Theos-Talk Archives (August 1994 Message tl00076)

To Mike--
I tried your email address, but my mail bounced.  Not that my
comments were so controversial.  So here goes:

1. The Judge case is really the outgrowth of conflict between
Olcott and HPB, in my opinion.  After HPB left Adyar she and
Olcott had little mutual respect, each feeling betrayed by the
other for different reasons.  HPB's attitude toward HSO was
picked up by those close to her, including Besant and Judge.

2.  After HPB's death, Judge produced Mahatma letters to Besant
and gradually persuaded her to side with him against Olcott,
whose resignation was demanded and obtained in 1892 (I think)
but later withdrawn.

3.  Although warned that Olcott was planning to kill her, Annie
disregarded this, went to India, was taken all over the country
and introduced to many religious and political leaders.  The
list of people HSO introduced her to has many interesting links
to those in my book The Masters Revealed.  Therefore I strongly
suspect Olcott told Besant a large part of the historical truth
about the Masters, corroborating this with other witnesses.
She then lost faith in Judge's role as mouthpiece of the
Mahatmas, perhaps lost some faith in HPB as well, and became
completely reconciled to Olcott.

4.  Because she felt that Judge's Mahatma transmissions were
fraudulent, and told Olcott so, a "trial" was held on this
charge which collapsed in confusion when the accused pointed
out that to proceed would be to violate the TS's policy that
belief in the Masters was non-binding.  To prove Judge's
transmissions fake, they would have to assume that the Masters
were real in the first place.

5.  But the collapse of this effort to stop Judge was not the
end of the affair.  Before long, "at Master's direction," he
deposed Annie as co-head of the ES.  This lead to her doing the
same in reverse, followed by the declaration of autonomy by the
American section.  Which reverberated into a worldwide schism.

     Although for years I adhered to the pro-Judge view of
these developments, my recent research has convinced me that
Olcott knew more about the Masters, and knew more of them
personally, than anyone other than HPB.  After her death, he
continued to enjoy the confidence of those who survived, or
their descendants or former colleagues.  Reading the itinerary
of his trip with Annie makes it clear that part of his goal was
to convince her of this; it appears that he succeeded.