Theosophy

	Theosophy Chakras, 1696  —  Buy this art print at AllPosters.com.

A term derived from the Greek theos ('god') and sophia ('wisdom') which means wisdom of or about God, referring to a philosophical religious system which claims absolute knowledge of the existence and nature of the deity, and is not to be confounded with the later system evolved by the founders of the Theosophical Society. This knowledge, it is claimed, may be obtained by special individual revelation, or through the operation of some higher faculty.

In a general sense, theosophy refers to a broad spectrum of occult or mystical philosophies, often pantheistic in nature; i.e., a religious philosophy or speculation about the nature of the soul based on mystical and occult insights into the nature of God. One could say that Theosophy is practically another name for speculative mysticism.

	Annie Besant, English Theosophist and Indian Political Leader . . .  —  Buy this art print at AllPosters.com

The Western theosophical tradition may be said to be derived from the hermetic tradition of the Renaissance and post-Renaissance and is characterized by an emphasis on the hidden tradition passed down in a succession from the ancients. This tradition is thought to provide a key to nature and to humanity's place in the universe.

Theosophy has also come to signify the tenets and teachings of the founders of a religious sect, the Theosophical Society, its offshoots, and the doctrines held by its members. The Society is an esoteric blend of Buddhism, Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, the Kabbalah, and the philosophy of Plato and other mystics, combined with the teachings of mysterious masters who dwell in secret places in the Himalayas and communicate with their initiates through their psychic abilities and their projected astral bodies.

The most important early figure in the movement was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, who, along with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907) and William Q. Judge (1851-96), founded the society in New York City in 1875. In numerous works, including Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888), Blavatsky elaborated an amalgamation of previous theories that were claimed to be derived from the mahatmas of ancient India.

	Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Russian Mystic Writer Circa 1889. . .  —  Buy this art print at AllPosters.com

The Theosophical Society grew rapidly in Europe and the United States, its two most influential adherents being Annie Besant and Rudolf Steiner. According to Madame Blavatsky, the doctrines of theosophy rest on three fundamental propositions. The first postulates an omnipresent, boundless, and immutable principle that transcends human understanding. It is the one unchanging reality, or infinite potentiality, inherent in all life and covers all that humans have tried to say about God. The second deals with the universality of the law of periodicity recorded by science as found in all nature. As morning, noon, and night are succeeded by morning again, so birth, youth, adulthood, and death are succeeded by rebirth. Reincarnation is the process of human development, in which all growth is governed by the law of justice or karma. The third proposition declares the fundamental identity of all souls with the universal Over-Soul, suggesting that brotherhood is a fact in nature, and the obligatory pilgrimage for every soul through numerous cycles of incarnation. Theosophy admits of no privileges or special gifts in humans except those won by effort and merit. Perfected individuals and great teachers, such as Buddha, Jesus, and the mahatmas, are universal beings, the flower of evolution.

After the death of Madame Blavatsky in 1891, a battle for leadership of the society ensued, from which Annie Besant emerged as leader in Europe and Asia, whereas W. Q. Judge led a secessionist movement in the United States. Under Besant, the society flourished. In 1911 she put forward a young Indian, Jiddu Krishnamurti, as a World Teacher, around whom she founded the Order of the Star of India. This action seems to have provoked Steiner, who, with a large number of followers, left to found the Anthroposophical Society. The various divisions and subdivisions have continued since that time and have influenced numerous literary and intellectual figures. The groups continue to carry on active meetings.

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Sources: (1) Shepard, Leslie (editor), Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Thomson Gale; (2) Dictionary of the Occult, Caxton Publishing; (3) Steiger, Brad and Sherry Hansen, The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained, Thomson Gale.
 

 

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Suggested Art Prints and Posters:

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Russian Mystic Writer &C Circa 1889 H. Schmiechen Buy This Allposters.com			Theosophy Chakras 1696 Buy This Allposters.com
"The Theosophist" Cover of the First Number of Madame Blavatsky's House Journal Buy This Allposters.com			Elena Petrovna Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott Giclee Print American School Buy this Photographic Print
Annie Besant, English Theosophist and Indian Political Leader Buy This Allposters.com			Annie Besant English Theosophist and Indian Political Leader Buy This Allposters.com

Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man Buy this Book

Suggested Books:

-- 100 Years of Theosophy: A History of the Theosophical Society in America.

