After Blavatsky’s death in 1891, the Theosoph-
ical movement experienced a decade of internal
dissent. Annie BESANT, an Englishwoman who
joined the society after reading Blavatsky’s work,
succeeded her as head of the Esoteric Section, a
small group who experimented with occult prin-
ciples. When Olcott died in 1907 Besant became
the new president of the society.
The first decades of the movement saw wide-
spread interest in Theosophical principles in
America, Europe, and India. The synthesis of East
and West, religion and science, and esoteric and
exoteric understanding made Theosophy compel-
ling to cosmopolitan, liberal people, regardless
of nationality, who had been disappointed by
the dogmatism of both religion and science and
sought to unite the diverse peoples of the world in
a peaceful brotherhood.
Around the turn of the 20th century the
movement had begun to decline, but under
Besant’s leadership many lodges in Europe, Amer-
ica, and India revived. In the Netherlands in
1926 Besant announced to the world gathering
of Theosophists that the world teacher whom the
society had anticipated since Blavatsky’s time had
been located. This teacher was the young Jiddu
KRISHNAMURTI.
The occult formulations and esoteric teach-
ings of the society have influenced many Western
teachers and movements that do not use the
name Theosophy, including Alice BAILEY and the
Lucis Trust; Guy Ballard and the “I AM move-
ment”; Elizabeth Clare Prophet and the Church
Universal and Triumphant; and Rudolph Steiner
and Anthroposophy. Theosophical publishing
houses are responsible for making available to
the general public many texts and writings of
Hinduism.
Today the Theosophical movement includes
the Judge-Tingley-dePurucker branch called the
Theosophical Society, headquartered in Altadena,
California. This organization sponsors the Theo-
sophical Press, which publishes the periodical Sun-
rise and operates a large library. The Theosophical
Society in America, part of the larger International
Theosophical Society in India, is headquartered in
Wheaton, Illinois. This organization sponsors the
Theosophical Publishing House and Quest Books,
publishes the American Theosophist and Discovery,
and operates the Olcott Library at Wheaton. The
Theosophist, founded in 1979, is still published at
Adyar, India.
The United Lodge of Theosophy, founded in
1909 by Robert Crosbie, former member of the
Point Loma community, is headquartered in Los
Angeles and sponsors Theosophy Company, its
publishing house. This organization publishes The-
osophy, a monthly periodical. All of the Theosophi-
cal organizations cited here maintain Web sites.
Although current membership statistics are
not available, adherents to the formal structure
of Theosophy are becoming fewer. Yet its historic
role in introducing Eastern thought and philoso-
phy to the West remains secure.Further reading: Bruce F. Campbell, Ancient Wisdom
Revisited (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1980); Emmett A. Greenwalt, California Utopia: Point
Loma, 1897–1942 (San Diego: Point Loma, 1978);
Howard Murphet, When Daylight Comes: A Biography of
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical
Publishing House, 1975); Josephine Ransom, A Short
History of the Theosophical Society 1875–1937 (Adyar:
Theosophical Publishing House, 1938); Charles J. Ryan,
H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement (Pasa-
dena, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1975); The
Theosophical Movement, 1875–1950 (Los Angeles: Cun-
ningham Press, 1951).Therapanthi
The Therapanthis are a schismatic movement
within the the STHANAKAVASI sect of Jains (see
JAINISM). It emerged from the attempt by the 18th-
century monk Bhikanji to deal with the peren-
nial conflict faced by Jain monks: to eschew all
worldliness or to work actively for the welfare and
salvation of all beings.Therapanthi 445 J