Theos-Talk Archives (June 1994 Message tl00026)

Last week I had a perplexing conversation with a ULT member, who said
he'd been told that ULT was the largest Theosophical organization in
terms of numbers.  This, needless to say, was rather shocking; I
blurted out that whoever told him so was deliberately lying.  But later
I began to wonder how educated a guess one can make with "occult"
groups.

My understanding of Adyar's numbers, based on conversations rather than
anything read, is that there were 35,000 when I joined in 1978 and that
16 years of shrinkage has brought it down around 25,000.  Demographics
would suggest this will continue.  Anyhow, since this TS is open about
statistics I assume the number is available somewhere, maybe in the
Theosophist annual report issue.

As to Pasadena, they're not open about such things, but I have been
told that Bruce Campbell's estimate of 1500 was low, and that the total
is less than 10% of Adyar's.  So this leaves us in the 2000 range.

ULT, according to the guy I was talking to, claims 10,000- 20,000
worldwide.  He was comparing this to Adyar membership in the US alone,
which I explained was incorrect.  But in my years of observing
Theosophical groups here and abroad, it has always seemed that ULT was
even smaller than Pasadena.  Campbell estimated 1200 in 1980, and one
wonders if that has shrunk.  They have 22 lodges worldwide, which would
have to average 450 members each to yield 10,000 worldwide.  An average
of 45 would be generous, I would think-- for every big lodge like NYC
or LA there are many more tiny ones with 20 or fewer.  So 1000 seems
like a more educated guess.

Does anyone have any light to shed on this?

Namaste