Scholarly receptions

03 Nov., 2025
last change: 10 Jan., 2026

2025: App, Urs: The Mother of all Religions. The Genesis of Blavatsky’s Theosophy: Ancient Theology, Orientalism, and Buddhism. Preview.
“Given the fact that even before the publication of her first major work (Isis Unveiled) Blavatsky referred to Buddhism as the “wisdom religion” underlying “all religions in their purity,” it is surprising that numerous authors write about a single “oriental shift” that supposedly took place after Blavatsky’s arrival in India in early 1879.”

Review by Hanegraff, Woulter J.: “This empirical-historical method – bottom-up historiography and textual criticism – allows Urs App to establish beyond a shadow of doubt that Blavatsky did not have any first-hand familiarity with Tibetan Buddhism, as she famously claimed; that she invented her famous Mahatmas and those mysterious occult orders in which she said she had been initiated; that her ideas about Oriental Wisdom were based not on the Indian or more specifically Buddhist traditions she encountered in India but on Western Spiritualist and Orientalist literature about those traditions; and that her entire oeuvre is based on one single obsession – to prove the existence of a primordial wisdom tradition, “the mother of all religions,” which she imagined as a kind of Buddhism prior to and independent of historical Buddhism.” 

Review by Introvigne, Massimo: Theosophy’s Literary Skeletons: Urs App and Madame Blavatsky’s “Mental Furniture”
“App’s achievement is staggering. He has done what no one else dared: traced, chronologically and obsessively, every book, article, and letter Blavatsky ever wrote, cross-referencing them with the sources she borrowed from—often without acknowledgment, occasionally without understanding. The result is a forensic map of Theosophy’s textual DNA, claiming that Blavatsky’s spiritual edifice was built not on Himalayan revelations but on a library of 19th-century curiosities, spiritualist pamphlets, and Orientalist misfires.”

“Some of these sources are familiar—Allan Kardec, for instance, whose influence on Blavatsky’s early spiritualism, appropriately, elevates. Others are more obscure, like Godfrey Higgins, whose obsession with a primordial religion becomes, in App’s telling, Blavatsky’s own idée fixe. She called it “Budhism with one d,” “the mother of all religions,” a mythical ur-faith predating historical Buddhism, corrupted by priests and institutions, and glimpsed only through the foggy lens of esoteric speculation. It was, for Blavatsky, the mother of all religions. For App, it was the mother of all misreadings.”

“But App is not content to merely list sources. He animates them. Louis Jacolliot, the flamboyant fraudster; Heinrich August Jäschke, whose Tibetan dictionary became Blavatsky’s linguistic crutch and sometimes comic foil; and a parade of Orientalists whose reputations have faded but whose fingerprints remain on Theosophy’s sacred texts. App revives these characters with flair, showing how their ideas—sometimes brilliant, often bizarre—were repurposed by Blavatsky into a spiritual system that claimed to be ancient but was, in fact, aggressively modern.”

“App argues, with prosecutorial zeal, that not only did Blavatsky plagiarize, but so did the Mahatmas—the mysterious Oriental adepts who allegedly wrote letters to Theosophists. These letters, App insists, are riddled with errors about Hinduism and Buddhism, and borrow liberally from Western Orientalist literature. He believes the conclusion is inescapable. The Mahatmas were figments of Blavatsky’s imagination, dressed in robes and footnotes, and paraded as divine authorities in a grand act of spiritual theater.”

“This is where the irritation sets in. App’s scholarship is unimpeachable, but his tone is less so. He claims neutrality, but his narrative drips with judgment. Blavatsky is not just mistaken; she is deceptive. The Mahatmas are not just mythical; they are fraudulent. And Madame’s system is not just syncretic; it is intellectually bankrupt.”

Comm.: Those pundits miss three points, 1. that the selection of then current Western texts are not the doctrines itsself, but only the exoteric expressed essence, with the try to build a bridge, an offer and a signpost, not the path itself, therefore are not syncristic, but comparative approaches; 2. The adepts do not know anything about copyright and nobody of them makes personal claims, they deal rather with knowledge than forms, they focus on the fruit, not its peel; 3. They assume that Blavatsky’s possession of secret doctrines implys that she a priori must have been able to express them in a Western language which has no words and terms to express it. The three points were mentioned by Blavatsky and her teachers themselves, but are overlooked by the Western dead-letter pundits until today. Why?

2025: Hanegraaff, Woulter J.: Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge. “Rejecting this “rejection of rejected knowledge” means restoring the suppressed to its legitimate place in history and cultural analysis.”

2025, Univ. of Potsdam: Schütz-Zimmermann, Nathalie: Die Funktion der Atlantis-Rezeption in J. R. R. Tolkiens Númenor zwischen Empirie und Phantasie. Fn. 225: “Auch die Theosophie Helena Blavatskys und die daraus hervorgegangene Anthroposophie Rudolf Steiners beanspruchten, etwa durch die Inanspruchnahme von Darwins Evolutionstheorie und durch Techniken zur Wahrnehmung von menschlichen Auren (Photographie, Röntgenstrahlung), den Anschluss an die neuesten Entwicklungen der Naturwissenschaft. Dementsprechend lehnen esoterische Weltdeutungen wissenschaftliche Standards ab, übernehmen aber deren Sprache und Apparaturen, um glaubwürdig zu erscheinen und oszillieren zwischen Wissenschaft und Glauben; vgl. Zinser, Hartmut: Esoterik, in: Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart Online, 2018, [URL]: https://doi.org/10.1163/2405-8262_rgg4_SIM_04647.”
– Comm.: While Schütz-Zimmermann claims a priori that Blavatsky and Steiner reject science but adopt its findings in order to be coherent and credible, she has neglected to allow the defendants to have their say. They say that it is the other way around, that today’s science uses ancient esoteric concepts but misunderstands them (atoms and monads are confused, evolution begins with animals instead of with the gods, etc.). That is why they are not against science, but only against its errors. For this reason, many scientific findings, often from outsiders, are also inspired by adepts who are given new ideas in dreams. In this way, Blavatsky was able to anticipate scientific discoveries that actually later became reality (the death blow for materialistic science before 1897 [with the discovery of the x-rays by Röntgen], that the atoms are not the smallest building blocks in nature – , astronomical recordings of radio signals, the discovery of new scrolls in the 20th century or the world wars in her article Karmic Visions).

2025, SHWEP: Charles Stang and Jason Josephson-Storm on Theosophy and the Study of Religions. Quote 1: “What if the scientific study of religions, a.k.a. Comparative Religions, History of Religions, and so forth – the academic discipline wherein the academic study of western esotericism largely finds its home – was founded by, well, western esotericists? In this interview we examine the history of the history of religions with two historians of religions and find the Theosophical Society right there at the beginning.”
Quote 2: “In our episode introducing Madame Blavatsky with Marina Alexandrova she mentioned that HPB and the early Theosophical movement more generally were instrumental in forming the modern discipline which travels under names like the History of Religions, Religious Studies, Comparative Religions, and so on. In this episode we put that intriguing notion to the test in a detailed way, speaking with historians of religions Charles Stang and Jason Josephson-Storm on precisely this topic. A conference held at Harvard on ‘Theosophy and the Study of Religion’ led to a number of interesting papers being presented, these papers led to a book (Brill, 2024, cited in full below), and the book led to this interview.” […] “The Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, secret Theosophical lodge of the initiates.”

The writing-out-of-history of the Theosophical Society remains (despite much excellent research emerging at the moment) one of the great cultural occlusions or acts of forgetting of the twentieth century. The forgetting of the Society’s central role in the foundation of the scientific study of religion means that this episode tells what will be, for many people, a secret history of the field of religious studies.”

2025, Københavens Univ.: Rudbøg, Tim: H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophy in Context: The Construction of Meaning in Modern Western Esotericism

2025, Københavens Univ.: Rudbøg, Tim: Didactic esotericism among the ancients. Paper presented at ESSWE10, Vilnius , Lithuania. Abstract: “This paper argues that the use of secrecy in antiquity is a complex phenomenon that cannot be confined to a specific typology. The notion that ‘Greek secrecy’ was merely a strategy for achieving prestige is too simplistic, especially within the context of the religious and philosophical traditions of Pythagoreanism and Platonism. By contextualizing the use of secrecy and tracing its roots to the mystery religions, it becomes evident that secrecy often served as a pedagogical strategy intertwined with specific religious and philosophical practices and epistemologies that go beyond the rational vs. irrational binary. Secrecy, or the withholding of knowledge, was employed until the student was deemed ready to comprehend or recognize the next step, which the teacher, master or hierophant would then reveal.

A common thread runs through the mystery religions, early Pythagoreanism, and Plato’s philosophy, indicating that true knowledge or realization was an ineffable, internalized insight achievable only through special initiation practices or philosophical preparation. This knowledge was not purely rational or irrational. This supreme insight was considered secret not because it was forcibly withheld, but because it was inherently ineffable. This paper proposes the idea that the use of secrecy in antiquity, particularly Greek secrecy, was often a deliberate application of didactic esotericism. This type of didactic is crucial for understanding not only the didactic practices of early Greek religious and philosophical traditions, but also the fundamental distinction between esoteric – exoteric knowledge that still is at the root of much “esotericism”. Finally, this paper suggests that future studies on both secrecy and esotericism should consider this original didactic context. By examining the pedagogical strategies of the ancients, one can by consequence archive better understanding of how secrecy functioned and continues to function as an educational tool, facilitating the transmission and preservation of so called esoteric knowledge.” Profile.

2025, Københavens Univ.: Rudbøg, Tim: Crossing the Boundaries in Esotericism. Abstract from XXIII International Association for the History of Religions World Congress, Kraków, Poland. Abstract: “The academic study of esotericism has both fostered many significant perspectives on the plurality of religion and spirituality in European culture and contributed to important knowledge about occultism, magic, theosophy, kabbalah, hermeticism. More recently, however, the global has been more fully embraced in esotericism studies and local contexts hitherto unexplored have equally been given attention. Related to this, new methodological challenges have also emerged. Thus, a discussion and exploration of how we approach esotericism when it crosses boundaries is needed. These can be geographical, cultural, traditional or academic boarders and categories. This panel seeks to engage with examples of a variety of methodological approaches to different esoteric currents, ideas and practices in which esotericism has crossed boundaries.

Some examples could be: When Theosophy became a part of Scandinavia, did it take on a particularly Scandinavian form, adapting to the societal structure and concerns at the time? Are the so-called occult arts a global phenomenon? Is occulture or aesthetic products inspired by esotericism a part of esotericism or only entangled with esotericism? Are OTO, Wiccan and Golden Dawn rituals taught and practiced in the same way in the Nordic countries, or around the world? Are normative perspectives regarding deviance, normalcy, gender, the environment and esotericism the same or different around the world? This panel hopes to explore such questions. While this SNASWE panel is particularly dedicated to studies on esotericism in a Nordic context and studies undertaken in Nordic contexts, it also seeks to explore the topic beyond those boundaries.” Profile.

2025, Københavens Univ.: Rudbøg, Tim: Altered States of Consciousness in Theosophy and Related Esoteric Currents. Abstract from International Theosophical History Conference: Altered States of Consciousness in Theosophy and Related Esoteric Currents, Athens, Greece. Profile.

2025, Københavens Univ.: Rudbøg, Tim: Foreword. In A. Savinainen (Ed.), Pekka Ervast Biography. Profile.

