Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain "the Divine," and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. Theosophy, as a coherent system of thought, developed from the writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (also Hélène). Together with Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others she founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. A more formal definition from the Concise Oxford Dictionary describes Theosophy as "any of various philosophies professing to achieve a ...

Including:

• Theosophy - Basic Theosophical beliefs
• Theosophy - Consciousness is universal and individual
• Theosophy - Man is provisionally immortal
• Theosophy - Reincarnation is universal
• Theosophy - Karma
• Theosophy - Universal brotherhood
• Theosophy - Evolution
• Theosophy - The Septenary
• Theosophy - A brief history of Theosophy
• Theosophy - Music
• Theosophy - Early 20th-century literary references to Theosophy
• Theosophy - Notes

Read more here: » Theosophy: Encyclopedia - Theosophy

Theosophy:

Religious and philosophical system of the Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky. Its paranormal claims were controversially and damningly reported upon by the Society for Psychical Research in 1885.

(See also: Theosophy, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Theosophy :

Theosophy

A compound Greek word: theos, a "divine being," a "god"; sophia, "wisdom"; hence divine wisdom. Theosophy is the majestic wisdom-religion of the archaic ages and is as old as thinking man. It was delivered to the first human protoplasts, the first thinking human beings on this earth, by highly intelligent spiritual entities from superior spheres. This ancient doctrine, this esoteric system, has been passed down from guardians to guardians to guardians through innumerable generations until our own time. Furthermore, portions of this original and majestic system have been given out at various periods of time to various races in various parts of the world by those guardians when humanity stood in need of such extension and elaboration of spiritual and intellectual thought.

Theosophy is not a syncretistic philosophy-religion-science, a system of thought or belief which has been put together piecemeal and consisting of parts or portions taken by some great mind from other various religions or philosophies. This idea is false. On the contrary, theosophy is that single system or systematic formulation of the facts of visible and invisible nature which, as expressed through the illuminated human mind, takes the apparently separate forms of science and of philosophy and of religion. We may likewise describe theosophy to be the formulation in human language of the nature, structure, origin, destiny, and operations of the kosmical universe and of the multitudes of beings which infill it.

It might be added that theosophy, in the language of H. P. Blavatsky (Theosophical Glossary, p. 328), is "the sub-stratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practiced by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing, Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignorance." (See also Universal Brotherhood)

See also: Theosophy, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Hume wanted to become a chela (student) of the Tibetan spiritual gurus. During the few years of his connection with the Theosophical Society Hume wrote three articles on Fragments of Occult Truth under the pseudonym "H. X." published in The Theosophist. These were written in response to questions from Mr. Terry, an Australian Theosophist. He also privately printed several Theosophical pamphlets titled Hints on Esoteric Theosophy. The later numbers of the Fragments, in answer to the same enquirer, were written by Mr. Sinnott and signed by him, as ...

See also:

Allan Octavian Hume, Allan Octavian Hume - Life and career, Allan Octavian Hume - Theosophy, Allan Octavian Hume - Contribution to ornithology, Allan Octavian Hume - Reference

Read more here: » Allan Octavian Hume: Encyclopedia II - Allan Octavian Hume - Theosophy

Theosophy - Consciousness is universal and individual. According to Theosophy, nature does not operate by chance. Every event, past or present, happens because of laws which are part of a Universal Paradigm. Theosophists hold that everything, living or not, is "impregnated" with Consciousness. This paradigm has been called variously God (nonpersonal), Law, Heaven, the Great Architect, Evolution, and Logos. The term used in this article is "paradigm." See also:

Theosophy, Theosophy - Basic Theosophical beliefs, Theosophy - Consciousness is universal and individual, Theosophy - Man is provisionally immortal, Theosophy - Reincarnation is universal, Theosophy - Karma, Theosophy - Universal brotherhood, Theosophy - Evolution, Theosophy - The Septenary, Theosophy - A brief history of Theosophy, Theosophy - Music, Theosophy - Early 20th-century literary references to Theosophy, Theosophy - Notes

Read more here: » Theosophy: Encyclopedia II - Theosophy - Basic Theosophical beliefs

Theosophy - Consciousness is universal and individual. According to Theosophy, nature does not operate by chance. Every event, past or present, happens because of laws which are part of a Universal Paradigm. Theosophists hold that everything, living or not, is "impregnated" with Consciousness. This paradigm has been called variously God (nonpersonal), Law, Heaven, the Great Architect, Evolution, and Logos. The term used in this article is "paradigm." See also:

Theosophy, Theosophy - The three objects, Theosophy - Basic Theosophical beliefs, Theosophy - Consciousness is universal and individual, Theosophy - Man is provisionally immortal, Theosophy - Reincarnation is universal, Theosophy - Karma, Theosophy - Universal brotherhood, Theosophy - Evolution, Theosophy - The Septenary, Theosophy - A brief history of Theosophy, Theosophy - Music, Theosophy - Early 20th-century literary references to Theosophy, Theosophy - Notes

Read more here: » Theosophy: Encyclopedia II - Theosophy - Basic Theosophical beliefs

Theosophy

A school of thought founded by Helena P. Blavatsky. The term literally means "divine wisdom." The goals of Theosophy are to (1) form a universal brother-hood; (2) do comparative study of world religions, science, and philosophy; and, (3) investigate the psychic and spir- itual powers latent in man. Theosophy is the forerunner of much New Age thought.

