THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. Founded in 1875 in New York City, the Theosophical Society is an organization whose name was chosen to align it with the larger theosophical tradition. This tradition embraced Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, medieval mystics like Meister Eckhart and Nicholas of Cusa, Renaissance philosophers like Giordano Bruno and Paracelsus, and Romantic mystics and philosophers like Jakob Boehme and Friedrich Schelling as well as wider religious philosophies like Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Qabbalah, and Sufism. The Theosophical Society functions as a bridge between East and West, emphasizing the commonality of human culture.

The First Generation

Among the sixteen persons who participated in the formation of the Theosophical Society, two were notable for their roles in its future development: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), a charismatic Russian of upper-class family, and Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), an American lawyer and journalist. Blavatsky was the energetic force that brought the society into existence...