Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and Neo• Theosophy

Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and Neo• Theosophy

The Occult Imagination in Britain, 1875-1947 

edited by 

Christine Ferguson, Andrew Radford

Occulting the public sphere

4   ''Under a glamour''

Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and Neo• Theosophy

Jake Poller

The term "Neo-Theosophy" was originally used to denote the occult Theosophy    of   H.P.    Blavatsky    from   the    Christian  theosophy associated with Jacob  Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.  In  1894, Alfred  Thomas  writes  that  the  hallmark of  "Pseudo-Theosophy"  or "Neo-theosophy"  is the  "delirious transcendental  claptrap" of Blavatsky.1   From about  1912,  the word came to signify  the work of the second-generation Theosophists  Annie  Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, whom their critics alleged had corrupted Blavatsky's teachings. In July 1912, Besant complains that the term "Neo• Theosophy" has become the rallying cry of her enemies in the Theosophical  Society (TS), and associates it chiefly with her proclamation of the coming of the World Teacher.2  

This suggests that "Neo-Theosophy"  may  have  been  used  in  this  respect  as early  as 1911, when the Order of the Star in the East (OSE) was founded to promote the Theosophical  messiah.

Although  the differences  between Blavatsky's  Theosophy  and that of Besant and Leadbeater are manifold, James Santucci has helpfully identified  four  features  of  Neo-Theosophy:  

(1)  The  emphasis  on occult  powers,  which   Besant  and  Leadbeater   allegedly   used  to research  their  numerous  books.  (2)  The  emphasis  on the  work  of Besant and Leadbeater as superseding that of Blavatsky. 

(3) The promotion of Jiddu Krishnamurti as the vehicle for the World Teacher, who  was  expected   to  establish  a  new  religion.  (4)  The  cross• pollination  of  Catholic  doctrines  into  the  TS  through  the  Liberal Catholic Church  (LCC). 3

In this chapter,  I    argue that the concept of "glamour" is central to an understanding  of  Neo-Theosophy.  In  Theosophical   circles  (I   shall give specific examples  below), the word "glamour" had a number of nuanced   connotations,   which   derive   from  its  original eighteenth-century usage, meaning "[m]agic,  enchantment,  spell;  esp.  in  the phrase to cast the glamour over one" ( OED).  It was employed  by both the  exponents   of  Neo-Theosophy   and  by  their  adversaries.   

For instance,  it  was  often  alleged  that  Besant  and  Leadbeater  were "under a glamour", in this case meaning that they were deluded about their occult powers, and that the books they wrote about their astral excursions to the lost continents  of Atlantis  and Lemuria were works of the imagination. In what follows, I   unpack the four features of Neo• Theosophy   outlined  above  and  demonstrate   how  the  concept  of glamour is closely imbricated with each one.

In   the   TS,   glamour   came   to   have   three   disparate   though interrelated meanings. The first one is associated with hypnotism. For example,  H.S. Olcott,  after beholding  Master Morya in  the apartment he shared with Blavatsky in New York, wondered: "What if this be but hallucination; what if H. P. B. has cast a hypnotic glamour over me?"4

Leadbeater  defines glamour as the power "of making  a clear,  strong mental image, and then projecting that into the mind of another", and likens  the   victim   of  glamour  to  the  "mesmerized   subject"   who "believes whatever the magnetizer wishes". 5

The  second  usage  of "glamour"  is the  belief in  "false doctrines", usually (but not always)  resulting from the delusional possession  of occult   powers  that  are   denied   by  critics. 6    For  instance,  after  it emerged in 1906 that Leadbeater had taught two adolescent  boys to masturbate, ostensibly in order to avoid the perils of sex, which was considered  an obstacle to progress  along the spiritual path,  Besant alleged that the "Dark  Powers" had cast a "glamour"  (in  sense one) over Leadbeater, who then falsely believed that his advice concerning masturbation  was correct. 7  It  seems, from a letter  Leadbeater wrote to Besant  in  response,  that she also implied  that his astral congress with  the Masters was a glamour (in  sense two):  "Your theory implies that I    have never seen the Masters", which would  mean that he and Besant  had  "lived  a whole  life  of  glamour for  many years". 8  If  this were true, then the considerable  amount of occult research they had conducted  together   (for  which  see  section  1      below)  was  also  a glamour in this sense.

The third  sense of glamour is  the occult  braggadocio  deployed  by Besant and Leadbeater to invest themselves with  a quasi-divine aura and authority that,  in  the minds of their followers,  helped  to disguise their all-too-human  foibles.  They  constantly  referred  to  the  "occult hierarchy",  which  consisted  of  ten  levels  or  initiations  (see  Figure 4.1 ). After passing the fifth (Asekha)  initiation,  one became a Master;

Leadbeater  and  Besant  maintained  that they  had  taken  the  fourth (Arhat) initiation and represented themselves as intimates of the Masters, as well as the even more exalted personages  higher up the hierarchy.  When  Mrs  Dennis  wrote  to  Besant  in  February  1906 informing  her  of Leadbeater's  onanistic advice  to  her son,  Besant replied that it was impossible for an arhat like Leadbeater, who communicated with the Masters on "the super-physical planes", to engage   in   "deliberate   wrong   doing". 9   In   return  for  her  support, Leadbeater  was  unstinting in  his praise of Besant: "Remember that because of  her  position  as an Initiate  she knows far  more than you do", he  informed  his fellow  Theosophists,  and affirmed that  he  had "stood  before  [Besant]  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme  Director  of Evolution on this globe" .10

Figure 4. 1 Graph of Occult Hierarchy.

I   now turn to the categories of Nee-Theosophy outlined above. The occult powers that Besant and Leadbeater  claimed to possess,  and which they allegedly used to conduct their research,  are examined in the next section.

