Theosophy is the renaissance of ancient spiritualism. Theosophy is Archaic Wisdom-Religion, as taught by Masters and Magi, Sages and Hierophants, Prophets and Philosophers, to the Elect — undisguised by symbols. It is Spiritual Knowledge, reasoned out and corroborated by personal experience. Diogenes Laërtius traces Theosophy to an epoch antedating the dynasty of the Ptolemies. But, in fact, Theosophy is much older: It is the parent stem of Archaic Wisdom. The term was revived in the 3rd century AD by Ammonius Saccas, the Alexandrian Socrates of Neo-Platonism, teacher of Plotinus, and founder of the Eclectic Theosophical System. Briefly, Eclectic Theosophy asserts that: 1. Humanity is a periodic emanation from a single noetic essence and, 2. When by exertion and merit, a mortal soul activates its latent faculties and potencies, it can be re-connected with its immortal noetic origin and source. Hence, the Buddhistic, Vedantic, and Magian or Zoroastrian systems were taught in the Eclectic Theosophical School along with all the philosophies of Greece. It was Theosophy which prompted such men as Hegel, Fichte, and Spinoza, to take up the labours of the old Grecian philosophers and speculate upon the One Substance — the Deity, the Divine All, proceeding from Divine Wisdom. And it was Theosophy that made it possible for great thinkers such as Plotinus, Schelling, and Emerson, to reflect upon man’s divine ancestry. What Theosophy is and is not. By looking inwards at the noumenal worlds and causes, Theosophy is Esoteric Science, par excellence. Exact Science is only concerned with phenomenal worlds and effects. Esoteric Science corroborates Nature’s metaphysics and Divine Laws; Exact Science, Its physics and natural laws. In Its fruition, Theosophy is Inner Knowledge about the divinity of Cosmos and Man, and a noetic progression from the known and knowable, to the unknown and, otherwise, unknowable. And, as such, It lies at the root of every moral philosophy, religion, and science. Theosophy is the world’s tree of knowledge and sum total of all sciences. Sophia is the accumulated wisdom of Divine Beings from the beginning of time, who have willingly accepted the harshness and drudgery of sentient life to help their toiling brothers. Theosophy is not a religion. It is but an analytical science, the ally of every honest religion. Being the culmination and practical demonstration of the Truths underlying every creed, Theosophy is compatible with every religion. It believes in no miracle, whether divine or devilish, and cherishes no anthropomorphic concepts, whether gods or demons. Theosophy discriminates between finite animal man, and Infinite Divine Man, and differs from the Vedantin doctrines. It is not even “esoteric” religion! Every old religion is but a chapter or two of the entire volume of archaic primeval mysteries — Eastern Occultism alone being able to boast that it is in possession of the full secret, with its seven keys. In other words, Theosophy is Religion itself! Loyalty to Truth is Its creed, Brotherhood of all beings, not just men, Its noble aim. Theosophy is Inner Wisdom or Divine Knowledge. It is at the heart of all religions and philosophies from the earliest time to the present day, embracing all domains of mundane knowledge and human endeavour. Yet, It is a practical, and an ethical philosophy, ever transcending self-imposed boundaries to expand consciousness, and to dispel lingering doubts. In short, Theosophy is Supernal Philosophy, Wisdom’s True Love, not mere verbiage. It is a philosophy to live by. Metaphysically, Theosophy is the accumulated testimony and wisdom of the ages. Theosophy is not knowledge of a “God,” It is knowledge of gods, Celestial Knowledge: a shoreless ocean of Everlasting Truth, Love, and Impartiality, monistic through and through. By seeking the One Truth, its allied with the ideals of every seeker of Truth. To fully define Theosophy, we must consider it under all its aspects. By means of Its Golden Precepts, those who are intellectually and ethically fit might gain insights of the inner world of being. There, mystics can see past, present, and future as in a mirror. Theosophy wakes up and frees the Heavenly Man from the clutches of Its outer shadow, so that He can live for others, here on Earth, unconstrained by his earthly jailer, forgetting himself in the midst of the many selves, in the words of a Philaletheian. Ethically, Theosophy is unconditioned love for humanity and for all that lives. Theosophy is philanthropy, par excellence, unconditioned and unreserved love for our fellow human beings and for all that lives, in thought and deed. It alone can restore hope and instil responsibility in a world suffocating from ignorance and its own misdeeds, by mediating between egotism and altruism. Even the great Law of Harmony depends on altruism! Theosophy’s aim and noble mission is to establish a community of spiritual thinkers who, by studying Its precepts and enriching everyday life with Its exalted ethics, can bring about a peaceful realignment of mainstream thought, as a matter of urgency! Warnings to aspirants. Those who do not enter inner life in the Spirit of Brotherhood; Those who try to degrade a noble philosophy into a den for immorality; Those who are ignorant of the dangers of psychic powers; And specially those who have already pledged to live for the World, Beware! Only purity of deed and thought can raise you to the company of your Divine Self.