2025, Københavens Univ.: Rudbøg, Tim: H. P. Blavatsky’s “A Bewitched Life”: Nightmare Tales and Occult Practice in the Nineteenth Century. Advances in Nineteenth-Century Research: The Journal of the International Nineteenth-Century Studies Association. Profile.

2024, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, Julie Mattos-Hall (Chajes): The Silent Treatment: Helena P. Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence and the Construction of Theosophical Scripture, in: Nova Religio, Volume 27, Number 4, May 2024, pp. 5-30.

2024: Stang, Charles: Theosophy and the Study of Religion. AI Abstract: “The paper explores the intersection of Theosophy and religious studies, detailing the historical context and significant figures involved, particularly focusing on Genevieve Ludlow Griscom’s legacy in establishing Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions. It examines how Theosophical beliefs influenced modern religious studies and acknowledges both the contributions and challenges in interpreting these intersections.”

2023: Rudbøg, Tim : H. P. Blavatsky’s Later Reception of Hindu Philosophy in The Secret Doctrine, in: Journal of Contemporary Study of Religions 5 (2023). Detailed analysis of the integration of Hindu philosophies (Nyāya, Sāṃkhya, Vedānta) into theosophical “Esoteric Philosophy”.

2023: Lange-Berndt, Petra: Fidus: Celebrity Artist of the völkisch Movement, in: kritische berichte 51, 2023, Nr. 3 (Mitteilungsorgan des Ulmer Vereins – Verband für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften e.V.)

2022: Bigalke, Bernadett: Tempeltanz der Seele, in: Goetschel, E. (Hrsg.): Fidus-Bilder. Zürich: Montsalvat. 2022. S. 103–120.

2022, Univ. of Heidelberg: Harlass, Ulrich: The Theosophical Reception of Buddhism, in: IZSAF 07/2022, pp. 193-233.

2022: Hanegraaff, Wouter J., Brach, Jean-Pierre, Pasi, Marco: Antoine Faivre (1934–2021). The Insider as Outsider, in: Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism Band 22 (2022), p. 167–204.

2022, Univ. of Vienna: Kaufmann, Kira: Zeugnisse des Okkulten: Literatur und Esoterik im Wiener Fin de Siècle. Dissertation, 552 pp. Abstract, quotation: “Die Restriktion und Exklusivität von Wissen ist um 1900 speziell, die theosophischen Logen und Zirkel spielen eine wichtige Rolle, denn sie erreichen auch Frauen, denen der Hochschulzugang nicht erlaubt war. Somit zieht sich die Frage nach Verbindungen weiblicher Autorschaft und Okkultismus wie ein roter Faden durch die neun Kapitel.” As book 2025, Böhlau Wien, 552 pp.

2022, Univ. of Zürich (UZH): Mühlematter, Yves: Accelerating human evolution by Theosophical initiation. Annie Besant’s Pedagogy and the Creation of Benares Hindu University. Berlin: De Gruyter. Abstract, quotation: “The primary goal of this dissertation is to investigate the “hybridization processes” that arise from the encounters between Indian and Non-Indian Theosophists and Non-Theosophists, and to consider how these processes are reflected in the Sanâtana Dharma Text Books, the textbooks of the Central Hindu College.In 1898, the English Theosophist Annie Besant (1847-1933) and the Indian Theosophist Bhagavan Das together founded the Central Hindu College, Benares, which became the nucleus around which the Benares Hindu University was instituted in 1915.”

2022, UT Austin: Dr Marina Alexandrova on H.P. Blavatskys Travellogs. “Dr. Alexandrova is currently working on a monograph about Helena Blavatsky’s legacy in Russia. Read her commentary on the controversies surrounding the publication of Blavatsky’s complete works, “The Unveiling of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,” which is part of the German-Russian Research Project on New Age in late Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In 2021, Dr. Alexandrova gave two interviews about Helena Blavatsky’s life and works for the Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast and a talk for the Theosophical History Conference.”

2022: Lindtner, Dr. Christian: Aggersborg Tantram. With an obituary by Radha Raghunathan, in: The Adyar Library Bulletin, vol. 85, 2021. His website jesusibuddha.com.

2022, MLU Halle: Emmrich, Martin: Spiritismus in Deutschland. Andrew Jackson Davis zwischen Republikanismus, freier Religion und Wissenschaft im langen 19. Jahrhundert. Dissertation.

2022: French, Aaron: Parallel Metaphors in Theosophy and Transhumanism, in: Religio. 2022, vol. 30, iss. 1, pp. [25]-43. Abstract: “In The Singularity Is Near (2005), pioneering transhumanist Raymond Kurzweil described the end goal of a six-epoch evolutionary cosmogony, claiming that “once non-biological intelligence gets a foothold in the human brain … the machine intelligence in our brains will grow exponentially … Ultimately, the entire universe will become saturated with our intelligence. This is the destiny of the universe”. A hundred years earlier, Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, rolled out her own evolutionary cosmogony in The Secret Doctrine (1888), in which the “spiritual nature” of human beings, along with the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, as well as the chemical elements, are all developed through a complex cyclic progression of seven planetary stages, linked together via “rounds” and “chains,” culminating in the spiritualization of all matter in the universe.

At a glance, it may seem these two conceptual models, separated by years of history, have little to do with one another. Yet as I argue in this paper, the contemporary ideas of transhumanists share the logics of turn-of-the-century theosophists and theosophically informed esoteric groups, albeit in a reductive, materialistic, and technologically deterministic mode. Both intellectual expressions are anchored in a historical context awash in new forms of technology and scientific advancement and therefore share in the utopic hopes and apocalyptic nightmares about the transformation of human bodies and human consciousness. To highlight these similarities, I use three case studies: the Temple of the People in Halcyon, California; the prognostications of Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophical Society; and G. I. Gurdjieff’s notion of the “machine man”. These case studies point to a link between the logics and use of metaphors in esotericism and transhumanism – the one religious, the other scientific – as well as the application of evolutionary principles to the developing stages of human consciousnesses and the cosmos.”

2022: Chajes, Julie: Nothing Personal: Blavatsky and Her Indian Interlocutors, in: Numen 2022, Band: 69, Heft: 1, Seiten: 27-60. Abstract: “The Theosophical Society was an influential transnational religious movement founded by H. P. Blavatsky and others in 1875. With its theology of the impersonal Divine, Theosophy was particularly influential on the New Age, which inherited a propensity to see the divine in impersonal terms. Offering a corrective to the recent historiographical tendency that focuses solely on Theosophy’s Western aspects, this article analyzes Blavatsky’s written “conversations” on the nature of the Divine with two Indian Theosphists, T. Subba Row (1856–1890) and Mohini Chatterji (1858–1936). Contextualizing these discussions both globally and locally, it reveals Blavatsky’s engagement with Subba Row’s Vedantic reading of John Stuart Mill and her concurrent rejection of Mohini’s Brahmo-Samaj inspired theism. The article considers the power dynamics that lay behind these negotiations. It argues that they involved a mutual drive for legitimacy and were the result of complex transcultural encounters that resist reductionist historiographical tendencies.”

2021: Hanegraaff, Julian: Western Esotericism and the Orient in the First Theosophical Society (2021), in: Theosophy across Boundaries. Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement. Edited by Hans Martin Krämer and Julian Strube. Comm. by Prof. Hanegraaff: “I have to say I’m quite proud of this piece, which is about how strongly the “First Theosophical Society” differed from the international organization that it became after 1879. As I’ve noticed there are some misperceptions floating around about how I look at such topics as the “West” and the “East”, Orientalism, or Theosophy and esotericism as a global phenomenon, hopefully this article will put them to rest.”

2021, Jagiellonian Univ. & Univ. of Silesia: Hess, Karolina M. & Kasperek, Andrzej: Struggle for Recognition. Theosophy in Early 20th Century Warsaw. ABSTRACT: “The present study focuses on the activities of the first Polish Theosophical group, which for many reasons was never fully institutionally recognized. It was active from around 1905 and concentrated around Kazimierz Stabrowski (1869–1929), a Polish painter and the head of the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. The aim of this paper is to sociologically analyze this esoteric environment in Warsaw, which is treated here as an example of a cultic milieu from the perspective of visibility and recognition. Referring to the category of rejected knowledge (anomalies or the “cultural rubbish bin”) and using the case of Stabrowski and other members of the group, the authors highlight their efforts in the struggle for the recognition of their ideas in various environments and trace the process of their exclusion. Further, they examine the status of the Theosophical current in the public discourse of the time, which was undoubtedly related to the scope of Theosophy itself, which largely focused on the liminal aspects of hu-manity and cognition.”

2021, Univ. of New York Press: Krämer, Hans Martin and Strube, Julian (editors): Theosophy Across Boundaries: Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement

2021: Marina Alexandrova Introduces Madame Blavatsky. “The Theosophical Society was an immensely influential, seminal, and innovative spiritual/cultural movement/organisation, bringing together many of the leading intellectuals and esotericists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries across the world. Its historical importance can hardly be overstated, but in this interview we learn some of the perhaps-surprising events put in motion by this extraordinary global organisation. Perhaps most revolutionary was the move to ‘the East’, in which HPB and friends founded a world headquarters for the Theosophical Society in Adyar, India…”

2021: Strube, Julian: Towards the Study of Esotericism Without the ‘Western’: Esotericism from the Perspective of a Global Religious History, in: Egil Asprem & Julian Strube (Eds.): New approaches to the study of Esotericism. (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 17.) Leiden; Boston: Brill, 45–66.

2020-2023, Univ. of Heidelberg: Albrecht, Jessica: Theosophie und englischsprachige Frauenbildung im kolonialen Ceylon. Eine Untersuchung zu Genderfragen im Kontext von Religion und Nation in globalgeschichtlicher Perspektive

2021, Univ. of Heidelberg: Harlass, Ulrich: Die orientalische Wende der Theosophischen Gesellschaft: Eine Untersuchung der theosophischen Lehrentwicklungen in der Zeit zwischen den Hauptwerken Alfred Percy Sinnetts. Augmended edition of the 2019 dissertation. Preview.

2021, Univ. of Vienna: Rem, Paula: Elements of Jewish Theosophy in the Film Cloud Atlas. Abstract both in German and English, quotation: “The objective of this paper was to identify Jewish theosophic elements within the film. Many narrative and visual aspects of the film fit well within the Jewish theosophic cosmological picture. Finally, I conclude that the symbols, motifs, dialogues and character development present in the film point towards a Jewish theological interpretation.”

2020, Univ. of Erfurt: Schwaderer, Isabella and Waldner, Katharina (Hg.): Annäherungen an das Unaussprechliche. Ästhetische Erfahrung in kollektiven religiösen Praktiken

2020, Univ. of Heidelberg: Perovic, Jovana and Albrecht, Jessica A.: Writing biographies on female religious leaders: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Annie Besant between a “search for truth” and “self-discovery”’, En-Gender! 2:1 (2020), pp. 49-62.

2020, Univ. of Vienna: Leeb, Prof. DDr. Rudolf & Schweighofer, Dr. Astrid: Die Geburt der Moderne aus dem Geist der Religion?