The emphasis on occult powers

Although  Olcott  was  president  of  the  TS,  Blavatsky  had  been the cynosure,  and after her  death in  1891,  Besant became the effective leader,   assuming  the  prestigious   role  of  the  Outer  Head  of  the Esoteric Section  (ES).11  She began to collaborate with  Leadbeater in 1895.  The latter alleged that the Master Koot Hoomi had taught  him to  cultivate  his  kundalini  in  the  mid  1880s,  while  he  was  living  in Adyar (the  Theosophical  HQ in  India),  and that  after  six  weeks  of unremitting  effort he was able to employ "astral  sight"; thereafter  he received  extensive  training   in   clairvoyance   from  several  different Masters.12  This arduous training  contrasts sharply with  Besant,  who learnt  to  use  her  astral  sight  during  a five-day  holiday  in  Box  Hill, Surrey,  with  Leadbeater  in  August  1895.13  Indeed,  it  seems from a letter   Leadbeater   wrote  to  Francesca  Arundale   shortly  after  the holiday  that  Besant's  clairvoyance  came  on  rapidly,  since  the  two engaged  in  a considerable  amount of astral research during  the trip, including  "investigations  into different orders of atoms and molecules ...  and the manners, customs, religion and history of some Lemurian and early Atlantean races"; they also "witnessed the first birth of Mahatma  Morya  on  this  earth",  after  his  evolution  on  the  "Lunar Chain".14  These  researches  would  crystallise  into  several  projects and doctrines that would later be labelled Neo-Theosophy, since they deviated  significantly  from   Blavatsky's  teachings   in   The   Secret Doctrine  (1888) and  emphasised  the  occult powers  of  Besant  and Leadbeater, which their critics maintained were a glamour.

One of the most conspicuous projects of Neo-Theosophy was the investigation  of  previous  lives.  

Leadbeater  had embarked  on this in 1894,  tracing  the different  incarnations  of John Varley  (the  husband of Yeats'  aunt).15  As soon as Besant had acquired  her  astral sight, she joined  Leadbeater  in these  researches, and together  they were able  to  chart  the  previous  lives  of notable  Theosophists,  such  as Olcott and Krishnamurti, by reading the "akashic records". The latter comprise  the  master  plan  of  the  Logos  (the  head  of  the  occult hierarchy)  and contain  a record of everything  that  has happened  in the universe as well as everything that will happen  in  the future.16  In Isis Unveiled  ( 1877),  Blavatsky  conflates  "akasa"  with  "astral  light", which she likens to the "MEMORY  OF GOD", and indicates  that this is  accessible  to  an  adept,  but  she  does  not  represent  herself as reading it.17  Hence for Besant and Leadbeater to claim  to have read the akashic records was an ostentatious display of occult powers.

In this  manner,  Besant and  Leadbeater  were also able to amass detailed histories  of the rise and fall of Atlantis and Lemuria.  Indeed, they allegedly furnished  William  Scott-Elliot with  the akashic material for his book  The Story of Atlantis  (1896).18  In  The  Secret  Doctrine, Blavatsky writes about Atlantis and Lemuria, but the information she recounts  chiefly  derives  from  the  Book  of Dzyan.19   She  comes across  as self-effacing  in  comparison with  Leadbeater  and  Besant, who are  always  centre  stage in  their occult  genealogies  (the  series was  known as the  Lives in the TS)  as a result of belonging  to the prestigious group of "Servers" who  assist  Masters  Morya and  Koot Hoomi. Thus, when they were researching the previous lives of Krishnamurti  (or Alcyone as he is  known in the Lives), 20 they did not have to rely on the akashic records alone as they were able to "throw themselves back into those forms of long ago, and actually live over again those  stirring  lives''.21   Consequently,  Blavatsky's  accounts  of Atlantis  and   Lemuria   seem   like  sober   historiography  when  set alongside the dramatic vignettes of Leadbeater and Besant.

In  a  particularly fanciful  passage  from  Man:  Whence,  How  and Whither (1913), the authors describe their pre-human incarnations on the   moon,22    where   Besant,   Krishnamurti  and   Leadbeater   are monkey- like creatures who serve as domestic animals to the "Moon• man" Master Marya, his wife Koot Hoomi and his child the Maitreya Buddha. This moon family are attacked by "savages", who are accompanied  by animals "resembling furry lizards and crocodiles".  In the melee, Leadbeater saves the infant Maitreya, while Besant throws herself between her Master Morya and a "savage" and takes the blow meant for him, dying with  her head cradled in  his lap. As a reward for her "intense devotion",  Besant  is  enabled  to  make the  karmic  and evolutionary  leap  to  become  a  human  being.23   For  loyal Theosophists,   these   episodes  in  which   Besant   and  Leadbeater devotedly  served  their  Masters  through  the  ages  reinforced  their position  of  centrality  and authority  in  the TS; for their  critics,  on the other  hand,  such  as  A.L.  Cleather,  this  "extraordinary  mixture  of clumsy fairy-tale" and "malicious mumbo-jumbo" was evidence of the self-serving   nature   of  their  "grotesque   Neo-Theosophy".24     

H.N. Stokes,  the  editor  of  the   O.E.   Library  Critic  and  an  outspoken opponent   of  Neo-Theosophy,   ridiculed   Besant  and  Leadbeater's minutely detailed clairvoyant histories and maintained that their "confidence in their visions,  as well as the way in which their followers eagerly  swallow   everything   they  say,  has  grown  to  be  a  huge comedy". 25

Another new venture inaugurated  by Besant and Leadbeater during that esoteric watershed  in August  1895 was occult chemistry.  In an article  published  later  that  year,  Besant  writes  that  the  "delicate senses  of  the  astral  body"  can  perceive  the  "higher  levels  of  the physical  plane,  and bring  under direct ken objects which from their minuteness  or  subtlety escape  ordinary  vision".  Using  astral  sight, Besant ascertained that matter, in addition to the established forms of solid,   liquid  and  gas  was   composed  of  a  further   four  "etheric substates".  By repeatedly  "breaking  up" an "atom  of  a gas", Besant was  able to  isolate the  "ultimate  physical  atom"  (in  other  words,  a subatomic particle she later termed the anu), which she describes as being "astral",  rather than physical, matter. 26

