Printed in the Fall 2025 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Keene, Douglas "A Nineteenth-Century State of Mind" Quest 113:4, pg 8-9
By Douglas Keene
National President
Let’s put away our cell phones, tablets, automobile keys, plane tickets, and other modern conveniences for the moment. We can wander back to the late nineteenth century. The year is 1875, only a decade after the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination. Current legislation includes the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (legislating equal access for all races to all public facilities), the Resumption Act of 1875 (restored the gold standard‒based currency), and the Page Act of 1875 (prohibiting entry of women and contract laborers from oriental countries). The Second Sioux War is raging, and Billy the Kid is at large. In New York City, the Art Students League and the Coaching Club (promoting the ability to drive a coach with four horses) have been founded.
During the 1870s, there was significant growth and transformation toward urbanization (the early days of the Gilded Age), and major construction projects were initiated, such as the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a time of expansion and optimism.
H.P. Blavatsky came to New York in the summer of 1873 (although this was not her first visit). She famously met Henry Steel Olcott during her visit to the Eddy farm in Vermont in 1874 to investigate spiritualistic apparitions. A description from a 1932 issue of The Theosophist reads:
It was at Chittenden, Vermont, while he [Olcott] was on this assignment, that he met H.P. Blavatsky who had come there on instructions from her Master. Joining forces with her, from this point onward he worked to carry out the purposes of the Brotherhood of Adepts, especially those purposes related to the specific mission assigned to Mme. Blavatsky by her Master. “Bound together by the unbreakable ties of a common work—the Masters’ work—having mutual confidence and loyalty and one aim in view, we stand or fall together.”
In his book Old Diary Leaves, Olcott wrote down his first impressions of Mme. Blavatsky:
I remember our first day’s acquaintance as if it were yesterday . . . It was a sunny day and even the gloomy old farm-house looked cheerful. It stands amidst a lovely landscape, in a valley bounded by grassy slopes that rise into the mountains covered to the very crest with leafy groves . . . She had arrived shortly before noon with a French Canadian lady, and they were at the table as we entered. My eye was first attracted by a scarlet Garibaldian shirt the former wore, as in vivid contrast to the dull colurs around . . . I went straight across and took a seat opposite her to indulge my favorite habit of character-study . . . Dinner over, the two went outside the house and Madame Blavatsky rolled herself a cigarette, for which I gave her a light as a pretext to enter into conversation. My remark having been made in French, we fell at once into talk in that language.
In his book People from the Other World, Olcott adds:
I gradually discovered that this lady, whose brilliant accomplishments and eminent virtues of character, no less than her exalted social position, entitled her to the highest respect, is one of the most remarkable mediums in the world. At the same time, her mediumship is totally different from that of any other person I have ever met; for, instead of being controlled by spirits to do their will, it is she who seems to control them to do her bidding. Whatever may be the secret by which this power has been attained, I cannot say, but that she possesses it I have had too many proofs to permit me to doubt the fact.
Unfortunately, we do not have Blavatsky’s initial impressions of Olcott, and although she wrote to him frequently, the letters have been lost. Some of them are summarized by the colonel in his autobiographical publication Old Diary Leaves.
There was an instant connection between HPB and Olcott—friendship and a common spiritual interest. He described them as “chums.” Later, Mme. Blavatsky wrote: “I highly esteem Col. Olcott, as does everyone who knows him. He is a gentleman; but what is more in my eyes, he is an honest and true man, and unselfish Spiritualist, in the proper sense of that word.”
Throughout 1875, a number of meetings were held at which Olcott and other interested persons met to discuss a variety of spiritual topics. Blavatsky and William Q. Judge—who would become another cofounder of the Theosophical Society—did not attend regularly because of other obligations.
The Theosophy Wiki site (a valuable resource that I highly recommend) relates:
On Tuesday, September 7, 1875, a meeting was organized at Mme. Blavatsky’s rooms to hear a lecture given by George H. Felt entitled “The Lost Canon of Proportion of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.” . . . During the discussion that followed the lecture, a suggestion was made that a Society be formed to pursue and promote such occult research.
On the next day another meeting took place with Mr. Felt lecturing again. The Society was more definitely organized and sixteen people handed in their names for that purpose. A committee of three was appointed to draft a Constitution and Bylaws.
On September 13, in a new meeting at the same address, Mr. Felt gave another lecture. At this time the name of “The Theosophical Society” was agreed upon.
According to Col. Olcott, the choice of the name of the newly formed Society was subject of discussion in the committee, and several options were suggested such as the Egyptological, the Hermetic, the Rosicrucian etc. However, none of them seemed the right one. “At last,” he recalls “in turning over the leaves of the Dictionary, one of us came across the word ‘Theosophy,’ whereupon, after discussion, we unanimously agreed that that was the best of all.” Olcott explained this name was appropriate because it expressed “the esoteric truth we wished to reach” and covered the ground of “methods of occult scientific research.”
On November 17, 1875, the Theosophical Society was officially created. Sixteen or seventeen participants, from diverse professional and ethnic backgrounds, were in the initial group. In her Theosophical Glossary, under the entry “Theosophical Society, or Universal Brotherhood,” Mme. Blavatsky wrote:
Founded in 1875 at New York, by Colonel H.S. Olcott and H.P. Blavatsky, helped by W.Q. Judge and several others. Its avowed object was at first the scientific investigation of psychic or so-called “spiritualistic” phenomena, after which its three chief objects were declared, namely (1) Brotherhood of man, without distinction of race, colour, religion, or social position; (2) the serious study of the ancient world-religions for purposes of comparison and the selection therefrom of universal ethics; (3) the study and development of the latent divine powers in man.
So began the “experiment” of our founders, encouraged by the Mahatmas to create an organization for exploring life’s deepest questions.
Our history is colorful, filled with alliances and separations, wonders and scandals, egotism and charity. Many descriptions exist, but at this time of our sesquicentennial anniversary, perhaps it is best to reflect on those days and years of our beginning, which were filled with optimism and potential.
The Society remains vibrant and diverse, spanning dozens of countries and creating a spiritual home for many. We might ask what the future holds. In The Key to Theosophy, HPB noted:
Theosophy will ever exist throughout the infinitudes of the Future . . . [however] Its [the Theosophical Society’s] future will depend almost entirely upon the degree of selflessness, earnestness, devotion, and last, but not least, on the amount of knowledge and wisdom possessed by those members, on whom it will fall to carry on the work.
Can we continue to share the aliveness, the compassion, and the inclusivity that is so central to the movement known as Theosophy? I believe we can look forward to many more such decades if we remain true to the mission of the Society.