Blavatsky Lodge

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Blavatsky Lodge (German: Blavatsky Loge ) is the name for an English lodge of the Theosophical Society Adyar (Adyar-TG). Her full name is The Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society .

history

The Blavatsky Lodge was founded on May 19, 1887 in London by 14 members of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society . It was the second official theosophical lodge in England after the London Lodge, and the third in Europe, after the Germania Lodge in Germany. Before it was founded, a number of members of the London Lodge had invited Helena Blavatsky to London. She arrived in London on May 1, 1887, coming from Ostend and stayed until her death on May 8, 1891. Blavatsky's presence brought Archibald and Bertram Keightley had the idea of ​​founding a theosophical lodge independent of the London Lodge, which was to be entirely devoted to the work and person of Blavatsky. The idea met with approval from other members of the London Lodge and was then put into practice. It is unclear whether the deed of foundation required for the establishment was issued by Henry Steel Olcott , then President of the Theosophical Society, or whether it was signed by Blavatsky himself.

The most important feature of the Blavatsky Lodge compared to all other theosophical lodges was the weekly presence of Blavatsky himself. Every Thursday there were discussion and question sessions between visitors and members on the one hand and Blavatsky on the other. After a few months there was a real rush, the discussion rounds were so well attended, in 1890 the lodge had 300 members and was by far the largest lodge in Great Britain when Blavatsky's death in 1891. The results of these conversations later appeared under the title Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge and contain a number of explanations of Blavatsky's main work The Secret Doctrine .
Before the publication of Blavatsky's works The Secret Doctrine , The Voice of Silence and The Key to Theosophy, members of the Blavatsky Lodge provided the transcription and were editorially involved in all issues of the magazine Lucifer .

From 1890 Annie Besant was president of the Blavatsky Lodge. In 1905 the membership was 400 people.

In November 1889 Mahatma Gandhi first visited the Blavatsky Lodge and met Blavatsky and Besant there. Two members of the lodge also recommended that Gandhi read the Bhagavad Gita , which he did in common with them, which seemed to him "of inestimable value".

The lodge still exists today, it is part of the English section of the Adyar Theosophical Society (Adyar-TG).

swell

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theosophical-society.org.uk
  2. ↑ According to Katinka Hesselink , these members are said to have been Bertram and Archibald Keightley .
  3. ↑ Charles Freer Andrews (Ed.): Mahatma Gandhi, My Life . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1983, ISBN 3-518-37453-2 . Page 48f.

literature

  • Helena Petrovna Blavatsky: Secret Doctrine Commentary, Stanzas I-IV, Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge . Theosophical University Press, Pasadena 1994, ISBN 9781557000286

Web links