Theosophy News Worldwide 2nd Quarter 2020

This issue was published on 2020-07-05 or 3 years 6 months ago.

Editorial

Steven Otto

Dear friends of Theosophy,

between the first and second Covid19-Wave now burning cities in North-America and a worldwide anti-racist effort with more or less brutal riots. This society is not finding back to peace.

And the subject of racism will also catch up with Theosophy, if one does not react from the official side, in order to clearly distance oneself from some at least questionable statements, e.g. in Blavatsky's works, and to erase them from the doctrine, as we understand it today.

I am not talking about the racial doctrine itself etc., but about a few derailments or mistakes. Meanwhile in Germany one even tries to label Kant as racist and I also see, what happens to the followers of Rudolph Steiner, who justify themselves instead of cleaning up.

The outlook will not become more favourable, if we do not act united and resolutely, maybe a topic for the ITC, which has proven that it can provide results (which, by the way, is held online this year, see the upcoming events section on the right sidebar). But I am afraid nothing will happen.

The question to my readers within the last newsletter as part of the series "Top 10 misbeliefs of theosophical scholars" was: The Causeless Cause is NOT be be understand LITERALLY in Theosophy and it was answered 50:50 in a survey.

And this series takes a short break because I think it's important to point out an incident that was very disturbing, at least for me. Therefore, the title of the quarterly theme in this issue is: TS (Adyar in North-) America, can you help?

Beside this you can find here, as every quarter, much interesting material, free theosophical magazines, all the news from Theosophical Societies, articles from theosophical websites including a new launched magazine and a press-review from outside the Movement about Theosophy f.e. with a film-review about the theosophy-inspirtated artist Hilma af Klint.

And now I wish you an interesting reading and a peaceful summer. With kind regards from Germany

Steven Otto
Editor of Theosophy World News

Topic of the quarter

TS (Adyar in North-) America, can you help?

In the middle of April I received an e-mail, more precisely an appeal for donations from the TS (Adyar North-)America. This is nothing unusual especially for the so called TSA, also on the website the call for donations is in the center of attention for a long time.

The manner was a bit inappropriate from my point of view and I personally consider it as a kind of begging. Here some quotes from this mail:

We ask that you please donate all that you can today. Can you offer $150? $500? $1,000 or more? [...] Please give the most generous donation you can today. (Source)

$ 1.000 during a global economic and social crisis, and wait, if you "furloughed two thirds of [our] dedicated, hard-working staff" (as also announced in the same newsletter) you save a lot of money, don't you?

Anyway, one more questionable turn of Adyar and so far nothing really bad I thought, however, but then, additional information reached me via the Theos-Talk Newslist (see below), that puts all this in a different light.

With $17million in the Theosophical Investment Trust (the money is under the control of American Section and can be used for any purpose) there was no justification to put employees on furlough. Furloughing the poor employee is easy. (Source)

Now that PPP money of estimated $325k has been received and most of it would be treated as a grant with no tax, it is but fair that Wheaton notify all those to whom earlier donation email was sent. (Source)

Years ago, when American Section was in a critical financial condition, Herbert Kern stepped in to help. He wanted financial help to work like a catalyst. But, due to the investments in Kern Trust grew, more and more money was flowing to American Section. The legal setup of the Trust required most of its income to distributed annually. If not, it has to pay income tax. Ultimately Trust ended up earning $1+ Million annually which was distributed mostly to American Section. (Source)

In addition to money in the bank, it is not hurting for income. Annually gets $1million+ from Kern and $50,000 from Cleveland lodge. (Source)

If this is true, surely, there is no shame in having 17 million in the bank, a security, why not. Then to get 1 million a year is a great fortune, and additional 50,000 a year from Clevland, that's what I call a good basis.

But why then such a call for donations up to $1,000 and more, with the tone of a command from an apparently dying society, because of the Covid19-Pandemic?

Would Blavatsky have come up with the idea of paying herself a six-figure salary from the TS fund? It would certainly be interesting to find out exactly what the actual output for the promotion of Theosophy is, what is done with all the money?

My boss also furloughed us partial and I wrote to him, that's unfair that the smaller people have to bear the losses and that if he had paid these losses, that wouldn't have made him much poorer, but the single mothers etc. etc. that didn't have it easy even before the crisis, should pay now with very much less money?

There was no answer. But I know it, that's capitalism, the survival and right of the stronger, the system we live in, for sure...... but would that be theosophical? That may not be his claim, but what about the THEOSOPHICAL Society (Adyar in North-)America?