2020, Kotkowska, Karolina Maria (Hess): Władysław Reymont’s Fascination with Occultism: Biographical and Artistic Threads, in: Literary History Vol. 52, No. 171 (2020), 75-100. Abstract: “Władysław Reymont (1867-1925) won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1924; praised for his unique insight into peasants’ life, realism and positivistic vibe, he is rarely considered an author interested in esoteric currents. A period of his travel as a medium, his attendance at the congress of The Theosophical Society in England, were marginalized and shown as unimportant events during his troubled life. The analysis of the author’s own statements, and tracing esoteric-related motifs in his works, show that the Reymont’s own views of his works, and esotericism itself, were quite different. It is not the first time that the biography and intentions of the author tell a different story than contemporary textbooks. The paper traces Reymont’s fascinations in Eastern thought, Theosophical current, and Spiritualistic experiments , which were reflected in his works.”

2020, Rudolf Steiner Archive: The History of the German Section of the Theosophical Society 1902-1913, in: GA 250. German edition.

2020: Oxford University Press: Rudbøg, Tim und Sand, Reenberg Sand, Erik (editors): Imagining the East: The Early Theosophical Society.
Ch. 6: Godwin, Joscelyn: The Mahatma Letters, pp. 133–156. Abstract: “This chapter deals with the so-called Mahatma Letters allegedly originating from Koot Hoomi and Morya. It systematically analyzes the two original recipients of the letters, Allan Octavian Hume and Alfred Percy Sinnett, showing how they became interested in the Eastern Masters and their teachings. Next the chapter explores the arrival of the letters, problems regarding their publication, and the physical letters themselves. The content of the letters is analyzed to see what they might tell us about the characteristics of the Masters. Helena Blavatsky’s role in the production of these letters is considered from various aspects, as is the purpose and effect of the myth of the Masters.”

2020, California State Univ., Northridge: Bisheff, Maurice: Theosophy And Ecological Consciousness

2020: Ferguson, Christine: The Luciferian Public Sphere: Theosophy and Editorial Seekership in the 1880s, in: Victorian Periodicals Review 53.1 (2020): 76–101.

2020, Univ. of Tübingen, Bigalke, Bernadett: Krankheitslehren, Heilkonzepte und therapeutische Praktiken in Theosophie und Mazdaznan in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts

2019: Bigalke, Bernadett: Healthy, Happy, Holy: ‚Yoga‘ und Selbstverhältnisse um 1900 und um 1970, in: Siegfried, D.; Templin, D. (Hrsg.): Lebensreform um 1900 und Alternativmilieu um 1980.

2019, Univ. of Oxford Press: Chajes, Julie: Recycled Lives: Reincarnation in H. P. Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine, 18 pp. Review by Frédéric Tremblay. New edition of 2017: Julie Chajes: Reincarnation in H. P. Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine.

2018: Kaartinen, Marjo: Vera Hjelt and the calling of theosophical universal work, 1894–1904, in: Approaching Religion 8, no. 1 (2018): 17–30.

2018, Rice Univ., Prophet, Erin: Hermetic Influences on the Evolutionary System of Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophy, in: Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies. Quote from theabstract: “The sources of root race theory have been sought in Eastern contexts due to its use of Hindu and Buddhist terminology, though scholars have noted its Western esoteric influences. This article argues that the primary structure of root race theory is based in the Corpus Hermeticum. It identifies some of Blavatsky’s Hermetic sources, showing that she referred not only generally to a perennialist “Hermetic philosophy” that incorporated Western esoteric tropes, but also to specific Hermetic texts. These texts provided the organizing matrix of root race theory, specifically its creation mythology, support for prior androgyne human existence, a “fall into matter,” and the initial ensoulment of humans with mind, or nous. It also provided a template for the future transformation of humans into divine beings. The article builds on the suggestions of Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2013) and Brendan French (2001) to elaborate on the role of Hermetic influence in Blavatsky’s reconfiguring of evolution as a novel form of salvation for an empirically-oriented nineteenth century audience.”

2018: Yildirim, Cüneyd: Sufismus als Esoterik, in: Zeitschrift für junge Religionswissenschaft 13 (2018). Abstract: “In most older, comparative studies of Sufism the term esoteric appears in addition to mystic, yet there is no theoretical justification for this. The following article aims to present a theoretical basis for the use of esoteric in the context of Sufism with the help of two models of Jan Assmann. The focus here is on the analysis of the structure of Sufi knowledge with reference to some classics of Sufi literature. The theory of the twofold religion (religio duplex) of Assmann as well as his characterisation of the Alexandrian Hermetism both serve as heuristic models. The proposed approach to the study of Sufi epistemology further enables the analysis of the power that is constituted by that knowledge.”

2018, Univ. of Heidelberg: Seifferth, Frank: The Sources of Madame Blavatsky’s Writings. Seminarprojekt. Key Points: Focus on Plagiarism: The core of Seifferth’s project is exposing the uncredited borrowing from other authors in Blavatsky’s foundational texts. Source Tracing: He traces the subject matter of Blavatsky’s work back to its origins, highlighting the lack of credit given. Critique of The Secret Doctrine: Seifferth argues that The Secret Doctrine is filled with plagiarized content from contemporary books, presenting them as ancient wisdom.

2018: Kotkowska, Karolina Maria (Hess): Annie Besant and Poland, in: Friends of Theosophical Archives (FOTA) Newsletter, No. 8, 2018, p. 24-31.

2018: Viswanathan, Gauri: In Search of Madame Blavatsky: Reading the Exoteric, Retrieving the Esoteric, in: Representations, Vol. 141 No. 1, Winter 2018; 67-94.

2018: Hüttig, Albrecht: Anthroposophie in der Esoterikforschung – ein wichtiges Zeitphänomen? RoSE – Research on Steiner Education. Abstract: “Western research on esotericism has developed methods which make possible a well-grounded academic description, as well as a critical discourse with respect to esoteric content/s. Most of the researchers in this field have adopted a phenomenological approach and thus do not judge esotericism from an externally imposed perspective on reality. The cultural significance of Western esotericism is emphasized, as well as its epistemological qualities, and connections and contrasts to traditional scientific assumptions are drawn. The question of whether research on esotericism requires an esoteric practice has been controversially discussed, as has, for example, the distinctions which have been made between Western esotericism and non-Western esoteric practices. Anthroposophy as a subject of research has not received the same attention as Theosophy which can be explained by its historical origins in Theosophy. Anthroposophy can be characterized as a phenomenological approach which is descriptive, differentiated and critically based. A discourse between Anthroposophy and research on esotericism and Anthroposophy only began in recent years and has been characterized by an openness for dialogue, a self-reflective approach to Anthroposophy and a willingness to view Anthroposophy in the mirror of academic research on esotericism in a critical manner. One can hope that this dialogue will be intensified and that special attention will be paid to the fact that Anthroposophy is not an historical, but a contemporary esoteric practice in which the freedom of the individual is viewed as central. Its highly differentiated epistemology invites and encourages dialogue and discourse.”

2018, Univ. of Cape Town (UCT): Bester, Dewald: H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy, And Nineteenth-Century Comparative Religion

2017, Correspondences: Chajes, Julie: Reincarnation in H. P. Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine. 2019 as Recycled Lives: Reincarnation in H. P. Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine; review by Frédéric Tremblay.

2017, Univ. of Amsterdam (UvA), Correspondences: Hanegraaff, Wouter J.: The Theosophical Imagination (2017)

Univ. of Vienna: Hirschegger, Benjamin: Michael Endes “Die unendliche Geschichte” als geheimer Schulungsweg in “höhere Welten” im Sinne Rudolf Steiners. Abstravt both in German and English, quotation: “The thesis at hand compares and contrasts the young people’s classic The Neverending Story to a set of selected theories and concepts by Rudolf Steiner, an alternative-esoteric scientist, whose ideas spread with the help of the anthroposophical society, which he founded at the beginning of the twentieth century. Both Michael Ende’s novel and Rudolf Steiner’s assumptions appear to comprise significant mechanisms, structures and procedures that could best be described with the phenomenon of a secret training towards a supreme knowledge and thus towards gaining access to a ‘supreme world’.”

2017, Mejiro University: Mortson, Darrin Douglas: The Wake of Indra. Finnegans Wake and Buddhism, in: Humanities Research No. 13, 2017, pp. 137-158. “The first section reviews and broadens the research of Eishiro Ito and other scholars on Joyce’s connection to the Theosophical Society and his early reading of A Buddhist Catechism by Henry Steel Olcott. This section argues that while Joyce was initially influenced by the Theosophical Society, his interest in esotericism soon compelled him to explore the original sources beyond the Theosophical writings. The second section also follows Ito in examining the influence of A.P. Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism. Sinnett’s esoteric system is contrasted here with standard Buddhism, and possible allusions to Sinnett’s work are located Finnegans Wake. The third section looks at references to Buddhism in Finnegans Wake within the scholarship of James Atherton, Adaline Glasheen, Roland McHugh and others.”

2017: Strube, Julian: Occultist Identity Formations Between Theosophy and Socialism in fin-de-siècle France, in: Numen, vol. 64, No. 5–6, pp. 568–595

2017: Strube, Julian: Socialism and Esotericism in July Monarchy France, in: History of Religions, vol. 57, No. 2, 2017, pp. 197–221

2017: Josephson-Storm, Jason Ananda: The Myth of Disenchantment. Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences. 400 pp. Section in ch. 4: Theosophical Disenchantment: Helena Blavatsky.

2016: Massimo Introvigne: New Religious Movements and the Visual Arts, in: Nova Religio 19(4), 2016.

2016: Massimo Introvigne: ‘Theosophical’ Artistic Networks in the Americas, 1920–1950, in: Nova Religio 19(4), 2016.

2016, Univ. of Erfurt: Bigalke, Bernadett: Lebensreform und Esoterik um 1900: Die Leipziger alternativ-religiöse Szene am Beispiel der Internationalen Theosophischen Verbrüderung (Dissertation), 573 pp.

2016: Strube, Julian: Socialism, Buddhism, and Theosophy, in: Fin-de-Siècle France.

2016, Univ. of Stuttgart: Schmidt-Steffes, Daniel: Theosophie, Kosmologie, Geometrie. Rudolf Steiners Erkenntnistheorie und Goethes Farbenlehre in der Kunst der Moderne. Dissertation.

2016: Mattos-Hall (Chajes), Julie and Huss, Boaz (ed.): Theosophical Appropriations: Esotericism, Kabbalah, and the Transformation of Traditions

2016, Ben Gurion Univ.: Lubelsky, Isaac: Friedrich Max Müller vs. Madame Blavatsky: A chronicle of a (very) strange relationship, in: Boaz Huss and Julie Chajes (Eds.): Theosophical appropriations: Theosophy, Kabbalah, and the transformation of traditions. Jerusalem, pp. 73–92.

2015: Hanegraaff , Wouter J.: Theosophy in Secret Germany. – On Melchior Lechter, the Stefan George circle, and the Swastika symbol. AI-generated Abstract: “The paper explores the interplay between Theosophy, the artistic milieu of the early 20th century, and the countercultural movements surrounding the figure of Stefan George and Melchior Lechter. It examines how these individuals and their networks positioned themselves against the materialism of bourgeois society, promoting a vision of art and spirituality that challenged contemporary norms. The analysis reveals Lechter’s dual influence as both an artist and a Theosophist, illuminating the hidden dimensions of esoteric beliefs in his work and the broader artistic discourse of the time.”

