And the H stands for...

The Theosophical Society was founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in New York in 1875 with the purpose of investigating, studying and explaining mediumistic phenomena, which was very popular at that time. After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai). There, they also became interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society's agenda. In addition to the stated objectives, as early as 1889 Blavatsky told a group of students that the real purpose of establishing the Society was to prepare humanity for the reception of the World Teacher when he appeared again on earth (!) in approximately a hundred years' time. Among other groups the Theosophical Society is linked to the Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross.

Madame Blavatsky was born in Russia and was married at 17 to a 40 year old man. She ran away back to her grandfather's house, but missed her ship, so she started traveling the world. She is said to have visited Egypt, France, Canada, England, South America, Germany, Mexico, India, Greece, and Tibet where she studied for two years with the men she called Brothers and was initiated.

After this trip she went to the US and based her career on her psychic abilities and mediumship. Throughout her career she claimed to have demonstrated physical and mental psychic feats which included levitation, clairvoyance, out-of-body projection, and telepathy. Her most famous book is Isis Unveiled, where she states that humanity descends from a series of non-human "root races" that evolution over time, until the 7th one. The fourth one, where we come from, originally came from Atlantis.

After her death in 1891, the Society split. The original organisation led by Olcott and Annie Besant* remains today based in India and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar. The other group further split into a faction led by Katherine Tingley, and another associated with Ernest Temple Hargrove. While Hargrove's faction no longer survives, the faction led by Tingley is today known simply as the Theosophical Society, but often with the clarifying statement, "international headquarters, Pasadena, California".

And the old banyan tree that I visited grows in the garden of the original society next to Madame Blavatsky's bungalow.

And yes, the H in H.P. Blavatsky stands for Helena... (freaky freaky)



*As an aside, Francisco I. Madero, Mexico's first president and one of the starters of the Mexican Revolution is said to have been very much into occult phenomena, specifically spiritism. He was deeply influenced by the theosophical ideas of Annie Besant, Madame Blavatskys succesor as leader of the Society. In his diaries he tells of a spirit "José" who told him he would embark on a democratic crusade for the bettering of Mexico. This is why he wrote La sucesión presidencial en 1910 (The Presidential Succession of 1910) that would lead to the Mexican Revolution. (For more on this: http://www.letraslibres.com/index.php?art=5664)

(NOTE: This whole story made me think of Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, a very entertaining book if you haven't read it...)