 

What do you think?

Who should help whom in such a crisis (if one owns multi-million dollars)?

Choices

Press outside the movement about Theosophy


False Allegations


thegamer.com

Uncharted: 10 Cool Historical Details That Brought The Games To Life
There are a lot of conspiracy theories about Nazis and the occult. The extent to which occultism inspired different Nazi leaders and their decisions is hotly debated by historians, though it is clear that the mystically inclined Thule Society and writings about theosophy inspired many Nazi talking points. Perhaps these were what Heinrich Himmler was contemplating when he sent an expedition of SS officers to Tibet in 193
read more

 

ricochet.com

Book Review: ‘Strange Rites – New Religions for a Godless World’
Theosophy, Transcendentalism, New Thought, and sundry other spiritualist cults, movements, and fads all receive their due as ancestors of today’s individualistic Remixing, as does an overview of the rise and fall of the mainline Protestant denominations, which reached the pinnacle of their own prominence in the 1950s and early ’60s.
read more

 


Other


blogtalkradio.com

Doc Smith's Lensmen -- The Original Jedi
His concept of the Lensmen as an incorruptible Galactic police force, guided by secret masters from a hidden planet seems to have been inspired by Theosophy’s “Ascended Masters” from Tibet, and King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table and the Holy Grail.
read more

 

bitterwinter.org

New Religious Movements in China: They Were Always There
As for the Republican struggle against “superstition” and the May Fourth Movement, Western scholars know that anticlerical and Socialist movements and leaders of the 19th and early 20th century have been critical of mainline religion (i.e. Christianity) but open and often enthusiastic about new religions they regarded as “compatible with science,” including Spiritualism and Theosophy.
read more

 

https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/remember-this/remember-this-mysterious-anna-eva-fay-brought-her-supernatural-skills-to-halifax-6-photos-2447675

Remember This? Mysterious Anna Eva Fay brought her supernatural skills to Halifax (6 photos)
The next day an Echo reporter caught up with Fay at the Halifax Hotel on Hollis Street. The writer described her as “frail and delicate” but noted, “she is possessed of much mental force.” Fay spoke to him about her powers which she claimed were rooted in a religion called Theosophy.
read more

 

booktrib.com

Glenn Aparicio Parry
Your biggest literary influences: Ralph Waldo Emerson, .... Krishnamurti, Carl Jung, James Hillman, Sri Aurobindo, Jean Gebser, Madame Blavatsky,
read more

 

abc.net.au/

Yoga with Adriene is a YouTube phenomenon. This is the history of the practice in the West
It was a time of great interest in alternative forms of spirituality. The Theosophical Society, established in New York by Helena Blavatsky, had been influential in spreading Hindu and Buddhist thought.
read more

 

algemeiner.com

Wellesley Tudor Pole and Living Our Best Lives
It combined Christian spirituality with the Kabbalah. A century later, a controversial Ukrainian occultist, Madame Blavatsky, succeeded in turning Theosophy into a fashionable movement among the uppers classes wanting to communicate with other spirits and souls.
read more

 

philosophynow.org

Buddha Travels West: Peter Abbs follows Buddhism’s path towards becoming a Western humanism.
I had to discover the importance of the philosopher Schopenhauer, the febrile influence of Madam Blavatsky, the power of Zen especially during the 60s, the charisma of the Dalai Lama, and finally, enter the modern world of neurology and contemporary therapy..... But the book’s influence was soon surpassed by a much more powerful force, connected to an eccentric Russian aristocratic called Madam Blavatsky and her powerhouse the Theosophical Society, which was founded in 1875 to promote the noble aim of transforming consciousness.
read more

 


Art


https://sightlinesmag.org/film-review-beyond-the-visible-hilma-af-klint-from-obscurity-to-major-art-world-star

Film review: ‘Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint,’ from obscurity to major art world star
But she was intrigued by new theories of quantum mechanics and relativity, and how science showed that some of the structures of the universe were “beyond the visible.” Af Klint was also interested in the ideas of theosophy and spiritualism, and she said she wanted “to show the world as it exists.” And to do so, she decided she must invent it.
read more

 

washingtoncitypaper.com

Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint Illuminates a Long Overshadowed Visionary
Hilma af Klint is a singularly intriguing figure. Born in Sweden in 1862, she studied as a young woman at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, where she produced art firmly anchored in observations of the material world. By the turn of the 20th century, she was enmeshed in spiritualism and Theosophy. She joined a group of four other women artists, called The Five, and used mystical practices to communicate with entities they called the Great Masters.
read more