In  The  Chakras  (1927),  Leadbeater   gives  a  strikingly  different account  of  the  technique   of  occult  chemistry.  Invoking  the  yoga tradition,  he  maintains  that  his "etheric"  microscope  is activated  by the  ascension  of  kundalini  through  the  chakras  to  the  third-eyed centre (ajna chakra).  It is through the latter,  Leadbeater asserts, that the power of magnification of minute physical objects is exercised.  A tiny  flexible  tube of etheric  matter is  projected from the centre  of it,  resembling  a microscopic  snake with  something like an eye at the end of it.  This is the special  organ used in  that form of clairvoyance.27

In order to arouse or "vivify" the chakras, Leadbeater writes, "a determined  and a long continued effort of the will" is required.28  But while this was the case for Leadbeater,  Besant vivified  her chakras in a matter of days. Indeed,  according to Arthur Nethercot, when Besant expressed  her desire to try her hand at occult chemistry,  Leadbeater did not suggest employing her etheric microscope or raising her kundalini: "Try!" he exhorted  her, whereupon  Besant dimly perceived something  that she described to Leadbeater  and that he defined as carbon.29

As was the case with  Besant and Leadbeater's investigation of past lives  and  mythical  continents,  their  clairvoyant  analysis  of  chemical elements  was greeted  with  wonder  by their followers  and incredulity by their critics.  The latter  pointed  out the similarities  between Besant and  Leadbeater's  depiction  of  the  anu  and  a  drawing   by  Edwin Babbitt  in   The Principles  of  Light  and  Colour (1878). 30  And  while Leadbeater and Besant confidently claimed that their results would be confirmed  by scientists  in  the future,  Stokes complained  in  1917 that they  had  failed  to  predict  the  "discovery  of  a single  new  chemical element  or compound"  and that "[n]ot  one of the  recent  marvellous discoveries  of chemistry",  such as "radium",  had "been  foreseen  by them".31   Furthermore,  an anonymous  reviewer  of  Occult  Chemistry argued that if Besant and Leadbeater had wanted to prove their clairvoyant ability all they  needed to do was examine and identify a sample  of a chemical  element unknown to them  beforehand,  which could  then  be  confirmed  by  a  scientist.  Since  this  basic  test  was omitted, the reviewer concluded that "they were afraid to apply it and that  they  cared  more  for  enhancing their reputation for  clairvoyant powers among their adoring followers than for the value of their statements". 32

The emphasis on the work of Besant and Leadbeater as superseding that of Blavatsky

By   conducting   clairvoyant   investigations   into   fields   (past  lives, chemical elements) that Blavatsky had not touched, Besant and Leadbeater  seemed  to imply that they were  more psychically  gifted than  Blavatsky.  Though  they  generally  spoke  about Blavatsky  with reverence,  they  often  pointed  out  errors  that  she  had  made.  For instance,  they note that in  The Secret Doctrine  Blavatsky states that the  "fourth  Lemurian  sub-race"  was  "yellow",  whereas  the "established  colour"  was actually  "black". 33  In  the same  book,  they coyly impugn Blavatsky's clairvoyance: "Whether or not the work thus done [in  The Secret Doctrine]  is  reliable is  a question  which must be left for  decision  to future  generations,  possessing  the  [clairvoyant] power which is now used for this purpose",  i.e. occult research.34

Their   intervention   in   the  Mars-Mercury   controversy  provides   a telling   illustration   of  their  willingness   to  contradict   Blavatsky.   In Theosophy,  the monad (the  divine  spark from the Godhead) evolves on a planetary  chain  of seven  globes.  On  each  globe,  the  monad evolves through  seven root races (and between each root race there are  a further seven sub-root races to negotiate)  before  moving  on to the  next   globe;  a  round  is   accomplished   when  the  monad  has evolved through  the seven root races (and the 49 sub-root races) on all   seven  globes   (A   to   G).   The   monad   in   its   current   human manifestation  is in the fifth  (Teutonic) sub-race of the fifth  (Aryan) root race of the fourth  round.  

In  Esoteric  Buddhism  (1883),  A.P.  Sinnett held that our  planetary  chain was composed  of three  visible  planets (Mars,  Earth  and  Mercury)  and  four  in  a  more  ethereal  state  that rendered  them  invisible  to  astronomers.35  In   The  Secret  Doctrine, Blavatsky  calls  this  a  "great  mistake",  and  attempts  to  show  that Sinnett,    who    derived  his    Theosophical    doctrines    from    his correspondence  with  the Masters,  had phrased  his question  to Koot Hoomi   concerning    our  planetary  chain   incorrectly,   and  therefore received  the wrong  answer.  In fact, Blavatsky reveals,  our planetary chain  comprises  seven  Earths,  but only the  most material  (globe  D, our present Earth)  is visible. 36  Blavatsky emphasises the  septenary nature  of  both  the  macrocosm   (the  universe)  and  the  microcosm (man).   The  seven    Earths   on   which   the   monad    develops    are analogous  to the  seven  principals  of man  (see  Figure 4.1 ),  and just as  only  the  present  Earth  (globe  D)  is  visible,  so  only  one  of the principals in man, sthula sarira (the physical  body) is visible,  whereas Sinnett's  scheme   in   Esoteric  Buddhism  upsets   the   old   Hermetic adage:  as above,  so below. 37