William Quan Judge cast no one out of the sanctuary of his heart. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was the Knight errant, who fought amid the beating of drums, and the clash and clamour, the excitement and glory of a princely tournament. Blavatsky on Judge: · I trust Judge more than anyone in the whole world. · My heart beats only for the cause you represent so well and serve so faithfully. · He does the Master’s work to the best of his ability. · Nothing that you will do will ever be discountenanced by me, my beloved. · “Lucifer” is Theosophy militant; “Path,” the Star of Peace; the one is combative Manas; the other, shinning Buddhi. There now follow tributes to William Quan Judge by his Students and Friends. While we reverence the Adept, let us not lose sight of the Man, for even in his simplest life he was great. To the children and the humble and lowly in the society, he was a revelation. His devotion never wavered; his anchorage was sure and steadfast, and herein lay his strength. His skill in the performance of actions was marvellous, his executive ability of the highest order. He was never narrow, never selfish, never conceited. He would drop his own plan in a moment if a better were suggested, and was delighted if someone would carry on the work he had devised, and immediately inaugurate other lines of work. His demeanour was uniformly the same: kindly, considerate and self-restrained, not merely in such measure of polite self-control as might be expected of a gentleman, but as if inspired by much higher regards than mere respect for the covenances of good society. Careful deliberation upon things was one of his strongest characteristics. His mind was very active, quick and resourceful in suggestion, but I do not recall having ever known of his trusting its impulses until he had thoroughly weighed and considered them. I trusted him then, as all those whom he trusted; to me it seems that trust is the bond that binds, that makes the strength of the Movement, for it is of the heart. Judge was humble, unassuming, modest, strong, patient, meek, courageous, an organizer beyond comparison, with powers similar to those possessed by Madame Blavatsky, and never using them in any way but to smooth the path for those who desired to follow the road to knowledge. There was no difficulty he would not take infinite pains to unravel, no sore spot in the heart he did not sense and strive to heal. We mourn the tenderest of friends, the wisest of counsellors, the bravest and noblest of leaders. William Q. Judge was the nearest approach to my ideal of a man that I have known. His most lovable trait was his exquisite sympathy and gentleness. No one ever touched a sore spot with such infinite tenderness, and I know many that would rather have been scolded and corrected by Mr. Judge than praised by anyone else. I thank the gods that I was privileged to know him. It was a benediction to call him friend. He was the best of friends, for he held you firmly, yet apart. He realized the beautiful description Emerson gives of the ideal friend, in whom meet the two most essential elements of friendship — tenderness and truth. It is necessary that just those souls in whom we have felt most of reality should disappear from us into the darkness, in order that we may learn that not seeing, but inwardly touching, is the true proof that our friend is there. As I think of what those missed who persecuted him, of the loss in their lives, of the great jewel so near to them which they passed by, I turn sick with a sense of their loss. In him his foes lost their truest friend. His heart was set upon the promise of the future and the song of his soul echoed the music of cycles yet to come. We think of him not as of a man departed from our midst, but as a soul set free to work its mighty mission, rejoicing in that freedom and resplendent with compassion and power. Close up the ranks, and let Fidelity be the agent of heavenly powers. Judge’s head evidenced a high and uniform development of all the faculties, a tremendous will-power combined with gentleness; a thorough practicability and adaptability conjoined to a highly idealistic nature, and a gigantic intellect hand-in-hand with selflessness and modesty. Those who have heard him speak, know the singular directness with which his mind went to the marrow of a subject, the simplicity of his words, the unaffected selflessness that radiated from the man. His sentences were short and plain; his manner cool and quiet: but what he said was remembered, for his words appealed to the sense of truth; they seemed to “soak in,” like the showers which the farmers prize, while a “torrent of eloquence” would have run off, leaving dry ground. Judge was an Occultist. He had the power of self-control, and could subdue the turbulent wanderings of the mind, sit still in the midst of his own nature, supported by his ideal, and view any and every situation dispassionately. He was the soul of unselfishness, honour, generosity, and all the other virtues that men hold so dear in other men. He seemed never to rest, for work was his rest. He swore no one to allegiance, he asked for no one’s love or loyalty: but his disciples came to him of their own free will and accord, and then he never deserted them. but gave more freely than they asked, and often in greater measure than they could or would use. A good homely face and unpretentious manner, a loving disposition, full of kindliness and honest friendship, went with such strong common sense and knowledge of affairs that his coming was always a pleasure and his stay a delight. In other bodies, and known under other names, Judge has played an important part in the world’s history, sometimes as a conspicuous visible figure. At other times, he worked quietly behind the scenes, or, as in his last life, as a leader in a philanthropical and philosophical movement.

