Theos-Talk Archives (January 2006 Message tt00019)

1/1/2006 5:02 PM

Subject: Re: Kindly: Mrs. Kingsford

Dear John:

Many thanks for the extensive quotes relating to Mrs. Kingsford. They are
valuable for our records.

Speaking of what is today termed "Theosophy" -- which is deemed by some to
include "Theosophical history" -- let me say: --
 
I know little of this beyond what is recorded in the various documents
quoted -- concerning the interactions between early members of the T S,
students of THEOSOPHY and chelas of the Masters, which had been drawn
together by their Karma to help or hinder HPB and Masters' work. This
produced the developments recorded in and about the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY in
the early days. 

I would venture to say that as long as HPB (with the Masters' backing) was
at the helm, the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY and the THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT
coincided. When HPB was forced out of India in 1884/5 things changed.
Damodar reported that the Masters' influence was ebbing in Adyar. Soon
thereafter he left. Adyar remained only a "shell." Any one can guess at what
followed. The center of activity (HPB) was removed to Europe and then to
London. In America the work of Judge produced an enormous success for the
THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY -- with over 3,000 members of the THEOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY -- more than anywhere else.

I find a careful reading of the early volumes of the pamphlets, books and
magazines then issued provide us all with the kind of hindsight an historian
enjoys. 

Also, to record these is one thing, to interpret them is another. I find on
the whole, that interpretations without the actors presence (to explain
themselves) usually leads present day imagination as to motives, far astray.

I am NOT a historian of personal events and personal opinions. So I am
quite limited to such material as may have been printed or issued by
contemporary writers, participants and observers. I am no interested in
offering my opinions, as the printed words speak now for those who have
died. 

To my mind this kind of review and activity has very little to do with pure
THEOSOPHY. Most of it is the result of the interaction and friction of
personalities. It is, for me, a dead end and a time waste. Lets work in
the present for the future, I say.

I do investigate all I can find that directly relates to THEOSOPHY -- to
make sure I understand and can grasp its premises, basis, philosophy and
present operation -- considering it as a statement of FACTS and LAWS in
Nature (Universe, and our World). So far I can state I am satisfied with
the coherence I have found exists there. But my approach has always been
critical, seeking to make sure that the whole is operating and united in
concept and presentation.

Of necessity, (to answer correspondence) I have had to accumulate and file
documents and records relating to the books: --

THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT (1875 - 1950)

THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT (1875 - 1925)

and the series of articles that were printed in the very early volumes of
THEOSOPHY magazine Los Angeles when Mr. Crosbie edited it.

MAHATMAS AND THEIR MESSAGE	, Vols, 2, 3, 4

THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT, Vols. 8 - 10

and covering a later period: AFTERMATH, Vol. 23	
			

Was it not Alaya who offered this quotation? 

Best wishes for 2006,

Dallas

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-----Original Message-----
From: samblo@cs.com
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 4:15 PM
To: 
Subject: Re: Kindly: Mrs. Kingsford

Dallas,

In your reply to Cass you Post an excerpt:


<<The Theosophical Society in London had nearly collapsed and efforts were

being made to rejuvenate it under the leadership of Mrs. Anna Kingsford. She

had "conditionally" accepted the post of President although there was some

delay in her taking over the office. She was a vegetarian and

anti-vivisectionist, and in one place the Mahatma states that for these

reasons her phenomena were more reliable than those of most well-known

spiritualists. H.P.B. did not have a very high opinion of Mrs. Kingsford.

According to one letter from H.P.B. to Sinnett (LBS, p. 22), it was Massey

who first proposed her name as President of the British Theosophical

Society. Received 6-1-83. <<


In the above I asked who is the person who made this comment:


>>H.P.B. did not have a very high opinion of Mrs. Kingsford.<<


I would like to give a few examples to show it was otherwise:

-------------------------------------------------

1


A HREF=http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-tm/hpbtm-12.htm

H. P. Blavatsky - Chapter 12-Anna Kingsford 5th Rounder

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-tm/hpbtm-12.htm

According to K.H. in the Mahatma Letters, she was a "fifth rounder," a 
technical theosophical term for those persons who have run ahead of the
average 
in evolutionary development, a fact of which she herself had more than a 
suspicion. 