2015: Haas, Cornelia: From Theosophy to Buddhism, in: Individualisierung durch christliche Mission? Herausgegeben von Martin Fuchs, Antje Linkenbach und Wolfgang Reinhard. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz 2015, S. 504-519.

2015, Univ. of Exeter: Lavoie, Jeffrey. Saving time: time, sources, and implications of temporality in the writings of H.P. Blavatsky. Thesis.

2015: Univ. of Sydney: Boag, Alan Morgan: Concealed and Revealed: Madame Blavatsky’s “Lost Word” Key and Esoteric Eschatology in the Teachings of J. Krishnamurti. Thesis. Abstract: This study traces the development of the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti through the primary source material of his first writings in 1912 until he left the Theosophical Society in 1930, as well as his post-Society published work until his death on 17 February 1986.

2015: Winchester, Jake B.: Roots of the Oriental Gnosis: W. E. Coleman, H. P. Blavatsky, S. F. Dunlap. 75 pp. “This MA dissertation explores the issues surrounding the plagiarism charges leveled by W.E. Coleman against Madame Blavatsky, and goes on to analyze the influence of the works of little-known Orientalist S. F. Dunlap on Blavatsky’s famous 1877 study “Isis Unveiled.”
Quote from p. 66-67: “Since so much of this thesis, by its very nature, has tended to devalue Blavatsky and her writings, it makes sense to conclude with some comments in the opposite direction. First of all, there can be no doubt that Blavatsky was a brilliant thinker. Whether she stole her quotes or not, Isis Unveiled is an incredibly complex and sophisticated work of spirituality and comparative religion. Its academic value may be close to nil, but so are many of the works Blavatsky cites, even those by trained academics and professors. Indeed, many of her sources would be completely forgotten today if not for their inclusion in Isis Unveiled. Dunlap’s works, as we have seen, are practically incoherent in argumentation, and simply present long lists of opinions and quotes from other authors. Blavatsky took those quotes and integrated them into a system of clarity and—historically speaking—spiritual significance. Ultimately, she used Dunlap’s material to far greater effect than he ever did.”

2014: Staudenmaier, Peter: Between Occultism and Nazism. Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race in the Fascist Era.

2014: Stuckrad, Kocku von: The Scientification of Religion: An Historical Study of Discursive Change 1800–2000. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014, 225 pp. Review: Burkhardt, Stefanie, in: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft (ZfR) volume 25, issue 1 2017, 159–162

2014: Diskurse über die Evolution von Mensch und Sprache in Helena Blavatskys Anthropogenesis (Secret Doctrine II). In: Andreas Nehring und Roger Thiel: Max Müller (1823 – 1900). Diesseits und jenseits von Philologie, Mythologie und Religionswissenschaft. Manuskript eingereicht 24.03.2014. Quotation: “Auch Helena Blavatsky4, die als Gründerin der theosophischen Gesellschaft (T.S.)5 heute überwiegend als „Urmutter moderner Esoterik“ rezipiert wird, verfasste in ihrem Spätwerk Secret Doctrine6 (1888) eine Evolutionstheorie, die sie selbst jedoch eher als Darstellung einer spirituellen Entwicklung von Mensch und Kosmos versteht. Allerdings setzt sie sich intensiv mit vielen der zu ihrer Zeit bekannten Theorien auseinander und kommentiert deren Schwächen präzise und oftmals recht nachvollziehbar.” […] “Exkurs: Die „Methode Blavatsky“: Überaus interessant zum Verständnis von Blavatskys „Methode“ zur Erstellung ihrer Theorie ist hierbei der abschließende Satz dieses Abschnitts:
„This may be regarded as poetised fiction now; but it was poetised truth then.“ Abgesehen von der stetigen Berufung auf das Buch Dzyan als Grundlage ihrer Ausführungen, veranschaulicht diese Aussage sehr deutlich die ihren Überlegungen zugrunde liegende, mit Überzeugung vertretene Methode: Postulierte, parallele „Wirklichkeiten“ werden unter Berücksichtigung der ihnen eigenen Kontexte und Zeitqualitäten relativiert, oder einfacher: Glaubens und/oder Wissensmodelle diverser zeitlicher und räumlicher, aber auch kategorischer Ebenen qualitativ gleichberechtigt nebeneinander gestellt, um daraus eine Art übergeordneter, essentieller „Universal-Wirklichkeit“ zu gewinnen. Dass gerade dies zum „communication breakdown“ mit den sich in ihren Augen als autoritativ und omnipotent wahrnehmenden, empirischen Natur-Wissenschaften und anderen akademischen Disziplinen ihrer Zeit führen musste, ist nicht mehr als eine logische Konsequenz.”

2014: Stottmeister, Jan: Der George-Kreis und die Theosophie. Mit einem Exkurs zum Swastika-Zeichen bei Helena Blavatsky, Alfred Schuler und Stefan George. Publisher: “Eine wichtige Studie zum George-Kreis, der in einem bislang unbekanntem Ausmaß von der Theosophie geprägt wurde. Die Theosophische Gesellschaft war die kulturgeschichtlich einflussreichste esoterische Institution des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts. Ihre Lehren vermengten Elemente indischer Religionen und des europäischen Okkultismus zu einer religiös grundierten Weltanschauung, die vor allem bei Künstlern, Intellektuellen und sozialen Eliten Anklang fand. Die Wirkungsgeschichte der Theosophie prägt auch die Geschichte des Kreises um den Dichter Stefan George. Sie ist nachweisbar in der Symbolik, mit der Georges Buchgestalter Melchior Lechter die Publikationen des Kreises versah, und im Mitgliedsregister der Theosophischen Gesellschaft, das neben Lechter auch Karl Wolfskehl und andere George-Anhänger verzeichnet. Während Zeitgenossen wie Ernst Bloch versuchten, George mit der Theosophie zu vereinbaren, begann George selbst die weltanschauliche Identität seines Kreises ab 1910 durch programmatische Abgrenzungen von der Theosophie zu konturieren. Ein Motiv dieser Abgrenzungen ist die Konkurrenz, die seine poetische Messiasfigur Maximin durch die theosophische Messiasfigur Krishnamurti erhielt.
Den George-Kreis und die Theosophische Gesellschaft verbindet auch die Verwendung der Swastika als Erkennungsmarke. Im Anhang des Bandes wird dieser Zusammenhang im Kontext der westlichen Deutungsgeschichte des Zeichens, das heute nur noch als NSDAP-Hakenkreuz wahrnehmbar ist, untersucht.”

2014: Boldyrev, Oleg: Blavatskaya: The Messenger of Shambala. Moscow: Veche (in Russian).

2014: Faivre, Antoine: Philosophie de la nature: Physique sacrée et théosophie, XVIIIe-XIXe siècle

2013: Hanegraaff, Woulter J.: Western Esotericism. In his second, revised and augmended edition 2025 he declared this first edition als obsolete. Instead of Western Esotericism he now sees Esotericism as globally and this brings him closer to Helena P. Blavatsky.

2013: Strube, Julian: Vril. Eine okkulte Urkraft in Theosophie und esoterischem Neonazismus. EBook, 220 pp. Abstract: “Wie die Fiktion eines erfolgreichen viktorianischen Autors zu einem der Hauptmotive esoterisch ausgerichteter Neonazis werden konnte, und was dies über unsere Wissenschafts- und Religionsgeschichte aussagen kann.
Die geheimnisvolle Energie »Vril«, erdacht von Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), sollte eigentlich eine satirische Metapher sein. Aufgegriffen und ausgeschmückt von Theosophen und Okkultisten, wurde sie jedoch – in Verbindung mit der »Schwarzen Sonne« – eines der zentralen Motive esoterischer Neonazis. In millionenfach verkaufter populärer Literatur steht »Vril« seit den 60ern zudem für die angeblichen okkulten Machenschaften der Nationalsozialisten.
Die erste seriöse Aufarbeitung dieser Geschichte ist nicht nur für das Verständnis des zeitgenössischen Rechtsextremismus und Topoi der populären Kultur wichtig, sondern ermöglicht auch aufschlussreiche Einblicke in die europäische Ideengeschichte.”

2013: Reigle, David: The Book of Dzyan: The current state of the evidence, in: Brahmavidya. The Adyar Library Bulletin (Supplement): 87–120.

2013, Lavoie, Jeffrey D.: Analyzing Coleman: A Brief Analysis of William Emmette Coleman’s Life, Claims, and Credentials, in: Psypioneer Journal Febr. 2013.

2013: Vandenburg, Mary C.: Occultism in Robertson Davies’sThe Deptford Trilogy. Master thesis about theosophic motives in literature with close attention to the Toronto Theosophical Society.

2013, Univ. of Heidelberg: Synästhesie und das Verhältnis von Kunst und Esoterik um 1900, in: Neugebauer-Wölk, Monika; Geffarth, Renko; Meumann, Markus (Hrsg.): Aufklärung und Esoterik: Wege in die Moderne, Berlin 2013, S. 583-604.

2013: Neugebauer-Wölk, Monika; Geffarth, Renko; Meumann, Markus (Hrsg.): Aufklärung und Esoterik: Wege in die Moderne, Berlin.

2013, Partridge, Christopher: Lost horizon. H.P. Blavatsky and theosophical Orientalism, in: Hammer, Olav & Rothstein, Mikael (Ed.): Handbook Of The Theosophical Current, 309–333.

2013, various Univ.: Hammer, Olav & Rothstein, Mikael (Ed.): Handbook Of The Theosophical Current, Leiden, Brill.

2013, Univ. of Erfurt: Heinzel, Thomas: Weiße Bruderschaft und Delphische Idee: Esoterische Religiosität in Bulgarien und Griechenland in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Dissertation.

2013, Stockholm Univ., Faxneld, Per: Blavatsky the Satanist: Luciferianism in Theosophy, and its Feminist Implications, in: Temenos, ISSN 0497-1817, E-ISSN 2342-7256, Vol. 48, no 2 (2013), p. 203-230. “H. P. Blavatsky’s influential The Secret Doctrine (1888), one of the foundation texts of Theosophy, contains chapters propagating an unembarrassed Satanism. Theosophical sympathy for the Devil also extended to the name of their journal Lucifer, and discussions conducted in it. To Blavatsky, Satan is a cultural hero akin to Prometheus. According to her reinterpretation of the Christian myth of the Fall in Genesis 3, Satan in the shape of the serpent brings gnosis and liberates mankind.”

2013: Platt, Len: References to Madame Blavatsky and Her Ideas in the Wake ─ An Annotated List, in: James Joyce Quarterly 45, no. 2 (Winter 2008)

2012, Univ. of Exeter: Rudbøg, Tim: H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophy in Context: The Construction of Meaning in Modern Western Esotericism. PhD thesis.

2012, Unisa: Bester, Dewald: The veil of Egypt: the constitution of the individual and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt as portrayed in The Secret Doctrine of H.P. Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society. Dissertation.

2012, Univ. of Ontario: Kessel, Irene van: All is One – Toward A Spiritual Whole Life Education

2012: Monteith, Ken: Yeats and Theosophy (Studies in Major Literary Authors). 252 pp. Abstract: “When H. P. Blavatsky, the controversial head of the turn of the century movement Theosophy, defined “a true Theosophist” in her book The Key to Theosophy, she could have just as easily have been describing W. B. Yeats. Blavatsky writes, “A true Theosophist must put in practice the loftiest moral ideal, must strive to realize his unity with the whole of humanity, and work ceaselessly for others.” Although Yeats joined Blavatsky’s group in 1887, and subsequently left to help form The Golden Dawn in 1890, Yeats’s career as poet and politician were very much in line with the methods set forth by Blavatsky’s doctrine.

