THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. A society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (q.v.) in New York, November 17, 1875, assisted by Colonel Henry S. Olcott, William Q. Judge, and others. Its objects were: (1) To form the nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity; (2) to study and make known the ancient re ligious. philosophies, and sciences; (3) to in vestigate the laws of nature and to develop the divine powers latent in man. Blavatsky left New York, December 17, 1878, and went to India, accompanied by Colonel Oleott, where a system of propaganda was organized and nu merous branches were formed. Judge remained in New York, and built up the society in the United States. He formed a strong branch, the Aryan Theosophical Society, in New York City, of which he was president. Madame Blavatsky left the Theosophical Society as an international body with headquarters at Adyar, India, and with three sections: the Indian, comprising the Orient: the English Section, having jurisdiction over Europe; and the American Section for America. Olcott, at Adyar, was president; Judge, at New York, viee-president. Each section had a general secretary—Bertram Keightley, of Adyar, of the Indian; G. R. S. Mead. of London, of the English; and Judge, of New York, of the American Section. There was an inner body, the Esoteric Section (E. S.), at the head of which was Madame Blavatsky. At her death she was succeeded by Judge and by Annie Besant, of Lon don, jointly, both supposedly mouthpieces of an unknown master, the real head of the theo sophical movement. Charges of fraudulent use of this master's name were preferred against Judge by Mrs. Besant. These charges. though never proved, caused a split between the sup porters and opponents of Judge. In Boston, in April, 1895, the American Section almost unani mously declared its autonomy as the "Theo sophical Socieh• iu America" (T. S. in A.), with Judge as president. It had about 150 branches in the United States with several thousand ac tive members. In so far as these members be longed to the Esoteric Section, they recognized Judge as the outer head (the real head being the unknown master), and, following their ex ample, those theosophists throughout the world who believed the charges false formed inde pendent bodies in their separate countries, called respectively the Theosophical Society in England (T. S. in E.), in Sweden (T. S. in S.), in Aus
tralia, etc.
The society under Olcott kept up its organiza tion. though the English and American sections were much weakened. Mrs. Besant remained the head of that Esoteric Section which was con nected with the society under Olcott. Judge died March 19, 1896, leaving his society in a flourishing condition, hut with no successor as head of the Esoteric Section, or the T. S. in A. Katherine A. Tingley then obtained recognition, first from a few members, and through skillful advances from the bulk of the society, as the successor of Blavatsky and of Judge. and as the leader of the theosophical movement throughout the world. Many members at once left the T. S. in A., and more dropped out as she gradually changed the policy of the society. At a conven tion in Chicago, in February, 1898, she formed "The Universal Brotherhood Organization," of which she was the absolute ruler, and the pos sessor of all its property. Of the remnants of the T. S. in A. she made a literary department of her "Universal Brotherhood." The headquar ters in New York City were abandoned and she took her remaining followers, not more than a dozen of the old members of the T. S. in A., to Point Loma, near San Diego, Cal., where she formed a colony. Mrs. Tingley caused the life of the branches of the T. S. in A. to become gradually extinct. A few members exist here and there, but are not active. The theosophical movement continues, however, on the one hand as the organization under Olcott, as president, and on the other, under the form of independent local societies, recognized as theosophical by their adherence to the three objects of the society founded by Madame Blavatsky. The most active of these independent societies is called "The Theosophical Society, New York," and has ex isted since 1898.