Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00877)

Liesel wrote ragerding the E.S.:

> They're a secret organization, and no one is allowed to
> acknowledge that they're a member. That means that they can't
> come out & speak up for themselves. Annie Besant was a founder,
> & since she was such a sensible, practical lady otherwise, I
> must assume that the ES was established for valid purposes.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't HPB and Mr. Judge found the E.S. in 1888,
after several months of discussions? I don't see how Annie Besant could have
been a founder, brilliant woman though she was, because she was just joining
the Society in 1888, and had not yet met HPB when the E.S. was formed -- I
believe in the summer of tht year.

While I was at Harvard University a few years back attending the Divinity
School, the librarian called my attention to sealed letters from HPB to Mr.
Judge, which had been sitting there, waiting for the expiration date. That
date just happened to be January 1, 1992, during my second year there, so I
opened them, made photocopies, and arranged for them to be circulated among
Theosophists at large. A ULT member paid for their restoration, and a
Theosophical scholar is now publishing them in THEOSOPHICAL HISTORY, edited
by James Santucci.

 The 18 letters which I opened, dating from 1885 to 1890 or so, contain many
interesting things, including extensive discussion of the formation of the
E.S. HPB practically BEGS Judge to be the head after she is gone, and he
finally accepts, though he is very worried about the terrible karma and
attacks he will suffer. It's all there in the letters, and strangely, no
mention of Annie Besant.

The truth appears to be that Annie Besant was so articulate, so learned and
so dedicated, that she quickly rose through the ranks, and by the time of
HPB's death, Besant was very well known, and had become not only a member of
the E.S., but a member of HPB's "Inner Group." After HPB's death, there were
extensive discussions within the top leadership of how to handle the E.S.,
and while Besant had one plan, Mr. Judge had another. Finally, Mrs. Besant
discovered within her papers a Mahatma Letter that said "Judge's plan is
best" (or words to that efect) and they went with his plan -- that Mr. Judge
and Annie Besant would be co-Outer heads, although the inner head was always
supposed to have been HPB and the Master she represented.

Now, though, what has become of the E.S.? After Mr. Judge and Annie Besant
had their "problems," Annie formed her own and different E.S., with its own
rules, regluations, and goals.

It is not clear what, if anything, remains of the E.S. today.

Rich