My project explores how Yeats employs this pop-culture occultism in the creation of his own national literary aesthetic. This project not only examines the influence theosophy has on the literary work Yeats produced in the late 1880’s and 1890’s, but also Yeats’s work as literary critic and anthology editor during that time. While Yeats uses theosophy’s metaphysical world view to provide an underlying structure for some of his earliest poetry and drama, he uses theosophy’s methods of investigation and argument to discover a metaphysical literary tradition which incorporates all of his own literary heroes into an Irish cultural tradition. Theosophy provides a methodology for Yeats to argue that both Shelley and Blake (for example) are part of a tradition that includes himself. Basing his argument in theosophy, Yeats can argue that the Irish people are a distinct race with a culture more “sincere” and “natural” than that of England.”

2012, Cambridge University Press: Hanegraaff, Wouter J.: Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Review by Cusack, Carole.

2012, Cambridge University Press: Hammer, Olav and Rothstein, Mikael (eds.): The Cambridge companion to new religious movements. Ch. Theosophy by Santucci, James A.

2012: Lachman, Gary: Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality.

2012: Lubelsky, Isaac, and Yael Lotan, trans.: Celestial India: Madame Blavatsky and the Birth of Indian Nationalism. Equinox, 2012.

2011: Asprem, Egil: Pondering Imponderables: Occultism in the Mirror of Late Classical Physics, in: Aries Vol. 11, No. 2 (2011), pp. 129–165.

2011, Univ. of Sydney, Trompf, Garry: Imagining Macrohistory? Madame Blavatsky from Isis Unveiled (1877) to The Secret Doctrine (1888), in: Greek Literature Ancient Aesthetics, 21 (1) June 2011, pp. 43-71. AI-generated Abstract: “The paper explores the conceptual frameworks of macrohistory as envisaged by Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, distinguishing between critical and speculative approaches within historical study. It discusses the implications of imagination in historiography, weighing its necessity against the adherence to factual accuracy. The analysis engages with philosophical debates on historical interpretation and the potential for creativity to influence historical narratives.”

2011: Huijs, Peter: Called by the World Heart. A Dissertation on the Origin and the Development of the Spiritual School Of The Golden Rosycross and its Founders J. Van Rijckenborgh and Catharose De Petri. 406 pp. Ch. 3: “The spiritual line. The world work begins. 1875-1911. The impulse of H.P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. The seven arcane sciences. Anna Bonus Kingsford and the Hermetic Society. Arthur Edward Waite and The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. The exemplary life of G.R.S. Mead and The Quest Society. The call from the solar heart”, pp. 48-71. Quotation p. 50: “After an initial period of this kind of individual initiative, the oriental thinking of the Theosophical Society, based on the magic of Hinduism, made itself strongly felt.” – Comm.: Huijs, like most scholars, confuses Blavatsky’s references and examples of Eastern teachings with the teachings of her Dzyan school, which she was allowed to be given out, and which does not belong to any specific religion, but understands itself as the primordial religion, once the heirloom of all humankind, and of which today the esoteric Buddhism of the adepts of the padogas is the closest representitive.

2011, Reed College: McCalla, Arthur: Antoine Faivre and the Study of Esotericism

2011: Caputo, Richard Michael: Spiritualism, Science, and Suspense: Theosophy and the Supernatural Adventure Story. Dissertation. Abstract: “With Darwin’s publication of The Origin of the Species in 1859, the validity of the three major Western religions was called into serious question by science. In the wake of the scientific progress, made at breakneck speed in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, it seemed as if science and spirituality were increasingly becoming mutually exclusive. However, Theosophy, a hybrid science-religion founded by Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1875, sought to reconcile science and the supernatural by using the former to explain the latter.

For Blavatsky, the miraculous and the paranormal did not defy scientific explanation; they simply could not be explained through a contemporary understanding of science. Blavatsky’s Theosophy was predicated on belief in a secret knowledge, known to ancient civilizations but lost to modern man that represented a deep, true understanding of nature. When realized, this insight allowed for the accomplishment of the seemingly miraculous, not by magic but by science. Theosophy’s influence on canonical, highbrow modernists such as James Joyce and W.B Yeats is well known. However, its impact on the more widely read novelists of the day has been less studied and this dissertation in part fills that critical void.

After an introduction to Blavatsky’s Theosophy, this project moves into a discussion of Dracula. An understanding of Theosophy provides new insight into the novel’s conflict between science and the supernatural. It also provides a new way to view Dr. Abraham Van Helsing,| who embraces both the scientific and the unexplainable in much the same way Theosophy did. This project also includes a chapter on H. Rider Haggard’s most enduring literary creation, the femme fatale Ayesha. By examining, through the lens of Theosophy, all four Haggard novels in which She appears, I offer a new interpretation of this enigmatic character. Specifically, I argue that Ayesha is a fallen Theosophical adept. The final author included in this project is Marie Corelli, one of the world’s first bestselling authors. Much of her fiction seeks to reconcile spiritualist beliefs with traditional Christianity. She does so using science, and I argue that she borrows heavily from Blavatsky and Theosophy.”

2011, Univ. of Indianapolis: Sfekas, Stanley: Roerich’s Theosophy. Abstract: “Blavatsky claimed to have contact with these Adepts, especially the Masters, Koot Humi and Morya, a contact that inspired her works and her insights. It is important to note that Mrs. Roerich also claimed to have spiritual contact with the Blavatsky’s teacher, Mahatma Morya, a contact that she termed clairaudient rather than clairvoyant, and the dictation she received from him constituted the foundation of the Roerichs’s school of thought.”

2010, Univ. of Tübingen: Bigalke, Bernadett: Von Aurenforschung und Reinkarnation – Die Theosophen

2010: Assmann, Jan: Religio duplex: Ägyptische Mysterien und europäische Aufklärung. Berlin: Verlag der Weltreligionen, 2010.

2010, Univ. of Vienna: Sandhu, Kavita: Das Bild Indiens in der schwedischen Literatur. “Die Schriften des Hinduismus und Buddhismus waren nach theosophischer Sicht als die Quelle uralter Weisheit zu verstehen, die im Westen verloren gegangen und in Vergessenheit geraten sei und nun wieder neu in Erinnerung gerufen werden müsse.” 154 Vgl. Lütt 1998: 9.”
– Comm.: Both Sandhu and Lütt (as most other academics, who do not understand Blavatskys arguments) put words in her mouth, suggesting that she had equated the ancient wisdom with hinduism and buddhism, meanwhile she declared all religions more or less faulty, but the aforementioned the less faulty. They intermix the presented fragmentary evidences for these ancient wisdom with the ancient wisdom itself and then cry: “syncretism”, while in Blavatsky’s view it is quite the other way round.

2010, Univ. of Vienna: Ruby, Phillip: Okkulte Weltvorstellungen im Nationalsozialismus. Von den Ursprüngen im okkulten Revival des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zur Tibet-Expedition Ernst Schäfers 1938/39. “Aus den Theorien Blavatskys entwickelt sich in der Völkischen Bewegung Deutschlands und Österreichs die Ariosophie, eine quasi germanisierte Variante der Theosophie. Leitfigur dieser Strömung war Guido List, dessen Person und Ideen eingehend thematisiert werden. Schüler von List waren es, die den sogenannten Germanenorden gründeten, dessen bayrischer Seitenarm, die Thule-Gesellschaft, traurige Berühmtheit erlangte. Mit der Thule-Gesellschaft befindet man sich auch schon an der Schnittstelle zum „Dritten Reich“, waren doch später führende NS-Mitglieder wie Rudolf Heß oder Alfred Rosenberg Mitglieder oder zumindest Gäste der „Thule“.”

2010: Westenberg, Ger: Important Differences in the Teachings of Heindel and Steiner, ch. in: Westenberg, Ger: Max Heindel and The Rosicrucian Fellowship (2014, contents and preface), pp. 265-274. Quotation. p. 264: “In his lecture of 1907 in Berlin Steiner says: ‘But the Rosicrucian pupil got and gets his specific instructions, he had to breathe in a certain way, in a certain rhythm and with very definite thought forms. By doing so his breathing process is transformed’. […] ‘In his The Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures […] Heindel warns against the danger of doing breathing exercises to foster spiritual advancement.’ […] p. 273: ‘There are three places where Heindel says that Steiner was not chosen as messenger of the Order of the Rose Cross’.”

2010: Westenberg, Ger: Max Heindel and The Rosicrucian Fellowship; contents and preface; reprints 2013 and 2014. Quotation: “The last few years were devoted to sketching the theosophical movement in Germany during the five months Heindel spent in Berlin in 1907/8. They include the spiritual development of Steiner previous to 1912, the relationship between Steiner and Heindel and similarities and important differences between their views which, at first sight could be easily overlooked, yet are of vital importance; these are discussed. I include the passage in which Steiner himself in a lecture on October 11, 1915, in Dornach affirmed his, “being no messenger of the Rosicrucian Order.” So, the idea of some that anthroposophy is a metamorphosis of the Teachings of the Rose Cross appears to be erroneous.”

2010, Univerzitet u Beogradu: Sinani, Danijel: Technology. Theosophy. Theology: The Religious Character of UFO Movements, in: Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 5, no. 3 (2010): 117–31.

2010: Stuckrad, Kocku von: Discursive Transfers: Theosophy and the Globalization of Esotericism

2010: Staudenmaier, Peter: Theosophy, Race, and the Aryan Myth. – On the race ideology of ariosophy by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels and Guido von List. This biologistic view, regading the race (materials body) as driving force in human development, is the opposite of that of theosophy, which regards the spirit as the driving force and race, body and senses only as the expression of stages of conciousness of the powers latent in man, of Svabhava or the evolutionary development.

2009, MacDougall, John – Theosophy Edits. Quotation: “As a doctrine which claimed total revisions to the materialist and philological theories of the day, theosophy was ,in its revelatory nature, open to augmentation from “afar” and thus always partial. During this era of progress and a genuinely held belief that human kind was moving closer towards a total understanding of the universe, its mysteries and its material contents, theosophy promised an alternative to materialism and orthodox religion which, through the partial revelation of the Mahatmas, restored the role of a scientifically supported romantic imagination without denying the validity of evolutionary and materialist worldview’s of the era. In doing so, Blavatsky’s teachings resonate with two powerful scientific communities at once, if but partially: the philological and the materialist, the romantic and the rational empiricist.”

2009, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen: Hartog, A. E.: Moderne deutsche figürliche Bildhauerei. Umrisse einer Tradition

2009, Mukhopadhyay, Mriganka: Course on “The Theosophical Society” [Erasmus Teaching Programme, MA in Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Summer semester 2019]

2009, Univ. of Richmond, Proch, Jennifer: Henry Steel Olcott: from Civil War veteran to Sinalese Buddhist nationalist, a case study in international religious activismnationalist, a case study in international religious activism

2009, Univ. of Tübingen: Bigalke, Bernadett: Warum soll sich ein Theosoph vegetarisch ernähren? Vom “Astralleib” und “Magnetismus des Fleisches”, in: Mauss, Buddhismus, Devianz, 2009, Seiten: [265]-282.