Sinnett was  aggrieved  by Blavatsky's public  reproof and  appealed to  Besant to  adjudicate.  Besant  wrote two  contradictory  articles  on the subject  in Lucifer. in her first, which  appeared  in 1893 prior to her collaboration  with   Leadbeater,  she  supported    Blavatsky;    in  the second,  dated  December  1895  after  her clairvoyant  breakthrough  at Box  Hill,  she  endorsed  Sinnett,  asserting  that,  having  read  Koot Hoomi's  original  letter,  Blavatsky was  wrong. 38  Sinnett  later alleged that  Besant  had   used  her  newfound  clairvoyance  and  had  thus definitively  established  that  "Mars  and  Mercury  did  belong  to  our chain". 39   Sinnett   had   fallen  out   of   favour  with   Blavatsky  partly because  he had attempted to contact the Masters without her help, at first via  spirit  mediums  and  then  with  the  help  of  Leadbeater,  whom Sinnett  made   secretary  of   his  London  Lodge.40   Likewise,   while Leadbeater would  later  portray  himself  as  an  intimate  of  Blavatsky, she ostracised  him from her circle in  London,  barred his entry into her Blavatsky   Lodge  and  the   ES,   and   referred   to   him   as   'W.C.' Leadbeater (derisively  reversing  his initials).41  

It was through  Sinnett that  Besant  met  Leadbeater  in   1890;  and  Sinnett  endorsed   their clairvoyant   research,   for   instance,  writing   a   preface   and    an introductory  chapter to  the  second  edition  of  Occult  Chemistry.  In return,   Besant   and  Leadbeater  continued   to   promote    Sinnett's cosmology in their work.42

Besant  had  committed  a  more  wholesale   revision  of Blavatsky's "errors" in the third edition of The Secret Doctrine (1893), which  she edited with G.R.S.  Mead.  An  anonymous correspondent of the  O.E. Library Critic  maintains that Mead  was  '"glamored'  by the  greatness of  Annie"  and  implies  that he  submitted  meekly  to  her  changes.43

Stokes  reports  that in  the  first 400  pages  of the  new  edition  there were  more  than  8,000  changes  from  Blavatsky's  original  published text,  which corresponds  to twenty  changes  per page. While most of the   changes   are  "trivial",   some   "can  only   be  construed   as   ... intentional suppressions and corruptions of the original text". He then quotes Koot Hoomi as affirming: "Every mistake or erroneous  notion corrected and explained by [Blavatsky] from the works of other Theosophists  was corrected by me or under my instruction".44   

The implication  is that  Koot  Hoomi "corrected  and approved"  the whole manuscript  of  The Secret Doctrine,  whereas  what the  Master wrote was   more   specific,   and   applied   to   Blavatsky's  corrections   of Sinnett.45  Stokes  is on firmer ground  when  he  quotes  Blavatsky's preface to The Secret Doctrine,  in  which she asserted that the book was "a partial statement of what she herself has been taught by more advanced  students",  i.e.  the  Masters,  in  conjunction  with  her own occult  studies,   and  was   thus   not  the   product,   as  Besant   and Leadbeater  alleged  above,  of her  doubtful  clairvoyance.46  In  fact, Blavatsky  privately  claimed  to  use  clairvoyance  to  research  The Secret Doctrine,  as can be seen from the following  letter  to Sinnett (May 1886): "Master finds that  it is too difficult for me to be looking consciously  into  the astral light for my S.D. and so ...  I    am made to see all I    have to as though in  my dream".47 The crucial  difference is that,  unlike   Besant   and   Leadbeater,   she   didn't   advertise   her clairvoyance in the text.

The third volume of The Secret Doctrine, compiled by Besant and published posthumously in 1897, was also alleged by her critics to be adulterated.  For instance,  Cleather claims to have  seen some pages of  the   original   manuscript   that   was   "mutilated  almost  beyond recognition" by the "corrections" of Besant, Mead and "others";48 and Stokes writes that Besant '"edited'  it to suit herself',  but concedes that without access to the original manuscript it is impossible to gauge the extent  of  Besant's  emendations.49  The  original  "WUrzburg manuscript"  of  The  Secret  Doctrine,  which  contains  the  history  of notable occultists that was cut from volume one of the 1888 text and subsequently  appeared  in  volume  three,  has now been published.50

Nicholas   Weeks,   who   helped   to   prepare   Blavatsky's  Collected Writings,  notes  that the WUrzburg  manuscript  contains two "typically sharp  criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church  that did not appear in 'SD  111'",  which makes him wonder "how many other 'corrections'  and 'innovations' were made that HPB would not have permitted". 51

In  addition to correcting or editing  Blavatsky's work,  Stokes asserts that Besant and Leadbeater promoted their work over and above that of Blavatsky, whose work was increasingly regarded by Adyar Theosophists   as   heterodox.    Stokes    reprints   a   letter  from   an anonymous   Theosophist   from   Omaha   who   was  "arraigned   and formally tried  for teaching black magic" after setting  up a study group to read The Secret Doctrine.52  In another  column,  Stokes  complains that   in  A  Primer  of  Theosophy  (1909)  Leadbeater   recommends thirteen  books  by himself,  24 by Besant  and only one by Blavatsky, and refers to The Secret Doctrine as a mere "book of reference" that should be consulted only after being thoroughly  indoctrinated in "Leadbeaterian    psychic    hum buggery    and   Besantine  jesuitry". 53

Furthermore,  in the 191 Os,  Stokes recalls,  both "Isis Unveiled and the Secret Doctrine were  out of print,  except  the  editions  issued  by the much maligned  Katherine Tingley,  of Point Loma", who was the head of the Theosophical  Society  in America  (established  by W.Q. Judge after  his split with  the Adyar Theosophists in  1895),  and they  were thus regarded as apocryphal. 54

One  of  the   most   seminal   changes   to   Blavatsky's  Theosophy perpetrated  by Besant and Leadbeater  was their proclamation  that a new World Teacher was imminent, which will be examined  in the next section.

