The Theosophical Society in America (Hargrove branch) was an organization that developed from the Theosophical Society in America.
In 1895 a division occurred between the Theosophical Society Adyar and the Theosophical Society Pasadena, leading William Quan Judge to form a separate organization distinct from the organization based in Adyar, headed by Annie Besant. After the death of Judge, Ernest Temple Hargrove, who was Judge's secretary at the time, found evidence that Judge had intended a successor. In 1898, Katherine Tingley was elected president of the TSA, with Hargrove's initial support. Hargrove later came to disagree with Tingley, and later broke away with roughly 200 other members to form the Theosophical Society in America. A.H. Spencer and later Hargrove became president of this new organization. The society was oriented towards W.Q. Judge's principles. Their headquarters were located in New York City, while Tingley relocated hers to Lomaland in Point Loma, California. In 1906 or 1907 this branch including Hargrove gave Robert Crosbie a deed of foundation to found a lodge in Los Angeles. Hargrove can thus be seen as an obstetrician to the United Lodge of Theosophists. The organization was renamed "The Theosophical Society" in 1908.
Original members of this branch included: Dr. Archibald Keightley and his wife Julia van der Planck (a.k.a. "Jasper Niemand"); Noted Sanskritist Charles Johnston and his wife Vera Jelihovsky Johnston, a niece of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; Clement Acton Griscom Jr. and his wife Genevieve Ludlow Griscom (a.k.a. "Cavé"); Henry Bedinger Mitchell and his brother John F. B. Mitchell. A number of branches of the organization existed throughout North America, as well as several in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and Venezuela. The publishing arm of this branch, known as The Quarterly Book Department published a great deal of theosophical literature until the late 1930s. Their main publication was the journal The Theosophical Quarterly (1903–1938). The last issue announces the cessation of publication and the onset of a period of "indrawal" of the society. Hargrove died in on April 8, 1939. The last annual convention of this branch was held in New York in 1943, where the members agreed to formally disband and entered into "indrawal".
The Theosophy Society is founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. The designation 'Adyar' is sometimes added to the name to make it clear that this is the Theosophical Society headquartered there, after the American section and some other lodges separated from it in 1895, under William Quan Judge. In 1882, its headquarters moved with Blavatsky and president Henry Steel Olcott from New York to Adyar, an area of Chennai, India.
William Quan Judge was an Irish-American mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his family emigrated to the United States. He became a naturalized citizen of the USA at age 21 and passed the New York state bar exam, specializing in commercial law.
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century AD. It also encompasses wider religious philosophies like Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Qabbalah, and Sufism. The Theosophical Society functions as a bridge between East and West, emphasizing the commonality of human culture.
The Theosophical Society (Pasadena) is a branch of Theosophy based in Pasadena, California. It claims to be the successor organization to the original Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875 in New York City. Currently is the second largest Theosophical group in members and international reach after the Theosophical Society Adyar.
The United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT is an informal and wholly voluntary association of students of Theosophy. It was founded in 1909, mainly through the efforts of Robert Crosbie. The first parent lodge of the ULT was started in Los Angeles by Robert Crosbie and seven other associates through the adoption of its Declaration on February 18, 1909. Owing largely to the revival efforts of B.P. Wadia after Crosbie's death, there are currently about twenty active lodges spread all over the world. The ULT is considered to be part of the second generation or the third section of the Theosophical Movement started in 1875 by H.P. Blavatsky in New York. Presently, it is also one of the existing four main "branches" of the original Theosophical Movement. The following founding principles when taken as a whole, sets apart the ULT from the other Theosophical Organizations:
Katherine Augusta Westcott Tingley was a social worker and prominent Theosophist. She led the American Section of the Theosophical Society after W. Q. Judge. She founded and led the Theosophical community Lomaland in Point Loma, California.
The Theosophical Society in America (TSA) is a member-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching of Theosophy and affiliated with the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India. The name "Theosophical Society in America" was legally adopted by the American Theosophical Society in 1934. Previously, other organizations had used the same name during the years 1895–98 and 1898–1908.
Morya is one of the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom" within modern Theosophical beliefs. He is one of the Mahatmas who inspired the founding of the Theosophical Society and was engaged in a correspondence with two English Theosophists living in India, A. P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. The correspondence was published in 1923 by A. Trevor Barker, in the book The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett.
Archibald Keightley (1859–1930) joined the Theosophical Society in 1884. In the London Lodge of the TS at the time were: A.P. Sinnett, Dr. Anna Kingsford, William Kingsland, Prof. William Crookes, Frank Podmore, F.W.H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, Charles Massey.
Radha Burnier was born in Adyar, India. She was president of the Theosophical Society Adyar from 1980 until her death in 2013. She was General Secretary of the Indian Section of the Society between 1960 and 1978, and was previously an actress in Indian films and Jean Renoir's The River.
Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa was a Sri Lankan author, occultist, freemason and theosophist. The fourth president of the Theosophical Society, Jinarajadasa was one of the world's foremost Theosophical authors, having published more than 50 books and more than 1600 articles in periodicals during his life. His interests and writings included religion, philosophy, literature, art, science and occult chemistry. He was also a rare linguist, who had the ability to work in many European languages.
The Theosophist is the monthly journal of the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, India. It was founded in India in 1879 by Helena Blavatsky, who was also its editor. The journal is still being published till date. For the year 1930, the journal was published in Hollywood, California by Annie Besant and Marie Russak Hotchener, but it returned to Adyar in 1931. The journal features articles about philosophy, art, literature and occultism.
The Theosophical Society of New York was a theosophical organization, that separated in 1899 from the Theosophical Society in America. It is not to be confused with "The New York Theosophical Society" founded in 1875, which is today a lodge of the American section of the Theosophical Society Adyar.
The Blavatsky Lodge was an English Theosophical Society. The complete name is The Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society.
The Edmonton Theosophical Society is an independent theosophical Society in Canada. It was founded in 1911, was from 1919 to 1992 part of the Canadian Section of the Theosophical Society Adyar and since 1995 it is independent of the Theosophical Society in Canada.
Theosophy in Scandinavia is represented by many independent lodges.
The Theosophical Society in the Philippines is a branch of the Theosophical Society Adyar with headquarters in Chennai, India.
Charles Johnston was an Irish writer, journalist, theosophist, naturalist, and Sanskrit scholar. Johnston joined the Indian Civil Service in 1888 but left India after two years due to malaria and settled in the United States of America in 1896. He wrote numerous books on Indian philosophy, translating works from Sanskrit as well as on Theosophy. He was married to the niece of Madame Blavatsky and was involved in the development of the Theosophical Society in the United States.
Timothy Breck Boyd (born October 22, 1953) is a theosophist religious leader who was elected the president of the Theosophical Society Adyar in 2014. He succeeded Radha Burnier, who had been president of the Theosophical Society Adyar from 1980 until her death in 2013.
Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian immigrant Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism, it draws upon both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