2009, Univ. of Tübingen: Bigalke, Bernadett: Der Theosoph Hermann Rudolph: ein Lehrer aus Berufung

2009: Bigalke, Bernadett & Neef, Katharina: Mitleiden oder Energie sparen? Buddhismus und Monismus in Leip­zig um 1900, in: Leipziger Stadtgeschichte. 2009. S. 205–236.

2009: Klatt, Norbert: Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden – Indisches Tagebuch. 1894/1896. Mit Anmerkungen und einer Einleitung herausgegeben von Norbert Klatt. Göttingen.

2008, Donner Institute for Research: Ahlbäck, Tore & Dahla, Björn (Editors): Western Esotericism

2008, Södertörns högskola: Englund, Martin: Uråldrig visdom och samtidens förfall – En diskursanalys om framställningen av Indien i Teosofisk tidskrift 1891-1894.

2008, Univ. of Tübingen: Bigalke, Bernadett: Frischobst und Okkultismus als Heilswege

2008, Univ. of Lüneburg: Kaiser, Tomas: Zwischen Philosophie und Spiritismus. (Bildwissenschaftliche) Quellen zum Leben und Werk des Carl du Prel. Dissertation.

2008: Schuller, Govert: Jean Overton Fuller, Master Narayan and the Krishnamurti-Scott-Anrias Issue, in: Theosophical History XIV/1 & 2 (January-April 2008; Double issue):11-46. “The focus is on a relatively unknown Theosophical master who was known to H.P. Blavatsky and H.S. Olcott under the name of Narayan. Around 1910 some Theosophists in Adyar thought they had met this master in the person of a blind yogi named Nagaratnaswami in the little village of Tiruvallam about 70 miles west from Madras. Almost a 100 years later Jean Overton Fuller in her biography on Krishnamurti revived this claim in the context of an extended and open discussion she and I conducted about the Theosophical writers Cyril Scott and David Anrias, who both provided very critical Theosophical assessments of Krishnamurti.”

2008, Oxford Univ. Press: Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: The Western Esoteric Traditions. A Historical Introduction. With ch. “Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society”. Abstract: “Theosophy was a major factor in the revival of the indigenous Western esoteric tradition and Blavatsky’s writings presented the idea of an ancient wisdom handed down from prehistoric times by combining Neoplatonism, Renaissance magic, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Greco-Roman mythology, religion, and Eastern religious doctrines.”

2008: Santucci, James A.: “The Notion of Race in Theosophy.” Nova Religio 11, no. 3 (2008): 37–63. Abstract: “Discussions of race in the Theosophy of Helena P. Blavatsky and her followers sometimes evinces suggestions of racism. Any consideration of the topic, however, must be prefaced by defining whose Theosophy is being examined. Theosophy, as it is generally discussed by Theosophists, actually was introduced to the public by A. P. Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism (1883), which in turn was based upon the letters of the Mahatmas or Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya to Sinnett. The doctrine of the root races and their various subdivisions is part of Theosophical teachings, but the primary source is Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine (1888). This article argues that race in Theosophy is understood as not being limited to physical characteristics; rather, the Theosophical discussion of race encompasses both physical and spiritual evolution. Race as interpreted in The Secret Doctrine is not racist in intent, and the races are seen as having one thing in common, the divine spark that ultimately makes all races the same in essence.”

2008: Parker, Prof. Philip M.: Blavatsky – Webster’s Timeline History 1831 – 2006, San Diego, 3+38 pp.

2007: Zander, Helmut: Anthroposophie in Deutschland. Theosophische Weltanschauung und gesellschaftliche Praxis 1884–1945. Anthroposophische Methodenkritik: Hardorp, Detlef & Halfen, Roland: Textkritik und kontextuelle Analyse: Wiederkehrende Methodenprobleme in der Steinerdeutung von Jakob Wilhelm Hauer bis Helmut Zander

2007: Davenport, Nancy: Paul Sérusier: Art and Theosophy, in: Religion and the Arts 11, no. 2 (2007): 172–213. Abstract: “The art of Paul Sérusier and that of his artist friends has been interpreted in this essay as having its roots in the Theosophical themes prevalent in an interdependent circle of authors and spiritualists in 18th and 19th century France. These mystical thinkers were less concerned with the writings and indomitable presence of the acknowledged leading light of Theosophy Helena Petrovna Blavatsky than with a more specifically French national yearning for its imagined Celtic and traditionally Roman Catholic roots, smothered, in their view, by secular and materialistic modern sensibilities. Theosophy, “the essence of all doctrines, the inmost truth of all religions” as defined by the doyenne of French Theosophy Maria, Countess of Caithness and Duchess of Medina-Pomar, led Sérusier to seek elemental truth for his art in a remote inland village in Brittany where he painted for many years, to a Benedictine monastery on the Danube where formerly Nazarene artist/monks had created a system of drawing and painting believed to be based on the original design of the universe, and to the widely read text Les Grands Initiés (1899) by the mystic writer, Edouard Schuré. Sérusier’s broad-reaching search for the Theosophical roots of art was one aspect of the fin de siècle malaise that led the arts out of the world into dreams.”

2007: Mattos-Hall, Julie (Chajes): The Saptaparna: The Meaning and Origins of the Theosophical Septenary Constitution of Man, in: Theosophical History, vol. XIII, No. 4, Oct. 2007.

2007: Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: The Theosophical Society, Orientalism, and the ‘Mystic East’: Western Esotericism and Eastern Religion in Theosophy, in: Theosophical
History 13, no. 3 (2007): 3–28.

2007: French, Brendan James: Blavatsky, Dostoevskii, and Occult Starchestvo, in: Aries (Leiden, Netherlands) 7.2 (2007): 161–184.

2006, California State Univ.: Erixson, Darrell: Plagiarism and the Secret Doctrine, in: Theosophical History. 12:3 (July 2006), 19-28

2006, Univ. of Bremen: Auwärter, Thomas: Religion und Spiritualität um 1900; ch. „Die moderne Theosophie” p. 162.

2006: Laur, Dr. Peter: Ein deutschbaltischer Hintergrund der ‘Theosophie’? Review: Reitemeyer, Frank: Open Questions in H. P. Blavatsky’s Genealogy, in: FOHAT, Summer 2006, p. 36.

2006: Santucci, James A.: “Blavatsky, Helena Betrovna”, in: Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Ed.): Dictionary of gnosis & Western esotericism, Leiden: Brill, 177

2006: Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (Ed.): Dictionary of gnosis & Western esotericism, Leiden: Brill

2005, Virginia Tech: Ellis, Eugenia Victoria: SQUARING THE CIRCLE: The Regulating Lines of Claude Bragdon’s Theosophic Architecture. Dissertation.

2005: Pytlik, Priska: Okkultismus und Moderne. Ein kulturhistorisches Phänomen und seine Bedeutung für die Literatur um 1900. Schöningh, Paderborn

2005: Lindtner, Dr. Christian: Geheimnisse um Jesus Christus. 25+372 S. Our Comm.: Comparison of the gospel of Jesus with the gospel of Buddha with Old Sanskrit and Old Greek sources. As a philologist he has identified the unknown main sources of the Christian gospels (the known Q question for German Quelle or source), the Saddharmapundarika-Sutra (SDP), popular known as the Lotus Sutra, and the Samghabhedavastu (SBV).

The translators did not merely translate the dead letters, but also the hidden meaning between the lines as can be seen by the systematic use of Gematria (geometry, Isopsephy, numeric values of letters, words and even chapters and complete gospel texts), combined with the phonetic key. To get the right numeric code and the right sound of a term, name or location, the translators had here and then invent new Greel words to come as close as possible to the Indian original, f.e. Thomas (the name of an Apostle) for skt. tamas (laziness, ignorance). As there are several, secret levels of transmission, Lindtner is funny enough to say the translation was rather an underlation.

The curious thing about it is that Dr. Lindtner with modern scholarly knowledge comes in 2005 on a purely philological basis to the same conclusion, as Helena Blavatsky in her first work Isis Unveiled of 1877, headlined ch. 6 of vol. 2: “Esoteric Doctrines of Buddhism Parodied in Christianity” without scientific training. Dr. Lindtner could not explain this, as he was a Thervada Buddhist and rejected the existence of esoteric knowledge in both Mahayana buddhism as in theosophy, also the mystery school of the neoplatonists. He believed it were clever inventions, fairy tales to catch and control the masses (personal message at his home in 2013). Unintentionally, a scholar who could read the original texts, justifies Helena Blavatsky, who claimed the same 128 years before! Anyway or because of it Dr. Lindtner’s remarkable research is undervalued until today. The German edition is translated from the Danish original Hemmeligheden om Kristus of 2003, new ed. 2021, 272 pp. His website jesusibuddha.com.

2005: Zander, Dr. Helmut: Johannes Maria Verweyen (1883-1945) als Theosoph, in: Gaesdoncker Blätter, Neue Folge, 7. Heft.

2005: Mathiesen, Robert: Britten, Emma (Floyd) Hardinge, in: Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, ed.ted by Wouter J. Hanegraaff et al., 202–6. Leiden: Brill.

2004, UC Berkeley: Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: Helena Blavatsky – Preview

2004, CSU: Santucci, James A.: The Theosophical Society, in: Controversial New Religions, Academic Press.

2004: Stuckrad, Kocku von: Was ist Esoterik? Kleine Geschichte des geheimen Wissens. München: C. H. Beck, 2004. Believes that spirituality is to allow feelings.

2004, Johns Hopkins University Press: Treitel, Corinna: A Science for the Soul. Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern

2004, Univ. of Hamburg: Lobanova, Marina: Mystiker, Magier, Theosoph, Theurg: Alexander Skrjabin [Scriabin] und seine Zeit. 412 pp., 2nd. ed. 2015.

2004: Univ. of Halle: Seidel-Dreffke, Björn: Die Theosophie E. P. Blavatskajas: Exemplarische Untersuchungen (A. Belyj, M. A. Vološin, V. I. Kryžanovskaja, Vs. S. Solov’ev) (Dissertation), Website, Ch. Einführung

2003: Univ. of South Africa (Unisa): Kalnitsky, Arnold: The Theosophical Movement of the Nineteenth Century: The Legitimation of the Disputable and the Entrenchment of the Disreputable. Dissertation. Ch. 7: An Examination of Blavatsky’s Major Literary Works

2003: Bevir, Mark: Theosophy and the Origins of the Indian National Congress, in: International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1/3 (Feb., 2003), pp. 99-115.

2003: Geppert, Alexander C.T. & Braidt, Andrea B.: Orte Des Okkulten, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften, vol. 14., issue 4, 2003. Pp. 119-147: Zander, Helmut: Theosophische Orte: Über Versuche, ein Geheimnis zu wahren und öffentlich zu wirken.

2003: Lindtner, Dr. Christian: Hemmeligheden om Kristus, new ed. 2021, 272 pp. Afterword bei Lockwood, Dr. Michael: Dr. Christian Lindtner and Gematria/Isopsephy. German ed. 2005: Geheimnisse um Jesus Christus (cp. our comm. there). His website jesusibuddha.com.

2002, Univ. of Tübingen: Stengel, Thomas: Theosophie in der Aufklärung: Friedrich Christoph Oetinger. Dissertation.