 

hyperallergic.com

How Hilma af Klint Was Written Out of History
Af Klint drew from her experiences with Spiritism and interest in theosophy to enter a period of out-of-body productivity in 1906. It was during this time that she created her first abstract works, including the series “The Ten Largest,” elephantine paintings that portray the stages of life sensuously, with bold colors, shapes, and forms that exude sublime energy.
read more

 

webwire.com

Justin S. Grant’s “Business & Spirituality” - Free Download Tomorrow (5/18/2020)
“One does not normally equate the business world with the spiritual world or the mundane with the magnificent but Justin Grant’s new book does just that. Interloping knowledge of esotericism, gained from the likes of H.P.Blavatsky and Alice A. Bailey and crafting it into a pattern of light that is applied liberally to the business of business. Highly recommended for those who seek to understand the dichotomy between the two.”
read more

 

vogue.com

An Eerie Old House, a Vanished Girl: An Excerpt from the New Thriller Nothing Can Hurt You
In college I got into the occult—The Golden Dawn, Madame Blavatsky, conducting little séances in my dorm room. It’s lucky that a cult never found me, because I would have been easy to recruit.
read more

 

brooklynrail.org

Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist
Both were also readers of Helena Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), the Russian mystic, encyclopedic source of ancient wisdom traditions, and founder of the Theosophy Society. Yet, in spite of their similarities as spiritual seekers, Pelton was a very different painter.
read more

 

mvtimes.com

‘Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint’ showcases a pioneering artist
She also was interested in the spiritualism popular at the time, associating with Madame Helena Blavatsky and Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the latter of whom discouraged her from painting. Her connection to theosophy and the occult partially explains her neglect by the leading art historians of the time and more recently, but even more so did the fact that she was a woman.
read more

 


Theosophy


freepressjournal.in

What is Spirituality? : NJ Reddy, founder of Yoga Prana Vidya
We often call Spirit by different names, viz., Param-Atma, Divine Spark or Our Father. In Hindu religion, we use the terminologies Param-Atma, Atma and Jivatma. In theosophy, these same words are termed as the Divine Spark, Higher Soul and Incarnated Soul. In Christianity, they are referred as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
read more

 

hypebeast.com

Sacred Bones Plans to Republish a Book Depicting Theosophical Occult Illustrations
New York record label Sacred Bones will be republishing a groundbreaking Theosophical book of “esoteric thought and spiritualist illustrations” originally created during 1905 in London. Thought-Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation by Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater is an illustrated occult book that offers a look into a chapter of the past that has largely been overlooked as a foundational pillar in art history. Besant (a leader in Theosophy) and Leadbeater dictated their clairvoyant “thought-forms” to a group of friends who then created the 58 magnificent illustrations contained in the book.
read more

 

abc.net.au

Beyond belief: theosophy in Australia
Hailed as the coming World Teacher in the footsteps of Krishna and of Christ, he was raised as the darling of a utopian movement called theosophy. Today on Soul Search we’re exploring theosophy – a movement which nurtured radical expectation, anticipated the new age, and, for some, reshaped the possibilities of the spiritual life.
read more

 

swarajyamag.com

Ancient Bonds To Esoteric Doctrines: Some Forgotten Hindu-Russian Connections
Helena Blavatsky was open about her Hindu-Buddhist influences, so much so that Theosophy itself was known as ‘esoteric Hinduism’ or ‘esoteric Buddhism’ in Russia.
read more

 

To be true, religion and philosophy must offer the solution of every problem. That the world is in such a bad condition morally is a conclusive evidence that none of its religions and philosophies--those of the civilized races less than any other--have ever possessed the TRUTH. The right and logical explanations on the subject of the problems of the great dual principles, right and wrong, good and evil, liberty and despotism, pain and pleasure, egotism and altruism, are as impossible to them now as they were 1880 years ago. They are as far from the solution as they ever were, but. . . . "To these there must be somewhere a consistent solution, and if our doctrines will show their competence to offer it, then the world will be the first one to confess, that ours must be the true philosophy, the true religion, the true light, which gives truth and nothing but the TRUTH. . . .

From the article "The Theosophical Society: Its Mission and Its Future" by H. P. Blavatsky, published in Lucifer, August 1888 and especially this paragraph HPB has quoted from the so-called "Maha Cohan Letter".