The promotion of Jiddu Krishnamurti as the vehicle for the World Teacher

The   belief   in   the  coming   of   a  Theosophical    messiah,   the  Lord Maitreya,  proved to be one of the most popular and notable tenets of Neo-Theosophy.  In  conventional  Buddhism,  the Maitreya  is the next Buddha, whose coming is predicted when the dharma of the previous Buddha,  Siddhartha  Gautama,  is  forgotten.  The idea  of an imminent incarnation  of the Lord Maitreya  contradicts  Blavatsky's  teaching,  as she  maintained  that the  Maitreya  Buddha  would  not manifest  in  the Kali Yuga,  which  at the  end  of the  nineteenth  century  had another 427,000  years to run.55  Moreover,  Blavatsky  also  affirmed that  any sort  of spiritual   advancement   after  31   December   1899  would   be impossible:  "No  Master  of Wisdom  from  the  East",  she writes,  "will himself  appear  or  send  any  one  to  Europe  or  America  after  that period, and the sluggards will have to renounce every chance of advancement  in  their present  incarnation-until  the year  1975". 56  In his  autobiography,  Yeats  speculates   that  Blavatsky's   embargo  on spiritual  progress  arose  from  a fear  of "heresy";57  in  other  words, Blavatsky  was  attempting  to  forestall  other  Theosophists   after  her death  from  perverting   her  work  by  claiming   inspiration   from  the Masters, which was precisely what Leadbeater did.

According  to  Besant  and  Leadbeater,  the Theosophical  Maitreya had previously  incarnated  in  the body of the mortal Jesus at the time of his  baptism,  and was  henceforth  known  as "the Christ";  prior to that,  he had incarnated  as the Hindu  god Krishna;  and he was now due to manifest in the vehicle of an Indian boy, Jiddu  Krishnamurti, whom  Leadbeater  had discovered  playing  on the beach at Adyar in the spring of 1909. 58 The identification and promotion of Krishnamurti as the  messiah  relied  on the  "Leadbeaterian  psychic  humbuggery" that  Stokes  et al. derided.  For example,  Leadbeater  perceived that Krishnamurti  was destined  for spiritual  greatness  based on the size and quality  of  his aura.59  Next,  he investigated  Krishnamurti's  past lives  and discovered that he was one of the elite  "Servers"  of Marya and Koot Hoomi.60  As a result,  Leadbeater  placed  Krishnamurti on "probation"  with   Koot  Hoomi,  this   being   a  trial   period   prior  to acceptance  as  a  pupil  or  chela.  Each  night after  Krishnamurti  fell asleep,  Leadbeater  would  accompany  him  in his astral  body to the home  of Koot Hoomi,  where Krishnamurti  would receive his lessons, and each morning, the barely literate, Telugu-speaking Krishnamurti, would  make  notes of the  Master's teaching  in  English.  

Leadbeater polished  these  notes  and astrally  precipitated  them  to Koot  Hoomi and the Maitreya for approval prior to publishing them in a booklet, At the Feet of the Master (1911 ). 61

As noted in the introduction,  the term Nee-Theosophy  began to be used  around  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  OSE,  which,  Besant maintained,   was  the  "embryo   of  a  new   religion"  that  would   be formulated  by the Maitreya for the new sixth sub-race of the fifth  root race that had begun to appear in America  and Australia.62  Bhagavan Das,  a teacher at the Central  Hindu College established  by Besant in 1898, conflates the "J.K. cult" and "Alcyone worship" with "neo-theosophy",  which  began  in  "the winter  of  1909-1 O". 63  The  college founded its own Order of the Rising Star to facilitate the coming of the World Teacher and an endless stream of lectures and meetings were conducted  in  the  college   devoted   to   the   "doctrines   of   neo- theosophy". 64

In  "The Growth of the T.S.",  Besant notes  that Nee-Theosophy  is also  associated  with  the investigation  of  past lives,  but  protests that this has been going on for many years. 65  However,  while Leadbeater had been researching  past lives  since the 1890s,  very little  of it  had been   published,   and   the   Lives   only   began  to   appear   in   the Theosophist  from  April  1910  under  the  title  "Rents  in  the  Veil  of Time",  and  prominently  featured  Alcyone  (Krishnamurti).   It  seems significant   that   these   two  seminal   features   of   Nee-Theosophy emerged after the election  of Besant  as president  of the TS in  1907 and the reinstatement of Leadbeater  in  December  1908,  after a well• orchestrated    campaign    by   Besant   to   rehabilitate    Leadbeater's reputation    after   his   resignation    in    1906.    Tillett   observes   that Leadbeater's   oeuvre   falls   into   two   distinct   periods,   before  his resignation  and after his reinstatement,  with  the former works  being more  conventional,   while  the  latter   are   more  fantastic  and  self• aggrandising,  stressing  Leadbeater's  role as  Grand  Panjandrum  of the occult hierarchy. 66

At first, the OSE flourished; a special journal was published to keep track of the coming;  and  Krishnamurti inspired  much adoration  and reverence when he began to appear on the Theosophical circuit. Nonetheless, there were a few notable naysayers, such as Rudolph Steiner,  who  resigned  from  the  TS  in  1913,  taking  most  of  the German    Lodges   with   him,    and   formed   the   Anthroposophical Society.67  During the World Teacher  period,  membership  in the TS more than doubled, reaching a peak of 45,000 in  1928. 68 This date is telling  since  the following  year  Krishnamurti  dissolved  the  Order  of the Star (formerly,  the OSE).69  In  his valedictory  speech, he asserts that it is up to the individual to seek out "enlightenment" for himself, it cannot   be   conferred    by   a   "religion"   or   "sect". 70    Since  1922, Krishnamurti had been experiencing episodes of mystical union, and these had enabled him to formulate his own philosophy that was incompatible with  the occult hierarchy of Theosophy,  with  its  Masters and  initiations.  In  his  speech,  Krishnamurti  pointedly dismisses  the occult "path" as "childish" and proclaims, on the contrary, that "truth  is a pathless land". 71

Since the Maitreya had previously  incarnated  as "the  Christ",  Neo• Theosophists   often   spoke   of  the   coming   of  the  Christ,   which introduced  into the TS an adventist element  that was anathema  to Stokes  and  his  Back-to-Blavatsky  allies.  This syncretism of Christianity with Theosophy will be explored in the final section.