2002: Trimondi, Victor and Victoria [i. e. Herbert and Mariana Röttgen]: Hitler, Buddha, Krishna – eine unheilige Allianz vom Dritten Reich bis heute. 640 pp. Section “Madame Blavatsky und der Shambhala-Mythos”. Quotation p. 96: “Sie alle entstammten dem ariosophischen Milieu und dahinter leuchtet wie eine überstrahlende Fackel das Werk von Madame Helena Petrowna Blavatsky (1831-1891). Der Einfluss der Russin auf die Okkultszene des 20. Jahrhunderts ist überhaupt nicht zu übertreiben. In rechtsextremen Esoterikkreisen wurden ihre Schriften als wertvolle Quelle geschätzt, studiert und abgeschrieben. »Die gesamte Struktur der theosophischen Gedankenwelt bot sich an, ins Völkische übernommen zu werden«, schreibt Goodrick-Clarke. So die Doktrin von den verschiedenen Wurzelrassen, in der Blavatsky die Überlegenheit der Arier festlegte [*]. Die von ihr vertretene Karma- und Inkarnationslehre fand dort ebensolchen Zuspruch wie ihre Befürwortung der indischen Kastengesellschaft[*] und die buddhistische Forderung nach Ich-Auflösung. Zentral war für sie eine Verbindung von Magie und Politik[*]. Madame Blavatskys ausgesprochenes Ziel bestand darin, östliche und westliche Weisheitslehren »ganzheitlich« miteinander zu verschmelzen[*].”
– Comm.: All four insinuations marked with [*] are wrong, as everyone can see, who reads her texts.

2002: Spierenburg, Henk J.: T. Subba Row: Collected Writings: Vol 1 & 2, San Diego, 264 + 654 pp.

2002: Rothstein, Mikael: Blavatsky and the Modern Occult Revival, in: Handbook of New Age.

2001, French, Brendan James: The Mercurian Master: Hermes’ Gift to the Theosophical Society, in: Aries 1(2): 168–205.

2001, Assmann, Jan: Das Geheimnis der Wahrheit: Das Konzept der ‘doppelten Religion’ und die Erfindung der Religionsgeschichte, in: Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 3 (2001): 108–134.

2001: Mathiesen, Robert. The Unseen Worlds of Emma Hardinge Britten: Some Chapters in the History of Western Occultism. Theosophical History Occasional
Papers 9 (2001): 1–88.

2001: Hanegraaff, Wouter Jacobus: Beyond the Yates Paradigm: The Study of Western Esotericisms between Counterculture and New Complexity, in: Aries 1 (2001): 5–37.

2000, Univ. of Sydney: French, Brendan James: The Theosophical Masters: An Investigation into the Conceptual Domains of H.P. Blavatsky and C.W. Leadbeater. PhD thesis.

2000: Goldstein, Matthew Mulligan: Theosophy, Culture, and Empire. Dissertation, preview. Yeats.

2000, SUNY: Faivre, Antoine: Theosophy, imagination, tradition (Studies in Western Esotericism)

2000: Weber, Charles: The Heindel-Steiner Connection, Oceanside, California, 2nd typescript. Quotation: “A comparison between passages from Heindel’s Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and the writings and lectures of Dr. Steiner up to May 1908…”, in: 2010: Westenberg, Ger: Important Differences in the Teachings of Heindel and Steiner, Fn. 334.

1999, Univ. of Chicago: Lopez, Donald S.: Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed. 278 pp.

1999, Univ. of Chicago: Lopez, Donald S.: Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. 283 pp.

1999, UC Berkeley: Taylor, Richard P.: Blavatsky and Buddhism. Group in Buddhist studies; 110 pp.

1999: Reigle, David and Nancy: Blavatsky’s Secret Books, San Diego: Wizards Bookshelf. 181 pp. “We are convinced that an original language manuscript of
one of Blavatsky’s secret books, that is, one of their Sanskrit, Tibetan, or Chinese translations, will be discovered in our lifetime, demonstrating the existence of a once universal, but now hidden, Wisdom Tradition. Therefore we undertook the long search for Blavatsky’s secret books more than twenty years ago, and have been involved in research on them ever since. We now make some of this research more widely available.”

1999: Wedemeyer, Bernd – Der Athletenvater Theodor Siebert (1866-1961). Eine Biographie zwischen Körperkultur, Lebensreform und Esoterik. Göttingen 1999. Siebert was theosophist and the father of body building.

1999: Zander, Dr. Helmut: Geschichte der Seelenwanderung in Europa: Alternative religiöse Traditionen von der Antike bis heute. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

1999: Trimondi, Victor and Victoria [i. e. Herbert and Mariana Röttgen]: Der Schatten des Dalai Lama: Sexualität, Magie und Politik im tibetischen Buddhismus, 816 pp. Ch. “Madame Blavatsky und der Shambhala-Mythos”. Quotation p. 1035: “Auch wenn ihr esoterisches System ein Synkretismus aus allen Religionen darstellt, so nimmt doch unter ihnen der tibetisch-tantrische Buddhismus seit den Arbeiten an der Secret Doctrine den Königsplatz ein. Bei einem detaillierten Vergleich zwischen dem späten Werk der Theosophin, dem Shambhala-Mythos und dem Kalachakra-Tantra würde man verblüffende Ähnlichkeiten entdecken.” – Comm.: They too confuse cause and effect.
P. 1038-1039: “Sexualität, Magie und Politik im tibetischen Buddhismus Selbstverständlich konnte die Russin vieles in die tibetisch-buddhistische Lehre hineininterpretieren, da zu ihrer Zeit nur wenige Originaltexte in eine westliche Sprache übersetzt waren. Aber ihre zahlreichen Thesen als reine Phantasien abzutun, ist sicher falsch, denn ihre spekulative Welt bringt sie mit den Imaginationen und dem okkulten Ambiente des Lamaismus enger in Verbindung als manche philologisch richtige Übersetzung einer Sanskritschrift. Mit einem unbeirrbaren Instinkt und einer visionären Meisterschaft hat sie viele der Ideen und Mächte ausfindig gemacht, die in der tantrischen Lehre wirksam sind. Da sie zu diesen Entdeckungen mehr durch Intuition und Medialität als durch wissenschaftliche Recherchen gelangte, kann man sie als das halbbewußte Instrument einer buddhistisch-tibetischen Welteroberung ansehen. Auf jeden Fall hat sie von allen westlichen »Tibetgläubigen« das meiste dazu beigetragen, das Schneeland als ein unergründliches Mysterium bekannt zu machen. Ohne den okkulten Schleier, den Madame Blavatsky über Tibet und seinen Klerus geworfen hat, wäre heute der tantrische Buddhismus im Westen nur halb so attraktiv. Der XIV. Dalai Lama weiß denn auch um die hohe Bedeutung solcher weiblicher Bundesgenossen und hat deswegen Blavatskys Pionierarbeit des öfteren gelobt.”

1998, Univ. of Sydney (USYD): Cooper, Alfred John: The Letters of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 1862 – 1882, 2 vols.

1998: Seidel-Dreffke, Björn: A. Belyi und die Theosophie E. P. Blavatskajas. Wirkung und polemische Auseinandersetzung im Roman ‘Moskva’ (1926), in: Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch, vol. 44, pp.163-180, Sonderdruck.

1998: Zalczer, Eszter: Strindberg och Georg Ljungström. En teosofisk bekantskap, in: Strindbergiana 13 (1998). Stockholm: Strindbergssällskapet. S. 37-48.

1998: Viswanathan, Gauri: Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief. – Ch. about theosophy.

1997, Spierenburg, Henk J.: Astrology of a Living Universe: Helena Blavatsky’s Visionary Philosophy of the Seven Sacred Planets. San Diego, 59 pp.

1996, Uitgeverij Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen: Tollenaere, Herman Arij Oscar de: The Politics of Divine Wisdom. Theosophy and labour, national, and women’s movements in Indonesia and South Asia, 1875-1947.

1996: Klatt, Norbert: Der Nachlass von Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden in der Niedersächsischen Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen. Verzeichnis der Materialien und Korrespondenten.

1996: Prothero, Stephen: The White Buddhist: Henry Steel Olcott and the Sinhalese Buddhist Revival, in: tricycle – Te Buddhist Review, Special Issue Fall 1996, pp. 13-19.

1995, Univ. of Munich: Seifarth, Renate: Anthroposophie und Nationalsozialismus

1995: Klatt, Norbert: Theosophie und Anthroposophie. Neue Aspekte zu ihrer Geschichte aus dem Nachlaß von Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden (1846-1916) mit einer Auswahl von 81 Briefen (1993). Review: Die Drei, 7, 1995. Kalliope-Verbund: “… die von Norbert Klatt nicht ermittelten Briefe Alois Mailänders befinden sich im Rudolf Steiner Archiv in Dornach im Nachlass von Emil Bock; freundlicher Hinweis von Dr. Martina Maria Sam, Nov. 2021.”

1994: Gilbhard, Hermann: Die Thule-Gesellschaft. Vom okkulten Mummenschanz zum Hakenkreuz

1994, Spierenburg, Henk J.: H. P. Blavatsky on the Gnostics, 308 pp.

1994: Gomes, Michael: Theosophy in the Nineteenth Century. An Annotated Bibliography. 592 pp., 1,042 entries.

1994, UC Berkeley: Bevir, Mark: The West Turns Eastward: Madame Blavatsky and the Transformation of the Occult Tradition, in: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Autumn, 1994), 747-767. Abstract: “Madame Blavatsky provided the inspiration behind the Theosophical Society, probably the leading occult society of the twentieth century and one of the first western religious groups to show an interest in eastern religions. This essay examines, first, the way in which Madame Blavatsky transformed the occult tradition in response to the Victorian crisis of faith, and, second, the interpenetration of her occultism with her particular interpretations of Buddhism and Hinduism. The resulting discussion helps to show how a particular view of India and Indian religions took hold in the west.”

1993, Princeton University Press: Carlson, Maria: ‘No Religion Higher than Truth’: A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922.

1993: Cranston, Sylvia [Atkins, Anita] & Williams, Carey: HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky. Until now the gold standard biography with extensive source apparatus about the exoteric herald of the ancient teachings. 3rd ed. of 1994.

1993: Hewes, Dorothy W.: Family Roles in America’s Utopian Communities from the 1820s to the 1920s. 25p.; Paper presented at the Meeting of the International Standing Working Group for the History of Early Childhood Education (Sopron, Hungary, September 2, 1993). Quotation from the abstract: “These discussions focus on women’s role in these societies. Next, an in-depth examination of Lomaland in California provides information on Katherine Tingley and other founders, the utopian characteristics of Lomaland, financial problems, the Rule of Silence, the rejection of corporal punishment, formalized action games, the influence of Buddhism on Lomaland’s Theosophy, group houses and dormitories for children after the age of 5 months, children’s daily routines, and the role of parents.”

1993: Scharrer, Werner: Topographie und Ethnographie der Stadt Kempten nach dem Physikatsbericht von Dr. Karl Hartmann, in: Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund. Blätter für Heimatforschung und Heimatpflege, no. 93, pp. 15-53. Contains much biographical details about the parents of Dr. Franz Hartmann. His father Karl served as District Medical Eexaminer; with portrait, handwriting excerpt and obituary of Karl.

1992, State Univ. of New York Press (SUNY): Godwin, Joscelyn: The Theosophical Enlightenment

1992: Faivre, Antoine & Needleman, Jacob (editors): Modern Esoteric Spirituality

1992, Presses Universitaires de France: Faivre, Antoine: L’Ésotérisme. Third rev. ed. 2003; translated into 7 languages, including Esoterik, Aurum, Braunschweig 1996, and Esoterik im Überblick – Geheime Geschichte des abendländischen Denkens, Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001

1992: Spierenburg, Henk J.: The Vedanta Commentaries of H.P. Blavatsky. San Diego, 246 pp.