-- A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life.

-- An Abridgment of the Secret Doctrine.

-- An Invitation to the Secret Doctrine.

-- Annie Besant: An Autobiography.

-- At the Feet of the Master.

-- Beauties of Islam.

-- Choices of Love.

-- Christian Hermetic Astrology: The Star of the Magi and the Life of Christ.

-- Clairvoyant Investigations.

-- Collected Writings of H.P. Blavatsky: 1886-1887 Vol 7.

-- Culture, Crisis, and Creativity.

-- Dharma.

-- Death and After.

-- Dialogues With a Modern Mystic.

-- Doctrine of the Heart.

-- Edgar Cayce's Story of Jesus.

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-- From the Outer Court to the Inner Sanctum.

-- Giordano Bruno: Theosophy's Apostle in the Sixteenth Century - 1913.

-- Hidden Side of Things.

-- Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible (Theosophical Heritage Classics).

-- How the World Can Be the Way It Is: An Inquiry for the New Millennium into Science, Philosophy, and Perception.

-- How to Know Higher Worlds (Classics in Anthroposophy).

-- Hpb: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement.

-- H.P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine.

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-- Initiates of the Theosophical Masters (Suny Series in Western Esoteric Traditions).

-- Isis Unveiled.

-- Isis Unveiled: Collected Writings/Boxed Set.

-- Isis Unveiled: Secrets of the Ancient Wisdom Tradition, Madame Blavatsky's First Work.

-- Jesus Christ, Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism.

-- Jesus, Teacher and Healer.

-- Karma: Rhythmic Return to Harmony.

-- Key to Theosophy.

-- Kingdom of the Gods.

-- Life Streams: Journeys into Meditation and Music.

-- Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America.

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-- Man Visible and Invisible.

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-- Neurospeak: Transforms Your Body, While You Read!

-- 'No Religion Higher Than Truth': A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922.

-- Ocean of Theosophy.

-- On Spiritual Unity: A Slavophile Reader (Library of Russian Philosophy).

-- Practical Occultism.

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-- Rebirth for Christianity.

-- Reincarnation in Modern Life: Towards a New Christian Awareness.

-- Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine.

-- Rhythm of Wholeness: A Total Affirmation of Being.

-- Rules for Spiritual Initiation.

-- Shadows of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual Illusions.

-- Son of Man: The Mystical Path to Christ.

-- Studies in Occultism.

-- The Adept.

-- The Adepts in the Eastern Esoteric Tradition: The Arhats of Buddhism.

-- The Altitude of Prayer (Collector's Edition Set of Books).

-- The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and His Alchemical Quest: Including Boyle's 'Lost' Dialogue on the Transmutation of Metals.

-- The Bhagavad Gita; The Lord's Song.

-- The Book of Dzyan.

-- The Edgar Cayce Bible Companion : Biblical Treasure from the Edgar Cayce Readings.

-- The Essential Mystics: Selections from the World's Great Wisdom Traditions.

-- The Etheric Double: The Health Aura of Man (Theosophical Classics Series).

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-- The Key to the Kalevala.

-- The Masters.

-- The Masters and the Path.

-- The Masters Revealed: Madam Blavatsky and the Myth of the Great White Lodge (Suny Series in Western Esoteric Traditions).

-- The Millennium Myth: Love and Death at the End of Time.

-- The Pilgrim Self: Traveling the Path from Life to Life.

-- The Secret Doctrine: Collected Writings 1888: Cosmogenesis/Anthropogenesis/Index/Boxed Set.

-- The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy.

-- The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy (Volumes 1 and 2).

-- The Seven Rays.

-- The Spiritual Life.

-- The Theosophical Enlightenment (Suny Series in Western Esoteric Traditions).

-- The Voice of the Silence.

-- The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott (Religion in North America).

-- Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity.

-- Theosophy: A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages.

-- Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos (Classics in Anthroposophy).

-- Theosophy Simplified.

-- Thought Forms.

-- Thought Power (1908): Its Control and Culture.

-- Thought Power, Its Control and Culture.

-- Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti.

-- When Daylight Comes; A Biography of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

-- Yankee Beacon of Buddhist Light (Life of Col. Henry S. Olcott).