Theos-Talk Archives (March 1996 Message tl00038)

Although not everyone on this list may agree, I think that it
is worth checking out K. Paul Johnson's two books on HPB's
Masters: "The Masters Revealed" and "Initiates of Theosphical
Masters" (both from SUNY Press, 94 and 95) as well as
Joscelyn Godwin's "The Theosophical Enlightenment".

These three books place HPB's accomplishments in the context
of 19th century occultism and esotericism. Johnson's "Initiates..."
has a whole section on the strong women who paralleled HPB in
their search for spiritual knowledge, breaking thru the
cultural limitations of their time.

I think that HPB had substantial influence on women, but it
was probably more by example than by ideological formulation.
On the other hand, the TS worked in association with Indian
organizations that were fighting against child marriages,
the caste system, and taboos against widow remarriage in India.

BTW, the Society for Psychical Research in the UK didn't
exactly rescind their Committee's negative report on HPB. They
clarified that the original report was not the opinion of the
Society per se but of a Committee. And they published a paper
which strongly criticized the procedures of Hodgson in his
handwriting analysis of the Mahatma Letters. Various critiques
of Hodgson's report remain to be made...

Hope that helps,
jay kinney