Truth is a pathless land.' He spent the following 57 years teaching that no organisation, guru or belief can lead anyone to truth. He is the only person in this dossier who was handed a messiah role and gave it back.
Before the law. None.
Where things stand. Deceased 1986. His talks remain widely published.
- 1909 Identified by Leadbeater at Adyar aged 14.
- 1911 The Order of the Star in the East founded around him.
- 1922 Undergoes 'the process', a prolonged physical and psychological crisis, at Ojai, California.
- 3 AUGUST 1929 Dissolves the Order before 3,000 members at the Ommen Star Camp and renounces all claim to the role, telling them that truth 'cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path'.
- 1930–1986 Teaches independently worldwide, rejecting all authority including his own.
- 17 February 1986 Dies at Ojai aged 90.
Checked
Richard Hodgson
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Society for Psychical Research investigator who exposed Blavatsky · 24 September 1855 – 20 December 1905 · active 1884–1885
An Australian-born SPR investigator sent to Adyar in 1884 to examine Blavatsky's claimed communications from the Mahatmas. He examined the shrine cabinet, found the sliding panels and concealed apertures, compared handwriting, and interviewed the Coulombs. His December 1885 report concluded she was one of the most accomplished and interesting impostors in history. It drove her out of India permanently. The SPR formally retracted the report in 1986 as methodologically unsound — a rehabilitation that is itself disputed, and which most historians do not accept as vindication.
Before the law. Private investigator for a scientific society.
Where things stand. Deceased 1905.
- 1884 Sent to Adyar by the Society for Psychical Research.
- 1884–85 Examines the shrine cabinet; finds sliding panels; interviews the Coulombs.
- December 1885 Publishes the Hodgson Report.
- 1885 Blavatsky leaves India permanently.
- APRIL 1986 THE OFTEN-REPEATED CLAIM THAT 'THE SPR RETRACTED' NEEDS CARE. The Journal of the SPR published a critical analysis by VERNON HARRISON, a handwriting expert, who found the Hodgson Report 'riddled with slanted statements, conjectures advanced as fact or probable fact, uncorroborated testimony of unnamed witnesses, selection of evidence and downright falsity'. THEOSOPHICAL SOURCES DESCRIBE THIS AS AN EFFECTIVE RETRACTION; IT WAS NOT A FORMAL INSTITUTIONAL WITHDRAWAL OF THE 1885 REPORT BY THE SOCIETY. Harrison expanded the work in a 1997 book examining 1,323 colour slides of the Mahatma Letters, concluding the report was 'even worse than I had thought'. Note also that almost all accessible commentary on this rebuttal comes from Theosophical publishers — interested parties on the question.
- 1905 Dies in Boston.
Checked