(See also: Theosophy, New Age, Body mind and Soul)

Theosophy

Spiritual movement founded by Madam Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, noted for syncretism, world cycles, cosmic initiation, secret masters, evolution to other planets, 1875

(See also: Theosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

THEOSOPHY

Society founded in 1875 by H.P. Blavatsky and Col. H.S. Olcott. Immediate divine illumination. Spiritual insight is superior to empirical knowledge. Specifically, Theosophy is the revelation of HPB that incorporates Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, Platonism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Theosophy proposes "four bodies": the physical, the astral, the esthetic and the Self.

(See also: THEOSOPHY, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Theosophy

A school of philosophy founded by Helena P. Blavatsky. that promotes the ideas of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Annie Besant and others. Objectives are to form a universal brotherhood, investigate man's latent psychic and spiritual powers, and study philosophy, comparative religion and science. The term literally means "divine wisdom. "

The goals of Theosophy are to (

1)    form a universal brother-hood;

2)    do comparative study of world religions, science, and philosophy; and,

3)    investigate the psychic and spir- itual powers latent in man. Theosophy is the forerunner of much New Age thought.

(See also: Theosophy, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

THEOSOPHY:

 Any philosophy that teaches the achievement of knowledge of God (s) by spiritual ecstasy, direct intuition, or a special relationship to the deities.

 The modern traditions based on the teachings of the Theosophical Society which combined Western magickal systems and mysticism with Buddhist and Hindu teachings.

(See also: THEOSOPHY, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Theosophy [from Greek theosophia from theos god, divinity + sophia wisdom]

Divine wisdom, the knowledge of things divine; often described as attainable by direct experience, by becoming conscious of the essential, divine part of our nature, self-identification with the inner god, leading to communion with other similar divine beings. Theosophy actually is the "substratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practised by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being" (TG 328). Also called by such names as the secret doctrine and the esoteric tradition, its teachings have been preserved, checked and rechecked with every new generation of its guardians and adepts.

The word became familiar to Greeks in the 3rd century with Ammonius Saccas and the Alexandrian Neoplatonists or Theurgists, who taught of divine emanations, whereby the entire universe as well as humans and all other beings are shown to be descendants of the highest gods. Theosophist is also applied to mystics in later times such as Eckhart, Boehme, and Paracelsus. It was adopted in 1875 by H. P. Blavatsky and others associated with her at the founding of the Theosophical Society as the name for the modern form of the archaic wisdom-religion which she promulgated. This wisdom-religion "was ever one and being the last word of possible human knowledge, was, therefore, carefully preserved. It preceded by long ages the Alexandrian Theosophists, reached the modern, and will survive every other religion and philosophy" (Key 7-8).

"The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system: e.g., even in the exotericism of the Puranas. But such is the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to set down and explain; in the bewildering series of evolutionary progress, are all recorded on a few pages of geometrical sign and glyphs. The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the soul of things there, where an ordinary profane, however learned, would have perceived but the external work of form. But modern science believes not in the 'soul of things,' and hence will reject the whole system of ancient cosmogony. It is useless to say that the system in question is no fancy of one or several isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood of Humanity. That for long ages, the 'Wise Men' of the Fifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting of continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. How did they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in every department of nature the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts; i.e., men who have developed and perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree. No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions -- so obtained as to stand as independent evidence -- of other adepts, and by centuries of experiences" (SD 1:272-3).

G. de Purucker wrote: "There has existed in the world for almost innumerable ages, a completely coherent and fully comprehensive system of religious philosophy, or of philosophical, scientific religion, which from time to time has been given out to man when the world needed a fuller revealing of spiritual truth than it then at such time had. Further, this wonderful system has been for all those past ages in the safe guardianship of the relatively perfected men . . . [the mahatmas]; and, still further, the present Theosophical Movement is, in our age, one of such fuller revelations or renewals of that wonderful System" (ET 33-4).

One of the mahatmas referring to the guardianship of the divine wisdom, wrote: "For countless generations hath the adept builded a fane of imperishable rocks, a giant's Tower of Infinite Thought, wherein the Titan dwelt, and will yet, if need be, dwell alone, emerging from it but at the end of every cycle, to invite the elect of mankind to co-operate with him and help in his turn enlighten superstitious man. And we will go on in that periodical work of ours; we will not allow ourselves to be baffled in our philanthropic attempts until that day when the foundations of a new continent of thought are so firmly built that no amount of opposition and ignorant malice guided by the Brethren of the Shadow will be found to prevail" (ML 51).