--------------------------------------------

2

In the Mahatma Letters on pages 345-7, K.H. pays Anna Kingsford a high 
tribute for her intuitive seership. Here is one sentence: 

Well may you admire and more should you wonder at the marvellous lucidity 
of that remarkable seeress, who ignorant of Sanskrit or Pali, and thus shut

out from their metaphysical treasures, has yet seen a great light shining
from 
behind the dark hills of exoteric religions. 

-----------------------------------------

3

Anna Bonus Kingsford was President of the Theosophical Lodge of London:

Not long before Olcott reached London in 1884, a complication had arisen in 
the London Lodge in regard to the presidency. Mrs. Kingsford had held the 
office for some time in response to the expressed wish of the Masters as 
indicated to Mr. Sinnett, though H.P.B. had disapproved of her occupation of
the post 
notwithstanding that she was the Masters' choice for the time.

-----------------------------------------------------------

4

H.P.B.'s notice of her death contains the following: 

She was a Theosophist and a true one at heart; a leader of spiritual and 
philosophical thought, gifted with most exceptional psychic attributes. . .
. 
The first and most important [of her books] was "The Perfect Way, or the 
Finding of Christ," which gives the esoteric meaning of Christianity. It
sweeps 
away many of the difficulties that thoughtful readers of the Bible must
contend 
with in their endeavours to either understand or accept literally the story

 

. . . the circle of her mystically-inclined friends will miss her greatly, 
for such women as she are not numerous in the same century. The world in 
general has lost in Mrs. Kingsford one who can be very ill-spared in this
era of 
materialism. -- Lucifer, II, 78-9, March 1888 <<


A
HREF="http://www.theosophical.org/theosophy/books/esotericworld/chapter13/";>
Theosophical Society in America: Chapter 13</A> 

http://www.theosophical.org/theosophy/books/esotericworld/chapter13/

As we sat there I felt the old signal of a message from the Master and saw 
that she was listening. She said: "Judge, the Master asks me to try and
guess 
what would be the most extraordinary thing he could order now?" I said,
"That 
Mrs [Anna Kingsford] should be the President of the London Lodge." 

-------------------------------------

Mrs. Anna Bonus Kingsford (1846-1888), English mystical writer and doctor 
of medicine, was the author (in collaboration with Edward Maitland) of The 
Perfect Way; or, The Finding of Christ (1882), an esoteric interpretation of

Christianity. -Editor.] 


***she also Authored another below (John):


<A HREF="http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/cws/index.htm";>Clothed With The
Sun Index</A>

http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/cws/index.htm

Readers of this forum may be interested in the perspective of Yeats relative

to Anna Bonus Kingsford ( I will only type the URL as my PC crashed earlier 
when I loaded the page, strictly a naunce of my PC not the Yeats Homepage)

W. B. Yeats and "A Vision": The Hermetic Society

http://www.yeatsvision.com/Herm.html

Continueing:

A HREF="http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/maitland1913.htm";>Anna Kingsford,
Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophists by Edward Maitland</A>

http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/maitland1913.htm


The matter went no further at this time; but we were struck by learning 
that Mary had been recognised by the mysterious chiefs of the Theosophical 
Society as "the greatest natural mystic of the present day, and countless
ages in 
advance of the great majority of mankind, the foremost of whom belong to the

last race of the fourth round, while she belongs to the first race of the
fifth 
round." 

Respecting that Society, the then President of the English Branch, our 
valued friend, C. C. Massey, wrote as follows: - 

"For the attitude of the Society towards all the religions of the world, I 
may refer you to the enclosed paper, 'Individuality of Branches,' now being

issued, along with the enclosed circular, to all our members. I believe
there 
would be much opposition among us to giving our own branch a sectarian 
designation or direction. One grand aim of our Society is to show the
underlying, 
or esoteric, identity of all religious philosophies worthy of the name,
and, 
while respecting the particular forms or manifestations of the one truth,
to 
cut away the ground of sectarian antagonism which such partial or disguised

presentations appear to contain. In India, Olcott has busied himself much
with 
what I take to be a Buddhist propaganda, though I believe he would not
admit 
this. Anyhow, there can be no doubt whatever that to Christianity, as 
popularly understood and taught, we are all more or less opposed. We have
two 
beneficed clergymen of the Church of England among us, and they would
probably say 
that the popular form is capable of a true statement, and must be regarded 
as 'dispensational.' That is quite consistent with the discovery in it of a