Hermes is the Greek god of the Word, of thought and magic, the swift-moving messenger of the Divine and guardian of souls in the Afterlife. In Ancient Egypt he was the majestic god Thoth, the Recorder, the lord of measurement and science, the brother/husband of Isis. In Rome, he was of course Mercury, flying through the Empyrean at the speed of idea by the aid of his winged helmet and boots. In this broad survey of the Hermetic arts, author Jacob Slavenburg brings an unparalleled depth of insight to the subject. He examines the historical Hermetic literature and details its relevance to modern occultism, from the symbolism of architecture and art to the mysteries of Freemasonry. The heavenly mysteries of astrology are explored as are the healing arts which derive from the spirit of scientific inquiry embodied by Thoth/Hermes. Slavenburg examines the magical writings of the Greek papyri and their development into the contemporary magical practices of modern adepts. He sheds light on the workings of alchemy and the esoteric philosophy to the world of modern chemistry and physics. He explores the origin of evil and the realm of the afterlife, and the Hermetic doctrines of reincarnation and karma. In addition, the author provides a wealth of biographical data on the magi of Hermeticsm, from Ficino to Agrippa, John Dee to Giordano Bruno.

Western esotericism has now emerged as an academic study in its own right, combining spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating the humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order. This introduction to the Western esoteric traditions offers a concise overview of their historical development. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke explores these traditions, from their roots in Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up to their reverberations in today's scientific paradigms. While the study of Western esotericism is usually confined to the history of ideas, Goodrick-Clarke examines the phenomenon much more broadly. He demonstrates that, far from being a strictly intellectual movement, the spread of esotericism owes a great deal to geopolitics and globalization. In Hellenistic culture, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, which stretched across Egypt and Western Asia to provinces in India, facilitated a mixing of Eastern and Western cultures. As the Greeks absorbed ideas from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, they gave rise to the first esoteric movements. From the late sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, post-Reformation spirituality found expression in theosophy, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Similarly, in the modern era, dissatisfaction with the hegemony of science in Western culture and a lack of faith in traditional Christianity led thinkers like Madame Blavatsky to look East for spiritual inspiration. Goodrick-Clarke further examines Modern esoteric thought in the light of new scientific and medical paradigms along with the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. This book traces the complete history of these movements and is the definitive account of Western esotericism.

George Robert Stowe Mead (1863-1933) was a major translator, editor, and commentator on Gnostic and hermetic literature and thus a pivotal figure linking the late 19th-century esoteric revival to 20th-century art, literature, and psychology. As a young convert to the new movement of theosophy, he served as private secretary to its co-founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and after founding the European section of the Theosophical Society edited its London journal, Lucifer, for many years. Mead's initial interest in theosophy and Hinduism soon blossomed into a lifelong and wide-ranging engagement with the texts of Gnosticism, neo-Platonism, and hermeticism. His editions and commentaries on previously inaccessible sources became standard works before the First World War and an important source of inspiration to such figures as Jung, Ezra Pound, Yeats, and Robert Duncan. A new entry in the Western Masters Series of concise biographies noting key figures in the Western esoteric tradition, G.R.S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest introduces Mead's life, works, and influences, combining a substantial biography with a collection of his most important writings.

A sizeable minority of people with no particular connection to Eastern religions now believe in reincarnation. The rise in popularity of this belief over the last century and a half is directly traceable to the impact of the nineteenth century's largest and most influential Western esoteric movement, the Theosophical Society. In Recycled Lives, Julie Chajes looks at the rebirth doctrines of the matriarch of Theosophy, the controversial occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891). Examining her teachings in detail, Chajes places them in the context of multiple dimensions of nineteenth-century intellectual and cultural life. In particular, she explores Blavatsky's readings (and misreadings) of Spiritualist currents, scientific theories, Platonism, and Hindu and Buddhist thought. These in turn are set in relief against broader nineteenth-century American and European trends. The chapters come together to reveal the contours of a modern perspective on reincarnation that is inseparable from the nineteenth-century discourses within which it emerged, and which has shaped how people in the West tend to view reincarnation today.

The study of the ideas and practices associated with occultism is a rapidly growing branch of contemporary scholarship. However, most research has focused on English and French speaking areas and has not addressed the wider spread and significance of occultism. Occultism in a Global Perspective presents a broad international overview. Essays range across the German magical order of the Fraternitas Saturni, esoteric Satanism in Denmark, sexual magic in Colombia and the reception of occultism in modern Turkey, India and the former Yugoslavia. As any other form of cultural practice, the occult is not isolated from its social, discursive, religious, and political environment. By studying occultism in its global context, the book offers insights into the reciprocal relationships that colour and shape regional occultism.