The cross-pollination of Catholic doctrines into the TS through the LCC

Both Besant and  Leadbeater  had ties  to the Christian  Church.  The latter  had been an Anglican  curate  prior to becoming a Theosophist, while  the  former,  despite  her  close  association  with  the  National Secular  Society  in  the  1870s  and  1880s,  had  had  a  passion  for Christian   ritual   as   a   teenager   and  had   almost   converted   to Catholicism.  After Blavatsky's  death both she and Leadbeater  began to publish works  that offered  occult  readings  of Christian doctrines. The best known is their contention that the mortal Jesus was born in Palestine  in  105 BCE, and, after living in  an "Essene  monastery" with an extensive occult library, he made his way to Egypt, where he was initiated  into  the "sublime  Lodge from which every great  religion  has its  Founder".72  At the age of 29, Jesus surrendered  his body for the use  of "the  Christ".  Leadbeater  stresses  that  both  Jesus  and  "the Christ" were human beings, despite their occult pre-eminence,  hence neither  can be regarded  as an incarnation  of the Second  Person of the Trinity. 73 But he bridges the gap with Christianity by asserting that the  "Logos  in  His  Second  Aspect"  was  present  in  the  "monadic essence" of the Christ. 74

There  is  no mention,  at this stage, of the identity  of the Maitreya Buddha with the Christ, but here the seeds were sown for the occult hierarchy  crowned  by  a  tripartite  Logos  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy Ghost,   with   the   Maitreya   Buddha   occupying   the  office   of  the Bodhisattva.  While  Besant  had  previously  mentioned  vague hierarchies of  adepts,  the  capitalised  "Occult  Hierarchy"  makes  its first appearance in  The Changing World (1909),  and though she does not use the word "Maitreya" she speaks of the future Buddha as the "Supreme  Teacher",  who  incarnated  as  the  Christ  and  is  due  to incarnate   in   another  vehicle. 75   This   was   the   year   Leadbeater discovered  Krishnamurti and  began  researching  his  past  lives,  and his  clairvoyant investigations showed that  Besant,  Krishnamurti and himself had worked closely with  Maitreya and the Masters to develop the fifth root race.

The introduction  of an adventist tenet in  the TS paved the way for an even closer marriage of Christianity with Theosophy  in the form of the  LCC,  which,  though  ostensibly  a  separate  organisation,  drew most of its members from the TS and relied on its resources.  In  1913, the  Theosophist   J. I.   Wedgwood   had  been  received  into  the  Old Catholic  Church  in  Britain  (OCC),  which  had  originally  been  allied with  the  Union of  Utrecht,  and  claimed  the  apostolic  succession.76

According   to  the   head   of   the   OCC,  Archbishop   A.H.  Mathew,Wedgwood  had "glossed  over"  the differences between Catholicism and Theosophy, but in 1915, Mathew looked into the matter and concluded     that    Theosophy     was    heretical,    and    asked    the Theosophists  in  the OCC to "withdraw",  which he claims  they did. 77

Nonetheless, the following year, Wedgwood found an OCC bishop (F. Willoughby) willing to consecrate him and became presiding bishop of a  renegade   ace  that   became   known   in   1918   as  the   LCC.78 Wedgwood then secured  Leadbeater's  involvement,  offering the LCC as a vehicle for the World Teacher, and made Leadbeater  a bishop. Leadbeater was delighted to receive the apostolic succession, which, in  his eyes, lent a Christian  imprimatur to the Theosophical coming.79

However,  Mathew  points  out  that  Willoughby  was expelled from the OCC for "gross immorality" prior to his  consecration of Wedgwood, thereby invalidating the apostolic succession. 80

The critics  of Nee-Theosophy  regarded the LCC with  derision.  For instance,   Margaret  Thomas   notes  that   Blavatsky   held  that   the apostolic succession  was a "gross  and palpable fraud" and quotes a letter from  Koot  Hoomi  in  which  he  avers  that  the  "chief cause  of nearly two-thirds of the evils that  pursue humanity" is "religion", and singles out the Catholic Church as being especially culpable.81  W.L. Hare  maintained  that  Leadbeater had  appropriated  the  doctrine  of Jesus being overshadowed  by the Christ from the "so-called Gnostic" Cerinthus,  not noticing that  Blavatsky  had written  about this  in  Isis Unveiled. 82 Stokes repeatedly pointed out the doctrinal contradictions between  reincarnation and Christianity,  karma and the  remission  of sin; and  protested  at the  LCC  propaganda  printed  in Theosophical journals. 83  He was  also contemptuous  of the occult  aspects  of  the LCC  mass:  for  Leadbeater  and  Wedgwood,  who  had  revised  the ritual of the mass in consultation with Maitreya and the Masters, the emphasis  was  on building  up a selfless "eucharistic edifice" on the astral  plane that would facilitate  a "downpouring"  of  "spiritual  force" that would spread through  the "whole district". 84  "You  can be in  your home", writes  Stokes, "or  in  your club, sipping highballs",  either way you can avail yourself of the "Diving blessing" as surely as if you had partaken of the Eucharist in church. 85

Several   priests   and   bishops   in   the   LCC   were   exposed   as paedophiles. Stokes reprinted a letter from an Australian Theosophist T.H.  Martyn  to  Besant,  in  which  he  made  a  series  of  damning accusations concerning Wedgwood and the LCC. On a trip to London in  1919,  Martyn  had  been  informed  that  the  police  were  "taking action"  against  four  LCC  priests  for  paedophilia,  including Wedgwood, who was in Australia.  Besant told Martyn that Wedgwood was  not an  initiate and  asked  him  to convey  a message  from  her demanding   Wedgwood's    resignation.   Back   in   Australia,   though, Leadbeater   affirmed  that   he  and   Besant   had   been   present   at Wedgwood's  initiation  with  the  Masters,  a  contradiction   which,   if exposed,  would  lead  to the  "collapse  of Leadbeater  as an Arhat;  of the  divine  authority  of the  L.C.  Church;  and  of  all  reliance  on  the genuineness  of initiations"; consequently, Besant rescinded her request.86

