Theosophical Society in America

The Theosophical Society in America is a theosophical organization that emerged from the Theosophical Society (TG) founded in New York in 1875 . The split took place on April 28, 1895 under William Quan Judge . In the course of time it changed its name several times and "trades" today under the Theosophical Society Pasadena .

prehistory

On November 17, 1875, Helena Blavatsky , Henry Steel Olcott , William Quan Judge u. a. in New York City the Theosophical Society (TG). Olcott became President and Judge General Secretary of the new organization. Blavatsky and Olcott left the United States in late 1878 and relocated the TG headquarters to Adyar in India . Judge stayed in New York and ran the TG in the USA . In October 1886 the American Section of the TG (ASTG) was established in New York and Judge was elected its General Secretary. ASTG was subordinate to the headquarters in Adyar. Judge traveled and lectured numerous times that led to the establishment of new branches and centers in the United States. As a result, the ASTG grew from around 12 lodges when it was founded in October 1886 to 101 lodges by the time it separated from Adyar.

After Blavatskys died in 1891, Olcott announced his intention to step down as president of the TG in Adyar. The ASTG and the European Section then proposed the TG Judge as a successor. The European section believed Olcott had officially resigned and elected Judge as new president. When Olcott found out about this, he revoked his intention to resign. These confusions led to mutual distrust and accusations that poisoned the TG climate. The situation was further exacerbated by Annie Besant , who brought new tensions to the TG with her Hindu orientation and gradually gained influence. On April 28, 1895, the ASTG declared its exit from the TG and elected Judge as its president for life.

Only 26 lodges remained in the ASTG and thus with Olcott, 75 lodges went with Judge and founded the Theosophical Society in America (Theosophical Society in America (TGinA)). This declared itself to be independent of the TG in Adyar ( judge case ). Further divisions followed, each claiming to represent "true" and "genuine" theosophy.

Olcott then excluded the separated groups from the now Theosophical Society Adyar (Adyar-TG) called TG and on July 5, 1895 recognized the 26 lodges remaining with him. These continued to be managed and reorganized by ASTG, which is subordinate to Adyar, under its new Secretary General Alexander Fullerton .

TGinA under Hargrove

Judge granted the individual lodges and centers of his organization extensive autonomy. In the last year of his life, the TGinA grew back to around 100 boxes. He left no succession plan. At a convention in New York in late April 1896, Katherine Tingley proposed Ernest T. Hargrove as (transitional) president and successor to Judges.

Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society

On January 13, 1898, Tingley founded the International Brotherhood Organization (IBO = International Brotherhood Organization ) in New York . At a congress in Chicago on February 18, 1898, Tingley was elected President of the IBO and the TGinA and the TGinA was subordinated to the IBO. From then on, both of them operated together as the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society (UBTS) with Tingley as President. At this congress she was given comprehensive powers, which gave her complete control over all centers and lodges of the TGinA including their management teams.

For Judge, the realization of the esoteric - occult - religious ideas of theosophy was in the foreground, Katherine Tingley expanded this building with social and educational aspects. As a result, several theosophical groups and lodges turned away from the UBTS in the first years of their presidency to found their own organizations.

On February 13, 1900, Tingley moved the headquarters from New York to Point Loma near San Diego in California , where they built a theosophical world center and the theosophical community of Lomaland . Later the name Theosophical Society Point Loma (TG-Point Loma) for the UBTS was established.

Divisions

Hargrove did not recognize his dismissal at the Chicago Congress on February 18, 1898, declared it illegal and convened its own congress in another room. On this, his supporters elected AH Spencer as president of the TGinA and declared the statutes, which Judge had given the TGinA on April 28, 1895, as trend-setting. The group had 200 followers. 5800 remained with Tingley. As a result, there were two TGinAs: the Tingley TGinA, which has been called UBTS since the Congress, and the Theosophical Society in America .

At the end of 1898 there was a second split when Francia A. La Due and William H. Dower left the UBTS lodge in Syracuse to found the Temple of Humanity , which was soon joined by other UBTS lodges.

The Theosophical Society of New York , also known as the Independent Theosophical Society , left the UBTS in 1899 under JH Salisbury , Donald Nicholson and Harold W. Percival in order to continue theosophy in the sense of Judges.

Alice L. Cleather left the UBTS in 1899 and her followers later founded the Blavatsky Association in London .

Robert Crosbie left UBTS in 1904 and founded the United Lodge of Theosophists (ULT) in Los Angeles in 1909 .

In addition, there were a number of other insignificant or only briefly existing start-ups. Some lodges also joined the ASTG, and thus the Adyar-TG under Olcott.

Theosophical Society Point Loma

After the death of Katherine Tingley on July 11, 1929, Gottfried de Purucker was appointed president of the UBTS governing body on July 26, 1929. On September 1st of this year he changed the name from UBTS to Theosophical Society (= Theosophical Society (TG)). Since this led to confusion with the Adyar-TG, one spoke generally of the TG-Point Loma . In addition to changing the name, Purucker also changed course and granted the lodges and centers the greatest possible autonomy.

Theosophical Society Covina

On June 29, 1942, Purucker sold Lomaland for financial reasons and moved its headquarters to Covina , to a much smaller, and cheaper, location. From then on the group was called TG-Covina . After Purucker's death on September 27, 1942, Iverson L. Harris took over the management. Arthur L. Conger was appointed new president on October 22, 1945 .

Covina had to be abandoned for financial reasons. In 1950 and 1951 the company moved in several stages to Pasadena and Altadena , to 3 separate, smaller domiciles, where the company is still located today (2006); the name was now Theosophical Society Pasadena . After Conger's death in 1951, James A. Long was elected as the new president after a controversial election that sparked further division. After his death in 1971, Grace F. Knoche (born February 15, 1909) assumed the presidency, and after her death on February 18, 2006, Randell C. Grubb (born August 1, 1951) assumed the office.

Further divisions

In the dispute over the succession of Congers between William Hartley and James A. Long , Long prevailed and became president of the TG-Pasadena. Disagreements in the election of Long led to a split in the TGinA due to the resignation of the Dutch section under its president DJP Kok in 1951. The Dutch example was followed by other TG Pasadena lodges worldwide.

To distinguish themselves from the TG-Pasadena, the retired lodges called themselves Theosophical Society Point Loma-Covina . Both groups TG-Pasadena and TG-Point Loma-Covina exist to this day (2006). The TG Point Loma-Covina has no actual headquarters, but every lodge is based on the guidelines from the period up to 1951.

literature

Bruce F. Campbell: Ancient wisdom revived, a history of the Theosophical movement . University of California Press, Berkeley 1980, ISBN 0-520-03968-8 .
Johannes Fährmann: Theosophists and the Theosophical Society . Treasury Publishing House, Buenos Aires 1950.
Leonhard Johannes Frohnmeyer, Alfred Blum-Ernst: The theosophical movement, its history, presentation and assessment . Calwer club bookstore, Stuttgart 1923.
Joseph H. Fussell: Incidents in the history of the theosophical movement, founded in New York city in 1875 by HP Blavatsky, continued under William Q. Judge, and now under the direction of their successor, Katherine Tingley . Aryan Theosophical Press, Point Loma 1920.
K. Parvathi Kumar: The Theosophical Movement . Edition Kulapati, Wermelskirchen 1996, ISBN 3-930637-07-3 .
Otto Penzig: Theosophy and the theosophical society . Pieper, Düsseldorf 1921.
Theosophical Society (ed.): The Theosophical Society, Pasadena . Theosophical Society, Munich 1986.