1991: Spierenburg, Henk J.: The Buddhism of H.P. Blavatsky, San Diego, 335 pp.

1988: Fedjuschin, Victor B.: Russlands Sehnsucht nach Spiritualität: Theosophie, Anthroposophie und die Russen. Eine geistige Wanderschaft. Schaffhausen, 380 pp.

1987: Gomes, Michael: The Dawning of the Theosophical Movement. Abstract: “Historical researcher, Michael Gomes charts the dramatic origins of the theosophical movement, one of the most influential philosophical systems to arise during the last hundred years. In this skillfully woven story of the early years of theosophy, the author re-creates the key events involving Blavatsky, Olcott, and a small group of like-minded occultists. His account covers the publication of Blavatsky’s “occult encyclopedia”, Isis Unveiled, concluding with the pilgrimage to India by the “theosophical twins.”

1987: Spierenburg, Henk J.: New Testament Commentaries of H. P. Blavatsky. San Diego, 357 pp.

1986, Univ. of Sydney (USYD): Tillett, Gregory John: CHARLES WEBSTER LEADBEATER 1854-1934. A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY. Volume I. A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

1986: Faivre, Antoine: Accès de l’ésotérisme occidental, 2 vols., Gallimard, Paris 1986 and 1996; Access to Western Esotericism und Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism, SUNY 1994 und 2000, paperback of the second vol. in 2008

1985-2005: Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: Occult Roots of Nazism

1985: Spierenburg, Henk J.: The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky to her personal pupils (1890-91), San Diego, xxiv + 188pp. 2nd, rev, and enl. ed. San Diegeo 1995, xxxvi+254 pp.

c. 1985: Small pamphlet from the SED party leadership against Theosophy. Remains to be found again.

1983: Reigle, David: The Books of Kiu-te or the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras: A Pre-liminary Analysis. San-Diego, CA: Wizards Bookshelf. Review in: The Journal Of The International Association Of Buddhist Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, by Roger Jackson. “Most useful, perhaps, is an annotated bibliography of works on Buddhist tantra, especially those related to the Gelugpa trad-ition (that with which Madame Blavatsky apparently had contact). […]
The only point raised by Reigle on which I wish to take issue (I cannot comment on the Theosophical aspects of the work) is his contention that all sexual references in the tantras are in-tended as purely symbolic. Granted, onema;y attain enlightenment (after death) if one relies only on a visualized consort (jndnamudrd), but even the “puritanical” Gelugpa tradition makes it quite clear that practices involving an acutal consort are approp-riate on some occasions and for some practitioners.”

1983: Kerr, Howard & Crow Charles L. (editors): The Occult in America – New Historical Perspectives

1980, University of California Press: Campbell, Bruce: Ancient Wisdom Revived: A History of the Theosophical Movement

1979: Faivre, Antoine & Zimmermann, Rolf Christian (editors): Epochen der Naturmystik. Hermetische Tradition im wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt. Erich Schmidt, Berlin

1978: Frick, Karl R. H.: Licht und Finsternis, Gnostisch-theosophische und alchemistisch-rosenkreuzerische Geheimgesellschaften bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts. Graz 1978, 2 vols.; vol. 1: Ursprünge Und Anfänge, Graz 1975, ; vol. 2: Geschichte Ihrer Lehren, Rituale und Organisationen, XII, 582 pp. Continuation of Die Erleuchteten 1973.

1974: Tiryakian, Edward A.: On the Margin of the Visible – Sociology, the Esoteric, and the Occult

1974: Webb, James: The Occult Underground, La Salle. Reprint 1988, 387 pp.

1973: Faivre, Antoine: L’Ésotérisme au XVIIIe siècle en France et en Allemagne

1973: Frick, Karl R. H.: Die Erleuchteten. Gnostisch-theosophische und alchemistisch-rosenkreuzerische Geheimgesellschaften bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts. 3 vols., Graz, XI, 635, IV pp., reprints Graz 1998; Wiesbaden 2005, XI, 635 pp. Reprinted as Licht und Finsternis, Graz 1978, 2 vols.

1971: Webb, James: The Flight From Reason. The Age of the Irrational. 3 volumes. “Revolt Against the Enlightenment”: Webb argued that modernity’s emphasis on pure reason led to a spiritual void, causing people to turn to esoteric traditions. “Rejected Knowledge”: He termed occult ideas as “rejected knowledge” that rational science couldn’t explain, offering meaning and connection to the universe. Webb, who in 1971 was the first to present an examination of occultism from a cultural-historical perspective, still emphasized the aspect of a counter-movement, the “flight from reason.” In contrast, more recent literature advocates understanding occultism as an integral part of modernity itself. For example, Antoine Faivre, in “Esotericism: An Overview” (2001), points out that the occultists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries generally opposed neither scientific progress nor modernity, and he suggests viewing the occultism of that period as an expression of “modernity confronted with itself.”

1969: Faivre, Antoine: Eckartshausen et la théosophie chrétienne

1968: Zandee, J.: Oude en niuewe vormen van Gnostiek, in: Neederlandish Theologish Tijdschrift 22 (1968), 161-84. Examines Bohme, the Rosicrucians, theosophy, the anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, and contemporary theologians such as J. A. T. Robinson and Paul Tillich.

1967: Howe, Ellic: Astrology: A Recent History Including the Untold Story of Its Role in World War II. New York: Walker and Co.

1962: Faivre, Antoine: Les Vampires. Essai historique, critique et littéraire

1959: Cornelis, H. and Léonard, A.: La Gnose éternelle. – They examine the theosophy of Mme Blavatsky, the traditionalism of Guénon, Jung and westernized Hinduism. 121 pp., Paris.

1957, Univ. of Graz: Hansmann, Margarete: Die Psychologie Franz Antom Mesmers. Gestaltanalytische Untersuchungen der Lehre F. A. Mesmers und
ihrer Entwicklungsphasen. Dissertation (Sign. II, 251983). 2+192 pp. Margarethe Hansmann hat am Internationalen Symposium anlässlich des 250.
Geburtstags von Mesmer 1984 in Meersburg teilgenommen. Ihr Beitrag wurde im betreffenden Sammelband Franz Anton Mesmer und die Geschichte des
Mesmerismus hg. von Heinz Schott, Stuttgart 1985 abgedruckt: Mesmer in Wien (S. 51-67). Mrs. Hansmann was head of the TS Austria from 1986-1995.

1947: Benz, Ernst: Swedenborg in Deutschland. F. C. Oetingers und Immanuel Kants Auseinandersetzung mit der Person und Lehre Emanuel Swedenborgs. Nach neuen Quellen bearbeitet. 351 pp. Frankfurt.

1933/34: University of Leipzig was before the launch of a Chair of Theosophie (sic! It would have been the first one in world – until today!) within the institute of philosophy, but was prevented by the Nazis (personal information by Hermann Rudolph-Fischer, son of known Hartmann TS, ITV = Internationale Theosophische Verbrüdung as leader for 40 years since ITV launch in 1897 in Munich, Hermann Rudolph. The ITV was the carrier of the national section TGD. They had much influence, high print runs and thousands of visitors in their summer schools.

1927: Sichler, Albert: Die Theosophie (Anthroposophie) in Psychologischer Beurteilung, 43+4 pp. Quote pp. 7-8: “Die Lösung dieses Rätsels ergibt sich aus der Diagnostizierung ihres krankhaften Wesens. Psychiatrisch ist sie nämlich als Hysterika zu beurteilen, insofern ihr Charakter and ihre ganze übrige seelische Veranlagung durchaus mit dem hysterixchen Symptomenkomplex übereistimmen: starke affektive Labilitat, sukzessive Bewuftseinsspaltungen, Wandertrieb, negative Sexualeinstellung, Pseudologie und anderes. Auf Grund dieser Einsicht wissen wir nun, was wir von jenen Mahatmas, denen sie angeblich die übernatürliche Überlieferung ihrer Geheimlehre verdankt, zu halten haben. Sie sind nichts anderes als unterbewußte Personifikationen, Gebilde ihrer eigenen unterbewußten Phantasie, als solche für sie allerdings wahre, aber rein subjektive Erlebnisse. Derartige Zustände sind bei hysterischen Personen nichts Seltenes. Und bei Mme. Blavatsky waren die Mahatmas ja nicht die erste psychische Verdoppelung, nur die Form wechselte, weil sie nachher gänzlich unter dem Einfluß indischen Wesens stand.”

1927: Lehmann-Issel, Pastor Kurt: Theosophie nebst Anthroposophie und Christengemeinschaft. 132 pp.

1925, Gomperz, Heinrich: Die indische Theosophie. Vom geschichtlichen Standpunkt gemeinverständlich dargestellt. Jena, 448 pp., exp. ed. 486 pp. Contents.

1920: Frohnmeyer, L. Johannes: Die theosophische Bewegung, ihre Geschichte, Darstellung und Beurteilung. Stuttgart, 120 pp. Zweite vollständig neu bearbeitete Auflage von Alfred Blum-Ernst, 146 pp.

1914, Univ. of Leiden: Speyer, Prof. Jacob Samuel: Die indische Theosophie aus den Quellen dargestellt. Leipzig, 336 pp.

1912: Freimark, Hans: Moderne Theosophen und ihre Theosophie; Leipzig, 72 pp.

1912: Freimark, Hans: Die okkultistische Bewegung. Eine Aufklärungsschrift. Leipzig, 79+4 pp.

1910: Borchardt, Dr. Paul: Ein Kommentar zu dem Werke Die entschleierte Isis von H. P. Blavatsky. Leipzig n. d. [1910] 56 pp.

1907, Univ. of Kiel: Bruhn, Wilhelm: Theosophie und Theologie. Dissertation.

1906: Freimark, Hans: Helena Petrovna Blavatzky, ein weiblicher Ahasver, in: Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, ed: Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee (WhK), vol. VIII, pp. 525–564.

1900: Heckethorn, Charles William: Geheime Gesellschaften, Geheimbünde und Geheimlehren, Leipzig 1900; reprinted in 1997. Transl. from the English 1875.

1895: Coleman, William Emmette: The Sources of Madame Blavatsky’s Writings, in: Solovyoff, Vsevolod Sergyeevich: A Modern Priestess of Isis, London, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895, Appendix C, pp. 353-366.

1894: Garrett, Fydell Edmund: Isis very much unveiled: being the story of the great Mahatma hoax

1893: Coleman, William Emmette: Critical Historical Review of The Theosophical Society, in: The Religio-Philosophical Journal, Chicago, Illinois, September 16, 1893, pp. 264-266.

1893: Müller, F. Max: Esoteric Buddhism, in: The Nineteenth Century (London), May 1893, pp. 767-788.

1893: Müller, F. Max: Theosophy, or Psychological Religion. New editon 1895.

1882: Massey, Charles Carleton: ‘Isis Unveiled’ and the ‘Theosophist’ on reincarnation, in: Light II (79):323

1875: Heckethorn, Charles William: Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries. London. German transl. as Geheime Gesellschaften, Geheimbünde und Geheimlehren, Leipzig 1900; reprinted in 1997.