The following  year,  another  LCC  priest  Reginald  Farrer  admitted that the  accusations  of paedophilia  in  Martyn's letter were  true.  His confession was  duly  reprinted  in the  O.E.  Library Critic,  and  led to Wedgwood's resignation from the TS and LCC. In the same year, Leadbeater  was the subject of a police investigation which concluded that "there are good grounds for believing that ... Leadbeater  is a sex pervert", but there was insufficient evidence for a conviction. 87 Stokes notes that Besant refused to investigate the allegations made against Leadbeater, Wedgwood  and the LCC, but instead "palliated, excused and  even  defended  them,  throwing  over  them  a  veil  of  esoteric glamor". 88

Wedgwood  was  allowed  to return  to  both the TS and the  LCC in 1924.   The   following   year,   he   and   George   Arundale,    a  fellow Theosophist and bishop in the LCC, effectively  advanced  themselves along the occult path, rapidly rising to the fifth  initiation  (the  level  of a Master  or  adept),  generously   adding  that  Leadbeater,  Besant  and Krishnamurti   had  also   been  included   in   the   astral   ceremony.89

Krishnamurti was dismissive  of these  miraculous advances  along the path, and was informed by Arundale  (at the supposed  behest of the Mahachohan)   that  unless  he acknowledged   them  his  brother  Nitya would  die. 90  Nitya  had  been  suffering  with  tuberculosis  for  several years   but  Krishnamurti   had   been  assured   by  both   Besant   and Leadbeater  that the  Masters  would  keep  him alive.  When just  days after Arundale's  threat Nitya  died,  Krishnamurti's  always fragile  faith in the Masters was shattered,  and this eventually led  him to abrogate his  role  as  World  Teacher   in  1929.  With  the  cancellation   of the coming and the death of Leadbeater  in  1934,  the LCC's ties with the TS waned, and when Arundale succeeded Besant as president he abandoned  his LCC activities. 91

*

As   noted   in   the   introduction,   even   Blavatsky   was  accused  of introducing  an  occult  Nee-Theosophy.  In  1888,  a correspondent of Lucifer writes:  'How  is  it  that we  hear  nothing  now of the signs  and wonders  with which  Nee-theosophy  was ushered  in? Is the "age of miracles"  past in  the Society?'92  When asked about these 'miracles' by Moncure Conway  in  1884,  Blavatsky  admitted:  'it is all glamour; people  think they  see what  they  do  not  see'. 93  This  suggests  that Blavatsky used the power of glamour (in sense one) to convince her followers  of the reality of the Masters and the occult impedimenta of Theosophy, whereas for Besant and Leadbeater, having been successfully  glamoured  (in  senses  one  and  three)  by  Blavatsky, glamour   was   largely  an   unconscious   process   by   which   they convinced  themselves  of their occult  powers,  and  this facilitated  a belief in the doctrines acquired through their clairvoyance and astral communication with the Masters. 

At first, these  new doctrines were confined to small TS journals, but after Besant had been elected as president of the TS and Leadbeater had been accepted back into the fold, their clairvoyant investigations of chemical elements and the previous   lives   of  fellow   Theosophists   were   given   much   more prominence and were published  in  book form. The most conspicuous of their innovations was the promotion  of Krishnamurti  as the vehicle for  the  coming  Christ,  which  at  once  introduced  a  new  adventist element (and  led  naturally to the  regrettable  association  of the  TS with  the   LCC)  and  made  of  the  TS  a  millennialist  movement, dependent   on  the  intervention  of  a  messiah   rather  than,  as  in Blavatsky's  scheme,  the working  out of karma  over  aeons  of time culminating  in  reunion with  the Godhead.  The  Krishnamurti  cult led the  critics  of  Besant  and  Leadbeater  to  label  their work  as  Neo• Theosophy  and to maintain that their heterodox doctrines were the result of a glamour they had cast over themselves.

Notes

1 Alfred  Thomas,  Magic  and  Mystery:  A  Popular  History  (London:  W. Stewart & Co., 1894 ), 4 7, 50. I    am indebted to John Patrick  Deveney for alerting me to this earlier usage.

2 See Annie Besant, "The Growth of the T.S.,"  Theosophist 33, no. 10 (July 1912): 506-507.

3 See   James   A.   Santucci,   "The   Aquarian   Foundation,"   Communal Societies 9 (1989): 43-44.

4  Henry  Steel  Olcott,   Old Diary  Leaves,  vol.  1     (London:  G.P.  Putnam, 1895), 379. 

5 Charles  Webster  Leadbeater,   The  Hidden  Side  of  Things  (New  York: Cosimo Classics, 2007), 97-98.

6 See Gregory Tillett,  "Charles Webster  Leadbeater: A Biographical Study" (PhD diss., University of Sydney,  1986), 898, nt 39.

7 Esoteric Section circular issued  by Besant on July 27, 1906,  an excerpt  of which can be found online at "C.W.L.  World," accessed  June 25, 2016, www.cwlworld.info/html/bio.html.

8  Letter  from  Leadbeater to  Besant  (August 29,  1906),  reprinted  in  The Editor of Justice, Madras,  The Evolution  of Mrs.  Besant (Madras:  Justice Printing Works,  1918),  163.

9 Besant letter to Mrs Dennis (February 26, 1906),  reprinted in  ibid.,  120.

10 Quoted  in  A.L.  Cleather,  H.P.  Blavatsky:  A  Great Betrayal  (Calcutta: Thacker,  Spink & Co., 1922),  53-54.

11 See Arthur  H. Nethercot,  The First Five Lives of Annie  Besant (London: Rupert Hart-Davis,  1961 ), 372.

12 See  Charles W.  Leadbeater,  How  Theosophy  Came  to Me: Autobiographical Reminiscences (Adyar: Theosophical  Publishing  House, 1967),  131-33.