true system of doctrine, which, however, would be such a 'new departure' as

almost to amount to a second revelation. And that, I believe, would be the 
position accepted by yourselves as the writers of The Perfect Way. And I
think 
you will find the answer to the question, whether that position is 
inconsistent with our regard for the Indian teachings, in the paper about
the 
'Individuality of Branches.' The liberty reserved to Branches cannot be
denied to 
individuals. I cannot, of course, conceal from myself that it is desirable
that 
our President should be in great sympathy with the acknowledged teachers of
the 
Society, - although, indeed, there is no one who is ready and able to teach

us whom we should not be ready and able to acknowledge. Certainly I should 
not accept the statement that we look to 'Koot Hoomi,' or any one else, as
the 
'ultimate source of illumination.' But at present we are studying in his 
school. It will be for our President to read to us the expositions which
come 
from that quarter, and of course we should look to her for a sympathetic,
and 
not a controversial, attitude towards them. That does not prevent her
from 
holding and pointing out any other aspect of truth, even in relation to
them.
"If I hear from Mrs. Kingsford, I may be able to satisfy her and you more 
fully on these points in my reply to her. I infer from your letter that the

return to London will not be just yet, if you find the suitable quarters
for her 
health in the Engadine. We should have to set off the hope for her 
restoration from this residence against the postponement of her appearance
among us. I 
most earnestly trust that the Providence which guards her work will also 
secure her to us as its best agent."
 

The following is from the circular in which Mr. Massey notified the Society 
of his intention to nominate Mrs. Kingsford as its President: -
 

"I have now to give notice of an important proposition, which I shall
submit 
to the general meeting, in the earnest hope that it may meet with general 
and cordial approval, and in the belief that its adoption will conduce to
the 
future vitality, progress, and use of the Society. It is that Dr. Anna 
Kingsford shall be elected President of the Society for the ensuing year.
From 
information I have received, I think there can be no doubt that this choice
would 
be acceptable to those with whom we are most anxious to come into direct 
relations, while the knowledge many of ourselves possess of the genius,
moral 
force, and entire devotion to spiritual ideals of this accomplished lady
seems 
to designate her as the natural leader of a Society with beliefs and aims
such 
as ours. Nor are Dr. Kingsford's scientific attainments an unimportant 
consideration to the body of students who see and desire to trace in occult

phenomena an extension of the range of Natural Philosophy. It may also be 
allowable, in a private letter like the present, to refer to the well-known
fact that 
she is one of the literary authors of that remarkable work, The Perfect
Way, 
or the Finding of Christ. The general resemblance of the ideas there put 
forward to the teachings which we are studying has been expressly
acknowledged by 
our Indian authorities. It is, however, scarcely necessary to observe that 
our selection of Dr. Kingsford will not imply unqualified acceptance of all

her published opinions. We could never have at our head any marked 
individuality, if members supposed that in electing a President they were
so committing 
themselves. On the other hand, as a result of this step, we may expect 
important accessions to our ranks, and a union of forces which have lately
been 
tending in the same direction. It is, perhaps, quite unnecessary to urge a 
recommendation which will, I believe, be generally acceptable; but to all
who may 
think that my long connection with the Society, and intimate relations with

those most completely identified with its interest, entitle my opinion to
any 
consideration, I may say that I have not decided on making this proposal 
without the most careful deliberation and consultation, and that I regard
its 
adoption as of vital importance. It only remains to add on this subject,
that Dr. 
Kingsford herself has, I rejoice to say, given a conditional consent to the

nomination."



The election of Mary as President, and myself as Vice-President, of what 
was subsequently called the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society took
place 
at the first meeting in 1883, which fell on Sunday, January 7. We discovered

in the course of the day that it was the Festival of the Three Kings of the 
East; whereupon Mary made the following entry in her Diary: -

On the 7th of this month I was elected President of the British 
Theosophical Society. The 7th was Epiphany Sunday, the Festival of the
Kings. A strange 
coincidence and augury.
 
"21 Avenue Carnot, Paris, January 11, 1883.

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