See also THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

(See also: Theosophy, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Early in the 1920's, the cook at the American Theosophical headquarters café, Alice A. Bailey (1880-1949), began writing Neo-Theosophical literature which she claimed to be receiving telepathically from a Master later to be reveiled as Djwal Khul (spelled by her 'Djwhal Khul'). This Master, she said, was the one responsible for the revelation of esoteric truth in our time. In the past, he had worked through Madame Blavatsky, a co-founder of the Theosophical Society, to whom he had dictated substantial portions of the material presented in h ...

See also:

Djwal Khul, Djwal Khul - A Theosophical Mahatma, Djwal Khul - Role in Neo-Theosophy and New Age, Djwal Khul - Tentative Etymology, Djwal Khul - Sources

Read more here: » Djwal Khul: Encyclopedia II - Djwal Khul - Role in Neo-Theosophy and New Age

In Theosophy, the whole process is very complex. A round is a part of a planetary chain, according to which a life cycle or life-wave of souls or monads begins its evolutionary journey on the first and most subtle or spiritual of the series of seven or ten globes; then finishing its evolution there, proceeds to the next, and so on, to the densest or most manifest globe (usually called globe D), which in our case is the Earth. From there it proceeds on the ascending arc, through increasingly more etherial globes. Each of these stages is called a globe round, and during this ...

See also:

Round Theosophy, Round Theosophy - The Theosophical concept of rounds, Round Theosophy - The Anthroposophical concept of rounds, Round Theosophy - The Rosicrucian concept of rounds

Read more here: » Round Theosophy: Encyclopedia II - Round Theosophy - The Theosophical concept of rounds

Whilst the Eastern esoteric traditions emphasise a single subtle body (apart from the Vedantic concept of five koshas), in the West (beginning with Neoplatonism) the emphasis has often been on a series of subtle bodies or vehicles (okhema) of consciousness. This reached its most detailed and systematic account in the writings of C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant, who established the Adyar School of Theosophy. They described in detail the seven bodies, and established many of the themes that would be canonical in "new age" thought. The ...

See also:

Subtle body, Subtle body - The yogic body, Subtle body - The subtle body in Theosophy, Subtle body - The human energy field, Subtle body - The subtle body in Anthroposophy, Subtle body - The subtle body in Rosicrucianism, Subtle body - Projection and exteriorisation, Subtle body - Other interpretations, Subtle body - Perceiving the subtle body

Read more here: » Subtle body: Encyclopedia II - Subtle body - The subtle body in Theosophy

Rudolph Steiner retained the basic concept of root races and seven-fold cycles within cycles, but his description is considerably simpler, concentrating only on the seven cycles of the present Solar System. Each of these cycles constitutes a coming into being and passing out of being of the solar system, and each is divided into seven rounds, upon which man passes through seven root races. Each of Steiner's seven rounds is related to a metamorphosis of the Earth: Ancient Saturn During the Ancient Saturn round ...

See also:

Round Theosophy, Round Theosophy - The Theosophical concept of rounds, Round Theosophy - The Anthroposophical concept of rounds, Round Theosophy - The Rosicrucian concept of rounds

Read more here: » Round Theosophy: Encyclopedia II - Round Theosophy - The Anthroposophical concept of rounds

Blavatsky used the term "astral" to refer to the double (linga sharira) which was the lowest but one of the seven principles (immediately above the physical). Later however, C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant (Adyar School of Theosophy), and following them, Alice Bailey, equated the astral with Blavatsky's Kama (desire) principle (the fourth of the seven principles of man, and called it the Emotional body (a concept not found in earlier Theosophy). In this way, astral body, desire body, and emotional body became synonmous, and this identification is found i ...

See also:

Astral body, Astral body - The astral body in Neoplatonism, Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy, Astral body - The desire body in Rosicrucianism, Astral body - Later interpretations, Astral body - The astral body in generic New Age thought, Astral body - Artistic depictions

Read more here: » Astral body: Encyclopedia II - Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy

Nicholas Roerich and his wife, Helena Roerich, inspired by the Theosophical writings of H.P. Blavatsky published the "Agni Yoga" series of books, with contents inspired by the Mahatmas, or Masters of the Great White Brotherhood from their stronghold in the Himalayas Shambhala. ...

See also:

Great White Brotherhood, Great White Brotherhood - Esoteric Christianity, Great White Brotherhood - Ancient Occultism, Great White Brotherhood - Eastern Esotericism and Theosophy, Great White Brotherhood - Russian sect, Great White Brotherhood - Relevant external links

Read more here: » Great White Brotherhood: Encyclopedia II - Great White Brotherhood - Eastern Esotericism and Theosophy

Theosophia.

See THEOSOPHY

(See also: Theosophia, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)