13  See  Gregory  Tillett,   Elder  Brother:  A  Biography  of  Charles   Webster Leadbeater (London:  Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982),  63.

14  Leadbeater's  letter  (August  25,  1895)  was  published  as  "Dr  Besant's First Use of Clairvoyance"  in the Theosophist 54 (October 1932):  11.

15  See Arthur  H. Nethercot,  The Last Four Lives of Annie Besant (London: Rupert Hart-Davis,  1963), 48.

16  See  C.W.  Leadbeater,  Clairvoyance  (London:  Theosophical  Publishing Society,  1903),  100,  109.

17 Helena  Blavatsky,  Isis Unveiled,  vol.  1    (New  York:  J.W.  Bouton,  1877), 178.

18  See  Annie   Besant  and  C.W.   Leadbeater,  Man:  Whence,  How  and Whither (Wheaton: The Theosophical Press, 194 7), 126 nt1.

19 The Book of Dzyan, written  in the fabulous  language of Senzar, was kept by the Masters and only illustrious Theosophists,  such as Blavatsky, were permitted to read it.

20 Leadbeater   and   Besant   gave   pseudonyms    to   the   Masters   and Theosophists,   which  enabled  them  to  remain  recognisable  throughout their incarnations and lent to the Lives the intrigue of a roman-a-clef.

21 Annie   Besant  and  C.W.   Leadbeater,   The  Lives  of Alcyone,  vol.   1 (Madras: Theosophical Publishing  House, 1924 ), 7.

22 The Neo-Theosophical cosmology  of Leadbeater and Besant will be discussed  in detail in the next section.

23 Besant and Leadbeater,  Man, 32-33.

24 Cleather,  H.P.  Blavatsky,  18.

25 O.E.  Library Critic 7, 6 (October 31,  1917).

26 See  Annie  Besant,  "Occult  Chemistry,"  Lucifer  17  (November  1895): 211-12.

27 C.W.   Leadbeater,   The  Chakras  (Wheaton:   Theosophical   Publishing House, 2013), 69.

28 Ibid.,  68.

29 See Nethercot,  Last Four Lives, 50. The phrase "Try!"  is  repeatedly used by the Masters  in  The Mahatma Letters to A.P.  Sinnett (1923).  It is also associated with Paschal Beverly Randolph.

30 See Tillett,  Elder Brother, 68.

31  Stokes, O.E. Library Critic 7, 6 (October 31,  1917).

32 O.E.  Library Critic 9, 21  (May 26, 1920).

33 Besant and Leadbeater, Man, 96.

34 Ibid.,  1.

35 See A.P.  Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism (London: TrObner,  1883),  113-14.

36 See Blavatsky,  Secret Doctrine, vol. 1,  186-87.

37 Besant  and  Leadbeater  revised  Blavatsky's  seven  principles  of man, referring to the  second  principle  (prana)  as the  'etheric double',  which was a term occasionally  used by Blavatsky to refer to the third  principle (linga sarira).  In  The Ancient  Wisdom,  Besant  notes that the first three principles  of  her  new  scheme  'function  on  the  physical  plane'  (105), thereby justifying Sinnett's cosmology.

38 See Lucifer,  13  (November  1893): 203 and  17  (December  1895):  271 respectively. See also A.T. Barker's appendix "Mars and Mercury" in The Mahatma Letters (London:  Rider and Company,  1948), 489-93.

39 A.P.   Sinnett,   The   Early  Days   of  Theosophy   in  Europe   (London: Theosophical  Publishing House Ltd., 1922), 94.

40 Sinnett, Early Days, 93, 97, 110-11.

41 See Tillett, Elder Brother, 54.

42 See for instance Besant and Leadbeater, Man, 5-6.

43 O.E.  Library Critic 10,  12 (January 19,  1921 ).

44 O.E.  Library Critic 11, 5 (October 12,  1921 ).

45 Ibid.  See also Daniel H. Caldwell, "The Writing  of  The Secret Doctrine," in The Secret Doctrine  Wilrzburg Manuscript (Colorado: Eastern School Press, 2014),  by H.P. Blavatsky, 333.

46 0. E.  Library Critic 11,  1   (August 17,  1921 ).

47 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,  The Letters of H.P.  Blavatsky to A.P.  Sinnett (London: T.  Fisher Unwin,  1925),  194.

48 Cleather, H.P.  Blavatsky, 75.

49 O.E. Library Critic 10, 7 (November 10,  1920).

50 See David  Reigle, introduction to Wurzburg Manuscript, vii.

51 Quoted in  Daniel H. Caldwell, "The Myth of the 'Missing' Third Volume of The Secret Doctrine",  in  Wilrzburg Manuscript, 375.

52 O.E.  Library Critic 10,  16 (March  16,  1921 ).

53 O.E.  Library Critic 11, 5 (October 12,  1921 ).

54 Quoted  in James A. Santucci,  "H.N. Stokes  and the OE Library Critic," Theosophical History 1,  no. 6 (April  1986):  132.

55 See Helena Blavatsky,  The Secret Doctrine:  The Synthesis of Science, Religion,   and   Philosophy, vol.1  (London:   Theosophical   Publishing House, 1921), 412, 510.

56 Helena   Blavatsky,    "Esoteric    Instructions:    The   Esoteric    Section," Blavatsky  Collected  Writings  Online,  vol.  12,  492,  accessed  June  29, 2016, www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v12/y1890_052.htm. Blavatsky  is  not speaking  here of the  Maitreya,  she  is  referring to the Masters. On the other hand, Blavatsky does mention a "new torch-bearer of Truth"  in  The Key  to  Theosophy (1889) who  will  appear  in  the  last quarter  of the  twentieth  century,  but  Besant  maintains  that  this  is  a "smaller  teacher"  instead  of a World Teacher.  See  her "Growth  of the T.S. ," 507.