Upcoming events

TS Adyar Australia

National Convention 2021
23 – 30 January 2021 St. Catherine’s on Park, Perth
more information

 

TS Adyar

145th International Convention
Cycles of Awareness 27 - 30 December 2020 to be held online
more information

 

European School of Theosophy

R E A R R A N G E D: European School of Theosophy 2020
The Mystery of Consciousness, 6 to 13 October 2020 online, on ZOOM
more information

 

European Federation of the TS Adyar

R E A R R A N G E D: The 39th European Congress in 2020
Healing oneself, healing the World, rearranged from 4 to 8 August 2020 to 2 to 7 August 2021 in York, England
more information

 

ITC

R E A R R A N G E D: International Theosophy Confernce 2020
Humanity, the Key to Harmony in Nature 23 – 26 July, 2020 Online
more information

 

News from Theosophical Societies

New at least for me was The Compass Newsletter of TS Pasadena, published 2 to 4 times a year, mostly recycles older content.

The Domain of ULT Greece (blavatsky.gr) is not reachable anymore, also those of TS Adyar Ireland (theosophy.ie), of TS Adyar New York (theosophy-ny.org), TS in Southern Africa (theosophy.org.za), Pan African Theosophical Federation (theosophy-inafrica.org) and Blavatsky Lodge Sydney (Adyar) (tssydney.org) (whereby some pages may have been offline for a longer time and not only since last quarter).

You can read some articles of the Quest magazine spring issue for free on the TS Adyar in (North)-America-Website.

TS Adyar Seattle has relaunched it's website.

TS Adyar (HQ) published all 2020 issues of The Theosophist for free here. There were many newsletters from this TS , f.e. the June issue with many interesting content, f.e. two free issues of the Adyar Newsletter, (New) a Panamerican Journal of Theosophy (in spanish and english, edited in the Region of Central America and the Caribbean of the Theosophical Society) or a video Discussing Theosophy with Tim Boyd & Dr. Kavita Beri from TS New Zealand.

TS Adyar New Zealand published a COVID-19-Update, an article with many videos of the TS NZ Convention 2020. And have also an eye on its YouTube Channel.

TS (Adyar) Australia published a video The TS Stream: Keynotes of International Presidents

A new FOTA-Newsletter, which is worth to read, was published, that you can read here as PDF.

And I recommend as a new release for the first time from the American Section of TS Pasadena The Spiral Path with a Spring and a Summer issue and for our German readers from the German Section of TS Pasadena the new Magazine Logos with its Second, Third and Fourth Issue for free.

There was also a wonderfull newsletter of the EuST with colorized pics of HPB, unfortunately not available online, but here as PDF. See also Barbara Heberts latest The President's Blog on TSA YouTube-Channel

Devachan is the idealized continuation of the terrestrial life just left behind, a period of retributive adjustment, and a reward for unmerited wrongs and sufferings undergone in that special life.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1893), p. 90.

Theosophical Magazines

The TS Point Loma (TSPL)

Lucifer
publisher, 02/2020 (pdf)

 

TS (Adyar) in Australia

Theosophy in Australia Quarterly
Newsletter/Quarterly of the TS (Adyar) in Australia
publisher, June 2020 (pdf)

 

The TS (Pasadena) Australasian Section

Theosophy Downunder
Newsletter of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena) Australasian Section
publisher, July 2020 (pdf)

 

The Aquarian Theosophist

The Aquarian Theosophist
publisher, June 2020 (pdf), May 2020 (pdf), ''April 2020 (pdf)

 

United Lodge of Theosophists (ULT)

The Theosophical Movement Magazine
publisher, April 2020 (pdf), June 2020 (pdf), -May 2020 (pdf)

 

The TS Adyar Indian Section

The Indian Theosophist Magazine
publisher, May to June 2020 (pdf), February (pdf), April 2020 (pdf)

 

Articles from Theosophical sites

David Reigle Blog



Theos Talk


 

Theos-talk has reincarnated at groups.io is now called Theosophy@groups.io You can join theosophy@groups.io (the successor group) and carry on discussions there. Anyone can join by sending a msg to: theosophy+subscribe@groups.io


Montreal Theosophy Project



Blavatsky News



Theosophy Watch



Theosophy Forward



Hermes-Magazine.com



Universal Theosophy


The “Wisdom religion” is the inheritance of all the nations, the world over.

HPB, SD:1:xviii (Itroductory)

✴✴✴ The End  ✴✴✴

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